This is just a Valentine's oneshot that I decided to post.
No spoilers.
Cameron and House find out they have more in common than they realised...
It was late in the evening. The team's shift had finished, and everyone had seemed eager to leave. It was hardly surprising, given the day.
He was surprised to see that she had not left yet. On the contrary, she appeared to have settled herself down for the night.
She was seated at the conference room table, reading a book.
On Valentine's Day.
He checked his watch. Lover-boy must be late, he decided. But then she didn't seem to be dressed for a date: she wore the same dark pants and white shirt that she'd been wearing all day.
"I thought you'd be out somewhere: holding hands across the dinner table, or whatever it is you young romantics do nowadays." Greggory House spoke from the doorway.
The young woman looked up from her book, surprised to see that her boss was still at the hospital.
"Why especially tonight?" she asked in confusion, and then realised what he had meant, "Oh. Because it's Valentine's Day, you mean."
He regarded her with something approaching disbelief: was it possible that Allison Cameron had forgotten what day it was? For someone who had adorned his office with candy canes at Christmas, this seemed a little unlikely. Unless…
A smirk of amusement crossed his face: "You got stood up." He said it as if it were a fact, and not just one of those shots in the dark that, luckily for him, usually hit their target.
She was unmoved, and turned her attention back to her book. "Nope."
House walked further into the room so that he could see her face better. No. He didn't think that she was lying. Allison Cameron was a terrible liar, it didn't stop her trying, though. However, this time he was sure that she was telling him the truth.
"And I thought a stuffed animal like you would be counting the days until February 14th came around," his voice became mocking, "you know, so that you could finally: 'Share The Love.'" He spoke with obvious capitals.
She looked up at him, smiling faintly. "Actually, even we stuffed animals need a day off," she continued with gentle malice, "February 14th is the day I take a break from all those middle-aged, bitter, damaged charity cases, and think about myself for a while."
He didn't seem offended by her words, on the contrary, he laughed.
It was the first real laugh she had ever heard him give- rich and warm, and not at all what she had expected.
"So, why don't you like Valentine's Day?" he pulled up a chair and prepared to listen to her explanation.
"For the same reason I imagine you don't: it's a phoney holiday."
His glance invited her to elaborate.
"If people love each other, it shouldn't take a stupid made up holiday to admit it. Either they do, or they don't. Just because it's wrapped up in gifts and cards, and really terrible poems, it doesn't make it any more real." she paused for a moment and then went on, "I mean, what's the point in storing it up all year for one day? The chances are that tomorrow, the guy who's cheating on his wife is going to go right back to cheating on her, the girlfriend who's trying to figure out how to dump her boyfriend is going to wait until Valentine's Day is over to tell him. It's ridiculous. The world would be a better place if people lived their love every day- instead of just saying it once a year because the card companies tell them to."
Allison looked at her boss. For some reason she couldn't quite fathom, he was smiling.
"What?"
She had restored his faith in his ability to read people.
For once, he gave a straight answer: "Trust you to pick a naïve and romantic reason to hate Valentine's Day."
She laughed a little ruefully, as she closed her book and stood up. She wasn't sure if it was because of the day, or because he was being so much nicer than he usually was, but she decided to take a chance:
"C'mon," she said, holding her hand out to him, "let's go get a drink and you can tell me all about the bitter and sarcastic reason you have for hating Valentine's Day."
As he grabbed her hand and pulled himself to his feet, he realised that there was nothing he'd rather do tonight than sit in a bar with Allison Cameron and try to figure out what made her tick. He'd thought that that puzzle had been solved long ago, but her little speech had been unexpected, as was her presence in the hospital. He'd have expected her to go home, read a sappy romantic novel and cry over her dead husband.
At the door, he turned to her: "What were you reading, anyway?"
She handed him the book.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, he read.
It was a great book, but not really the kind of thing you'd expect Cameron to be reading on February 14th (or indeed ever).
Looking down at her smiling face, he had the feeling that his first impression of her had been wider of the mark than he'd previously suspected- perhaps she wasn't so romantic after all.
AN: Just a little rubbish that I put together for Valentine's Day! I hope that you enjoyed it (I thought it might be interesting to write a different kind of Valentine's fic).
Please let me know what you thought.
Please review!