DISCLAIMER: House isn't mine.

AN. So i am now going to post the three last chapters to 'endless love'. Dont' be dismayed by the ending, i did it that way on purpose so i might write a sequel if i get an idea for a story. (feel free to make suggestions). the next story of the 9 i'm currently working on between work, church and uni that you can probably expect to be posted is the sequel to 'the exception' called 'no man's land'. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. it means a lot. I'm glad you like the story. btw, did anyone pick up the season 5 quote in the last chapter?

also, good work to ILoveHLaurie for picking up my play on character names.

Five:

I got on the bike.

We arrived at the nursing home twenty minutes later, and I quickened my pace to match House as we headed inside. The nurse at the front desk was doing a crossword when we entered and House marched (well, limped) up to her and leaned over.

"Thirteen down is Dead Poets Society," he told her and she looked up at him in surprise.

"Can I help you, sir?"

"Yeah, we need to see Henry and Caroline Beaumont," he replied brusquely.

"I'm sorry, sir, Mr. Beaumont is unable to receive visitors."

"And Mrs. Beaumont? I thought we were past the stage where women couldn't hiccup without a man's permission," House said.

I grimaced and hastily stepped forward to speak to the girl. This is a situation House is not good at.

"Hi, sorry to bother you. My name's Allison Cameron, and I'm a doctor at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. If it's not too much trouble, we'd love just a few minutes with Mrs. Beaumont," I smiled sweetly.

"Brown-noser," House muttered in my earshot, but I just ignored him.

The girl seemed to respond however, she smiled back and picked up the phone. "I'll see if she'll see you."

I nodded and watched as she dialled an extension and waited for someone to pick up.

"Good morning, Caroline, it's Melanie. You have a few visitors at reception, they'd like a moment with you... uh, and a doctor from Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital....ok, hang on."

Melanie covered the mouthpiece with her hand and directed the question to me, not House. I wonder why.

"She asked what it's about."

I hesitated for a moment. "It's a long story... I just bought her house on Elm Street."

Melanie frowned, slightly confused but said into the phone, "Apparently Dr... Cameron just bought your house in Elm Street.... Ok, sure. No worries."

Melanie hung up and stood up with a polite smile. "Please follow me."

I beamed triumphantly at House, who merely grimaced in reply as we followed her through the halls. Finally, we stopped outside a door that led to a small conservatory, filled with sunlight. I went through first, and sitting near a window was a woman I just knew immediately was Caroline. I couldn't tell you how, I just did.

She was exactly as I'd pictured her, only older. Well, I guess if House had calculated Henry would be 95, than makes her 90. She didn't look it though. She was like Dumbledore, she just gave the impression of being much younger.

"Mrs. Beaumont?"

She smiled and took my hand in hers warmly. "Please, dear call me Caroline. Come, sit. Thank you Melanie," she called to the girl, who smiled politely and returned to her post.

I took off my coat and sat opposite her, and House sat himself next to me.

"So, I hear you've bought my home, Dr. Cameron," she began, perhaps sensing that I had no idea where to begin, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let House start the talking.

"It's Allison," I corrected her. "This is my... this is my boss, Dr. Greg House."

Caroline smiled gracefully at House, but continued to address me. "It's a beautiful home, isn't it?"

I smiled. "It is, I fell in love with it the minute I saw it."

Caroline beamed with pleasure. "Yes... we moved out twelve years ago, but we rented out for awhile, but I couldn't stand what they did to my home. They painted the walls yellow, for heaven's sake! The entire house! So then we sold it."

I laughed. "I know, I'm getting it painted as we speak," I assured her.

"Good. So, I must ask Allison- what on earth brings you and your boss here today? Surely not just the house?"

I sighed, realising for the first time that while I had been so engrossed in the love story of Caroline and Henry- I was actually reading someone else's mail. Someone who was still alive, and I wasn't sure how they'd react to that. So instead, I pulled the letters out of my bag and watched Caroline's eyes widen.

"One of the painters found these-"

"Under the floorboard in the bedroom," she finished quietly, taking them from me.

I nodded. "Yes. I'm so sorry, I hope you don't mind that I read them," I began to apologise.

Caroline shook her head. "No, no. I don't blame you for being curious, my dear. Goodness knows, I would be too! Heavens, I'd thought I'd lost these! I forgot I hid them."

"Would it be terribly rude if I asked you what happened?" I asked, wincing apprehensively. "It's just... I fell in love with you and Henry's story... that's why we had to find you, I couldn't imagine that you didn't live happily ever after," I smiled apologetically.

Caroline took a deep breath, and shook her head. "That my dear, is a story I never get tired of telling. Especially not to a new audience," her eyes twinkled and I shot House an excited glance.

It was odd, him being so silent, but I wasn't complaining. Caroline leaned back in her chair thoughtfully and sighed.

"Well, I guess it all starts when I was studying to be a nurse. We didn't have much money, and my mother never really recovered after my sister's death when I was a child. I offered to just get a job to help her, but my mother said I should keep studying. So, I took a job as a receptionist in Henry's practice."

She smiled fondly into the distance. "Henry was... unorthodox. He was a respected doctor, of course, but my goodness, he could be blunt to the point of being cruel! You can't imagine what it was like to work for someone like that every day and see the way he treated his patients."

I scoffed slightly. "Actually, trust me when I tell you I can."

"Yeah, that Cuddy... what a witch!" House replied innocently, and I rolled my eyes.

"Henry once told me he only hired me because he knew I needed a job, and with my looks, he figured prostitution would be my next job," Caroline chuckled and I raised an eyebrow at House.

Now why did that seem vaguely familiar?

"Drs. Churchill and Forrest were sweethearts of course," Caroline continued. "Such dears, and such gentlemen! They were always helping me take care of my mother and the house when I needed a hand. And Eliza was my best friend, always making sure I kept on top of my studies and comforting me when I needed it."

