DISCLAIMER: House belongs to Fox, not me.

AN. Hope you enjoy this, feel free to read and review, but praise and constructive criticism only please! House may be OOC, but the story needs it otherwise it's not any good. Gee... the title of this chapter almost seems like Cameron dies...

Chapter 12: Goodbye

House entered his office to find Wilson in there with Chase and Foreman.

"House, are you okay?" Wilson asked, alarmed by the dead look on his friend's face. "Allison?"

House sat down at the conference table, still unable to believe what was happening. "They're going to turn off the life support."

As one, all three men's jaws dropped in shock. "Turn it off?" Chase repeated dimly.

"Oh god," Foreman gasped.

Wilson said nothing, but his face was drained of colour as he faced House. "When?"

House shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. They're going to let everyone... say goodbye first."

Cameron's closest family and friends returned to New Jersey the next day, all attempting to prepare themselves for the unthinkable. The hospital staff were all in mourning and the mood was sombre as the time approached.

House was cooped up alone in his office again, unable to even imagine saying goodbye. Also, he was furious about an incident that had occurred yesterday afternoon. News that they were turning off the machines had spread through the hospital quickly, and House had been walking to the cafeteria with Wilson when it happened. All day people had been stopping him to offer words of comfort to him, as though she were already dead, even people Cameron didn't know were offering condolences.

A young doctor stopped him just inside the cafeteria, his expression nervous. "Uh, Dr. House? My names Tom Brewster, I'm in radiology. I was just wondering if I could leave this with you?"

He held out a sheaf of papers to House, who stared at it then the doctor blankly. "What is it?"

"My CV," Brewster said eagerly and House shrugged.

"Why do I want it?"

"Well, I just figured you'd have an opening for a fellowship now. With Dr. Cameron dead and all..." Brewster answered tactlessly and House glared at him, his hand clenching into a fist.

"You son of a-"

"House!" Wilson said warningly, stepping in between them before House hit him. "Go sit. Go!"

House reluctantly moved away into the silent cafeteria, avoiding the eyes of shocked staff members who had heard the incident and were horrified; as Wilson stepped towards Brewster, shoving his CV into his grasp.

"Take this back, and get lost. I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but it was the stupidest thing you could have done," Wilson told him coldly and followed his friend to the table.

In the waiting room, everyone save House gathered together, awaiting their turn to say goodbye.

"He's not coming?" Amanda asked Wilson as he joined them.

Wilson shook his head heavily. "I tried, he won't listen."

"He'll regret it if he doesn't," she murmured and Hayley grasped her hand comfortingly.

"He'll show Amanda. He has to."

Dr. Evans emerged from Cameron's room and studied the assembled group sombrely. "You can go in now," he told them. "Just let me know when you're ready."

Chris nodded shortly, and he, Amanda, Marcus and Kym headed inside. Jake, Hayley, Bryan, Erin and Ben followed their parents; and Dan, Jason, Jasmin and Tyson followed them. Hayley was not allowing her children to see their aunt and Tyson agreed. Chase, Foreman, Wilson and Cuddy were next to say goodbye, and all emerged with tears in their eyes. No-one spoke after they returned to the waiting room, and Chris hesitated, exchanging a glance with Amanda before going to find Dr. Evans. Amanda, Chris, Marcus and Kym were by Cameron's side as Dr. Evans sighed sadly and began to turn off the machines. The room came to a still, as all eyes were fixed on Cameron's face who seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

"Is that it? She's gone, just like that?" Amanda choked out from Marcus's embrace.

Dr. Evans shook his head. "Her heart is still beating, but that will stop soon without machines keeping it beating. We just have to wait."

He paused, and then left the room, leaving them to wait for the end.

*

House felt a chill in his gut, and instinctively knew the machines had been stopped. He couldn't tell how he knew, he just did. So, an hour later when Cuddy entered his office where he was sitting on his chair, he wasn't surprised.

"She's gone?" he asked brokenly, not looking at her.

"No," she replied. This did surprise House and he met her gaze, startled.

"What?"

"She's hanging on," Cuddy said simply.

House sighed and turned away, until he felt her sit next to him. "House..."

He reluctantly looked over at her and she laid a hand on his arm comfortingly. "She's waiting for you."

House snorted. "That's a load of crap. She's unconscious, she doesn't know who's there with her!"

Cuddy shook her head. "House, we both know the stories. Every doctors seen it, you've seen it. A comatose patient waiting to say goodbye to everyone they love."

House had, as an intern but he wasn't going to admit it to Cuddy. "What do you want me to do? Tell her it's okay to die? Because guess what, it's not okay for her to die! She's supposed to outlive me, dammit! I can't tell her to go into the light, and everything will be fine, because it won't be. I've already got these idiots applying to fill her spot! How it that okay?"

Cuddy didn't flinch at his anger, or remove her hand from his arm. "Greg," she told him gently, using his first name in a rare occurrence. "You need to see her. Accept what's happened and let her go."

"So what do I do? Go in there and start quoting Romeo and Juliet?" House asked bitingly.

"You don't need to say anything. You do need to say goodbye," Cuddy said firmly and left his office.

