Charming House Chapter 3, a house, m.d. fanfic

The caves were damp, and they smelled much worse than she remembered. Cameron wanted to be some place bright, warm, and not so...Underworld-like. She shook lightly with anticipation as the women seemed to almost float as they walked. Phoebe's soft shoes made almost no sound behind her, but Allison could tell exactly where the woman was.

Piper made a hand motion to get the attention of the others. She gestured them back and pointed. Another hand signal, and Phoebe was handing her a potion. It was a sign language that the three had come up with on pure instinct over the years Cameron felt like an out-sider. There was another jesture. Allison understood that she was supposed to arm herself with a fire-potion and took the correct bottle from the pouch.

"3, 2, 1," Piper mouthed. At the end of the count down, potions were thrown, and the sister ran through the smoke. Phoebe chanted a spell, while Allison, as she was told, hung back behind the rocks, out of site. She watched as they battled the lone demon. "Paige, now!" Paige threw another potion, a hole opened up to Hell and the demon was swallowed.

"Good work. You okay, Allie?" Allison nodded and stood to move from her hiding spot.

"Stop." Paige said. "I can't orb." Allison froze. Paige tried to walk over to where Allison stood now, frozen in fear. She was thrown backards into Phoebe and Piper.

"Ow!" Phoebe said, sitting up. She looked around the cave. "There's a crystal," Phobe said from her landing spot on the floor. She could see the black crystals surrounding them. "OH...just terrific."

"What do I do?"

"Can you orb them?" Allison stared at the crystal hard.

"Crystal," she called. Nothing. "What do we do?"

"How well does Chase do in stressful situations?" Piper asked. Allison closed her eyes and groaned.

Charming House

"If I were there, they'd be back by now," Chase bragged. "Most demons go down pretty easily from what I've seen." Chase lazily floated close to the ceiling of the attic. A friend of the family had taught him basic levitation through a spell. It always calmed him, to float above the room. House tossed a pillow up at him, breaking his concentration enough for him to crash onto the couch below. Wilson mentally marked another point for his friend. House's cane was destroyed an hour ago; it was a pile of splinters now. House had tripped Chase with it. The cane, in its last moments, was floating 4 inches above House's reach when Chase sneezed, and the cane shredded itself. The group suspected Piper or Paige could fix it.

"I think I broke something," Chase said, going white as he landed. House inspected Chase's left arm. His wrist was definatly broken, badly.

"Nice moves, House," Foreman said, looking for his medical kit.

"For the Cane. It was expensive," he said. A noise, now becoming familiar to them, alerted them to Cameron's arrival.

"I have a ball game next week!" he complained.

"Where are the others?" Wilson asked Cameron. She was shaking hard. "Cameron, what happened?"

"They were captured. We need Chase."

"House broke my arm!" Chase's eyes were watering from the pain, but he refused to cry. His face was completely drained of color. Cameron rolled her eyes and put her hands over the break. White light glowed from her fingers, and his wrist healed itself. "Thank you," he said, regaining composure. "Why do you need me?"

"That vanishing act you have, the one where you move things? Its not a white-lighter ability. Its a witch thing you have, right?" He nodded. "The white-lighters are being held by dark-lighter crystals. I can't orb them out to free the sister. If you can pull them away, breaking the circle, Piper can blow them up. Can you handle that?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Have you ever been to the underworld?" Chase laughed lightly. "You haven't, have you."

"Well...okay...no. I've never been."

"Oh Good Lord," Wilson said, rubbing his forehead.

"Stay with me. Do everything I tell you. Do you understand?" Chase nodded, took her hand and they vanished.

"Five bucks says they come back and he's hurt," Foreman said, looking up from his Sudoku puzzle book.

"Ten says the wombat bites it."

Charming House

Chase froze as he materialized. This was nothing like he expected. There was no fire, mini-devils running around. What was all the fuss about? He took a breath and smiled at Cameron. She rolled her eyes and had him duck down behind here. After a few winding caves, he could see the sister, waiting calmly. She pointed at the first crystal, and chase pulled it.

"Piper," Phoebe called.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK!" a loud voice from the other side of the cave yelled. "I pulled the Charmed Ones down. Wait until my Master gets here." The crystal appears next to Piper. A quick Flick of her finger tips, and a loud pop told Chase he had done well.

"Wait until your master sees you now!" Piper said, blowing the demon up. Green ick sprayed the room. "Oh...that is just not cool."

