Chapter One

Even through her perfectly applied makeup and baggy, pink scrubs and long sleeve gray shirt, he knew there was something different. He could even go as far as saying something was wrong. As had been his custom for the last two weeks he stood behind the nurse's station in the ER, not out of sight, but out of the way enough so no one would draw attention to him. The nurses knew to steer clear of him for fear of making him angry. She could feel his eyes burning into her skin but didn't turn around to acknowledge his prescence just yet. She finished up stitching the young woman and grabbed her file off of the bed and walked towards the nurses station. Throwing it into the 'discharge' pile, she picked up another file and began reading.

"You're pretending to not see me," he said walking closer to her though she still didn't look up. "I know you do," he stated simply.

"I know it's a concept that's so out there it's hard for you to grasp, but some doctors actually see the patients they've been assigned to," she replied, still reading the patients file.

He grabbed the file from her hands so she finally had to face him when he said, "you've been avoiding me."

"Another bonus for not working for you: I don't have to avoid you," she tried to grab the folder but he was too fast for her.

Now he was just annoyed, "You could say that, except you were suppose to fill out some reports for me last week, Cuddy's orders."

"She never ordered me to fill out those reports, House. She asked me to help you because she doesn't even think you know how to fill them out right seeing as how I always did them when I worked for you." she finally managed to grab the file back from him and began reading where she had left off.

He stared at her for a moment, amazed that this was the same woman he had hired nearly six years ago who was afraid to overstep her boundaries. She pushed a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. He noticed that her hair wasn't nearly as full as it use to be, it had become stringy and dull and he wasn't positive but he thought he could see places of thinning that would soon become bald spots.

"Fine, let's make a deal then, shall we?" he said perking up. "You fill out those reports tonight and I will bring you dinner as my way of saying 'thank you'." he proposed as he pulled out his vicodin and popped two in his mouth.

When she didn't answar, he rubbed his hands together and lifted his eyebrows, "pretty please?" he said with fake sincerity.

"Fine, i'll do them tonight," she mumbled and then walked away to her patient in the far corner.

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A few minutes later, back in his dimly lit office, he threw a cushy ball between his hands as he thought in his lounge chair in the corner. He thought about her. Cameron. It started with her nails. She had handed him a file one day in the E.R. when he caught a glimpse of her fingernails which were a slightly tinted blue color. She had caught him staring at them so the next day she had come in with her nails painted pink. Then he had noticed she avoiding the cafeteria on her lunch break. Now it was her hair which was nowhere as luscious as it use to be. He wasn't fond of the ER, or any department besides his own for that matter, but he couldn't keep himself away to study her.

Down in the ER, Cameron, after finishing up with her patient, had gone to the locker room to have a moment by herself. She avoided all the mirrors and sat on the ground against her locker with her knees by her face. She knew it wouldn't be long before House, if he hadn't already, realized something was seriously wrong with her. He had once told her that she likes to fix people but for that matter so didn't he. He didn't like not having answars and right now she was a huge question mark to him. She knew that she would have to go to some great lengths to keep her secret away from him.

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"Blue tinted finger nails, loss of hair and irritability are symptoms of what?" he asked barging into Wilson's office while he was typing up an email on his computer.

"You know, I think my office should have glass walls like yours so that way you can see what you're interrupting before you actually come in," he said as he sent his email.

"Just humor me," he said sitting down and he twirled his cane.

"Most commonly, an eating disorder, but you already knew that. Why did you ask?" he scrunched his eyebrows.

"Seen Cameron lately?" House said hitting the ground with his cane.

Wilson thought for a moment and leaned back in his chair, "no I haven't seen her in a while. Wait do you think Cameron has an ED?"

"We're gonna find out tonight!" he said sounding almost excited.

"What are you talking about, House?" he said recognizing the look in his eyes.

"I told Cameron that if she filled out my reports tonight that i'd bring her dinner. You're gonna come to my office and eat with us and see if you notice, oh I don't know, any non-Cameron like behavior." he stood up.

"Like what?" Wilson asked kind of confussed as he didn't know Cameron all too well.

"An example? Well, off the top of my head, like if she throws up her food!" house said with bulged eyes and walked out.

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She stood silently in the back of the elevator, leaning heavily against the wall railing as she stared down at her hands. She'd been stitching and bandaging people's cuts and wounds all day she felt like she was covered in other people's blood. Her cream colored hands were perfectly clean but knowing that couldn't wipe away how dirty she felt. Getting off the elevator, she walked at a mild pace as the bright lights were causing her to squint a little. Peering through the glass windows, she wasn't suprised to see House's empty as she quickly settled in the diagnostic room, at her old desk. She threw her stuff down next to the desk and put on a pot of coffee. It was nearing 8:30pm and she knew House would be around soon with food. Filling her cup with coffee she sat back down at her desk and pulled out a small bottle of ipecac syrup and put about a tablespoon amount into her coffee. She put the ipecac back into her bag and then pushed her coffee away from her. She pulled out a file and rubbed her eyes before reading the file and filling out the answars. She'd gotten almost five reports done before she could hear a familiar voice whistling from down the hall. Cameron looked up for a brief moment then back down to the report finishing it off as House and Wilson walked in.

"Why, hello there, sunshine!" House said cheerily and Wilson rolled his eyes behind him.

"Hi, Wilson." Cameron smiled briefly.

