Only Because

Note and Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. "She Loves You" was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not me, and I don't own Napoleon Dynamite either. This is my first try at a House / ER crossover, but in this case, it is mostly House. This is set at no particular date, but towards the middle of Season 2 for House and right after the episode of ER called "If Not Now" (episode after the Christmas one). It is Luby (for the ER portion) and Cameron/House (for the House portion). For the parts with any medical terminology, I'm not a doctor, so I don't promise that it is medically correct. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Airport at 10:03 a.m.

Looking up at the monitor, Cameron frowned. Their plane was late? She would have to spend more time with House playing his Game boy alone, ignoring her? She sighed, and walked back over to where she and House were sitting. Grabbing her rolling suitcase, she announced to House, who was totally engrossed in his game, that she was going to the gift shops, to look around.

He grunted slightly, which Cameron took to be a sign of approval. She turned around, her long, blond hair flowing behind her, and made her way towards the center of the airport, where there were a few touristy souvenir stores. She ducked inside of the coffee shop, trying to avoid getting knocked over by all of the busy passengers rushing in and out.

"Um, hi," she began, realizing that she was next in line. "I'll take a regular coffee, with this much space," she held up two fingers horizontally, "for milk." She handed the salesperson a few dollars, added all of the necessary milk and sugar to her coffee, and walked towards 'The One-Stop Gift Shop'. Browsing through the magnets, then the magazines, she decided that there was nothing that she needed, but was hesitant to go back to where House was sitting. Cameron looked through the candies, and picked up a pack of mint gum, then grabbed a neck pillow, so maybe she could get some sleep on the flight. She bought both, as the hospital paid for her trip and there was no need to be excessively frugal.

Sighing, and her arm almost beginning to hurt from dragging her suitcase around, she headed back to where she and House had been waiting, only to find him gone, with the luggage remaining behind.

Unsure of what to think, and knowing House could be a bit eccentric at times, Cameron sat down and observed the people rushing by. Moments later, a large bag came flying at her.

"Fore!" she heard someone yell, with an unmistakable accent. He came limping up, and it was exactly who Cameron had expected. She scowled at him.

"You know what's funny? All of these people walking around talking to themselves. All of these hands-free phones are very convenient, I'm sure, but it looks dumb to me."

Cameron looked down at what she was holding: a bag of cheddar and sour cream flavored potato chips. House had his cane in his right hand, and a huge soda in the other.

"How typical," murmured Cameron, as House sat down, pulled his portable television out of his pocket, put on earphones, and watched "Guiding Light" while drinking the gigantic soda. Cameron threw his bag of chips at him.

"I just thought you might be hungry," she called, loud enough that he could hear her through his headphones. He nodded, well, sort of.

County General Hospital Emergency Room at 10:55 a.m.

Abby jumped slightly; Luka had come up behind her and slid his arm around her waist without warning.

"Hey, Abby."

"Hi, Luka. What's up?"

"I don't know, just thought we'd go out for dinner tonight or something."

"Okay, sure. Where? Don't tell me we're going to the diner."

"No," Luka laughed. "I'm not so American that I take my date to an unclean restaurant for a romantic dinner."

"Alright, see you then." Abby smiled.

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then rushed back to his ER duties.

Luka treated many small cases, the occasional broken bone, and some people with migraines. The ambulance techs wheeled a middle-aged man in, covered with blood, and coughing up more. Luka ran over and put his stethoscope to the man's chest.

"His breath sounds are poor, and his airway sounds like its obstructed. We can't intubate until his airway is clear," Luka shouted, while Sam took the patient's blood pressure.

"Systolic is only 60, and he's lost a lot of blood. Heart rate's dropping," she said loudly, hoping that someone would write all of this information down.

"Sir, sir! What's your name?" Luka shouted into the man's face, hoping for any response, but only silence resulted. "Give him a IV drip of atropine, now!"

On The Airplane

House and Cameron had seats next to each other on the plane, and both were secretively pleased although they tried their hardest to act angry at each other. Cameron thought of the Freudian speech she had give House on their date, and realized she was following it perfectly. Why did she have to love House of all people?

House still had his headphones on, but was now listening to his iPod. "Hey, Cameron," he said, "I hear Ashlee Simpson has fallen and hurt herself so she can't perform. Sorry about that. I know you had seats."

