Part 1/4 – Girly Coffee Habits

Disclamer: I do not own House MD.

A/N: Thanks so much to GabbyAbby for the superfast beta. I probably owe her my firstborn by now, haha. :D

None of his new fellows can make a decent pot of coffee. If he didn't think Cuddy would condemn him to clinic duty for the rest of time, he would probably fire the lot of them for it. How in the world did they get through medical school without learning these kinds of important things?

The new group of Ducklings takes turns. When Cut Throat bitch makes it, it's almost passable. But when the plastic surgeon has to make the pot, well, then it's even worse than the sludge in the Oncology department. And don't even get him started on the fact that Thirteen drinks decaf. It almost makes him regret firing Bossley; now that man could make a pot of coffee.

He knows this little problem of his is getting bad when he accepts a case that is only mildly interesting for a cup of coffee (it had nothing to do with her asking). It's only a cup of coffee, one she didn't even make at that. This has got to be a new low for him.

But, it's got whipped cream and she's taken the first sip. The adolescent boy inside him is jumping up and down at the intimacy of the gesture. It's a good thing he can't actually jump like that, with his leg and all. He would only end up looking ridiculous.

It's only coffee and it's only Cameron.

Although, she hasn't been only Cameron in a while. He doesn't even remember the last time he thought of her in those terms.

What he really needs is to stop thinking about her. You would think that it would be easy, since she doesn't work for him anymore. He hardy sees her nowadays (well, except for the times when he needed her to buy lunch.)

But really, it was hardly ever. He use to see her all the time, like every morning when she would bring him coffee.

Now he has to get his own cup of really sucky coffee and that's the only reason he can't stop thinking of her. At least that's what he tries to convince himself. She disrupted his routine and that's all this is.

He gets some satisfaction from the fact that her routine has been disrupted as well. The nurses make the coffee down in the ER, and because of that she usually ends up bringing her own. He knows she likes to stop at that little place across the street to pick up something chilled and whipped, and barely coffee at all if you ask him. But that was beside the point. He shouldn't be worrying about her girly coffee habits.

He shouldn't be worrying about her at all.

She is sitting at his desk when he comes in the next morning.

Then he notices the two cups of coffee in front of her. She got him extra whipped cream. As she hands him his cup, their fingers brush, just slightly, enough that it would be a big deal if he was a teenager again.

But he's not, and he really has to get over this thing he has about touching her. People touch all the time, he thinks, and then cringes at the thought of people (Chase) touching her.

"So this guy came into the ER last night…"

He'll end up taking this case too. But only because of the coffee.