Let's begin with a welcome and a thank you.

Welcome to my first attempt at writing a House Fanfiction, which will be part of a series, but I have no idea how many stories the series will hold as I'm still in the midst of writing this one. Thank you for taking the time to read it. It's been a really nice experience writing this, and although there have been horrible periods of writer's block I'm actually nearly finished. I say finished, I'm on chapter 10 of maybe 15/16. The reason why I'm uploading it now is because I couldn't wait any longer. I just had to.

Background: This is a Hameron story. It will be a nice story too, maybe a coupleof 'Woah what's happening there bits,' But mostly nice stuff. The timeline is actually horrific. Set after Cuddy's inject-a-thon at the end of season two, the pairing is very well developed, but you'll probably guess all that as you read it –I hope. But there is NO shooting episode. No shooting of House, and season three does NOT exist. Okay got that? Lovely.

Oh and finally: I do not own the wonderful characters created by Mr. David Shore... you may have guessed he owns them. And so do FOX –probably. The characters you've never met before are mine, but you may borrow them (as long as you don't kill them off or break any of their bones) with my permission. I don't know why you would as you all have wonderful imaginations of your own and it would be silly not to use them.

Thanks for getting this far. I congratulate you on your determination.

Chapter 1 - Encephalitis

Her head was hanging graciously off of the side of the bed this morning. She let her body, which lounged on top of the covers, lie perfectly still apart from her feet. They dangled to and throw off the other side just missing the touch of the wooden floor. With her fingers she played with her loose locks of hair and tried to focus her vision although everything was upside down. A pair of pyjama covered legs suddenly came into view after travelling from the bathroom and they stopped directly in front of her. She smiled warmly.

"Staying there today?" His voice questioned her motives, although he himself wanted to join her. She did not answer but continued to smile. She could smell him, the strong intoxicating scent of an aftershave that she had never heard of before but liked a lot. His right bare foot tapped twice against the floor before they moved to be next to her. The creak from the mattress confirmed her suspicions of him coming to set next to her. She let one of her hands stop their movement through her hair and come to land on the bed. He placed his left palm on top of her hand and brushed it sensitively. It made her body shiver. "It's eight, gone eight in fact." He continued, but did not sound impatient. In fact she could tell he was smiling too. "I'll tell your boss you'll be late."

Her mind made up, she pulled her head and body back up. His eyes, beautiful blue, danced with hers as she read his facial expression. He was amused after all. With her spare hand she traced an outline around his head and jaw, taking extra time to brush over his stubble. It was rough against her smooth skin, but the rawness invigorated her. With another lingering glance she fluttered her eyelashes.

"He is very understanding," she replied delicately. "I'll tell him,"

They kissed softly, slowly, romantically. Lips intertwined and hands searching for bare skin. They were in love, at last. Their eyes were closed for the moment leaving their other senses to see for them. In the spare of the moment both people were totally engrossed in the other, they could not feel anything but pleasure. As they parted for breath their eyesight was returned and their need for touch weakened.

"He understands." He muttered with a sigh. "And he lets you off this time." She hugged him tight, and he returned it greedily. They stayed connected for several moments until the unwelcoming buzz of a cell phone drowned out the moment. He answered it by climbing over the other side of the bed before rejoining their embrace; he did not hide his annoyance.

"House here" He snapped while holding her tight.

She began to kiss his neck, pinching the delicate skin between her lips and leaving pink tinged circles behind. He growled at her, but she did not relent.

"Hi, sorry I'm calling on behalf of Foreman. He's doing an LP and wants to know why you're not in your office."

"Wilson I'm not in my office because I am at home, where I should be."

Wilson did not need to be told twice: 'I'm busy' was flashing in his warning tones.

"Okay... um, hmm. Do you know-" House sighed again, but cut it short on feeling the slight spasm of enjoyment as he felt kisses on his collarbone.

"An hour, probably" He hung up to give another kiss on her lips. She smiled contentedly while he fell onto his back, letting her clamber on top of him. Her chest against his, his arms twisted into hers; he did not want to let her go.

