AN: I know it's kinda short but the two idea's came to me and I wanted to run with them. I want you all to know I have no intention of ending this anytime soon, but just a reminder that I go back to school on the 16th and one of my classes has 7 books. That's right folks, SEVEN. SO I will probably be reading and writing my ass off. Also I still work full time, and I've decided to turn a short story into a novel and see if I can't get it published. A girls got to eat you know. So I may be a little infrequent. I've been pretty good about updating so far and I hope I can continue the tradition. So keep those reviews coming. I listen to them all, many of you who ask questions and give advice have probably noticed that I do listen to and follow what you ask, and if it works with the story I have planed. So please keep reviewing I do appreciate it.

Saucy-duck, Lil-miss-white-gurl, xyber116, mel4housecam and a dozen or more others, you guys are the best. You criticize friendly, have enthusiasm and have honest advice. (Sorry if I spelt anybodies name wrong, I did it from memory) Please keep it up!

Chapter 28

He crossed the room in long strides finally able to do so for weeks. He'd taken to running again and Cameron had even signed him up with a group of handicapped athletes. He'd sulked and mocked and told her what a stupid idea it was but she'd stood firm and told him if he liked to play sports so much, now that he wasn't in constant pain, he should do them. So she'd dropped him off with a one-sided kiss and a wave and he stood there with his lacrosse gear and catcher's mitt in his hand, not sure what sport they were attempting that week. Baseball was the theme for this week, he thought as he observed two men practicing catching and a couple others practicing hitting. He wandered over to them and stood next to a guy with a clipboard and an eye patch, and horrible scarring across the left side of his face.

"I'm here cause the little woman signed me up." He announced.

"Ah," the man flipped a page. "You must be Greg. I was warned of your presence today." He said this with a grim and looked at House extending a hand.

House looked at him askance and shook his hand warily. "Warned?" He asked.

"Yeah," the man nodded with a bigger grin. "You see the 'little woman' warned us that you were," The man took his hand back and flipped the page again, scanning for the info, "sarcastic, mean, and very not happy with being here. She said you were a royal pain in the ass." Again the man beamed a smile in House's direction and let the paper fall back into place. "My name is Sam. I'm the catcher today." He started to point out people on the team. "That's Tim, he's the one-armed pitcher. Over there is Bob, he's third. He's got MS. Stan is first; he's got one leg shorter than the other. Ken is second; he's had a heart transplant. Steve's got cancer and so does Jimmy. John has got severe asthma. Ryan is shortstop and he got an arm blown off in Iraq and I got a grenade to the side of my face. What we do is the assigned people go first and the unassigned get together and figure out how they want their team and then we just switch out. Last week we figured out the teams for this week, but there was a miscommunication and your team didn't assign spots. So just get with John and they'll figure out what's what." At this the man grinned again and took off toward his team. House sighed shook his head and went off to meet his doom.

At the end of the afternoon, he was surprised to find he had enjoyed himself. A lot. He was looking forward to next week even, which happened to be football.

House now stood at the whiteboard with his precious markers, thinking over how much better he'd had it since the leg was taken off. He'd wondered if he would have been happier eleven years ago when he could have first had the leg removed. He now doubted it, because Stacy is not Cameron. Cameron found ways that he could do the things he loved to do and left him alone. Cameron didn't push him unless absolutely necessary. Cameron understood him. And he, he understood Cameron.

He could hear her now, as he was presented with symptoms that he wrote down. The keys jingling as they were rotated around in her lab coat pocket. She was unaware that she did it. It was a full-blown habit. House found it comforting. He wondered when she would notice.

The kids were all sent out on their respective duties and he retired to his office to beat the next level on his new game.

All day Cameron was in and out of the office and she never asked him about the keys. He doubted she could keep this quiet so she must not have noticed. He sighed as he gathered his coat and went to meet her by the car. He was looking forward to her reaction.

Days went by. He played soccer this Saturday with the gang and Cameron even stayed to cheer him on. He appreciated her cheering for him now. These guys understood disability and so did she. He thought he could talk them into learning lacrosse for next week.

It was Wednesday when she finally noticed. He was standing outside the lab when he heard her shriek and the noise of metal keys hitting the floor out of sheer surprise. He turned in time to see her lower herself to the ground and reach shaking fingers toward her prize. She scooped them up and slowly rose, frantically looking for the thing that had put her in this state.

Where her old key chain had resided, its edges chipped and the lettering worn down from her worrying it over the years, was a brand new, identical key chain. The engraving on it had set her off.

Allison House, M.D.

Stunned, she looked through the glass walls to his face that looked back at her. They stood for what seemed hours, just looking.

Then Cameron ran through the door and flew at him, wrapping her arms around him. He held her tight to him and asked, "Does this mean yes?"

She pulled away, nodding her head and crying, trying to wipe the tears away.

"At least I waited till I got out of the lab, before you caught me crying!" She said when she was unsuccessful at getting the tide to stop flowing.

He grabbed her to him again. "As long as its yes, you can cry anywhere you want to."