A/N: Wow, quick update! I can't believe this is the20th chapter! Whoo!

Disclaimer: DOH

The truth is he doesn't. He can remember some of her words, some of her clenched expressions, and some of his amazing denial. He'll be damned if he tells her that. He'll be damned if she thinks she can get away with this.

Cameron realizes her heart is pounding, thumping in her chest as if she's been running a marathon. She looks at House, breathing his burning anger, bathing in his unforgiving glare, reminding her of that night months ago when she'd lost and gained everything she thought she wanted.

"Then you don't have to!"

He blinks, her words making him take a step back at the utter force in them. She's not lying.

Cameron rubs her neck with her hands, eyes darting at him and then anywhere else. She doesn't know what she's saying. She doesn't know if she means it. She doesn't want this to be happening. But it is.

"You don't want to be here, fine!"

"You'd let me off the hook like that?"

"I didn't do this on purpose," she spits out, close to slapping the hell out of him and already heartbroken because he should think it. "If you could so easily think that about me then it should be just as easy for you to walk away."

"Cameron the martyr."

"Shut up!"

She takes a harsh step towards him. Seven months she'd been with him, inching her way to a more permanent spot within him. He'd belittled her when she said something optimistic. He'd made her yell when he wouldn't wash the dishes. He'd made her smile with the softest of touches. He'd made her cry when he made her feel like he never would need her. He'd been teasing her this whole time, lying about what he felt towards her.

"I love you, House." The words come out thick, edged with pain and hurt so deep, she doesn't realize she could cut him. "And you couldn't care less, could you, damn it? The minute something doesn't match your plan you freak out, run away, making sure that I never want to see you again and that you can be miserable again." Her voice catches and her hand wipes the tears off her cheek. "Go on, hobble away from this mess."

"House-."

"This is my life, Cameron. You screwed with it!"

"You didn't want a kid to begin with!"

"I still should have known!"

"You could have gone your entire life without being any the wiser and it wouldn't have made a difference!"

"But that's not the fact now! Now, I know! You lied to me!"

"Of course I lied to you! You left me!" She points her arm at her door. "You walked out of that damn door without so much a word, and left me to deal with the mess!"

"Poor, Cameron! Now it all makes sense!"

"I…" she pushes her hair behind her ears before throwing them up in defeat. "I couldn't do it again."

"Do what?"

She catches his stare, unaware that everything she's been trying to control is unraveling and he notices every piece that falls.

"I thought that we were finally…something. I had everything in you, House and you threw it back at me without a backwards glance. I just," she closes her eyes, "couldn't go through that again."

"That doesn't excuse you!"

She opens her eyes, surprised that she's still in one piece. "It doesn't excuse you either."

They look at each other, each knowing they've finally crossed the bridge but neither wants to be there. She still hurts too much from him, not sure she'll ever fully recover. He still hates her for thinking she could get this past him, as if he mattered so little.

Cameron finally moves, walking past the open door into her apartment. Turning, she thinks about saying something to him along the lines of 'I'm sorry,' but they're both guilty in the worst ways possible and so she closes the door. She's done.

House stares at the closed door for a few breaths. Slowly, he leaves with uneven footsteps because there's nothing left to do.

The smallest light breeze just barely cools his arms in the hot July night. Leaning against his apartment door, he watches the street, still busy with cars passing here and there. The bugs attracted to the street light, buzz, a sound that wanes and crescendos at certain intervals causing his stare. But he's not really paying that close attention. His mind is elsewhere, stuck on one thought: Being a father.

His grandfather wasn't a good father. His father isn't a good father. He wouldn't, by logical deduction, be a good father. He isn't even a good person. Yet somewhere in his thoughts, he feels pulled by the knowledge that inside Cameron is part of his DNA, growing every day into a disgusting alien body called a fetus.

All love is conditional. He's still right. People don't just change.

The sound of a dog barking slinks through his mind and after a brief glance, dismisses the dog and scraggly looking kid walking it. The barking comes closer and before he knows it, the dog is running up to him, jumping at the wrong leg. He groans in agony as the paws press into the scar and he tries to push it away. The next thing he knows, he's on the ground and the kid is suddenly larger. The kicks finally register and House fights back, almost winning until the kid grabs his forgotten cane, discarded as he'd fallen. Lights off.

A/N: So...nothing really got solved did it? I know. Then again, most problems are never solved so easily. Thanks for the reviews!!