Black Sheep
Summary: Allison Cameron seems like a family's dream, but what if she's actually the black sheep in her family? Starts out CamChase, but will eventually become HouseCam.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be (Did I ever put a disclaimer on my 'family' series?)
This particular Monday morning found Drs Cameron, Chase and Gilmore sitting around the conference room table at eight AM, as usual, waiting for one Dr. Gregory House. Dr Cameron was flipping through books, working on an article; Dr. Chase was working on a crossword puzzle, essentially just looking pretty while trying to look smart; and Dr. Gilmore had a stack of case files belonging to Diagnostics patients' past, trying to get a feel for the type of cases that her newest department usually takes on. So far she's failing miserably in attempting to find a common denominator that every case has in common, except that they all seem like easily diagnosable cases until Greg House gets hold of them.
They hear the door open up and look up, expecting their boss with a new case, only to find Dr. Cuddy enter with a strange woman carrying a clipboard and wearing a badge.
"Pull out your IDs, doctors, we're going to be having heightened security for the foreseeable future and this young woman needs to check your IDs." Cuddy announces, causing Chase to stand and pull out his wallet, while the two women retrieve theirs from their purses behind the desk.
"Dr. Robert Chase." The woman studies the foreign drivers license before studying his face, then checks him off. As Cameron and Gilmore approach with theirs, she does the same, though with a bit less intensity due to their US IDs. "And now I need Dr. Gregory House. Where is he?"
"He doesn't come in before 9AM," Chase answers, returning his ID to his wallet and putting his wallet away. Before any of them can resume their seats, they're stopped when the woman pulls out wrist bracelets similar to what you'd get when you leave a concert, and attaches them to each of their left wrists.
"You will have these bracelets on at all times when on the hospital grounds, every morning when you check in with the agents upon arrival, you will show the one from the previous day, and they will replace it. Try to keep it in site while working, if you don't, and you're stopped by an agent, show it immediately. If you can't produce it, you will be taken into custody until your identity can be proven." She turns to Cuddy. "Tell me when Dr. House arrives, I'm going to continue on." She turns and briskly walks out the door, heading up the hallway. Cuddy turns to the team.
"No questions, I'll explain later. Page me when House gets here." Cuddy leaves and quickly follows the agent up the hallway to the oncology office.
The younger doctors all resume their seats, though none of them can resume their activities.
"Did anyone recognize her accent?" Gilmore asks the others.
"Sounded Middle Eastern," Cameron responds, "If I had to put money on it, I'd say Israeli."
"Any idea what the badge was?" Chase this time.
"Looked like NCIS." Cameron resumes her research.
"Is that anything like CSI?" Gilmore questions.
"Only if you're dyslexic." Cameron shoots back.
"And you have such knowledge of government agencies because…" The woman keeps probing, causing Cameron to glance up and grin secretively.
"Do you really want to know?" Cameron leaves the question hanging, the glint in her eyes making Gilmore slightly nervous. She swallows audibly and eventually shakes her head.
"Nope, I'm good." They all resume their prior activities, only to glance up when the door between House's office and the conference room swings open, revealing their boss standing in the doorway.
"Does anyone here know why Cuddy paged me at this ungodly hour of the day?"
"It's only 20 minutes earlier then when you usually show up, House." Cameron responds while Chase pulls out his pager, sending a page to Cuddy that he's arrived.
"Yes, but that's 20 minutes less sleep than what I usually get."
"So does that mean that you're going to be an ass for 20 minutes longer than you usually are in the mornings?" Gilmore asks, continuing before anyone can say anything, "Of course, I don't think I've ever seen you not be an ass during the day, so I don't suppose that it would really be a problem."
Chase and Cameron share a quick grin before schooling their features and turning back to their boss and newest colleague. Before House can comment at his newest duckling's comment, Cuddy returns in the wake of the same woman as before.
"Dr. House, ID please."
"Well, since you said please…no." House turns to Cuddy. "What's the point of all this?"
"The point is, you have a new patient, and there's a certain level of security required for said patient. Show her your ID in the next 10 seconds and I'll let you out of clinic duty this week." Cuddy states, wanting to get this out of the way as quickly as possible so that they can diagnose the patient and she can get her hospital back.
House pulls out his wallet and holds his license out to the woman, who quickly studies it, and checks his name off. Before House can withdraw his hand, she adheres one of the same bracelets to his wrist and quickly gives him the same speech that she gave the others before heading out the door and up the hall. This time, Cuddy remains behind. Once the woman is out of site, she hands over the files she was carrying, handing a copy to each of them.
"Your newest patient is Adli David," Cuddy pronounces the last name like the 'i' is 'ee', but before she can continue, Cameron cuts in.
