A/N: Thank you for all the awesome reviews! I know what you're thinking: It's been FOREVER! I lost my muse because it's been hard for me to keep them in character, so I am referring back to the "good ol' days" (Seasons 1-2.99, I purposely did that to exclude Cameron's visit to Chase's apt. at the end of the last episode) to bask in what was the greatest sexual tension/possible relationship to hit primetime television. Too bad the writers don't see it that way…

Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter Forty-Two: The Smoke Clears, The Fog Lifts

Morning came way too soon for Cameron.

She was awakened by the feeling of something soft and wet sliding against her lips in a repetitive motion. Without opening her eyes, she grumbled. "Stop…quit it!"

Her low, hoarse voice was sharp enough to rip House from an amusing dream of strippers, alcohol and a pain-free existence; in his eyes, the way a medical conference SHOULD go. Sometime in the middle of the night, his leg had started to annoy him, throbbing twice as hard as it normally did when he slept. Seeing the circumstances of their current situation, however, he chalked it up to the cot simply being the ruddy problem. Squinting, he found Cameron hanging half-way off her cot, with her cheek pressing into the edge and her arm draped off the side and down onto the floor.

Lupus stood in front of her, licking her mouth, trying to wake her up. House grinned as his mind took to imagining how she'd react had she been awake for that doggy-styled gesture of affection. When this did nothing to disturb her but irritate her a bit, Lupus resorted to longer licks across her face; mainly focused on her nose and mouth. The arm that she'd let fall to the floor rose and swatted at the air.

"Go away, Chase, I don't like you like that," she mumbled.

House's grin spread wider and he couldn't help but let out an audible chuckle.

Suddenly, the fact that "Chase" was kissing her brought the question to her mind of where House was and why they were back in the hospital. Her forehead creased in confusion and after another slopping pass over her mouth, her eyes jolted open to see an innocent-looking Lupus dancing in front of her, eager to get her up.

Wait…Lupus…not Chase…kiss…slobber!

"Argh!" she shrieked, furiously wiping off her mouth with her upper arm. Hearing a faint laughing, she turned to see House taking amusement from the situation he found so endlessly entertaining.

She glared at him. "What're you looking at?"

"The recipient of a mouthful of germs and bacteria, evidently. I wish I had a camera on me," he teased. "It was a real Kodak moment."

"You wouldn't know a Kodak moment if it stared you in the face or bit you in the butt," she sneered.

"On the contrary, they're usually accompanied by soft melodies to let you know when to start caring and to turn on the waterworks."

She brushed off his comments with an eye-roll and looked around, noticing the room was fairly empty. "Where is everyone? And what time is it?"

He looked at the clock on the wall above the front door. "Ten thirty."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Ten thirty? I overslept!"

"And I under slept. We should just turn back over and go back to sawing sheep and counting logs, don't you think?"

"It's counting sheep and sawing logs, House."

"Clearly, my dreams are a lot more violent than yours," he said, crossing one ankle over the other. "Besides, what's the point in counting sheep?"

"It lets your mind wind down while focusing on one simple task," she said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side.

"Counting imaginary fleece dogs doesn't really work for brilliant minds like mine."

"So what does?"

"Strippers."

"Figures," she snorted, standing to her feet.

"Where are you going?" he asked in alarm, moving to sit up.

She unlatched Lupus's leash from the leg of her cot. "To eat. Would you like to join us?"

"I doubt they'll take too kindly to flea-infested canines around the food. They might have some weird health code violation about that around here."

"And you would know?"

"Being knowledgeable of health codes is the first step to breaking them," he smirked.

"If it's a rule, I'm sure you've broken it." She adjusted the leash in her hand. "So, breakfast?"

"Lunch," he corrected, standing to his feet, "but since you're buying…"

She mock-glared at him. "We're in an emergency shelter, House. It's free."

"Well then, in that case, this is not considered as a formal meal and you can make it up to me when we get home," he said, headed for the door. Shaking her head in amusement, Cameron followed him with Lupus right next to her, wondering if he had meant food…

"What in the name of Clinic Duty is that?" House shrieked.

Cameron looked up from her plate to see him grimacing at the contents on it from across the table. She frowned at him. "It's called a salad, House."

"It's green."

"It's nutritional."

"It's grass."

"It's a leaf vegetable."

"Last time I checked, you weren't a rabbit."

"Thanks for clearing that up and I'm sure it won't be the last time you check," she grinned mischievously.

"It's cud." He fought to hide his own evil smirk. "Sounds like Cuddy, I know, but tastes just the same, I'm sure…"

"Oh, it does," she drawled out salaciously with a slow wink and a sly grin.

His eyes went wide momentarily before narrowing at her, trying to determine how much truth was to that statement. Probably less than he'd hoped. "You don't know…"

"I don't, huh?" she challenged with an arched brow.

