Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: Here you go! Thanks to everyone that reviewed last time. Mortality was one of my favorite chapters to write (I would say the favorite, but I'm not entirely sure that's true) and it was very heartening to hear that the rest of you enjoyed it a lot too. Enjoy the speedy update!

A/N: Melissa!

"Cameron."

She heard him say her name, and she knew it hadn't been in the form of a question. He wasn't asking her if she was still with him, or if she was okay, or if she realized what had happened. He already knew what had happened, and he knew that she knew, too, because both of them could feel that the hand beneath theirs had suddenly gone still and limp. He didn't say anything else, and she didn't move either. She didn't turn around to look at him; she couldn't. Frozen in shock and horror, she could only stare at Sipho's now glassy and still eyes.

"Cameron…" This time House's voice was louder, as though he were giving her a warning. Still, she could not tear her eyes away from Sipho's. Her own eyes slowly filled with tears the longer she stared at his body, but she could not blink, and so they would not fall. Disbelief permeated her thoughts, and for a moment, she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She blinked and the spell was broken; tears began cascading down her cheeks and she laid her head across Sipho's chest as her tears flowed onto his shirt.

She was dimly aware of the noise she was making and the fact she was not alone in this clinic, but she was unable to care enough to stop herself. She was unable to stop at all. The other family members threw her sympathetic looks as they passed by, but Cameron knew that they understood her anguish, for it was their own. The mothers understood her great sense of loss, for they could imagine what it was like to lose a son. She had been there six times to see it happen. She knew that Sipho hadn't really been her son, but he'd had no mother, no woman to cry over his dead body as she was doing now. He had a sister, but sisters tended to be more reserved in their displays of grief. Today, she was his mother.

She didn't know when exactly House had left, but she eventually became aware of the fact there was no one standing next to her. She found that she didn't care that House was unable to stand there with her as she grieved, and she only buried her face into Sipho's chest further, shielding her face from the rest of the world. She didn't hear the footsteps behind her and didn't realize someone else was standing beside her until they spoke.

"Come on, Allison."

She knew it was Weiss; House would never have used her given name, nor could he have ever sounded so gentle. She felt Weiss' hand on her shoulder, but she could not bear to pull herself away from Sipho. The thought of leaving him cold, dead, and alone scared her, and she began to hyperventilate, knowing that Weiss would soon make her leave. The moment her breathing became more sporadic, she felt another pair of hands on her shoulders, this time rougher. Their owner did not say anything, but instead dragged her away from the body. She tried to fight, but the grip was too strong. A sense of dizziness overwhelmed her, and in that moment of weakness, she was dragged completely away from Sipho. Strong arms wrapped around her chest, holding her upright from behind.

"I need you to breathe slowly and evenly." This time, it was House who had spoken, and she knew he had been the one to pull her away from Sipho. The feeling of loss threatened to drown her again, and she felt House's grip tighten around her. "Breathe, damn it, unless you want to make yourself faint!"

"House," another voice said sharply. She recognized it as belonging to Weiss. He was now standing over Sipho's body, arranging his lifeless hands neatly over his chest and closing his eyelids. Cameron struggled to get a grip on herself, but she felt her focus slipping away. The familiar feelings of unbearable grief washed over her; despite having been buried for almost ten years, they ripped through her as fresh and volatile as though the loss had been only yesterday. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. She suddenly found herself being forced into a sitting position with her head thrust between her legs.

"Just stay that way," House ordered. She thought she heard a hint of annoyance in his voice. Cameron took several gulps of air. She felt someone's hand running down her back slowly. She figured it must have been Weiss because House could never show that amount of compassion or concern for or about anyone. Her breathing slowly evened out to the rhythm of the comforting movement on her back. She managed to look up in time to see Weiss moving toward her.

"You can go," Weiss said to House as he approached. "I can take it from here." She felt the hand leave her back as House stood and limped over to where he had left his cane. A moment later, he was gone. Cameron sat up slowly and Weiss pulled her into his chest.

"There was nothing more you could have done," Weiss said softly. "He had tuberculosis and HIV. It's a fatal combination."

Somehow these words were not comforting to her. She pulled back and studied his face. "There's always more we could have done. I didn't give him the medication. We had antibiotics, and I didn't give them to him."

"It doesn't matter," Weiss responded. "The antibiotics would have been too late to save him anyway. These things just happen, Allison. You can't save everyone."

She stood up suddenly and pushed him away from her. Her defiance stopped her tears. "I want to be alone," she told him. She turned around before he could say another word and walked away from him, away from Sipho, through the front door and out of the clinic. She would have run if it had been allowed. As soon as she reached the fresh air, she broke her stride and leaned forward, her hands on her knees as another emotional tidal wave rolled over her. She took deep breaths, trying to steady herself. She looked up out of the corner of her eye and saw House standing there, about twenty feet away from her, just watching. He didn't make any motion toward her, but she knew he had seen her. She slowly stood up and walked over to him.

