This is a House & O/C romance. This is NOT Hameron, although Cameron is essential to the story. It will take a few chapters to get to the House romance, but please have patience. I think you'll find it's worth the wait.

Chapter 1

Allison Cameron rushed down the hospital corridor, her arms filled with files. Damn House! How was she supposed to find the one thing all of these patients had in common? He always gave her the hardest chores. Almost like he was punishing her. She was so concentrated on her anger and the futility of the task ahead of her that she really wasn't watching where she was going. That's why she didn't see the young man that she barreled into.

Papers flew everywhere, as Cameron cried out, "Damnit!"

The man immediately dropped down to the floor to pick up the papers. "Sorry, let me help you."

Cameron was on the floor as well, gathering papers as she said, "You should help, you knocked them down."

"Hey, you were the one who banged into me. I was just minding my own business."

"Well, you…" she began, but lost her thought as she looked up at the black wavy hair, smooth olive complexion and deep blue eyes. Oh God, was he gorgeous! What was it about men with blue eyes?

He was watching her, waiting for her to finish her thought. But he was mesmerized as well by clear green eyes and a pretty face. Not to mention a cute little figure under the white coat.

"Well, I what?" he asked.

"What…what?"

"You started to say 'well, you…' but you didn't finish."

"I, um, I don't know what I was going to say. I'm sorry; it really wasn't your fault. I'm a little distracted here. My boss is a jerk."

He laughed showing even white teeth. "Let me guess, you must work for Dr. House."

"How did you know?"

"I've only been here a week, but I've heard about House."

She smiled and he smiled back. Wow, he thought, she was really pretty. Working in Princeton might be even better than he thought.

"I'm Michael Newman," he said, "I just started working for Dr. Zaleski."

"Oh, you're a cardiologist? Zaleski's good. I'm Alison Cameron and as you've guessed, I work for House."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Well, don't ask me on a day like today, but usually, not too bad."

"Uh-oh, you seem like an optimist."

"Guilty. Is that bad?"

"Depends. Does your optimism extend to seeing good things if we met for coffee later?"

She smiled again.

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They met for coffee. They met for dinner. Then he picked her up at her apartment. They went to a movie. They went to an art show. More dinners, more coffees. They started meeting for lunch everyday. Within two months, Alison Cameron found herself falling for the handsome cardiologist.

Michael Newman had been born in New York City. He had gone to Harvard for medical school. After interning in Boston and residency at the Mayo Clinic, he had accepted a staff position at PPTH. His family was from New York, but his mother, who was a widow, had decided to move to Princeton when he took the job here. It didn't take long before Allison was to meet Mrs. Newman.

Michael was buying a house and his mom lived with him. She had the master suite on the first floor. Michael had a bedroom, sitting room and den on the second floor. He told Allison that his mom was totally cool with whatever he did. She didn't quite believe that until she was finally introduced to her.

Marianne Newman was very young. Michael was 29, and his mom couldn't be more than late forties herself. Michael had told Allison that his mom was very young was he was born, but seeing the beautiful, vibrant woman convinced her. She had Michael's olive complexion and black hair, but her eyes were dark brown. Michael said that his mom's family was Italian and that was obviously where the dark good looks came from. Cameron assumed the late Mr. Newman had been fair.

The meeting between Michael's mother and his new girl went very well. Marianne was proud of her son and she trusted his judgment. Plus she had seen the look in his eyes when he talked about his new girlfriend. She had never seen that look on her son's face before, but she had seen that same look on her own face when she had met Michael's father and she knew it still appeared whenever she thought about him, even though it had been a long time since she had seen him.

Marianne spent her evenings in her bedroom, where her television and computer were. She assured Allison that it was perfectly fine for her and Michael to spend evenings in his rooms upstairs.

"If I ever bother you, you can be sure, it's because I'm dying or at least extremely ill." She told them.

So Michael and Allison's relationship grew steadily and his mother couldn't be happier. She liked the young woman and was glad her son was happy and settling in to his life as a doctor in Princeton.