Chapter 7

Driving Miss Crazy

Teagan was having trouble with static on her cell phone and strained to listen. After a few seconds it had cleared, "Naomi, I should be there tonight. I hope you don't mind but I'm bringing a friend, a doctor, Greg House. He's helping me drive across country."

"That's fine; I'll have dinner on the stove when you get here. I can't wait; it will be so good to see you!"

House let her plug in her IPOD and thought that about half of the tunes were tolerable. After teasing her about her selection of music, he turned the conversation talked about medicine and psychology.

Teagan settled back in the seat, "You know, watching and listening to you talk about your team in the hospital reminds me a lot of behavioral psychology. You have to be keen observers and then put the pieces together to have it make sense."

"Have you worked on any criminal cases I might recognize?"

"Do you know the Cary Stayner case which involved the murders of a mother, her daughter and her daughter's friend just outside of Yosemite National Park? He also decapitated a Yosemite Park worker."

"I remember. What did you do on that case?"

"I told them it was Cary Stayner."

"What do you mean, you told them it was Cary Stayner?"

"I figured it out, I led them to him...I did my job."

"Any other cases?"

"I provided assistance on the Robert Lee Yates case. You probably heard; it was the case involving the deaths of numerous prostitutes in Spokane, Washington." She didn't want him asking questions so she quickly added, "Tell me about your most interesting case."

House didn't realize it but he had just been redirected so that she wouldn't have to deal with his curiosity about what she did. The longer they were together it became easier for her to filter him out. His emotions and presence no longer overwhelmed her. On one hand it was easier to filter his emotions out, on the other, it was easier for her to open the gate and let his feelings, thoughts and images in whenever she wanted.

He told her of the case of the lesbian with bubonic plague and a woman who had testicular cancer...because she was really a 'he.' It was all very interesting and bizarre and it kept him from concentrating on her. As an added bonus, it was entertaining.

It was close to 1:00 p.m. when they had just come into view of the St. Louis arch. She suggested that they should pull over and get lunch.

House turned and gave her a look of evil, "If you pick another Denny's, I'll have to put you out of your misery. I'll do it by feeding you Grand Slams until you hemorrhage."

Teagan chose Marcellus Barbeque restaurant and pulled in for lunch. It was a great restaurant, with a collection of musical instruments and photos of jazz and blues players on the wall. House spent ten minutes just looking at the photos before she could get him to sit down. He was impressed and told her, "I think just about every important jazz musician alive has eaten here. Sweet."

When they sat down, he ordered a beer and Teagan ordered a Diet Coke. She looked at him and realized that he was like a kid in a candy store. She could feel that he wanted desperately to play the upright piano in the corner, "Go play it. The most they can do is to tell you to stop." She nodded in the direction of the piano.

He didn't need to be told twice. He gave her his order to give the waitress and then went over to the piano. He started playing and no one asked him to stop. She knew why, his playing was great. She and the other patrons were thoroughly enjoying listening and watching him play. Teagan could fee that he was having a blast playing. When their meal came he stopped, the patrons all clapped for him and he gave a little bow then joined her in the booth.

"Don't eat too much, Naomi is feeding us dinner." she warned him.

"How do you know Naomi?"

"We went to college together. She graduated a semester before me. We were roomies."

"I can't wait to meet her." House smiled like a devil.

House enjoyed the barbeque, the barbeque sauce dripping off his chin made Teagan laugh and reach over to clean it off. Immediately she had an image of House having barbeque in New Orleans with a woman, someone he loved. She was a gorgeous brunette, the same one she had seen in his memory before, and they were laughing and listening to music. Teagan felt sorry for him, there was something bittersweet about the memory.

They pulled up in Naomi's drive around 4:40 p.m. House got out of the Mustang, stretching and staring at the pleasant brick ranch with flowers blooming in the front yard. Naomi came out to meet them, her arms waving, a huge grin on her face.

"Holy Mother of God." House said when he saw her. Naomi was smoking hot. Teagan was right, she was his type and Teagan was picking up on his interest in her. She smiled to herself.

As they walked towards the house, Teagan introduced House, "Naomi, this is Dr. Gregory House. He works at a hospital in Princeton. Actually Greg here is famous worldwide for what he does and he's been dying to meet you after everything I told him."

"Me?"

"He likes brunettes." Teagan rolled her eyes.

