AN: Again, thank you for the great reviews. Now that i've got this chapter out of the way, the actual conclusion to the story can pick up a bit.

The Road Home: Downward Spiral

Having something taken away from you, that means the world, is always hard. When that something is your child though, it's enough to destroy life as you know it.

Allison was the one who showed me, taught me, about hope. It was when she lost that hope, that the downward spiral started.

Allison would get up every morning, full of hope for the day to come, full of hope that this indeed, would be the day they found her daughter. Each night, I'd hold her as she cried. It continued this way for years. I knew it would only be so long before something killed that hope, and the complete breakdown would start.

A month before what would be Alexandra's fourteenth birthday, it happened. A fourteen year old came into the clinic that day, worried parents in tow. The girl was exhibiting some strange symptoms and our team went to work trying to save her. Three days later, as Allison watched from the doorway, the girl died. You can't save them all, I always told her.

She fell apart.

I don't know what to say to her anymore. It hurts to do so, but most days I just leave her sitting on the couch, crying. She's taken another leave of absence, and now ceases to function. Foreman and Chase take turns sitting with her during the days, I've given them time off to do so. They don't mind, it hurts them just as much to see Allison go through this. I know she thinks that I've put Alexandra aside and gone on with my life, but it's not true. How do I tell her, CAN I tell her, that I spend most of my free time alone, trying to figure out how I can pull her out of her depression? How do I tell her that it DOES still bother me, that more days than none I sit by myself on the hospital roof, crying for my daughter? How do I tell her that I'm afraid I'm going to lose her now, too?

Today would have been my little girl's fourteenth birthday. It's hard to believe that eight years have passed since that nightmare of a morning. Chase arrived this morning, paperwork in tow, to keep an eye on things while he worked. He glared at me as I kissed Allison goodbye, I know he thinks I'm a bastard for leaving her every morning. I long to sit down, tell her everything I've been keeping to myself the past eight years, but I don't.

Gregory House doesn't fall apart...at least while anybody is watching.