Disclaimer: not mine

So, I wrote lovely messages to everyone who reviewed...but fanfiction wouldn't let me save the changes- arrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh! I'm too lazy to write them out again (sorry!) but thanks for all your comments- I would't keep writing without them!

Enjoy!

It was roughly two months after House was shot that Dr.Cuddy called Allison Cameron into her office.

In the time that the younger doctor had been filling House's shoes, Lisa had gained a new respect for her. It was hard to imagine that this confident, self-assured woman who sat before her had just been another one of House's ducklings. It had been a surprise to see that she stood, in fact, head and shoulders above the other two. She didn't have Chase's cunning or Foreman's blind ambition, but what she had was far more valuable: she had integrity- something that her boss hadn't valued in her very much and had done his best to eradicate. It might sound small, but it made her the strong person that she was today. Like House, she did things because they were right, but there the similarity ended. His quest for the truth and desire to be right sprang from selfish motives. Medicine for him, wasn't about curing patients, it was about fighting diseases. Cuddy sometimes thought that if there hadn't been any medical puzzles to solve that he would have gone into police work. He didn't want to cure patients, he needed to find out why.

As for Cameron, she had become a doctor to help people. That was what drove her: the desire to fix something that it was in her power to fix, because sometimes it felt like everything else was out of her control. The fact that she cared about her patients, in the same way that James Wilson cared, was what made her a good doctor. She might never be a brilliant diagnostician like House, but then, she sure as hell would never get shot by one of her patients.

And she knew how to play ball. The fund-raising that she had been discreetly doing was impressive. Lisa Cuddy couldn't help but wonder if Dr. Cameron didn't have all the qualities needed to step into her shoes some day…

With an effort, she dragged herself away from her musings and turned her attention to the matter at hand.

"I just wanted to let you know that Dr. House is coming back to work tomorrow."

Allison felt like she'd just been sucker-punched. She'd been so set on keeping her mind off House that she hadn't even realised that he'd be coming back soon.

She nodded calmly, but inwardly she was screaming: 'I'm not ready. I'm not ready.'

"In that case, Dr. Cuddy, I wonder if I could take some time off. You won't really need me around if House is coming back, and the case load's been heavy this week."

'The past two months, you mean,' her boss thought, but she only said: "How long were you thinking of?"

How long was she thinking of? How much time did someone need to sort their life out?

"Two weeks."

"That's fine. When will you be starting your vacation?" she asked it, even though she already knew the answer.

Dr. Cameron stood up: "Today."

I'm gonna post the next chapter now, because that one was very short. Please review!