Hi guys!
This is my very first House fanfic!
It's House/Cameron but with Chase involved, because I just love using him to bring out the angst!
Rating is M for later chapters but for now PG-13.
I'd love some feedback on this, and concrit is welcome too.

Amy
xxxx

--S-T-O-L-E-N--C-I-N-D-E-R-E-L-L-A--

Chapter One - Catalyst

"We've tried every single reasonable diagnosis and treated it…yet she's still not getting better!"

Cameron said in exasperation as she followed House down the hallway. He looked at her, never pausing, as he leaned heavily on his stick whilst walking.

"Well, you've missed something," he stated matter-of-factly, as though she hadn't spent the last five days frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with her thirteen year old patient, who had presented with symptoms that didn't match up to any single diagnosis, but instead each its own different cause.

"House, I haven't missed anything! We've done numerous MRIs and CT scans; we've tested for everything and treated for everything…yet she's not responded to any of it!"

"Then find that special something you actually haven't tested for. Think outside the box, Cameron."

House said with the kind of sarcastic enthusiasm that infuriated her. Signalling an end to the conversation by walking out the front doors, Cameron stood watching him leave, rubbing her head and heaving a heavy sigh. With a roll of her eyes, she headed back towards his office to try and assess the symptoms on the board yet again.

"There must be something we've missed. Maybe a tumour that's too small to show up; maybe some kind of neurological problem-"

Cameron cut him off.

"Chase, you know we've tested for all of that. Again and again."

He perched on the edge of the desk and stared at the board, as if a diagnosis would jump straight out at him this time, after having stared at the same symptoms for five days. No progress but luckily no deterioration either. Maybe that was the best they could hope for right now whilst they tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with this kid.

"Any news?"

Cameron shook her head regretfully in answer to the mother's question as she entered her patient's room to check all was still all right with her chem. and tox levels.

Everything was still the same. After a cardiac arrest, Peyton Davis hadn't had any more symptoms that would indicate a specific condition. She could talk and walk and her mind seemed to work fine, but there was still something wrong with her, and without any kind of development, good or bad, Cameron and the others were having a hard time trying to pinpoint a diagnosis. Yet another dead end this time too. Peyton's levels were still as they had been for the past eight hours.

Cameron had formed a kind of bond with her patient, as she generally tended to do, and she felt for the girl, whose father had never turned up to visit her yet, and whose mother acted like sitting by her daughter's side was a chore and didn't hesitate to let Peyton know this. It had wrenched her heart when her mother had walked in one morning, left a magazine and some homework for Peyton and told her she was going to work. The teenager never brought any attention to herself, never asked for anything, just simply stayed quiet and read the magazines.

Hearing someone entering the room, Peyton looked up and offered a smile as she saw Cameron. She'd never had anyone be so kind to her as this young doctor had been. When Peyton was sure the woman had other patients to see, Cameron would sit next to her and ask all about her life, what she wanted to do, her dreams, her interests. No one had ever really cared enough to ask her anything like Cameron.

"Everything alright?"

Peyton nodded and closed her magazine.

"My mom's at work. She said she'd swing by later on if she gets a chance."

Cameron's heart went out to her patient. The girl didn't even seem to realise that most parents would be by their kid's side 24/7 if they were in this situation. Peyton took it in her stride that her mother was barely there. She never complained and she never asked why, she simply accepted that her mother wouldn't change.

After their usual chat, Cameron's pager started to bleep furiously, reminding her that she was still at work and there were other patients in this hospital needing her attention too.

"No rest for the wicked."

Peyton joked and Cameron smiled, promising that she'd visit her at the end of her shift.

--

"Peyton?"

At the end of her shift, Cameron had returned to Peyton's room as she'd promised. She could see through the glass that the girl wasn't in her bed and as she entered the room fully, she felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Something wasn't right here. Calling for Chase as she saw him heading down the corridor, she hurriedly informed him of their patient's obvious absence. The first place Cameron checked was the bathroom in Peyton's room. As she pulled open the door her blood ran cold. The girl was lying perfectly still on the floor, her eyes glazed over and fixed on the ceiling.

"Peyton…oh my God."

Dropping to her knees, Cameron instantly went into auto drive and began CPR, pleading with the girl to wake up. Calling for Chase, her voice hoarse, he appeared in the doorway instantly and stared in horror at the scene before him. Cameron was visibly shaking, tears blurring her vision as she shouted for Chase to help. He dropped down beside her and checked Peyton's pulse. Slowly, he removed his fingers from the girl's neck and looked down at her before looking up at Cameron.

"Cameron-"

"NO! Just…k-keep going! Don't stop, we've got to bring her back. I'm not letting her die, no. No."