"Do you?" he pressed, this time slightly less sure of his statement.

"I don't know. Do I?"

"I doubt it."

"You do, do you?"

"Don't do that," he glared at her for trying to evade the question."

"Do what?"

"Enough with the 'do's!" he growled, too hungry and tired to think.

"Done," she smirked, feeling triumphant over mentally tripping him up. It was a rare occasion, but this negative outcome of their trip was really taking a toll on them all; physically and mentally. "This is delicious."

"No," he said, pointing to his own plate with his fork. "This is delicious. That," he said, pointing at her plate again, "is an abomination."

"Fine; I give up. It's cow fodder. At least I'm not eating the actual cow."

"Nope, just something I'm sure the heifer took a nice big dump on."

She sighed in frustrated disgust and threw down her fork onto her plate. "Thanks, I was enjoying that."

"Anytime," he smirked triumphantly.

"So, what's the plan for today?" she asked, hoping there would be something enlightening.

House stabbed at his piece of steak. "I'm going to find a landline and see if Cuddles has found us a ticket home yet."

"And where are you going to find a phone?" she asked skeptically, looking around the place.

"I know people," he said, finishing off the last bite on his plate. Standing from the table, he earned apprehensive gazes from both of his travel partners.

"You're leaving?" she asked nervously.

"I gotta use the little crippled boys' room. Be right back," he said, limping out of the cafeteria and outside, down towards the main building.

Cameron patted Lupus on the head, who was sitting next to her. "Well, boy, let's hope this call actually works. I just want to get home already." Barking in agreement, Lupus reveled in the feel of Cameron's hand rubbing through his thick fur as she went back to finishing off her lunch in a sea of strange people.

"Hey!" House shouted at Pastor Stevenson as he was talking to another stranded couple. He took notice of the crippled man coming towards him and excused himself.

"Good afternoon! What can I do for you, Mr. Cameron?"

"I need a phone," he said, intentionally ignoring the mistake once again, "Where can I find one?"

"Why, I've got one in my office you could use," he offered. "Follow me."

He led House down the hall to a door with a plague on the front labeled "Office". Unlocking it, he pushed the door open and turned on the light, pointing to the phone.

"There it is. Just lock up when you're done," he said, smiling before he left the room.

House nodded and hobbled over to the desk. Deciding to snoop when he was done, he picked up the receiver and dialed the same number he used to call the next day when he'd had too much to drink the night before.

"Princeton- Plainsboro Teaching Hospital…"

"Patch me into your evil leader."

"Oh my-" There was a moment of shocked silence. "House?"

"Not yours, Medusa."

"I've never been so happy to hear from you."

"What a coincidence; I've never been happy to hear from you, either and I doubt that will ever change."

"Are…ar-are you okay? We've been worried sick!" she stuttered.

"About Cameron, no doubt."

"Mostly," she confessed, as they jumped into their usual banter. "How are you guys doing? Where are you?"

"We're fine. Look, I don't have time to feed the starving rumor mill right now. Give me Cuddy."

"Isn't Dr. Cameron enough for you?" she quipped.

"CUDDY… NOW!" he demanded harshly.

She sighed. "One moment," she replied, placing the call on hold, leaving House to suffer from the same annoying elevator music that played when he put everyone else on hold.

"Coming up on the News at Noon…Hurricane Rita makes its way to the coast, causing problems for military and civilian relief workers…" announced a well-dressed anchorwoman.

Similar news stories had kept Wilson and Cuddy up most of the night, leaving them emotionally exhausted. Both lying on Wilson's leather couch, which Cuddy also had the boys move into House's office, Wilson had just squinted and opened his eyes to discover that he and Cuddy had passed out before a voice came over the intercom system...

"Dr. Cuddy, Dr. House is on line one. Dr. Cuddy, Dr. House is on line one…"

Wilson sprang from the couch at the first mention of House's name and lunged for the phone. The quick movement of the cushion's movement woke Cuddy in time to hear Wilson.

"Hello? House?" Wilson demanded frantically.

"Ah, the fearless Boy Wonder! I was expected your mistress, but her minion will do…"

"House! Oh my- you have no idea how long we've been waiting to hear from you!" he exclaimed, switching from the receiver to the speaker.

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes in sarcasm, "step back to relish and savor the moment, because I need someone to get off their lazy administrator butt and get us out of here!"

"House, what do you think we've been doing, dressing in leis and doing the hula? Downing a keg and smacking around a piñata? " Cuddy snapped in irritability, but mostly in relief to hear his voice.

"Who's wearing the cocoanut bra, the Aussie or the Dark One?"

"You know blondes look better in grass skirts," Wilson bantered back.

House smirked. "Oh really? How about that brunette at-"

"Hey!" Cuddy interrupted, "can we talk less about bimbos and more about your ticket home?"

"There's the Cuddy we all know and love…to fantasize about."