"Henry offered you a job when you finished your studies?" I asked her hesitantly. After all, I didn't have much to go on other than what had been in the letters.

But Caroline nodded. "Yes, he did, for my coffee making skills, he said. But somehow, even after I finished, I still ended up taking care of all the paperwork. Heaven knows Henry never did it."

I couldn't help but laugh slightly, and Caroline frowned at me in polite inquisitiveness.

"Sorry," I apologised. "Just a bit of déjà vu."

Caroline nodded knowingly and turned to House. "You're not one for paperwork either, Dr. House?"

"Why should I do it, when she will?" House shrugged unapologetically.

Caroline smiled. "I've always said history repeats itself."

I didn't understand that, and apparently neither did House; but Caroline didn't explain. But nevertheless, something in her tone made me blush, and I caught a glimpse of House staring at me with that odd expression again.

"So, how did you and Henry get together?" I asked her eagerly. Back information was great, but I wanted details on the romance.

"Well... it just kind of happened, I guess. Churchill and Forrest had left for the day, I was finishing the paperwork and by the time I left it was dark. Henry had been in his office, and he offered to escort me home. We started talking, and there you go. Two years later, we were engaged."

She laughed suddenly. "I've always said that his proposal was the least romantic in history. It was August 1941, and we were talking about the war. Henry said he supposed it wouldn't be long before we were involved, and I said with his personality he'd be shot by his own men by the time they left the harbour! So he turned to me and said, 'well, we should get married then so at least you'll have the diamond ring to remember me by!' I thought he was joking, so I agreed- and he turned up on my doorstep the next day with a ring!"

I laughed at the image. "I've always thought it's the unromantic gestures that are really the most romantic," I admitted.

"That's very true," Caroline agreed.

"That's such a load of crap," House said bluntly.

I was horrified, not least because well... is that really how you speak to an old lady unless they speak to you like that first?

"House!" I protested.

Caroline, however, seemed intrigued by his opinion. "What makes you say that, Dr. House?"

I groaned slightly. If there's anything I've learnt from working under House- never give him an opening to rant.

"Any guy can be unromantic," House began. "It's so much less effort to be unromantic than romantic. If women really want guys to be unromantic they should love it when we forget their birthdays, or don't help around the house, or are total jerks. By that logic... well, Cameron it's no wonder you slept with Chase."

I was mortified. "House!"

Caroline chuckled. "When we mean by 'unromantic' Dr. House, isn't everyday behaviour. Just small things that you wouldn't find in a Hollywood movie, but let us know that we mean something to you. Like Henry's proposal. Or..."

"Showing up on someone's doorstep; asking them to come back to work when they quit," I said quietly, and both turned to me.

"Exactly," Caroline beamed.

House's eyes met mine for a moment and I turned away immediately, but I could feel his gaze lingering on me. Of all my memories of working for House, that's definitely one of the highlights.

I cleared my throat and turned to Caroline, my final question burning in my throat. "So what happened? Why did you stop writing?"

Caroline paused and pursed her lips. "That's the part of the story that doesn't usually get told," she murmured and I felt so bad.

"I'm sorry," I began but she stopped me.

"Don't worry dear. To put matters in the simplest form- I was attacked."

I gaped at her in horror. "What?" I demanded, and even House was speechless.

Caroline nodded grimly. "Yes. By Walter Blythe. I thought nothing of when he offered to escort me home one night, he had seemed so lovely... and then..."

She couldn't finish, but she didn't have to. It was perfectly clear what had happened. Walter Blythe had raped her.

"And as if that wasn't bad enough, I fell pregnant," she continued sadly.

Oh. My. God.

"What did Henry say when you told him? When he came home?" I asked her, almost whispering.

Caroline chuckled. "Well, he broke Walter's jaw for one thing," she said almost proudly. "And then he married me."

"And the baby?" House asked her.

"Oh, I had him. A little boy, we named James Michael Beaumont. Henry adopted him when he was born, and he's never loved him less than as if he was his own flesh and blood. We had our own child, little Edward... but that was after the war, of course. Henry was sent back over to Europe in 1944."

"But he came home again," I pressed.

Caroline nodded. "Yes. But only after losing a leg when the field hospital he was working in was bombed. His doctors couldn't save it."

I couldn't help myself- my eyes instinctively went to House's leg, the thigh of which he was still subtly massaging with his hand. Caroline noticed, of course and asked him,

"What happened to your leg, Dr. House?"

I've seen other people ask him that question, and he normally avoids the question or lies. But to Caroline, he met her eyes and replied,

"I had an infarction. A blood clot," he explained and she nodded.

"I'm sorry. It must be hard. How long ago was it?"

"About eight years."

"How did Henry handle it? Losing his leg?" I asked her.

Caroline sighed and shook her head. "He struggled with it a lot. Especially for me. The first year or so, he offered to divorce me, so I could find someone else. I refused, but he kept offering. Suddenly the fact he was five years older than I am became an issue for him; which hadn't happened since the first year we dated. The idiot," she said fondly.

Suddenly, I recalled something the nurse had said when we arrived. "What's the matter with Henry now? The nurse said he was unable to have visitors?"

Caroline nodded. "Yes. Henry suffered a stroke twelve years ago, and I couldn't take care of him anymore, so we moved in here. Then we found a tumour in his liver three months ago. It's spread to his bones and his brain now. He hasn't got long left," she said sadly.

I swallowed hard, knowing exactly how Caroline must be feeling. But at least they'd had sixty-five years together, and a family. There was some small comfort from that, at least.

AN. ps- i love Dead Poets Society. Besides Aladdin, my fav Robin Williams movie. And Wilson's in it!!!