Author's note: I just reread Chapter One and saw a lot of typos! I could have sworn they weren't in there when I uploaded that chappie… but then, these things happen. I guess I was just tired when I checked that. I'm really sorry for that, though. Hope there aren't any in this one!

Well, here's the final chappie! Who knows how many revisions it went through till I was happy with it, but here it is anyway.

Chapter Two

There was something in the way he'd touched her shoulder, but Allison Cameron could not quite put a finger to it. His touch was… vaguely familiar.

He'd taken his hand away when she'd looked at it, but there was still that gnawing sense of uncertainty in her head. Could he be?

It couldn't be, she thought. I'm just too worried about getting an HIV infection I'm starting to get absurd thoughts. If you're in Australia there's bound to be lots of blond guys with Aussie accents running around like House's proverbial wombats.

Besides, he seems too… well-adjusted.

He couldn't be that Australian boy.

Even if he looks just like him.

Ooo000ooO

"You still have the hots for her," Eric Foreman grinned, his white teeth contrasting nicely with his chocolate skin. He and Chase were on their way to check up on Kalvin, allowing Cameron to escape from House's insensitivity and vent.

"I told you last time. The girl is obviously hot – but I do not want to jump her," Chase pretended to be busy trying to read the chart and dodge passers-by at the same time.

"You don't? Then what was the 'concerned friend' act for?" Foreman cast his colleague a disbelieving glance. He had long since noticed Chase's well-hidden feelings for Cameron, but the blond Australian House often teased for being an idiot wasn't actually dumb at all. Foreman had the circumstantial evidence, but he wanted a good, solid confession.

"I really am concerned," Chase shrugged. "I've been working with her for like a couple of years… anyone human would be worried."

"Well I am, too, but you didn't see me give her an it's – okay hug, did you?"

Another shrug. "We're two different people, obviously."

Foreman sighed. Chase was certainly being very difficult. He didn't know why he needed to know the facts – he just did, and now desperate times called for desperate measures. He suddenly nudged Chase out of the way and planted himself at the door of the patient's room. "Chase – we're not getting in the room until you tell me what's going on."

"Foreman? You channeling House or something?"

"Tell me the truth!"

"This is crazy. He could be seizing in there! Or drowning in his pulmonary fluid… dammit, he could be getting high in there!"

"And that is why they have call buttons for nurses and why nurses can page us."

"Alright, I'll tell you something!" an exasperated Chase conceded. "You want it that bad..."

Foreman grinned. He should have known Chase's training in Intensive Care would instill the importance of constant vigilance into his attitude as a doctor.

Chase glared at Foreman. "Well, Cameron has always looked familiar. Like a girl I once… met." He shrugged. "That's why I keep looking at her."

"Medical-school ex? Or pre-med one night stand?"

"No, there was this girl I met, but whose name I never knew. Looked a whole lot like her. Happy?"

Foreman wasn't contented, but he conceded. Stepping aside, he grinned once more. "So… Cameron looks like she could be your mystery crush?"

"So." Chase said as he checked the patient's IV flow rate. "You suddenly develop a sarcastic tongue, a penchant for vulgar sexual references and an insatiable thirst for workplace gossip. You remind me of someone, too, Foreman."

"What?" Foreman responded weakly.

"I don't know who, but it's certainly striking. The name's on the tip of my tongue, actually."

"I am not like House!" Foreman burst out.

Chase's only reply was a smirk.

With a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach, Foreman realized two things: one, that Chase really was no dumb wombat, and the other, that he –Eric Foreman- really was turning into Gregory House.

Ooo000ooO

"I may have HIV, and a drink isn't going to wash it away." A distraught Cameron looked like she was on the verge of yet more tears.

Chase hadn't meant to sound insensitive; he only wanted to make her take her mind off her problem. He glanced away from the closet he was snooping around in and caught a glimpse of her as she walked away.

"If you were that girl, Allison Cameron…"

"I'd do anything to take care of you this time."

Ooo000ooO

"She's beautiful even when she's drugged out," Chase decided, looking at the woman lying snuggled beside him. Propping himself up on his elbow, he gently brushed some loose waves of hair from her face. To his surprise, however, she woke up at his touch and reached up to him.

"You want more?" she whispered seductively, before planting soft, fluttery kisses on his neck.

He grabbed her by the shoulder and held her at arm's length; a quick assessment told him she was still somewhat high. "You have to sleep, Cameron… not unless you don't want to function tomorrow."

"The accent's so hot…" she murmured, oblivious to his advice. "D'you know it's hotter than Brit?"

He took a deep breath before asking softly, "How can you tell? … Ever been there?" He figured she wouldn't remember everything the following morning. If she did, then… he'd deal with it. For now, he just had to know.

"Yeah," she answered, eyes somewhat glazed. "A blond guy my age told me I'd be a good doctor."

His breath caught in his throat. "And?"

She looked away. "And, I believed him."

He cupped her chin in his hand, stroking the line that divided it with his thumb. And confirmed the prophecy he had made so long ago… "You ARE a good doctor… Allison."

Ooo000ooO

"Really? You sure you'll be alright alone?" he asked, voice tinged with concern.

She shot him a look laced with irritation. "Have you forgotten I'm a doctor?"

He sighed. He didn't really want to leave her alone, with crystal meth wearing off her nervous system and absolutely nothing useful in her medicine cabinet. But it was no use reasoning with her, not when she was in this state of mind. "Fine," he conceded. "But take care of yourself, okay? You can get some meds at the hospital tomorrow."

"Yeah, I will." Her eyes softened a bit in the dim light. "Thank you. You know… for being here and…"

"Anytime," he said shortly. "Good night," he added, stepping out and shutting the door.

Ooo000ooO

So it was her. No doubt, she hadn't outgrown her attraction to the wounded. The job as a doctor… The willingness to mourn a dying patient who had no one… The marriage to a dying man… The infatuation for another doctor with his own scars.

He shoved his hands into his pockets as he made his way down the corridor. It was her, all right. She with the emerald eyes and the healing hands, in whose voice he once found solace. She who now had her eyes set on someone else.

All of a sudden she was so near, so close… and just as suddenly she was so far away… out of his reach.

He closed his eyes and thought back to the elective Revolutionary Asian lit class he'd taken way back in high school. What was that bittersweet line again?

"Farewell, sweet stranger!

My darling, my delight…"

This isn't farewell yet, Allison Cameron, my sweet stranger. For now, this is only good-bye.

Ooo000ooO

End

Author's note: So how was it?

I'm sorry it took me so long to put this up. I had my "final" revision all set, but then I wanted to revise it again… and again… and again. Thank God I'm finally contented!

The lines of poetry at the last part of the story aren't mine. They were written by Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda, better known as Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Those lines were part of his last piece of poetry, Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell). It was written before his execution, and those lines were for his beloved, Josephine Bracken. The poem is originally in Spanish, but the lines I included in the story are part of my favorite English translation. They weren't supposed to be in this fic, but when I read the poem I thought of this, so… in they went!

Yeah, and I know Revolutionary Asian Literature sounds like a pretty weird class for high school, but Chase is pretty much weird, so… _

Anyway, thanks for reading… see ya in the next ficcie! ^_^