Thank you to all those that have reviewed and follow this story - it really is heartwarming. Also a big thank you to those of you who replied to my plea for help in the last chapter - I think I got it sorted :)

Disclaimer:- I own nothing, accept my oc's and my imagination, I'll just borrowed the others, I'll put them back when I'm done.

Chapter 10

House was bored, he had watched about as much tv as he could, there was no internet to download or watch porn and Wilson was out with Marcy again. Not that he minded Marcy - she was a good cook, housekeeper and she really cared about Wilson. Got he needed something to do or a new hobby. Maybe he could take up cooking again, he did enjoy it last time.

After about 10minutes of deliberation he decided to go to the food market to stock up on some ingredients and cook something nice for dinner.

He got a cart, lay the crutches in and ambled around the aisles, putting as much weight as possible on the cart, he took his time and perused slowly, still not sure of what he was going to cook , considering it was Saturday afternoon there weren't many people in the market.

He was milling around where all the herbs, spices and sauces were kept, when he heard a slightly familiar voice coming up the aisle. He slowly turned around so he could see who it was and recognised her straight away, short choppy gingery golden hair and those emerald green eyes, cut offs and a tank top ...arm in arm with her boyfriend again. They were arm in arm - she was carrying the basket and he was shopping- shouldn't it be the other way around!. We went back to perusing the herbs and spices as they passed him. The man said hello but the woman didn't. He made his choices and started to moved on down the aisle, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang, a scream, some breaking glass and a thud along with a few choice words.

In the next aisle over -

"TAM! are you OK? What happened?

"I tripped over something - my leg hurts and so does my wrist"

"Here sit on this I'll go get some help"

A couple of minutes later "CAN WE HAVE A CLEANER AND A FIRST AIDER - CLEAN UP IN AISLE 5" came the voice over the PA

House chuckled to himself. He carried on ambling around to the next aisle - he couldn't wait to see the clean up. As he got nearer the clean up there was quite abit of commotion going on.

"Look you're the manager - you find someone who can do first aid or call an ambulance"

"Sir, I can only apologize, our fist aider is off sick today, so maybe we should call an ambulance"

"No! I don't want to go in an ambulance or the ER. It'll be fine once the bleeding stops!"

"Tam - it's bleeding alot and its not stopping - if we can't get it to stop within the next 10 minutes I'm calling an ambulance no matter what you say"

House made his way over to them "Do any of you actually know what you are doing - cos doing that is not going to stop the bleeding"

"oh God! it's you again"

"Do you know this guy Tam?"

"Met him at the book store"

"I guess we meet again then don't we. " He said looking down at her, she had her eyes closed tightly. "So ... you got a proper first aid kit?" said House to the manager.

The assistant looked down at what she was holding and offered it to him.

"MOVE!" Said House rather abruptly. he sat down on the stool that the assistant had been sitting on and picked her leg up so that it was on his lap. Took the first aid kit and looked through it. Not alot in there to use. "Is this it?" said House to the assistant, the assistant nodded. House glared at the manager "Are we or are we not in a smaller version of Walmart?" the manager nodded "OK. ..This. . . . . . .sell?" The manager nodded again "WELL GO GET ME SOME SUPPLIES I CAN USE"

"Oh right... yeah...um...whatever you need? The manager and the assistant looked at each other.

House shook his head "GET ME: some alcohol/antiseptic wipes, some steri strips/butterfly stitches, some tweezers and some kind of gauze padding and hurry up before she bleeds to death" he said sharply.

"Did you have to be that rude" Said the man

"If you don't want her to bleed out then yes!"

"Are you a doctor?" Said Tammy

"no - just a wanna be - watched General Hospital so much I just know what to do" Said House

The assistant and the manager came scurrying back with the supplies they could think of. House very methodically took care of the wound and before long the incident was over.

"Go home and keep it elevated - if it starts to bleed again or starts to throb you'll need to go to the ER - just in case there's anything still in there. It shouldn't cos it looked clean but as glass is see through I might have missed a bit" With that he got up to leave.

