A/N: Thank you for your reviews of chapter one. We're happy you enjoyed it. Sit back and relax. The fun hasn't even begun :)

Chapter Two

Cuddy picked up the phone and dialed House's number. He answered on the third ring.

"Are you going to hire Cameron back?" he asked before she could even get a word in.

"No, but I am willing to let you off clinic duty all together and expand your office. I talked to the board and they approved a twenty-five percent raise for you. That's huge," she told him. "Plus, you can set your own hours."

"I already do that," he reminded her. "I don't care about the money or a bigger office. I will admit the prospect of not having to deal with clinic patients is tempting but I want Cameron on my team. No Cameron means no House."

"You're being ridiculous!" she shouted. "She's just some random girl! She isn't even a very good doctor!"

"Now, see, you're just being mean because you've been denied access to House's House of Pleasure. Are we done?"

"You have to come back to work. The board is up my ass since you quit."

"I seem to recall you like things up your ass," he chuckled and hung up.

Cuddy ground her teeth in rage and slammed the phone down.

After getting some ideas from House and Cameron about what to pack, Wilson drove to House's and then followed them to Alpine.

He was amazed at the size of the place and very impressed. He could also see why House was so willing to go back.

Mundell came out of the front door with Hilary in tow and Wilson watched with surprise at the warm welcome House received. He felt like he was living on another planet.

"Nice to have you back, House. Who's your friend?" Mundell inquired.

"Yes, who's this?" Hilary asked, giving Wilson a sultry smile.

"This is our good friend, Doctor James Wilson. He's the head of Oncology at Princeton Plainsboro."

"How prestigious," Hilary purred as she linked her arm through Wilson's. "How about a drink?"

Wilson was at a loss for words as she led him inside with the three of them looking on in amusement.

"Seems like a nice fellow," Mundell said as they went inside.

"He's on the lookout for wife number four. You've been warned," House chuckled.

Mundell arched his eyebrow. "He's been married three times already? But he's so young, yet…"

"Don't let his boy-next-door looks fool you, Mundell," House told him. "They don't call him the Panty Peeler of PPTH for nothing."

"He's a womanizer?"

"No, I wouldn't call him that," Cameron said as she shook her head. "He just likes women and has a hard time staying with one for any length of time."

"He's drawn to the vulnerable, needy types, and once they're not needy anymore, he gets bored and moves on. Lock up yer daughter," House teased and followed Mundell to the library. Cameron went off to put their things in her bedroom and change clothes, giving House a chance to talk to her father in private.

"So, I guess you're probably wondering why we're back so soon," House said as Mundell handed him a glass of Scotch.

"The thought had crossed my mind, not that I didn't enjoy last weekend. I did, drama aside."

"Yeah. I wanted to ask you about this new hospital you're building."

"It's built," Mundell said as he took a seat across from House in front of the fire. "Or at least the outside. They're working on the interior as we speak. It should be completed in a few months if all goes well." He sat forward and looked at House seriously. "Are you looking to relocate?"

"We might be. We, as in Cameron and I. Possibly Wilson, too. PPTH is…well, it's toxic and we're looking to move on. Any chance you'd be interested in a Diagnostics department?"

"Like you run at your hospital?"

"Exactly."

"I've been doing some research. I know your success, and I know your reputation. Do you believe you can be just as successful at a different hospital?"

"If you build it, they will come," House said with a smirk, and Mundell chuckled. "Seriously, they'll find me wherever I am. I get a lot of referrals and I choose my own cases. Cuddy had a different view of that, often making me take certain ones if it was a big donor but if the puzzle doesn't interest me, there's no point. It's not my fault their doctor is useless." At Mundell's shocked look, House returned it with a serious one of his own. "Look, I can't save everyone, but I'll move heaven and earth to save the ones I can. That's all I can do. Just make sure the administrator you hire isn't a complete moron."

"Name your terms. I'll think it over."

House sat back and smiled. "I pick my own team, I need an office and a conference room to do the DDX's...that's diagnostician talk for saving lives," he added at Mundell's look of confusion. "I won't do paperwork and I won't work in a clinic wiping snotty noses or treating crotch rot."

"There is no clinic at the hospital."

"That's a relief. Where is the hospital, anyway?"

"North Carolina. Mother was born and raised there. Beautiful country, that." There was a pause and then Mundell looked at House. "And while we're on the subject of family…"

House shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Here it comes.

"What are your intentions towards my Allison? I know the two of you got together under false pretenses, but I can tell there are feelings between you two that run deeper than friendship."

"We've been working together for a few years. We've spent a lot of time together. You know she was with Robert Chase before?"

Mundell nodded. "She seemed happy with him when she mentioned him in our weekly phone calls."

"He liked her more than she liked him. That's all it was. She invited me to GG's party because she knew I'd keep things on the level. She also hoped that I'd scare Greyson away. Which I did. Chase couldn't scare anyone."

"Look, I'm happy as long as Allison's happy. You seem to make her happy, and that's all I want for her."

"I hear a "but" coming."

"You are considerably older than she is."