"Chase?" Cameron said, seeing that her commerade had gone white again. He was frozen in fear. "Robert Chase, don't freak out on me now." Chase swallowed.

"Did...she just...blow him up?"

"Yeah," Cameron said, as if it was an every day thing. "Didn't you battle demons?"

"I usually just used my vanishing act to put their Atheme's into their own flesh, opened up a hole into Hell and was done with it. Never seen one blown up before." Cameron dragged him to his feet.

"We don't have time for you to lose it," Paige said, teeth clenched. "They are done gathering the white-lighters. There are no more. All that is left is a few Elders! You need to accept that this is real and help us save them!" Chase nodded and they headed off into the caves.

Charming House

The five wandered through caves looking for the missing white-lighters. Something inside of Paige and Allison pulled them through the caves towards the others. They could sense them now. Mostly, they were calling for help. There were too many voices to pick out a single person.

"This way," Paige said. She came upon another wall, and Chase pulled the crystal. "Come on," she said, leading on. The narrow cave they were in suddenly let into a large room. Hundreds of white-lighters and witches were gathered. Piper searched for Leo, followed closely by the people she brought down with her.

"Leo?" she called. Suddenly, warm arms wrapped around her from the side.

"Piper, what are you doing here? There's no way out; Dark-lighter crystals surround the cave."

"We brought people for that. You remember Allison, and this is her friend Robert Chase."

"Allison!" he called, hugging her.

"Hey, Leo," she said.

"I haven't seen you since you fell. How are you?"

"I followed your advice."

"Dr. Cameron?" She nodded.

"That's wonderful."

"Um, Hello? Shouldn't we be popping their crystals and orbing the hell out of here?" Paige asked, Chase nodded, and pulled a crystal. Piper blew it up, and continued the process while Leo, Paige, Phoebe and Allison informed the room as to what was happening. After enogh Crystals were destroyed, the room emptied quickly. All but the Charmed ones and Co. left. Piper armed Chase with a pouch full of potions.

"You!" a demon yelled.

"Don't I know you?" Phoebe asked. "Oh. Right. You worked for Cole. Guess what? You're about to join my late husband," she said, throwing a potion at his feet. She chanted a spell and the demon, frozen by the potion, could only watch as the circle of Hell opened for him. "Tell Balthezar I say hello," she yelled after him. Chase turned to stare at Phoebe.

"What did you say?"

"I dated a demon, he turned human, we got married, and he went back to demon...we had to vanquish him." She spoke very softly, enough for Allison to not ask any more questions.

"You vanquished Balthezar?"

"Yeah," Piper said, defensively. Chase looked her in the eye.

"You brought justice for an old friend of mine he killed years ago." He said nothing more than that and the group orbed back to the manor before any more demons could take notice of what had happened.

Charming House

House looked at the unscarred group. He'd expected some major battle, dirt-covered, wounded witches to return. Cameron smiled at him. Three people orbed in, catching the attention of the group.

"Allie," the man said. She was in his arms before he could finish speaking. "Allie, the battle is yet to come, but the Charmed ones can handle it."

"Its not over?" she asked.

"No, its actually only beginning. Your part is done, and these people don't need to be here for it."

"Allie, you can come home, or you can go back to Princeton," the woman said. She had Cameron's eyes. She had her smile, too. House took a mental note that this must be a sister.

"Annika!" Allison hugger her sister. She appeared to be younger than Cameron. "Guys, these are my little sisters, Annie, and Angie." House nodded towards them, not bothering to get up from the couch. He suspected that the two girls were teenagers when they died. Cameron had been 20, and these girls were younger, perhaps 16 and 18.

"You have to choose, Allison," Angie said.

"Before you decide, you have to understand that because of the last five years, you've grown and changed. We wouldn't be married up here. You heart isn't with me any more. You aren't in-love with me anymore," he said. He looked at her with love, and respect. House felt ashamed; he didn't deserve to even see a man love her that much. He wasn't worthy.

"I know, Michael. I made my choice 5 years ago. I want to live a normal life." He smiled and kissed her cheek.

"You don't have to jump just yet. Take some time to tie up some loose ends." His head gestured to the side, but only Allison knew what he meant. "I love you," he whispered, and the three orbed up.

Charming House

House bounced the ball against the wall in his office, and caught it in a greatly practiced motion. His new cane lay next to him, propped carefully against the desk. The file in front of him was leaving him mind full of questions; he loved new puzzles. The darkness in the office was comforting, as was the familiar routine he was glad to have back. According to Chase, The sisters were still fighting, 2 weeks after the rescue. Good was definitely coming out on top, though.