Cameron looked at him confusedly. "What?"

"I could've sworn I saw you in the ticket line."

Cameron laughed. "It must've been Chase."

"Speaking of Chase, what did you do to your hair? It looks just like his, but longer."

Back at County General

"It's been so long since the last," he muttered, leaning his head against the wall behind him, not knowing that Dr. Weaver was standing right behind him.

"It's not your fault, Dr. Kovac, his injuries were just too severe." she pointed out, "But, to take your mind off of your pain, why don't you go grab a few more charts?"

He agreed reluctantly, and continued to treat some of the less injured patients, with no problems. Abby, noticing his sadness, went over and hugged him. "It's not your fault, Luka, really."

"I know, but my mother always told me that it takes one thousand good things to erase one bad. I was still working on my last few thousand." he replied, almost smiling.

"Like breaking up with me? Saying that Carter could have me?" Luka nodded. Abby felt bad for a minute, then told him, " But now we're back together and having a baby, so those thousand are made up for."

In the Chicago Airport at 2:25 p.m.

House was purposefully smashing the toes of everyone standing on the side of the aisle that his cane was on, much to Cameron's disgust. When they finally exited the plane, a Salvation Army bell ringer was standing outside, collecting donations.

"You know, I'd pay them to stop ringing that damned bell," said House, otherwise ignoring the charity worker. Cameron put a few quarters in, and apologized to the bell-ringer.

"You really could be a little more polite," Cameron lectured, to which House responded,

"If you weren't so pretty, I wouldn't be able to stand you. You're really annoying." He pulled his bottle of painkillers out of his pocket, shook a few into his hand, and swallowed them.

"Ah. Much better," he said, with a smirk on his face.

Cameron was still shocked that he had said that the only reason that he liked her was because she was so pretty. Well, at least he liked her, but not for the reasons she wanted.

"Couldn't you ever wear anything a little less . . . Conservative?" House asked, noting Cameron's long black slacks with a long-sleeved and completely buttoned white shirt.

Cameron, not even turning around, said, very tersely, "No."

"Aww," said House, "What's wrong? What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing," replied Cameron, wishing that House would stop talking to her. They had had a nice time teasing each other, and Chase, on the airplane, but despite the fact that she was very attracted to him, he was not a very good conversationalist.

"Fine. Be that way. Gosh," he said.

When Cameron looked at him oddly, he looked at her the same way. "Haven't you seen Napoleon Dynamite? It was a hit movie last year, or so I am told. And you, being young and hip, should know these things."

Cameron sighed. "Come on, let's get to our hotel. We'll need to catch a cab." she said, motioning towards the door.

"Aw. I wanted to walk."

"Are you kidding?"

"No, Cameron! Please, please can we walk?" whined House.

Cameron chortled. "No."

"Fine, mommy."

She walked outside, without a coat on, and was surprised by the frigid and strong wind. House was limping along just behind her, also appearing chilly. Finding the line of taxis in front of the airport, she got in one and told the driver where they were going, House still following. He sat down in the back seat, laying his cane across his lap, and they began to move towards the hotel.

County General Hospital at 3:07 p.m.

The waiting room was filling up slowly, but faster than the doctors could diagnose and treat each patient. A young woman, probably around thirty years of age, walked in on the shoulder of a scruffy-looking man who walked with a cane and seemed older. She sat down, and he went right up to the desk.

"We were just riding in the car, when suddenly she got very pale and fainted. Who knows what's wrong with her, and you need to treat her, now," he said bossily.

Nurse Adams replied coolly, "We will, sir, but other patients have been here longer than you. You need to just sit and wait with your friend."

"I don't think you understand. I'm a cripple. My girlfriend, my only joy in life, might be dying, and you tell me to wait? If she dies, I'm just not sure what I'll do," he snipped. "Maybe I'll sue."

Nurse Adams sighed. "Alright. What's your name, sir? And what is your friend's name?"

"I'm Gregory House, and her name is Allison Cameron."

"Okay, Gregory, a doctor will be with you momentarily."

House continued to stand there, tapping his foot, while the nurse paged a doctor that he overheard being called "Dr. Kovac". Soon, a gurney was wheeled in, and a tech placed Cameron on it, Cameron muttering under her breath in a language that even House couldn't understand.

