"It is about House, isn't it?"

Joe looked at her softly.

Cameron opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when she saw his face.

"I see," he got up and started to walk around. "So, when are you going to leave?"

She looked up at him, tears now dwelling up in her eyes.

"I am not going to leave."

"Ally …," he started shaking his head, stopping with his still back facing her.

"What are you talking about?" she noticed her voice sounded almost despaired.

"You're crying at night and you are walking around like a ghost at day," now he turned around, his face filled with sadness.

Cameron just stared at him, unsure of what to do or what to say. She was almost afraid of what he would say now. He took another deep breath and sat down across her, taking her hands into his.

"Listen, I tried to wrap my head around this for the past few days. I tried to ignore it. But this is not good; for either of us,"

He waited for her to say something but she just kept on staring at him so he continued.

"That old friend of yours, obviously that had something to do with House, you're upset. And the whole moving away shouldn't do that to you, Ally," he smiled.

"I'm not upset," she tried to sound determined but somehow she completely failed, her voice sounding more like she was choking.

"Ally …" he got up and pulled her up as well, wrapping his arms around her tightly when she started to cry.

They remained silent for some moments, trying to calm down and getting a clear head between them.

Cameron was the one to break the silence in the end.

"What now?"

"Well, you're not staying here."

"Joe …"

"No, don't, Ally. It is okay, it really is. I love you and it makes me sad to see you unhappy and being here … doesn't make you happy,"

A sympathetic smile appeared on his face, was touching her cheek with his fingertips,

"I've seen you two together, it's like the whole world around you stops moving, like nothing else matters anymore," a friendly sigh, "I wished it would be the same when you were with me…but it isn't,"

Cameron's eyes filled with tears, threatening to flood over the brim,

"I …," she chocked.

Again, he wrapped his arms around her, rocking her slightly.

"But what if it won't work out? You have seen him, he is …,"

"A jerk? An ass?" Joe suggested, both starting to laugh slightly.

"Yeah. Being with him … it's like a guarantee that he will break me."

"And yet, you want to try it, don't you?"

Cameron knew it was the truth nodding slowly against his chest.

"It may sound cheesy, but some things are worth getting your heart broken for," Joe whispered against her forehead kissing it gently.

They remained silent for long while, not saying anything just enjoying the closeness.

"But, you know I love you," she said, looking up at him.

"Of course, this doesn't change anything. I want you to be happy, and if he is what makes you happy …," he trailed off and kissed her forehead again.

She pressed her head against his chest, closing her eyes,

"I am sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

When they parted, Cameron wiped away her tears, smiling bravely at Joe then quickly glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Go," Joe smiled brightly.

"What?" she quickly looked back at him.

"Go!" he repeated.

Cameron looked at him for a second and then started to smile, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek and running upstairs.

Five minutes later she had changed into a pair of jeans, a sweater and was carrying a small bag with a change of clothes.

At the door she hesitated,

"You're not hesitating, you are stalling," Joe grinned smugly.

Cameron turned around, smiling brightly,

"Thank you for everything."

With that she opened the door and was gone.

Joe sat down at the table.

He was sure he had done the right thing. Cameron had been through way too much in her life, already. She deserved some happiness. And if he would be honest, really down to earth honest, he knew that it was the right decision to make, even for him. Cameron had always been more a sister to him, than anything else. Of course he loved her, and of course he loved to be with her, but somehow the feelings he had before Matthew had died were different then the feelings he had when he saw her the first time again a couple of months ago.

This was good, the way it was. For everyone.

When House woke up the next morning he had a headache. He took care of it with three Vicodin.

The rest of the day he spent playing music on his piano, watching some movies, from which he could not recall the title afterwards

And with drinking more whiskey.

It was after midnight when he was sitting at his piano, pondering about whether he should have another whiskey.

The last week had been even more miserable, mostly spent in his office where not even Dr. 'call me Anna' Stevens would dare to talk to him. Everyday Wilson had tried to talk some sense into him, but it was futile, which both of them knew.

When he looked at the almost empty bottle of whiskey and the five pills of Vicodin lying next to it he almost had to laugh. He was in this same exact situation six years ago, only this time he was feeling even more miserable.

