Hello everyone… the next chapter.

"In an Instant"

Chapter Five

The next few days went by quickly for the Cameron family. Jonathan, Emily and Allison each had their own jobs to complete before everyone else arrived. Jonathan had been planning the funerals, Emily had started to pack up the personal belongings in Ashleigh and Gilbert's house, and Allison had been in the Morgan home packing up the girl's belongings when she was not at the hospital with the twins or getting to know Alyssa better.

By Thursday night Cameron had all of the girl's belongings packed (with 2 of many baby items), a relief as the moving truck would be there the next morning to take their things to New Jersey. Allison had also packed some of Ella's belongings and photos that would go into storage in Princeton. While boxing all of these items Cameron realized that they would defiantly need to move into a bigger home soon, while they could make do for a few months while the twins were still small and therefore able to share items like cribs as soon as they became mobile it would feel like a sardine can.

Back at PPTH House was bored again. Tuesday morning the diagnostic department had had a new case, a 7 year old boy who had been admitted with seizures of an unknown cause. By lunch time Thursday the team had found a diagnose; a rare neurological disorder called Alexander disease. But by now 10am on Friday morning House was bored and moping in the office with a cp of bad coffee. He had been thinking more and more about Cameron over the past few days. The saying 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' may have more merit than he originally gave credit to. As he sat there thinking about Cameron he realized that he had to do something in order to forgo the thoughts of 'what ifs' that had been plaguing his mind the last few months.

After making the necessary arrangements he called Cuddy, when she picked up the phone House started to talk at her, "Hey Fun-bags, I will be out of town for the next few days. I would invite you to come with but I want all the bonus points for myself. I will call you when I get there. Gotta go – plane leaves soon…"

"House, what do you mean you will…" Cuddy asked.

"Foreman and Chase are both on call for the weekend…" House continued as if Cuddy had not said a word.

"…be out of town for the weekend?" continued Cuddy, not understanding what House was talking about, and why she was being told this at 10 in the morning.

"Bye Fun-bags…"

"House" a slightly agitated Cuddy said, annoyed that House was ignoring her.

"Later" House finished with a smirk on his face. Happy that he had gotten one up one Cuddy for once, and that she probably had no clue as to what he was talking about.

"HOUSE!" Cuddy yelled, now wanting to know what on earth had just happened.

As soon as House had hung up he put all the essential things in his office into his bag – namely his i-pod; game boy; small TV and; a few red suckers that he had taken from a nurse's station as he arrived that morning – for the flight and he was out of there.

The sight that house found as the elevator door opened put a smirk on his face. There was Cuddy with her arms crossed in front of her as she tapped her foot. Once again she did not look happy to see House. Walking out of the elevator he thought 'I wonder if she knows that folding her arms like that improves the twins display to the world… also does she know that she will get wrinkles if she continues to frown like that?'

"Wow, thanks Cuddy, you brought the twins to come see me off."

"House where do you think you are going? It is not even 11 in the morning."

"For the moment, home, I need to pack a bag for the weekend; they are expecting me later this afternoon."

"Who are expecting you House? Where are you going?"

"Why Cuddy, I didn't know you cared… Oh, did you want to come with me?" he added wagging his eyebrows at her.

"House, give me a straight answer!" Cuddy firmly told House, leaving no room for negotiations.

"Sorry Cuddy, going out of state. I have been avoiding having a certain conversation with an acquaintance of my parents for some time now. I need to do so before it is too late. I can only hope that this time has not come and gone." House replied, looking down at his feet as he didn't want to look her in the eye.

"Well, I guess you will be going no matter what I say here, it looks like you have everything planned and organized already. You can go, but please keep your phone on and charged in case of an emergency. All I can ask is that you stay out of trouble House, I do not want to be receiving a phone call from you at 1 in the morning asking to be bailed out of jail." Cuddy told House, already had had enough of this conversation and just wanting him out of the hospital.

House had a smirk on his face as he turned to leave the building, 'she should really stop giving me ideas for pranks… that sounds like a good one…'

Come 4pm Friday afternoon the Cameron family had had a very busy day. Due to the 12 ½ hour drive from Chicago to Princeton the moving van had arrived at 5am that morning. After 2 tiring hours of moving boxes and furniture to the van everything was in and the movers were ready to go a little after 7am. This left the rest of the day for the Cameron family to pack up the remaining personal belongings in the Morgan home (the smaller of the 2) and move them to the home of Ashleigh and Gilbert. (They had decided that the fastest way Allison could get the money required to buy the much needed home was to get at lease one of the houses ready for sale in the next few weeks. By moving the belongings from one house to the other they could hopefully be in a new home around Christmas time when the twins were about 2 months old.)

At about 11:30 that morning Cameron had called Cuddy to let her know that all had gone well that morning and that the moving van would arrive some time around 6pm that evening.

"Cameron, don't worry. The guys have said they will be there, and good news. House has gone out of town for the weekend so he will not be here to go through your apartment." Cuddy said, finally starting to calm down after that conversation with House.