House followed the tech who was wheeling the bed around, and soon found himself in what he assumed was the main exam. Cameron was put onto another bed, and House found himself doing a sort of simple neuroanalysis. He found poor control over fine motor skills, and extreme dizziness and confusion. Cameron moaned pathetically, and House worried about a serious neurological condition, maybe that was why she was always so nice.

A tall, dark-haired man came up and stood at the foot of the bed. "Um… Mr. House? I'm Dr. Kovac, and I'll be treating your friend, here," he said in an accent that sounded Eastern European, at least to House. House thought about telling him that he was a doctor himself, but then decided against it. He wasn't licensed to practice medicine in Illinois, and Cameron's condition probably wasn't so serious that he needed to help.

"Hello, Dr. Kovac," replied House, "Thank you for taking your time to see my girlfriend."

"Oh, okay. Mr. House, what can you tell me about what happened to your girlfriend?" asked Dr. Kovac, just standard patient procedure.

"Nope. I don't know any medical stuff," said House, exaggerating his new role. "You don't happen to have a room that you can put us in with a television, do you? I'm missing my favorite soap."

"No, Mr. House. Now, what happened that caused Ms. Cameron to be in a state like this?" Dr. Kovac repeated, annoyed.

"Well, we were just riding along in the taxi, peacefully, going through downtown, and Cameron suddenly leaned over on me. Now, I was thrilled, maybe I'd finally get some action, you know, but instead, she started moaning and, well, drooling. It was really gross, actually. We asked the taxi driver to bring us here, and he did, so we're here, and I'd like to know what you can do for her."

Luka nodded. "Wow, um, thank you, Mr. House." He began to do an exam, and found that Cameron's mental status was not quite up to par. She was babbling nonsense, although now awake, and had a very high fever.

"Well, I'm going to order a CT of her brain," said Luka, hoping for no objection, but he was not so lucky.

"Don't you want to calm her down first? You can't have an adult acting like an insane six-year-old in the ER." House pointed out.

"Yes, but many of the drugs we would give her to deal with this problem might alter how her brain appears on the CT," Luka replied, again hoping for only agreement.

"Whatever you say, doc. The ER docs are known to have lots of training in these highly specialized fields."

"Um, yeah. Thanks. She'll be back up in an hour or so. Until then, you may sit in the waiting room. And it's only a CT, nothing out of the ordinary."

House grumbled as he walked into the waiting room.

"I don't want to call Cuddy, but I should," he thought, "I'll call Wilson. He'll be sure to tell her anyways."

Looking around for a phone, House went up to the nurse's station and asked an unfriendly looking man if he could help him out. This man pushed the phone towards House and told him to dial nine. House dialed nine, then Wilson's number.

"Hey, honey. How are the kids?"

"House?"

"Yeah. How's it going?"

"Good," Wilson said, confused.

"Well, Cameron has bacterial meningitis."

"She what?"

"She's sick."

"Oh, wow. That's weird. She was fine a few days ago."

"I know, she was fine a few hours ago."

"Why are you calling me, then? What do you want?"

"I need to spend more time here, until she's better."

"Why are you calling me for that?"

"Cuddy likes you better."

"Oh."

"Tell my ducklings I miss them."

Wilson agreed, and House hung up the phone.

Luka had directed the techs in the direction of radiology, and had gone to attend to some more patients, while House sat and waited, where, thankfully, there was a television so he could watch "General Hospital" in peace. Luka came to fetch him about an hour later.

"Mr. House, it appears that Ms. Cameron has no serious brain injury according to the CT, but there is some inflammation; she'll need to be admitted for a few days to find what is wrong with her. Is that okay with you? You're the one who will be making all of these decisions, because Ms. Cameron doesn't appear mentally competent enough, unless you prefer we call some of her family."

House smirked. He could have some fun with this. "Of course, Dr. Kovac. If she needs to be admitted, let's admit her."

"Okay, thank you." replied Luka, then turned to walk away.

"Doctor, do you mind if I suggest that you do a lumber puncture on her? To rule out meningitis and encephalitis?" House asked, looking as innocent as he possibly could.

"I was going to order that momentarily," replied Luka. "Would you like to watch? And why do you suggest this?"

"I saw a television program the other day on those. And I'd love to watch, I've never seen one before," House lied.

