Disclaimer: Do I own House? Don't I wish. Just don't sue me.

A/N: Reviews are fun and encouraged!

OOOO

Allison Cameron was feeling pretty smug. That wasn't a feeling she was particularly used to, so she had no intention of hiding it. The grin on her face made other people grin and wonder what she was up to. Those other people at the hospital really liked her and enjoyed seeing her look happy. They were more used to seeing her look harried and harassed, but that was understandable given whom she worked for. To her face, they encouraged her when possible and tried to accommodate her needs – labs, machines, etc. – more than they did anyone else in her department. Behind her back, they whispered that one of these days she was going to haul off and knock Greg House into next week; there were assorted pools in the different departments and the cash prizes grew weekly.

Cameron's smugness at the moment was not due to the silent support of the hospital staff. She was on her way to pick up some x-rays from Dr. Randall Crawford in his office. That in and of itself was not enough to bring on this lovely feeling, of course, but the fact that she had been dating Randy for the past couple of months helped. The biggest contributor to her current mood, though, was that House had no idea whatsoever that she was seeing anyone, let alone a staff member. He had thought he was insulting her by sending her out of a diagnostic meeting to play currier for the films. She was smug because he was doing her a favor and didn't even know it.

Randy had asked her out on more than once before Stacy's Return. (Cameron had a tendency to think of that time as italicized and capitalized. It was more dramatic that way – like a horror movie.) Once they had begun dating, she convinced him that House not knowing about it was a lot safer than the alternative. She had not admitted to the relationship to anyone, not even Foreman or Chase, and she had made Randy promise he wouldn't tell anyone either.

Consequently, she and Randy rarely got to see each other at work. They couldn't meet for lunch or stop and chat in the halls like a normal couple would. They only got to see each other during their time off. He had not been thrilled with the subterfuge, but she wouldn't have it any other way. No one needed to know. She was not going to be a topic of the hospital grapevine again if she could help it. After that embarrassing little speech she had given House when she saw him watching Stacy with Mark, she had decided that she wouldn't let her emotions and her need to share get the best of her again. Being so open had been nothing short of mortifying once she had the chance to really think about what she had done.

She didn't regret asking House on a date – or blackmailing him into it, whatever – but she had regretted telling anyone else about it. When Stacy had swept back into his life, the pitying looks from her friends had been a bit more than she could handle. Wilson, Foreman, Chase, Cuddy…God, she had even told Stacy, which was amazingly stupid. Ever since May, the hospital's new legal counsel had spent an awful lot of time giving her condescending looks whenever she had the chance.

In a tiny corner of her mind, Allison knew that it was only House's opinion she was most worried about and she realized that was not a healthy way to deal with her current relationship, but she just couldn't manage to erase that instinct from her mind. Instead, she ignored the nagging voice in her head and allowed herself to bask in the knowledge that she was enjoying an adult relationship with a nice guy. Randy was not prone to insulting her at every turn or questioning her motives. He wasn't so insecure that he thought she was trying to fix him. Besides, as far as she was concerned, he didn't need to be fixed. Cameron was what her grandmother would have called "smitten" with this doctor and she was enjoying every moment of it.

She was too caught up in her pleasant little world to notice the nervous looks staff members were giving her as she approached Randy's office. When she got there, she was surprised to find the door almost shut. His normal consulting hours were over for the day. There shouldn't be any patients in there. She raised a hand to knock and heard Randy's voice and a grunt that sounded like he was either moving furniture or a kidney stone.

Allison pushed the door open in concern and stopped cold at what she saw. She turned quickly and took two steps away from the door, but then stopped again. She paused for several seconds, then something compelled her to turn back to the doorway as she pulled a pair of latex gloves out of the pocket of her lab coat.

She looked at the two faces that were pretty much frozen in shock at her presence and walked the short distance to Randy's desk. With her now gloved hands, she reached for the manila folder that contained the x-rays and which was lodged beneath the female, naked rear-end. She gave a good tug and said simply, "We need these now."

Aside from shifting slightly to allow Cameron to take the films, neither person moved and neither spoke.

Being smug was no longer an option.