"Do we have to go in?" she asked softly, her lips inches away from his. He nodded while rolling his eyes.

"Wanna do something before we get changed?"

Cameron laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think we've got enough time too..." she squeaked her words as he flipped her onto her back and began his onslaught of kisses on her pale skin. As his eager hands wrapped around her waist, painstakingly mapping out every piece of her, he caught her stomach and stopped. Her giggles halted and so did his kissing of her throat and she watched as his eyes fell upon her flat belly.

She curled her body upwards and placed a hand upon his and pressed down on it gently. He looked her back in to her eyes.

"Five weeks and four days..." he murmured, Cameron smiled. His fingers gently strummed her skin, like a piano, as he thought, but Cameron was already reminiscing four days ago. As if House could settle for a home test; of course instead, quite abruptly, he'd made her sit in an uncomfortable patient's chair and wait for proper results.

Both had come back positive.

Already her breasts were swelling, not exactly painful, but they were changing nonetheless. She had also noticed that her mood swings were terrifying at points; once minute she could be laughing, the next sobbing hysterically. But it wasn't just her who had changed; House had become more human each passing day.

She felt his hands caress her stomach again, perhaps trying to feel something, anything. But he knew as well as she did that it would be a few more weeks until any signs were visible. They had decided to keep it a secret, for now at least. There was always a chance that, she dared not think it, but it was still possible.

"1/8 of an inch," a smile appeared on his lips. "Urorectal septum is developing as we speak,"

Cameron laughed.

"Trust you to talk about the kidneys... what about its heart?" House shook his head.

"Nothing but a blob separating into four" She scowled, but remained amused.

"That's our baby you are talking about," she replied while noticing another grin appear on his face. He managed to reach up without moving his hand and kiss her delicately on the lips. Her facial expression softened.

"Hmm I know. I can feel her,"

"Her?" Cameron asked sceptically, "its a little early Greg to even th-"

"No, no, no I've got," he scrunched up his eyes and touched her stomach again. "A feeling"

"Right, okay," Cameron laughed it off, but soon decided to press it on him further. "Wanna bet?" He opened his eyes again.

"A bet?"

"You think it's a girl, how much money are you willing to put behind your belief?"

"A lot," he replied smirking. "You want money?"

"Why? What do you want?"

"Ha, no, hmm... no, money's fine," he could've chosen something else, but he knew Cameron was in a delicate mood, no need to push her over the edge.

"50?" He shook his head.

"A hundred bucks says our baby's a girl."

"Alright," they shook hands before he gave her another kiss. "I'm gonna go and get changed."

"Kay," she replied before resting her head back on the bed. No way was she moving for the moment.

It was relaxing to hear House potter around the apartment; the running of hot water, brushing of teeth and boiling of kettles reminded her of how homely their relationship had become. They were together, and as she felt her stomach with both hands, she hoped it would be for a long time.

After doing some breathing exercises and invigorating stretches, she pulled on her dressing gown and padded through to the sitting room. She found House drinking a cup of coffee while tearing at his mail.

"Anything interesting?" she asked while moving through to the kitchen. In her white mug was a freshly made hot drink.

"Unless you find bills and flyers exciting, no"

She took a sip before joining him on the sofa.

"Oh, but I do," she replied dryly, although clearly not paying attention as she picked up the television remote and found the news channel. He rolled his eyes before heading over to the desk. Placing the most important letter on top, he let the fake cheques fall to the bottom of the waste paper bin.

"I'll let you filter the ones at work," he added before returning to the red mug. He even had one at home. She smiled at him while resting her head on the back of the sofa.

"And that would be a change from the norm, how exactly?"

The large mouthful of coffee prevented him from replying, but she took it as a guilty conscience. Feeling triumphant, she kissed him on the cheek before returning to his bedroom to get changed.

Slowly, each other's possessions had littered the other's apartment. It had not really been discussed, although it couldn't be hidden, but Cameron had 'gone with the flow'; as long as House was lying next to her of a morning she didn't care wherever she was.

