Author's Notes: So I promised this was all going somewhere… and we've finally arrived.

Don't shoot me for leaving this chapter like this. It was a natural breaking point!

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The next month passed in a happy blur. Allison had her first ultrasound and while she proudly posted a copy of the picture on their fridge door, she was bowled over when she found a copy stuck up on one of Greg's cabinet's in his office at the hospital for all to see. They had a steady string of patients, and a run of good luck in diagnosing each and every one of them before it was too late, a real miracle considering the shape two of them had been in by the time they were admitted to House and company's care.

As soon as she'd had her ultrasound and was reassured that the baby was normal and had a strong heartbeat Allison had called her brother. As predicted he had been thrilled, and insisted that he and Susan come meet Greg as soon as possible. They finally agreed on Thanksgiving, and Allison planned on calling Olivia and inviting her also. Maybe even Madeline if she wanted to try to fly up for the holiday.

Only a few things marred an otherwise perfect September. Allison still hadn't had the nerve to call her father, and they'd had no luck at all finding a new house. In addition, while she had opted to stay in Diagnostics for another year, both Chase and Foreman had taken other positions. Happily both would be remaining at PPH. Still the mood as the end of their contracts approached was a bit solemn. Despite the petty infighting that they often indulged in they had become quite close in the past two years.

House was just starting the interview process, which he was dreading when tragedy struck.

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Over the last ten months, House's use of vicodin had decreased significantly, other than an occasional flare up when he'd overdone something. (Usually sex – the last time they'd gotten carried away in the shower had been a killer) For the last two days however he'd been popping pills like the old days and he couldn't pinpoint anything he'd done to cause the pain. An hour ago he'd gotten up out of bed and made himself as comfortable as possible in the chair in the living room. He wasn't surprised when Allison came out to find him and hour later. He rarely got anything by her anymore.

"You are seeing Dr. Shepard tomorrow first thing," she insisted.

He was in too much pain to do anything other than nod in agreement, which scared her slightly. Neither of them got any more sleep that night and they headed to the hospital bright and early the next day. By 9:00am Greg had seen Dr. Shepard and they were awaiting test results. By 11:00 they had the bad news. Another mass of muscle was dying and Greg was faced with his worst nightmare all over again, the prospect of losing his leg to save his life.

Meanwhile Allison had sat quietly by his side through the exam and consultation trying to take deep steadying breaths and remain calm. Even so as the day progressed she could feel the panic raising. This couldn't possibly be happening to her again. By evening Olivia and Madeline had arrived, called by Allison to Greg's dismay. He figured she'd brought them in as backup to convince him to amputate the leg and be done with it. However nothing was said, and as the hours passed he realized that unlike Stacy the last time he had been in this position, Allison didn't need to appear to be a pillar of solitude and strength. The more people she had to lean on the better.

And as evening approached he was glad to have them there. While everyone else was concentrating on him, his mother was keeping half-an-eye on Allison and her grandbaby. Therefore it was Madeline who realized that Allison wasn't doing well. She brought up her concern to her son during a lull in the almost constant activity in his room.

"Greg, what is Allison's doctor's name?" she asked.

"Dr. Sheila Lundstrom, why?" he asked with a frown.

"I don't like her color and I think someone should give her a quick check-up," Madeline told him.

"Have Dr. Cuddy page her, and keep me in the loop," House demanded.

And hour later they had Allison in maternity, hooked up to monitors and sedated. Her blood pressure had gone through the roof and if it hadn't been for Madeline's concern she could have easily miscarried. Greg took the news poorly, blaming himself for not guessing that she was in trouble. She'd been way too quiet. Olivia not so gently reminded him that he was on enough painkillers to bring down an elephant.

"Still, I know this has to be like she's trapped in her worst nightmare all over again," House sighed, and told his sister the story of how Allison had lost her son and husband. "You need to promise me you will help her through this," he asked.

"That sounds like you've already given up," Olivia scolded.

"I'm just being realistic. The odds aren't that good," House sighed.

"They get a lot better if you just let them take the damn leg," a voice said from the doorway.

"James, thank goodness, maybe you can talk some sense into him," Olivia commented. "I'm going to go check on Allison."

