A/N: This is the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed the story. I'm going to be working on NaNoWriMo next month so stay tuned for that one. Thanks for reading, and thanks again to Hughville for being an awesome Beta reader :)

Chapter Fourteen

"There's someone waiting for you in your office," an officer said to Nicola as she passed her.

Nicola grabbed another coffee and headed to her office to find House sitting at her desk with his feet up.

"About time. I almost had to wait," he said with a smirk.

She ran over to him and enveloped him in a warm hug. "I didn't think you were coming for another few days."

"I got everything taken care of and figured I might as well just come back. I'm due at the hospital next week so I thought I'd get a head start."

She smiled up at him and then hugged him again. "I'm so glad to see you. I missed you."

"Did you?"

"Yep."

"Well, you can show me how much when we get home," he leered at her. "Also, Wilson came with me."

"He did? Where is he?"

House grinned. "At the hospital talking to Parkins."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I guess he's also had enough of Cuddy's bullshit."

"Hell, I've had enough of Cuddy's bullshit and I don't even know her. But if Wilson leaves too, oh my God, she's going to have kittens."

House looked around her office. It wasn't big, but it wasn't a hole in the wall, either. "Nice office. Got your name on the door and everything."

"Thanks. It was Kendall's office back in the day. He left a few things and we just kept them as souvenirs."

"So when do you get to leave?" he asked her.

She glanced at the clock. "Half an hour. I have some paperwork I need to take care of."

"Okay. I'm going to go meet up with Wilson and have Joseph take us back to the house."

"Sounds good. I'll see you soon."

"Yes you will," he said as he stood in front of her and wrapped his arms around her waist and attempted to kiss her but she ducked her head. "No kiss?"

"I'm working, Greg."

"The door is closed," he pointed out.

"Yeah that doesn't mean much around here. People are always poking their head in here for one reason or another."

"Raincheck then," he said and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before he opened the door and left.

An hour later, as Nicola pulled up the driveway to the house, House and Wilson were just getting out of the SUV.

"They give you that?" House asked, pointing to the Dodge Challenger police cruiser.

"Yep. Perks of being head of Homicide. Hi, Wilson," she said and gave him a quick hug. "Welcome to the ranch. Has House given you the ten cent tour yet?"

"No, we went right to the hospital from the airport."

"How did it go with Dr. Parkins?"

"It was an eye-opener. That hospital is huge, and really nice."

"It was recently updated. It's twice the size it was when I lived here." They went inside and she grabbed a bottle of champagne out of the fridge. "So does the hospital have a new Oncologist?"

Wilson and House exchanged glances. "I think it just might. I'm just worried about Cuddy."

"Screw Cuddy," House said as he took the champagne and popped the cork. "You reap what you sow, and she's sowed plenty of bad seeds."

"I'll drink to that," Wilson said as he took a glass of champagne. "Cheers!"

XXX

After they gave Wilson the tour of the house, they decided to BBQ and have a pool party of sorts.

"How long are you staying?" Nicola asked Wilson as they sat on floating chairs in the pool.

"Just a few days," he told her. "I have to go back to Princeton and get things sorted. I'm taking over for the head of Oncology while she goes on maternity leave, but they don't expect her to be back."

"Good timing, then."

"Yeah. Almost as if…" he began and then shook his head slightly.

"It was meant to happen?" Nicola finished.

"Exactly. Weird, right?"

"Not really. I like to believe everything happens for a reason."

"I agree."

XXX

While Nicola was outside in the front yard washing her car, the gates opened and a black and red motorcycle drove through them and up to the front entrance.

"What's this you got?" Nicola asked House once he cut the engine and took his helmet off.

"Well, I realized it was stupid to pay to ship my car, which was on its last legs, and my motorcycle, when I could just sell them and get the money, so I said to myself, "self, this is a new start so you should get new stuff. So here we are."

"Nice bike," Joseph said with a nod of approval. "600 CC?"

House shook his head. "750."

Joseph chuckled. "Why not go for 1000?"

"They were out of stock till next year," House grinned back.

"And on snow days?" Nicola teased. "Gonna walk to the hospital?"

House and Joseph exchanged glances. "No, Joseph will be driving me."

"Uh-huh."

"Oh, I got you something too," House said as he unhooked the bungee cords from the box sitting behind him, and handed it to her.

Nicola looked suspicious but opened the box to find a metallic black helmet with a visor, and she laughed. "Nice!"

Just then, her cell phone rang so she quickly took it out of her pocket and answered. After a few quick words, she ended the call. "Gotta go.
"Another homicide?" House asked, surprised, as it seemed she'd caught at least a few that week already.

