Bea's Heart:
Homecoming
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A/N: Partially inspired by The Thorn Birds, a wonderful miniseries that Pyewacket made me watch! So you should be thanking her for this fic! :)
I'm just about done with all my coursework, so I should have time to write from now on! I'm currently working on several things, but this idea wouldn't let me go. Enjoy!
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Unnecessary disclaimer: None of the characters or storylines appearing in the TV show "House, M. D." belong to me.
Abstract: The flighty Beatrice Cameron falls in love with her professor, a forbidden love that can never be requited. Her mother becomes an unlikely sympathizer, sharing a story of her own love and loss. H/C.
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"Dream of the soft look your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep."
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Allison Cameron looked up sharply at the unexpected sound, looking out the kitchen window.
Her hands stilled suddenly, the mail falling to the counter. She rushed to the front door to see a petite girl with dark blonde curls walking up the steps.
"Bea… what are you doing home?" Allison asked, puzzled.
Allison's daughter collapsed into her arms in tears. "Bea," Allison whispered softly, stroking her hair. "What is it?"
Beatrice pulled away, still in tears. "Mom, you wouldn't understand!" she cried.
Allison pulled her daughter inside slowly, shutting the front door behind them. "I'll make you a cup of tea, and then maybe you'll feel well enough to talk, okay?" she offered, and her daughter nodded reluctantly.
Allison got the kettle boiling, and then settled down across the kitchen table from her daughter, who sat silently with a fragile sort of resentment surrounding her. "Bea… you've got to tell me," she said softly, reaching for her daughter's hand across the table.
Beatrice's tearful eyes looked across into her mother's kind ones. "You won't be able to help, Mom, you don't know what it's like!" she protested, breaking out from her quiet prison.
"Try me," Allison said, her expression a combination of probing and reassuring.
Beatrice sighed, giving in. "Dr. Brookshire is leaving and it's all my fault!" She burst into tears again.
Allison tried to calm her. "Okay… who is Dr. Brookshire?"
Bea sniffled. "He's my philosophy professor."
Allison stood up to finish making the tea, giving Beatrice some space. "And why do you think this is your fault, Bea?" Allison finally asked as she sat down again, a mug in each hand.
Bea gave her mother a pained look, her gray eyes pooled with tears, and began crying anew. Allison understood right away. "Oh, my dear," she said, coming around to hold her. "My sweet Bea. I'm so sorry."
She held the girl until the sobs subsided. "Want to tell me about it?"
Beatrice shrugged, a miserable expression on her features. "We've been dancing around each other all semester, and as soon as he allowed something to happen between us, he leaves!" The tears she tried to hold back were rolling down her cheeks. "He announced it in class this morning, he hadn't even said a word to me!" she cried. "We spoke after class, but only for a moment. He said it was because of me that he had to go. He said I'd understand when I'm older, but he's the one who doesn't understand! In only a few weeks he won't be my professor anymore and it won't matter! And now I'll never see him again!"
Allison pulled her daughter to her again, stroking her hair. "I know it hurts, Bea," she reassured her, her heart breaking for her only child, her only family left in the world. She held her until the sobs quieted.
"Oh, Mom," Beatrice moaned, "No one can understand how much this hurts me!"
Allison smiled to herself gently. "I believe I can understand, Bea."
Her daughter pulled away, her face unbelieving. "But how could you, Mom?" Beatrice protested. "You don't love anyone but me, you said so yourself!"
"That wasn't always the case," Allison answered, her eyes far away. "There was someone once."
"You told me about your first husband," Bea reminded. "But that wasn't anything like this!" she said miserably.
"In some ways it was probably more similar than you'd be willing to admit—but no, that's not the story I had in mind," her mother gently responded, a small, strange smile coming across her face. "Did I ever tell you about Gregory House?" Bea shook her head, puzzled.
Allison's smile widened. "Gregory House was a beautiful man. The bluest eyes you've ever seen, tall, strong… and he was my boss," she finished wryly.
Beatrice brightened a bit, beginning to look slightly interested.
Allison took that as an opportunity to continue. "He was also the biggest jerk at the hospital. Maybe in the state!" Bea's eyebrows jumped up, and Allison laughed. "He had a formidable reputation as a doctor, and for his personality as well. He had a brick wall around him a mile high," she continued, "But there was always something there behind the wall. I got glimpses of it sometimes, but he guarded it well." Her eyes were unfocused now, seeing nothing but the past.
"I knew there was something special about him from the first moment I laid eyes on him…"
Allison Cameron breathed in deeply as she stepped off the elevator. She was nervous—her potential employer had quite a reputation.
She calmed herself. She must seem confident, even if she was shaking inside.
"Welcome, Dr. Cameron," greeted a man with warm brown eyes and kind smile. He couldn't possibly be the infamous Dr. House, could he?
And then she saw him. Seated behind the desk with a bored look on his chiseled features. His eyes were shockingly blue, and when they met hers it felt like a jolt of electricity ran through her. They stared.
"Dr. Cameron," the brown-eyed man began, "I am Dr. Wilson and this is Dr. House."
Cameron stuck out a hand to Dr. House that he didn't take. She dropped it back down to her side as he studied her.
He never spoke during the interview. Dr. Wilson asked all the usual questions, and House's eyes were always on her.
The interview concluded, and Cameron stood, shaking Dr. Wilson's hand.
"Dr. Cameron," she heard, from a different, deeper voice. Dr. House was speaking. "You start on Monday." Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open, but she managed a slight nod as she stepped out the door and walked down the hall in a fog.
Allison came out of her reverie to find her daughter now listening intently. "Well, what happened on Monday?" she asked, her head resting in her hands, the tears from earlier drying on her cheeks.
Allison couldn't help but smile at her daughter's interest. "Nothing, at least at first," she admitted. "But I always felt like he would get closer than he had to when he came up to me in the lab, let his hands linger a bit when I handed him his coffee, and I always felt those piercing eyes on me. When our eyes met…" she trailed off with a sigh. "It was like the world was on fire."
Beatrice grinned. "Oh, Mom, it's like a movie!"
Allison smiled back at her daughter, then glanced at her watch. "How would you like to hit up the grocery store and movie rental so we can have a girls night tonight? Homemade pizza sound good?"
"Sounds perfect," Beatrice responded, standing up. Allison stood, too, getting ready to head out. "Hey, Mom," Bea suddenly said. "Thanks." She hugged her.
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A/N: Hope you liked the beginning! It'll only get better from here, I promise. ;) The quotation at the beginning (and at the beginning of all the chapters) is by W. B. Yeats.