A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've had some medical complications with my horse the last few weeks that have added time daily into the schedule. She's going to be fine, just needing some extra TLC for a while. Life other than that is pretty nuts, too. I'll have a new chapter up ASAP.
To give you something to read meanwhile, though, now that Stacy is out of the bag, I'd recommend that everybody go back and reread the last chapter of Pain. In particular, read Stacy's scene (written from her viewpoint, even, so you get her thoughts along with it). Stacy's reappearance in this story is something that has been in the works literally for years now. I've been laying groundwork for it through multiple stories. I think it was clear back during writing Onslaught when I first started to get the beginnings of this idea.
As for the one reviewer who always thought they had a good relationship, I actually think it was one myself. Limited, in that they didn't fully open up to each other, but probably the best relationship both of them were capable of at the time. House has described it to Jensen on more than one occasion in this series as a good relationship and talked about how they had fun together. I have even told readers already flat out in the previous chapter of this story that the most obvious explanation for her reappearance, trying to add some curry to her diet again with House, is not the correct one. At least that's House's assessment when he takes a minute to think on it, and he's pretty good at differential. He isn't seeing everything, but what he is seeing is accurate. As for House's reaction to her when she did turn up, remember the stress that he is under at the moment, but yes, we will dig into that, too. There will be further dissection and exploration down the line with House and Jensen into his reaction and also into her potential motives. The conversation with Stacy will come down the line, too, though after plenty of intervening chapters on the broken ankle plot. Have a little bit of patience before casting your vote on her role in this story; it is very much more complicated than it appears on the surface. You may not agree with what I did when all is over, but you will have much more information then.
And yes, the Stacy arc will be dealt with and resolved in this story. I may have been planning it for several, but I'm not going to extend it across several now that she's back. So readers won't have to wait for another story or two to get the details on what happens with her. More when I can.