Reaching for a pair of cream slacks and a white shirt that hung at the end in his cupboard, she paused only to find a clean bra and knickers before entering the bathroom. Knowing House's way of snooping, she locked both doors before pulling off her dressing gown. A little strange considering he'd seen her naked only a few minutes before.

The hot water from the shower cleansed her body, and scrubbing from head to toe with a body brush and sugar scrub renewed her skin and made it wonderfully smooth. Unfortunately, the flowery fragrance of exfoliating would be drowned in House's shower gel after she'd forgotten to pick up hers at the store.

Placing a healthy amount into her palm she rubbed her arms in circular movements letting the strong, intimidating scent overwhelm her. She relished in it. It was spicy, like black pepper, but refreshing. Of course if a shower gel could be described as 'in your face' House would have to own it. Cameron smiled as she let the bubbles caress her skin, paying special attention to her stomach.

"Are you nearly done in there?"

'Nearly done?'

"Greg, I've just got in..."

"Jeez, 'kay... I'm gonna go in otherwise Foreman will be in a strop all day. See you later," She heard the thump of his cane against the wood flooring as he retreated from outside the bathroom door.

"Okay then," she replied. The door opened and closed seconds after. For a man with a limp he could move fast if he wanted too.

Taking her time to wash her hair- massaging her scalp with a eucalyptus infused conditioner- the moments alone were blissful. She could hear nothing but the rush of water and the results glugging down the plughole and she liked it. On the far end of the bath was a folded white towel which she tied expertly around her wet hair and piled it on top of her head. After a final wash down she turned off the shower and dried herself with another towel before stepping out with it wrapped around her glistening body.

The mirror was too misty to work with, so she changed before applying her make-up. Her shoes had been discarded the night before by the sofa and her bag was neatly beside them. She began to rummage.

Her cell phone was in a tiny compartment somewhere, she figured while attaching a silver bracelet to her right wrist. Of course it was at the bottom underneath the tissues, and make-up, but on top of a leaky pen.

Damn!

She threw the biro haphazardly at the bin beside the desk, and fortunately for her it went in. Using the tissues to rub off some of the damage she dialled her answer machine and waited for the automated voice to pick up.

"You have three new messages,"

She paused to clean her hands, but cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear and listened intently.

"Message One, yesterday 7:34 pm: 'Hey, it's Daniel. I'm working in New York next week and wondered if you fancied meeting up. Mum's busy trying to get details on my new girlfriend... help! Call me!" she smiled on hearing her big brother's chatty tone. He was always there although rarely in person, unlike her he was as adventurous as they came. Last she'd heard he'd been climbing a mountain in Africa.

"Message Two, yesterday 9:43 pm: "Cameron? It's Wilson... uh; I guess you're both out... well um, get him to ring me- Ah, forget that I'll talk to him tomorrow. Bye" Another grin spread across her lips, although Wilson's inability to spend any time alone without contacting House at the moment was beginning to confuse her. House hadn't said anything specifically, but she decided his latest conquest was becoming trouble.

"Message Three, today 8:04 am: "It's Foreman, sorry, I'm trying to get hold of House... but you're not there. I'll try his cell, see you at work." She glanced at the clock on the TV, decided that House's tardiness was affecting her, switched it off and headed out the door. Luckily she'd driven them home in her car last night so transport wasn't an issue.

At this time in the morning the traffic leading in to Princeton was a little more problematic. While she flicked her way through numerous radio stations the crawling car in the inside lane turned off, leaving her and her fellow drivers the chance to finally move up in the gears. Later than she'd predicted, Cameron raced through the Hospital's reception, checked that Cuddy wasn't in the vicinity, before entering the open elevator.

Chase was the only one in the conference room when she arrived. He was doodling on a piece of plain paper while reading a large dated medical book. Cameron shook her head in amusement.

"House got you looking up diseases again, Chase?" she said while pulling on her lab coat. He glanced up from his reading and smirked.

"No, we're waiting for test results from the Lumbar Puncture. Are you alright? You look a little flushed."