Naomi smiled at House, "Oh, so you two aren't a couple?"

They both said simultaneously both waving their hands in disapproval, "No, no, no.."

"Well, then I'll have to alter the sleeping arrangements. Come in and meet the other guests." Naomi opened the door for them and their luggage.

When they went into the brick, one story house, they put their luggage down in the front room and followed her into the family room. Sitting on the couch were three other women, all good looking and of various shapes and sizes. House was in heaven.

"Debbie!" Teagan ran over and hugged the statuesque woman with deep auburn hair who stood up to greet her. "Debbie, this is Dr. Gregory House. Greg, Debbie is Naomi's sister who I haven't seen in at least ten years. It's been too long."

"I know! Glad to meet you Dr. House. These are my two roommates, Eilene and Marcy." Debbie made the introductions quickly.

As he shook their hands he told them, "Please, just call me Greg."

Naomi announced, "Teagan, you're now bunking with me. Greg, let me show you the guest room."

House followed her to the guest room and sat his luggage down. The carpeted room contained a dresser, a full bed and a nightstand with a lamp to read by. It looked very homey and comfortable, "Thank you for putting us up." He said sincerely to Naomi.

"No problem Greg. We'll be eating in an hour, so if you'd like a shower, it's just down the hall."

"Thanks." House did just that. He grabbed his clothes and toilet bag and went into the bathroom. A minute later there was a knock, he opened the door and was standing in his shorts obviously shaving and getting ready to take his shower.

Teagan took a quick gander at his body, then concentrated on eye contact, "Greg, Naomi is going to let me do a load of laundry. Let me have your dirty clothes."

He limped out into the hall where all the women could see him from the family room. There were a lot of cat calls and wolf whistles which made him smile from ear to ear. Teagan followed him into the guest room, shook her head and said, "I think you're going to have a fun evening."

"It sure looks promising." He handed her the few dirty clothes that he had. As she grabbed them out of his hand their fingers touched. He saw an image of her and Naomi at a party. They were young and happy, laughing at something they had said. He then saw Teagan, at the same party, making out with a young man. Teagan pulled the clothes from him and the image stopped.

Teagan had just been reminding Naomi of the big Cinco de Mayo party, laughing about them we both ending up in strange beds. The image was still fresh in her mind when she went to get his clothes.

I have to remember to shut the gate. I was so happy to be around my friends and so relaxed, I forgot about you. I forgot that you still don't know me. I let the image out and I know from your expression that you received it like a radio tuner. I can feel your confusion, you don't understand what's happening, why you can see this.

House pulled his head back and shook it, "I just had the oddest image of you and Naomi. You were college age and at a party."

"We went to a lot of parties."

"It seemed so real."

"That's odd. I need to get these in the washer if we're going to have them for tomorrow." she took off.

At dinner House was placed between Naomi and Eileen, both brunettes and buxom. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of all the cleavage in the room. Teagan was picking up on his sexual frustration and finding it very amusing. He looked over at her and their eyes connected. Teagan had been drinking Margaritas and her guard was down.

When our eyes connected at the table I forgot again. That's what booze does to me. My talent goes haywire; it's like a naughty child that's been let loose. I had picked up on his sexual frustration and it made me think back to last night in the shower. The image of him screwing me flew right out the gate and into him. Once again the look on his face told me that in his head all he was seeing was us on that bed banging our brains out. I had to get control and stop drinking.

House was amazed at how strong his reaction was to her gaze. He was immediately aroused by an image of her on the motel bed and him on top making love to her. He didn't understand. The other women at the table were more to his liking and here he was having mental pictures of screwing Teagan. He diverted his eyes and focused on Marcy's lovely tanned breasts.

Naomi knew that if she got Teagan tipsy, they could get her to do parlor tricks and that's why all the girls were there. They wanted her to read them. The only person at the table that wasn't familiar with Teagan's gifts was Greg House. Naomi kept pouring Teagan Margaritas and then making toasts. It was working, when Naomi saw the look Teagan gave Greg, she wondered what was going on between the two of them. Teagan then turned and looked over at Naomi. Naomi was hit with an image of Teagan and Greg in a motel room having wild sex. Wow, that was hot. So Greg and Teagan had sex last night. Why did they deny they were a couple?

