I know I usually post on Saturday night, so this is late, but we were out of town overnight and attending a birthday party last night. Here's the penultimate chapter of this story.

Chapter 28. Every Time You Say Good-bye

Before they examined any more patients, House and Cameron took a break, sitting down together at one end of the bleachers.

"I don't think I've ever been thanked so much in my life!" House continued to marvel.

Cameron chuckled. "You don't tend to want that kind of validation." She studied his face, more relaxed than she'd ever seen it, more alive. "How does it feel?"

House pondered that. He rarely analyzed his feelings because he knew if he did it made them more real somehow. "Different," he said finally. "The people in this town are..." He shook his head, still struggling to come up with the right words.

"House, they're good people. They love their families and look out for their friends and neighbors. And they're hard-working but don't expect much out of life." She'd obviously given it a lot of thought. "Sure, there are a few who are mean, conniving, and just out for themselves."

"Like me, you mean?" House prompted.

Cameron smirked. "No one's like you." She patted his shoulder.

House chuckled. "They seem very...obedient."

"Oh, don't kid yourself. They're not docile sheep," Cameron insisted. "They just can't be bothered to cause anyone else trouble if they can help it. They're more 'orderly' than 'obedient'."

House had talked enough about the virtues of the residents of a small town. "Let's see if we can send some more of them home," he said, rising with the aid of his cane.

Cameron smiled and followed him back to the tables holding their supplies, but stopped at one of the cots to examine the elderly woman lying on it. She wasn't responding to the two shots they'd given her.

"I think I'm going to have to send Anna to the hospital, too," she told House, looking around for someone to take her. Her eyes lit on the pharmacist, who'd remained to help out. She approached him and explained what she wanted, and he was happy to oblige.

Finally, Cameron was ready to proceed. She announced, "If you were given numbers fifty-one to seventy-five, please come forward so we can determine if you can go home."

Twenty-five men, women and children left their spots in the stands and came forward, forming a single line in front of Cameron, making House smile. The two doctors took them in turn, getting their vitals and asking a few pertinent questions before sending some home and injecting the rest a second time. Once they were finished with that group, they took another twenty-five. Slowly but surely they were getting to everyone who'd come to the clinic with symptoms.

At noon, Principle Berman took a couple of volunteers to the cafeteria. They were back fifteen minutes later with a selection of sandwiches for anyone who wanted them. "Since school was closed for a few days, and the term is ending, we might as well use up all the cheese and luncheon meat we have," the principle told House and Cameron as he began to distribute the food with help from his volunteers and Chrissy and Kelly.

He'd also raided the soft-drink machine and brought back water and soda pop. A few individuals requested milk, and he went back to the cafeteria kitchen to get some.

The two doctors and their helpers took a break to eat, House and Cameron returning to the bench they'd occupied before.

"Not that you'll need it, but I guess you'll have plenty of people looking out for you after I leave," House said. He'd noted how friendly they'd all been to Cameron.

Cameron frowned at the reminder that he was still leaving, but then thought about what he'd said. He was right. She smiled. "Especially Mrs. McClelland."

"Who's she?" he asked between bites of a roast beef sandwich.

"I guess I haven't had a chance to tell you about her," Cameron realized. "I live in a basement apartment in an old Victorian-style house less than a mile from the clinic. She's the woman whose house I live in, and she's kind of taken me under her wing. She makes sure I eat and get enough sleep, washes my clothes, that sort of thing." She suddenly smirked, "The one thing she hasn't gotten me to do yet is go to church with her on Sundays."

"Do you think she's been worried about you the last few days?" House asked.

"Well, I called her when the first patients showed up at the clinic. I guess I've been too busy to even think about her until now."

But House was more interested in getting to the more important question. "And don't you mind her fussing over you?" He knew he would.

"No, not really. No one's ever done that before, certainly not my parents." She stretched her arms and legs in front of her. "I guess I kind of like it."

"Yeah, I can see that," House said with an eye roll, making her laugh.

They finished eating and went back to work. By two thirty, they'd sent home more than half of their patients. The rest had all received a second shot and were just waiting for an OK to leave.

House looked around the gym which was much emptier than it had been. Cameron seemed to have things well in hand and plenty of people to help her. It was time for him to go.

"I'm going to slip out while I can," he told her.

She'd been dreading this, but knew it would happen sooner or later. "I won't beg you to stay," she said. She swallowed the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. "Good-bye, House. Take care of yourself." She held out her hand, just as she'd done the other times they'd said 'good-bye'. He'd never taken it, but maybe this time he would.

House ignored the outstretched hand, cupping her chin instead, and leaning forward to kiss her softly on the lips. "Bye, Cameron. Who knows, maybe we'll meet again sometime." He shook his head. "We never can say good-bye and make it last."

She watched him pass through the gym doors out to the hallway. Only then did she let the tears fall.