"House!" she admonished.

His voice lowered and became serious. "How do we get home?"

"There's a bus station, a Greyhound Station-" she started to explain.

"Oh, no! We've been down this route before...I will not be surrounded by 'Dead Janitors Walking' again."

"What?"

"Apparently in New Orleans, the requirement to be a janitor is twenty-five to life."

"This is not in New Orleans. It's in Baton Rouge."

"Baton Rouge? We couldn't make it there earlier, but now that we're thirty five miles further away, you want us to go there again."

"It's the closest bus station, House. It's…the only chance you've got."

A deep silence draped over them, all lost in their own thoughts and the reality of what their situation was.

Finally, after a few minutes of pondering, House spoke up. "How long do we have to get there?"

Cuddy checked the sheet of paper she had compiled a list of times on. "The last bus of the day departs from Baton Rouge at 12:45 and arrives in Atlantic City at 9:55 tomorrow. I can get you two tickets if you can get there."

"Is there any closer to where we lost the hotrod and the soccer mom-mobile?"

"We'll arrange for the vehicles to be picked up later on. Right now, let's just focus on getting you and Cameron back here."

"Fine. Book us two magic carpets."

"But, House, what if you can't-"

"We'll make it," he reiterated. "Now, get out of my office. It better be spotless by the time I get back."

Cuddy rolled her eyes, just glad that he was ok.

"And leave the plasma in there, too."

"How…how did you…" Wilson started to ask.

"I can hear it," he replied smirking.

"How'd you know it wasn't yours?"

"I threw my ball at it last week and broke the knob; hasn't played sound since."

"And the plasma's safe in here, why?"

"It's my baby! I wouldn't throw anything at it!" he said, acting appalled at the thought. "Gotta book. Oh, and Jimmy, stay out of my second drawer!" Before Wilson could reply or make any jokes on House's behalf, the line went dead.

Cuddy looked at Wilson. "What's in his second drawer?"

Wilson snickered. "His porn."

She rolled her eyes. "Why can't he keep it on the web like a normal person?"

"He's hardly normal. Besides, I asked him that once and all he told me was that 'Normal's Overrated'."

"Well, we better let everyone know they're ok."

"You call their parents," she told them. Nodding, Wilson picked up his cell and called Blythe to let her and John know that their son was still alive. Cuddy picked up landline and announced over the PA system the status update of their colleagues, before hanging up to call Cameron's parents.

They both just hoped that this new update wouldn't be the last.

House slammed the phone down and headed to the door before locking it and slamming it shut. He spotted a few random people in the hallway before he spotted the Pastor.

"Hey, Rev!" he shouted, grabbing the attention of everyone, including the leader of the congregation he was limping towards.

"Yes, Mr. Cameron," he replied with a smile.

House squinted. "I'm not, but with that sense of sincere caring and overly-compassionate naivety, you could be."

"I'm sorry?" he asked, confused.

"Never mind; don't apologize. Listen, my comrade and I need a lift to Baton Rouge. Is there a way we could find a ride there?"

"Well, sure! We've got a friend who runs errands for us."

"Our bus leaves at 12:45," he informed him.

He shook his head. "I'll talk to him and see if he can't give you folks a lift." Patting House on the shoulder, he headed off in the opposite direction.

"Thanks," House mumbled, off in search of Cameron.

He found her not far from where he stood, surrounded by Lupus and a few children from some of the families who sought shelter there too. The kids were all grinning widely and petting the dog on the head, which he was thoroughly enjoying. Cameron sat behind them; smiling softly of the fact that one creature could bring so much comfort to these kids in a time of nothing but disaster and destruction.

Happening to take a glance up, she was startled slightly by the studious glare coming from across the room. Instead of making her uncomfortable, as it used to, she found that the joy around her outweighed the doubt, making her smile widen as she stared back at him. Within seconds, he had crossed the room and now stood before her, staring intently at the children as they scurried away.

"What, you scared away the pastor and now you're moving onto little children?"

"I hate to repeat myself, so I shake it up every so often," he deadpanned.

She stroked Lupus's head. "So, what's the verdict?"

He tapped his cane against the ground. "We're busting out of this joint."

Her hand stopped traveling and she looked up at him in surprise. "What? Where are we going?"

"Home," he casually shrugged.

"Seriously?" she asked, eagerness creeping into her voice.

"No. I thought at this point in time that nothing could boost the morale more than a really bad joke. Yes, I'm serious! Grab your gear and let's get going."

Cameron remained rooted to her spot, trying to determine if he was actually serious.

House noticed she'd yet to budge an inch. "Are you waiting for the engraved invitation? Get moving or I'll leave without you!"

Needing no further persuasion, Cameron rushed to gather up their things.

"Meet me out front in five," he said, casually limping back down the hall.

More to come! Please review! Again, I apologize SEVERELY for the wait!