A/N: Thanks for hanging in there! Sorry to have made everyone worry. Explanations will be coming next chapter.

Chapter 31 – Shock

House started to get angry. "This is a pretty sick joke."

"Not a joke, Greg. She's alive. It wasn't her in that explosion. It wasn't Pearson or Monica either. He was holding them prisoner. She and the girl escaped. We got a call from the state police. They found the two of them on the road. When she told them who she was, they contacted us.

"Of course I didn't believe them. But they sent me a picture. They're on their way back now. I told them to bring them here. I assumed you'd want her checked out before we question her on what happened."

House was staring at him in disbelief. Four months ago, he hadn't wanted to believe what Paul Rogers told him, yet he'd had to. Now, he wanted so much to believe it, but didn't know if he could.

"I…don't believe this. How can…you identified her body."

"Only by the wedding ring and the other things that were there. We couldn't get DNA and we never checked dental records."

In his grief, House had never asked that question. He had assumed that dental records had been checked. How could he have missed that? Now he was livid.

"If you had, you would have known it wasn't her! You could have been searching for her these last four months. She could have died anyway, you jerk!"

Paul had the sense to look remorseful. "You're right. We should have. I think we were all shocked over it. But from what I know so far, we wouldn't have been able to find them."

House was about to continue to blast him, when Paul's cell phone rang. He answered it and said, "Lt. Rogers…okay, great…thanks." He put the phone away and looked at House. "They're here. They're on their way up."

He had barely finished speaking when there was noise from the hall. Two state police troopers were trying to hold back a woman who was running down the hall. She burst into the office and stopped when she saw House.

"Greg." She said softly before launching herself into his arms. He was speechless, but his arms closed around her.

"Oh. Greg, I missed you so much."

"Kate, Kate…" was all that House could whisper.

"Emily!" Kate said, "Is she…"

"She's fine." He closed his eyes and pulled her to him. Then he opened them and took a good look at her. She had lost weight – a lot of it. She was normally slim, but toned. Now she seemed almost emaciated. She was pale and there were circles under her eyes, and the remnants of older bruises on her skin. But her eyes, though tired, were alight with joy. He figured whatever had happened, whatever scars she had from her experience would heal. The important thing was that she was alive and he was holding her in his arms once again.

He had forgotten that his team was in the room and watching them. Chase and Foreman were smiling and fighting to control their emotions. Cameron had long since lost that fight – the tears were streaming down her face, but she was smiling broadly.

Hearing the commotion in the hall, Wilson left his office and entered House's. He stopped when he saw House with a woman in his arms.

"What the…" he stopped when Chase and Foreman quickly filled him in on the happenings.

As he had four months ago, he stared and said, "My God!"

It took some time for House and Kate to disentangle themselves so that Kate could receive hugs and kisses from the others. Questions started coming from all directions. By this time, Cuddy had arrived as well.

Kate held up a hand. "I would be thrilled to tell all of you everything that happened. But right now I want to see my daughter and then I want to just be with my family."

"Of course you do." Wilson said.

"Why don't you all come to our house tomorrow night?" She turned to House. "I assume we still have a house?"

"Yes." He replied.

"Great. Tomorrow – around seven."

They all agreed to come. Cuddy added, "Don't worry about anything. We'll bring food. You just take the time to relax and reconnect. House, you are now officially on personal leave."

"Gee, thanks, Mom." House said, regaining his voice and his wits.

His team smiled, hoping that their boss was finally back.

Three hours later, Kate and House were curled up in their bed. They had gone directly to the day care center from his office. The staff was shocked to see Kate, but they soon recovered and brought Emily out. Kate scooped her up into her arms and hugged her. The baby looked at her mother shyly, then said "Mama."

Kate's eyes filled with tears. "She remembers me."

House just smiled. No need to tell her that he showed Emily her mother's picture every night and made her say "Mama" when she looked at it. He had wanted the child to remember her mother and figured it wasn't too early to start.

They took her home and while Kate hugged and played with Emily, she told House some of what had happened to her. Then they put the baby in her crib for her nap and fell into each other's arms.

They kissed passionately and moved into their bedroom. They barely let go of each other as they removed clothing and fell into the bed. But once House started moving his hands over her naked body, Kate started crying. He stopped and looked at her.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I've spent the last four months longing for you. Now, I'm scared. Maybe you didn't miss me as much …"

"I missed you more. Remember, I thought you were dead. That you were never coming back to me. I almost didn't make it."

"But you did. And you took good care of Emily."

"Yeah, I almost screwed that up too." He ducked his head to avoid looking her in the eye.

