Title: Mentor

Chapter Twenty: Bad News, Revealed Secrets...

"Well, here we are again." Allison sighed, flinging her suitcase on her dorm room bed, "Senior year and still in a dorm room. Now don't we look like losers?"

Julia looked at her roommate with hollow eyes, not the usual sparkling emeralds Allison was used to seeing.

"What's wrong?" Allison sat next to her friend on the bed.

"I... I couldn't call and tell you, 'cause I didn't want to ruin your summer." Julia said quietly.

"Oh, God, what happened?" Allison stared her friend dead in the eyes.

"Jeff," Julia squeezed her eyes shut, "he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few days after you left."

Body slumping, Allison just sat with her mouth slightly agape as she stared at her friend. She knew that he hadn't been well, but she hadn't been focused on him at all before she left. Julia had kept her posted a bit, but ever since Allison had met House, the last thing on her mind had been other guys.

"I just..."

"I know," Julia shuddered slightly, "I couldn't believe it either when Joe told me." Looking at Allison, Julia smiled weakly, "I know you two weren't too close, but we are all friends, and I thought you should know. I just wanted to wait until I saw you in person." She swiped away a straggling tear.

"Are you okay? I mean, you spent the most time with Joe and Jeff." Allison put a reassuring arm around Julia's shoulder, "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you."

"It's just that... Him and Joe are like brothers, and I feel so badly for him." Julia took a rattling breath, "Joe's been so quiet these last couple of months. He doesn't want to do anything, he hardly talks to me anymore."

"He's just trying to be there for his friend." Allison cooed, "You'd do the same for me!"

Julia gave another half-hearted smile, "Yeah, then again," she sighed deeply, "I never thought I'd be happy that you had an insane crush on Dr. House."

Allison gave a little laugh, wanting to blab about it being more than a crush, "Why's that?"

"'Cause me and Joe were going to try and hook you up with Jeff. He liked you, thought you were cute. So I was going to try and get you two to hang out more our sophomore year, but," she gave a hollow grin, that seemed belying and cold, "you started falling hard for House, and wouldn't have anything to do with any other guy."

Bowing her head, Allison gave her friend a nudge, "And why does that make you happy?"

Julia's grin went back to a stoic mask, "Because, if it weren't for you crushing so bad on him, I woulda hooked you up with Jeff, and then you'd be losing a boyfriend, not an acquaintance." She gave a brief sniffle, "God, that must sound really mean."

Allison shook her head, "No, no not mean." Resting her head against Julia's, Allison gave a small smile, "You're just glad that I'm not hurting." She sighed.

Wiping her eyes, Julia gave her head a little shake, "Okay!" She clapped her hands as if trying to dismiss the gloomy atmosphere, "Tell me about New Jersey, and it better be exciting!"

"Oh! OH!" Allison glanced at the phone, "I forgot I was going to call Greg when I got back to school!"

Julia rolled her eyes, "Well you do that really quick and I'll scrounge up some junk food for us."

Allison nodded and reached for the phone, dialing the number quickly, "Hey." She said when he picked up.

"Hi, Ally." House's voice came over the line, "Lisa apologises for being an obnoxious drunk."

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk long, I just wanted to call you and," Allison looked really quickly towards the door, "and tell you that I love you."

"Love you too, Ally. Why can't you talk?"

"Bad news cameth." She sighed, "But call me back tonight when you get off of work and we'll talk about it, okay?"

"It's a date. You wear the neglige, and I'll bring the wine." She could hear the smile in his voice, "Love you."

"Love you too." Allison hung up, and no sooner had she done so, Julia walked in.

"I got some M&M's and some Cheetos." She held the bags and two Diet Cokes. "Fucking vending machines are a RIP OFF!

Allison laughed at her friend's dramatic ploys to distract herself from the earlier pain she had been expressing. It was hard to be close to Julia for these reasons. One moment she could be depressed and quiet, and the next she was bouncing off of the walls. With a sigh, Allison shook her head and patted the edge of her bed, which Julia quickly pounced onto, dropping some of the food in Allison's lap as they curled under an afghan.

