Cameron left Wilson and Cuddy to finish their breakfast and walked down to the dock where she and House had gone fishing before. Dan Brady was standing on the dock in his usual brown suede jacket with the fringe in the back and his black cowboy hat. The pole was barely moving with the small tug of the lake.
"Well Allison how are ya?"
"I've had better days, Dan."
"Listen, Greg can't hold what you and Dakota did for him against no for too long. He's just confused and I guess rightly so."
She stared at him wide-eyed.
"Ruthie works at the diner. I eat there every morning before I head out to the sawmill. I heard everything."
"Oh." She said blushing.
"You love him a whole lot don't you?"
"Yeah unfortunately I do."
"Allison you listen to me. I'm a middle-aged man. I have been in love with Ruthie since we were kids in school, but I went off to the Air force and Ruthie thought it was my way of telling her I didn't want her because we were always friends. I can back a hero to this town. The mayor gave me a medal. I got several awards and commendations for bravery. But when I found out that Ruthie was married and little Charlie was five, I felt like the coward. No medal was going to change that. George walked away from her and Charlie when he was thirteen. Told her that he'd never wanted a wife or a kid and that he'd made a mistake and he left them."
"Oh poor Ruthie and Charlie."
"George died a month later of lung cancer and to this day I believe that he'd lied to her and Charlie so they could simply hate him and not mourn him."
"So why didn't you step in and marry Ruthie?"
"Same reason why Greg stormed out on you. He's got that male pride and somewhere along the line he's decided he can't be the right one for you. If I had married Ruthie and stayed here then George never would've hurt Ruthie or Charlie."
"But you had to go. Because if you hadn't then you'd never had been the strong man you are now." Cameron said with her hand on his arm.
"I know that now which is why I have this." He reached in his coat pocket and pulled out the diamond ring. "Watching you stick by Greg made me realize that if Ruthie hadn't still loved me she'd have moved on. You've given me the courage to do this Allison. I'm sure if you spoke to many of the folks around here you'd find that your being here has helped so many others."
The tears stung her eyes. Cameron threw herself into his embrace and thanked him for talking to her.
"Well looks like the fish have gone downstream for the morning. I'll come out after work. Don't be a stranger now."
Cameron smiled. She sat down on the dock for what seemed like an eternity. For the first time she began to see things as they really were. The tears absently flowed down her cheeks. Finally she stood up and dusted off her jeans and walked the mile to the cabin.
Vivian was outside tending to her carnations. She waved at Cameron and smiled. Cameron returned the gesture. She packed up her bag and scribbled a note to House. They had taken Vampire Jane to the restaurant so all she had was the scooter. She secured her bag to the back and then drove to the hospital. She looked for his car in the parking lot and then headed to the elevator. Aunt Virginia smiled when she saw her.
"Charlie honey you let me talk to Allison. Will you go over to my house and take the dogs the run in the woods? They love to run but Uncle Cappy has been so busy."
"Ok I will. Mama is sending over a ham she made with mashed potatoes and pecan pie." He smiled happily.
"Uncle Cappy will love that. You thank your mama for me and tell her I'll give her a call after I get settled in at home. Come give me a kiss."
He quickly went to the chair she was in and kissed on the side of the mouth and she did with all the boys since they were little. Cameron sat on the bed and smiled down at the older woman.
"You're going home aren't you?"
"I have to."
"And something tells this wise old owl that my Bambino isn't welcome to follow am I right?"
Cameron nodded sadly. "He doesn't love me Aunt Virginia. This entire trip was to bury the ghost of a young girl and his child. I hadn't wanted to see that but now I do and frankly I don't want to compete."
"Sweetheart hear me on this. You listening? Greg is a man and very confused one at that. He's got more intelligence in his knee-cap then that what's his idiot name from Jeopardy? You know the one that wins all the money and hasn't got the compassion on flea.?"
"Ken Jennings?"
"Yes, ugh I can't stand him. He said some mean things about my Alex Trebek. I don't like him."
Cameron laughed at the obvious annoyance in her voice.
"What was I saying? Oh yeah. I was talking about Greg. Listen he knew Margerite was critically ill when he went down with her, but he never expected to lose that baby. She is what drove him to become a doctor. She was the one that turned him into this hard-edged guy that can detach himself from all his emotion. But honey its still there. He still loves unconditionally and I know he loves you."
"Why because he gave me some ring that used to belong to Serafina?"
