Chapter 33

Time and House March On

Kenna was on the cover of Time, Newsweek and just about every magazine around. The articles always asked, why? Why had she done it? Why risk everything for Gregory House? Kenna never replied, but it leaked that they had lived together years ago and she had been working tirelessly to find a way to help him since discovering how painful his injury was.

The talk shows discussed over and over the irony that now she had given him back his life and he was pain-free, they couldn't be together. They always asked their audiences, "What would you do if someone you loved was in constant pain and you had the ability to take that pain away, but you would be breaking the law?" It was a no- brainer. Almost 99% of the people said that they would come to the aid of their loved one.

The talking heads lamented the fact that, although she deserved it, she would not be nominated for the Nobel Prize in medicine because of the ethical and legal violations. This was a travesty because it would be a real feather in the USA's cap. Kenna didn't care, she already had all that she needed from her actions, and she didn't need outside approval of her work, never did.

By the end of June, House was no longer using a cane. He still had a slight limp and the thigh still hurt after a long day, but the pain was tolerable and controlled with regular doses of Motrin. After six months of recovery, House couldn't take it any longer. He wanted to go to Merida to see her, but after confronting Cuddy with this news, the Board of Directors instructed him not to go, it would look as if he had sanctioned and willingly participated in her illegal acts.

House was furious.

-xoxoxo-

Kenna occasionally consulted with Foreman and House, both still complained of being hounded by the press. Foreman was receiving a lot of publicity as the "face" of the updates on House's leg. After it was clear that House was going make an excellent recovery, Kenna cut back on her video consultations in the hopes that House would move on.

Neurologists all over the world were clamoring for information about the procedure, but Kenna wasn't very forthcoming. She was now going to go through the required protocols in order to make the procedure available to the world and that required taking several steps backwards. Sadly, she was receiving thousands of letters every day begging her to perform the procedure on paraplegics, quadriplegics and people like House that were in terrible pain from muscle injuries. It broke her heart to know that the procedure was at least five years out from being available to the public.

The FDA, U.S. Health Department and AMA were all getting bombarded from medical entities, complaining that their actions and threats of legal action against Kenna had forced her underground and now one of the most important medical breakthroughs in neurology had been hijacked to Mexico. Paraplegics and their families all over the world had scathing remarks about the US Government and the AMA. The hoopla over the procedure seemed to be reaching critical mass.

The Society of International Neurologists begged her to fly to Rome for an International Symposium. She would be the spotlight speaker during the two hours set aside for her presentation. Kenna agreed and was pleased to hear that over 6,000 neurologists from all over the world had flown in at the last minute just to hear her first presentation on what now was being lauded as the most important step forward in curing paralysis.

Kenna flew to Rome and took a taxi to her hotel, the Westin Excelsior. An old, regal building dating back several centuries, the hotel was rated five stars. She registered and received her keycard and was instructed to use a back elevator down a long polished marble corridor in order to avoid the lurking media. Entering the elevator, the doors began to close when a tall man in a ball cap, sunglasses and turned up collar stopped the doors from closing and slid inside with her. Although she was concentrating on the agenda in her hand, she was a little worried, the man was acting strange, he was turned facing her instead of the door. When the man grabbed her and threw her up against the wall of the elevator she started screaming. She tried to knee him in the groin but he had sensed what was coming and pinned her legs with his. Then he took off his glasses. The eyes were blue, blue, blue. Her heart started to burst with joy.

They clutched each other tightly, just staring into each other's eyes. The desire of their passion took over and their mouths met in a desperate need, their tongues greeted each other playfully. House was holding her as tight as he could, refusing to ever let her out of his life. The door opened and they spilled out into the hall.

"What's your room number?" He asked, breathless.

"523."

They looked at the numbers and started running down the hall together. She opened the door with the key card and they pushed through the door. Fingers on buttons, she began to undo his shirt while he ran his hands under her sweater like two hot and heated teenagers. Their slacks and tops now on the floor, House pulled Kenna once again into his arms and quietly held her, unable to get enough of her body close to his. The familiar smell and touch was comforting and eased the painful longing in his heart.

It was only then that she remembered the bell boy was going to be up in a minute with her luggage. "The bellboy, he'll be here soon!"

House reached down into the puddle of clothes and grabbed his wallet out of the back of his pants pocket, pulling out some Euros. He threw her on the bed and fell down beside her. For a brief moment they grinned at each other with so much joy Kenna thought her chin would crack. She reached around and unlatched her bra as House helped her take it off.

House marveled at how young and perky her breasts still looked after all these years. Licking and caressing her breasts, House reveled in her body until they heard the knock. He jumped up, grabbed the hotel robe and went to the door, opening it just wide enough to tell the bell boy in Italian that he would take the luggage. After tipping the smiling young man, House said good night, giving the bell boy a sly smile. House grabbed the suitcases and took them in.