OOOO

By the time Cameron returned from her adventure on the third floor, James Wilson had joined the group in the diagnostic conference room. He was, as usual, relaxed and tipped back in his chair as he listened to his best friend berate Chase and Foreman.

"Why don't you two just go back to medical school and see if they'll give you a refund for your degrees? They sure as hell aren't helping out here too much." House tossed the marker on the table.

"You don't seem to have any better ideas," snapped Foreman.

"Why don't we just wait until Cameron gets here with the films," suggested Chase.

"Here she comes," noted Wilson.

As Cameron walked in the room, Wilson noticed her face, which was pale and tense. He sat up as she threw the folder of x-rays on the table. House snatched it up and dumped the pictures on the table. Cameron walked over to the trash can and peeled the latex gloves she was still wearing off her hands.

"What's with the gloves? Crawford have some sort of nasty disease?" House asked as he moved toward the light box to see the pictures more clearly.

She gave an uncharacteristic snort. "Wouldn't surprise me."

House didn't seem to notice her response, but Wilson did. Something in her tone made him want to duct tape House's mouth shut before he said something that he would probably regret later.

"Well, I've always thought he was a slick little bastard." He was completely oblivious to the anger and disgust emanating from Cameron.

She gave a rude little laugh and then snorted again. "That sounds about right."

This time House noticed. He looked at her, amused. "You're actually insulting someone you barely know? Being crude about it, too." He gave her a mean smile and absently picked the folder back up and waved it around. "Does this mean that you're finally letting that little monster out, Dr. Cameron? Wearing the gloves to keep yourself from touching others and infecting them with your newfound evil?"

"I wore the gloves to keep myself from touching the envelope Dr. Crawford and …his girlfriend were having sex on." Cameron had sat down and was looking down at the table. She got a perverse pleasure in seeing the envelope hit the table, dropped as if it were covered with e coli bacteria.

All four men were silent. For about two seconds. Chase laughed first. "What did you do? Walk in on them?"

Foreman was slightly more sympathetic, but he was too amused by the thought of Cameron's reaction to something like that. He tried to keep the laughter inside but was not terribly successful. "I'm sorry Cam, but that's just too damned funny." He reached over and patted her on the back.

House let out a rude laugh himself and looked at Wilson. "Sounds like someone is horning in on your territory, Wilson." He shook his head and looked at Cameron. "Porn in the office. Did you blush?" He laughed at the look on her face.

Normally, Wilson would have teased her a bit too, but he knew a little more about her relationship with Crawford than she realized. Wilson knew nurses and nurses knew everything, a lesson Cameron hadn't learned just yet. One of them had told Wilson that Cameron and Crawford were dating. The scoop was that they were trying to hide the facts from prying eyes. Wilson understood why and hadn't said anything to anyone else, especially House.

"Well, that couldn't have been pleasant," he offered. He gave Allison a small friendly smile.

"Not particularly," she said, but not very energetically.

"So who was it?" Asked Chase.

"Huh?" That was one question she had considered all the way back to the diagnostic office. She didn't know how to answer it.

"Who was it? Who was he having sex with?" Chase prodded.

"It was Cuddy wasn't it?" House interjected. "That would make everything absolutely perfect. I might have to start believing in God."

Allison looked at her boss. She felt like the proverbial deer in the headlights. The question had her frozen.

She glanced down at the envelope laying on the table and paused. "No, of course it wasn't Cuddy."

"So who…" started Chase again.

Allison stood up. "I'm going to go check on our patient. See if she's doing any better." She stumbled over the chair she had been sitting on as she all but ran out the door.

House grabbed the chair before it fell and watched Cameron's retreating back. "Well, guess she's not ready for a life of evil." He looked back at his remaining assistants who were still chuckling. "Cut it out you two. Back to being doctors."

Foreman and Chase eventually jumped back into the argument they had been having with House before Cameron's return, but Wilson ignored them. He was gazing at the door that Cameron had just exited through. His eyes wandered to the envelope. Then they snapped to House. Then back to the door. His brain clicked. He shut his eyes and sighed. "Oh, hell." This was going to be ugly.