Cameron touched her cheeks instinctively and felt how warm they were. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm late, aren't I?" Chase's skin on the other hand blanched as he heard the words 'late', his mind already determining the reason for her delayed arrival. Her hair was a little wet too.

"Oh... huh, hmm... alright" he stuttered before rereading the same page.

"So where are they?" she asked trying to change the conversation.

"Foreman's in the lab and House is probably looking over his shoulder." She nodded before reaching for the pile of letters on her desk. Beneath them was an issue of a medical journal. It was old, so it intrigued her. Taking a seat in her swivel desk chair she placed the mail aside and flicked through the early pages. 6 pictures in, she stopped her casual glances and read further. The image: a 3D-ultrasound of a 3 month old baby.

Determining the sex of your baby... a controversial blood test designed to determine whether a pregnant woman is carrying a male or female child. The test is marketed to detect the sex of a foetus as early as five weeks after conception...

She shook her head as she saw that the page had been dog-eared. It was something she would have to take up with House later. But the picture seemed to be glowing. The foetus's fingers were curled, already itching for a fight, and its legs were buckled. Cameron had seen many ultrasounds before, but suddenly, as it all became relevant, she ached for her first one.

But now was not the time. She placed the journal among the others on her desk and quickly read through four letters, one conference invitation and a bill for some dry-cleaning. Foreman arrived as she threw the fifth envelope away.

"Hey Foreman," she said cheerfully, but she noticed that he was far from happy.

"Hey Cameron... get on to House will you?" he pleaded. "He's being overly nice this morning."

Cameron laughed.

"And you wouldn't want that?" Foreman snorted.

"When he says, 'you're doing a good job' I expect it to be a sarcastic attack at my work, but actually for once he was being..."

"Nurturing?"

"Can you make him stop?" He whined causing Chase to chuckle. "By the way I do not want to know why he is in such a good mood... but I expect you're the one to blame."

Cameron feigned a look of hurt. She touched her chest defensively as he joined Chase at the glass table.

"Me?" she smiled. "I don't think you can base his new temperament just on me."

Both men screwed their faces up in disgust bef0re she changed the conversation again.

"So the results?" she pressed. "What did you find?"

"There's increased amounts of protein and white blood cells, with normal glucose levels. Its Encephalitis, like House predicted."

"Oh god," Chase mumbled. "Does he have to be right all the time?"

"Apparently" Cameron replied, although clearly not loud enough for anyone to hear but herself. She joined them at the table, sitting at the far end beside the sink and crossed her arms. She spoke louder this time. "What does he want us to do?"

"He wants us to..." But Foreman was cut off by someone shouting outside their door. As a rule anyone shouting outside the diagnostics department was either: Cuddy, a disgruntled patient or House himself. And today was no exception.

"GIVE ME AN E..." House bellowed while pushing the glass pane open with his cane. "...GIVE ME AN N..." The team rolled their eyes as he trotted in. His smile was that of a child who'd done better than his brother in the same test. Bright blue irises glinted back at them while he spun on one foot and placed a brown paper bag on the table. "I said give me an E," he repeated testily.

But there was no response.

"Fine," he said sulking. "But that means none of you get to taste these chocolate brownies I bought," House snatched the bag from Chase's grasp. "For that you can do my clinic duty" He trotted back to his office, still high from correctly guessing the diagnosis earlier. As the fellow left the office, Foreman smirked but remained silent for fear that he also could be shooed off to the clinic. Deciding that the book Chase had been reading looked equally interesting, he opened it and began to read, anything to avoid House.

Cameron, however, went on the offensive.

"House," she purred on reaching the doorframe of his office. It had been a silent pact that they would continue to use each other's surnames while at work, knowing that really home and here should be kept separate. "Can I have a brownie, please?"

He watched her from his desk, gorging on a large slice of chocolaty goodness, before scrunching up the bag from sight and swallowing a mouthful.

"Do you think that by sleeping with the boss you'll be immune from all the negative things I say?"

"I'm sure I can make it up to you later," she said softly while walking towards him. "I've got a few ideas already..." he thrust the paper bag out and let her retrieve one from inside.