"No, because he had made up his mind to give up that little boy and his job at the hospital until you came here with him."
Cameron raised her eyebrow.
"What are you telling me?"
"He called me the night he shot that little boy's daddy, Allison. Your boss Cuddy had just taken him from the house. He had been telling me all about Braeden and how he cared about him and how badly he wanted to adopt him. I know it's not the usual man you're accustomed to dealing with. But he's open with me. Anyway he called that night and told me he was leaving Jersey and headed to the southwest. He said something about Santa Fe or something."
"New Mexico? But that's like 3000 miles away!"
"3000 miles is nothing when you have a broken heart. At any rate I told him to come and spend some time up here. I hadn't seen him since Christmas but he refused. I told him he always had a home here with us and that I loved him. The next thing I knew he was driving that hot little convertible into town with you and his dog."
It took a minute for Cameron to digest the fact that House would consider leaving. In the past when Cameron didn't get her way or she felt betrayed she often threatened him with quitting. The first time he'd talked her out of it by agreeing to date that ended in disaster. But never had she considered that he would leave himself.
"I'm glad that I could help him truly but I can't stay here forever and neither can he. I have to go home, go back to work and forget about this."
The sadness in Aunt Virginia's eyes nearly caused Cameron to take it back.
"I meant him and this entire part of him, not you or anyone else in this town. I love you all so much. I never had a family like this and it hurts me to go. But I promise that I will call and write you and Vivian was kind enough to make me an address book with all the people in the town's name, number, and email addresses. I really will miss seeing you everyday and especially since you are going home today."
"Come here baby." Aunt Virginia said raising her slightly bandaged arms. Cameron fell into her hug and sobbed bitterly. After a moment Aunt Virginia was in tears too. "I love you so much sweetheart. You've brought me so much joy. Please stay in touch I couldn't be happy if you didn't."
"I promise." She wiped the tears away and then whispered goodbye before leaving. The emptiness made her nauseas and all she wanted was to run back in. When she got outside, House was sitting on her scooter facing her.
"The mileage on this thing sucks you know?"
"I called Uncle Cappy and he's going to take me the bus station in the next town after he takes Braeden to see Ruthie. I'm just riding it down there."
"C'mon you don't wanna run. Not you. You never run, you get pissed off and quit but you don't run."
"I'm not running. I'm going home. You have Wilson and Cuddy."
"Wilson doesn't look that great in my pajamas."
"Yeah and what about Braeden and how mad you are because I got Johnny to help you get custody."
"Keep other people out of my business. Like I said."
"Give me the keys or I'll walk."
"And what they Cameron? You going to quit again? Go jumping into Chase's bed or maybe he's old news maybe you're gunning for Foreman. I'm sure he know the words to Let's Get It On. He is black."
Cameron laughed. "And so it comes back to this. I'm so glad to see you Dr. Jekyl. House, I got Braeden put in your custody but now that I think about it, how are you going to raise him? Like this? Are you gonna treat him like you treat your patients? Maybe you will after all you're dad treated you that way. But let me ask you this. Is Braeden better off with your sarcastic, cruel, cut-off from the world, vicodin induced antics? Because I believed the guy I've been up here with is capable but this guy right here-" She said pushing on his chest. "This guy can't even take care of himself. You better decide if Braeden should turn into Uncle Cappy or turn into your dad. Either way I'm going home."
He didn't say a word. He simply opened his hand and dropped the keys into hers and walked into the hospital without looking back. Cameron mounted the scooter and drove down the hill. House turned to look back and when he did a mighty punch knocked him to the ground.
"Dan?"
Dan Brady grabbed House by the arm and hauled him back on his feet. A small trickle of blood seeped from House lip.
"Now that I knocked the foolish idiot out of you, I have a proposition for you and you'd better pay attention or next time you're going upstairs on a stretcher. Now do I lie?"
House eyed him and quietly shook his head. "Good."
The ride to the bus stop was quiet. Uncle Cappy, usually a talker, couldn't find it in himself to make small talk. When they arrived Uncle Cappy walked around the truck and took her bag out. She gave him a big and he returned it sadly.
"Aunt Virginia and I always wanted a little girl. I guess if you keeping praying God eventually gets to answering you. I love you baby. You come see us and call often. You don't need to Greg to bring you, just call your Uncle Cappy here and I will come and get you. Because if you don't I have been given full authority to haul your coleti back up here. Capish?"
