A/N: Okay, this one is definitely going to be multi-chaptered! One of my secret fantasies is finally coming true. Hah. Better not wish for the devil. Anyway.. read, hopefully like, review. And.. don't question it. House/Cameron, even though it doesn't really appear that way first.

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone. Do you?

September.

The mere flicker of the small word left a bittersweet taste in her mouth, a taste she wasn't so sure she liked. It reminded her of old pennies.. the ones her grandfather used to keep in his office. She had loved them, once upon a time. Now the memory of those days only left her shivering in the warm, salty breeze. She tucked the soft scarf more securely around her neck, letting it cover the bruises that were already forming there. But her fingers came to a sudden halt when they brushed against the hem of her shirt.

September.

She had never been the forgetting kind. Forgiving, yes. Plenty of reasons for that, one statement more ridiculous than the other. Yet it didn't require honesty or the complicated matters of complete, true approval, only a slightly inane need for tranquility. And a certain degree of trust.

The art of simply forgetting... forgetting about everyone and everything... had always been beyond her.

Funny how everything can spin out of control if you only let it.

Funny how people have a way of ignoring the obvious.

"Stop doing that."

"What, that? Come on, it's a phone, mum!"

She muttered something quite unintelligibly under her breath. House's eyebrows rose up at the new teasing opportunity, but he held back, another thought entering his ever-working mind.

"Could you repeat it a little louder again? Wasn't able to catch it the first time. Profoundly deaf and all, you know."

"I said it's not mum, it's ALLISON."

"Allie?" Cutie.

"Yes, House. Cameron for you."

"Happy belated birthday then, I guess."

Pause.

"Uh... my birthday was in April."

"Whatever, whatever... let's spare those tricky details, shall we? There's something far more important I need to know the answer to."

"Like... ?"

"Why did you tell Chase your birthday was this month?"

"I didn't. And even if I had, that wouldn't have been any of your business, House."

Oh, these subtle warnings. His name was already flashing in a rather bright orange. He could nearly picture her narrowing her eyes at the phone and his visage on the display.

"Of course not. That's why you requested a week off and haven't been sighted on this site of Princeton for the last few months, I'm sure."

She had to give him credit – he was nearly straight to the point.

"Whatever I tell my friends," she stressed that part,

".. and colleagues is confidential. Other than that, I'm sure you have your own opinion already, so why bother?"

"Why bother? Why bother? I'm your boss, I don't need a reason."

Years ago, such a fierceness in his voice would have sent her running. Now, it left her feeling hollow again.

"What do you want?"

"Same as you."

"Really? I always suspected it, but I don't believe you're smitten with Johnny Depp of all sudden."

"Damn. And there I thought I could get away with it," he chuckled dryly.

"Look, House, I don't care about your motives. I don't care what possessed you to call me now, after months in which I'm sure you had enough time to search your desk and find something. I. Don't. Care. Just leave me alone."

He frowned, not having suspected her to be this stubborn, but before his tongue had wrapped itself around a fitting reply, he was met by the steady dial tone. Just peachy. Still, he didn't call Cameron back immediately. He took his time in thinking the words over in his head, letting them create a steady sermon. She would understand.

He finally relented.

"I already know what happened, yeah. But I want to hear it from you."

And then he put the phone down for good, totally unaware of the quiet storm his words would cause whenever the voicemail reached its destination.

Thousands of miles away, a dark-haired woman with a striking resemblance to a certain former immunologist dipped her feet slowly into the warm waves of the ocean, a cell phone and a silky scarf lying forgotten in the sand next to her. She smiled. And allowed the world around her to fall apart without her.