Author´s note: I do not own House M.D. I just play a little!

I´m very sorry for the late update, but first I had some big time trouble´s to write this one, and then the computer of my Beta wouldn´t upload the edited .doc file so she could send me the file per mail. But now, it´s all done, and here we go. (And Chapter twelve just needs to be edited, so it should be here in one or two days.

As always, I love to read all the sweet and beautiful comments you people leave, don´t stop doing that, it lets me write faster!

Thank you Katie, you´re a great Beta! Don´t stop!

Chapter eleven

Hope. One single word, with one thousand interpretations. For Lisa Cuddy, it had taken on special meaning the day she´d met Allison Cameron, her half-brother's girlfriend. She had liked her; a beautiful, smart, young woman who obviously had made Jared happy, something she had wanted for him for years. Not that he had been…unhappy before, but she had always seen his lack of true happiness. The moment Cameron had entered his life, Cuddy could basically see the empty places inside of him were replaced with love and joy. Because of that change, she had hoped her brother would stay out of any further trouble. His problems had never seemed very extreme, but were rather... normal for his age. At least that´s what Cuddy had told herself. But maybe she had just not wanted to face the possibly that her brother had a more unstable personality; the way he was bent on getting whatever he wanted, at any cost often lead him into trouble. He got into fights when he had too much to drink, once he had even been arrested for stealing a car with one of his friends. After that encounter with the law, it had seemed that Jared was coming to his senses. That´s what Cuddy had hoped. He had left town and hadn't shown up for months, occasionally leaving messages on her answering machine. Then one day he came back with Allison Cameron, a young medical student. For Cuddy, hope had won. Until reality hit her, smack in the middle of her surprised face.

She had never mourned him. She couldn´t. Not after seeing the truth; after learning what kind of man her brother really had been. After seeing all the lies he had built in front of her, all the damage he had caused. And certainly not after she had seen Cameron, lying there in the hospital bed. Her left eye had been almost black, her lips rough, her shoulder covered in white bandages, and her soul torn apart. New hope had risen within Cuddy. The hope that this young woman would heal. Someday, somehow. She still has that hope, and she refuses to let it go Now, looking at Cameron, she is also hoping that this was all a mistake. Hoping desperately that nobody was searching for her record.

Disappointments. Jared Carter carries several of them on his sleeve. From the day of his birth until this very moment, he had experienced so many. One bigger than others. The knowledge that his father always had pushed him away, and had truly cared only for his first family, was one of the bigger disappointments, but he had learned to live with it. He had started to find the attention his father wouldn´t give him elsewhere. In High-School, he was known as the guy who could provide everything. He was the first source, and he had craved the attention the other kids had given him. His sister Lisa disappointed him too, but that was almost not worth mentioning, considering all the things she had done for him when he was young. She always had been there for him, trying to make up for the mess their father had made. But that doesn´t mean it doesn't hurt him. He sees that she helps the one woman, the one person, who disappointed him the most. But maybe, he shouldn't blame her for it. After all, she doesn't know his side of the story, only Cameron´s. His feelings are always divided when it comes to the relationship Lisa and Cameron have. If it weren´t for his sister, Cameron probably would have ended up in prison. And in prison, she would have been out of his reach. Just the thought of that makes him sick. Through the last four years he had been following every step, every single move his Cameron had made, still feeling the burning taste of disappointment.

But he wasn´t angry with her. Not anymore. When they met again, he wouldn´t give her another opportunity to betray him. Of course he had to hide in the shadows, to watch from a distance, but he had his people, old connections, who would follow her for him. All this time, he had been very careful, making sure that the heads of the Mafia, the ones who got him out, did not discover his actions. But now he was no longer one of the little guys; his good work was finally being rewarded. They gave him his own branch in the big business. And with that, he was free to take a certain person to join him. And this time, he'll be sure she doesn't disappoint him again.

Jared moves quietly, not wanting to cause unwanted attention from the neighbors, as he opens the door and enters the Allison Cameron's apartment.

Expectations. Gregory House simply never had any. Not as a child, not as a teenager or young man. He expects nothing from no one. Maybe he started to have expectations when he had met Stacy, when they had a relationship, though he never knew what kind of expectations they were. That they would be happy till the end of the world? That they would start a family? No, even when he was so much in love that it had hurt, he never got that romantic, and he couldn´t break his walls. And maybe that´s what really had destroyed the relationship with Stacy, beside her betraying behavior when he had lain in a coma. She even admitted it in their final conversation. She had felt alone, as if he no longer was there for her. Hearing that had hurt, but what had Stacy expected? She knew that he was a cripple, soul and later body. After they had parted for the last time, he found out that he wasn´t deathly disappointed. Cause he was free of expectations. As a child and even as young man, he always tried to fulfill his father's expectations, but eventually he realized he never would be able to. It was never enough, so he gave up. And, House was always (almost always) honest to himself; not having any expectations means that nothing can disappoint or hurt you, so it was a safe way to live.

