Some of you suggested great titles for this sequel to There's a Place for Us, but as I started to write it, this Philip Philips song kept coming back to me:

Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you're not alone
Cause I'm going to make this place your home

So, without further ado, here is the first chapter of :

I'm Gonna Make This Place Your Home

Sequel to Moving On and There's a Place For Us

Chapter 1. Training

"House, you'll never believe everything I found!" Rocco Magnani burst into his boss's office.

The fact that House used to do the same thing to Wilson back at PPTH didn't stop him from snarling at the young man with the dark hair and flashing Italian eyes. "Yellin had problems with her kidneys in the past." House preempted his team member.

"Well, yeah, we expected as much, but I found proof." Magnani was still grinning.

"What kind of proof?"

He shuffled through the papers in his hand. "Her creatinine levels were elevated, 1.6, before the hysterectomy, so they couldn't do a CT scan with contrast. An ultrasound..." He did some more shuffling. "Here it is. An ultrasound showed a tiny cyst, but the conclusion was that it was a noncancerous Bosniak cyst." He placed the reports on House's desk. "I ran into her Ob/Gyn..."

"The one who prescribed the Zyprexa that she stopped taking on her own."

"Yeah, Finnegan. He told her to stay away from NSAIDS, but who knows if she followed those instructions either."

House nodded. "So she might have brought her troubles on herself without Kirkwood's help." He tapped the pages. "This all confirms what Jacobs found from the current tests."

"It does? I guess that's not surprising."

House let out a satisfied sigh. "Take these to Jacobs and Simpson."

"What are you going to do?"

"Ream Kirkwood out for ignoring her history."

Magnani was still grinning as he left.

Before House went to find the cardiologist, he studied the results Heather Jacobs, the female doctor on his team, had brought him earlier. He leaned back in his desk chair, wishing he had a window in his office at Snow Hill Mercy Hospital and a balcony overlooking the small town. Sure, it was hot and humid outside, a typical mid-summer day on Maryland's eastern shore. But it would have been a nice change from this small, drab office. Maybe after he diagnosed Magda Yellin he'd ask Dr. Meisner, the hospital administrator who'd hired him, or Meisner's assistant, Katherine Lembach for a larger office.

A lot had happened to him in two months or so. He'd been driving aimlessly until he found that Cameron ran the clinic in Shelby, the smaller town twenty miles north of Snow Hill, and that had triggered changes he'd never expected. Mostly good changes. Together, he and Cameron had treated almost a tenth of the population of Shelby for complications stemming from aerial spraying of an insecticide at ten times the recommended concentration, while a hurricane raged outside, damaging large parts of the town.

House found a warm welcome from many of the townspeople, and especially from Cameron, and decided to stay. Before long, he landed a position in Snow Hill and hired a team of three.

Heather Jacobs, Rocco Magnani, and Bart Simpson weren't like any of the ducklings he'd had in the past. They seemed amused by his unorthodox methods and ready, no eager to go along with anything he said. And they were damn good doctors to boot.

And Cameron. He grinned thinking about the beautiful young woman who was now his lover. She was no longer the tentative, naïve young woman with a huge crush on him that she'd been when they first worked together. Oh, she still had self-confidence issues and she still trusted people too much and was full of compassion for everyone she met, but that was all part of her charm.

They were building a house together outside of Shelby on the road to Chesapeake Bay. Sometimes he thought he must be dreaming, because none of this had been part of his plan for his life. Gregory House building a house, a home, to share with someone else. He also found himself to be part of a community, accepted, appreciated, even liked. Who'dda thunk it?

He was still solving medical puzzles, still manipulating people for the sheer pleasure of it. His current case allowed him to do all of that. Yellin's cardiologist, Chet Kirkwood, a man he had no respect for as a doctor or as a person, had been treating the woman for heart problems. Now it looked like he'd either ignored or been ignorant of earlier kidney problems that should have been considered.