Gently taking hold of her arms, he felt her resist for a few moments, before collapsing into his embrace. She was shaking in his arms and he held her tight, letting her ride out the emotions. She'd been close to this girl; she'd empathised with her as she always did with the patients. House had told her time and again that it was "unprofessional" and that she'd get nowhere by getting so involved with cases. But it was just her style and Chase had always hoped she wouldn't take House's advice and lose that spark of empathy that made her such a good doctor.

"We can't just give up on her…"

Cameron whimpered into Chase's chest and he rubbed her back as the sobs wracked her body.

"She's not in pain now though. And what you did for her, the time you spent just making her feel like someone cared…you made her last few days perhaps the happiest ones she'd had. Don't blame yourself for this."

She pulled back to look at him.

"But I couldn't even figure out what was wrong with her."

Chase shook his head, taking hold of her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

"None of us could. You're not to blame for this. It's tragic yes, but maybe the life she was living wasn't what she wanted to fight for."

Cameron dropped her tear-stained eyes to the floor, unable to look at Peyton's lifeless body beside them. Chase pulled her back into his arms, stroking her hair as he tried to give as much comfort he could.

Foreman appeared at the door and stopped short when he saw the girl. Chase looked up at him.

"What…happened?"

Foreman asked, his eyes locked on Peyton.

"Can you page House? We're probably not the best ones to be dealing with this. I'm going to take Cameron home, she's in no state to drive."

--

The whole drive, Cameron just stared silently out of the window, her hair tangled and her cheeks still stained with tears. Maybe this wouldn't have been so hard on her had she not been the one to find Peyton's body.

Pulling up outside her place, Chase shut off the engine and turned to her.

"You sure you'll be alright?"

Chase knew that her nod and attempt at a reassuring smile meant nothing. She'd break down if he just left her here on her own.

"I'm going to come in and make you some food. You might not feel like it but you haven't eaten all day and I don't trust you to eat if I leave you to it."

Cameron tried to protest but Chase took her keys and got out of the car, locking it up after she'd got out, and followed her up the steps.

"Do you ever actually eat? You've got pretty much nothing in this refrigerator."

Chase shook his head and turned to Cameron, who was sat on the sofa watching him. She smiled a little but other than that made no effort to answer his rhetorical question with words. Shutting to refrigerator, he sighed and straightened up.

"Right, I'm going getting a takeaway. You stay right here, I'll be ten minutes."

He didn't even wait for a reply before he was out of the door and starting up his car.

Cameron stood at the window and watched him drive off.

"So this is what it's like having someone care about you."

She thought, realizing that maybe she'd formed a bond with Peyton because she could identify with her. The girl had had people all around her yet she'd felt as though not a single person really cared. It chilled Cameron to realise how much that sounded like her own life. Returning to the sofa, she found herself thinking about her family and her life in general. Peyton's death had really made her think about the people in her life.

The knock on the door brought her back to reality and she headed to the door. Opening it, she wasn't surprised to see it was Chase standing there with a smile and he held up two bags of food, which she could smell was Chinese. Stepping aside, she let him in and he put the bags down on the kitchen counter top. She closed the door after him and started to help him take the food out.

"It smells good."

She noted, grateful that he was trying so hard to cheer her up. He nodded in agreement and carried both their plates over to the sofa, where he placed them on the table and switched on the TV.

"There's got to be some kind of funny movie on tonight. I won't leave until I see you laughing."

Cameron shook her head and rolled her eyes, grabbing a bottle of wine, two glasses and a corkscrew. He took them from her as she reached the sofa and poured them each a glass. Handing her a glass and taking the other, he held it up and gently clinked the glasses. He didn't need to say anything; it was just an unspoken gesture that she appreciated.

--

"Maybe we've had a bit too much wine."

Chase laughed and Cameron shook her head, pouring them both another glass. Their plates sat on the coffee table with the last few remnants of food, as the sappy forties' black and white movie played. They'd spent the whole of the movie making fun of it and Chase had been thrilled to hear her laughing at his bad jokes. He hoped it wasn't just the amount of alcohol they'd consumed that was masking her sadness and that he was genuinely cheering her up in some way.