I had let an image slip to Naomi and now she thought we had been intimate. I sent her a quick message, "No, that was his fantasy last night...we didn't have sex." She received the message and allowed me to easily read her thoughts, "Ok, but those are some pretty explicit fantasies." I responded, "Yeah, tell me about it. He gave me an orgasm without touching me."

Naomi burst out laughing at the table for no apparent reason. Everyone looked at her so she contained her laughter quickly and continued eating. After they cleared and did the dishes the women started asking questions.

"Teagan can you tell me if I'm going to marry Jeff?" Debbie asked.

"I'd like to know if I'll meet anyone soon." Eileen asked.

House looked at Teagan and she gave him a weak smile. He wondered why they were asking her these questions. Teagan took a big gulp of her Margarita and then excused herself so that she could go to the bathroom.

"What's going on?" House asked Naomi.

Naomi said, "You don't really know who she is, do you?"

"You mean Teagan?" He was very confused.

"Yeah. You're in the presence of one of only six psychics endorsed and given the seal of approval by the U.S. Government. Teagan is one of the government's secret weapons; of course that's when Teagan allows the government to use her."

House started laughing believing that they were all teasing him and having a good joke. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe a word you're saying. She's a behavioral psychologist, I can understand that what she does seems like voodoo, but it isn't. It's based on science and statistics, not hocus pocus."

Teagan was standing behind Greg when he said this. They all stared at her as she shrugged her shoulders. He turned around and saw her, "They're trying to convince me that you are a some kind of psychic."

"I see. " Teagan came back to the table and took another swig of her Margarita.

"Of course, I've been sticking up for you and telling them it's a load of crap."

Naomi and Debbie looked at each other knowingly. They had already gone through this a dozen times with people who didn't believe. No one said anything more to convince him.

Teagan looked at the women, "I assume you want me to do readings?"

Naomi said sheepishly, "Would you mind?"

"It's ok, keep the Margaritas coming." Teagan sat down at the table and took Debbie's hand in hers. "You haven't been happy in your job, there's an opening at Statons. You need to apply for it, you'll get it and you'll be much happier. You'll do well enough that you'll get a promotion to their Kansas City office. I don't see a man or Jeff in your future. I don't see a real relationship in your life for the next three years..." Teagan paused and closed her eyes trying to look down the road, "But you will find someone after that Deb, you'll be happy but it won't end that way. I...well, you know I don't like to give bad news...just know that you will find happiness even after that relationship ends."

Deb nodded her head and got up from her seat with a hopeful heart as Eileen replaced her in the chair next to Teagan. Teagan read her while House shook his head,smirking the whole time that she was reading Eileen.

Naomi whispered to him, "You don't believe this do you?"

House leaned towards her and wrinkled his nose in distaste, "Not one bit. She's telling them all what they want to hear."

Naomi said, "What if I get her to read you at the end."

"No thanks. I don't need any more fantasy in my life." House shook his head no.

"No, I'll have her read your past instead. Something you can verify."

House didn't respond. But after the women had been read, Teagan was quite tipsy. She had a little nose bleed and had an ice cube pressed on her sinus to try and stop it. When it stopped she took a deep breath. Everyone was in a good mood except House who was a little annoyed at the turn of events. He didn't understand how these intelligent and good looking women could believe in this occult crap.

"Teagan, you need to make Greg a believer or he's going to be annoyed with you all the way to California." Naomi suggested.

"You aren't annoyed with me are you Greg?" Teagan gave his a sweet little smile as her head weaved a little from the drink.

"I find this psychic mumbo jumbo an affront to any intelligent human and I'm intelligent."

"Do you want some empirical evidence?" Teagan asked.

"Yeah, right." He looked around, seeing four gorgeous women glaring at him, "Ok, if I don't let you then everyone at this table is going to say I didn't give you a chance. So do your best."

"Well, let me see. Stand up. I'm going to give you a taste of what you gave me last night while I was in the shower."

The best way to send images is to touch someone. So I decided, in my alcoholic wisdom, that the best way to touch Greg while sending him these images would be with a kiss. Stupid, yes. I walked over and could smell him, a nice musky odor, just like the first day I met him. I put my arms around him and told him to kiss me. I was a little miffed when he refused to do so. I felt rejected. But, after the girls egged him on, he leaned down and gave me a soft, closed mouth kiss. I pressed into his lips and darted my tongue inside of his mouth and then sent him the same images he had sent me last night. I sent them until I could feel him physically responding, he got hard next to me. I took him all the way up to the point of his climax. When I stopped, I didn't dare move back or he would have been embarrassed by the bulge in his pants. I turned him around from the girls and pretended that I was reading his mind so that he could compose himself. When I finally pulled back and saw the look in his eyes I knew I had just blown a hole in his assumptions but he still wasn't convinced. He believed the images were connected to my kiss.

