Title: Contagious

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Tamerlane

Blinking his eyes open, House looked at Allison from where he was lying in bed. She was pacing.

Looking at the clock, House noted that it was a little after four in the morning, "Go back to bed, it's still early." He grumbled.

"I can't... I've tried, but I keep waking up." She continued pacing.

"I told you not to drink all of that coffee before bed." House stretched and flopped back against the mattress. Ever since they'd come home from Allison's parents' house, she had been driving herself crazy with wedding plans. She was constantly on the phone with her sister-in-law, getting advice, or with her mother. She was turning herself into a nervous wreck. "Ally, you're supposed to be happy on your wedding day. Not giving yourself an ulcer to rupture in the months preluding it." House patted the bed, and Allison flopped onto it with a tremendous sigh.

"I just feel like if I don't get it taken care of now, then we're going to have to opt for an elopement in Vegas instead." She grumbled.

"Now, there's a plan." He joked, but stopped at her glare. "Ally, all we've got left to do is send the invitations. We've booked the reception hall. We cleared having the ceremony in the park. We have photographer, a DJ, a catering service booked, etcetera, etcetera... You've picked your bridesmaids, and decided on their dresses-"

"I haven't picked out my dress!" Allison sat up in a lightening speed, "How the hell did I forget to pick out my own dress!?" She looked at House with complete shock, but he just laughed.

"Now, that's a classic." He laughed even harder. "You can go this weekend." House stretched again. "There, crisis averted, go back to bed." He curled his arms around her but could still feel the strain in her muscles.

"You know.. You still haven't told me where we're going for our honeymoon." She glared.

"It's a surprise!" House laughed.

"Fine."

"Now what?" He asked curiously.

Allison thought for a moment, "There's something else." She sighed. "It's not wedding related. But I feel heavy."

"Oh God, please don't tell me you're going on a crash diet." House leaned his forehead to her shoulder.

"Not that kind of heavy. I mean, my heart feels heavy." Allison turned in his loose embrace. "You don't want your parents there, do you?" She asked.

House shook his head, "If I did, it would be just my mom. But she'd never come without..."

"I understand." Allison curled her head against his chest. "I wish I could mend your family, like you fixed mine."

"There's a big difference Ally." House sighed. "You actually wanted your family back together, and so did they."

"And you don't?" She asked disbelievingly.

"I don't want anything to do with him."

"What about your mom?"

"Ally." House's tone was an exasperated warning.

"You never told me, you know." She stated.

"What didn't I tell you?"

"What he did to you-"

Allison broke off when House got out of bed and took up pacing where Allison had left off. Apparently she was rubbing off on him. She knew he didn't want to talk about it, but they were getting married in almost four months.

"You've eluding to it a few times Greg. The night on the roof. And then again when we went to West Virginia. You've painted a mass of pictures for me to draw my own conclusions from, but you've never told me!" She got up as well, grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to face her. "Just tell me."

Allison continued to stare him down, but he showed no signs of breaking. Feeling defeated, Allison turned around and climbed back into bed. She curled under the blankets, effectively cocooning herself from House.

As House fell into bed next to her, he stared up at the ceiling and came to the conclusion that this was going to be a bad day.

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Work was a daze that day. House couldn't concentrate, he couldn't even not concentrate. He couldn't play video games, or listen to music. Nothing could distract him from the fight he'd had that morning with Allison.

It wasn't even really a fight, but he knew that he'd hurt her feelings. After all, he butted in on her personal life, and he couldn't even share details of his past with her?

"Do you want it back?" Allison's voice made him jump. He hadn't seen or heard her coming to his office. She was holding her left hand, nervously playing with the engagement ring that was on her finger. "Why did you ask me to marry you, Greg? If you can't even- even t-talk to me?" She was starting to cry, and as tears started to trickle down her face, House found himself rising so quickly from his desk that he barely felt any protest from his leg.

