So...I think I've finally settled down after Monday's finale. Whew! On with the show, kids! As usual (obviously) I don't own House.

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House entered to the clattering of claws on linoleum as the dogs greeted him eagerly. He gave each of them a Milk Bone and limped heavily into the living room.

Rob was seated at the computer, glancing up when he spotted House. "Hey."

House was puzzled. "What the hell are you doing out here? And where's what's-her-name?"

"Celia? I took her back to Marge's." Rob leaned back in the chair and scratched the back of his head.

"So…" House sat on the arm of the couch. "What happened?"

Rob sighed heavily. "Nothin', man. Nothin' happened. Couldn't go through with it."

House huffed disgustedly. "Hell, I might have well have just stayed here if nothing was going to happen with you two."

"It's not like I didn't want nothin' to happen." Rob snapped. "I just didn't see the point."

House was sorely tempted to smack Rob in the back of the head, but he waited for the other man to continue his explanation. "I don't just want some little short term thing, and that's all it would have been." He turned his attention back to the computer.

"You don't know that." House argued.

"I do know that." Rob answered. "Say we were to start somethin'. A couple weeks from now, she goes back to Memphis, and I've got nothin'. It's better this way."

House rolled his eyes. "Jesus, it's Memphis. It's across the state, not across the universe. You could work it out if you wanted to."

Rob merely shook his head. "It takes two to work it out. Maybe she just wants a quick little thing while she's in town. You know, she's newly divorced, probably just sowin' some wild oats." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm thinkin' maybe it ain't really me she wants. I'm just convenient."

House didn't want to admit that Rob possibly had a point. "You're still a moron for not taking advantage of what she was offering."

"I'm alright with that." Rob let out a bitter chuckle.

"Right." House wasn't buying it.

"I am." Rob insisted. "I ain't no prize catch, man. I know it, she knows it."

House was getting more exasperated with Rob's stubbornness by the minute. "She's lonely, you're lonely. Get together and be less lonely, at least for a while."

"And when she leaves?" Rob challenged.

House didn't have a good answer for that. He didn't want to discourage Rob with his own experiences.

Rob caught House's expression and nodded firmly. "Exactly." He turned back to shut down the computer before grabbing a nearby set of crutches and pushing himself out of the chair. "Trust me, it's better for everyone this way."

He started to make his way down the hallway before he stopped and turned his head toward House. "How's Caroline doin'?"

House heart nearly leapt into his throat. "Fine, I guess. Her rugrat came down with an ear infection, so she had to truck him to the next county to get someone to take care of it."

Rob laughed as he turned back toward the living room. "That's life out here. Probably a little different from what you're used to."

"Yeah." House tapped his cane on the floor, the silence stretching out between them. "I…might have kissed her."

"Come again?" Rob eased himself into the armchair. "I know I didn't hear that right. Sounded like you said you kissed her."

House stared at a spot on the floor, working at the carpet with the tip of his cane. "I did. But to be fair…she kissed me first." At Rob's incredulous look, he added, "Okay, it was on the cheek, but still…"

"Jesus, Greg." Rob shook his head. "You're in deep shit if Kevin ever finds out. For that matter, so is she."

"It was just a kiss." House answered. "Won't happen again, Dad. Promise."

"Ain't my business if it does." Rob told him as he pushed himself out of the armchair and headed back down the hallway. "See you in the mornin'."

"Night." House found the remote and channel surfed for a few minutes in an effort to distract himself from the events of the evening. It wasn't working.

A real sweet guy. That's what Caroline had said about him. Everyone he knew in Princeton would surely have a field day with that one. Even Stacy had never called him 'sweet'. She'd had multiple other names for him, but that sure as hell wasn't one of them.

House shut off the TV and limped down the hallway to the bedroom. There was no sense in analyzing the whole situation. Chances were good that the whole thing would amount to absolutely nothing.

Rob and Celia, on the other hand…House had a burning desire to get to the bottom of that mystery. He refused to believe that it had been as simple as Rob had made it out to be. Most likely Rob had chickened out at the idea of fully exposing himself to Celia.

House could understand that. It was only one of many reasons that he had retreated so far into himself since Stacy left him. The kiss with Caroline had touched on something so deep that he wasn't even sure it existed anymore.

House sighed heavily as he turned out the light and climbed into bed. Suddenly his thoughts had come right back to where they had started. This was ridiculous. In the morning, he was going to find a way to get to the café to straighten this whole problem out.

