Thanks again for reading this story. If you have a chance, please leave a comments.We writers live for those.

Chapter 41.

Cameron was walking through the hospital lobby when she spotted Dr. Chambers talking to the volunteer at the information desk. "Hi," she said as he turned toward her.

"Dr. Cameron, isn't it?"

"Yes, and you're Dr. Chambers." Cameron thought back to the conversation she had with Gretchen about Chambers' son. She also knew that House was curious about his family. How could she get him to talk? "How are your classes going?" she asked.

"Oh, just fine," he said. "I'm really enjoying teaching."

"That's good. I hope your family is settling in here in Princeton," she continued in a friendly manner.

"Joel and Sherry both like their new schools." He gave her just the opening she needed.

"I know Joel's at Mercer, but where does your daughter go to school?" She was asking a lot of questions and hoped he didn't think she was nosy.

"She's in sixth grade at Live Oaks Elementary."

"Oh, does she have Evan Conway?"

He shrugged. He honestly didn't know, but thought she'd said something about having a man for a teacher. "Did your daughter go to Live Oaks?"

"No, Willow Grove. But Claire's daughter, Emily, did and so did Audra Swenson, a friend of Gretchen and Emily's." She wasn't going to bore him with Audra's story. "Evan was their teacher when they were in fifth grade, but he usually teaches sixth." She also wasn't going to tell him how she knew Evan, or that he and Clair's sister had an on-and-off relationship.

"Sherry didn't want to leave her old school in Philadelphia, but I guess she's happy here. At any rate I haven't heard her complain lately."

"And your wife?" Cameron hadn't been able to get a single word out of the woman at the reception. She waited to hear what Chambers would say.

"Oh, she's fine, just fine," he said, then abruptly started to walk away. "You'll have to excuse me. I, uh, have to go."

Now why didn't he want to talk about Eve?

Helen's transplant was routine. She was back in her room, almost completely free of the anesthetic, when Marty brought Steven to see her. The boy was very happy to find her in her room and sitting up. He'd been worried about her all day at school.

"Mom, I brought you a new drawing," he said, handing her a large sheet. "See, it's me and Alex in our Martial Arts uniforms."

"Did you do this for me?" she asked. He was such a sweet boy.

"Yes," he said grinning at her. "Will you be able to come home soon?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said, then sighed melodramatically. "I just don't know if I'll ever have the strength to take care of myself if I do." She looked towards Marty to see his reaction.

"You're still weak," he said. "You've just had surgery and it'll take some time to heal. But you'll be just fine. Then you can go home."

"Oh, I hope so," she said, but didn't quite sound like she believed it.

Cameron came in with some flowers for her. "How are you doing?" she asked.

Rather than answer, Helen asked, "Are these for me? Oh, you've been too kind. Everyone has."

"Dr. Cameron, did you see the picture I drew?" Steven asked. He took it from his mother just to show Cameron. No one noticed the look that crossed Helen's face.

"Very good, Steven. You draw very well," Cameron told the boy.

"I'd like some water," Helen said, then added a 'please'.

"Of course," Cameron said and went to get some as Steven put the picture back on top of his mother's blankets. She gripped it to make sure he didn't take it away again. Cameron returned with a pitcher of water and a cup, then poured some for

Helen. "Well, I just wanted to come by and see how you were," Cameron said. "I've got to be going. Have a good evening, everyone."

"People are always leaving, always running off to do things," Helen lamented.

"I'm still here," Steven said. "And so is Dad."

"But you'll leave me too, soon."

"You just have to get well so you can leave too," Marty said. He knew it was a losing battle. She wasn't going to be logical about this He'd spent enough time with Helen in the past to know what she was like. Needy, self-centered, a bit of a hypochondriac, and most of all, weak-willed. He began to wonder whether he wanted his son to spend too much more time with her. But she was the boy's mother. He didn't know what he could do.

Chapter 42.

Alex was so excited about the Martial Arts class that he'd wanted to sleep in his uniform the night before, but his mother persuaded him not to. Still, when he came into the kitchen Saturday morning he was already dressed.

"Alex, your class isn't until eleven," Gretchen told him, even though she thought he looked awfully cute.

"I know, I just wanted to be ready," he said.

"You don't want to get pancake syrup on your Gi do you?" his mother asked.

He thought about that. "Be right back," he said and ran off again, but returned quickly wearing an old T-shirt instead. Cameron handed him a plate of pancakes and bacon and he dug right in.

His mother and sister chuckled, but House was deep in thought. He'd liked the idea of sending Alex with Steven to the class but now he was beginning to wonder how it might affect his son's personality. Would it squelch his enthusiasm and happy disposition? Teach him to blindly follow rules and be overly polite? He'd have to watch Alex carefully.

He drove Alex to the Marshall Arts school. Marty was already there with Steven. The teacher they'd met before, Sam, was also teaching their class. The two dads watched them enter the room along with five other kids. One of the other fathers looked familiar to House. It took him a few minutes to place him, and just as he did, the young man noticed him.

"Dr. House?" He didn't sound sure.

"Michael, right?" How could House forget that name. "Is Joey in this class?" He looked back into the room to see whether he could identify the boy who'd been born prematurely, the baby he and Cameron had diagnosed and treated for the Brazilian flu. "Is that him?" he asked, indicating a boy with dark-blond hair, who was talking to Alex.

"Yes. Do you have a kid in the class?" Michael Samuels asked.

"The boy talking to Joey. His name's Alex."

"Does he go to Steven's? Joey's been talking about a new boy named Alex."

House nodded. "Guess Princeton's smaller than I thought."

Marty had been listening to the conversation but didn't understand how House knew these people. Then he remembered.

"You and Rita still together?" House asked the young man.

Michael smiled. "Rhonda." He remembered that the doctor always got her name wrong. "Yes. She's in nursing school," he said proudly.

"And you're still a grease monkey?"

Surprised that House remembered that, he replied, "My boss sent me for business classes, and now I'm assistant manager of the shop."

House nodded slightly.

"How's Dr. Cameron and your daughter? She was a terrific kid."

"Still is," House said. "She's in high school now."

The three men turned their attention to the class. The children were taking turns bowing to their teacher. Then he had them take a punch at his open palm, first with one fist and then the other. He didn't lavish praise, but he did compliment their efforts.

They followed that with some jumping exercises. When Sam clearly said stop, they did immediately. He had them stand straight and tall, not moving, for a full minute, then motioned for them to sit cross-legged on the floor. He talked to them about why they were there, what they expected to learn, and what he was going to teach them. At points they smiled or laughed but through it all he had their rapt attention.

Before they knew it, the hour was almost up. Sam had the children stand again and bow, not only to him, but to each other, before he dismissed them.

Alex, Steven and Joey came out together, smiling happily.

"Dad, this is Joey from my math class at school!" Alex was excited about that.

"I know Joey," House told him.

"You do?" Alex clearly didn't understand.

"Your mom and I met him when he was only a day or two old and very sick."

"Well, he's not sick any more."

"You boys had a good class today," Marty said.

"It was great!" Steven said. "And Alex and Joey and I are going to be three amigos, too."

"Well, we've gotta take off," Michael told them. "C'mon Joey. You'll see Alex in school and both boys next week."

After a chorus of good-byes, each of the boys went off with his father.