Footprints on Dryland

She usually spent Christmas with her family - her parents, five older brothers, four sisters-in-law, one brother-in-law, four nephews and seven nieces - all crammed together in one big house with only two bathrooms. It was chaos, it was anarchy, but it was her perfect week. This year, however, a nasty influenza wave that left the ER severely understaffed destroyed her annual holiday plans. Now she was forced to spent her free time with strangers and their families and their assortment of ailments - knives in limbs, burned skin, concussions, suicides, and heart attacks..

"What's up, Buttercup! Where's your loverboy?" House asked joyfully.

Cameron looked at him quizzically. "Why are you so happy? This week is gonna be hell."

"What are you talking about?" he asked with look of exaggerated disbelief. "This is going to be fun. Fights between families. Hate. Desperation."

Sometimes he exaggerated way too much. "I think you're the only one enjoying this," she replied flatly.

House twitched his mouth and shifted his eyes away before opening his mouth again. "So... you wanna go out for some drinks tonight?" he said returning his gaze to her.

Cameron sighed. "I'm on duty until 2 am. And tomorrow again," she emphasized bitterly.

"You need to relax…" he said calmly.

"I need my freaking holiday!" she said impatiently, raising her voice.

"Oh, I can imagine it. Hundred bucks says you're all warm and sappy around the fire."

Cameron raised an eyebrow. He didn't have a clue about her family. "It's more like a war zone. Ever play Call of Duty? That's my Christmas."

She grinned, when she turned to a patient that had a fork in his left arm and started suturing him.

"Never would've pegged you as a Playstation girl."

"Don't peg me. I'm not peg-able," she retorted. "Besides I'm more a Wii-girl. It's more fun and it's the only chance I have to beat my brothers at a video game since, well…ever."

House chuckled silently. He really wouldn't have pegged her as a videogame-playing girl. He definitely wanted to see it. He left her alone, but the fact that she hadn't answered his question about Chase didn't go unnoticed by him. This was definitely going to be an interesting holiday week. Grabbing his PSP from his office, he limped away toward Coma Guy's room and once there, settled down on the bed beside him.

Meanwhile, back in the ER, Cameron had the feeling she was running the department all by herself. Every available doctor seemed to be MIA or passed out on one of the gurneys. Just as she was asking herself how much more pressure she could take, car crash victims rolled in and everything became a blur. Her brain and body were on autopilot . Suture. Cut. Close. Simple.

Stupid, stupid people, with their stupid alcohol and their stupid cars that broke the stupid speed limit and crashed into stupid trees. Stupid. Sighing a deep breath, Cameron closed her eyes.

In her daydream, she was sitting in a snowy landscape. Everything was silent and nothing could distract from the pristine paradise. No one was there and she could almost hear it – the soft whisper of snowflakes falling around her. She sat there, unable to move, mesmerized by those dancing crystals, the swirling artwork of frozen raindrops.

Her pager disturbed her inner peace and she got up, realizing it was never going to happen. There was no place where she could find that kind of silence. It was merely buried deep inside of her.

---------------------------------------------------

It wasn't as if he had planned it. It was more like an accident when he stumbled into the exam room, trying to hide from Cuddy. She had found him earlier Coma Guy's room and after being sentenced to clinic duty and seeing only two patients, he was hiding again. It was just too much fun to piss off his boss. He hadn't bothered to see if the exam room was occupied before he entered and closed the door, locking it carefully.

When he turned around, he suddenly couldn't move. She hadn't noticed his presence yet, humming along to her i-Pod some melody he was sure he had heard before. But for some reason, he couldn't place it. Not now. Not with his former duckling right in front of him. The female one. In nothing more than her low riding scrub pants and a lacy crimson red bra. A gasp pulled him out of his trance. She had turned around and was now staring at her boss, only now registering that he was right in front of her, his gaze transfixed by her half-naked body.

"Rehearsing for you striptease tonight?", he smirked.

His eyes were burning into her body so fiercely that she felt like her skin was going to melt away.

"Funny…Locker rooms are broken and I needed to change. Didn't know you'd be running right into a random exam room without being forced by Cuddy."

"Hiding…"

Cameron rolled her eyes and put on her new scrub top. Of course he was hiding.

"So…About the drinks I offered…" he said.

"I can't. Like I said, I'm on duty until 2 am and then tomorrow again."

"And what are you going to be doing after your shift? Cuddling between your cushions reading Memories of a Geisha? That's lame, even for you. Come on, a couple drinks to forget the fights, the limbs and the blood." He smirked because he knew he would get to her. He would always get to her.

"Fine," she relented. "But you're paying."

"Pick you up later…", he said as he hobbled out of the room. He didn't bother paying. He got Wilsons credit card after all.

Cameron decided that drinking with House might not be such a bad idea. She ordered her Martini and he drank Single Malt Scotch. Of course he did. After all the men she'd dated, after all the nights with her brothers, she had come to the conclusion that it was just a weird guy-thing. The Single Malt Scotch and stuff.

"So…" he said after a few minutes of silence. "I have a challenge."

"You have a challenge…", Cameron repeated grinning.

"Yes, I have a challenge…for you," he said with a mischievous look on his face.

"And the challenge is...?" she asked.

"Wii against PS3."

Cameron laughed loudly and for the first time since he met her he could say he really liked hearing her laugh. Maybe he hadn't really heard it before. Or paid attention to it. Something like that.

"How many games?"

Grinning he held his head up high. "Four. You get to chose 2, I get to chose 2."

"Deal." Cameron said with a smirk.

In a weird way it felt good talking to House like this. Maybe she'd gone about it the wrong way with him before, with all the twitter of love. Maybe it was never meant to be that way but another. He reminded her a lot of Nate, her oldest brother. A friend. Maybe he could actually be a friend.

"Grab your stuff and let's go," he said finally taking a glance at his watch. 5 am. Way to late if she was on duty in only 5 hours again. In a couple of minutes she would realize the time and would probably try to kill him, but…it would be worth it.

TbC

A/N: Thanks so much to chicagochicklett for Beta reading. You're the best. *hugs* I really hope you'll like it. If you do, please review. :)