Cameron nodded and smiled. The tears in his eyes broke her heart.
On the bus Cameron took out her new cell phone and looked through the pictures she'd taken of all those she met and loved. In the midst of them was picture of House and Uncle Cappy. Uncle Cappy had House in a pretend headlock. The smile on House's face was the happiest Cameron had ever seen him.
Two days later Cameron returned to work. Cuddy passed her in the hallway.
"When did you get back?" Cameron asked.
"Sunday morning. How are you?"
"I don't wanna talk about it Cuddy. I just want to get back to my routine and be done with all of this."
"I can understand that but you work with House. When are things ever routine?"
Cameron smiled and Cuddy headed to her office.
"Hey Cuddy…thanks. By the way can you tell Wilson I'll be by in about an hour I need to have him sign off on Mrs. Butel's treatments next month."
"He's not back from Margaretville yet. He stayed to help rebuild the restaurant and his and House's friendship."
"I guess it has to start somewhere."
Cameron walked to her office and saw Chase and Foreman in the lounge.
"Hey you who's back." Foreman smiled.
"Hi guys. Listen before you start asking questions I don't want to talk about House or anything you two might have conjured up about our trip while I was gone."
They looked at each other and then back at Cameron. "Wait you mean you've been with House all this time?" Foreman asked starting to smirk.
"You told me you were at a conference in Boston." Chase added.
Cameron had completely forgotten about that and now she'd just given them ammunition.
"It's a long story and not even a tenth as dirty and you will both undoubtedly make it. At any rate I'm working in NICU this week they're short handed and Cuddy isn't giving us cases till House comes back. See you around.
That same morning House had just fallen back asleep when he felt the blanket on the foot of his bed fall away. Barely opening one eye he saw Braeden lay the blanket he'd given him on the floor and he pulled House's foot blanket over him making a tiny pocket in the blanket for the puppy he now called "Sully" after the blue monster in Monster's Inc. House felt a strange comfort at Braeden being near him. He fell asleep soundly for the first time in two days."
"Uncle House can Sully come fishing with me and Uncle Danny?"
"Sully's too small to go fishing. The other puppies would be pis- uh sad if he were to go without them. Besides his mom has to feed him and she doesn't want to do it with us watching."
He thought about this for a moment.
"Can Uncle Charlie come?"
"If he's not too busy Popcorn."
House finished dressing Braeden in the new cargo pants and Nascar's Jimmie Johnson shirt, complete with Batman hightops and a backwards Yankees hat that he insisted House buy him after he saw Uncle Cappy's hat. House bought it on the condition that he wear it backwards so he could see better.
"Come on let's go get some pancakes. What will it be the batmobile or batcycle"
House already knew the answer. Five minutes and a half of a banana between them they were on the scooter headed to the diner. Braeden made car sounds and they zoomed down the hill and squealed when they came to a stop at the diner.
"Uncle Cappy!" Braeden shouted as the big man got down out of his truck.
"Ah that's a sharp looking hat you got there. You look just like Babe Ruth!"
"The great Bambino?" He shouted in excitement.
"You got it little man." In one fell swoop Uncle Cappy scooped him up and put him on his massive shoulders.
House had fond memories of this when he was a little boy. Uncle Cappy was only twenty-one then but House saw him as a giant and he loved him dearly.
"Here, look what I got you."
"A fishing pole?" He screamed jumping down into the back of his truck. It was for little kids with a blue rod and a red handle.
"Why don't you go inside and show your Aunt Ruthie and Auntie Donna. Uncle Danny will be here soon and then you can go catch some fish."
"Ok!" He hopped into the gravel and dirt that was the parking lot and after looking for cars like House taught him, he took off into a run that had Uncle Happy laughing heartily.
"He's so easy to entertain. Since Emily and Jennifer Walding moved with their parents to the city, we ain't had too many little ones around here. But anyway how you doin my boy?"
"Great, I already got Braeden a tattoo and a Harley. We're going to pick up ladies tonight."
"Wise-ass. Don't get smart with me. I know yous better than you do. You're missing Allison."
"She left it. It was her choice."
"You sure as heck didn't stop her. I know that!"
"Uncle Cappy what do you know about it anyway? You and Aunt Virginia are like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, the Sicilian version."
"Ah you think so huh? Your aunt loves to tell the story of how I almost got killed in the war and how I came to my senses and became a model husband. She's too good of angel to ya's what happened when we first got married."