# # #

House awakened early the next morning to pouring rain and the rumble of thunder. No wonder his leg was throbbing so badly.

He pushed himself gingerly to a sitting position and found his prescription bottle, popping it open and throwing back two pills immediately. After waiting for a few minutes for the throbbing to abate somewhat, he pushed himself out of bed and started down the hallway.

The dogs greeted him upon his entry into the kitchen, and House reached down to scratch them both before letting them out into the yard. The house was quiet, and coffee hadn't been started yet.

He searched through several cabinets, finally finding the coffee and filters and starting a pot before limping back into the bedroom to dig out his Kindle. A little reading while coffee brewed seemed like an excellent idea.

"Whatcha got there?" Rob's voice drew House's attention just as he was getting settled in on the couch.

"Kindle. It's an e-book reader." House explained. "Got it not too long before I left Jersey."

"Huh. Cool." Rob rubbed his eyes and tilted his head slightly. "You start coffee?"

"Yep. Should be just about done."

Rob nodded and headed toward the kitchen, again using the crutches. House pushed himself off the couch to follow him.

"You're not wearing the leg." House was already automatically performing a differential in his head. "Something's wrong."

"Nothin's wrong." Rob told him firmly. "Just didn't want to bother with it."

"Right." House found a mug and dumped two spoonfuls of sugar in it before filling it with coffee.

Rob let out a short sigh and glared at House. "Mind your own damn business."

"Did I say anything?" House snapped back.

"You didn't have to." Rob spoke sharply. There was a long pause before Rob spoke again. "I've got an appointment with the prosthetics guy at the VA clinic next week. The damn thing don't fit right, and it's rubbin' the hell out of my leg."

"The VA?" House snorted derisively. "Why don't you get yourself a real doctor?"

Rob glared at House again. "Are you offerin'?"

"Not my specialty."

"Then butt out." Rob drained the remains of his coffee and left the kitchen.

House huffed irritably and leaned against the counter, deep in thought. He hadn't taken Rob's obvious sensitivity about his leg into consideration, and the whole conversation had gotten out of hand in a hurry.

He pushed himself off the counter and limped into the living room, where Rob was already seated at the computer, clicking and typing.

House took a deep breath before speaking. "Look, I wasn't trying to piss you off."

"It's cool." Rob's tone was still sharp. "No big deal."

"Except that it is." House thumped his cane against the carpeted floor, not sure how he wanted to proceed. Finally he spoke again. "I'm guessing you were a pretty active guy before that land mine went off."

"I was." Rob answered quietly. "Played football every fall, ran track every spring. Would have done cross country if it weren't for football." He looked wistful. "Used to love runnin'. I could run for hours."

"So why the hell are you settling for this?" House gestured toward Rob. "The technology's pretty fucking amazing. You could do better."

"Why bother?" Rob replied. "It ain't goin' to give me my leg back, and it sure as hell ain't gonna give me my wife and kid back."

House was surprised by the revelation. "You're married?"

"Was." Rob corrected him. "She divorced me not long after I got back from the hospital in Germany. I wasn't the man she married, and…she couldn't handle it."

House fell silent. The scenario Rob described was all too familiar. "So you shut yourself off, told yourself you didn't need anyone."

Rob's surprised expression told House he was near the mark. "Somethin' like that." He shifted in his chair to face House. "That story you were tellin' the other day, about isolatin' yourself and whatnot…"

"All true." House replied quietly, suddenly uncomfortable with revealing so much of himself to a near-stranger. "Not like I planned it that way. It just sort of…happened. After my leg thing, I kind of took out a lot of my anger and frustration out on my girlfriend at the time. Eventually…she left."

Rob looked thoughtful as he took in House's words. "And now?"

House let out a bitter laugh and glanced at the floor. "You heard me the other day. I've got no one I need to contact. No one even knows I left town."

"Shit, Greg." Rob sounded incredulous.

"Yeah, I know. Pathetic." House pushed himself to his feet and headed back toward the kitchen. He didn't know what had made him reveal so much to the other man. Maybe it was an attempt at helping Rob avoid the kind of life House had lived post-infarction.

House snorted derisively at that idea. He didn't help people, as a general rule. Usually he wound up causing more chaos.

He was so deep in his downwardly spiraling thoughts that he didn't hear Rob come in. The other man poured a second cup of coffee and leaned on the counter next to House.

"Think you could take a look at…you know." Rob looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Kind of have a hard time lookin' at it myself."