Wilson placed two big bags on the table and ripped them open revealing boxes of chinese food. He placed them on the table as House walked towards Cameron and stood in her light.

"House," she said simply.

"Come eat," he said in a voice that told you he knows more than you think.

"How much food did you get?" she said looking up.

She counted a little over ten boxes of chinese food and her mouth almost dropped. House followed behind her and pulled out a seat next to her to ensure she couldn't spit food into a napkin when he wasn't looking. Wilson sat across from them. Cameron had changed out of her scrubs and was wearing a pair of tan dress pants and a black, v-neck fitted shirt. Cameron opened a bottle of water that was on the table and then she put some food on her plate, as House looked on. As they ate, Wilson watched House watch Cameron as she stared disgustingly at her food. He noticed every two small bites of food, she'd take a huge gulp of water.

"So, Cameron!" House started up and already she was holding her breath, "Any new guys in your life, or are you still hung up on a certain hunky, clever doctor like myself? Oh, are you still sleeping with the brit?"

Wilson rolled his eyes, "House"

"Actually, yes. I have been seeing someone. No it's not the 'brit' or the 'aussie' and for that matter, he's not a doctor," she said drinking some more water.

"Well good for you!" Wilson smiled

House, however was not as happy for her. At least when she was sleeping with Chase, it was easier for him to spy on them and could always coerce the details out of him. Now she was dating someone outside of the hospital, someone he'd never met.

"You spend all your time in this hospital, how the hell do you have a social life?" House barked, looking down at his food.

"His name is Christopher. I met him at the bar downtown one night when I was having a girls night out with some friends," she stated.

"How long have you been seeing him for?" Wilson, who was a hopeless romantic, asked.

"Going on about seven months, now".

"He's an idiot," House said seemingly out of nowhere.

"What?" Cameron said jerking her head to look at him casting an evil stare.

"You spend anywhere from sixteen to eighteen hours a day here, five to six days a week. You're never home and when you are you have just about enough time to sleep before the next day starts all over again. I have never seen him step foot into this hospital so that makes him an idiot for not spying on you or snooping around the hospital to see if you have some skeletons in your closet, oh let's say the janitors closet-" he said in his usual 'I know everything fashion'.

"House, what's it matter to you? You've made it clear you have no interest in me but yet when something in my life changes you feel you've earned the right to be the first to know? For your information, the guy i've been seeing is a police officer who works just as much as I do. We don't have to be with each other every moment to feel committed to our relationship and we have a little thing called trust. He knows me-" she said angrily as she stood up and walked over to her old desk and picked up her belongings.

"He knows you?!" House said almost shouting as he stood up to, "oh please Cameron, if this guy knew anything about you he'd know that you have an eating disorder and wouldn't let you work yourself to death!"

Wilson's jaw dropped. Cameron stood almost frozen for a moment before she proceeded to pick up her things. She picked up the reports and her cup of coffee she'd made earlier and drank as much as she could in one swallow. She walked towards House and threw the reports on the table behind him.

"Do your own damn reports, House!" she walked around the table, "sorry Wilson. Goodnight".

She walked as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom as she started to feel her food rising fastly. She'd barely made it into the stall when she expelled the contents of her stomach, which just contained the recently eaten Chinese food and water. When she was done, she threw some water on her face and wiped it off. For the first time in days, she looked at herself in the mirror.

(flashback)

"You know, i've arrested pregnant prostitutes who have a better body than you!" Christopher screamed at her.

"I'm sorry, Christopher! I don't have any time to go to the gym, I-" she pleded with him, tears running down her cheek.

As she went to walk into the bathroom to wash off her face, Christopher grabbed her from behind, throwing his arms tightly around her ribs. She screamed out in pain and felt as if any minute her ribs would all just break. He put his other hand around her throat and she choked out breaths.

"Chris-" she tried to get out.

"God, look at you! I can barely get my arms around you. You looking like a friggin cow!"

He threw her to the ground and kicked at her ribs a few times hard but not hard enough to break them. He was smart, he was a cop afterall. He knew if she went into work with broken ribs, her collegues would be suspicious. He also knew Allison would be too afraid to ever document his abusings, like taking a photo of every bruise he'd given her. She was too fragile physcially and emotionally to fight back. So she had to comply to his wishes. He told her she was too fat, so that she needed to lose weight. He wanted her to be skinny, like the models he saw in Victoria's Secret. First he said that she needed to weigh at least 115 within two weeks. Then he changed his mind and told her that if she wasn't down to 110 in the next few days she'd be in for trouble. He even weighed her to make sure she was where he wanted her to be. When he was all done with her, he'd go sit on the couch and she dragged herself to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His words had sunk in and she felt dirty and worst of all, she thought she was obesely overweight. She'd never thought that before but he seemed to hypnotize her into thinking she was.

(End Flashback)

Cameron walked out of the bathroom feeling lighter than she had before. She got to the elevators and waited for them to arrive. When they did she got in and just as the doors were closing, something got in the way. The door opened to show House standing there with his coat and backpack, leaving for the night. He stared at her for a moment and she just looked at him with hatred. He got in and stood behind her. The doors closed and she stood very still. He watched her from behind. Just as the elevator number one lit up, he finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry," he simply said.

The doors opened and she didn't leave right away. After hesitating she looked down on the ground, enough so he could partially see her face. She'd been crying, he noticed from the red veins in her right eye. She walked out of the building as House slowly trailed along.

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a/n: first fanfic on here, let me know what you think