Chapter 25: Home

Kate wheels her suitcase out to her rental car early Saturday morning. Lisa is in the kitchen cooking breakfast for her best friend.

Kate spent the first half of Friday night convincing Lisa that she did not sleep with House. Once Lisa believed her, they decided to have a fabulous girls' night out and hit several bars around town like the used to do when they were younger. Kate and Lisa stayed out until the bars were all closed for the evening. Kate is very tired and has a vague hangover headache, but comforts herself with the knowledge that she can sleep on the plane.

Kate closes the trunk on the rental car and wistfully stares at Lisa's home. I'm going to miss being here with my friends. Kate thinks about how she had forgotten how much fun she has when she is with Lisa. She shakes the thought out of her head and starts to walk up the sidewalk to the front door. She knows that she has plenty of friends waiting for her back in Seattle. But there's something to be said for old friends.

Kate waves at one of the neighbors as she picks up Lisa's newspaper to bring in. She is about open the front door when she hears him call her name.

"Kate!"

Kate turns and sees Greg standing at the end of the sidewalk. She pushes the nervousness to the back of her head and plasters a smile on her face. "Greg. I thought we already said good bye the other day."

Greg purposely strides up to Kate. He stands in front of her and peers down into her face. He is breathing heavily as if he had been running for hours. Kate immediately is concerned. "Greg, are you ok?"

He nods. "I'm fine." He glances at her and then at the rental car. "What are you doing?"

"I just loaded up the car with my suitcase and Lisa is fixing some breakfast for me. What's up?"

"I saw you kiss Wilson." Greg is breathing heavily. He carelessly wipes some sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

Kate shakes her head. "Wilson kissed me. I told him whatever signal he thought he got from me was a mistake." Greg looks confused. Kate expounds upon her statement. "It was like kissing my brother. Mostly gross and awkward. I don't have those kind of feelings for him. He seemed to think that I had feelings for him. But I absolutely do not."

Greg digests the information for a moment. In a strained voice, he says "And Chase?"

Kate rolls her eyes. "He asked me out and I said no. First of all, he waited until it was almost time for me to go home. Secondly, he is a bit young for my tastes. And lastly, I didn't kiss him. And don't worry, Foreman and Cameron didn't try to put the moves on me."

House looks at the sidewalk and says "Oh." They stand there in awkward silence. Kate is nervously fingering her keys and House traces a circle on the sidewalk with his foot.

Kate finally looks up at him and says "It's odd that it's still this warm this late in October, huh?"

"It's probably global warming and all." Greg looks up at her. "What time is your flight?"

Kate shrugs. "It's early this afternoon. You figure with driving to the airport and returning the rental and all, I'm gonna have to leave close to four hours beforehand."

House glances at the car and nods. "What's Cuddy making for breakfast? I bet it can't beat Wilson's pancakes."

Kate shakes her head in confusion. "Greg, I have no idea." She looks up at him and begs "What do you want? Don't sit here and play twenty questions and try to be coy and sarcastic and witty all at once. Just tell me what you want."

"Don't go."

Kate blinks. I know I didn't hear him correctly. "What?"

Greg's blue eyes are unusually bright as he stares at her and he says "I said don't go."

Kate hears the blood starting to pound in her ears. She shakes her head in disbelief and says "Don't you do this. You promised."

Greg leans in close and says "I want you to stay here. With me."

Kate feels tears burn the back of her eyes. She whispers "No."

Greg smacks the front door in frustration. "Stop it. Stay here. With me."

Kate blinks in an effort to control her tears. "Greg, I have my life to get back to in Seattle."

Greg runs a hand through his hair in frustration. "What's so great back in Seattle?"

"I have a nice house, a good job, friends—"

He interrupts her. "You've got all that here too. Well, except for a house, but when you sell your house in Seattle, you will get at least twice the house here."

Kate shakes the newspaper in her hand at him. "Ugh! Why the hell am I justifying myself to you! I am not staying here!"

"Kat, c'mon. Stay here with me. Don't be stubborn and pigheaded. Just stay. I wouldn't be standing here arguing with you if I wasn't serious. There's no shame in staying if you want to."