"You owe me," he replied. She leant over the desk to kiss him on the nose.

"Tonight" she said before kissing him again, but this time on the lips. As she left the office, he stood as well and followed her back out into the conference room. Foreman immediately felt like an intruder.

"I'm gonna..." but he was already out the door before he could finish his sentence. House found it amusing.

"You scared him away," Cameron muttered while picking a plate off the shelf above the sink. She placed the brownie on it before sitting down at the table. He joined her. "Oh, and I did manage to glance at the journal you left me this morning..." House smiled. "And no I am not doing it. You'll have to wait for the scans." His smile dropped a little, but not completely.

"I didn't really believe you would. But, I just wanted to test how good my predictions are, and considering I knew it was Encephalitis..."

"You thought it was"

"No, I diagnosed it," She rolled her eyes and took a small bite from her brownie. It was pretty good. In fact for a hospital treat it was damn right fantastic. Crumbly goodness with some chopped up pecans. Really sweet too- She was in love.

"Where did you get these?" she asked on her fifth bite. House raised his eyebrows.

"Downstairs, why?"

"Can you get me some more?" House smirked but did not move.

"Don't try and persuade me that your cravings are acting up yet. I'm a doctor you know." She swallowed the last piece before folding her arms. Her eyes met his while she frowned.

"I'm not sure I'm in the mood anymore... perhaps I'll just have an early night..."

He growled at her new game.

"You owed me."

"Uh-huh, but I don't play by the rules either." She lent forwards with perky lips, House anticipated the kiss moving his mouth to meet hers. As she moved forwards, out of her seat to close the gap, he sighed. But she quickly moved away and walked over to her desk.

He growled again.

"Hey, not fair" he said in childish voice while turning in his chair to face her. "You can't mess with me like that. I'm a man, once I'm in the mood you can't get me out of it."

"Sure I can. Go have a cold shower, or buy me some more brownies and I might reconsider tonight."

"No way! You are not the boss in this relationship. I'm not gonna just be at your beck and call all the time." She shook her head but managed to smile.

"No?"

"No. In fact I might spend tonight with Jimmy. We'll have pizza and drink... a lot." Her stomach flipped as she suddenly felt a cool onset of emotions fill every bone in her body.

"Fine then." She snapped with a flushed face and set jaw. Without realising it, Cameron's eyes became wet. They reddened in relationship to her anger. At first House was unaware that her mood had changed; a misconception of her good acting skills. But as the tears fell, his strong masculine attitude crumbled and he rushed towards her.

"Oh come here," he said softly, seeing the play-fight had gone to0 far.

'Mental note, never make a pregnant woman feel any strong emotions.'

Cameron let his hands wrap around her shoulders as she wept on his chest. Why had she taken his words so seriously? She'd been pushing him further, teasing him a lot than usual. But it was her who hurt first.

Damn hormones

He felt her tiny fingers clutch to the back of his jacket, a sign that at the moment she was dependant on him for support. He held her tight, and rested his chin on her shoulder while he felt her body shudder. Her breathing was ragged and his shirt was tear-stained and she needed a tissue. But he didn't move, he just continued to hold her until she regained some composure.

"'m Sorry..." she said quietly, while drying her eyes. He looked at her compassionately.

"You have nothing to feel sorry about." He paused, knowing full-well she felt to blame anyway. "But I forgive you."

"Um... thanks. I'm just, at the moment... I... you know, and well everything seems to be affecting me."

"Of course I understand. I am a doctor you know." He touched her wet cheek with his thumb and rubbed it gently.

"I know. Love you," she hadn't really meant it to come out, but there it was: two words with more meaning and emotion that a fragile person should ever express. On reflection, it wasn't a good move. They had spoken about their feelings before; normally in a more romantic setting, or on the sofa after Cameron had had food poisoning, but never in work.

House smiled, and it was genuine.

"I love you too Allison."