She leaned down and forced those blue eyes to meet hers. "I never expected that you would be perfect. I knew that you would stumble and fall. But I knew that in the end, you would do what had to be done. That was my one comfort – that no matter how upset you were, you would be there for Emily."

He held her close to him. Someday he would tell her how he had almost not been, but not now, not today.

She continued talking. "I didn't sleep well at night and I used to imagine that we were together. That you were holding me and making love to me. I would call out to you and I would imagine that I heard you answer. But sometimes I had nightmares about the explosion. I would dream that I was really in that house and I would call out to you to save me."

He looked at her then, a strange expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Okay, I don't believe in any spooky stuff, you know that, right?"

"Sure."

"Okay, that being said, I couldn't sleep either. And I would imagine you were here and that I was making love to you."

"Well, that's normal, I guess, that we would both be imagining being together."

"Then I would have dreams of you in the fire calling for me to rescue you."

She hesitated, then said, "I guess that's pretty normal, too. Considering that you thought I died in the fire, right?"

"I also thought I heard you talking to me. Once I even thought you called me on the phone!"

"I did do that! I got hold of his phone and dialed you. But he took it from me before I could say more than, 'Greg, help me.'"

"So that did happen! Okay, okay, then, that makes sense. It wasn't a strange dream or a paranormal experience."

"Did you think it was?" she asked cautiously.

"No, of course not. There's no such thing."

They looked at each other for a moment in puzzlement, then audibly breathed a sigh of relief. But in their hearts they knew that something amazing had happened between them.

There was one more thing she needed to know. "I know you were probably lonely while I was gone, so I understand if you…" she couldn't quite put it in words.

He understood. "Yeah, the night I found out, I started banging every woman I saw. It's been non stop since then. In fact, someone should be arriving soon. I guess I should call her."

She just stared at him.

He kissed the tip of her nose. "You silly girl. It's only been four months. And my wife just 'died.' How callous do you think I am? No, don't answer that.

"To tell you the truth, I was a mess for a long time. And not thinking about other women. Last week, Wilson dragged me to a bar with him. Lots of gorgeous women. But I couldn't rise to the challenge, as they say."

She smiled. "Seems like you're ready for that battle now."

He raised his eyebrows and grinned. "Seems like. Kate, I only ever want you."

She started kissing him again and before long they were making love.

Afterwards, they lay together, just happy to hold each other.

"Greg, there's something I need to tell you. It's important."

A little afraid of what it was, he said carefully, "What?"

She took a deep breath. "I want Monica to live with us."

"Are you crazy? The daughter of the man who almost killed you? You want her here in our home? Let's just open the prisons and have the inmates over for a picnic while we're at it!"

"She's not a criminal. She didn't do anything wrong. And she saved my life. I know I would be dead if it wasn't for her." Kate was adamant. "Greg, she doesn't have anyone. They'll put her in foster care and with what happened, she'll be ostracized. I can't let that happen to her."

House looked at his wife. She was alive. He had thought he would never hold her again, yet he had just made love to her. At that moment, he would have given her the earth, the moon and the stars if he could.

"Okay, if this is what you want, she can live with us."

Wilson offered to take Emily to day care for them, so that they could spend some time alone. After making love a few more times, they headed to the police station so that Kate could give her statement. As soon as she entered, Joanne grabbed her friend and held her.

"Oh, my Lord, Katie, I can't believe this! Oh, my Lord!"

Tears were running down the older woman's eyes. They had talked on the phone the night before and Kate had told her to come to the gathering to hear the story. Joanne had cried on the phone and thought she was done crying, but once she saw her friend, the tears started anew.

Soon, though, Kate was surrounded by cops. Everyone was ecstatic to see her. Paul had announced her "rebirth" to the precinct the day before, but it had been so unbelievable that seeing her was necessary to make it real.

Eventually, Kate was able to break away from all the happy greetings and tell her story to Paul and another cop who had been assigned to the case. At her request, House sat in on the statement, holding her hand the entire time. There were times during the narrative, when his face clouded with anger, but he tried to remain calm for Kate's sake.

The other cops had bought donuts and they celebrated with them. At last, Kate and House were able to leave. They returned home just before the nanny got there with Emily. They all relaxed until their friends arrived at seven.

Everyone brought things. Cuddy had a deli platter and fresh rolls. Wilson had Chinese food. Cameron brought a tray filled with cheeses, pepperoni and crackers. Chase and Foreman had picked up beer, wine and soda. Joanne had baked a cake and cookies. Kate's former partner brought three large pizzas, loaded.

Once everyone had grabbed food and drink, they settled down on chairs, the sofa or the floor. Kate sat in an easy chair with Emily in her lap. She took a deep breath and began her story.