Her Dying Wish.
Disclaimers: I do not own...For my name is not David Shore.
Chapter One: Fatalism.
House lingered outside his office, peering inside the dimly lit room at Cameron's slim figure sitting at his desk. She was slouched forward with her elbows on the desk top, her chin resting in her palms, and eyes closed. She looked rough and completely worn out, like she had gone ages without sleep, but it was late and like him she must have had a long day.
Taking a deep breath he grabbed the cool metal of the door knob and pulled it open and stepped in silently. The door clicked shut silently behind him and Cameron opened her eyes and looked up at him, smiling softly.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, slightly taken aback by her current display of happiness.
"I came to see you." She said softly, rolling his chair back a bit so that she would have room to stand. "Want your chair?"
House nodded his response and slowly made his way around his desk to his chair, placing his cane against the side of his desk. As he scooted in a bit his eyes instantly fell upon a patient's file on his desk, and looked up at Cameron questioningly. "What's this?"
She met his gaze for a moment, her eyes slowly drifting down to the subject of question and frowned. "A file." She said softly.
House rolled his eyes out of annoyance and picked it up. "No, really?" He groaned, lifting it up so that he could skim through it quickly. "I'm assuming it is a case you want me to look over for..." His paused, and pulled the file closer. "Glioblastoma multiforme." He read out loud before turning his gaze to meet hers. "Brain cancer."
Cameron looked him in the eyes and nodded. "Yeah." She said simply.
House rolled his eyes again and threw the file back down on his desk. "Wilson's next door, just incase you forgot. He deals with the cancer kids. Not me. Who was given the death sentence ?" He asked pointing to the file as he reclined back in his chair. "Friend? Family member?"
Cameron stepped forward and grabbed the file, holding it to her chest. "Me." She said softly, moving aside his belongs on the top of his desk and sitting down. "The tumor is in the coronal section of my brain and goes through the parietal-occipital junction, and before last month is was asymptomatic. I was diagnosed after I had a seizure."
"When did you have a seizure?" House asked, staring up at her in disbelief. "I'm assuming is was your first symptom so it had to be last month sometime, but..."
"I was visiting my parents." She said. "That's why you didn't hear of it. I haven't even told Cuddy yet." She sighed.
"But you told me?"
Cameron nodded again, averting her eyes from his. She couldn't read his expression, and she didn't like that. It was making this all a lot harder than she expected, even though from the beginning she knew it was going to be damn near impossible to go through with. The worst part of it all, she hadn't even got to the difficult part. She was dying and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it, and she had come to accept that. "There is something I want to ask you." She said, peering out at dark starless sky. "And before you give me an answer I'd like it if you really took the time to consider it before giving me your answer."
House stared up at her blankly, not knowing what to say to her. His mind was racing with so many thoughts that he couldn't decipher. She had to have been mis-diagnosed. There was a chance of that, right? There would have to be. She was too young and so smart with so much going for her. She was kind and everyone loved her. There was no way she could be dying. Pushing his chair back he got to his feet and grabbed her arm gently. Everyone died, he knew that. He also knew that people died at different ages from different things, but Cameron shouldn't be included in that.
"House?" She asked, looking at him as he gently pulled her down off his desk and on to her feet.
"Have you got a second opinion?" He asked, leading her to the door.
Cameron quickly pulled her arm free, dropping her file to the floor. "House..." She sighed, frowning.
"Have you had a second opinion?" He asked more sternly as he slowly turned to face her.
"No, the tumor is so massive. There is no point. The diagnoses wasn't wrong." She said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Let Wilson determine that."
Leaning down he snatched up her file off the floor that landed near his feet when she dropped it and then turned again to leave the room.
Cameron sighed frowning, grabbing his cane after a moment and lean following him to down to Wilson's office. It was just her luck that he would be working late.
-House MD House MD House MD-
"She wasn't mis-diagnosed." Wilson said sadly, slowly looking up to meet the eyes of his best friend and the young immunologist. "Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive and lethal type of brain cancer. There are many treatment options you have to consider. With radiation and chemotherapy we can go in and remove part of the tumor. It won't remove the cancer, but it could help relieve some of the symptoms and give you longer..." He trailed off.
"What is the prognosis?"
Wilson turned, and looked at his friend, his eyes reflecting sadness and pain. "It's not good...Maybe eighteen months with treatment. Maybe longer. Without treatment...six months if that."
"I'm not going through with treatment."Cameron finally spoke up. "There is no guarantee with any of this treatments, so I'm not even going to waste my time. I don't want or need false hopes."
"So, you are going to give up just like that?" House barked, glaring at her.
"House..." Wilson murmured, watching as Cameron got to her feet.
"Yes, I am. Excuse me."
Wilson and House sat there and watched as she disappeared out the door and down the hall.
"Fatalism." Wilson sighed, closing her file and pushing it off to the side.
House looked at him, eyes narrowed. "What?" He snapped.
Wilson said back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap. "She has accepted that she is... sick." He paused, suddenly unable to speak the truth of her condition. " She has also accept the belief that it is completely helpless and therefore chose not to go through with treatment, but in her case she is probably better off. She'll... go quickly and pain free."
"Shut up." House snapped getting up. "She maybe dying, but that is no reason to give up completely. If you have the opportunity to live a little longer you should take it." He said before slamming the door shut behind him as he headed back to his off.
In anger he flung the door open and stepped in, quickly stopping in his tracks when Cameron turned from looking out the balcony window to greet him.
"What are you doing back here?" He barked, slowly limping over to his desk.
" I told you, I have something I want to ask you." She said, her voice gently and sweet as if she were completely unaffected by the conversation they were having moments before. Almost like everything was right with her.
"Would you hurry up then." He growled, plopping back down into his chair, forcing his attention anywhere, but to her.
"Promise me first you will at least consider what I'm about to say before giving me your answer." She said softly, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down to the floor.
"I can't. I don't make promises I don't intend to keep." He snarled.
"Then lie!" She snapped.
House turned and looked at her. "Fine. I promise."
Cameron sighed, her shoulders slumping visibly. "Thank you." Slowly she made her way to the chair across from House's desk and sat down. House turned to face her, leaning forward against his desk like she had been doing earlier. "I-I don't..." She choked out, taking a deep breath. "I don't want to die alone, but who does right? I-I... St-stay with me House, just until I go. I'm really not asking for much just a few months of your time. I'm even willing to pay you." She choked out on a sob, wiping the tears from her eyes as she began to cry for the first time since being diagnosed with brain cancer. "If I could die with the illusion that you cared for me, even if just a little, I know it would make it easier. Dying is suppose to be easier when the person you love is around, right?"
Cameron looked down, the only sounds in the room were the harsh sobs that escaped her throat. She said what she came here to say, even with the knowledge that he wouldn't agree, but she didn't have the time to waste wondering "what if." Slowly she got up, wiping her eyes once again.
"I'll do it." He said. "Under one circumstance."
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Author's Note: Please read and review. I got the idea for this story a couple of days ago, but I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it. Tell me what you think. Also, please expect House to be out of Character a bit. I can't seem to make him completely... Him... towards a dying Cameron.
-AnnaMarie.