I'm incredibly sorry for making you all wait so long! My muse was avoiding me. But I caught him, and you are now presented with (trumpet fanfare) the final chapter! I nearly ended it with the fourth chapter, but so many people wanted to know about the letter in the beginning, so I decided to put that in.

Thanks to every single one of my reviewers. I just can't thank you all enough! So thanks to Becca4521,Graveofthefireflies, Dr Ingram, theshowpopper, bmax, IheartTheWho, brynnamorgan, bemorechill,Proops, septemberrebellion, rachbigbro, jenloveshouse, hplver, SilverMoonShining, orangeangel, Ellie 5192, AineMorrigan, Housestalker, JadePixieDust, Marauder3Moony, gh2005, A-E-W, house obsessed, Belmont-Bellamy, SimpleNClean92, Insert Witty Name Here, VicodinIsMyAnti-Drug, colonelheather, and alsomy anonymous reviewers, Heather, Christina, Dani, memamo,isheebishee, too lazy to sign in, Ariadne, and Emily. You all rock!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my fanfic!

Two days. Two days since the funeral. Two days since the letter. House threw his red andgrey ball against the glass wall, causing Chase to jump and cast House an annoyed glance. Catching the ball, House grinned and threw it again. Shaking his head, Chase gathered up his papers and left. It was just past eight in the morning, and everyone was still home, except House, Chase, and the night crew stragglers, who didn't seem to want to stop working. Plus Cuddy. Did she even go home? Shrugging, House placed the ball back on his desk. Maybe he could beat Metroid Fusion before work hours actually started. Pulling open his drawer, he became absorbed in looking for his Gameboy. Taking out a rotten banana, he grimaced and tossed it in the basket. He needed to clean out his desk. Or have Cameron do it.

He couldn't find it. Swearing, he emptied the entire drawer onto his carpet and searched through the lot. It wasn't there. Double-checking through the pile of papers with his cane, House came across a letter he had nearly forgotten about. Frowning, he picked it up. It was one side of a paper long, and hastily written in small, cramped writing. House leaned back in his chair. He remembered this letter now.

The sound of heels clacking on tiled floor made House start. Hurling curses at the general vicinity, he tossed the letter on his desk and scrambled to stuff the mess on his floor back in the drawer. Cuddy would have his head if he left his office that messy. In fact, he had heard from the nurses that she had once fired a guy when she had walked into his office only to promptly trip over several stacks of papers sitting in front of the door. At least, that was the rumor. Glancing up as the heels came nearer, House's worst fears were confirmed. Cuddy was striding down the hallway, straight for his office. Quickly shoving the papers deep in the drawer, he slammed it shut and looked wildly around to make it look like he was doing something, and not a potential target for clinic duty. Just as Cuddy paused before opening the door to wipe something off her blouse, House finally spied his Gameboy hiding behind the computer screen. He turned it on just as Cuddy opened the door. She seemed amused by his slightly flushed face.

"I heard about what happened." The dean of medicinespoke quietly. House glanced up from the start screen.

"What, Cameron couldn't keep her mouth shut?" He turned his attention back to the game. Cuddy tossed a thin folder onto his desk.

"No. The obits couldn't." She left without the argument about Cameron doing his clinic duty House had been expecting, leaving him to wonder if possibly hell had frozen over. Regrettably setting aside his Gameboy, contemplating whether or not the world would get colder without the fires of hell to warm their feet, House opened the folder. It was a cut-out from a newspaper, with his mother's picture on it. Smiling slightly, he picked up the letter from the corner of his desk and placed it in the folder also. Before closing it, House read again the short letter that he had never, in his wildest nightmares, expected.

Dear Greg,

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I very much regret to tell you that your mother has died. Don't feel guilty, as I'm sure you must be right now, being a doctor. She died in her sleep, next to me last night. Her heart was just too old. You wouldn't have been able to save her. She asked to be buried with her family, and so she will be at Callahan Funeral Home, tomorrow. I am assured this letter will reach you before then, as I sent it to the hospital, and not your home. I hope you will come, for her. For your mother.

Sincerely,

Your Father

P.S. (And here the writing was shaky and bold, as though it had been written slowly)

I'm Sorry. For everything.

House leaned back with the letter in his hand, thinking of how nearly her entire life, his mother had tried to get the two men to accept each other, and it had taken her death to do just that. Guilt swept over him in a wave, bringing unwanted tears to his eyes. Instead of brushing them away like he would do under any other circumstance, House merely turned his chair to face the windows showing the city. He let one tear, filled to the brim with a myriad of feelings, fall from his eye and land on the letter. Frowning, House blinked away the rest of the tears and looked long at the words on the bottom of the letter his tear had fallen on.

I'm Sorry.

Smiling slightly, House swivelled back to his desk and placed the letter in the folder Cuddy had given him, and put that in a separate, more organized drawer. Closing it, House sighed and turned back to face the rising sun.