House looked at her with an aching in his groin for the climax that never came. He started to concentrate on the issue at hand. Was that really a psychic experience or was he just reliving his fantasy because she was kissing him? Whatever it was, it felt all too real and if she hadn't stopped he would be cleaning himself up.

Naomi broke the ice, "Convinced now?"

House cleared his throat, "Sorry, but what I saw could have been my own making. I'm not convinced."

Teagan sat down and threw her hands in the air in frustration, "Ok, then what about this. One Christmas Eve you downed Oxycontin with a large glass of Maker's Mark in a half-ss attempt to kill yourself. Is that personal enough? Or what about the time you had sex with your ex-girlfriend while her husband was in recovery for a life threatening illness? Or what about the time you had sex with Lisa Cuddy and ...."

"Alright, enough, enough! You could have obtained that information from Wilson and this could be an elaborate hoax." House sat down too.

"Greg, come here and hold my hand and think of something that I wouldn't be able to get from Wilson or your team."

He put his hand out and thought of the time he played in a band at a local club. In the audience was Billy Joel who came up to him afterwards and complemented him on his piano playing. He hadn't told Wilson about it because Wilson would start haranguing him to join a band again.

"Oh, Greg, that's easy...Billy Joel likes the way you play piano."

House pulled his hands out of hers like he had just touched a hot stove. He jumped up from the chair and hobbled without his cane into the living room where he sat down and put his head in his hands. This is impossible, impossible. He couldn't get his head around it.

Teagan had opened the gate and was feeling his confusion and fear. She wasn't surprised, most people feared her talents at first. They wondered what she could and couldn't feel or hear or see. They wondered if she was always listening or monitoring them. She hated this part of the discovery process, the part where she had to convince them that she typically didn't tap into everyone's thoughts, it was too draining, too painful. She followed him out to the living room where he had sat down, head in his hands. When he saw her he jumped up from the chair, put his hands out in the stop position and backed up.

"Ok Greg, get over yourself. So I'm psychic, big deal. I know you have questions so when you're ready to ask them, I'll try to answer. And by the way, last night was the best orgasm I've had in years, thanks." She turned to go back.

House realized that she had seen everything in his mind last night and had just played it back like TIVO for him in the kitchen a few minutes ago. He wasn't embarrassed, it was fantasy sex, nothing else, but he was surprised as to how real it felt when she was kissing him and he was reliving those images. Telepathic sex, now that was funny! He smiled at the thought and then House asked himself, Is she reading my mind now? Can she really read my mind or am I sending out non-verbal signals that she's picking up on. No, there's no way I could non-verbally communicate the name, Billy Joel.

House eventually joined the ladies and, despite his annoyance with Teagan's parlor game, he had a good time but stayed away from Teagan for the rest of the night. Teagan knew he would, he had to come to terms with the whole concept that there was someone in the world who might truly be a psychic. Teagan went to bed around midnight. House stayed up with the ladies until 1 a.m. when he managed to convince Marcy to see the view from the guestroom. He had sex with her and then they fell asleep.

xxx

Teagan got up the next morning and folded their clean clothes, packed hers and took Greg's to his room. She opened the door expecting Greg to be asleep and caught Greg and Marcy having morning sex. She jumped back and ran out the door. They finished and after a few minutes, Marcy came out of the room dressed and smiling at Teagan, said her goodbyes and left. Teagan was in the kitchen having tea, two Excedrin and a bowl of raisin bran when House came out to the kitchen and looked at her. He shook his head in disbelief without saying anything, poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Naomi had made before she went to the gym. Naomi and Teagan had said their goodbyes before she left.

"Naomi asked me to tell you goodbye and that you are welcomed back anytime." She put the cereal bowl in the sink and rinsed it, "We have a long drive today, we can either drive twelve hours to get to Denver or we can break it up into two nights on the road. Which would you prefer?"

"Why don't you just read my mind, why bother to ask me?"