"Okay, Mr. House. For now, let me show you to Ms. Cameron's hospital room."

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

Cameron's hospital room was nice, but definitely not overdone. There was a sofa, with a big window above it. It was standard, clean, hospital-white, but not uncomfortable. Cameron was sleeping, and House couldn't not think to himself that Cameron looked especially beautiful when she slept.

He went and sat down on the couch, turned the television back on, and began flipping through the channels. He found some sports show to watch, and Cameron woke up just as it had finished. She just laid there, breathing quietly, for about half an hour, when Dr. Kovac came in to do the lumbar puncture.

Cameron looked up at him. "House? What'd you do to your hair? You look so handsome," she said dreamily, in an almost giddy way.

Dr. Kovac smiled, "Mr. House, I think she has a thing for you. Now come and see, I'm going to do the L.P."

He asked Cameron to lean over, and for House to hold her arms and head while she was bent over, and to keep her from moving. Dr. Kovac pulled out a tray of supplies, several of which House recognized well. After locally numbing the area, Cameron had looked pained at the stinging associated with this numbing, he pulled out the longest needle, inserted it into Cameron's lower back, and uncapped the end. He allowed the spinal fluid to drip into a test tube, and looked up at House. Dr. Kovac called in a nurse.

"Nurse Adams - hold Ms. Cameron's head up please. Mr. House, you can go sit down."

House was glad. He had seen and done many lumbar punctures before, but actually seeing someone he knew go through it was completely different. He had been feeling faint, and was happy to go sit down.

Dr. Kovac finished a few minutes later, and told House that the results would be back in a day or two, and that he and Ms. Cameron would have to stay in the hospital until then. House couldn't help but mutter, "At least it's not Princeton-Plainsboro."

Dr. Kovac looked at him oddly. "Mr. House, is there something you're not telling me?"

"Yup," said House. "She's not my girlfriend. It's just a fantasy of mine."

County General Hospital, the next day

Indeed, results came the next day from the lumbar puncture, and House looked at them and knew exactly what the problem was.

Dr. Kovac had left a note in the chart that he was consulting a rheumatologist. This new doctor offended House remarkably. He was balding, with tiny spectacles perched on the tip of his nose, and thought he knew everything about everything. While he was supposed to be examining Cameron, he was letting House know all of his golfing tips, despite House's point that he couldn't golf because of his bad leg. His name was Dr. Freedman, and House didn't trust him for anything. When Dr. Freedman informed House that,

"We need another head CT to determine anything."

House laughed. "Whatever you say, doc." If he had been back at Princeton-Plainsboro, he would've started betting throughout the hospital as to how long it would be until the physicians here could correctly diagnose Cameron.

Dr. Freedman made a note in Cameron's chart, and left. Techs came a few minutes later to wheel Cameron to radiology. House waited behind, and when she came back, Dr. Kovac came with some not-so-shocking news.

"We did the CT, and based on that, plus blood tests that we've done and the LP, she has bacterial meningitis."

This was exactly what House had thought. If it had been him and his diagnostic team, they would've had this figured out hours ago. But, House had to keep up his act. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"Ms. Cameron has an bacterial infection of the lining of her brain. Unfortunately, this is the more deadly form of meningitis, and it will take about two weeks of IV antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria. We'll need to put her in an isolation room also, and whenever you go in, you'll need to put on a gown and mask."

House looked as concerned as he possibly could. "She won't die, will she? I plan to marry her one day, you know, and I can't very well marry her if she's dead."

Dr. Kovac put Cameron on some monitors, and told House to alert him and the nurses if anything happened. House agreed, and was once again alone in the room with Cameron.

He walked over to her, and pulled up a chair. "Well, Dr. Cameron, look what you've gotten yourself into. You have bacterial meningitis, I know you know what that is, and we'll have to stay here for two weeks." She looked pale and sickly, skinnier than usual, and House looked at her with pity. He knew what it was like to be sick and have someone else make your decisions for you. It was awful.

Should he call the hospital? If there was any possibility that she had contracted this in the workplace, then maybe he should inform Cuddy. Limping over to the phone next to Cameron's bed, he picked it up and dialed Cuddy this time.

She answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hello, Cuddy, look, is there any possibility that Cameron could've gotten Bacterial Meningitis at the hospital?'

