A/N: Thanks to everyone who has let me know that they are enjoying this story. Get ready for the big reunion!

Part 3

Chapter 1

House walked into the bar and looked around. It wasn't a large place, but big enough to have a twenty foot long bar with several people sitting around it. He glanced at the patrons, trying to find Bob.

Of course, his eyes instinctively landed on the sexy woman sitting alone. Her back was to him, but she was sitting with her legs sideways. She had dark auburn hair, cut stylishly short in gentle waves. The legs that he could see were shapely, with sheer black stockings and low-heeled pumps.

He sighed and moved his gaze around to find his friend. The other people at the bar were male and the tables surrounding held couples. He assumed Bob hadn't arrived yet, so he went to the bar and ordered a beer.

He felt eyes on him and turned to see the sexy woman staring at him.

Okay, he thought, Babe hitting on me. He smiled at her, but the look on her face was not flirtatious, it was amused.

That confused him, so he moved closer to her and said, "Hi."

She smirked, which confused him further, until she finally spoke.

"You asshole!"

Shock filled him and his eyes went wide. "Bob?"

She smiled at him. "Hey Greg."

Stunned, he almost lost his balance before hitting a bar stool and plopping his bottom on it.

"Bob?" he said again.

"Boy, I see that your command of the language hasn't improved. Can't you say anything except Bob, jerk?"

He smiled then. This might be a beautiful woman in front of him, but it was still his friend.

She had seen him come in and had known him immediately. There may have been over twenty years since the last time she'd seen him, but she would always know him. Those blue eyes didn't change, except for the shadow of pain in them.

Of course, there was the cane. That was different. She didn't like seeing that, but she knew that if he saw pity in her eyes, he would be upset. She just remembered him sprinting up to his third floor room in Baltimore and it broke her heart.

The beard was new to her, but she didn't mind that at all. She thought about the young man she'd known. He'd been cute, like a little boy. But now, he was a very sexy man.

And she felt her heart start to pound.

"Where'd the rest of you go?" he asked her.

"Gone with the wind."

"And where'd you get the tits?" he said, staring at them.

"Turns out, they were hidden under the fat! Who knew?"

"Wow."

"You can stop staring at them now, dickhead."

"Hey, it's not often I have a buddy with great knockers and a killer body. So this was under the Bob I knew in college?"

"Yep."

"Well, if I'd known that, I would have banged you back then."

"Too late. You had your chance."

"Damn."

They both laughed and started catching up on old times.

"So when did you lose the weight?"

"Well, I reached my goal about ten years ago, but started working on it a few years before that."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"When I started, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it, so I didn't tell anyone. I would have told you when I finished, but…" she hesitated.

"But what?"

"Your leg had just happened." She said quietly. "I didn't feel right bragging about how healthy I was, when you weren't."

"I still would have been happy for you."

"I know you would have. And I can see you're happy now."

"Oh, yeah. I didn't know my drinking buddy was a hot chick."

"Gee, thanks."

He took a long sip of his drink and studied her. "What made you decide to do it? To lose the weight?"

"Lots of things."

"Your divorce?"

She inclined her head. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't part of it. He thought by marrying the fat girl, I'd be so grateful that someone married me that he could do whatever he wanted. I didn't let him get away with that crap, but it made me think. People always treated me a bit like I wasn't as good, wasn't as smart because of my weight. I was tired of that bullshit."

She took a sip of her drink before continuing. "But I didn't do it to please other people. That would be stupid. The main reason was my health. You see, back in 1998, I, uh, had a miscarriage."

His blue eyes went wide. "You never told me that either."

"I never told anyone. I wasn't pregnant long enough to tell people about it, so it made it easier not to have to tell anyone about losing it. I didn't have to deal with anyone's pity."

He nodded. He understood that pitying look on people's faces. You do whatever you can to avoid it. Unless he wanted to use his disability to his advantage.

"Well, afterward, the doctor told me that it was just as well. The chances of my heart surviving a pregnancy and birth were very low. My heart was just not strong enough. In fact, I had my tubes tied right then. But since that was how my mother died, I started to get scared. Even if I didn't have a baby, I didn't want to die.

"And there was a very real possibility I would have. So I researched the different weight loss plans and decided on Weight Watchers. They're world wide, so I was able to find meetings wherever I was living. Best thing, though, you can eat anything as long as you plan and account for it. It took a while, but I did it."

"How much did you lose?"

"One hundred and three pounds. And kept it off for ten years so far." She rapped lightly on the bar, a 'knock on wood' gesture.

"Well, you look fabulous."

"Thanks. You're looking pretty sexy yourself these days."

He smiled at her. "I've always been sexy."

"No, not really. You were a cute young man with those blue eyes and all. But now you have an appeal that definitely wasn't there before. Damn men get sexier when they get older, while women just get older."

He chuckled. "That's life, buddy."

"Life sucks."

"You just figured that out? But I don't think you have anything to worry about right now."

"Okay, stop staring at my tits. You're creeping me out."

"You? What about me? My old drinking buddy has tits. Great tits." He leaned over to check out her rear on the barstool. "And a great ass, too."

"It takes one to know one."

He laughed again. Same old Bob. The body might look different, but the personality and the sass was the same.

"So what are you doing in Princeton? More artifacts for the Smithsonian?"

"No. Actually, I'm here for a job interview."

He gave her a quizzical look.

"I'm getting tired of the traveling. I want a place of my own and I don't want to move every few months. I met the dean of the Art History department last year at a convention where I was speaking and he told me one of the faculty was retiring. He contacted me a few weeks ago and wanted me to come and interview."

"So you would be…"

"Teaching."

"You never wanted to be a teacher."

"Not back then I didn't. But I've worked with college students on some of the archeological digs I've had to be at and it's pretty cool to share what you know with them."

"So how did the interview go?"

"Very well. He offered me the job."

"Are you taking it?"

"I have to let him know."

He gave her an odd look. "Do you want to take it?"

She sighed. "I've been thinking about it since I left his office two hours ago. I think I do."

"Then what's the problem?"

She hesitated. "Would you be okay with it? With me living here in Princeton?"

"Why in hell wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you don't want to hang out with your old college pal anymore. You've grown, moved on."

"I've haven't grown that much. Just ask Wilson."

"And that's another thing. What will Wilson think of me moving in on your friendship?"

"He'll think there's someone else for me to sponge off of, so that takes some of the pressure off him."

She smiled. "Seriously, Greg."

"He'll be fine. In fact, why don't I bring him along for dinner tomorrow night – you will be here tomorrow night, right?"

"Yes, I don't leave until the day after."

"Good. You two can meet and you'll see. In the meantime, if you really want to be a teacher, tell that guy yes tomorrow."

"Okay, I think I will."

She picked up her glass and held it up. He did the same and they clinked glasses.