She gave him a dirty look and said, "It doesn't work that way Greg." She left the kitchen, brushed her teeth, grabbed her luggage and the keys and took it out to the Mustang, loading it up. It was already hot as hell outside. She decided to put the top down again. Walking back inside, she lathered up in sunscreen. House had his bags ready when she threw the sunscreen at him.

"Better lather up, I'm driving with the top down."

House put on the sunscreen, his baseball cap and Ray Ban sunglasses. Teagan put on her Yosemite ball cap and her cheap, Walmart sunglasses. She stripped the guest bed and then made it for Naomi before they left.

House was very uneasy. He didn't want to sleep because he didn't want her reading his dreams or thoughts.

"How long have you been...been like this?" House asked.

"Since I was born. As a toddler I channeled emotions and reacted to everyone around me like a sponge. If someone cried, I cried, someone laughed, I laughed. At first my parents didn't pick up on it, but my Grandmother did. It turned out that my great grandmother on my Mom's side was a well known psychic in her area. It was assumed that I received my talent from her. But then we found out that my father's great-great grandmother had been run out of town for being a witch. The government believes that I just hit the jackpot of psychic genes."

"The government? Naomi said you were a certified psychic."

"There is no certification. It's just that I spent two years of my life in various labs, including Princeton, and the CIA's farm taking tests to disprove my gift. In the end they had a file the size of the Oxford dictionary and a conclusion that I and five others were the real deal. That's what Naomi meant."

House was quiet and so was Teagan. She knew he had to absorb the information at his own pace and ask his burning questions when he felt he could handle the answer.

Eventually she did speak up, "Greg, could you please get me a diet coke out of the cooler?" He reached back, got her a diet coke, undid the bottle top for her and handed it to her. "Thanks."

"Ok, how does it work, are you always reading my thoughts?"

"No. I call the ability to read or not read someone's thoughts a "gate." I can usually open and close it at will; sometimes I can't, it just floods me or I can't get it open. When I first met you, you were so overpowering that I couldn't get the gate closed. If I was around you, I was feeling or reading you. But, as we got to know each other, I was able to tune you out or close the gate. I don't know how you managed to open the gate in the motel room the other night, because I thought I had it closed, but you did. Usually you have to touch something that belongs to the person to open it up as wide as you did. I have to admit, I was surprised as to how real it all felt. I couldn't get the gate closed and you sure took me with you through your entire fantasy."

"I picked up your panties, you had dropped them. I was holding them when I started to think of you in them." He didn't tell her that he had placed them on his chest while he had his fantasy, he was a little embarrassed by that.

"Oh, that explains it!" She paused. "Normally I have to have the gate closed or I would be picking up on everyone's feelings thoughts, smells, and images. It would be overwhelming, extremely exhausting."

"You had a bloody nose last night, the same as when you were out on the crime scene...oh now it makes sense! You weren't out there as a behavioral psychologist; you were using your psychic abilities to lead them to her body, weren't you?"

"Yes and no. do a little of both. I really am trained as a behavioral psychologist and I did go through the school at Quantico. The FBI thought it would be easier to get a jury to believe that I had training in profiling rather than the fact that I was a psychic."

"The blood, what's that about?"

"Sometimes, but not all the time, when I have to do remote viewing or read someone, I bleed. It depends on how tired I am or what the case is about. If I really push to see something, my blood pressure goes so high from my effort that I start to burst capillaries and blood vessels. But it depends on what I am doing. I can usually pick up thoughts without bleeding or just bleeding a little, it's only when I really push myself to see in the past or future that I bleed a lot."

"You had a bloody nose last night, why?"

"When I am reading someone, I get the good, bad and the ugly. I don't like to talk about the bad so I pushed myself past that image to another, happier image. Sometimes, like in the case of Marcy, I had to push myself pretty far into the future to give her something hopeful. The next few years are going to be tough on her. I start to bleed when I have to push. It's been like that for awhile now."

"You can read thoughts, read the future and past and smell things without smelling. What else can you do?"

She refused to tell him that sometimes, very rarely, she could perform psychic healings. It was very difficult for her to do and usually she had to stop because of the bleeding. And it wasn't always successful, but sometimes it was. Naomi knew this, because Naomi was alive because of it. In college they had been partying...too much. Naomi thought she was okay to drive and minutes later they were wrapped around a tree with Naomi slipping into a coma from a brain hemorrhage. Teagan had managed to stop the bleeding in Naomi's brain. When the paramedics arrived, Teagan had no deep cuts, but was drenched in blood, her own blood and her blood pressure was so high they thought she was going to stroke out. Teagan was light headed and dizzy and if she had gone a few minutes more trying to heal Naomi, she would have stroked out and died. Naomi would do anything for Teagan. She owed her life to her.