"House?" She said, "I guess there is, although it would be unlikely."

"Then you might want to check that out. We can't have all of our immunocompromised patients getting meningitis. That'd look bad, and we'd lose money. I know you'd hate that."

"Thank you, House. I'll do that. Next time you have to ask for something, don't call Wilson. Call me directly, please."

House hung up the phone, and went back over to the chair that he had placed next to Cameron's bed.

She moaned, and House looked down at her neck. Seeing what looked somewhat red, he pulled the gown back a tiny bit. He limped out into the hallway as quickly as he could, and found a nurse. "She needs a medically induced coma. Now!" The nurse looked very confused, but followed House back to Cameron's room.

"See? Purple-red lesions all over her body indicate that the bacteria…" House explained, but was interrupted by the nurse.

"I know, I know! Let me page Dr. Kovac," she said. "He'll know what to do."

It was 6 minutes and 27 seconds exactly until Dr. Kovac came up; House counted. Cameron's breathing was shallow, and he agreed with House. "Induce a coma, I'm afraid she might not make it through otherwise. Mr. House, I need to see you outside."

He and House walked outside of Cameron's room. "Mr. House, what do you do for a living?"

"Um…, I'm an electrician."

"No, Mr. House. You're a doctor. The top diagnostician in the country. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It didn't seem to fit the occasion."

"Okay, Dr. House, well, if you have any thoughts about Ms. Cameron's condition, then please let us know."

"I'm not too worried about her. She'll be fine." House had to keep up his tough reputation, and by masking his true worry, he felt superior to others who turned into such panicked people that they couldn't make decisions that were the best choice.

"What is your problem? She has a serious condition!" Dr. Kovac replied angrily.

"Bum leg, what's yours?"

County General Hospital, a while later

Cameron was sleeping quietly despite all sorts or beeping and buzzing things around her. The bacteria had been prevented from spreading to her limbs so far, and the antibiotics seemed to be working, but her breathing was still faint. They were planning to pull her out of the coma in a few days, but until then, House had nothing to do but wait.

He looked down at Cameron, who looked pale and tired, reached his hand out, and brushed the hair out of her face gently. To House, she appeared to smile slightly.

Days passed, and Cameron's condition began to improve. They took her out of the coma, but even then, she was too weak to sit, or lift her head. House actually felt himself looking visibly worried for a few minutes, but then left the hospital and found a bar. He spent pretty much the entire night there, returning to Cameron around dawn. He laid down on the couch and slept for a long time.

He found Cameron drinking beef broth from a cup when he woke up, around sunset. She was sitting up, at least, and seemed to be doing much better. "House," she said, "thank you."

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

Meanwhile, Abby and Luka were having dinner at a very fancy restaurant, and Abby was thrilled. She and Luka were both ordering some of the most expensive things on the menu. He smiled. "Abby, what are we going to name the baby?"

"Oh, God, Luka! I haven't even started to think about that!"

"Well, let's pick one boy's and one girl's name. I have to admit, Luka Kovac Junior sounds great to me," said Luka teasingly.

"How about Luke for a boy? That's my favorite name, and it's pretty close." Abby replied.

"It's perfect, just right. Can we still put the junior after his name?"

"No, not unless he's Luka. How about for a girl?"

"Okay, fine. Sonya for a girl?"

"No, not Sonya. Carol is a beautiful name, I think. Or maybe Hannah," Abby suggested.

"I like Hannah a lot, it's very pretty."

"Then we're settled? Luke for a boy, and Hannah for a girl?"

"Yes, I think so," agreed Luka. "If we change our minds, we can always talk about it
again later."

Their entrees came, and after they were finished eating, they went back to Luka's hotel room, and discussed their future some more. They laid on Luka's bed and watched some movies, described by Luka as "chicken films", to which Abby replied, "It's chick flick, Luka, not chicken film." They both fell asleep, Abby first, laying on Luka's arm. She was blocking blood flow to his hand, but he didn't mind.

County General Hospital, a week and a half later

Exactly a week and a half later, when the conference that House and Cameron had planned to attend was completely over, Cameron finished her IV antibiotics, and seemed to be doing much better. She could lift light things again, sit up, and was eating and drinking normally.