Cameron started to cry again in their embrace, but she insisted they were 'happy tears'. For House, it meant he wasn't going to be able to move for another five minutes until she stopped. This was why women were different from men, everything affected them. Everything

Her breathing turned into a few hiccups and sniffs before she began to laugh into his chest. It made him smile, whenever she was laughing. He shook his head in amazement.

"Okay now?" he asked softly into her hazelnut hair. With another deep breath she moved her head to look into his eyes and nodded. "Good. I promise not to say anything to you in public that could make you cry again- although at the moment that could be as simple as saying 'hello'."

"And I'll try not to have freak out bursts when you greet me, deal?"

"Deal... Want me to buy you some brownies to make up for it?"

"You've done enough." She paused. "I'm gonna wait until lunch." They stepped apart and House leant heavily back on his cane. During moments of hugging it was a rather useless object, but afterwards it was adorable. Cameron rubbed her eyes and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm going to help stabilize our patient."

"Good idea. I would assume Foreman is doing that very thing. Go help him," She nodded, squeezed him tight once more before leaving through the glass door. House watched her leave.

Whatever happened over the next 9 months- hell, for the next 18 years, for life even - was going to affect both of them, a lot.

And from now on he'd have to stop being such a stubborn, selfish bastard.

House scrunched up his eyes and returned to his office. By plopping down on his cream chair and listening to Pink Floyd, he hoped he could drown out the rest of his life for a little while. He needed to relax.

But, as he spotted a black suited vixen in the horizon, he was in for no such luck. To top it off she was carrying papers. Without bothering to knock she appeared in his sanctuary, and dropped two legal-looking letters onto his lap.

"The Davenport case, your legal rights, your lawyer has been trying to read them to you for 4days!" House smiled.

"I wanted to postpone, you know tempers fade-"

"Sign the damn papers House."

Cuddy had several different levels of anger. There was the minor irritation for when she found House sitting in her office. Second, was being slightly pissy for when she found House repeatedly avoiding Clinic duty. Then was a bout of snappiness, arisen from House doing something morally wrong. There were several others that led to silent anger- calm before the storm- but luckily she was just angry. Another positive House had discovered was it wasn't just him who'd made her so.

"Kay," he said smiling. "What's wrong with my little pumpkin this morning?" she gave him a look of part annoyance part nausea.

"Call me 'little pumpkin' again and I'm going to double your clinic duty for this week." House nodded and signed the papers. She huffed before taking them from his open hand. "An 11 year old boy threw up on me this morning, can't say I was best pleased."

Mystery solved.

"Ah, so you changed your shirt, explains why I can't see your funbags today. I did begin to wonder-"

"You say another word and I'll make sure Cameron knows too." She smiled, satisfied with her argument, but House didn't look threatened.

"Cam knows I'm only joshing ya," he said happily. "But I'd rather you didn't start making up stories for her ears."

"I'm not 'making up stories'... something wrong?" Cuddy's tone became more concerned. House remained elusive.

"Does there ever have to be a reason for your gender to cry over the little things, like spilt milk?"

"You spilt milk?" He shook his head.

"Proverb... but you" he pointed at her, "Would blubber too if you'd known the carton long enough." She scowled and decided that if it was really important Cameron or House would have told her. She walked back to the door way and reminded House of why she was present in the first place.

"Just remember Larry Wusekus is suing your ass in two days, I would get your lawyer to prep you if I thought you would listen."

"I know what to do. Niceness will get you everywhere," She sighed in defeat.

"Please don't screw it up. Don't insult anyone or say anything that could put you more in the red."

"Oh-Kay," he said holding his hands up in mock surrender. "I'll be good."

Cuddy left the room without needing to comment on the fact that he was never good. Instead she decided to head back to the Lawyer's office and prep him on how to handle House a little better- If she could.

Like a revolving door, Wilson stepped into House's office as soon as Cuddy had made it in the elevator. He was holding a take-out coffee and a bag of chips. The reason for House's sudden look of fear was Wilson's timing: 'Wish you were here' will never find itself in his iPod's playlist ever again.