"All right! Now tell me all about your summer!" Julia tore open a bag of her Cheetos and nudged Allison to begin.

"Well, I stayed with Lisa Cuddy. She's really cool! We'd hang out after work and just watch movies and drink wine or eat ice cream. It felt like I was in high school again, and sleeping over at a friend's house." She laughed, taking a pack of M&Ms and tearing it open, "Dr. Wilson was really easy to talk to about a lot of stuff. He's pretty straight forward."

"Like Dr. Pain in the Ass?"

Allison laughed, "No, Wilson's sweeter about it. There's a few times though, that you can tell he and House have been friends for way too long. He'll just kinda lash out at times. It's worse when Wilson does it, I think, 'cause you never know when it'll happen. You can expect it at any moment with Greg though." Allison sighed, thinking of Greg. "I think Lisa and I got pretty close though. It was like having a big sister." She laughed.

"I thought I was your sister." Julia hugged her friend with big puppy dog eyes.

"Aw, you're my twin sister who was born a month later." Allison assured.

Julia laughed, "So, what are you hiding from me?" She asked.

Allison's mouth twitched, "What do you mean?"

"Well, something must have happened with Dr. House, otherwise you wouldn't be avoiding talking about him. Before you left it was "House this" and "Greg that", and now you're just talking about Lisa and Wilson?" Julia shook her head, "That means either something really bad happened with House or something really, really good." At Allison's expressionless returning gaze, Julia sighed, "Fine, you obviously don't wanna tell me about. Not your best friend." She stood up.

"Wait!" Allison stood up, "It's suppose to be a secret."

"You don't think I can keep a secret?" Julia feigned being stabbed through the heart.

"Maybe you should have gone into acting instead of medicine." Allison's eyes narrowed. "Dr. Drama Queen."

Julia gave her a big, cheesy grin. "Nah, can't make as good of a living. And I can't sing and my dancing is horrible. I knew I shouldn't have started smoking when I was in high school. I have absolutely no lung capacity now." Flopping back onto Allison's bed she looked up at her roommate, "I understand if you don't wanna tell me, but if you're not going to because you're afraid I'll blab; you shouldn't be." She stretched wide, "After all, I can tell what probably happened from you not wanting to tell me anything." She pointed out, then jutted out her bottom lip, "Pleeeeeeaaase give me some details?"

Allison flung herself down on the bed as well, curling onto her side to face her friend. "I just..." Allison bit her lip, "Okay, but this is just between you and me okay? The only people that know are Wilson and Cuddy. So you can't use his name."

"Do I ever?"

"And you can't call him Dr. Sardonic Bastard either, cuz people know who you're talking about." Allison glared.

"Fine, fine." Julia rolled her eyes, "So, didja touch his penis?"

"JULIA!" Allison smacked her friend over the back.

"Come on! I tell you about me and Joe." Julia curled her arms around Allison's waist, giving her a playful squeeze.

Rolling her eyes, Allison looked at her best friend with a mock glare, "Yeah, but-"

"Psh, you wanted to know, don't lie." Julia rolled her own eyes, "Does he know you're a virgin? Better yet, are you still a virgin!?" She shook Allison.

"Jules-"

"OH MY GOD! You totally did it!" Julia squealed, "I can tell by that blush! You had sex!"

"I'm blushing because you're waaaaay too intrigued by my lack of a sex life." Allison grunted. As Julia deflated, Allison grinned, "But yeah, I totally did have sex."

Julia whooped, "Is he good? Was he okay with the whole... Virgin thing? Is he big?"

Allison buried her face in her hands, a fresh wave of blood collecting in her cheeks, "Yes, to all of the above."

"AH!" Julia squealed, "Is it just sex, or are you guys like... together, together?"

"Together, together." Allison was glad that the conversation wasn't going to be entirely about sex. "He gave me this before I left." She tugged at the black cord around her neck, and pulled the brass key out from under her shirt.