House pulled the tailgate down on the truck and they sat down on it.
"When I came back from the war I had night terrors. I stopped sleeping for months. And if I somehow managed to fall asleep and got woken up I was in a rage. Back then there wasn't these over-the-counter sleeping pills. You handled it anyway you could. My answer was found at the bottom of a bourbon bottle. For two years I'd come home from the mill and I'd drink until I passed out. It didn't exactly work because I'd sleep but I'd still have the nightmares. Because I didn't wake up I'd wake up the next morning with migraines."
"Hangovers suck."
"Yeah well one night I had a doozy of a nightmare. I woke up this time and all I could see was a shadow. I thought I was in the jungle. I turned as fast and as hard as I could and busted her right in the mouth and even knocked her off the bed. No amount of apologies in the world could fix that. I hated myself. She'd stuck by me through it all, even me getting engaged to another women and now here I was a no good drunk still caught in a war I couldn't win. I came home the next day and all her clothes were gone. There was a full bottle of bourbon on the kitchen table with our wedding picture taped to it. A note by it said that I had to give my life completely to her and God or give it to the bottle."
"Wait, I've seen that bottle and picture before. It's in her china cabinet."
"Yeah it is. I'm no saint Greg. I realized the nightmares were unbearable even worse after that because she wasn't there to wipe the sweat off my brow and tell me I was home and safe. So I went to the veteran's hospital and talked to some of the guys in the support group. We were all young and scared and most of us were living in the bottle. It took time but the nightmares began to stop. Dan Brady's father was in that group too. As you know he shot himself when Dan was little. Those demons overtook him but I wasn't going to be taken down like that."
"So then she came home?"
"Not quite. She was afraid for me and she definitely didn't trust me at first. So one night I showed up at her parent's house. Her dad worked me over good on the front lawn and I took every punch without ever defending myself. He couldn't hurt me anymore on the outside then I'd hurt myself on the inside. By the end of it her dad and I were both on the grass. He told me that he'd always cared about me and he still believed that I was right for his daughter but that I had a heck of a long way to go before I earned back his respect. I went home and I prayed like I never had before and then two days later I went back. I wore my best military suit and asked her if I could take her to dinner. She saw the black eye her dad had given me and she agreed. We went out dancing and had dinner. After that I surprised her and took her to my support group meeting. She agreed to come home. I called Father Domdi the next day and we renewed our vows. And then a week later she was home. And soon after that this little boy climbs my front steps and tells me I have to help me catch a frog. And you and me became best pals."
The big arm swung around House's shoulder and squeezed him tight.
"Well I didn't hit Al nor did I chase her away with my addiction."
"You sure about that? All I know she's been grand slamming your demon's since you came home. You got what you wanted and she gets the brush. Your choice Greg but it seems to me you better go and take your punches."
House stared at the ground in thought.
"Here your aunt sent me down with these." He handed House an envelope with pictures. "They're from the fourth of July picnic. She also told me to bring Braeden to the house for supper tonight but not to bother coming or calling her until you bring Allison back."
"She always threatens me with not talking to me. She never does it."
"Greg, she stopped cooking and threatened me with TV dinners unless I knock some sense into you."
"Wait a minute aren't you a chef of your own soon-to-be-rebuilt restaurant?"
"Not in that house I'm not. That's her kitchen. I'm not allowed in there to even get a pop."
House chuckled and then stopped quickly.
"Wait a second. She told me last week that she was going to make baked ziti for me on Sunday."
"She already made it. Then she fed it to DiMaggio and Gehrig."
"She fed it to your German Shepherds?"
"Yous better look at the last two pictures in there."
He pulled them out and skipped to the back. The first picture was of her mouth-watering ziti, the next was her two dogs engrossed in its consumption.
"I think I'm going to cry."
"Exactly. You better go and take your punches from Allison or the next thing she'll be after you with her shoe."
House shuddered at the thought. Only once did he get hit with her shoe. He'd just got home from the lake smelling like marijuana. When she asked him about it, he shrugged and told her to be cool. Her size 7 clog made its way around the corner and straight into his head knocking him to the floor. Buzz killed!
Uncle Cappy went into the diner. Dan Brady had already joined them. Within minutes he had Braeden up on his shoulders. House grabbed the scooter and headed down to LaCamora Avenue. He walked through the doors after he parked.
"Greg?" The man asked as he entered.
"I'm here to keep a promise. Got a minute?"
"Step into my office, son."