Masked Mystery

Dee heard him before he came in. He was yelling loudly from the bottom of the garden and his voice sounded dreary and angry. Brilliant, she thought, He's drunk.

Dee's heart started to race; she knew what was coming but she didn't want to face it. He was angry and drunk. That was all that she could think. She ran into her room and looked for a place to hide.

"Dee!" She heard him call her name. It sounded so foreign she barely realised that it was what she was called. Fearful tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and she fought hard to keep them back.

He was in her room, walking towards her. She looked away. Not being able to breathe from the overpowering smell of whisky and not being able to look at him for fear of screaming. She wasn't sure which was the most significant of the two but she could hazard a pretty good guess.

He grabbed her roughly and flung her onto the bed. Her clothes were off in less than ten seconds and he was doing the same thing he had done many times before. Dee did what she always did; looked for a sign of remorse in those hard eyes.

"Cameron?" Chase looked concerned. He wasn't the only one. Foreman wore a look similar to Chase's and House was staring at her. She shifted uncomfortable in her chair and gazed away from the prying eyes.

"What?" She snapped after a minute of silence. She stared back at the men, across the differential table, with a cold look that made their blood run cold. They all looked away apart from House.

"You're crying." He stated and matched her glare with one so hard and emotionless and that never faltered.

Cameron glanced away, cursing herself for shedding tears over what had already been in front of a man whose number one priority would now be to investigate her and her unforgiving past. She wiped away her tears and sniffed.

"I'm not crying." She stated more to herself than to House. She never made eye contact with the man and kept her stare on a particularly uninteresting bit of carpet.

House snorted at his subordinates' previous denial when it was obviously a lie. "That fact that you think I'm stupid enough to believe that statement insults me. Now, since we weren't talking about anything particularly upsetting; I think you were daydreaming. Now, unless you have fantasies that are so kinky they make you cry, you were daydreaming about something that has already happened. Is it the husband again? The best friend? The baby? Come on, I'm interested." House pouted.

"None of the previous. Can we get back to the patient?" Cameron wished to draw all attention away from her and her daydreaming. Foreman would usually interrupt at this point but he seemed too interested in the fact that Cameron had been crying.

House smirked as he noted that neither Chase nor Foreman came to Cameron's rescue. He would've felt victorious had it been any other day but something was bugging him and he couldn't quite pinpoint it.

"Foreman, test our patients blood for any heavy metal poisonings. You Chase, my little Wombat friend, get my clinic hours as a special treat. No need to thank me." The two men left, Chase wearing a rather sulky expression that made him look like a stubborn schoolboy.

House stared at Cameron, who was now making coffee.

"What were you thinking about?" Cameron froze for a second before resuming making the coffee, more slowly than before.

"It was something from your past otherwise you wouldn't be so resistant to hide it. If you don't tell me I can always look into your history. Family mistreat you? Friends betray you? What secrets are you keeping?" House was rambling more to himself towards the end.

"Don't. For once just stay out of it, okay?" Cameron left the half-made coffee and left the room in a frustrated manner.

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House sat in front of his computer in his boxers and an old Rolling Stones tee. He had Cameron's file open and googled her name.

Nothing of any use came up, he hadn't expected it to. There were about a million different Allison Cameron's' in the world. Nothing in her CV or professional file had caused any interest, but holding her legal file he found something very interesting indeed.

"Dee Michaels." Was all he murmured to himself. So... this was the key to all of Cameron's secrets. House typed in the name and found himself clicking on a website that nearly gave him a stroke. The website showed an obituary for the supposed Dee Michaels. House read the last message that had been posted on the website by a girl named Gale Hardy.

'I'm sorry Dee and I hope you get this message. We all miss you and just want you back. If you read this please let us know that you're alright. I love you Dee and I'm sorry that you had to go through what you went through and I'm sorry that I let it go on. I'll always love you Dee.'

There was a picture of Allison 'Dee' Cameron and her supposed best friend Gale Hardy. House looked at the young girl smiling back at him. Her smile seemed genuine but her eyes were sad and she appeared too worn out for House. He scrolled down and read the rest of the comments.

'Dee, I miss you but now you can be free. You got away and good for you. You needed to get out and no Rowan Michaels is ever going to stop you reaching for the stars. Go out there and sing your heart out. Just remember me. Sarah XOXOX'

'You were wicked Dee! I'll miss you forever and I won't give up on you. I wish you had said goodbye though. I guess it wouldn't have worked so I guess I should just say that I miss you and I hope you read this. Chris XXX'

House wrote down five names. He added little notes next to them so he could Google them when he was meant to be working tomorrow.

Dee Michaels – Vanished at the age of 15

Gale Hardy – Best friend

Rowan Michaels – Cameron's worst nightmare???

Sarah Lorne – Friend in on it

Chris Torte – Boyfriend?

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House strolled into the office the next morning. He saw that Foreman was showing Chase something in a magazine and Cameron was reading a medical journal. He burst through the door, causing his team to look up.

"Hello Ducklings. Children. Whatever I call you all." House smiled mischievously. "What are your names again?"

Chase rolled his eyes; whatever House was up to he wouldn't rest until he got his answer.

"Robert Chase." He simply replied and went back to reading over Foreman's shoulder.

"I'll call you Wombat."

"Eric Foreman." Foreman didn't even look up from his article to answer his boss' question.

"So you can be Dark Vader." Foreman rolled his eyes but didn't argue about his 'witty' new nickname.

"Allison Cameron." House smirked.

"How about if I call you Michaels? Or just Dee?" Cameron's face went paler than House had seen a person go. She froze and frowned as tears lined her eyes and threatened to spill over.

Chase looked up to see Cameron visibly shaking and looking rather unhealthy.

"Cameron?" Chase rushed to her side but she flinched at his touch, causing him to withdraw. House hadn't finished tormenting her though.

"So Dee, tell me how Rowans doing. I suspect Gale will know. Or haven't you spoken to her lately? Oh well, you could just as easily ask Sarah or Chris, right?"

That was when House realised that he had pushed too far. He realised to late, though. Too late to stop Cameron from going into a panic attack.

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