"Thanks Lisa, that is all great news. Thank you so much for everything that you are doing for me. It is above and beyond anything that you need to do as my employer Lisa and I thank you for it. I don't know what I would have done without you this week. With you help I have been able to keep my focus on everything here in Chicago without stressing out about what is happening in Princeton. Everything here is organized. My parents will finish everything else off at the house and all the family should be gone by Monday which is also the day the twins are due to be released from hospital. Lisa, I think I will be coming home sooner rather than later – I am thinking about Wednesday at the moment. I feel I need to get home and get into a routine."

"It is fine Cameron, take the time you need. Call if you need anything, even if it is just to talk – and don't forget to let me know when you get home, I want to meet our new family."

"Sure Lisa. Talk to you later o.k., oh, and call me if you have any questions tonight.

After lunch everyone continued to pack up the house till about 3pm as Allison's brother Michael and his families plane was due at 4pm. While it was tragic to loose 3 loved ones and she hated that this is what it had taken Allison was looking forward to seeing her family again, most of whom she had not seen for years.

At 5:30 Allison found herself seated in her Aunt and Uncle's kitchen re-visiting old memories of them and Ella with her mother and father while they waited for Michael to show up. At the sound of the door handle turning she looked up.

"Well Sis, you sure are a sight for sore eyes. Come and give me a hug… Hi Mum and Dad. Good to see you too."

"Aunt Allie, Aunt Allie… Look what Mommy got me," yelled bubbly 5 year old Jennifer.

Cameron looked at her in surprise. She had not seen little Jennifer for 2 years, when the whole family had gotten together for Christmas before she had started at the hospital. Behind Jennifer were 2 of her siblings. Allison looked at Charlotte (4) and Jonathan (3) and realized that they probably didn't remember her. All 3 children had blonde hair; Charlotte had eyes as her Grandma but the other 2 had hazel eyes. Allison sent them all a big smile as she knelt down on the ground to take a better look at their stuffed animals.

As Michael moved over to give his mother a hug she could see her sister-in-law Megan come in carrying their youngest Arabella at 9 months old. Looking over at Michael and his family she realized how much she had been missing her family. She looked forward to seeing Chris and Ben later that evening, Ben's last class finished at 4:30 and they would e on a flight after that.

After giving Megan and each of there children a hug she went up stairs to get Alyssa who should be awake now – having fallen asleep after a late lunch.

As she walked into her bedroom she was not surprised to see her sitting up on her bed talking to her doll. "Alyssa, I have a surprise for you. Your cousins Jenny, Charlie, Jon and Arie are down stairs, do you want to come down stairs and play with them?"

"Honness?" Alyssa looked up at her Auntie trying to determine if she was playing a trick on her or not. All week long she had been told that her cousins were coming but they never got here.

"No, I am not trying to trick you sweetie, but they may be a little tired, the just arrived, they went on a plane. Allison smiled as she saw Alyssa jump off the bad and rush out the door to run and see her cousins.

After quickly cleaning and preparing the room for 4 children that night Allison made her way down stairs to the shock of her life.

A/N

well… I know the P.O.V. keeps changing. I realized how short and 5th and 6th chapters I wrote (when on strong meds, I was ½ asleep for about a week) so I have combined the 2 and have mixed them. But is everyone in character?

Here are the family names I have been using:

Cameron family: Allison; Jonathan/Emily or Michael/Megan +children

Morgan family: Isabella/Ryan (deceased);

Benson family: Ashleigh/Gilbert + children

About Alexander's Disease… copied from the site as I don't understand it 100%

Alexander disease is a rare, genetic, degenerative disorder of the nervous system. It is one of a group of genetic disorders called the leukodystrophies that affect growth of the myelin sheath, the fatty covering--which acts as an insulator--on nerve fibers in the brain. Alexander disease, which affects mostly males, usually begins at about 6 months of age. Symptoms may include mental and physical retardation, dementia, enlargement of the brain and head, spasticity (stiffness of arms and/or legs), and seizures. In addition to the infantile form, juvenile and adult onset forms of the disorder have been reported. These forms occur less frequently and have a longer course of progression. The prognosis for individuals with Alexander disease is generally poor. Most children with the infantile form do not survive past the age of 6. In the juvenile form, death usually occurs within 10 years after the onset of symptoms.

Honness: Honest - One of the families I used to babysit for have 4 kids - with a little gap between 3 and 4. The oldest 3 liked to play practial jokes on her... she got even. In the simple quiet beauty of a 4 year old she learnt to ask 'honest' with her big doe eyes and innocent face to each joke she was told... the 3 pranksters learnt they could not and did not want to fight against that. Now the Q 'honest' is asked many times in that household... Here's to you Eden... You go girl!

Sorry for the long notes. Have a great day… Astig

Oh - I have almost finished writing the next chapter ~ I just have to find the time to finish it and type it out – I think it will be the longest chapter in this story yet… and thankyou for reviewing