"This isn't at all how the movie is supposed to play out," he said as she approached.

"What?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

"The Lion King," he explained. "Simba isn't supposed to die, Mufasa is. The circle of life is broken if the kid dies first."

Cameron was stunned. "Is this supposed to make me feel better?"

House fell silent, and Cameron didn't say anything else either. It was several minutes before House spoke again. "I'm proud of you."

"What?"

"Doogie Howser back there. When he died, you didn't try to resuscitate him. That's good. That's acceptance. It's progress for you. I like it." She frowned at him; this wasn't at all what she had expected to hear. He continued anyway, "I need doctors that can accept when it's over to work for me."

"I don't work for you anymore."

"But you could." He looked at her seriously and his eyes seemed so blue it was as though they reflected the sky where she imagined Sipho's soul to be. Her memory of Sipho's death and House's offer caused anger to flare inside her.

"You're springing this on me now?" she asked angrily. "What, trying to catch me in an emotionally vulnerable state so that I'll be easier to break? I'm tired of playing these games, House; that's part of the reason I left in the first place."

He shook his head. "These aren't games. I felt it, too."

"Felt what?"

"The connection between us."

The words hit her like an avalanche. Sipho's last words, the last vibrations of air and sound to pass through his lips had been about her and House, and whatever he could supposedly feel between them. He had been in a delirious state when he'd said that, she insisted. But it killed her to think of Sipho as wrong, as though it were somehow disrespectful to his memory.

She decided to contradict House instead. "You can't make me come back by telling me that you love me."

"That's funny, I don't remember saying that I love you. I only said that the lion cub had a point."

She took the bait. "Point being?"

"You should come back to America with me."

Cameron sighed and looked away from House. She wrapped her arms around herself as she thought. Sipho had told her to leave with House, to go back to America with him. Sipho had also thought that House saw her in a romantic light, something of which she was sure he was mistaken, insult to his memory or not. And if she left, she would have to end her relationship with Weiss, that much was certain. But Sipho would certainly have made that connection, too, and he had told her to go back to America anyway. Did that mean he wanted her to break up with Weiss, that he'd thought she and House had a chance to be together? She let out another sigh. She couldn't keep thinking like this, as though she had to follow a dead boy's advice.

"Was he right?" she whispered.

House looked at her for a long time, but did not ask about knew that he knew. Finally, he replied, "I didn't come back for him."

His response surprised her, but she wasn't sure why exactly. Surely the great diagnostician would not come back to a case that he had already solved merely to see if he had been right about the diagnosis. Doctors like House did not doubt themselves when it came to things like that. "Why?" she asked simply.

"I couldn't let you stay here. The mail's been piling up, and Chase refuses to pick up the slack." She didn't respond, but her eyes narrowed. "You're an idiot if you want to stay in some third world country and get yourself killed."

"Why do you care what I do?" she challenged him.

She could tell she had caught him off guard as he did not seem to know how to respond. His eyes bore into hers as though pleading with her not to make him answer that question. She knew that he must have known the answer if he didn't want to give it. She didn't concede, but instead waited patiently for him to reply.

"I don't know," he answered at last. His tone was resigned and held reservations. She knew he was being honest.

"I need to hear you say it," she said.

His eyes widened but he didn't say anything about her demand. Instead he kept looking at her, never dropping his gaze. She saw him swallow, and then he said, "I care about you."

"Okay."

"So you'll come back to the good ol' US of A with me?"

She glanced back at the clinic, where she knew Weiss to be. Agreeing to leave with House would mean leaving him behind. She wondered if she should discuss it with him first, and then decided against it. He would only try to convince her to stay, and Cameron did not want to be convinced. The finality of her decision weighed in her stomach. "I have another month on my contract," she found herself saying.

He shrugged. "Screw it?"

"No."

His eyes challenged her, daring her to equivocate, but she held her ground. She knew it was the right thing to do. When her resolve did not break, he asked, "But after that month?"

Her gaze flitted back to the clinic and then back to him. "First plane out of here."

He nodded approvingly. "Good."

He leaned closer to her, and for one wild second, she thought he was going to kiss her. The next moment, tears welled in her eyes again and she quickly covered her face with her hands and turned away. She expected him to leave, but the next thing she knew, he was pulling her into his chest and letting her cry against his shoulder.

A/N: Please review! There is only one chapter after this, which I have yet to begin writing, but I hope to have done sometime in the next week/two weeks. I also hope to post I Will Follow You Into the Dark really soon - I know I promised an update this week, and hopefully that will happen, but I haven't made any edits yet.