Sorry for not posting yesterday. I was at Comic-con! Got to see the panels for Torchwood, The Walking Dead and True Blood!

Chapter 12

New York City

The next day Kenna stormed out of bed, took a shower and then jostled down her large duffle bag. House pulled himself out of bed to get ready for work, saw the duffle and knew he was in deep trouble.

Throwing her sweater in the bag, House pulled it out and stuck it back in the drawer. She yanked it out again and threw it in the bag, he pulled it out and held it in the air out of her reach.

"Greg, stop it. I've made up my mind, put it back in the case and get out of here. Go to work."

"No, I want you to stay. I was an idiot. I'm sorry."

"I agree—you were an idiot, but it doesn't change anything."

House continued to remove things and after ten minutes of this Kenna couldn't take it. She started pummeling him with her fists. House did nothing but take it. He let her hit him for several minutes until she ran out of steam and then he put his arms around her, "Do you want me to say something like, 'I need you to stay?'"

"I don't want platitudes. I want respect."

He grimaced as he nodded vehemently. "I know. I know. I respect you so much that I really did want to show the whole world how intelligent and articulate you are. When you sit there like a bump on a log, they can't see that."

"You want me to be some gem that reflects on you. This is about how you look to others. If how I come across isn't bothering me, why should it bother you?"

"You're right, you're right. I'm wrong. Ok? I really want you to stay. Please? Who's going to make sure the toothpaste cap gets put on? Who's going to steal my covers? Come on, stay?"

She sat down and looked out the window. Where was she going to go? Would she be happy where she went? Greg had treated her well when the two of them were alone. The sex had been phenomenal. She felt safe and strangely happy most of the time. But when they were with other people he would make her the butt of his remarks and criticisms. She was an easy target for his frustrations.

"Greg, I think I'm going to regret staying, but I will, for now."

He looked visibly relieved. "I have to get to work. We're ok?"

"Go. I promise to be here tomorrow when you get off."

House knew that this had been a close call and he also knew that he had to get a grip on things. He was having problems at work and rather than tell her about them, he took it out on her, hurting her so she could feel his misery too. But he had gone too far.

He was willing to do anything to get her to stay, including telling her he loved her as a last resort. Did he love her? He wasn't sure. Love was so esoteric. He couldn't see it, examine it, study it. He could read platitudes about it, but to him love was just a psychological response to a physiological need, nothing more. Why everyone put so much stock in it, he didn't know.

That night when he walked through the back door and saw her standing over the stove cooking, his heart leaped and his pulse raced. He took a deep breath and walked over to the stove, giving her a kiss on her neck and then walking through without a word.

House arranged to have the weekend of her birthday, July 23rd, off. He made reservations in New York City for the weekend. They were going to take off Thursday night after work and come back on Sunday. That Thursday, Kenna woke up to see a sleeping House sprawled on his back, his mouth slightly open, hair messed and in general, looking adorable. She picked up the blankets and saw he already had his morning buddy. She laughed to herself. What a strange thing to happen every morning. It always amused her.

He woke up and found her studying him."You enjoy my morning wood don't you?"

"I find it absolutely amazing. When it happens are you thinking of sex?"

"It's either sex or a full bladder. Hate to disappoint you but today I've got to take a leak." And with that he gave her a silly look, jumped up and ran to the bathroom. He never bothered closing the door unless he was sitting down to do business. He yelled out from the bathroom. "Did you know that when men are hanged, they frequently get erections from all the blood draining down to the lower part of the body?"

She started giggling, "Well hung? Or is that their way of telling whoever is hanging them, 'screw you?'"

He let out a laugh and then walked back in, getting back in bed. "Come here, let me hold you. I want to read the bumps on your head."

"You're going to be late if you don't get your butt up."

He smiled and patted the bed, "Come on, I just want to cop a feel before I go." House always slept in the nude during the summer, boxers and a t-shirt during the winter.

She wore clothes to bed, a nightgown, t-shirt or pajamas. Sensible. Kenna climbed back in bed and over to him. He gave her a quick kiss and held her, smelling her neck. He gave her a quick feel up her pajama top, rolling her lovely pink nipples in her fingers. He wished he did have time for a quickie, but he had to tell her about her weekend so she could pack.

