Rating T+, maybe slight M

Notes: Yes, this ship and fandom has been dead for nearly a decade. No I don't expect anyone to read or review this. But I've been depressed on the couch and rewatching the series and for me it was always Hameron.

Synopsis since the show has been long off the air:

Season 5x21, Saviors: Cameron owes a favor to a doctor from another hospital and takes the case of an environmental "nut". She postpones her vacation with Chase to work on the case with House- who questions her ulterior motives for spending time with him and avoiding Chase. Episode set a week after Kutner's suicide.

This fic takes liberties with the House/Cameron moments, obviously. Well, hopefully someone will read and enjoy.

Chapter One: The Puzzle

She's sick of everyone questioning her motives about sticking around the diagnostics department, or rather, sticking around House. She sighs but supposes she deserves it.

'Gossip circulates around this hospital faster then patients get cured.' Cameron thinks to herself as she nears House in the hallway and falls into step next to him.

"No sight of heart or arterial problems but he's been hiccupping on and off for over a week." Cameron informs House.

"Nice. I'm hooked." He tosses back sarcastically. "You can get back to your shift at the ER. Except, as far as the ER is concerned, you're on vacation, right?" He glances over at her, still unable to figure out her motives for working on this case with him. Well, for him. It's her case, not his or his team's as far as he's concerned.

Cameron rolls her eyes. This is exactly what's been irking her. "I postponed a trip because I'm concerned about the patient."

"Yeah, totally explains why you ditched Chase and came to differentials." He couldn't possibly lay on the sarcasm any thicker, not believing her for a moment. "But not why you ran the tests."

Cameron sighs. There's no dancing around this conversation so they might as well have it. "You told me to."

They stop right outside the door to the diagnostics room. "Well, I'm not your boss, as you usually take great pleasure in pointing out."

House wants to see how far he can push her. She's playing a game with him, he might as well volley back and see if he can figure out her true intentions.

"Hey, you don't still have the hots for me, do you?" House meets Cameron's eyes, trying to provoke her. He watches, bemused as Cameron pauses, blushing from his remark.

Her mouth falls open; she can feel the heat rush to her cheeks. It takes her a moment to recover. " I-I care about the patient and I care about the people who work on your team. They've been through a lot lately. I just thought I —"

House interrupts, not convinced. She didn't deny it and was definitely deflecting. "Was Florence Nightingale. Yeah, yeah. You're gonna nurse us back to spiritual and mental oneness. That would make sense if we were having this conversation a week ago." He meets her eyes, questioningly. He's going to figure out this puzzle and it's going to be now.

Cameron leans forward, invading his personal space. "Think what you want — that I'm here to get a job, that I'm here to wrap you in swaddling clothes." Despite regaining her composure her heart keeps pounding rapidly in her chest. It doesn't help when House leans forward, causing their faces to be scant centimeters apart. He's close enough that when he utters his next sentence she can feel his warm breath ghost over her lips.

House lowers his voice. He's trying to get a rise out of her- provoke a response- anger, denial, anything. He hadn't expected lust or arousal to reflect back at him in her green eyes.

So, because he's House, he pushes that last little bit, as far as he can possibly go. "The problem is, I think neither. Because neither makes sense. The only thing that does… doesn't."

The intense stare between them lingers. He closes the gap between them, kissing her roughly; he doesn't miss the tiny gasp that passes her lips as he slides his hand under her lab coat to the small of her back and pulls her even closer. He expects her to push him back, to slap him, anything other then responding to his kiss with equal intensity. She runs her tongue across his bottom lip and he allows her access, sliding his tongue against hers in a duel for dominance.

Cameron's surprised when House emits a low groan of approval as she nips at his bottom lip. All rational thought and caution is thrown to the wind- she's not going to stop until they need to break for air. That is, until she feels his hand slide lower and grab her ass. Typical House.

She pulls back, panting, cheeks flushed. "What the hell was that?"

He smirks. "Just solving the puzzle. Turns out I was right. You're as predictable as you seem."

She shoves him back. "This isn't some game." Now she's angry; green eyes glaring up at him.

"Really? Could've fooled me."

He enters the conference room before her as she straightens out her coat and fixes her hair. 'Goddamn him.' Cameron curses to herself, meeting the stares of three shocked fellows. 'Well, guess this blush is going to be permanent for a while.' Her head is still spinning and she tries to get it together. Of course, House's team has other plans.

"What the hell was that?" Taub asks, glancing between Cameron and House.

"Not pertinent to the case."

"None of your business."

Cameron and House's answers overlap.

"Pathological hiccups plus inability to balance. Go." Cameron tries to bring their focus back to the case to no avail.

Thirteen is smirking. Taub is still baffled and Foreman just seems outraged.

Before the bombardment of questions can pass through his team's lips House takes over. "What she said."

"We're just supposed to…" Taub starts before House can cut him off.

"Focus on the case, yeah." House counters. The puzzle is solved. The game is over- set, match. He's won so he's going to push forward like nothing's happened, because nothing has happened except for him proving his theory.

Thirteen is the first to rebound from the shock of previous incidents. "Brain would connect the two."

"It could, if Cameron hadn't already CT'd his head." House counters, waiting for a better idea.

Cameron's head has finally stopped spinning enough that she can jump back into the differential. "Patient is on a Jihad against commercial flowers. He's picketed several nurseries. Organophosphate poisoning can cause both hiccups and —"

Foreman glares in her direction. "No GI problems. No hyper-salivation."

Taub clears his throat, ready to chime in. "It's possible it's not connected to a protest. MS wouldn't show on the CT and his name's Swenson. Scandinavians have an increased susceptibility to MS."

House ponders this for a second. He nods. "Better theory than he's faking it. The clogs have it. Do a lumbar puncture to confirm MS."

The room falls quiet. Cameron and House stare at one another. The other three doctors look between them.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Go do the puncture." House gestures for his team to leave.

"How are we supposed to do a lumbar puncture on a patient with intractable hiccups?" Taub asks.

House rolls his eyes. "Find a way."

Foreman waits for Thirteen and Taub to leave. He turns to Cameron. "You better figure out what you're doing before word of this spreads through the hospital. Talk to Chase."

"Yeah, I'll take that to heart." Cameron replies, irritated that everyone feels the need to chime in on her personal life.

Foreman shoots her one last warning glance before heading out of the room.