"As in Israeli Prime Minister, Adli David? That explains the security measures, he's up for reelection."
"I wasn't aware of your knowledge of Middle Eastern current events, Dr. Cameron." House states, "Move on to the interesting part." He throws the file down on the table, moving to the coffee pot, sniffing it before pouring himself a cup.
"He collapsed during a Peace Conference in DC. He was stabilized at a DC hospital, and a toxin screen was done, but came back clean."
"So what's he doing here in Princeton?" Chase questions, "We're a good ways off from DC, with a dozen exceptional hospitals in between."
"His lead security agent deemed the hospital unstable, so he had his doctors stabilize him and transport him here. He'll be here in five minutes."
"Again, why this hospital?"
"What was his lead agent's name?" Cameron cuts in before Cuddy can answer Chase's question. Her voice is so quiet that the question was almost missed, but at the same time her voice carried a calmness that scared those in the room that know her.
Cuddy quickly consults the check-in paperwork before responding, "Agent Michael Davenport, Secret Service. Why?"
"Just curious, he's the one we'll have to go through whenever we want to run any tests."
"Again," Gilmore speaks up, "How do you have such knowledge of government agencies?"
Cameron looks around the room, seeing four pairs of eyes staring back at her curiously. She sighs deeply, deciding to answer.
"My little sister is a Secret Service Agent. She's a Middle Eastern affairs expert, so I wanted to know if she was one of the agents on the team."
"Sorry," Cuddy responds, "There aren't any Camerons on the list of agents that will be here while Prime Minister David is. And there will be a lot of agents. So far the list has four dozen names, and they're all a mix of Secret Service, FBI, and… NCIS? Does anyone know what that stands for?"
"Naval Criminal Investigative Services," House and Cameron answer at the same time.
"Right, well, there's a team of nine from them that will be here, one of which was the young woman that checked your IDs. Anyways, try and get this case solved quickly, I'd like to get my hospital back." With this final statement, Cuddy turns and leaves.
"So, how about the truth this time?" House turns to Cameron, "Why did you really want to know the lead agent's name?"
"For the very reason that I told you." Cameron gathers up her books and papers, stacking them on the corner of her desk, clearing the table for a differential.
"House," Wilson enters the conference room from the office, Cuddy is right behind him. Before anyone can respond, a shout comes from the door leading to the hallway.
"INCOMING!!!" Cameron and House immediately fall to the floor while the others stand by dumbly. Several loud cracks are heard in the confined space, followed by several exclamations of shock and pain. Seconds following the last gasp, a calm voice comes from the doorway.
"Recover." Cameron gets to her feet before turning and helping her boss to his feet. They glance around the office and see each of the others standing in the same spots, each holding a hand to their chests, where a bright red stain is on each of their shirts, or skin, in Cuddy's case. Once they each realize that the stain on their chests is not blood, they look to the person in the doorway.
"See ya later, civvie." The brunette in the doorway replaces the clip in her pistol before returning it to it's holster. She flashes Cameron a grin before turning and heading down the hallway.
Cameron buries her face in her hand, shaking her head, lifting it when she hears someone collapse on the floor. Uncovering her face, she sees Chase lying on the floor in a fetal position.
"Chase? Are you okay?"
"Umm hmmm," Chase murmurs from his position on the floor, not very convincingly. Wilson comes over to provide assistance, carefully helping him uncurl, but keeps him on the floor. Wilson carefully probes the skin of his chest, making sure that he's okay. Before he can look anywhere else, Gilmore grabs his attention and nods in the direction of Chase's groin. There's an additional paint splatter just below his belt buckle. Gilmore stands up, barely containing her laughter, turning her back to the other doctors to try and regain her composure. After a few minutes, Wilson helps Chase to his feet, allowing the others to see the second paint splatter. House doesn't bother trying to hold in his laughter, and he doubles over in laughter at Chase's pain. Finally he straightens, catching his breath.
"I don't know who that was, or what you did to her, Chase, but I like her."
While House and Gilmore chuckle softly at Chase's pain, Wilson and Cameron help him to a seat. Cuddy still remains motionless in the doorway. Wilson goes to the fridge and retrieves a small bag of ice, which he hands to Chase. Cameron kneels down by his side with an apologetic grimace on her face. She waits for chase to look up and meet her gaze.
"Sorry." She states simply.
"Not your fault." Chase responds in a slightly higher voice than normal, causing a fresh round of chuckles from House and Gilmore, and even elicits a few from Cuddy, who finally speaks up.
"Tell me that one of you knows who that was." Cuddy attempts to wipe some of the paint off her chest.
"I do." Cameron stands, regret obvious on her face.
"Well," Cuddy waits, expectance on her face.
"That was…my younger sister, Amelia."