"House?" Cameron said, orbing in. He jumped slightly.

"Are you coming back to work?"

"I might."

"Is this going to cost me another date?"

"I don't know."

"What will it take?" Cameron crossed the room and knelt in front of the man. "I'm already liking the cost." She shot him a look.

"Let me try," she said, puting her hands over the damaged muscles in his leg. He took her hands.

"No."

"You deserve to have your leg back. There won't be a scar, and you won't need the cane."

"And when my medical record looks wrong?"

"Change it, or let the Elders fix it. They owe you." He released her hands and the hovered over the thigh. White light glowed from her hands once more, and he felt his leg tingle and twitch. There was a lot of heat, but it didn't burn. The light left the room, and his leg felt normal. He rubbed where there was once a scar and a dent, and found only normal thigh muscle. He stood, expecting pain, and there was none. He was a normal non-crippled man. "So?"

"Its a leg," he said, smirking.

"You're welcome."

"So," he said, picking up the file. "What's the story on John?"

"Jordan?"

"Whatever." He walked into the board room and looked at the white board.

Charming House

"She's in-love with you, you know," a voice said from the white chair in the corner of House's office.

"I know. No one said you could orb in any time; late husband or not. Get out." Michael stood, and laughed lightly. "By late I meandead. You are dead, and coming back here isn't going to do any good for her."

"She fell this morning." House sighed. He had hopes she'd stay with them. She just...belonged there in his mind. "We talked. She said that she was falling because she is in-love with a man who probably will never love her. She wanted to try though. She doesn't give up on love."

"You know she'd be better off up there."

"No she wouldn't."

"Why?"

"Phoebe told me about a vision she had involving the two of you." Michael hoped that House couldn't tell he was lying. "She saw you married, with a daughter who has your eyes and Allison's smile. The vision showed you walking her into school for her first day. Allison lets you do that while she stands back. The girl runs off with the other kids, and you just want to go pick her up and bring her back to work with you. But you let her stay and you walk away with Allison. You three are happy."

"Phoebe saw that?" House asked, looking into the board room where Cameron was making coffee.

"Yeah. She did."

"Did you tell Cameron?"

"No. It wasn't my place." House nodded and the man orbed out. He thought about all that was said. Cameron gave up so much for him, and he didn't know if he COULD love her. At least now he knew he had to try.

Charming House

"Daddy, I don't want to go," the boy said. House knelt down in front of his son. "I want to come with you and Mom."

"Sam, school will be fun. You get to paint, and color. There are other kids to play with."

"Please don't make me, Daddy," he said softly, crystal blue eyes pleading. House picked his 5-year-old up and walked back out of the class room. House had planned on just waiting another day, but Sam, who was very shy, was shaking horribly.

"I'm not doing this," he said to his wife. "We can home-school him this year, he'll start next year."

"Greg, he has to learn to be around other kids."

"He can be around other kids at the hospital."

"Cancer kids," Allison said. "He needs to be around healthy normal children."

"He's not a normal boy, Allison. Sam is too smart for those kids." House said as he buckled Sam into his booster. "He is my only child and I can't force him to go to school when he is terrified. After he shut the car door, he turned to his wife. "Allison, he is scared of the other kids. He's smaller, smarter, and shy. I don't want to put him through that at 5. He can come to work with us. I'm not going to let him feel abandoned the way my father did to me." Allison leaned in and wrapped her arms around her husband, knowing that he was set on what would happen.

"I know, Greg." She sighed. "I hated having him there, too." They got into the car, and were ready to head up to PPTH with Sam, who had avoided school for another year.

"I'll look into the private schools again, but I really think that us teaching him and bringing him to work is what is best for Sam. I don't want him to orb another child's lunch away, or spill that he's only half human. Maybe, if he's ready, we can let him orb over to the manor and Piper can work with him. She's home-schooling Wyatt, Chris and Mel for now."

"I'll orb over and ask."

"Allison," he said softly.

"Hmm?"

"Not that I'm complaining about the last 8 years or anything, but why did you stay?You didn't fall from grace, but you still stayed at the hospital."

"Something Michael said. Best of both worlds. I didn't have to choose. I could be a white-lighter and a doctor. So I am." House nodded again, remembering that Michael had told him she fell.

"Reminded me to thank him." Allison smiled at her beloved husband as they drove. He loved that smile. He loved that woman.