This is the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who put me and the story on alert or named it a favorite. I willb e writing otehr stories, so keep your eyes opened.

Chapter 11

Melissa thought a lot about what House and Edie had said to her. Every cell in her body wanted to scream at both of them, "No! I'm not like that."

But the more she thought about her life, her thoughts and feelings and the decisions that she'd made, the more she began to realize that they might be right.

She had left school with no regard for her father who had sacrificed to send her to college. She had taken off with Jess on his motorcycle and hadn't looked back. She had lived the wild life with him in the clubs and on the road and had enjoyed every second.

And when that life didn't work for her any longer, she had left Jess behind to return to Princeton. She had tried to convince herself that it was because of her father's illness, but the truth was her father didn't need her at that time. It was several years before he was that bad.

It had been her own selfish decision. And when Jess had visited, she had slept with him and led him along, even though she had no intention of going back on the road with him. But she had tried to get him to stay in Princeton with her. And she almost succeeded. When he came to her after the miscarriage, he hadn't talked about leaving. He started playing locally, sometimes going up to New York or down to Philly. But nowhere close to the traveling he had been doing. She knew he was restless, but he was reluctant to leave her. She didn't know what would have happened if he hadn't died.

And what if his restlessness had caused him to be reckless on his bike? What if that was why he had crashed?

Was she responsible for his death?

She brooded on that for a few days, considering her own guilty feelings and what Edie had said. Finally, she was able to put it aside. If she was responsible, she was. Realistically, there was nothing she could do about that now. The only thing she could do was move forward.

And the only way to do that was to accept the truth about herself.

House hadn't been back to the shop since that day in his apartment. She worried at first whether he was alright, but decided she would have heard if he wasn't. Jim would certainly have told her.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to see him, at least not at first. She was still mad at him. But as time went on and she began to accept the truth of his words, her anger dissipated.

Now she just missed him, but didn't know if she was brave enough to give in and go to see him.

House was surprised at how much he missed Melissa. Of course, he wouldn't tell that to Wilson, he could barely admit it to himself. But even before they'd had sex, just seeing her at the shop had been nice. She was so cool, so sexy. Just buying coffee from her daily was exciting. He had begun looking forward to those few minutes he spent with her each day. When he got to her shop and she wasn't there, he left disappointed.

And sex with her was so hot! He hadn't experienced passion like that in a long time.

Now it had been a few weeks since he'd seen her and he felt something missing. Was he in love with her? That was a question he refused to ask himself because then he might have to answer it. And he had a feeling he wouldn't like the answer.

Besides, she wasn't around. If he was in love, what good was it? If he couldn't have her, his heart was just going to get broken anyway.

He was afraid that his words may have sent her out of his life forever.

It was after eight when he got home that night. Extra time with his patient had kept him at the hospital. The cold and damp weather made his leg hurt even worse. The only thing he was looking forward to that night was a glass of scotch and his next dose of Vicodin. He was just reaching into his pocket for that, when he noticed someone sitting on the step outside his apartment. Someone wrapped head to toe in coat, hat, scarf and mittens. It was only when they were eye to partially covered eye that he saw who it was.

"Hi." he said.

"Hi." Melissa replied.

He looked away from her, leaning heavily on his cane. "So, how are things at Mel's diner?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Okay."

"Could we go inside?" It's freezing out here."

"Sure."

House made his way inside with Melissa following. Once they had divested themselves of coats, etc., House sat on the sofa. Melissa saw the way he was moving and figured his leg was bothering him.

"I could really use a drink. Mind if I get one?" she asked.

"Go ahead."

She knew he wouldn't want her pity, so she had to be sure to make it sound casual. "Can I pour one for you?"

"Thanks."

She made the drinks, then gave one to him and sat beside him on the sofa.

He glanced at her, almost afraid to ask why she was there. But he decided to go for it anyway.

"So, what's up?"

"I've been thinking a lot about what you said. And I decided that you were right."

House took a sip of his drink, but remained silent.

She looked at him. "What? No 'I told you so'?"

"Will that help?"

"No."

He inclined his head. "Then, maybe I'll wait on that."

She smiled. "It wasn't something I wanted to admit about myself. But I ran what you said by a very smart lady and she agreed with you."

"What lady?"

"Jess's mother."

"I think I like her."

"Anyway, I realize that maybe it was always me. I go for what I want. And I don't intend to stop doing that. So here it is."

"Okay. Where will this leave us? What are your plans?"

"Hopefully it leaves us in bed. My plans are for sex. Lots and lots of sex."

A slow smile formed on House's face. "Well, that's a plan I can definitely get into. And after the sex?"

"More sex. Sex is something we are really good at. So there's no reason why we shouldn't."

"No reason at all."

She sat back and took a drink. "And then, maybe, once in awhile, we could go out to dinner. Or a movie or concert. Let's just take it as it comes and see what happens."

"Works for me." House wondered how he had gotten so lucky to find a woman like this.

"One more thing." she said. "I may be in love with you."

House looked away, and then looked at her. "How is that going to affect your plans?"

"It shouldn't. Either I'll get over it or it will work out. You don't need to worry about it. I just thought I'd let you know."

House nodded. "Well, that's good. And, uh, I may be sort of in love with you too."

She looked at him in amazement, then smiled. "Isn't that nice?"

House smiled back at her. "And your prejudice against bad boys?"

"Kind of stupid, considering those are the only guys I really like. And since I fall into the same category, it would be rather masochistic. So bring on the bad boys."

"Works for me." he said, as he reached out and pulled her into his arms.

THE END