There was no doubt that he would hit the ground hard this time.

Who was he kidding? It probably had been too late for him, anyway.

He stared at the bottle for another two minutes, playing some tunes of Bach, he decided to get some sleep. There was still tomorrow.

It was sometime around noon when House woke up; his mouth dry and right thigh aching horribly. He almost crawled out of bed towards his bathroom.

Taking a big sip of water directly from the faucet he swallowed two Vicodin rubbing his stubble. He heard the rain outside, dripping on the windows. When would this bloody rain ever stop?

Grumpily limping back to his bed, he grabbed his cane and walked in his kitchen where he made some coffee.

Half an hour later he decided to stop staring at the newspaper from Friday and taking a long shower to ease off the residue pain in his thigh the Vicodin didn't take care of.

So when the water poured down on him, he started to relax a bit.

Only 5 minutes later he heard someone knocking on the door. At first he did not bother to react, because it was probably Wilson looking if he was still alive. When he got out of the shower ten minutes later the knocking had stopped. Wrapping a dry towel around his waist he went out towards the kitchen.

He slowly limbed to the kitchen, opened the fridge and took out a bottle of beer.

"Isn't it a bit too early for that?"

House jumped back, the bottle in his hand slipping through his fingers falling bare wood floor.

Slowly he stepped back from the broken glass and the fridge door to see that Allison Cameron was standing in the middle of his living room, grinning smugly.

House just stared at her.

"Wow, you're speechless. I didn't know that I would ever get to see that," the grin widened.

Finally recovering, he noticed that he was standing in the middle of the kitchen, half naked, staring at his ex-employee.

"How did you get in here?"

She shrugged, the smile still all over her face,

"You taught me a lot."

"Right," now even he had to grin, "I'm just going to change."

With that he limbed back to his bedroom as quickly as his thigh allowed him to closing the door behind himself.

At first he sat down on his bed, taking some deep breaths to calm his racing heart.

Cameron was in his apartment. She was here when she was supposed to be in New Haven.

What was she doing here?

He dragged on some new clothes. It was time to face the music, so to speak.

"So, what brings you here?" his voice sounded nonchalant when he entered the living room, now wearing jeans and a black band t-shirt.

Cameron was leaning against the piano, a slight smile wiped across her face she was watching him,

"I am back"

Her voice sounded even more nonchalant. House wondered if hers was as false as his had been barely ten seconds ago.

"Back as in 'I quit my new job and now I am back' back?

"Just … back," she shrugged straightening herself.

House nodded, pursing his lips while he sat down on his couch. He hadn't expected that to happen, but tried everything to hide his surprise. Though he had no clue if it was working at all.

"What about Yale?"

Cameron did not respond, just shrugged grinning.

"You're kidding?" he was actually mildly shocked and Cameron noticed.

"It's not what I want."

House frowned, trying to get some order in his thoughts,

"Let's see: You get all crazy about leaving your work and moving away with your boyfriend just a week ago and now you are saying that you don't want it?"

His look was filled with curiosity as he looked at her, while she slowly walked from the piano to sit on the table in front of him.

"He's not my boyfriend"

On that House narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, pondering about her words.

"You seriously left everything behind for him only to suddenly realize he is not your boyfriend?"

"I never wanted him …" she trailed off grinning, the tips of her fingers lightly brushing his knees.

His eyes moved down to her hands and back to her eyes in an instant. They were the most sparkling blue now.

Her smile was a soft one, indicating what she was trying to say with her gesture.

The moment lasted long enough until House broke it by getting up quickly.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said harsh, striding over to the kitchen.

"What?" Cameron was left on the table, completely dazzled.

"Quitting Yale, leaving New Haven"

Cameron stared at him in disbelief, unable to form any coherent thought for a few moments.

Finally she sighed.

"I haven't."

Now it was House's turn to look completely dazzled, so Cameron continued to explain,

"I was supposed to sign the contract by Monday and all of my stuff is still in New Haven"

"Then what exactly are you doing here? Masochistic, much?" he mocked, leaning against the sink while she pressed her arm against the doorframe.