Her mental status still wasn't quite perfect, though. Cameron was certainly not the shy, reserved person that House knew. She was public about how handsome she thought Dr. Kovac was, which vexed House to no extent. The only plus side, as House saw it, was that she thought that Dr. Kovac and House were the same person. The doctors suspected that the medicines were making her act oddly, and decided to stop them the next morning, their fingers crossed that she would be alright if they all were stopped at once.

County General Hospital, the next day, at 6:39 a.m.

Dr. Kovac and Dr. Freedman began taking all of Cameron's IVs out, one at a time, and ordered for any oral or otherwise medicines to be stopped. They waited for a full half hour, and nothing at all happened. They left, figuring that Cameron would be fine without these drugs, because she had been so far.

County General Hospital at 8:54 a.m.

"Heart's stopped, and she's not breathing!"

"Paddles! Set to 100... 1, 2, 3, clear!"

"She's still flat line!"

"200! Clear!"

"Nothing, doctor."

"360, final try… Clear!"

"She's got a rhythm, but it's slow."

"20 milligrams of atropine, and intubate her."

Dr. Kovac went out to talk to House. "Dr. House, it appears that Ms. Cameron has had some withdrawal symptoms from the medicines she was on. She's stabilized now, but will need to be in the ICU for a few days, providing you consent."

"Sure, whatever. This place is just," House looked around, "buckets of fun." He knew that cardiac arrest was a serious thing, and as Cameron was shocked by the defibrillator, House was jolted to the severity of her condition.

County General Hospital, four days later

House had been spending every night in the hospital until Cameron's near death. But now, House couldn't bring himself to be so near. Despite his toughness, he just was heartbroken that he could not have prevented Cameron's illness, and had not helped her at all so far. He began to spend the night in a hotel, often staying up very late, betting on sports, and gambling otherwise.

Cameron noticed this, and was genuinely missing House. She figured it was something that she had done wrong, and felt bad, even though she knew that she shouldn't.

County General Hospital, and a hotel, 1 week and 3 days later

Cameron was off of all of her meds, and seemed to have recovered fully, besides the occasional headache, and was still weak. She was discharged, but House couldn't find a flight until the next day. He and Cameron went to an upscale hotel, where House peppered her with the usual talk.

Cameron laughed. "House, no matter what you think, me contracting bacterial meningitis was not a trick so you would fall in love with me. I really didn't intend for that to happen."

House looked at the ground, "I didn't think that was a trick."

Cameron smiled, her eyes sparkling mischievously, "Oh my God, you were worried about me, weren't you?"

Somehow, House began to look down again, pacing back and forth. He looked at Cameron, staring her in the eye. Later in her life, Cameron wished she had had a camera at that moment; she could've sworn that House had a tear in his eye. That was answer enough for her.

"House, come on, let's go."

House looked at her very oddly. "Where?"

"Out." Cameron replied.

"Sure. Let me go and get my super spiffy jacket. Do you have anything to wear besides that?"

Cameron was wearing a red sweater vest over a white shirt, and khaki pants. "Yes," she said, "I think I have a skirt."

They went to change in their respective rooms, which required House to put on a collared shirt and a jacket; he didn't have any pants besides jeans. Cameron left her shirt and sweater on, but dug a black skirt out of her bag. "Crap," she muttered, "It's a lot shorter than I remember it."

House greeted House in the hallway. "Wow, Allison, you look pretty hot in that. Even better than Chase and his short-shorts."

"Don't get any ideas," laughed Cameron.

They left, going to an upscale restaurant that House had heard some people talking about in the hospital. A short taxi ride took them there within minutes. It wasn't crowded at all, the ambience was beautiful, and House and Cameron were seated immediately at a table for two, in the back corner of the restaurant.

"You think we look like a nice, happy couple, and that's why they've put us in such a secluded, romantic spot?" asked House, totally serious, his brow furrowed.

"You wish, House," replied Cameron, smiling.

Faintly in the background, or maybe it was just his imagination, the Beatles' tune "She Loves You" seemed to play, at an oddly appropriate time.

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah…
That Night, in the hotel room of House and Cameron

"Another glass?"

"Of course."

Cameron was on her fourth, maybe fifth (House had lost count) glass of champagne. House was still on his first, figuring that he needed to stay alert and clear-minded if he wanted to patch things up with Cameron. He thought back to his and Cameron's date that had ended disastrously.