"I have a birthday gift for you." He leaned over and opened the top drawer in the night stand.

"My birthday isn't until Saturday."

He grabbed the tickets and handed them to her, "We have reservations in New York for the weekend. I also scored two tickets to the 'Phantom of the Opera.'" He thought she looked like a little girl, her eyes all round as her face lit up.

She grabbed onto him and hugged him tight. "You really are good to me sometimes. When do we go?"

"Sometimes?" He shook his head, "Tonight after work. Now I have to get up and go to work while I still have a job."

House was in a good mood all day which was always fun at work. He made all of the nurses laugh and even managed to tolerate the patients. Since working at Hopkins he realized that he didn't enjoy patients. He enjoyed their maladies if they presented a challenge, otherwise they really annoyed him. Already garnering a reputation for diagnosing tough cases, House was constantly called on to consult throughout the hospital. The doctors hated calling him because he was such an ass, but everyone recognized his talent at putting all the symptoms together and solving the riddle. House wondered how he could structure his practice so that he didn't have to interface with patients, even though it was necessary to get a history.

They took the train into downtown New York to avoid parking the car. After checking in, they went up to their room. It wasn't fancy, but then House wasn't making a lot of money. Still it was nicer than anything that Kenna had stayed at before.

Kenna Speaks

I had been to New York twice before on quiz tours, but only for one night each. I hadn't seen much on the trips so I was excited when Greg showed me the city. We started out at the World Trade Center, climbing to the top to look at the world. When you're up there, it's incredible, hard to believe that mankind can build something so tall. We could see Madam Liberty, Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building. It was fantastic. I made Greg take me to the top of the Empire State Building too where we had drinks at the restaurant on top where Greg told me about some of his journeys around the world.

I realized there was a lot I didn't know about him, "Greg, did you ever think about getting married?"

He turned from the view and looked at me seriously, "Are you proposing? Because I expect a big diamond."

I'm sure I went white because I immediately said, "No! Oh, no...I was just curious. You're 32 and a lot of guys are married by your age."

"No, I never thought I would get married. I don't see the point of it unless you're going to have kids or there's some financial reason like health insurance, social security, pensions...you know. Besides it's so much more delicious living in sin."

I nodded; this was the answer I had expected. I smiled at him as I wondered how long we would be together and what would eventually send us our separate ways.

"What about you? You planning on getting married?"

I thought about it. As a little girl, I had imagined myself with a husband, a farm, children. But now that I was older, I could see that I knew so little about the world and the idea of having to answer to another person in my life was bone-crushing. "I'm not sure. I guess it will all depend on what happens to me. I think that at some point I'd like to get married, but the idea of it now seems suffocating."

He looked me up and down and laughed. "You'd be a handful." The way he said it sounded like I was big trouble.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're just waking up to the world around you and heaven forbid if anyone gets in your way. You're a steamroller Kenna. I happen to like steamrollers, but you're going to have a lot of men in your life that won't. I guess once you've rolled over me, you'll just keep rolling along."

I smiled but there was something very sad in what he said. It was an acknowledgment of the fact that we both knew we would eventually part. I almost said something about it, but decided that I didn't want to think of a life without Greg in it. At least not right then. "Greg, thanks. Thanks for this. Thanks for...I don't know, just thanks."

He reached over and grabbed my hand, saying nothing, just holding it.

New York is overwhelming with its sights, smells and tastes. We ate at mostly little delis to keep the costs down, but Saturday night before the show we went to a nice, reasonably priced restaurant and had Italian food. It was delicious and we had enough wine to make us giggly. House looked so incredibly handsome in his suit and tie. I wore the dress I wore on my first date with Doug. It was one of Greg's favorites. Considering I had three day dresses and a cocktail dress, he didn't have much of a choice for favorites.

He asked me if I had ever seen, "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Of course I had. As we passed the store on our walk to Central Park, he took me into Tiffany's and bought me a $125 silver key ring and had it engraved, "Tesoro (darling) Kenna, Remember Me, Greg." If someone had asked me that weekend if I was in love with Greg House I might have said yes.