James was smart enough not to harp on the subject of his opening comment. Instead he brought some other news. "Shepard recommended a guy from John Hopkins and Cuddy went back through your files. Luckily you treated a patient they referred several months ago, he ended up having epilepsy? Anyway, Cuddy is calling the favor and seeing if she can get this guy here tomorrow. A Dr. George Lindon," he informed his friend.

"Marcum," House commented.

"No Lindon, I'm pretty sure," James replied.

"Marcum was the guy we treated. Allison fought the merits even though we were kind of swamped at the time," House clarified.

"Well, it looks like it might have paid off. This Lindon is supposedly the best and might just be able to save your leg," James told him.

"I like him already," House quipped causing Wilson to chuckle.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I hear he has a bedside manner to rival your own. It should be a very interesting face off," James said with a grin.

"Not a fair match. I'm all doped up," House complained.

"That's never stopped you before," James said with reassuring pat on his shoulder.

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The next morning Lisa Cuddy led Dr. George Lindon through the halls of PPH trying to ignore the fact that his eyes were trained on her rear-end. She had to wonder if all the truly brilliant ones were jerks. When they arrived at House's room she was surprised to see Allison dozing in a chair by his side. James Wilson was over in the chair by the window.

"What is she doing up?" Cuddy asked in concern.

"She woke up around 5:00am and made a fuss. Her blood pressure is stable for now so Lundstrom thought she would be better off seeing him for a bit," James assured her. James rose to greet the newcomer and both Allison's and Greg's eyes shot opened at the same time, his a bit more slowly than hers.

Cuddy made the introductions and Dr. Lindon promptly cleared the room. Cuddy immediately led Allison back to maternity and told her to try to get some rest.

"No way," Allison said with a grimace. "These sedatives give me nasty dreams."

"Well, I'll send someone down to stay with you as soon as Dr. Lindon gives us an update," Cuddy told her.

"See if Foreman or Chase is free," Allison requested.

"I'll make them free," Lisa assured her. "One of them will be here in five minutes tops."

"Thanks," Allison said with a relieved sigh. The last thing she wanted was to be alone waiting for bad news.

Her dreams the night before had been very real. In them House had of course refused to let them take his leg and Wilson had come to give her the news that Greg had died. As soon as he had left Stacy had appeared to rub it in, reminding her that House didn't love her or the baby enough to stick around. When she'd awoken she'd immediately buzzed the nurse and had her page James, sure that Greg was gone. Eventually, after consulting with her doctor, he had taken her down to House's room to reassure her that the man was still alive.

Now though she was back to waiting, and she had to do it hooked-up to monitors. At least she was only mildly sedated at the moment and with this new doctor coming in there was some hope.

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Dr. Shepard sighed. Dr. Lindon it seemed spent as little time with the patients as possible, ironically not unlike his current patient. So it was now up to him to carry out the task of getting Greg House to sign the releases while Lindon went to set up for surgery. It was not a task he was looking forward to. At least he had reinforcements out in the hallway where House's family and James Wilson were waiting.

"Ok Greg, you know the routine. This first form is permitting Dr. Lindon to perform the surgery to remove the dead tissue," he told him, and watched as House dutifully signed. Then he held out a second form. "This second one is permission to amputate if Dr. Lindon finds that there is too much damage."

Then he stood back and waited for the argument he was sure would ensue.

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Both Foreman and Chase had shown up in Allison's room when paged. They had spent the last hour trying to get her mind off of things by filling her in on their new departments and cases they were working on. However they were just about out of anecdotes when James Wilson showed up.

"They just took him to surgery," he announced.

Allison nodded and Chase left the room. "He going to observe and send updates on Eric's pager," she explained. "Did they say how long it would take?"

"Lindon said it would take about an hour to determine if there is too much damage or not. If he can continue with the surgery it will take another two to three hours. If not they will start the amputation immediately. So we should know one way or another in an hour," he informed them. On seeing their surprise he continued with a smile. "I always knew that you were good for him Allison. I didn't know you could work miracles. He agreed to the amputation as a last resort without protest. I asked why now and not five years ago and he said you two had talked this morning while I was napping in the chair. Whatever you said worked."

Allison looked confused. "We didn't exactly talk. I thought he was asleep. I just rambled. I told him I loved him, and that I had felt the baby move for the first time. I didn't say anything about the surgery really."

Now James was confused too. He definitely was looking forward to talking to his friend afterward to see just what had swayed him.

But first they had to wait until he made it through surgery.

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TBC