Well, I took the rating down to T again, because I realized (after about two years of fan-fiction, mind you) that when you look up stories, those rated M don't show up unless you select it on the menu on top of the page! I'm so computer-illiterate, I know. Laugh if you will, but don't make fun of me. :P Anways, I know some of you don't have me on story alert, so this is for you! (More for me, actually, because I live on your reviews some days. :P) So I'm pushing the T-rating a little bit, but that's okay.

Thanks for all the reviews, everyone, they keep me going! I hope you enjoy Chapter 17!

House knocked on the door, more to let Julia know he was coming in than anything else. He turned the knob and stomped into the house. "Julia!" he yelled. "Where are you?"

"We're up here," she called anxiously.

House mentally cursed Alma for having a house with steps and begrudgingly made his way up them. He walked into the bedroom, his steps loud and quick. "What have we got here?" he asked as he stared at Alma. She was laying on the bed, her eyes closed, not conscious.

"She's not waking up," Julia said tearfully. "What's wrong with her? Is it the alcohol? Did she finally just have too much?"

"She wouldn't be breathing if she'd reached her limit, that much I can tell you," House assessed, studying Alma. "You can't wake her up?"

"Nothing I do is helping," she said. "Cold water, shaking her – I've tried everything."

"Interesting," House commented, standing back, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"No, it's really not," Julia said angrily, wiping her eyes. "Mom might be a specimen to you, but you might be kind enough to talk about her like an actual human being with me around. She's a real person to me, you know."

"You might be kind enough to let me do my job the way I'm used to it," House growled. He didn't mean to be rude to her; he just worked better objectively. In truth, he wasn't sure what would happen if he let his emotions in on his career, but he wasn't about to find out. Not now, not with so much at stake. "Dr. Cameron is coming by soon. She'll make sure you're okay here while I take your mother to the hospital."

"Well, I've got to come with you," Julia protested. "She's my mom."

"You've had quite enough of hospitals," House told her. "Help me take her downstairs. Between the two of us, it should only take about an hour."

Julia bent to lift up her mother's shoulders, struggling under her weight and her own weakness. "I hope Dr. Cameron gets here sooner than later. We might be doing more harm than good, moving her around like this."

"Don't worry about it," House said, easing the tension on his leg as he took a step down the staircase. "When the only thing separating you from death is a slow but steady heartbeat, you can't go much further down."

Ten minutes and a few bruises later, House and Julia had Alma safely down the stairs. The door was going to be the next big hurdle, but they figured they might as well take it once step at a time and make it across the foyer first.

Of course, Dr. Cameron came in at that precise moment.

"What's up?" she asked, eyeing Alma. "Is she okay?"

House tried to talk in a way that wouldn't upset Julia, an understandably daunting task, considering all the things that must have been running through the poor girl's mind. "She isn't waking up. Her breathing is considerably slower than what would be considered normal for a woman with her medical history. I think we should take her to the hospital and have her looked at."

Cameron nodded. "What do you want me to do?" she asked him.

"Take Julia's place and help me get her out to my car. I'll drive Alma to the hospital, and you can follow me with her," House requested. "Julia, could you hold the door open for us?"

She nodded slowly and opened it as House and Cameron carried Alma out to the car. It would have been almost funny had it not been for the severity of the situation. Cameron's addition to the force made the task easier, and as they struggled with her to the car, House was able to regain his senses and curse himself for not just calling an ambulance. He would feel like an idiot, walking into the hospital like this.

They propped Alma up in House's front seat and made sure she was still breathing. She was, very slowly. She was very pale, and House was extremely worried for her. Julia didn't know him well enough to be able to tell, but Cameron saw at once the telltale signs that House was filled with dread – the pursed lips, awkward silence, and accentuated lines in his face all told her that he wasn't feeling invincible today. She licked her own lips, trying to keep it together for Julia. Cameron couldn't help feeling like everything was hopeless. To her, Gregory House represented strength and security and stability, all the things she wanted most in life but always seemed to elude her. When those traits were absent or diminished in the faintest, the world felt like it was collapsing.

"See you there," House said as he got behind the wheel and drove away.

Cameron and Julia were left alone, not sure how they felt about being forced into this situation. Julia broke the ice by saying softly, "Be honest with me, Dr. Cameron. Who's going to die first, my mom or me?"

Alison Cameron shook her head. "I don't know," she whispered, talking more to herself than Julia. "If I had to place my bet on anyone, I'd say House would go first."

"He's not sick!" Julia exclaimed. "Or is he? Cameron, is my dad sick too?"

Cameron regarded her with grave eyes. "Physically, he's fine. But I don't know how he is mentally. He could be dying in his mind, and we'd never be able to tell until it was too late." She felt cruel for saying it, but honesty was a vice of hers.

