Disclaimer: Doesn't belong to me….
Working under him for the past two years had taught her something about that little four letter word. As days, weeks, months, and years passed her efforts proved fruitless and when she woke up one morning, seven hundred and eighteen days after beginning her fellowship, she was finally at peace. The man that had made her fall for him was not by her side, in fact the sheets could not have been colder, but she found herself smiling.
Smiling was something that she didn't have time to do any more, an action that she had no desire to emit, yet here she was, stretching her limbs across the bed with a smile on her face. Her mood was heightened by the fact that the cold February morning offered flurries of snow outside her window and she crawled out of bed to admire the view. After absorbing the sight of a snow covered Princeton she made her way to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee before she showered and her feet stung in anticipation of hot water on her chilled feet.
Dressing warmly she exited her apartment an hour later with the remnants of her coffee in her hand, sipping soundly as she opened the door to her vehicle and climbed in carefully. Placing her cup of coffee in its holder and her lap top a safe distance from it in the passenger's seat she started the car and turned on the defroster before grabbing her coffee once more and letting it warm her hands as she waited.
A few moments later she glanced in her rear view mirror to see that the back was defrosted and turned on her wind shield wipers to rid her of the condensation on her Cobalt's windshield. Tipping her cup off to take her last sip of coffee she placed the cup in her black floorboard before carefully maneuvering her car to pull out of its parking spot.
The drive to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, while a short one, was scenic, as the whole of Princeton was shining, the rays of the sun that shone through glistening off the snow that blanketed the city. She sighed and then smiled at its beauty before coming up on the hospital and turning into the parking lot. After finding a decent spot halfway between the doors and the street she exited the car, grabbing her lap top and making her way across the parking lot.
The diagnostics floor was bustling with early birds such as herself and she said her hellos to all that she passed before making her way into his office and collecting the mail that had been left for her. Opening the door to the conference room she managed to sift through it quick enough to throw a small pile into the waste basket beside the door and make her way to the coffee pot. Grabbing all the essential supplies she started a pot without so much as looking at the pot before moving back to his office. After opening all that was left she placed the mail he needed to see on top of the mail he hadn't looked at yesterday and turned to his computer.
Shaking the mouse she watched as the screen slowly hummed to life, her glance going to the note she had left him two years ago telling him to turn off his computer every evening. Their platonic relationship, while not what she wanted, was comfortable. If the past two years had taught her anything, it was that there were no surprises in the form of his habits. He was the same smart/lazy ass that had sat in the very seat she occupied and hired her based on her looks. It was the look in his eyes that day that gave her hope each and every day.
Cleaning out his Inbox took less than five minutes as most of it was spam mail and after completing her task she rolled back from the computer and stood to move towards the conference room. The aroma of coffee pulled her immediately to the counter where she prepared a cup, looking down to realize that she had yet to put on her lab coat. Glancing up at the clock hanging on the wall she saw that it would be another fifteen minutes before Foreman would make an appearance. Another glance out the windowed walls of the hospital told her that the snow was still coming down rather heavily.
Not wasting the opportunity she added a little coffee to her cup so that it was brimming and exited the conference room, eager to make it to the roof.
MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD
Foreman could smell coffee before the elevator doors opened onto the diagnostics floor. Brazenly making his way to the conference room he wasted no time in moving to the pot, eagerly pouring himself a cup and wincing slightly as the heat from his cup caused his numb hands to sting. Turning in his seat he did a double take when he did not see Cameron sitting at the table.
Shrugging off this fact when he saw her lap top on the table he made his way to a seat across the table from where it sat and grabbed a newspaper, beginning work on a crossword puzzle. He heard the door open a moment later and lifted his eyes, expecting to see Cameron but instead seeing a very sleep deprived Chase.
"Seen Cameron?" He asked Chase, watching as he immediately made his way to the coffee and pouring himself a cup.
"Not this morning." He replied as he turned to lean against the counter and took in her belongings. "Her lap tops here, she'll be along."
"Probably picking up House's dry cleaning or something." Foreman mumbled, dismissing her absence and going back to his crossword.
Chase took his time removing his satchel from his body, throwing it in the floor beside him, effectively jerking the arm that held his coffee and spilling a generous portion of it on his starched white button down. "Shit!" He moaned, dropping cup and all to the floor as he stretched his shirt out from his skin. "Damn it." He mumbled once again as Foreman chuckled, watching as he scurried around to clean his mess. "You could help me instead of just sitting there." Chase told him as he grabbed a few paper towels and began scrubbing at the floor.
"I didn't spill my drink like a two year old either." Foreman replied, watching as Chase got down on his hands and knees to scrub the floor.
"You should probably wet that first-"
"If you're not helping then shut the hell up." Chase fired back, standing to his feet and pitching the paper towels in a trash can and then wetting down a few more. Foreman emitted yet another chuckle as Chase completed cleaning the floor and then began work on his shirt. "Great." He murmured as his efforts proved fruitless.
Finally he aborted his mission and rinsed out his cup, pouring another and carefully placing it on the table in front of his seat. At last he was able to take a sip and closed his eyes as he did so. "Shame that such great coffee went to waste."
"She does make good coffee, doesn't she?" Foreman replied, taking a sip of his own and returning to his crossword.
"Where is she by the way?"
"Did we not just participate in that conversation five minutes ago?"
"Oh, yeah…" He trailed in response, placing both hands around his coffee cup and lifting it to his lips to drink. They sat in silence for another ten minutes, managing to finish a cup of coffee a piece.
"I think I'm going to go see if I can find her." Chase stated standing to his feet just as House busted through the door of the conference room.
"Chase, you're in the ER today, Foreman, you're doing my clinic hours, Cameron, go hug a bald kid." He turned to throw his name tag to Foreman and stopped mid-step when he saw that he only had two out of his three subordinates in the room. "The cups in front of you tell me that she's here…"
"She's been here; we haven't seen her all morning." Foreman told him.
"When did you get here?"
"Half an hour ago." Foreman told him, standing to his feet.
"Well, she's here somewhere, she'll turn up. Now shoo….new levels to beat." He barked as he made his way to the coffee pot to make himself a cup, passing Chase along the way.
"Didn't your mother teach you how the uses of Clorox?" He asked, using the end of his cane to hold him in place and look him over.
"I just poured it all over me." He told him, rolling his eyes.
"Sorry I wasn't here to mock." Rolling his eyes once more House removed the butt of his cane from his chest and Chase stepped around him, grabbing his lab coat on the way out the door. House took his time in making a cup of coffee and turned to lean on it, expecting to see her any minute. It wasn't often that she wasn't there to make him a cup of coffee and he found that he missed the lack of effort required on his part. Sipping the coffee he winced as he felt a pain shoot through his leg.
Bringing his hand down to lightly massage his thigh he placed his cup on the counter before taking a bottle of Vicodin out of his pocket. Glancing outside he watched as flurries flew about and cursed the cold weather. A light bulb flashed in his brain as he felt the Vicodin begin to take affect. Moving quickly he threw his backpack inside the door of his office and began his trek to the roof.
A/N: REVIEWS MANDATORY….not really….I don't have a gun to your head….but they would be appreciated. By the way, this story is eight chapters MAXIMUM.