HUGH LAURIE IS UP FOR AN EMMY! (grins)

Yes, yes, I stole this from Angel (not all the lines, but the main idea) , but let's just say that one of them (don't care who) watches it and somehow it managed to be brought into conversation. Mmkay? And there may be a lack of updates, because there's a rumor going around that Keenan (yes, the same one who scared me countless times with his suicidal clown) might stay with us (his mom needs to go to the hospital and my mom offered for him to stay here), and I will probably be sulking off in a corner hoping he doesn't scare me again (sob). But here's another chapter (and we're only on day four of the trip, so this may turn out to be really long, and that may result in only one week). Any ideas you want to see in here, just tell me and they might get in! And this was a pain to write, so I hope it's not horrible. And I don't have any more spoilers, 'cept that Emma Thompson really wants to be in an episode of House.

Thanks to saz86 for the confidence boost, Marissa for the idea of Keira, North Dakota for the idea at the end, and all of you who reviewed! And what Keira does is what most of us here would do... So maybe it's just ND logic.

Chapter Ten

Caveman and Power Issues

"Cavemen."

"They're idiots! Astronauts are smart! They would easily win!"

"But they're wimpy smart. Cavemen are brutal."

"They are not 'wimpy smart'! Astronauts aren't wimpy!"

"I mean they're smart in other ways, like driving a spaceship. But that knowledge wouldn't be worth anything when they're against cavemen." Cameron glared at House. They were all eating breakfast, Cameron sitting directly in front of House. Everyone else was just quietly observing them, knowing that neither one would like it much if anyone else butted in.

"How can you possibly think that cavemen would win against astronauts?" House couldn't believe that Cameron would think that cavemen would beat astronauts in a fight.

"It's not that hard, really-" Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Chase eagerly hopped up to answer it.

"'Mornin'! Hope I'm not too early." Keira grinned at Chase, who blushed as he suddenly remembered last night.

"No, perfect timing! Come right in!" He stepped aside as Keira walked up the stairs into the motor home.

"What's going on?" Keira glanced at House and Cameron. Suddenly both of their heads turned to Keira.

"If cavemen and astronauts got into a fight, who would win?" House was the first to ask.

"Are any of them armed?"

"No." Cameron replied.

Keira looked over at Chase. "How long have they been fighting over this?"

"Ten minutes." Cuddy interjected, looking at her watch.

"Oh… Uh… Cavemen?"

"Ha! Told you so!" Cameron grinned at House.

"She just said that because you two are friends!"

"Nope! She said it because she knew I was right!"

"Well," Chase looked at Keira, "may as well make yourself comfy. This could go on for a while."

oXo

Finally, they were all out of the motor home, and sitting at a coffee shop. House and Cameron were still going at the "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" thing, but not as much as before.

"Remind me why we have to 'bond' way out here in the boondocks?" Foreman asked, smiling as his coffee arrived in front of him.

"I didn't choose this place. And you shouldn't be complaining. I would have had to fire two of you otherwise." Cuddy said matter-of-factly.

Cameron grinned as her iced chocolate-peanut butter iced coffee, appropriately topped with whipped crème. "Want some?" She looked over at House, who only glared his answer.

"Which ones would you have fired?" Chase looked at Cuddy. Everyone else's attention was on her now, too.

She took a sip of her coffee before answering. "All of you."

"What?" Cameron stared at her.

"Well, I have no reason to only fire two, and I couldn't choose between you three, so I would have fired you all."

"Well that makes me feel really safe." Cameron took a sip of her drink. Suddenly it started raining – hard.

"So we are getting that storm..." Keira stared at the poring rain. You could barely see the buildings on the other side of the road. There were murmurs of "my lord" and "it's really comin' down" around the small coffee shop/thrift store.

"We should probably get back to the motor home... We could be stuck here for a while." Chase's was staring at the rain, too.

"Good idea." Keira stood up, walking over to Madeline to pay for the drinks and beg for an umbrella. Moments later she returned with three. Everyone stood up as lighting illuminated the sky and not five seconds later thunder shook the building.

"Come on. We'll be better of there than here. This place has been hit by lightning ten times in the last year. And we're totally safe walking. There ain't any trees." Keira handed out the umbrellas. "You're going to have to share." They all walked out of the building, standing under the overhang as they opened their umbrellas.

"Great. Now my shoes will be ruined." Cuddy mumbled from ahead. She and Keira were sharing an umbrella, Chase and Foreman had decided that it would be best to not be stuck with House, so that left Cameron and House at the end of the pack.

oXo

"Why are we just standing here?" Cameron asked as she and House arrived at the motor home. They were only a few seconds behind the rest of the group, but no one had opened the door.

"House has the key." Cuddy looked at House.

"No I don't. You've had it every other time. Why would I have it now?"

"So you don't have the key?" Cuddy's eyes grew wide.

"No. Do you?"

"No."

"Please tell me that someone here has a key?" Cameron begged. Everyone shook their heads. A streak of lighting was followed closely by a loud clap of thunder. She stepped out from under the umbrella and walked to the door, pulling on the latch and grinning as the door opened. She walked in, glad that they weren't stuck outside.

oXo

"It doesn't look like this is gonna let up for a few more hours, folks! There is a possibility of golf-ball size hail over in Garder county, along with flash flooding and possble tornadoes. Remember to stay inside and move to a basement, if you can. Along the border of Garder and Halen visibility is about a mile-" Foreman clicked off the TV.

"And why are we safer out here?" Foreman looked accusingly at Keira.

"Because Madeline's doesn't have a basement, either, and she sure as hell won't give us free coffee if we get stuck in her place."

"And what about your place?"

"Trailer. Other side of town. No basement either. Not too many of us have basements here." She shrugged. "And ya'll have food here, too. My place consists of Ramen and hot dogs. Haven't been to the store lately."

"Weatherman was wrong. This might last all day." Cameron called from the bedroom. She was relaxing on the bed while she surfed the Internet. "But it looks like the hail passed us." Suddenly there was a series of pings. "Or not." Cameron looked out the window. "Nope. It's here." And suddenly everything went black.

So! There it is. Seems like I'm on a bit of a roll.

Aren't I mean, leaving you with that cliffie?

Well, to make it worse, I want five reviews before I update.

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I'll even let you use :( or :) as reviews!!

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Oh, yeah, HUGH'S UP FOR AN EMMY!

And you can still get a preview of my story (well, only two more can)!