"Aw, that's cute." Allison showed her the inscription.

"He's a lot sweeter than you give him credit for." Allison told her, "I mean, you really only know him by how he acted at the lecture and in the diner, but he's really not as cold as you think."

"I'm sure." Julia smiled slightly, "After all, you are a good judge of character." Stretching slightly, Julia closed her eyes, "So, how many times did you guys..." She trailed off slowly, opening her eyes to wink at her friend.

"I lost count." Allison laughed, covering her mouth with her hands, "We did it a lot. I wish I'd known, or I would have gotten on birth control sooner. By the time I went and got the prescription, I only got to have sex without a condom a couple of times."

"Is he clean? I mean, it's not like he hasn't had his fair share of women!"

"Julia, he's a doctor, I'm pretty sure he's clean. And if he wasn't, he wouldn't have agreed to do it without a rubber." Allison rolled her eyes.

Sticking her tongue out at her friend, Julia insisted, "I'm just watching out for you. You're a new member of the "Getting Some Club", I just wanna make sure you're being careful."

"Aw!" Allison hugged Julia, "Thanks for thinking I'm so naive to think that birth control protects against STDs." Julia gave her friend a playful punch. "But we just had days where we'd curl up on the couch and watch movies, talking and eating dinner."

"So, why'd you stay with Cuddy? It sounds like you spent most of the time at his place." Julia quirked an eyebrow.

"Well," Allison faltered for a moment, "we can't be public yet 'cause it might damage our credibility."

"Oh... So that's why you didn't want to tell me?" Julia quirked an eyebrow, "Well, no worries, your secret's safe with me."

Smiling at her friend, Allison felt bad asking her next question, "So... Does Jeff have any chances of going into remission?"

Julia went very still, but shook her head, "No, it's pretty bad. He's just so young, Ally, none of us caught it." A lone tear began to fall from Julia's eye, and Allison quickly wiped it away, "Anaplastic."

"Oh God." Allison gasped.

"There's just too many tumors, and," Julia looked upward to ward off more unwelcome tears, "he's... God, Ally, he's falling apart. He's got another couple of months, and he won't let us call his parents until after." She took a rattling breath, "He doesn't want them to see him like this, and he wants me to call them when he..."

"Oh, Julia." Allison wrapped her arms around Julia's neck, "It'll be okay."

"And Joe is flipping out." Julia broke down completely, "He wants to call Jeff's parents, but he can't because Jeff doesn't want us to. And it's tearing Joe apart."

"Shh, it's okay." Allison cooed, "You should have called me. I can't believe you've been going through this by yourself."

"You're here now." Julia's watery eyes looked up at Allison, and the brilliant green they became when soaked in tears was startling. "I'm glad you had a good summer though."

"Here, have some chocolate." Allison waved the bag of M&Ms in front of Julia, who gave a choked laugh before snatching the bag. "You'll be okay."

"I just don't know how to tell his parents."

"Do you... Want me to do it?" Allison felt like it may be easier for her since she wasn't as close.

Julia shook her head, "No, he asked me to."

"Okay." Allison nodded. "I'm sorry I brought us right back where we were..."

"S'okay." Julia took a long, deep breath, "Just nervous, and scared and..."

"I understand. You remember how afraid I was last year? How it almost kept me from going into medicine." She nudged Julia in the shoulder. "You can do this, and if you cry or throw up, or whatever happens afterwards, it doesn't say anything about how strong you are. It just shows that you're human, and that you care. And, if you ask me, that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Julia nodded, "I'm just afraid that if I can't do it... How am I suppose to be a doctor if I can't do it?"

"You can." Allison assured, "But you're close to Jeff, and it's understandable that you find it hard."

With another deep breath, Julia wiped her eyes and popped a small handful of M&Ms in her mouth. "Just hold my hand, will ya?"

Allison nodded, before giving her friend a large hug.

TBC

A/N- Heads up- you may need some tissues for (maybe 21) and 22! So, stock up!-Andi