"Unbelievable," Cameron sighed exhausted. Could she really believe he was doing this now? What was that guy thinking?

But he said nothing; he just kept staring at her.

She laughed humourlessly, a thing she hadn't done before she had started to work for House. But then again she was doing a lot of things she hadn't done before.

"I don't believe I thought this was a good idea, even for a single moment. I should have known you would do this. I probably thought you would just for this once be a human being and do something … I don't know, something that would make you less miserable."

House sighed exasperated, lowering his face just to look up at her a few seconds later, his voice a bit louder now.

"Would you stop trying to change me? Maybe I like everything the way it is," he challenged her.

That was when Cameron started to laugh, it was just for a few seconds but it was much needed. When she stopped, she looked back at House,

"You know, it's funny. Three years and you still think all I want to do is change you."

"Well, you do."

"Hmm, strange. Why is it then that I never wanted you to? When you asked me why I like you did it ever occur to you that I might started to like you because of the way you are?"

Her voice was starting to get louder and harsher.

"And I hate it. I hate feeling this way. I would give a lot to stop feeling something for … you and instead feel this way for Joe. But I don't."

House didn't say any thing; he was just staring at her with his blue piercing eyes.

She scoffed, shaking her head. Then she took a deep breath,

"I don't even know, why I am still doing this," she said to herself, lowering her glace, her voice now calmer.

"Maybe I am even more pathetic than I thought I was," she raised her head looking back at him, a time passed until she slowly went over to him, leaning up to him, whispering something in his ear,

"Everything you're not afraid of is not worth trying for."

With that she started to kiss him.

It was a gentle kiss, her lips barely touching his and he did not know how long it went on, but when she broke away the look on her face tore something apart inside him.

Two years ago it had happened the same way, when she had looked at him before she had left the first time. Just this time it was even more painful.

Then she just turned around and left.

House closed his eyes, hindering the tears in his eyes from falling down.

And what he was about to do now was speaking against him being an ass, nonetheless he did it.

So instead of sitting down on his couch, having another glass of scotch and two or three Vicodin, he took a deep breath and for once in his life he tried to do the right thing.

He found her on the stairs in front of his condo, her face buried deep in her hands. He couldn't tell whether she was crying or if it was the rain dripping down her slender figure.

Stepping down the stairs he sat down next to her, his cane leaned against the wall next to him.

He didn't say anything or even move, he just stared at her. They were getting wetter every second.

"You're not pathetic," he whispered and smiled slightly.

It wasn't until she raised her head, that House realized what made him come here. Slightly touching her cheek with his thumb, he smiled.

"I'm the problem here, I know that," he sighed and let go of her cheek. "This thing is not going to work because of me."

"How do you know?"

This time House scoffed.

"I think you know that"

Cameron lowered her face and he heard her sighing. But then she looked up at him, grinning. She obviously wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Well, who is telling you it's not going to work this time? "

"Because I know I'm going to do something to completely piss you off, Cameron. You're going to wish you would've left," his face looked grim now.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because that's who I am," he got up furious. But most of all he was furious at himself.

Cameron slowly got up, too and took his hand stopping him, calming him down. She raised her gaze to look at him.

"I don't care what will happen tomorrow, next month, or next year. I know who you are, and yet I want to be with you, doesn't that count for anything?"

A smug grin was visible all over her face, she was feeling very self-confident.

"And … I am not Stacey"

At the first moment she regretted mentioning her name but when she saw him grinning she let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"No, you are definitely not," he chuckled softly.

Then his expression became serious again.

"Let's go inside."

With that he took her hand and leaded her back inside.

A/N: Okay, so before you start making voodoo dolls, let me say that this is not the end of the story, just the final chapter of "Collisions". I decided to write a sequel. surprise

So with all the exams coming up I'll probably won't be able to start before july 14th. (which means I probably will start before anyway, but I shouldn't)
I am still planning, so right now I'd rather shut up about my plans with this story, but I hope you are not mad, because I am really excited about the sequel :)

Anyway, thank you so much again for reading and for those who do, for reviewing. Your comments always make my day hugs everyone