"I did it, didn't I?" Julia asked, sinking down on her front porch. "This all started with me. Dr. Cameron, I screwed his life up so badly, and I wish I could take it all back."

Cameron sat down beside her and put an arm around her, feeling a strange maternal instinct come over her for a girl that couldn't have been any more than ten years younger than she was. It was the most extraordinary sensation she'd ever felt, pushing her out of her comfort zone, but somehow it felt so right to be taking care of another human being. "Never, ever wish that," Cameron said softly. "You might not see it, but you're saving his life. You know, the two most vital organs in your body are your brain and your heart. We always knew he had a brain. Dr. House is a medical genius, a very brilliant man. But he's a little bit stupid when it comes to emotions. For a long time, we had been convinced that he didn't have a heart. But you've proven he does. Julia, the rest will come in time. He'll be okay. I promise."

Julia smiled through the cheerless beads of water dripping down her face, and her head dropped onto Cameron's shoulder. Suddenly her thoughts had become to heavy for her to carry alone. She hadn't been sure if someone would help her bear them, if she would be lucky enough to find someone who would. But she had Cameron, who no longer seemed like an impersonal, robotic doctor with a pretty face and no substance behind it. Alison Cameron, Julia thought with some surprise, is my friend.

House drove along at ten miles over the speed limit, not particularly relishing the thought of getting caught speeding, but not wanting to go to slowly either. Between his cane and the temporary insanity he was sure was coming over him, he felt he could take an officer of the law in case they tried to stop him. After all, Dr. House had a higher calling than anyone else they might pull over. He was trying to save a life.

"Alma," he said sharply, then stopped for a moment as he realized what he was getting into: a conversation with the near dead. She couldn't even hear him. What was the point?

Internal cleansing, House thought smugly. That's my motive. No reason to keep it all bottled up inside when I've got a perfectly willing listener right beside me and ten minutes of road ahead of me.

"Alma, are you in there?" he asked, as if to confirm that she was alive. Of course, he received no answer, but the faint rise and fall of her chest was good enough for him. To assume normally made an ass out of you and me, but he wasn't thinking that way now. "I know I haven't been particularly civil to you in recent history. You must know that some of it you deserve, but I guess maybe I'm partly to blame. I'm not sorry, you understand, but I want you realize not all of it is your fault. I guess it can be stressful on you sometimes, being an alcoholic mother of one and married to a lunatic.

"Why'd you do it?" House asked. "Obviously you're not psychic, but how could you have been so stupid?" He felt like a real jerk now, but whatever, she wasn't really listening. "I'll bet he seemed perfect, didn't he? Like he couldn't hurt a fly. I remember back in high school; you used to get As in everything. People thought you were smart, that you'd make a way for yourself in the world, right? They were wrong. If you want to survive out here, where the real people live, you've got to learn not to trust anyone, because what you see isn't what you get. Maybe you weren't bargaining for an abusive psychopath, but that's what you got, and you have no one to blame but yourself.

"Julia is dying because of him, did you know that? While you were at home swimming in the vodka, she was getting attacked by some man at Len's favorite hang-out. He brought her there, you know. It's their fault as much as it is yours. How could you have been so irresponsible?"

House rolled through a stop sign and cursed. Just like a woman to get him in such a rage he couldn't even drive right. "It's a little too late for you to fix everything, but you can fix yourself. That's all you can handle right now, and that's okay. For some inexplicable reason, Julia loves you fiercely. She doesn't want you to die, Alma. She wants you with her, because watching you die would be the worst thing she could ever experience. All the effort she's put into taking care of you when you didn't know right from left – and you've going to waste it? When…" House hesitated, not sure if that was exactly the right word. When in doubt, be positive. Seems to work for cheerleaders. "When we know what's wrong with you, and when we fix it, you've got to carry yourself the rest of the way. The strength you've saved from having someone else push you through life should be enough to dig you out of this hole."

He thought about everything he'd said, and winced. His words really stung; he could see that clearly. He always had. But having someone defenseless against him really made the reality come alive. He wondered if anyone would ever have the nerve to put him in his place. Probably not, not like he needed it. It was then that House realized why he felt like his life was ending: he had scared off the true meaning of life. Enjoying the people you've been blessed to have around you was the most important thing to everyone, whether they believed it to be true for themselves or not. House knew somewhere in his mind that other people made everything inside of him leap with delight, but somehow they brought out the worst in him, the antithesis to what he was feeling. He pushed away what was there to help him more than anything else.

