AN: Sorry for the lapse in updating! Finals are now over and I've got a whole month off before next semester (a.k.a. hell, 19 units) starts. The positive feedback on this story has just been awesome, thank you guys for the great reviews. There's one more planned chapter in this fic before I bring it to a close, but I've been contemplating a sequel. Let me know what you guys think, would that be a good idea?

The Road Home - Questions That May Never Be Answered

Seven stop signs, two red lights, four double yellow lines and twenty-five miles over the speed limit. Marriage to House more than skilled me in the fine art of reckless driving. I never knew that it would come in this handy.

I arrived to my parents house around noon, oblivious that as soon as I stepped inside my life would once again, fall apart. I was doing well, I'd accepted reality, was learning to handle my grief in healthy ways. I had my husband back, was moving on with life. For the first time In eight years, I was actually feeling pretty good.

That was until I turned on the television set.

My father was the one to catch me as I stumbled. I stared into the face of the newscaster as he announced breaking news from Princeton, New Jersey. My eyes grew wider as I listened. My hand went to my mouth as a photo of my six year old little girl flashed on the screen. I left the room, unable to hear what this was all about, not wanting to hear. I knew I couldn't take this.

I sat down at the kitchen table, and pulled out my cell phone to check my messages. I was surprised when I realized that my phone had been off the entire drive up here. As soon as the phone was turned on, it began to ring constantly. "Cuddy", the screen said. Reluctantly, I took the call. I got up to walk around, partly to calm my nerves for what I was about to hear. I was back in the living room when Cuddy told me I needed to get down to the hospital as fast as I possibly could. She paused, waiting for me to say something. In was in this precise minute, that they flashed a NEW photo on the television screen. This photo, was of a teenage girl, who looked exactly like I did as a teenager. I stumbled yet again, and found the strength to yell "I'm coming" into the phone.

I left my stunned parents and my overnight bags sitting in the hall. It took me less than two seconds to get to the car and set off once again.

As I arrived back into Princeton a couple of hours later, the first thing I noticed was the mass amount of news trucks gathered around the front entrance of the hospital. Wilson scared the hell out of me as he appeared out of nowhere, hopping into my car and telling me to drive around back to the parking garage. I just looked at him, silently pleading for him to explain what the hell was going on. He somehow got my plea, and told me he'd explain, just find a place to park before the media recognizes you.

I found a place to park and sat looking at Wilson, expectantly.

"Alexandra is alive," he said.

I must have been staring at him like he suddenly grew a second head. All I could muster up was, "Excuse Me? WHAT?"

Two minutes of pure disbelief passed before I suddenly realized he was telling the truth. The news reports, the picture of my daughter on television as a six year old, the new picture. I grabbed my hospital ID from the glove compartment, my lab coat from the back seat and most likely set a new record dashing up the stairs. I stopped when I got to the diagnostics floor, and realized I failed to ask Wilson any of the details. She was alive, my God, but where was she? Was she HERE AT THE HOSPITAL? Thoughts ran through my head a mile a minute. I stumbled, ready to fall, in such a state of shock. James caught my arm and lead me to a chair inside the conference room, where he then started to explain the details.

He explained how he'd decided to go for a jog that morning, and how he'd come across a girl running down the road, yelling for help. He told me he'd run towards her, only to stop and see an SUV come from out of nowhere, and hit her. He told me how he'd called 911, rode over with her in the ambulance - it was then that she briefly opened her eyes, grabbed his hand and smiled at him. My heart just about stopped though, when he came to the part about her injuries. I started to shake when I heard she was in a coma. He told me House had been the first one to see her after they'd stabilized her, how she was now responding to verbal commands, squeezed Greg's hand when he started talking.

What I wanted to know more than anything, is if she even remembered us. Would she want to speak to us? She was five years old, taken away from us, and now attempting to come back from a serious trauma, would she be a shell of a person? Would she be the smiling, laughing girl I'd once known? So many unanswered questions, questions in which I feared the answers. The first forty-eight hours are the most critical, I knew if she failed to wake up by then, I might never know.

Wilson led me upstairs. Foreman and Chase were waiting at the entrance of the intensive care unit, ready to escort me to Allie's room. Foreman, Chase and Wilson walked behind me as I spied the form of House through the glass wall of one of the rooms. Tears streaming down my face, I walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. House grabbed my hand, and I finally turned to face my little girl for the first time in eight long years.

She looked so peaceful lying there. I couldn't believe this was my daughter. I can't even bring forth the words to explain the emotions that were going through my head as I stood there, looking at her. House let go of my hand and went to bring another chair next to his so we could both sit down. For years, I imagined all the things I would say if I ever got to see my daughter again. Right now, I couldn't even bring myself to speak. I took my daughter's hand and whispered her name. That's about all I could get out when the breakdown came, I couldn't help the tears that came rolling down my face. House pulled me into a hug as I continued to sob.

Me and my damn crying, I should have saved it for the centrifuge. It was my noisy crying that made me miss the slight increase of my daughter's heart monitor. It was my crying that made me miss the eyes of Foreman, Chase and Wilson grow wide from the doorway. It was my crying that made me miss the giant smile that had formed on my husbands face.

What I didn't miss, was the weak tug on my lab coat that came from the bed.

I broke away from House's embrace and slowly turned to face the bed. I was greeted with the bright blue eyes of my daughter, looking up at me. Smiling at myself, House, Chase, Foreman and Wilson, she gave a little wave. She pointed at the tears rolling down my cheeks and rolled her eyes. The sound of laughter from House filled the small hospital room.

"Oh there is definitely no doubt about it now - that is SO my daughter," House said, as the rest of the room started to laugh. I wiped some of the wetness of my face and started to as well, now seeing that she was going to be alright.

Allie grabbed my hand, and House's hand and just smiled up at us.