House sat there for a few moments before abruptly standing up and leaving the office, slamming the door behind him. He didn't meet anyone as he made his way through the hallways towards Cameron's room. He faltered for a moment outside the door to her room, but shook himself and slowly opened the door. The sight inside the room was better than what House had imagined, but he knew that was due to the absence of tubes and machines. Cameron still looked small and fragile as she lay there in the hospital bed.

He studied her carefully as he took a seat next to her bed, not touching her. She was pale, and there was a bandage wrapped around her left arm, where they had repaired the artery. Her chest rose and fell only slightly, which he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking for. There were fading bruises of various shades of purple and yellow on the parts of her body House could see and knew from what Cuddy had said about her injuries they would be worst on her abdomen. Her long dark hair had been brushed and washed clean of blood, no doubt by Amanda or Kym and her expression was peaceful.

Hesitantly, he reached out and touched her hand. Her skin was warm and smooth and House battled to fight his emotions as he pictured spending nights without her lying on his chest; or watching TV without her head on his shoulder until his arm fell asleep, usually about the same time she did. As he did this, he wondered again, how he had ever survived without these small gestures of affection before.

It had taken him awhile to get used to being affectionate, privately or publicly; or to calling her 'Allie' or even just 'Allison' after so long of thinking of her as 'Cameron'. Sure, he had no problems with the PDA from the beginning, but he'd had to rethink his entire behaviour to feel comfortable with it.

"Hey, Allie." He said finally, breaking the silence in the room, taking her hand in a firmer grasp. He struggled for a moment, unsure what to say next but then it came spilling out of him without any control.

"I'm sorry," he said the words he'd been longing to say to her for nearly a month, somehow realising this was his last chance to do so.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to come see you earlier. I told Hayley it was to stop me from being a doctor instead of... the 'loved one'... or whatever. She wasn't exactly thrilled I wasn't using the waiting room for waiting... you have her glare, which isn't technically possible, but I guess if you grew up around her..." he was rambling and rolled his eyes at himself.

"I guess... I felt guilty. I mean, Foreman feels guilty, but it's my fault really. I shouldn't have read your emails, and I overreacted to the whole song thing..."

House paused, and stared out the window for a moment. "I'm not going to tell you it's ok for you to die, because it's not. Cuddy's expecting me to do this whole Hollywood death scene bit. You know, 'I love you, I'll miss you, go into the light' thing...she says you need me to let you go."

He looked back at Cameron's still face, and she seemed to be waiting patiently for him to say what they both knew he had to say. "I love you," he told her. "You're supposed to outlive me... but if you need to go... I guess Alex will be there. Where ever 'there' is... he'd better damn well take care of you, or I'll kick his ass. Dead or alive," he said fiercely.

He could picture Cameron laughing at his threat, as she had said many times that he and Alex would have been great friends. He smiled slightly, and stroked her wrist gently as he took a deep breath to steady himself.

"I love you, Allie. I wish I'd told you more before..."

House lightly squeezed her limp hand and made to stand up, but what happened next stunned him. There was a light pressure in return against his palm. Astonished, House tightened his hold and moved in closer.

"Allison? Allie? Allison?"

"What's going on, House?" Cuddy and Evans entered the room, startled to see House bent over Cameron's body, studying her intensely.

"Her hand moved," he said brusquely, and Evans moved forward to examine her.

"That's impossible House. It was just a dying reflex," Evans said dismissively but House glared at him.

"No, it wasn't. Shut your trap."

As Cuddy moved closer to watch emotionally, House resumed his seat and leaned towards Cameron's ear.

"Allie, I need you to squeeze my hand again," he said in a low voice.

All three doctors watched closely, but nothing happened. "See, House? Reflex," Evans said smugly.

House ignored him. "Allie, I need you to squeeze my hand again, and prove this guy is an idiot. Come on, Allie."

Cuddy studied her carefully and shook her head. "House, it's not-"

Suddenly she gasped, one hand over her mouth in shock, and Evans' jaw dropped as Cameron's hand twitched within House's grasp.

"See, idiot?" House said to Evans, triumphantly.

"Oh my god!" Cuddy whispered.

House raised her hand and kissed it gently. "That was great, Allie. Can you open your eyes?"

There was a long apprehensive silence, then Cameron sighed gracefully and lifted her right arm in House's direction, managing to lift it off the bed an inch or two before dropping it in exhaustion. House tried and failed to suppress a watery smile, thinking that sigh the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

"That was good," House encouraged her. "You just rest now. We'll try again later."

Evans had dashed out of the room and sent in Amanda and Chris without giving them much explanation and as a result, they were both bewildered.

"What does this mean?" Amanda asked House in shock after he'd told them the news.

House smiled at her in delight. "It means she's not going anywhere."

Chris and Amanda breathed an enormous sigh of relief, and went out to tell everyone else.

"House!" Wilson stuck his head in the room five minutes later, beaming. "We're going down to the cafeteria to celebrate. You coming?"

House snorted. "Are you insane, Jimmy? I'm not going anywhere until she wakes up!" he declared, settling into the chair and Wilson smiled knowingly.