As the credits rolled on the television screen and Cameron finished off yet another glass of wine, he watched her when her eyes locked onto his they stayed silent for a moment. Chase had no idea what was going through her mind at that point but he wished more than anything that for just a moment he could have an insight into what was going on behind those blue-green eyes. He didn't have to wait very long to find out what she was thinking though, as she suddenly leaned over and pressed her lips to his, her hands moving to his hair. He was too startled to have any reaction for a moment but her kisses were becoming desperate and he was torn between letting himself give in to her, letting himself fall into what he'd fantasised about – along with almost all the other men in the hospital – since they'd began working together, or stopping this before it got out of hand. A month previous when this had happened, she'd been high on a patient's meth, and even he couldn't recall the details of that night, it had been too blurred and over too quickly. Tonight, they'd had a lot to drink, she was an emotional wreck with the events of the day as it was, and he couldn't bear the thought of her hating him for it in the morning.

As she started to try and unbutton his shirt, he pulled back, holding her shoulders as he tried to control himself as well as her. Her lips were swollen, her breathing was heavy and her eyes were locked on his. Despite the alcohol, she still looked like she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Cam-" he started and she cut him off, trying to silence him by capturing his lips again.

"Shhh. Just…shhh. And you can call me Allison y'know."

She mumbled against his lips and he shook his head, pulling back again.

"Allison…I'm not sure you know what you want right now. You think it's such a good idea for us to fall into this again? I think you're a little screwed up with your emotions and I don't think you're seeing things clearly…sleeping with me might not be the best thing to do…you'll regret it."

She put a finger on his lips and looked straight into his eyes.

"It's not like we haven't done it before. And I want you, right now. Is that clear enough?"

For a moment he just looked straight back into her eyes and he was thanking God for his answered prayers.

Finally, he nodded in answer to her words and, unlike her desperate, passionate kisses, he gently touched her lips with his and he felt her sharp intake of breath at the unexpected tenderness. He smiled against her lips, savouring each and every second of this, committing it all to memory and promising himself that this time he would be remembering every detail. She tasted like a mixture of coffee and strawberries, and to him that was a taste he'd never get enough of. His hands tangling in her hair, their kisses quickly deepened and she took charge, returning her hands to the buttons of his shirt as he let his hands find the edges of hers. When she'd succeeded in unfastening his buttons, he tugged at her shirt and she helped him pull it over her head.

For a moment, all he could do was stare at her exposed skin, her chest rising and falling with effort and a flush rising up her neck as she saw his intense, wondrous gaze. After all those days of sitting in House's office with her at close proximity, letting his mind drift off imagining this exact thing, the reality was better than anything he'd ever dreamed. After their one-night tryst she'd been invading his every thought and he'd tried piecing his memories of it together, the feel of her nails raking down his back, the look on her face just as she tipped over the edge…and the way she'd looked so beautiful asleep next to him.

Now here he was again, sat on her sofa as she straddled him wearing her jeans and black lacy bra, his shirt open and his breath stolen as she started to kiss her way down his neck and to his heaving chest. Every time her lips touched his bare skin, he felt electric shocks shoot through his body and he wondered if she knew the effects she was having on him. By her wicked smile, he guessed so.

In hardly any time at all, Chase had her on her back on the carpet, her jeans discarded as well as his shirt. He was kissing his way down her body and he was pretty sure he was in heaven, not quite believing this was actually happening again. She was writhing beneath him and little moans kept escaping her lips. In one quick motion she had him on his back and he looked up into her eyes, a smile on his lips as she leaned down and kissed him deeply. Breaking off the kiss, she stood up and took his hand, pulling him up too. In seconds they were in a fiery embrace again as she backed them toward her bedroom, tugging at his pants on the way, his hands touching every part of her body they could reach.

--

House sighed as he stood in front of the door. This was a mistake. Cuddy had forced him to come here, or so he kept telling himself. He wasn't comfortable trying to sound consoling and the way Cuddy had told it, House expected her to be grief-stricken and look like she'd been told she had a day to live. Instead, as she opened the door, she looked…glowing. It was only then it struck him what had been in front of him the whole time. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks were pink and her eyes were full of confusion as she saw him stood outside her door. And was there the slightest bit of panic in her eyes too?

"Cuddy sent me."

He couldn't help himself, having to set the record straight that he hadn't turned up of his own accord. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel the slightest twang of disappointment that she didn't look as deflated by that statement as she usually would have.

"You're not…busy, are you?"

He raised his eyebrow and cocked his head to the side in his trademark way, studying her flustered appearance before all but pushing the door open and walking inside. The sudden rush of terror in her expression intrigued him…but as soon as he saw her attire, he understood why.

"Hair a mess, trying to keep me out of your apartment instead of in like you usually would, wearing a sexy little robe…Cameron! You're not with anyone right now, are you?!"

He was joking initially, trying to divert his eyes from her perfect figure wrapped in the thin silk material that reached mid-thigh. He hadn't considered that Cameron, the woman without any social life he could think of, would have come home stricken with grief, only to sleep with someone. He couldn't even think whom she'd possibly sleep with. The way she was opening and closing her mouth trying to produce an explanation would have been amusing in any other situation.