She came over and gave him a hug. "Thank you for being by my side the whole time, Housie. And I hear from Dr. Kovac that you're planning to marry me?"

House almost smiled. "Housie? That's not my name. You can call me Greg, but not Housie. While we're on the topic, the whiteboard is mine. Not yours."

Cameron sat on the arm of the chair that House was sitting in. "Okay, Greg," she put special emphasis on the "Greg", "what do you want to do? Sit here all boring-like, or have some fun?" She had definitely had too much to drink.

"You're a lot more fun when you're high, so Chase tells me, or have otherwise impaired judgment," said House truthfully.

"I know," whispered Cameron in House's ear, then leaned in. She kissed him, and pulled him by his collar to the couch. Eventually, after what seemed like forever to House, she fell asleep, leaning on House's shoulder, her head angled up, like she had been staring at House's ear just before she fell asleep.

House leaned back and sighed. He brushed Cameron's hair to each side of her face, then leaned his head on top of hers.
The Next Week, back at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital and House's House

Cuddy was mystified. Why was House so happy? He hadn't harassed her in days, which was surely a record, and he was actually doing clinic duty.

His first patient upon returning to the hospital was a teenaged girl, with flu-like symptoms. He swabbed her throat, then put it in a quick strep test, which was found positive. He gave the girl some ice.

"We need to inject bicillin once, and you'll feel better in a few days. Numb your thigh with the ice for a few minutes, until I'm done preparing the medicine."

The girl applied the ice to her thigh and held it there. When House told her to, she removed the ice, he cleaned the area with an alcohol wipe, and he injected the medicine. He waited fifteen minutes for any reaction, and there was one. The girl broke into hives around the spot that the medication was injected.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You're having an allergic reaction," House answered

"To the medicine?"

"No," replied House, "to the ice. If you were allergic to the medicine, you would be going into respiratory arrest."

The girl looked scared, although House, obviously not concerned, told her to come back in two weeks, or sooner if she didn't feel better. The mother was laughing, but was looking frightened also. "I think he's joking, honey," she was saying. House didn't agree or disagree; he just left.

Cuddy was relieved almost to have him and his antics back, without them she had been bored, almost.

House and Cameron had come back three weeks late, with a story as big as the fish Wilson had claimed to have caught a few weeks prior. Almost to Cuddy and Stacy's disappointment, House's entire story checked out, all of Cameron's medical records were being sent from County General Hospital in Chicago. Cameron and House seemed to have reconciled their differences, and were actually acting like a couple in love, although they denied it. Stacy and Cuddy agreed that, "Everyone lies."

House and Cameron, had indeed lied. Their relationship was a very healthy one, or at least as healthy a relationship as House could have. They knew of course, that someone would find out sooner or later, but they weren't worried. House was always full of surprises, and this would be just another in the list, someday.

In retrospect, House was almost happy that Cameron had gotten so ill, it brought him and her closer, which was good for both of them. House was happier than in years, although he told nobody, an he and Cameron were very funny, apparently. Cameron still had some medications that she had to take, so she would often pull out her pills and swallow them just as House did. Some of the staff at the hospital tried to take pictures of both of them eating pills at the same time in the same room or frame of the camera; some people claimed that they would pay well for a photograph of that.

One day, after work, Cameron rode home with House on his motorcycle, which was an experience that she vowed to never repeat, if it could be helped. His apartment was just as he expected, with the exception of a grand piano in the corner.

"Will you play something for me?" she asked.

House stared at her, then walked over and sat down on the piano bench, placing his cane on the floor beside him.

He flipped through music for a minute, then must have found the one he was looking for. He set it up on the stand, and began to play.

Cameron sat down on one of the dining room chairs, listening. He was an amazingly accomplished pianist. Suddenly, with the passing of a phrase of the music, she recognized the piece. "It's the love theme from Romeo and Juliet? That's really sweet," she smiled sincerely.

House stopped playing abruptly, and turned to look at Cameron.

"Did that sound full of expression to you? Like I was expressing Romeo and Juliet's love?"

Cameron nodded. "It did."

"See what a mushy guy you've turned me into? I could never play that song right before. Even my piano playing sounds like I'm in love," scolded House, pulling out his painkillers and swallowing a few.

"Only because you are."