"Hi," Wilson said softly before offering a sea-salt and black pepper flavoured Kettle Chip. Although still weary he greedily took a handful and watched his friend lean against the glass panel opposite him.

"You alright?"

"Uh-huh." House rolled his eyes at the obvious lie.

"You obviously not... come on, spill" He ate another chip while Wilson sipped at his latte.

"Susan, the redhead nurse who works in the NICU..."

"Oh dear-"

"Well I was working with her, in the path lab last week, and well we got talking..."

"Here we go-"

"And I asked her out for dinner. It was last night and, you know..." he rolled his hand in circle, but House was far from being in a cooperating mood.

"You, being the gentleman that you are, kissed her goodnight and asked her out on another date?" Wilson sighed at House's poor attempt at being funny.

"I find her annoying... but she's pretty..."

"Woah, Wilson," he ate another chip. "How shallow can you be?"

"Me sleeping with her was a bad move, wasn't it?" House nodded.

"Sure... I mean you can try and not speak to her again, it's a big hospital." Wilson grunted. "But word will get round quick and little Jimmy well never have fun again." Another moment of chewing later House continued. "Have you called her?"

"Of course not... yet, should I?"

"Oh god Wilson! Why are you asking me?" House whined. "You know I'm not good at these things. Go talk to Cameron."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah, she's good at these things."

"You're pawning me off on your girlfriend?"

"I said yes, didn't I?" House said annoyed.

"Fine, where is she?"

"With my soon-to-be-ex patient, Witherspoon Wing, I think"

"You think...? You don't know where your only patient is?" House shrugged his shoulders.

"Like I said, it's a big hospital. There are lots of places where you can put patients now, apparently."

House stood up and snatched the half-full bag from within Wilson's grasp. A little shocked, but not enough to make him stay.

"Bye House,"

"See ya later, Wilson"

Finally some rest and relaxation.

"House?"

Apparently not.

"What now?" he snapped while turning to face the new intruder. It was Chase.

"Sorry to interrupt but Nurse Brenda told me to tell you that she's going to make a formal complaint if you don't start doing your filing properly."

"Really," House shrugged. "...Any reason why she's telling me now? And why are you telling me, she too busy to tell me herself?"

Chase revealed a hand from behind his back that was carrying a bulk of folders. He took an intake of breath and walked towards his boss.

"One of her team was administering some aspirin to a patient who was allergic to it, which you hadn't mentioned in the write up. She wants you to go through this week patients to double check. She's got Cuddy's backing."

House visibly shuddered.

"Why don't they just ask the patients? They're pretty talkative once you mention the risk factors involved." House had an epiphany. "Hang on, I just spoke to Cuddy, she didn't mention anything." On realisation he smiled. "Cuddy doesn't even know yet, does she?"

Chase remained firm.

"How the hell should I know? When Brenda tells me to do something I cooperate, the consequences are too terrible to contemplate." House smiled but threw the bag of chips on his desk and opened his hand to accept his files.

"Have you done yours as she asked?"

"Of course." He prepared himself to leave. "Oh, and she wants them done by five."

"Five?!" House snapped. "In her dreams. I'm busy."

"Busy," Chase muttered with a straight face. "With what exactly?" House rolled his eyes.

"Anything, tell her whatever you want. You're a good actor, I trust you."

Chase shook his head, but inside his heart jumped. House being nice to him was so unfamiliar he almost fell over. However he took this pause to scamper out of the office quickly, there was no need to evaluate what just happened.

House growled to himself. Work he had already done, to do again, because he was too lazy to do it properly in the first place. And there was a lot too; at least 10 files were fighting against gravity in order to stay in a tower that occupied his hands.

But House wasn't puppy-like in that respect; he was never going to learn new tricks or change his ways just for the prospect of it possibly helping him later.

And that, he reflected, was how he liked it.

T.B.C...

Thanks for not turning back, I bet it was a bit touch and go at parts, but by-golly if you haven't kept on scrolling down. If you wouldn't mind reviewing I would be so happy. I'll give you a hug right now. : Squeezing the monitor tight: There you go. :-)