Kenna had turned down the bed and was lying nude in the middle of it, her face, legs and arms still freckled, the rest of her body a warm white. House took the robe off and pulled his boxers down before joining her in bed.

"Greg, get it in, get it in!" She said with an urgency.

"No foreplay?" He was actually saying it rhetorically because right now he couldn't think of a better place he'd rather be.

"I'm already excited, it's been seventeen years!"

He jerked her to him, climbing on top and guiding his shaft to the entrance lips. Once he penetrated her, House started thrusting hard and fast with more passion that he had mustered in years. He loved her body, the curves, the softness, the smell, the warmth inside of her.

She wrapped her legs around him and met his deep thrusts with her own movements. It was rough and exciting and when Kenna felt him stop in mid action she knew he was coming, she continued thrusting until he finally cried out, "Yeah, yes ... God ...oh..oh…" He took a deep breath and then moaned, "No more, no more." He held her hips down to stop when the uncomfortable sensations became too great. Slowly pulling out of her, he chuckled to himself how fast she had made him come. Or was he able to come that quickly because he no longer had the pain to distract him? He didn't have to worry about the angle of his thigh or whether his partner would accidentally put weight on it. He could now concentrate solely on the feel of her body and the sensations in his shaft.

She curled up next to him, taking in his smell, touching the gray hair on his chest. Moments later House slipped his hand down and pushed her legs open, rubbing and fingering her until she came, screaming, "Jesus, oooh...ohh...God, yes, right there..oh.." and then, after the orgasm faded, she pushed his hand away. House reached around her, pulling her tightly to him. They kissed softly and then stared at each other.

He was older, grayer, more wrinkles, less muscle tone but he smelled the same, felt the same inside her and still gave her the best orgasms in town. They didn't say anything for awhile.

"Where's your luggage?" She asked.

"Downstairs. The concierge is holding it for me."

She shook her head and looked worried, "If anyone sees you're here, you're going to be in a heap of trouble."

"I don't care anymore. I feel like I made a deal with the devil." He feigned an evil voice, "I'll take the pain away but you'll feel like the walking dead because she can't be with you." His voice returned, "I just don't care. If the AMA wants my head, they can have it. I'm sick of feeling like the Fugitive...I didn't do it but they're still trying to pin it on me just because I'm a jerk."

She turned and looked at him, debating on whether to tell him. "Greg, I just got a great offer. China will give me a full lab with doctors of my choice, pay me $2.0 million a year to conduct any research I choose, give me majority ownership of my patents and they'll let me practice neurosurgery. More important, they'll let me start doing my procedure right away. How would you like to visit me in China?"

"China? That's as far from me as you can get, isn't it?"

"That's not fair and you know it. If I go to China I can practice what I'm good at in a state of the art research center."

House sighed and nodded, whispering, "I know, I can't blame you. But still, it's so far away." Both of them lay quietly until he finally said, "I need to take a leak, I've been drinking water all evening waiting for you." He jumped up and went to the bathroom. Afterwards, he called down and had the bell boy bring up his luggage.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

"No, I ate while I was waiting for you. Are you?"

"Yes...I need a shower, could you order me something?"

He ordered her some pasta with chicken in pesto sauce and a bottle of wine. She was in the shower when he got in behind her. Turning, she examined his scar and was very happy with the outcome, it no longer looked pinched in. The plastic surgeon had managed to make it look more normal, much better than before. Underneath she could feel the bulk of a thigh muscle, muscle that hadn't been there just months ago. She felt elated.

House wanted to have sex with her in the shower but she didn't want him picking her up, afraid of injuring his leg.

"Then bend over."

"Let's just get out and you can bend me over the bed, ok?"

He gave her a look of feigned disappointment. "Where's your adventurous spirit?"

"I'm older; I balance novelty with comfort and comfort usually wins. Come on, you're hot with that beard and I want to see if you still can make me scream with that tongue."

He had her scoot to the edge of the bed and then he knelt down, stroking her inner thighs lightly. His tongue traced her skin from her knee to her clitoris and then he kissed and licked and sucked until she clenched his hair in her hand and hung on. It wasn't long before Kenna's body was racked with delectable contractions and waves of the pleasure. He reached up to her shoulders as he climbed onto her missionary style, coming a few minutes later. They stayed connected as long as they could before he was too flaccid to stay inside. Each stared at the other, marveling at the changes in each other's faces. Then House rolled over onto the bed.

Staring up at the ceiling, they both started laughing. She reached over and started tracing the hair from his belly button to his genitals and back again, "I feel like a kid, like a kid in the proverbial candy store...like I have a box of Godiva again."

"What?"