"Thank You" Said Tammy

"Welcome" He said leaving them there. He got his cart and ambled off to pay for it. When he got through the cash register they gave him his groceries for free. If he had known that he would have filled it up some more.

He was putting the groceries into the car when someone came up behind him.

"Hey thanks for what you just did"

House just nodded at him.

"We are having a bbq tomorrow afternoon, we would like you to come along... as a way of saying thank you"

"You've said thanks - that's enough"

"Please... my wife would never forgive me if you didn't come and I think Tam would like it too" He said with pleading eyes, he handed House a card with the address "Well anyway...come if you can about 3pm... if you want to bring someone with you that's fine too. Atleast take pity on another brother and think about" he said laughing.

House took the card from him and almost smiled.

"Hi honey I'm home!" Shouted House as he came through the door

"I am not your honey and I'm not deaf either. You've been grocery shopping?"

"I felt like doing some cooking - gotta find something to keep me active. Doing nothing is getting boring"

"Yeah I know the feeling. Anyway on Tuesday we are going away for a few days so don't make any plans"

"I'll see if I can clear my calendar!"

House went into the kitchen to put the groceries away. Wilson followed him

"So what are we having for dinner then" said Wilson

"It's a surprise - cos I kinda forgot to get some of the ingredients"

"Why did you forget - you're normally obsessive about your ingredients"

"Got a little side tracked at the store and left without finishing properly"

"Sidetracked? how? - you didn't save another life did you?"

"Not really ...just patched up somebody's leg with butterfly stitches"

"Wow! what is it with you at the moment, medical dramas follow you where ever you go!"

"I'm just cursed I guess...cos you're one big medical drama" Said House as he started to sort his ingredients out.

"How's the leg doing - you're not using crutches again" Said Wilson ignoring House's last remark.

"It's fine - I'm only not using them in here - it would be dangerous to hold hot stuff whilst using crutches. I don't think I'll be using them much longer anyway, it feels pretty much back to normal."

"Yeah well just keep doing what the physio tells you"

"We got invited to a bbq tomorrow"

"What?"

"The leg I patched up earlier - it's friend gave us an invite as a thank you, I said no but he was very insistent"

Wilson raised his eyebrows at House.

"said his wife would kill him if we didn't go"

"And you want to go?" Said Wilson with a smile

"NO! course not, but don't know if I can let another brother down, it's just the way I role"

"mmmm Right! mmmm hang on ... there has to be another reason...you're too anti-social just to say yes... there is either a female involved or the guy is blackmailing you"

"There's always another reason - 3pm tomorrow"

House and Wilson left their house at 3pm, couldn't possibly turn up on time now could they. They found the address relatively easily, well Wilson did, House had his eyes closed for most of the drive. As the approached the house they could hear the voices coming from the back garden. House looked at Wilson... who stood there holding beer and salad. "this was a mistake ...I can't do this- lets go" As he was about to turn around he heard a voice.

"Hey glad you could make it - come through- everyone's out back"

House took a deep breath, but said nothing. "Thanks" Said Wilson handing the beer and salad over.

As they went to the patio House was already scanning around to see if Tammy was around.

"Hi - I'm Kelly - Tammy is my sister-in-law and this is Kyle whom you already know. Thank you so much for what you did yesterday. I think she should have gone to the hospital really but she wouldn't go"

"Is she ok now?" Said House

"Very sore - she's inside at the moment trying to keep her leg up - she'll be out in a minute. But I was wandering if you might check on her leg again."

"I'm not a Doctor you know... but I'll go see how she is" Any excuse to get away from the crowd.

House made his way inside and saw from a distance that she was laying on the couch.

"You came!, I didn't think you would be the socialising type"

"I...I just came to see if you are ok."He said reaching the couch. She was laying with her closed as if she was trying to get some sleep.

"Just peachy - thanks"

"Can I take a look at the cut, wanna make sure it's not infected"

"Go ahead, it's not throbbing or anything., just sore"

House sat at the end of the couch. He looked at Tammy who now had her eyes tightly closed.

"I'm not going to hurt you" Said House gently.