"No, Ally, I couldn't talk." He enveloped her tightly. "But it's not because of you." He pulled her towards the couch and waved his hand at his colleagues, dismissing them so they couldn't watch them like this. Chase and Foreman immediately rose and left the department. "I couldn't say anything because.. Because I guess I'm still afraid." Allison's head shot up when his voice broke. "I've always been afraid of him."

"Afraid of him, or afraid of becoming him?" Allison whispered. "The son is not the father." She assured.

"I'm not him." House said firmly, "I've made it my life not to be him. That's why he-" House cut himself off and swallowed hard. He grabbed Allison's body and pulled her into his lap before. She was his blanket, his shield from whatever he felt would happen when he spoke his next words out loud. He couldn't be harmed with her in his arms. "That's why he tried so hard to make me like him. He tried to give me orders to follow out. He tried to command me like a member of the troops. That's why when I did something other than he'd ordered, he'd hold me down in a tub of ice. Or when I went somewhere that he hadn't consented to, he locked me in a closet. If I spoke without permission he belted me in the face." A sardonic grin spread over House's lips, "I think you can guess how often those things happened.

Allison stared at him for a long time. What she'd imagined in her head hadn't been nearly as bad as what he described. Shuddering as if she could feel the cold of the ice bath he'd mentioned, Allison curled tighter against him.

"Is that enough?" He asked softly. Allison nodded jerkily, she felt horrible now. She felt horrible for making him tell her, and then not being able to handle his story. "Please," he took her left hand in his, "don't threaten me with this ever again?" He planted a kiss on her hand, over the ring he'd given her.

Allison's eyes went wide as she realized that she had indeed questioned his proposal. She hadn't meant to. She had never doubted him, she had just felt so miserable with knowing so little about him, when he seemed to know everything about her. Part of her had wondered if House was with her just to have someone to take care of.

"I just want to take care of you too." Allison murmured, "I want to share with you, not take from you."

"It's hard to share when I won't accept anything I guess." House sighed.

"You don't have to be so afraid of letting me in, Greg, I'm not going anywhere." She assured him. "Just let me help you too sometimes."

"I'll try."

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Later that morning, nearing lunchtime, House snuck up to Allison's office and surprised her with a cup of coffee, "I made it myself."

"Aww, how cute." Allison gave his cheek a peck, "You learned how to tame the evil coffee machine."

"Actually, I just watched Chase make a pot and then threw it out, doing the exact opposite of what he did." House explained. "Cuddy asked me an interesting question today."

"Which was?" Allison put the stack of files she'd just finished into the filing cabinet.

"When I plan on replacing you." House said quietly.

Allison paused, "Oh..." She wrapped her arms around her chest. "Well... Umm."

"I don't expect you to come back to diagnostics. I just didn't want to fill your spot before you were sure this is what you want to be doing." He explained.

"... I think it is what I want, Greg." Allison told him.

House sighed, he had anticipated that. "I'll start interviewing next week then." He ran his hands through his hair when his cellphone rang. Fishing around in his pocket, he found the ringing annoyance, "What!?" He snapped his usual phone greeting. "... When?... How?... Why didn't anyone tell me?..." House was silent a long time while the person on the other end talked. Then, without another word, House clicked the phone shut and just let his arms drop to the sides.

"Greg?" Allison said softly, but he didn't say anything.

"So what are you up here for?" He asked. "Oh, nothing really." Blythe grabbed her purse and stood. "I just needed to apologise in person is all." She planted a kiss on her son's cheek and walked towards the door. House's brow furrowed, wondering what that had been about. No one drives in from Pennsylvania to deliver an apology that can be just as easily mailed or phoned in. Not that he even needed the apology, unless it were from his father.

House had been suspicious of his mother's reasons for coming all the way back to New Jersey to apologise for the Thanksgiving fiasco. But it hadn't occurred to him that his mother had actually been visiting someone else entirely that day.

Walking to the door of Allison's office, House shoved through it and headed towards the elevator.

Worried about what the phone call had been about, Allison followed quickly behind him, just barely slipping into the elevator with her fiance. She didn't say anything the entire decent, hardly daring to catch a glimpse of his face in the reflective surface of the elevator door.

