Title: Quack Diddely Oh-Se-Doe
Author: JBLovesSharks
Fandom: House, MD
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Rating: M
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse (may be explicit), language, sexual situations.
Pairings: House/Cameron
Disclaimer: Alright, you got me. I do own House. I also own the CN Tower and the Sabres NHL team. ::rolls eyes:: Joking, of course. I own nothing!
Summary: My delve into Cameron's past. Can House help her cope and heal when someone from her past shows up at PPTH? And how will House deal with his suddenly expanded family?
Authors Note: Okay well, this is the original "Quack", back in it's original glory. I've decided not to continue the other, new version I'd started. This is the second to last of my original 'big fictions' left to be put back on this site, so I figured why wait? This story is also about 114 pages right now – 65K, 36 chapters and unfinished. Lots of interest will get me to seriously consider picking up where I left off – this is indeed my most favorite House fanfic I've written to date.
Oh, this story takes place somewhere in Season 2. Post hunting, but pre FWB with Chase. House and Cam are an established couple, but only just recently. Kinks still exist. Secrets have yet to be divulged between them. They are open about their relationship but keep it as 'out of work' as they can manage.
*****
Chapter 1 - The Mission
House gimped his way through the lobby of the clinic attached to the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. He was on a mission and nothing was going to deter him from accomplishing it. Not the pain in his leg, not Cuddy's exasperated retorts from her office doorway, not the case-files being pushed at him from nurses who had formed a gauntlet of sorts in front of him. No, that was stretching it too far, but it may as well have seemed like a gauntlet since all of it was keeping him from his destination.
Moments later, having reached the janitorial supply closet in between the bathrooms, House knocked twice before twisting the knob open. Upon entering, he released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding as he viewed Cameron sitting on the floor. She was in one piece: no gushing arteries, no severed appendages, no bucket of vomit situated in front of her. "You want to give me a heart attack?" He hooked his cane onto a metal shelf and attempted to keep at least a little of his coolness factor as he slowly lowered himself to the floor next to his girlfriend. It didn't work, and after Cameron managed to unlock the sudden tightness in his right knee, he was able to continue his descent to the floor with significantly less whining.
"Sorry." Was all she could mumble as she helped him to the cold floor beside her. She picked up the clipboard she'd set aside moments ago and replaced it into the space between her thighs and chest. Hugging her knees as close as she could she rested her cheek on them and peered up at House.
House had intended to lecture the immunologist on when it was and was not okay to page him '911' but the words died in his throat as he gazed down at her flushed cheeks. "What's up? If you'd wanted kinky mop and dust-pan sex, you could have paged me to the closet on our floor. I'm crippled you know. Don't want to use up all my energy walking to and from the elevator." He brushed the back of his fingertips over her exposed cheek.
Cameron closed her eyes at his gentle touch. Part of her wanted to laugh at his quip but another part wanted to burst into tears at the thought of that being the only reason she'd paged him. "I'm hiding." She mumbled, sounding like a defiant child refusing to crawl out from under the impossibly tiny space beneath the sofa.
"Yes." He drew out, his hand moving from her cheek to the clipboard pressed between her legs and body. She didn't resist him as he pulled it out. "Question is why." He scanned the patient history, his eyebrows raising and lowering in confusion as he took in the patients long list of hospital visits and the injuries that led to them. He threw Cameron another glance, wondering why this particular patient was causing her to rock slightly with her face now buried in her knees. "Standard case of abuse." He thought aloud as he returned to the history. "Patient is early thirties with hospital visits ranging back to childhood. Okay, so standard case of child abuse would have been more accurate."
Cameron sighed into her knees as she listened to House talk about the patient. "Yeah, I'd gotten that part." She spoke, though it was muffled and slightly forced.
House flipped the pages back to the cover sheet and browsed it absently for another few moments. "And the issue is? Says here she's only in for a pre-natal check up. I know your sensitive when it comes to babies and hospitals, but this is technically a 'pre-baby' and hospital scenario." He let the smile fade from his lips when he saw the side of Cameron's face contort in what appeared to be pain. "Alright, enough of this." He dropped the chart to the floor and grabbed the girls head in his hands and lifted it off her knees. "Talk to me Ducky."
As much as she hated her life right now, Cameron couldn't help but smile at the use of her nickname. Couldn't help but smile at the one man in her life who seemed genuinely eager, even prepared, for the long haul. She placed her smaller, more delicate hands on his wrists but did not attempt to move them from her face. She liked the feel of his skin on hers, especially when it occurred out of affection or concern and not just out of desire. "The patient's name."
"Is irrelevant in areas outside of Diagnostics too." He smiled at her sudden unrestrained laugh. The tension may have eased in her voice but her body still sat rigidly folded into itself. Her eyes unlocked on his and travelled towards the clipboard in front of them. House tilted his head curiously and removed a hand from Cameron's warm cheek to pull the clipboard towards him again. His eyes scanned the paper for a moment before growing wide in surprise. "Or maybe not so irrelevant." He let go of the clipboard for the second time and turned again towards Cameron. "I know Cameron is a common family name, but..."
Cameron nodded, her eyes searched her lovers face for a reaction. "Yeah, but unless there are more than one 33 year old Kathryn Faith Haught-Cameron living in New Jersey, that's my sister."