House was reminded of a baby he'd seen once in the ICU. He couldn't remember whatit was in for, but it was serious and required extensive surgery. The baby's dad was there 24 hours a day, standing over him, attending to his every need. He'd never seen love like he had in that man's eyes, and that filled him with terror every time he caught sight of it. How can you let yourself love something that losing is almost inevitable? Anyway, the father had been standing over the boy's bed after a painful procedure had been done, and the baby was screaming so loudly you couldn't hear yourself think. House dimly remembered putting his hands over his ears and watching the man, at the time wondering how strong a bond genetics made that he could love something that made that much noise. The image of the man holding his son stuck in his mind…

The baby screamed and kicked at him, wanting to be let go of. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, and he didn't like being held at all, and he didn't understand why anyone would want to cause him so much pain…

The father held him tighter, knowing the boy was in pain and trying to take some of the burden off of him. In any case, he didn't want him to be alone. He wanted him to know the mental anguish of watching his son in so much agony had to be harder than experiencing it himself...

This was the only possible analogy he could come up with to explain why he had to thwart anyone's attempts to care about him. People hurt you, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. When others came along to pick up the pieces,he had to kick at them and scream at them to lethim go. And more than anything in the world, that hurt them, because they wanted to bear the suffering with him and they couldn't make him see it. House didn't know how he could have been so blind.

House was nearing the hospital, but there was more he had to say. "Alma, I'm going to try to be better too. I want you to know that. While I'm telling you to never let your guard down with people, I never let mine up. There's a fine line somewhere in there that will keep us from getting hurt too often. Maybe we can find it, Alma, learn to straddle the line.I think we can."

Alma was moved into the ICU, where it was determined thather coma had been induced by cirrhosis of the liver. Julia and Cameron were informed of the diagnosis the second they arrived. The doctors tried to be hopeful, but it was clear that a cure was going to be next to impossible to come by. She needed a new liver.

Julia sat by her mother's side all night as they waited for any sign that maybe, just maybe, she might live. She held her hand, only moving away to tell doctors that there was no visible change in her condition. A few times, Julia had tried to talk to her, but only succeeded in saying that she loved her before she burst into a fresh wave of tears. Finally, she gave up. The fact that even though her mother was heading towards death even faster than she herself was couldn't convince her to say what she needed to made her miserable. She wouldn't make herself cry, not evenfor her own mother's sake.

A knock came at the door around eleven o'clock that night. Julia stirred, angry with herself for falling asleep, and went to open it. "Dr. Cuddy," she said, surprised the woman was still at work. "Hello."

"Julia, I think I've found it," she said excitedly. "I found a liver for your mother. It should be here in approximately five hours. I believe that surgery at this point will be very risky, with her in the shape she's in, but if she makes it through alright, then maybe she'll survive."

Julia dropped to her knees, relief washing over her, assuring her it was okay to be tired and fallen because help was on the way. "Thank-you, Jesus!" she screamed, truly convinced that maybe, just maybe, Someone up there liked her. She'd never been particularly spiritual, but she was willing toplay the religion card if it meant her mother would get a second chance. "Oh my God, thank-you so much!"

Dr. Cuddy patted her awkwardly on the head, her face a mixture of warmth, kindness, and strangely, sadness. It was obvious that Julia was sure that they were out of the woods, when in fact, this was just the beginning. "I'm going to go home now and get some sleep, but I promise I'll be in tomorrow to see how things are going."

"Thank-you, Dr. Cuddy," Julia sobbed, feeling stupid for crying in the face of such hopeful news. "Where's my dad? Does he know?"

"Dr. House is getting some much-needed rest in his office. He's here, but he's exhausted," Cuddy said. "He doesn't know yet, but he'll probably come by to see you soon."

"Okay," Julia said, nodding. She blinked hard. "Thanks again, really. You don't know what you're doing for us."

Cuddy smiled sympathetically and closed the door.

Julia turned back to her mother and said, "Did you hear that, Mom? They found you a liver. I know you were probably hoping for a new car or something cool like that, but isn't this just as nice? Better, even!" She watched her mother's face, then sighed. No sign of life flickered on Alma's almost white face. "I know it's hard, Mom. I know. But you've got to hang on for just a few more hours. They'll take it from there, but please keep going." Julia felt selfish for asking her to keep breathing when it pained her so much, but she reminded herself it was her mother's life she was fighting for. She murmured encouragement to her all night long, not stopping until the next morning when they came to prep her for surgery.

That was when Julia realized that everything was out of her hands. 19 years of reversed parenting had come to this, and she could only hope that she'd done everything right.

Finally, this chapter is complete! Sorry, ya'all, like I said, between attempting to learn to drive (at least I haven't destroyed anything yet - always good news) and getting the opportunity to visit my own doctor (who is nowhere as cool as Dr. House, being female and not at all sarcastic or witty), everything is insane around here. I can't imagine how I'd deal with it if I had any real hobbies that required any real effort on my part. :P Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If I messed up any of my facts, let me know, and I'll see what I can do. Reviews are still some of my favorite things, along with snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes and girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, so if you've got anything to say, I'd love to hear it! Chapter 18 (wow!) up soon!