Cameron didn't have a moment to think. The number of kids coming in for physicals for school had increased that week.

"The high school football team will be starting practice in a week or so," Mrs. Ambrose told her. "Charlie needs to bring a doctor's certification to allow him to participate."

The teenage boy was tall and broad. He looked healthy enough.

"Come sit up here." Cameron indicated the examination table. "What shots did he have as a child?" she asked his mother as she checked his pulse rate, glands, eyes, and throat.

"Oh, the usual. Measles, mumps, rubella, I think."

"Don't you know?"

"Yes. Those and DPT is it? I think that's what it's called." The woman scratched her ear. "All of my kids had all their shots. Whatever the doctor said they needed."

"OK. Charlie, let me know if I hurt you." She flexed his wrists, elbows, ankles and knees.

"Nothing."

"Good." Next she took his blood pressure. "It's a little high, but that's not unusual. It could just be some anxiety about making the team." She smiled at the teen. "So, what position do you play?"

"Um, I'm trying out for defensive end. I was junior varsity last year."

"That's great. My brother played football in high school. He was a skinny kid, fast on his feet. Mostly he played tight end. They even let him quarterback for a while."

Charlie relaxed visibly as she chatted with him. But she also took a blood sample. Finally, she tried his b.p. again. It was still high. She tried not to frown. "When I've checked the blood test results, I'll be able to sign off on his condition," she told Mrs. Ambrose.

When the woman smiled, a dimple appeared in her plump cheeks. "Thank you, Doctor. Um, I hear you'll be running for a seat on the town council. You'll certainly get my vote."

"Thank you, Mrs. Ambrose, but I haven't decided yet whether I should run." The clinic took up a lot of her time, especially since she was the only doctor, and she expected to be busy making decisions about the home she and House were building. Would she have enough time for a campaign? Was she even the best candidate for the position? She hadn't talked to House about it yet and wondered what he would think. "Bye, Charley. Good luck with the try-outs."

The boy and his mother left. Before she called the next patient, she started the analyzer. Charlie seemed healthy, so why was his blood pressure so high? Perhaps the CBC would give her a clue.

The next patient was someone she knew well, Rachel Davis. The seventeen-year-old girl helped out occasionally in the clinic, along with her best friend, Chrissy Lindquist. Rachel's father was the contractor Cameron and House chose to work on their house. And her maternal grandmother was a very vocal and opinionated member of the Shelby town board.

"Something wrong?" Cameron asked as Rachel hopped up onto the examination table.

"No, I need a doctor's OK to play on the school tennis team."

Cameron nodded. She examined the slim girl with the mocha skin and her father's almost black hair and eyes. "Have you been having any health problems lately?"

"Only my summer allergies. The Allegra you prescribed has helped a lot." She was quiet for a while as Cameron listened to her heart and lungs. "Chrissy told me about the plan you and Principal Berman have for you to mentor some of the kids from the school besides me and Chrissy."

"We're still working out the details, but I think it'll become a regular program. Two or three students each year."

"I hope I can spend more time here this coming year. I love helping you with patients, especially the little kids."

Cameron smiled at her. "Whatever you can work into your schedule. Senior year can be very demanding."

Rachel nodded, then stood when Cameron signaled she was finished examining her.

"I saw your father earlier."

"Oh, did you break ground for the house this morning? Dad mentioned something about that when Mom and I got back from North Carolina. How exciting! I bet you and Dr. House can't wait until you can move in."

Cameron chuckled. "It'll be a while. Your dad estimates four or five months if the weather holds and everything he's ordered for us comes in."

"I'm glad he's the one working on it. I may be biased, but I think he and his crew do the best work in the area."

"That's what we heard. And he's very easy to work with." Cameron thought about all the little extras she'd requested as a surprise for House. Will Davis hadn't balked at any of them.

"I think the only one who doesn't get along with him is my grandmother."

Pamela Bradford didn't get along with a lot of people, Cameron thought, but didn't say.