OK, everyone, don't panic. I haven't given up on Seamless (though the writer's block is killing me) but this came to me yesterday and I wanted to see where I could take it. Please let me know how you like it, if you think I should continue it or what. As always...reviews greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Doctor Allison Cameron was well adjusted. She managed to survive the death of her husband, and dealing with the grief while trying to get through medical school. It had been difficult, but she'd made it. Now she found herself working for one of the best – albeit arrogant – diagnosticians in the country. Normally this would be cause for a subdued sense of pride, but any pride was ebbed away by the shame she had soon felt herself succumbing to. During the first few weeks of her fellowship at PPTH, Cameron thought about Dr. House the same way the majority of the rest of the world did: he was a rude, sarcastic son of a bitch that hid behind his high walls of snide comments to avoid showing human emotion. But she only had to watch him around the hospital, watch him interacting with Dr. Wilson to see how he acted when he could let his guard down. He had always looked so happy when he was on Wilson's balcony during lunch breaks, when he was sure that no one could see him. Wilson had spotted her leaning out of a window, and smiled knowingly the next time he had seen her in the hallway. Wilson had learned to understand House and tolerate him, and she could only dream that someday she would be able to adopt the same talent.

Cameron eased her bag onto the floor onto the floor by the desk in her self-proclaimed office area of the conference room. Foreman and Chase were nowhere to be seen, suggesting that they had gone down to the clinic to cover House's hours. That was another thing she'd noticed; House didn't actually listen to Dr. Cuddy when she ordered him to do something. At first, it had made her nervous to see him disobeying his boss like that, but she'd figured out that Cuddy wasn't offended by it so she learned to let it go. Just like she had so many other things.

The sound of the glass doors swinging open hit hear ears, and she looked up to see Wilson smiling down at her. She slid her glasses off her nose and set them gently on a pile of folders in front of her.

"Doctor Wilson," she said, smiling.

"Cameron, I was wondering if you'd seen House around." He came closer to the desk, running a hand down the front of his chest.

"Actually, I only just got here. He could be anywhere. Except-"

"-The clinic," Wilson finished for her, a smirk growing on his lips. "Thanks. I'll go look for him. I he shows up-"

"I'll let him know you're looking for him," she took over. Wilson nodded and left, heading toward the elevators.

Cameron leaned back in her chair, watching the various people passing by outside the conference room. She debated whether or not to get up and get herself a cup of coffee. The counter with the coffeemaker seemed a million miles away. She realized how incredibly bored she was when she found herself opening a game of solitaire on her laptop. They didn't have any cases, so she did not feel nearly as bad for sitting around doing nothing. It had been nearly half an hour after Wilson stopped by before House strode loudly into the adjoining office. The hollow thudding of his cane against the carpet drifted in through the doors that connected the two rooms. His pacing was almost soothing to her. In a brief moment of confidence, Cameron got to her feet and walked casually into House's office. House stopped his pacing, and stood by the window, barely facing her.

"Are you bored?" he asked after a few moments of brutal silence.

"I was just wondering if you had anything I could do." Cameron shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. House appeared to be mulling something over in his mind before his eyes lit up and he limped over to his desk, sliding open a drawer. He pulled out a stack of files and dropped it on the desk in front of him.

"Charting," he said to Cameron's look of incredulity. "It…confuses me. If you're bored…"

"I'll get right on it," she sighed, scooping the pile up in her arms. House had been slightly shocked to see her so obliging, but he didn't dwell on it. He had bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

Cuddy had cornered him as soon as he'd arrived at the hospital that morning and dragged him to her office. He should have known to run – or hobble quickly – when he noticed the smile on Cuddy's face. She wanted something. Something that was not going to turn out well for him. Damn, he should have dashed for the elevators and gone to hide out in the pediatrics department. He did not go there very often – all of the balloons and cuddly stuffed animals made him want to hurl – but it was a great place to hide in an emergency. No one ever looked for him there. But he hadn't seen the warning signs, and stood around, expecting Cuddy to demand more clinic hours. In fact, he'd prefer clinic hours any day over what she was really demanding.

House had collapsed in the chair opposite her desk as she breezed around the room, searching for something.

"House, as I'm sure you know, the Infection & Immunology Conference is in three weeks. In the Twin Cities." She paused, as her hands closed around the pamphlet she had been looking for. "And I need you to go." She turned to face him, forcing a smile.

"Immunology?" House placed a thoughtful finger on his chin. "Why not send Cameron. I'm sure she would love to feel useful around here."

"Doctor Cameron is going as well."

House's brain froze, and he became vaguely noticed that his right hand was bouncing his cane between his legs. He would admit that when he'd hired Cameron it had been more her incredibly good looks than for her medical attributes, but he'd also found that he could admire her for her contributions during their whiteboard diagnosis sessions. The thought of spending a week and a half at a conference with her was both appealing and terrifying.

"House," Cuddy prompted.

"Three hours off clinic."

"One."

"Two, then." Cuddy gritted her teeth, her eyes never leaving him.

"Fine." House got to his feet and made for the door. "But you have to actually go to the lectures," Cuddy added. House had nodded and stormed through the door, cleverly masking his excitement with indignation. He wasn't quite sure what he was so excited about, but the little dance his stomach was doing was telling his brain that excitement was the proper emotion.