"Don't remind me," House sighed as he sat back in his chair and sipped the scotch. "We haven't officially been together very long. Neither of us knows what's going to happen. It might not work out, and if it doesn't, then it wasn't meant to. I've been in relationships before. They didn't end well, for various reasons. I can't promise I won't hurt her, either."

Mundell's jaw clenched just like Cameron's did, and House found that amusing. "But who's to say she won't hurt me, either?"

"Allison would never hurt anyone."

"Oh I don't know about that. She broke Chase's heart," House said with a chuckle.

"She did?"

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't put it quite like that," Cameron said as she came into the room, took House's scotch from him and sipped. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail and she a floral sundress and white sandals. She wore tiny diamond earrings and a simple silver bracelet.

"How would you put it?" House asked her.

"I told him that going away with him wasn't going to make me fall in love with him and that I didn't want to go to Arizona." She took another sip. "I happen to like Princeton."

"But you like Asheville even more," Mundell pointed out.

"It is beautiful there. Why?"

"That's where the new hospital is. It's in the final stages of construction. Greg was telling me about his plans for running a Diagnostics department."

"That's a good idea, Dad. He's made a name for himself worldwide. He's never short on cases. We got dozens of referrals every day. His department at PPTH brought in a lot of money from the donors."

"What happens to the ones you don't take?" Mundell inquired.

"I don't know. We can't save everyone. There's only one of him."

"Problem is, there are tons of incompetent doctors. Thankfully, your daughter isn't one of them. She's been an asset to my team and I want her to co-head the department," House said as he looked over at her, enjoying the look of shock on her face.

"You want me to…"

"I need someone to keep me in line," he grinned at her. While she recovered from her shock, she smiled at him.

"Is this a private party?" Wilson inquired as he stood in the doorway. He wore neatly pressed khaki pants, a brown leather belt, a navy blue dress shirt open at the throat and shiny brown loafers. House told him the family dressed up a bit for dinner so he hoped he was dressed appropriately.

"Not at all, come in, please," Mundell gestured to the couch. "What's your poison?"

"I would love a beer, thanks."

"Of course," he said and handed him one from the bar fridge. "We were just discussing the new hospital."

"Oh yeah, House mentioned that. Where is it?"

"Near Ashville."

Wilson arched his eyebrow. "As in North Carolina? Nice."

"It's between Black Mountain and Asheville. My mother was born and raised in Black Mountain. We have a cabin. When the girls were young, we spent our summers there. Mother always wanted to do something to give back to the town. It's managed to remain much like it was when she was growing up. There are no strip malls, big box stores or even a Langstons. Allison especially loved it there. She and Mother spent hours exploring the mountains or shopping on Cherry Street." Mundell smiled. "They always got strawberry cokes at the little ice cream shop. It's closed now. Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble."

"Oh, I didn't know the ice cream shop closed," Cameron said a tinge of sadness in her voice. "I'll miss those strawberry cokes. Is the bookstore still there?"

"It is," Mundell told her with a smile.

She turned to House. "You'll love it. There are walls of books and little rooms filled with them."

"Where is your cabin?" Wilson asked.

"High Top Colony," Mundell told him. "It's a wonderful little community up on one of the mountains just outside town."

"Is your cabin anything like this house?" House asked.

"No, it's the house my mother grew up in. Her parents built it in 1910. We've made a few improvements but tried to retain as much of the original house as possible."

"There's a stone fireplace in the living room her father built," Hilary said as she entered the room. She wore a high waisted boat neck green dress that fell just below her knees. Her hair was twisted in a knot at the base of her head, she wore very little make up, jade earrings and a delicate jade necklace. Simple silver flats completed her outfit. She looked nothing like the way she did when they arrived. House looked at Wilson and arched an eyebrow. Wilson ignored him and made room for Hilary on the couch. She sat close to him but they didn't touch. She just smiled at him.

"Do you want your usual?" Mundell asked her.

She shook her head. "I'll just have some club soda."

Mundell's eyes widened but he didn't say anything as he got her a glass of club soda.

"Where's GG?" she asked. "She's usually up from her nap by now. It's almost time to get changed for dinner."

"That's true," her father replied.

"I'll go check on her. She's probably reading," Cameron said. "You know how caught up in her books she gets."

"So that's where you get it from," House smiled.

She smiled and walked out of the room. As she mounted the stairs, Hillary appeared at her side.

"How much of a womanizer is James?" she asked as they walked up the stairs.

Cameron looked at her in surprise. "Why?"

Hilary shrugged and color bloomed on her cheeks. "Just curious."

They reached the landing and headed for GG's room.

"Well, he isn't quite as bad as House makes him seem. He's cheated on all his wives, though."

Hillary waved her hand in dismissal. "Most men cheat when they haven't found the right woman. I tried to seduce him but he told me he didn't know me well enough for that. I really like him. We only spoke for a few minutes but, Alliecat, he reminds me of Rick. He told me I need to be my true self. Rick did, too."

They stopped outside GG's room. "He isn't Rick, Bunny," Allison reminded her.

"I know. But he's seems like a good man. I could fall in love with him very easily but I can't be hurt again. I don't think I'd survive it."

Allison smiled. "If he's the right man for you, he won't hurt you."