When the elevator chimed and the doors sprung open, Allison was nearly jogging to keep up with House as he made his way to the cafeteria. She saw his line of vision aimed at his oncologist friend, but she didn't know why his stare was so intense. Just standing, watching what he was doing, Allison gasped in surprise.

House went up to Dr. Wilson and grabbed him by the lapel of his lab coat.

"House! What the hell!?" James yelled when House hauled him out of the booth.

"Why didn't you tell me." House barked, shoving Wilson up against the wall. "You didn't think I deserved to know!?" He shouted.

The entire cafeteria had gone quiet, staring at the feud.

"I couldn't!" Wilson choked, his collar pushing into his throat. House released him and threw his fist into his friend's face. Wilson crumbled to the ground, holding his eye that had been struck, "For the same reason you couldn't tell Chase about his dad!"

"This is different." House growled, staring down at his best friend. "You should have told me."

"I-I tried. That day in the elevator. I just couldn't tell you. I couldn't, Greg. So I told you about the Chicago lecture instead!"

"You got my voicemail."

"Yeah. Now what's up?"

"Greg-"

"Woah! Did you just call me Greg? I'm afraid to know what you're about to tell me." He laughed.

Wilson stepped into the the elevator, the doors shutting behind him. He let the elevator descend a little before he pulled the emergency stop button.

House's head whipped to the side to look at his friend. "I've told you nothing." Wilson began, taking a deep breath. "You didn't hear it from me, you haven't spoken to me-"

"Spit it out, Wilson." House nearly shouted. Something bad happened, something doctor/patient confidentiality bad.

House took a couple of steps back before turning around and leaving the shock silenced cafeteria. Allison followed him, but when he tried to lose her in the men's bathroom, she only paused momentarily before blowing past the door.

"You promised me, Greg!" She yelled, her voice shaking and echoing off of the tiled walls.

House punched one of the paper towel dispensers. "Can't you read the sign?" He pointed to the door. "Men's room?"

"Do this, don't do that." Allison crossed her arms over her chest.

"Now is not the time to be quoting Five Man Electrical Band." House hissed.

"And now is not the time to welch." Allison shouted. "You promised me, not even two hours ago."

"Well, two hours ago, I didn't expect to get a phone call saying that my mother was dead, now did I?" House shouted back. "And I sure as hell didn't expect to find out that Jimmy was the one who diagnosed her as terminal!"

Allison stared at him a long moment. "Greg." She said firmly, before closing their distance and placing her hands on his shoulders. Tilting her head slightly, she tried to catch his eye, "It's not Wilson's fault."

House shrugged her away, "I know that!" He began pacing. Allison tried not to flinch when he punched the paper towel dispenser again and dislodged it from the wall. "I'm mad at him." House ran his sore hand through his hair, "She didn't die today, Ally." House turned and faced her, and she saw that tears were pouring down his face. "She died four days ago, my father just decided to tell me now."

Body stiff and eyes wide, Allison watched as for the first time, House lost himself entirely. He was prowling, raking his fingers through his hair and pulling it. He managed to dislodge another paper towel dispenser as well as throw it across the lavatory and effectively smash the mirror.

"He waited until after the fucking funeral to tell me just so I couldn't fucking show up!" He screamed, as he paced over the shattered mirror, the shards crunching under his shoes. It was then that Allison seemed to shake off her paralysis. Giving herself courage, she walked over to him, squaring her shoulders before wrapping her arms around him.

She could hear his heart hammering and feel the shaking in his muscles. Leading him away from the shattered glass, Allison got him to sink down onto the floor. Holding his head to her chest, Allison softly ran her fingers through his hair as he regained control of himself.

"You know... She didn't even do chemo." House mumbled. "They gave her six months without it. She held out for eight."

"Shh. Shh." Allison murmured against his ear. She heard the door open and held House tighter to her breast. It was Wilson, and she looked at him desperately. His eye was already discoloring and beginning to swell shut. Grabbing the "Out of Order" sign, Wilson left the bathroom after giving Allison a weak, supportive smile.