House was beginning to relax a little. She was telling him the truth about her gift. In an odd, twilight zone way, it made sense. If she went around all day opened to everyone's thoughts, feelings and images, how would she be able to have her own? How could she function?

"Can someone close this gate to you?"

"You mean, can you prevent me from reading your thoughts?"

He nodded yes.

"Sometimes I can't get in and I just don't know why. And, as we get to know each other you'll feel my presence in your head sometimes. When you do, you won't be able to shut it off, but you can certainly change your thoughts and tell me to leave." She smiled. "But we have to get close before you can feel my presence. Naomi can do it. One of my boyfriends could do it and a few others. But they had to be close to me. I have been receiving images that you send out. I know you don't mean to, but you have a very big presence and when you throw an image or a thought or a feeling out there, it's hard to ignore. When I first met you, I had to spend a lot of energy pulling that gate down. You were like King Kong crashing through everything I put up. But now that we are getting to know each other it's getting easier to shut you out. Does that make sense?"

"No. None of it "makes sense." But I'm trying to deal with it."

"Ok, you've asked me questions, my turn."

"Why did you try to kill yourself?"

"Who said I was trying to kill myself?" He said defiantly.

She looked from the road to him with a look that said, ""I'm a psychic, remember?"

He took a deep breath. "My life hasn't been that great in the last few years and it got worse when this cop with a vendetta against me almost got me struck off the books. I almost lost my license to practice medicine. The only thing left in my life that means anything to me is my ability to do my job. I just thought that if I couldn't do that, why live? I had pushed all my friends and loved ones away. I had no one in my life to mourn me, I'm in constant pain, I can't do the things I enjoy like playing golf, rock climb, ski, so what did I have left? I had medicine and when it looked like that was going to be taken from me, I didn't care anymore."

She felt tremendous sadness for the man sitting there that thought he had nothing left to live for if he didn't have his job. "Greg, you'd be surprised how many people would mourn your loss. I could feel how much the people close to you care about you."

He looked at her and then looked out the window. She knew he didn't believe it because he didn't want to believe it. House didn't want anything good in his life, it meant that he'd have to care about it, protect it, nurture it and he wasn't up to the task. He was worn down by life and the more he allowed himself to sink the less he cared about anything or anyone.

When they pulled into Las Vegas, New Mexico, she was sore from sitting and needed to do some stretching and walking. It was extremely hot, fry an egg hot. She drank a diet coke and pulled a bottle of water out of the cooler. They put the top up on the car and then she suggested a walk to get the kinks out. He needed to walk too, his leg muscles were cramping from just sitting.

They walked around the town, which wasn't very big, but it gave them a chance to get out of the car. House suggested that they have an early dinner since lunch had consisted of a hot dog from a gas station. They went into the local diner and both decided to indulge in a malt.

"Two chocolate malts and a tuna salad, Greg?"

"Reuben and side salad." He put the menu away behind the napkin holder. He looked at her and said, "What's that guy over there thinking?"

"Greg, that's really an invasion of privacy."

He gave her an ornery look and she relented. She concentrated in his direction and opened the gate. "He's worried. His car needs a new head gasket...it's going to cost him $1200 and he doesn't know where he's going to get the money." She closed the gate and looked at House. "Are you happy? You see, that's why I keep the gate down. Most of our lives are spent thinking about the mundane. Imagine being open to that all the time, you'd go crazy."

"Not if you read my mind."

"Do you want me to?"

"Can I read yours?" he asked.

"Everyone has some psi in them. You could easily read what I projected for you to read." She opened the gate and projected a picture of her cabin in the mountains.

He saw a small log cabin with several windows,a couple of sheds out back and a pile of wood under a covered shelter. There were pines all around and it was quiet. "Is that where we're going?" He finally asked.

"Yes, it's my home."

"It's about as remote as it gets. Why there?"

"No one's thoughts, images, smells. There's no one begging me to find their daughter, a body or the murderer. I get to live a life. The locals think I'm a nice witch and that's fine with them. Californians, especially mountain people, are pretty tolerant. If you don't bother them, then they don't really care what you do or who your are."