Kate shakes her head wordlessly. Her tears spill over and run down her cheeks. Greg pulls her into his arms and fiercely kisses her. The front door opens and Cuddy's jaw falls open in shock. Greg finishes his kiss and looks at Cuddy and rudely says "I know you haven't gotten laid by anything but a turkey baster lately, but kissing is a pretty normal function for two grown adults."

Cuddy looks outraged and sputters some unintelligible words for a moment. Then she turns on one heel and slams the door.

Greg looks down at Kate and says "Now you've got to stay. Cuddy knows about us."

Kate shoves Greg away from her. "There is no 'us'! You've lost your flipping mind if you think I am going to stay! I have a life back in Seattle that I need to get back to!"

Greg calmly says "You have a life here in New Jersey waiting for you. A life with me in it."

Kate shakes her head. "No, no I don't. Go home, Greg. I'm not staying here. That is final."

Kate goes in the house and slams the door in his face. Greg stares at the door for a good minute and finally yells "You'll be back!" He turns and runs down the street.

Kate is leaning against the inside of the front door. She is unable to control the sobs that have overcome her. She leans against the door for several minutes before she finally manages to stop crying. She goes into the kitchen and finds Lisa is mechanically eating. She flicks a scathing glance at her friend but says nothing. Kate wordlessly eats her breakfast. She helps Lisa clean up the dishes after the meal in silence.

Finally, the dishes are done. Kate looks at her friend. She quietly says "I guess it's time for me to go."

Lisa finally blurts "You said you didn't sleep with him, Kate! What the hell were you thinking?"

Kate shakes her head in denial. "Don't be ridiculous, Lisa."

"I'm not in denial! Greg House wouldn't just randomly turn up on my doorstep to plant that kind of kiss on you if you hadn't slept with him!"

Kate gives her friend a quick hug and then picks up her purse and keys and says "I'm leaving. Thank you for giving me a place to stay while I was here. Take care of yourself, ok?"

Lisa throws her hands up in frustration and says "You can't just up and leave! Tell me the truth!"

Kate coldly says "You've already made up your mind about what the truth is. Nothing I can say will change that. Goodbye, Lisa."

Kate walks out to the car. Lisa follows her. "Kate, just tell me! I don't care either way."

Kate throws an exasperated look at Lisa. "Why does it matter? It doesn't matter at all if I slept with him, or Wilson or Chase! I'm not throwing my life I've built in Seattle away for anyone or anything!" Kate opens the car door and says "Give me a call the next time you're out west. I'm never coming back here for anything."

"Kate, don't leave like this. Please. If you love him, the two of you can work it out."

Kate ignores her and gets into the rental car. She starts the engine and backs out of the driveway. She waves at her friend and then drives off.

Lisa hurries back into her house and picks up her phone. She rapidly punches in the number and hears the other end ring.

House answers the phone with a hopeful tone "Kate?"

Cuddy says "No, it's Cuddy. You slept with her, didn't you?"

House scathingly says "Cuddy, what kind of idiot would sleep with his ex-wife?"

"You would."

"Well, I didn't."

Cuddy bitterly laughs into the phone. "I hope you're happy with yourself! She's gone now. I doubt she will ever come back."

House stubbornly says "That's her loss then. I did my best to make amends. If she can't accept that, there's nothing left to be discussed."

Cuddy feels her heart constrict when she hears the dial tone. She silently curses her best friend and House for being stubborn fools and hangs up the phone.

The End


Thanks for reading. I apologize; I am not a big fan of happy endings. I like stories that are like real life. And we all know that real life often does not have happy endings. Try not to blast me too hard in your reviews for the not-so-happy ending. I do hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. House is a fun character to write for. He gets to say a lot of the things that I think runs through many of our heads, but we never say for one reason or another. He is a blast of icy cold air in an otherwise balmy politcally-correct society.

I doubt I will write anymore stories that are long as this one, but I am fairly certain that I will pop in with short stories here and there. While writing this was a lot of fun, I really don't have the attention span for long stories. Scruffy Boots