"Men are like chocolates. Some are Hershey bars, some are Dove and some are Godiva. You have always been Godiva. It was hard over the years, I compared everyone to you. A few measured up, but most of them were just Hershey." She asked, "What am I?"

He started laughing, "Hmmm, you're penny chocolate. Fairly common."

She hit him in the arm, "I am not common."

"Look, I just jumped you twice in twenty minutes and I'm over 50. If you were Hershey, do you think I'd want to do that?"

They both started cracking up and nodded their heads yelling out in unison, "Yes!"

He took her face in his palms. "You are Leonidas Belgian chocolate, delicious and expensive." He kissed her softly.

"When did you get in to Rome?"

"This morning. Foreman told me where you would be staying."

"So are you as tired as I am?" She asked hoping that he would say yes.

"Boy are you a lightweight. Yeah, I can use some sleep."

They curled up into each other's arms and fell asleep. House woke first and spent several minutes just looking at her. He wanted to wake her and kiss her lovely body. Instead, he got up to use the restroom. When he got back to bed, Kenna was awake and was glancing over at the clock.

"I have the day off. My lecture isn't until tomorrow. Shall we play?"

He grimaced, "I just have one little piece of business to conduct and then I'm free. Come with me, we'll do it together and then we'll play." They spent a glorious day together.

The next morning, Kenna woke up and nudged House who was flat on his back snoring. "I've got to be there in an hour and a half for my presentation, so we better get up and get some breakfast. You haven't changed your mind have you? You are going to come with me?"

"Wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Once they see you here with me it's going to cause problems for you at home."

"Who gives a damn?"

They arrived separately at the hall where she was giving the lecture. The United States had a several reporters on hand for the very first presentation on the breakthrough. There were even more Paparazzi. It was well known in the news business that getting a photo of both Kenna and Greg House in the same frame would be worth a lot of money. Getting a photo of them holding hands or being romantic would be worth even more.

Kenna walked onto the stage alone with her briefcase, wearing a black and white vintage Chanel suit, high heels and subtle makeup with the exception that she had on bright red lipstick. She began to set up her computer to give the presentation and then looked up to see that the hall was beginning to fill up with the doctors attending the conference and surprisingly, their spouses had joined them too. The hall was at capacity by the time she began.

Kenna used numerous media files from the MRI's, PET scans, digital video before and after, and photographs. She also gave a PowerPoint presentation. Films of House walking, or trying to walk without his cane filled the screen. The numerous Vicodin prescriptions, the numerous complaints of pain, the failed Ketamine treatment were all paraded before the audience like dirty laundry. His hallucinations and time in the mental ward was discussed at length, a product of the pain he felt. She discussed the science of the GDNF and silk thread breakthroughs, showing the photos and video of the ligaments growing in the petri dish. Finally, she showed House after the operation and again six months later walking without a cane.

The audience was so quiet, the only sounds were coming from the fan of her laptop and the horns barking in the traffic outside.

She began to take questions and for awhile she was pleased to hear reasonable, medical questions about the science. Finally, she knew she had to call on Ralph Salerno, a well know medical journalist.

"Dr. Palmer, you've claimed that you broke the laws and breached ethical standards because of your love for Dr. House. However, we haven't heard a word from Dr. House supporting you on this issue. How do you expect the world and the AMA to accept your story if no one supports your story? It's just as likely your breach of ethics was nothing more than a greedy grab at money and fame. What are we to believe when the very person you helped hasn't even, as far as we know, gone back to Mexico to visit you in your exile or said anything in public to support you?"

House's pre-operation thigh was lit up on several of the large screens behind her. Kenna paused, let out an audible sigh. Raising her eyebrows, she stared at the ceiling as if the answer to her frustration was written up there. The entire audience was quiet again.

"Well, first let me tell you that I never defended my actions by saying I was in love with Dr. House. I only said that we had a relationship in the past and that I cared about him. I had the ability to stop his pain and so I did. It was the media that said I was madly in love with the man. And in Dr. House's defense, Dr. House was informed that if he did attempt to talk to me or if he went public with support of me, the hospital he works at would suspend him, maybe even fire him. However, he has given me great support and has demonstrated his support in many ways, but none more evident than this-" Kenna clicked her mouse and on one screen was a photo of a couple, their faces kissing outside the Roman Registrar's office.

The entire audience rumbling with excitement. Kenna tried to hush the crowd with her hands. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce my husband, Dr. Gregory House."

House walked out on the stage with only the slightest of limps, reached out, grabbed her hand, kissed it and then put his arm around her. The doctors remained stunned and amused at this turn of events, but soon started clapping and laughing. Even Salerno was clapping for the couple. The press rushed to the front of the stage and wanted answers to numerous questions, House looked at Kenna and grinned just before he reached over and gave her a big kiss.