There was something oddly comforting about sitting on the hard, cold tiles of the restroom floor. Even though House's head managed to fill with ideas of how unsanitary the situation was, the comfort came from elsewhere. The comfort was in the fact that Allison was holding him, ignoring just how disgusting sitting in a men's bathroom was. How she could ignore the ick factor and just hold him, her brilliant eyes brimming with tears, knowing that she couldn't absorb his pain, hate, and utter frustration. She was sad because he was. Empathy overload.

"I love you." House's eyes spilled with more tears, for the first time letting them soak her shirt in contrast to how many times she'd showered him with her own salty tears.

"I love you too." Allison's voice was like chalk, breaking and scratching.

The bathroom door opened weakly once more. Barely a sliver cracked between the heavy door and its frame when a female voice streamed through it. "House?" It was Cuddy. Neither Allison nor House replied, too caught up with each other. The door opened further and Lisa slid inside. "I heard about what happened in the cafeteria." She said softly, as if trying not to disrupt the solemn atmosphere, "Do you two want to go home?" Lisa tried to ignore the tears that were dripping from House's normally stoney eyes. The way the water lit up the bright blue orbs was unsettling, and Lisa couldn't bring herself to gaze at the unearthly glow they gave off when dampened with grief.

Allison didn't answer for House, just looked at him with soft, compliant eyes. Whatever he wanted. Anything he needed to do would be fine with her, even if it meant going home by himself and leaving her here to worry about him. House looked at her, hypnotizing her into complete stillness with his gaze. She too felt unsettled by the radiance they gave off. His look was contemplative, curious even, as if wondering what Allison wanted.

"I think we should go home." House's voice was just as broken and dry as hers.

"Okay. I'll tell Foreman... And... Cameron, who do you want me to inform from your department?" Lisa asked, wringing her hands nervously.

"Rachel." Allison helped House stand up, both making their way to the door, which Lisa held open for them.

They didn't even separate to gather their things. Both walking to each department and then back to the elevator to leave. The ride home was silent as Allison drove. She didn't even dare to turn on the radio and distract House from his thoughts.

When they arrived back at their apartment, Allison watched as her lover went to the bedroom and collapsed on the mattress. She didn't know what to do. Should she leave him alone? Should she curl up next to him for comfort? Should she wait for him to talk to her? Or should she try and talk to him first? It was a common dilemma in her relationship with him, merely because with her, he sometimes did the exact opposite of what she would have predicted before they were together.

Back before she had been with him, she knew not to speak or be near him when he was this quiet. It was common knowledge to everyone that Dr. House was not someone you bothered. But he wasn't Dr. House to Allison anymore. He was Greg. And Greg needed her when he was quiet. Greg needed her to hold him. Greg needed her.

Deciding at last, Allison slid out of her shoes and went to the bedroom, spooning up against him and placing her head on his chest. "Is... Is there anything I can get you?" Allison asked carefully. "I could make you something to eat." She offered, then gave herself an internal smack upside the head. She doubted he felt like eating anything.

House didn't say anything at first. He appreciated her coming to lie down with him, and her offer for food, but he didn't feel like eating. Right now, he just needed assurance that he wasn't alone. Without a word, House turned on his side and looked at Allison. She could bare to look him in the eyes now that they were no longer swimming with tears.

As House's hand trailed up her shirt, Allison took a deep breath as his fingers began to unbutton her blouse. This surprised her, she hadn't thought that he would want to do... that. But when he undid the top three buttons, he stopped and just pressed his ear over her heart and remained still. Allison's heart quickly stopped its hammering and she just reached up and began stroking his hair. The comfort of a heart beating. The comfort of knowing life was still going on even when one had ended.

Yes, she could comfort him just fine, by living for him.

TBC

A/N-Awww, drama :(... Don't worry that was tying up a couple of loose ends, don't worry I think that was the biggest dip in our roller coaster!-Andi