"I get that, but I can't stand the sight of blood in any way shape or form"

"Oh, ok ...I'm just going to take the dressing off" he did so very gently and gave the cut the fall inspection. "It looks good, there is still a bit of congealed blood around it but no puss" Immediately he could sense that Tammy's breathing was getting heavier and even though she had her eyes tightly closed he sensed that something wasn't right. it seemed like she was about to have an anxiety attack "Oh crap, I've taped it back up - there's nothing to see- its all done. Hey, hey, it's all good, you can calm down now... you hurt your wrist too, let me have a look" He said hoping that would take her mind off of the blood. She still had her eyes tightly shut. He took her hand that had the bandage around it and as he did her other hand moved to his and squeezed.

"It's ok.. just take some deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth.. do it with me... deep breath in and slow release out." Slowly but surely her grip lightened and her breathing steadied itself.

"Hey are you 2 ok. I was getting a bit worried" Said Kelly coming into the living room.

"We're getting there, I think she was having an anxiety attack"

"Did you untape the cut" Said Kelly

"Yeah, but she had her eyes closed the whole time"

"It's ok, she suffers abit from anxiety when there is blood around. She's had a few since yesterday, but they're not lasting as long, they'll be gone in a couple of days. Well I'll leave you to it, you obviously know what you are doing - you should have been a doctor"

House just smiled at her as she walked away. "hey you back with us yet?" Said House to Tammy

Tammy opened her eyes for the first time since House had come into the room

"I'm...I'm sorry about that...was it a bad one?"

"Not really, it wasn't full blown, I managed to talk you through"

"Oh you saved me yet again, well atleast they are easing up abit"

"The sight of blood, does that to you?"

"yeah ...kind of"

"But you had your eyes closed the whole time"

She closed her eyes again for a minute and took a deep breath. "My Mom and I were in a car accident some time ago and the last thing I saw was my Mom covered in alot of blood"

"Did she survive?"

"No - she died"

"I'm sorry to hear that" Said House clearing his throat and looking around, this really wasn't his forte.

"Um shall we go outside and join the others, your leg will be fine now" Said House changing the subject.

"Yeah sure, you go I'll be out in a minute, I just need to pee" Said Tammy with a smile.

"OK" said House getting up.

House rejoined the group on the patio, well rejoined was not quite true, he found a spot just far enough away to not seem rude.

"Is she ok now" Said Kelly

"Yeah fine- she'll be out a in a moment"

"Good, you want some steak, it's ready now"

"Sounds good to me" he said staying where he was.

She came back with a beer and a plateful of bbq. He sat just away from the group, luckily no-one seemed to care cos no-one came to bother him. He watched as Wilson was in amongst the crowd, laughing and joking, he was always able to mingle and talk to everybody. He had suddenly lost his appetite and felt a small lump in his throat and a tightness in his chest. He got up from where he was and walked off toward the house, he had to get out of here somehow.

He almost reached the house "Hey where you off to in such a hurry?"

"Toilet"

"yeah right!"

"What's it to you, you're not exactly joining in"

"That's because I don't like social gatherings and my family understand that" She said with affection.

"Me either"

House stood there looking at her "Shall we blow this joint and go get a drink somewhere quiet or a coffee if you don't drink"

"I don't think that would be a good idea"

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Because your blind or because you're just getting over your ex husband?" House said cutting her off.

"How did you know?"

"I know your blind because I know and you have a faint line and indent where you once had a wedding ring, which I'd say you only took off in the last month or so"

"Very perceptive and correct"

"Come on...live a little, it'll be like the cripple leading the blind or more like the blind leading the cripple" Said House with a chuckle..

She chuckled at his description "OK, why not - but you're driving!"

"Damn! I thought you would!"

They went into the house together. Tammy got her purse and her keys, House waited

for her in the living room.

As they were about to leave a young girl came down the stairs "Tam!"

"Hi Megan, I'm going out for a while can you let your Mom and Dad know for me..I don't want to interrupt them"

"Ok, have fun" She said smiling at House.

House text Wilson on the way out. got myself a blind date, I've taken the car so you'll have to get a cab or walk home - see ya.