"Afraid so. I'll see you later. Don't wait dinner for me…."

"Yeah yeah," he nodded as she gave him a quick peck, got into her car and took off.

"She's...tenacious isn't she?" House said, more to himself than anything, and Joseph nodded.

"You have no idea."

XXX

Nicola arrived on the scene and it was truly horrendous. One car was wrapped around a telephone pole and the other one was in a ditch.

"What've we got?" she asked as she got out of her car and ducked under the police tape.

"Definite DUI. We've got a guy still alive in the car wrapped around the pole and he's clearly intoxicated. The drivers in the other car weren't so lucky. The ditch is full of water so they were totally submerged and they drowned."

"Guess they were knocked out in the crash."

"That's our take. The guy in the other car is in bad shape, Lt. He asked for you."
Nicola was surprised. "Me? Who is it?"

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

She went over to the car and peered in as they were using the jaws of life to get the people out of the twisted wreck.

"Nick…" the man's weak voice called to her. "Nicola!"

It was Buck. There was so much blood she barely recognized him. "Oh my God.." However, as she stepped closer, she smelled the strong odor of gasoline and saw sparks. "Everybody back! Now!" she shouted to the others before diving out of the way.

"Huh?"

All it took was one spark to ignite the gasoline and the explosion knocked everyone off their feet.

Firemen rushed over and quickly put out the blaze, but it was too late for the occupants of the car.

"Are you alright, Lieutenant?"

"Yeah," she said as she let one of the EMT's help her to her feet.

"Do you want us to check you out?"

"No, no I'm okay. I've got a doctor at home."

"Okay."

After another hour, she returned home, covered in soot and smelling like smoke.

As soon as House saw her, he was up from his chair in no time. "What the hell happened?"

"Car explosion. I'm fine, though I can't say the same for Buck."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. While he was the scum of the earth, I never wished him dead."

"I know. Come on, you need a shower, a stiff drink and then I'll get you something to eat."

"Okay," she said as she let him lead her to the bedroom and helped her. He was a little concerned as she seemed to be in shock, but once she came out of the shower, she seemed to be back to her normal self.

"I heard from Wilson," House told her as she sat down to eat leftovers from dinner. "He'll be back out here in a week. He's working on getting his place sold or rented, whichever. He found a place here in town near the hospital so he'll be checking it out when he gets back. Also, Cameron's been asked to keep Diagnostics going for now."

"I thought they were closing it."

House shrugged. "The board thinks she can run it, and I think she just might, so fine, she can have it. Apparently it pissed Foreman off that the Board preferred her over him and he quit."

Nicola laughed out loud. "You said yourself that Cameron is better at thinking outside the box, anyway."

"Yep. And Chase quit, too. He's moving back to Australia."

"Wow."

"Yep."

"Sounds like everything's falling into place."

"Yeah, which is good. It's about time something went right."

"Now you just need to hire a team," she reminded him.

"Halfway there. I've got potential doctors interviewing this week."

"Great. Gonna do it Survivor-style again?" she teased.

House narrowed his eyes. "How did you hear about that?"

"Wilson."

"Of course. But no, I'm not doing that. It took way too much time."

"I doubt Parkins would appreciate it."

"Cuddy didn't either, but that didn't stop me," House grinned.

"Well, you're free of her now. Must be nice."

"It is."

She finished her dinner and yawned. "I know it's not that late but I gotta go to bed."

"Good idea. You look wiped out."

"Do I?"

"Yep. And I'm feeling a little tired myself," House leered at her.

"I'll bet."

The next morning, House took Nicola to work on his new bike, and she really enjoyed the ride, even though it was short. He arrived at the hospital and was surprised by how many greetings he received when he walked through the halls. People used to run the other way when they saw him coming at Princeton Plainsboro. Here, they seemed legitimately happy to see him and he couldn't get over that. He wasn't sure if he ever would.

His new office still smelled of fresh paint. Everything he requested was in place, including a separate office where a lady sat behind a desk with a headset on.

"Dr. House?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah, that's me."

She extended her hand. "I'm Eliza, and I'll be your personal assistant. I've got some paperwork for you so we can get your hospital ID set up and then I'll get out of your hair."

"Sounds good," he said as he took the paperwork into his own office and started filling it out. As he was doing that, he gave his head a shake in wonder.

For the first time in a long time, he was actually happy. Everything seemed to have turned out for the better and he wasn't sure what to make of it. All he knew was that he was where he was supposed to be, and the worst was behind him. It was a new chapter in his life and he had a good feeling that it would be a happy ending.

The End.