Now, as he sat in his office, he listened to Cameron's pen scratching quickly as she worked her way through all of the files that had sat unnoticed in House's desk for long. His thoughts drifted ahead a few weeks and found himself locked up in a hotel room with her, surviving on room service. Maybe they wouldn't even leave the room. A smile broke out on his face and he quickly snapped back into reality. Thinking about Cameron was making him smile? What had the world come to?

Cameron leaned back on her couch, unfolding the pamphlet Cuddy had unceremoniously thrust at her that morning. She had never been to a conference before, and didn't see any harm in going. Cuddy had warned her that it was possible that House would be accompanying her toMinneapolis. This had come as both a shock and a relief to Cameron. She was glad that she wouldn't be going at this alone, but was a little worried about spending that much alone time with House. She hadn't really gotten to know him that well yet, and being confined to each other's company for ten days could prove difficult, to say the least.

She had left work early, after finishing the charting. Some of the files on the bottom of the stack had been from House's first year at the hospital. It gave Cameron reason to wonder how Cuddy was able to put up with him. Maybe there was a secret code she should learn. She'd definitely need it if she planned on keeping her sanity for much longer.

Somewhere in the apartment, the empty ticking of a clock bounced of the walls, reminding her just how alone she was. She would not lie and say that getting House away from the hospital intrigued her, but at the same time, it made her nervous. All this time she had built this idea of what he was really like, when he didn't feel like he had to appear strong and unfeeling. But the sudden knowledge that she may get to see this different House for herself scared her. What if she had been wrong? What if he wasn't any different away from the hospital? The doubts raced through her mind, making the knot in her stomach even tighter. House had managed to entice her within the first few weeks of her fellowship. She knew that it had been unintentional, but she still received the full force of it.

Cameron stretched her legs out, just realizing how sore her eyes were from lack of sleep. Tossing the pamphlet aside, she got to her feet and shuffled to her bedroom, turning lights off as she went. She didn't even know if House would be going to the conference with her. There was no reason to get herself all worked up over nothing.

The next morning she woke up in a cold sweat. She'd had a dream involving House and a butcher knife. Her imagination could get out of control sometimes, but she had learned to disregard the dreams. Though she still couldn't help it when later that day at work whenever she saw House she couldn't help imagining him clutching a cleaver. It wasn't as scary in the daylight, but it did cause her to break out in a few giggle-fits throughout the day.

"Doctor Cameron," House said, limping into the lab. He had successfully gotten Chase and Foreman busy elsewhere, leaving him to talk to her without interruption. Cameron looked up from the microscope and knew, from the way he was looking anywhere but her, what he wanted to talk about. "You're going to the I & I Conference…"

"Yes. Dr. Cuddy said that she couldn't get anyone from the immunology department to go." She kept her voice light, trying to get him to relax.

"Right." He tapped his cane on the floor as he sorted out the right words in his head. "I don't know if Cuddy told you…"

"I'll be enjoying your company on the trip?" she asked, smirking at him. "Yeah. She mentioned something about it, but I wasn't sure if she'd be able to convince you."

"Well she won. But I get off clinic duty, so I guess I win too." Cameron's heart fell; he was going, but only because of a deal with Cuddy. She wouldn't admit to herself that she had been hoping that he would agree to go so he could be with her.

"Lucky you. If only I had thought to negotiate."

"Not everyone can be as clever as me."

House looked at her and saw her one eyebrow raised. Rolling his eyes, he hobbled from the room without a word. Cameron watched him go before turning back to the microscope with a triumphant smile on her face. She had gotten him flustered. Maybe the trip would be more fun than she had thought.

Their last day at the hospital before the conference was hectic. Cuddy had come in bright and early that morning dropping three urgent cases on the table. Cameron was, once again, the only one who was there yet, so she was forced to keep the three patients as comfortable as possible and attempt to make her own diagnoses until the rest of the team showed up. By the time House arrived, she was standing in front of the whiteboard, staring at the three sets of symptoms. House went to stand right beside her, glancing over what she had written down.

"Why are you touching my whiteboard?" he whispered after a few seconds. Cameron circled something on the board with the black marker she held, never looking up at him.

"Cuddy came in here almost an hour ago…Three dying people needed your help."

"And yet you're the one helping them." He smirked at her, taking the marker from her hand. "No one touches my board." He circled a few more symptoms. "This guy's got meningitis, this one has pneumonia, and this one has cancer. He's gonna die." He cleared the board in one efficient swipe of the eraser.

"It's a mother of four," Cameron said quietly.

"Whatever. You just need to tell Doctor Wilson that he has a new patient." And as though that settled it, he threw the marker on the table and continued into his office.

"That's it?" Cameron asked incredulously, following him. "You aren't going to ride us for a diagnosis?"

"Those were trivial cases."

"Cuddy wouldn't have brought them in here if they were that easy!"

"Cuddy brought them in here so that I wouldn't spend the whole day planning my trip to the Mall of America." He winked at her, easing himself into his chair. "You want to go with me? I hear they have a crazy amusement park right in the middle."

"I don't believe it." Shaking her head, Cameron left the office and stormed off in the direction of the lab. House may be a medical genius, but he sure didn't know how to handle people. It amazed her how someone as friendly as Wilson could subject himself to House on a daily basis. She was going to have to learn the secret to dealing with House soon, or she would probably never make it home in her right mind.