Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.
Author's Notes: Well, we've come to the end. I am so grateful to so many people for their incredible support of this story, most especially Cinco, who rocks the House medical smarts, and Lisa, who is Goddess-sent. Thank you everyone!
A House is Not a Home
by Kristen Elizabeth
Six weeks later
"Oh my god. Would you look at this place?" Standing on the upper level of the loft, Sara looked down at the disaster area she used to call her kitchen. "I think they ate everything that was in our fridge."
On the lower level, in the middle of the aftermath, Grissom picked up an empty chip bag. "And the cabinets." He glanced up at Sara with an uncharacteristically large smile that was due in no small part to the half-dozen cocktails he'd enjoyed during their belated housewarming party. "How about we don't clean up until morning?"
"How about we just move to a new place so we don't have to clean up at all?" Sara started down the stairs. "You know I can't stand going to bed with a messy house."
"I know nothing," Grissom said, still fueled by his buzz. "Except how incredible your tush looks in that skirt."
"My tush?" she repeated, closing the distance between them. "Have you actually ever known a woman who's responded positively to that word?"
He thought for a second. "No. But I'm always hoping."
Chuckling, Sara looped her arms around his neck and gave him a solid kiss. "I taste…Scotch," she guessed a moment later. "Jim brought the good stuff?"
"The best," Grissom murmured, nuzzling the nape of her neck. "God, you smell good, Sara."
"I feel good." Her eyes closed at the delicious sensation of his lips on her skin. "For the first time in a long time. No more coughing, cast's gone…" Her hands slowly slipped down his back. "No more pain."
Grissom drew back slightly. "What…do you mean…?" He shot a quick, hopeful glance at the hallway which led to the bedroom. "Tonight?"
Sara's lips curled into a sexy smirk. "Unless you'd rather clean up."
"Don't be ridiculous, Sara. It's just…." Shaking his head to clear it, Grissom reached back and grasped her hands. "I'll need to run to the store."
"No."
He frowned. "Honey, you've been off your pills while you've been on the antibiotics."
"I know."
He looked back and forth between her brown eyes and found nothing there but earnest resolve. "You're sure about this? Dr. House…" He said the man's name like it tasted bad, and had no place in a conversation about their possible conception of a child. "He said there could be...issues with…"
Sara kissed him. "He's a great doctor, but he doesn't know everything. I want this. I think you want it, too."
He nodded, slowly, almost childishly, still under the influence of Brass's Scotch. "I wanted our baby, Sara," he whispered.
"Me, too," she whispered back, kissing him again, softer this time. "If we can't do it the old fashioned way, we'll try something else." She nipped at his lower lip with hers. "But let's cross that bridge when we come to it…and not until we've really, and I mean really tried. Okay?"
All Grissom could do was keep nodding as he let her take his hand and lead him into their bedroom.
"You've got mail."
House glanced at his office door and frowned when he saw who was standing there with a package in her hand. "I have minions for that," he told Cameron. "At last count, you aren't one of them anymore."
She entered the room with waiting for an invitation. "I was never your minion. You hired me…"
"Because you're hot," he reminded her.
"Before you knew if I'd jump through any hoops to get the job," she finished with a hard look and a toss of her newly blonde hair. "Making me vastly different than your fresh group of flunkies."
House held out his hand. "Package."
"I went ahead and opened it. Old habits die hard, apparently." Cameron tossed it his way; the small box landed with a smack against his chest before he got his hands around it. "From Las Vegas, with thanks."
The box contained a single blank compact disc and a handwritten note.
Dr. House,
It pays to have found evidence that cleared the chief of programming for KVBC of a ten-year drug trafficking charge. Makes it so much easier to ask him for favors, such as getting his hands on a copy of the episode of Passions that aired on May 18th, 2007.
Enjoy. We all deserve a little happiness wherever we can find it.
Sara Sidle
Putting the letter down, House tried to snort in derision, but it came out more amused and touched than anything Cameron had heard from him before. "How the hell did she know?"
"You might have mentioned it to her a few times." Cameron shrugged. "And maybe I filled in the blanks when she called last week." She started backing up. "I'll leave you and Timmy alone."
"Wait." He stopped her at the door, looking up from his gift with uncertain eyes. "You could stay. Watch it with me. If you want," he quickly added. "Unless you're meeting Chase in the supply closet for a quickie."
Cameron folded her arms over her pink scrubs. "Don't you have a patient?"
This time, his snort was pure mockery. "Flunkies, remember? They'll probably page me before they manage to kill him."
As she pulled up a chair next to his and took a tentative seat, House slid the CD into his computer. While they waited for it to load, he dug into his desk and produced a bag of caramel popcorn. He opened it and offered it to her first. She took a big handful with a smile.
"That's Vincent," House pointed out the first character to appear on the screen. "He's pregnant with his father's baby." He threw a piece of popcorn into the air and caught it in his mouth. "It's a wonderfully incestuous medical miracle."
Cameron rolled her eyes and resigned herself to an hour of torture.
It would be so worth it.
Fin