House looked up. "Isn't there a doctor in town?"

Rob shook his head. "Doc Philips retired last year and hightailed it to Florida. No one's been around since."

House sighed heavily. "Guess I could take a look."

Rob nodded briefly and left, soon returning with a well-stocked med kit. House was pleasantly surprised. "What did you do, raid the old doctor's place before he left?"

Rob chuckled as he eased himself into a kitchen chair. "I was an EMT before I went to Iraq. Always kept this kind of stuff around."

House sat down at the kitchen table and waited while Rob unwrapped the stump. It was red and slightly swollen, and Rob carefully peeled away a dressing that had soaked through slightly.

He examined the area while Rob held up his leg, nodding firmly. "Doesn't look infected."

Rob nodded in response while House redressed the wound. "Kind of figured it wasn't." He looked up at House. "Too bad you ain't stickin' around. The place could use a good doctor."

House rolled his eyes. "I'm not exactly known for my bedside manner. In my old job I almost never saw patients."

"Your old job?"

House cursed himself for his slip, sighing heavily. "I'm not on vacation, or sabbatical. I quit."

"Oh." Rob only seemed slightly surprised. "Well, I guess if you've got it like that…"

"I do." House cut him off. "For a while, anyway."

"Fair enough." Rob smoothed a hand over the stump. "Thanks, you know…for checkin' it out." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Guess I might have a chat with the VA guy when I go, see what else he can do for me."

"Can't hurt, might help." House shrugged casually as he closed the med kit.

"Yeah." Rob huffed. "He's a good guy, and one hell of a doctor. Thing is, he's just so goddamn cheerful. Makes me want to punch him."

House snorted. "Maybe if he gets you a halfway decent leg you won't have to see him as often."

"Maybe." Rob looked briefly pensive. "Did a little research online. You know they've got prosthetics designed just for runnin'?"

"Really." House was somewhat amused.

"Yep." Rob shook his head. "They're big money, though. Don't know if the VA'll cover somethin' like that. Be pretty cool if they did."

A pang of sadness went through House. It was good that Rob was finding a shred of hope for himself. House just wished he could do the same. "Yeah, well…I guess you could find out."

"Guess so." Rob nodded as he pushed himself off the chair. "Think I'll get myself cleaned up."

House nodded in reply and pushed himself up from the table to return to his coffee. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "You mind if I take your truck later?"

Rob poked his head into the kitchen. "What for?"

House shrugged with an indifference he didn't feel. "Thought I'd go check in on…my patient."

Rob grinned and shook his head. "Or your patient's mama." He pointed a crutch toward the counter near the door. "Keys are on the counter. Don't wreck it."

House was surprised at how easily Rob offered the keys. "You should come with."

"No way." Rob's expression suddenly fell. "Not after last night."

"Like there's a better time?" House challenged.

Rob twisted his mouth, finally nodding affirmatively. "Fine. I'll go with. Just to make sure you return the old girl in one piece."

"Whatever reason works for you." House answered, suddenly feeling somewhat relieved that Rob had agreed to come with him. He would serve as a good buffer between House and Caroline. House wasn't quite sure he was ready to face Caroline after last night.

He wasn't even sure how she would react to seeing him. This impulsive idea was suddenly sounding worse and worse.

"You gonna clean up a little before you see your 'patient'?" Rob's voice jolted House out of his thoughts.

"I think I've changed my mind." House told him. "I'm sure the little squirt's just fine."

"Oh, no you don't." Rob told him firmly. "You started this thing. You're damn sure gonna finish it."

Rob was right and House knew it. "I guess." He muttered.

"Alright." Rob clapped House on the shoulder. "I'll be ready whenever you are."

House drained the cold remains of his coffee mug and headed toward the bathroom. Maybe he was making too much of things. Surely it wouldn't take too much out of him to go check on Kieran, would it?

Wilson would never have let him hear the end of this one. Just as well he wasn't around to witness this momentous event.

A little pang went through House at the thought. He did miss Wilson, just a little, and he considered calling him to at least let the oncologist know where he was.

He immediately shoved the thought aside. Chances were good that Wilson was too caught up with Sam to be too concerned about House's whereabouts. No, there was no point in contacting him.

He didn't need Wilson anyway. For some reason, House had made some sort of odd connection with Rob. That would do for now, at least until he left. House wasn't particularly concerned with what might come after. He'd work that out when the time came. At least, he hoped so.

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