"I was...about to shower."
She said lamely, knowing the excuse was almost as flimsy as the robe she was trying to desperately to cover as much of herself as possible with.

"Ally, who is it? Come on, this bed's getting cold."

Cameron's eyes darted over her shoulder and the look of complete shame and mortification said it all. Inexplicably, he felt a strong painful sensation in his chest. He'd only felt that once before…and he wasn't willing to feel it again after Stacy.

"Chase? You're sleeping with Chase? Again?!"

He tried to keep the disdain from his voice and covered the stab of hurt, though he'd never admit to it, with sarcasm. As usual. He hadn't seen it coming that was for sure. He was trying to use hurtful and sarcastic comments to hide the fact that he was extremely aroused by the sight of the young woman he had held at arm's length whilst she'd tried to convey her feelings for him, who was now stood before him in her living room, wearing only a sexy little cream silk robe, the colour of sex he thought, as she tried desperately to wrap it tightly round herself and cover as much exposed skin as possible.

"And, he suddenly calls you Ally? I can recommend a great psychiatric consult-"

"House if you've come here to lecture me…just leave."

He noted that she didn't make any comment about Chase being in the next room, in her bed. And for some reason, he couldn't get over that fact. Chase suddenly popped his head around her bedroom door and the shock and sudden panic that he'd seen in Cameron's expression was instantly replicated in Chase's.

"Don't be late tomorrow."

He couldn't even think of a good hurtful comment to leave them with as he limped toward the door. Cameron's gaze dropped to the floor in defeat. Even if she'd seen a possible chance of her love for House being reciprocated, there was no way in hell it would happen now. Chase decided to make himself scarce and quickly went back into the bedroom, shutting the door, as Cameron followed House to the door, less bothered by her lack of clothes now that he'd caught them at such an awkward moment. The way his eyes had scanned her body had made her feel like every contour his eyes touched lit on fire and continued burning even when he'd dragged his eyes away.

Before he left, he stopped at the doorway and turned to her.

"Do you love him?"

The simple question and the way he'd asked it, without any intentionally cruel or derisive agenda, made her look up and his eyes caught on hers. But she tore them away again and returned her gaze to the floor, feeling ashamed of the whole situation.

"No."

She whispered after a moment and that was all he'd needed to hear. He walked as quickly as was possible for him away from her door, desperate to put some space between them. He'd blown it, he was sure of that. She'd ended up sleeping with Chase again, when he'd had the chance many a time to be the one lying in her bed beside her, calling her "Ally". Hating to acknowledge it, even to himself, he thought back to the dreams he'd woken from when he'd been so sure they were real, so sure she was sleeping right there next to him, her quick, hot kisses trailed up his chest before he returned the favour. He even remembered that one last time he'd slept with Stacy and had been so close to saying Cameron's name instead of Stacy's. He winced a little at the thought of how that would have gone down with his ex. He'd told himself, and Stacy, that they had to break up because he couldn't be what she needed, couldn't change and give her what she deserved. Sure, that had been half the reason, and he had genuinely been in love with Stacy, part of him always would be because he didn't fall in and out of love very easily, but the other part of him knew that Stacy wasn't Cameron. And it hadn't been Stacy who was in his dreams at night. She might have been the one he was waking up to, finding her arm draped over his waist, but he remembered that one morning, waking up and his first instantaneous reaction as he saw the brunette asleep next to him, was to freeze and just watch her. Then she'd turned over and the moment he'd been frozen in was broken. No, she wasn't Cameron, as he'd for some reason thought the moment he'd woken up and seen her. He'd had to recover from that quickly as Stacy's eyes had opened and she'd smiled up at him.

--

"Chase, why are you wearing the same stuff as yesterday?"

Foreman regarded his co-worker suspiciously as Chase and Cameron entered the office the following morning. Chase's gaze immediately shifted nervously and he cleared his throat, uncomfortable in House's presence, feeling for sure something would be mentioned about the previous night. Sensing an uncomfortable tension between the three other people in the room, Foreman's frown deepened and he made a silent vow to find out what exactly the big secret was.

"Differential diagnoses of today's patient please, ducklings. If you weren't late, you'd have at least an idea of the case."

House tapped his cane on the floor three times and glowered at Cameron and Chase, who cleared his throat and sat down at the table, scanning over the case file on the table. Cameron looked rough as hell and felt like it too. Nausea kept building in her stomach and she was doing her best to fight it down, wondering why the hell the hangover was so bad this time.

--