But now, standing in Cuddy´s office, he looks over to Allison Cameron, noticing her stiffened body, almost feeling her angst, and he expects cuddy to get her little sweet ass up and do something. Or he would.

Truths and lies. Allison Cameron once thought that she knew the different between lies and truths, that she could see the truth in people's eyes. She was wrong. She would never admit it, but House was right when he said that "Everybody lies". But she would never stop searching for the truth behind the lie. She still searched for the truth in Jared´s lies; So many things he had said to her, so many promises and confessions. Where had the truth stopped and the lies begun? She didn´t know, and probably never would. She is only sure about one thing. He had loved her, a creepy, sickly love, but he had loved her. And maybe that´s the biggest lie of all. Though one lie had destroyed her whole life, she never could accept their existence. Or that human beings would just lie and lie without even thinking about it. Why, why are people doing this? Can´t they see the damage they cause? The hurt in the eyes of the loved one? Don't they understand that a lie can break a heart?

Now she stands in an office full of people who know the truth behind her lie (well, besides House), and their faces held the same expression as hers; shock.

The white wall clock above the closed door ticks quietly, soothingly. For several minutes neither woman speaks. Both are still trying to fully recover from this morning's news the shock has not quite gone away yet. Dr. Tiek speaks first. Her voice, though soft and gentle, sounds like a scream in the office.

"You want to talk about it?" The question irritates Cameron.

"About what?" About the weather, maybe? Geez, Cameron, don´t get ironic here.

"Maybe you want to talk about this morning, about my suspicion."

"No. No need to." Dr. Tiek shoots her a skeptical gaze, causing Allison Cameron to cringe a little in her chair. What is it with this woman? Why is she always making her nervous, uncomfortable? How? Yet she's sitting here, and she's come back every time. It's frustrating.

"Really. There´s no need to talk about that. Look, to be honest, I think that the whole thing is being overvalued. Even if someone was here last night, that doesn´t necessary mean that my file was the target." That should have been clear.

"But it looks like it was." When she hears that, Cameron almost rolls her eyes at the therapist but decides against it. She moves forward a little, now almost sitting on the edge of the chair, looking directly into Dr. Tiek's eyes.

"You have to understand something. I have had to live with the…the past for four years now, and I try my best to hide it, not to get any attention, to stay out of the danger to get detected. I have enough to deal just with that. I just can´t allow a single freaky event to get me frightened. That would make me crazy." Dr. Tiek listened to her speech with interest, it confirmed her original suspicion.

"So you are frightened?"

"Didn´t you heard what I just said?" Jesus!

Dr. Tiek smiles, though it´s more a sad one. "Oh, I did. And I don´t believe you."

"Pfft!"

Cameron is still angry when she parks her car outside her apartment. That stubborn woman! She didnt believe her! She wasn't sure which made her more furious; That Dr. Tiek wouldn't buy her lie, or that she got caught telling it. Of course she was frightened, but she could deal with it alone. Just as she'd been doing all these years. Meanwhile, darkness had relieved the daylight, and Cameron just desperately wants to climb into her bed, pull the blanket over her head, and forget about the world.

Finally closing the door behind her, throwing her shoes aside and walking to her bath, she almost overlooks it. But as she turns on the water to take a shower, she stops mid-motion, turning her head a little to the right side. And there it was. Right on her bed. She almost screams but her throat won´t let out any sound.

Slowly, with her hands on the walls, she goes back to the living-room and grabs her phone from the table, looking around nervously while dialing Cuddy´s office number.

"Nunnery New Jersey, you are talking with pastor House. How can I help you?" Huh?

"H…House? What are you…where is…is Cuddy there?"

"Cameron? Is that you?"

"Where´s Cuddy? I…I need to talk to her. Now!"

"What´s wrong? Did something happen? You sound upset."

"Please, would you please just give me Cuddy?" A sound, coming from her kitchen, catches her attention and she turns around to see what it is.

"Cameron?"

A loud crack.

"Cameron! Are you still there?"

Another crack, a little moan.

"Cameron! Talk to me! What´s happening over there?"

But silence is the only reply.