Disclaimer- Nothing related to the TV show House belongs to me. If it did, the pairings would be a little…different.
A/N- Well, not even I expected to be writing another fic, let alone a House/Cameron one. Just suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to dream that someday, they will be together. Enjoy, and please review!
Life Is Unpredictable
Chapter 1
Allison Cameron tentatively knocked on the glass door of Greg House's office. On any other day, she wouldn't have hesitated to simply grip the handle and walk nonchalantly in. However, on this day, she nervously anticipated telling him news that probably wouldn't faze him anyway. House briefly glanced up from his Gameboy and waved her in with a jerk of his hand. She slowly walked in and proceeded up to his desk. Noting her troubled look House said sarcastically, "Uh oh…something bad has happened."
"No." Cameron replied, responding to his sarcasm with seriousness. "Actually, something good. I got a job offer at Mayo." She explained. House's eyebrows knit together, for a second; he was actually upset to hear she might be leaving.
He quickly recaptured his uncaring persona and asked with appropriate detachment, "What do they want you for?" This statement would have offended nearly any other person, but Cameron knew that it was a simple inquiry, not an insult.
"The head of immunology is retiring. My supervisor from my internship remembered me and put a good word in with the dean of medicine. One faxed resume and a phone interview later, and I have the job." She attempted to sound enthusiastic, but despite the fantastic opportunity, she was saddened by the prospect of leaving Princeton. By the thought of leaving him.
"You think you're ready to head your own department?" House asked with genuine curiosity.
Cameron nodded slowly and took a deep breath before answering, "You know what? I think I am."
"You think?" He inquired, believing that it would be better for her to be sure of her decision before leaving him. 'No!' He mentally scolded himself, 'No. She's not leaving you! She's leaving her job, leaving the hospital.' Cameron smiled; she had expected his lack of confidence.
"I know." She said confidently. "I just wanted to say goodbye. You'll have to find somebody else in the ER to harass." Her tone was light, joking, but inside the simple thought of never seeing him again hurt more than she expected.
He smiled back, nodded, and then said, to his shock as much as hers, "Before you go…I need to know. Why are you…how you are? What made you…you know…" He trailed off, not even sure himself what he was asking. She frowned, and after a contemplative moment, found his question.
"You House." She answered, "You made me this way." She gave a sad smile, "I used to be so…caring. My patients, they trusted me. I was nice, people liked me." Despite her usual self-consciousness, she knew that at one time, perhaps longer ago than she thought, she had been a well-liked doctor. "Now…I don't even know." She said honestly, "I feel detached, unemotional. I feel like you." House chuckled quietly at her two word summary of his personality.
"Your patients trust you, Cameron. And everybody still likes you." He reassured her.
"Really? And how would you know?" She inquired shortly.
House sighed and told her, "The other day…I was down at the ER." At her look of surprise he added, "You didn't see me. Anyway, there was a patient being discharged. They said, 'That Dr. Cameron, she should be promoted or something. I've been to a lotta hospitals, and seen a lotta doctors, and she's the best.'"
She laughed and said, "You're making that up."
"Me? No…"
"House!"
He scoffed, "I'm not making it up." Cameron nodded slowly, still slightly disbelieving.
"Well, if you are in fact telling the truth…thanks. I needed that."
"I'm telling the truth." He assured her, with all the seriousness he could muster. "Now, I wanna know. What made you…you?"
"I just told you!" She exclaimed impatiently.
"No…you told me what made you change. I already knew all of that. What made you that sickly sweet, super emotional doctor you were when you started to work for me?"
"Oh, now that really makes me want to open up to you." She shot back.
House took his turn to sigh deeply before saying, "If I don't know, I'll always be wondering. So why don't you just tell me and spare me some misery?"
Cameron giggled, "House, nobody could spare you any misery. Besides, you don't really care, and I'm not going to tell you just to satisfy another curious whim of yours."
"Fine, don't tell me. But you're gonna have to live your whole life knowing that you made me sad." He gave a fake childish pout.
"Oh how will I ever live with myself!" She joked. House grunted amusedly, she had certainly changed, but not for the worse, as she thought. In his opinion, she had grown better. Deciding that he couldn't die not knowing about this endlessly mysterious woman, the greatest puzzle he had ever known, he used one word that he had forgotten was in his vocabulary.
"Please."
Taken aback by his seemingly genuine interest in her, she sat down, leaned forward, resting her elbows on his desk, and asked, "How much time do you have?" Forgetting himself for a moment he stole a glance down her v-neck top, and then recovered, and said, "However long it takes." His new team was out running a battery of tests on their newest patient, and Cuddy didn't have anything to be seeking him out for…so far as he knew. Cameron sat back, and began.
"When I was ten years old, my sixteen year old brother was in a car crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene." Her eyes began to water, but she continued. "My fourteen year old brother idolized him, and was completely devastated. He turned to alcohol for relief. My parents didn't know how to deal with everything, and got divorced a year after the funeral." A lone tear rolled down her cheek. "For about six months my brother and I would spend a week with my mom, and then one with my dad, and so on. Then my father ODed on antidepressants." She took a deep breath, knowing that she had to finish the story. "That's when my brother lost it. He started taking drugs; sometimes my mom and I wouldn't see him for days. Finally, my mom sent him to a rehab facility. I haven't seen or heard from him in twenty years." She was crying openly now, but didn't care. "After he was gone, things started to get better. I was thirteen by this point, and it was just my mom and me. When I was fifteen, she remarried. We both thought he was a great guy at first, but a couple of months after the wedding, he started coming to my room at night…" She trailed off, choking on her tears. House opened his mouth to say something, but was unable to form words. Cameron composed herself and finished. "When my mom found out, she was furious. He started abusing her too. It got so bad that I went to my school counselor. One day, when I wasn't home, the police came and took him away. My mom had the marriage annulled, and things got better again. You pretty much know the rest of the story. I got married, he died, and I threw myself into medicine. Now I'm here." She reached up to dry her cheeks and looked House straight in the eye, waiting for his response.
All that came was, "I'm sorry."
She nodded, expecting no more from him, and said, "Well…now you know. Goodbye, House." However, as she reached for the door, he called her name. "What?" She demanded.
"Don't leave." He told her. 'I don't want you to go.'
A/N- Like it? Hate it? Want me to continue it? Let me know in a review! Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not.