"I thought that the FBI worked with you."

"We have an understanding; if I'm close to an area they need investigated, I get called in, but usually they don't bother me anymore. The people, my friends, at the FBI know that it takes its toll on me to do the work. So they try to use me sparingly."

"I know," he smiled, "Where's Bin Laden?"

She laughed. "On September 15th, 2001 I received a visit in my cabin from the CIA and I told them, he's in Afghanistan, in the mountains and he's moving around. It wasn't really news to them, they just wanted confirmation."

"Where is he now?"

"I can't tell you. CIA, secrets...top secret. If I told you I'd have to kick you out onto the asphalt at a high speed without your cane."

"Why are we going to Denver?"

"To see an old boyfriend."

"We're staying with an old boyfriend?"

"No, we'll go to a motel. I just need to see him, for a minute."

'You're not going to blow him away and then take off?" He mused.

"I wish. No, I need to give him back something and tell him about a vision I had of him."

House started to laugh, "Oh that sounds entertaining."

House drove the rest of the way into Denver and then pulled over so that Teagan could take the wheel. She drove through the suburbs until she pulled up in front of a brown stucco, two story house. It was a plain house, nothing exciting. She went into the trunk and got out a large pipe wrench. House started to worry that maybe she had been lying to him about killing him. He jumped out and followed her, ready to stop her if she turned violent. She turned and looked at him, not surprised that he had followed her.

She rang the door bell but there was no answer. House looked at her, "No one's home, let's go. You can leave that by the front door."

"He's here, I can feel him. How do you think I drove here? I didn't have his address, I just followed his psi."

"His psi?"

"He's a psychic too. Not as good as me, not nearly as good as me. But he has a gift. I'm going to tell him to get his butt out here or I'm going to wait on his doorstep until his girlfriend gets home...just a sec." She went quiet and closed her eyes. Within a minute the door opened.

The thirty-something, slightly balding, but handsome man opened the door, "Alright damn it. Come on in." He was angry but he opened the door anyway. "I didn't need the damn pipe wrench back."

"Oh, no, no...you screamed for years that I was hoarding your stupid pipe wrench...now shove it up your ss!"

House stepped back out of the fray. He had never seen Teagan upset, but he was about ready to bust out laughing. She was very entertaining.

"Fine, sit it down and get out."

"No, Richard, I wanted to tell you that if you keep telling the world where I am, I'm going to screw with your brain big time...and you know I can."

"Oh go screw yourself." He looked over at House, "Who's the cripple?"

House was about to unleash a witty retort but Teagan jumped in, "The cripple is a guy who can give a girl an orgasm telepathically, something you couldn't do in three years of physical contact."

House was enchanted so he remained quiet. Why ruin a good thing?

"Yeah, I can't help that when you opened your legs the refrigerator light went on...everyone knows what an ice queen you are. Christ Teagan, no man makes it out of a relationship with you without battle scars. Watch out mister. You don't know what she can do to you."

Teagan barked, "Oh, just shut up. I'm going, but I want you to know something. I had a vision of you. Want to hear it?"

"No, it can't be good if you want to share it with me."

"Fine." She turned to go but knew it would be eating him and he'd ask her to share it with him before she got to the car. "Come on Greg, let's go."

They were in the driveway when ran towards her yelling, "OK, I want to hear it."

She turned to him and she was dead serious. "This winter a large semi-tractor-trailer will lose traction on an icy patch, it's going to come at you and you're going to freeze. You end up a paraplegic."

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"If you turn the wheel sharply to the right, the car will do a 180 and he'll hit you, but from behind. You'll be hurt, but you'll walk."

Richard looked at her and shook his head. "Why do we do this to each other? You know it kills me to see you." He looked into her eyes and House knew they were talking to each other in their minds. Both of their faces softened and Richard turned to go inside. She got in the car. It was getting dark and they needed to find a motel.

"What did you say to him?"

"What do you mean?"

"Telepathically, what did you say?"

"He thanked me for giving him the information. I told him that if it was any consolation, he would never see me again, ever. He was sad and he told me, I'll..." Teagan started tearing up, "He said he'll always love me."

"Oh. Do you want me to drive?" House asked as he watched tears roll down her cheek. He wasn't good at giving comfort so he didn't even try. They drove for another half hour to get on the west side of Denver so that they could avoid the morning rush hour traffic.