Title: Captivated
Chapter: 1/1
Author: Rayvin813
Rating: PG
Pairing: House/Cameron
Spoilers: S3: After Half-Wit, but somewhere before House Training.
Disclaimer: I do not own House, Cameron, Chase, Foreman, etc, etc, except on my DVDs...and I also do not own/nor claim any rights to Lifehouse or their music, or Edwin McCain and HIS music. This is just a figment of my imagination...for now. eg
Summary: During a donor's banquet at PPTH, House is tricked into playing a short piano concert, and Cameron finds herself captivated by our favorite diagnostician...
A/N: This ficlet was inspired by the songs "You and Me," by Lifehouse, and "I'll Be," by Edwin McCain. However, for the most part, this was inspired by the pictures of Jennifer Morrison that I found about 2 weeks ago, I just had to figure out a way to make the words come out of my head. :D The shots are from Vanity Fair magazine, I believe. Absolutely gorgeous! (They can be found linked on my profile if anyone is interested.) And, yes, I know House is a little OOC...I just wanted a fluffy House-fic, instead of an angsty one. :)
Hope you like it!!!
Captivated
When Allison Cameron walked into the banquet room at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, she expected to see Chase awaiting her arrival. No matter if she wanted him there or not, he was always there.
Except this time.
She walked in alone and in silence, stopping only to sign in at the door to the large room. Her ivory dress trailed lightly over the floor behind her, barely snagging on the tiny nubs of black carpet as she walked. She held her nametag limply between her index finger and her thumb as she tried to decide what to do with it, and finally settled for stuffing it into her handbag for the moment. Her dress was too expensive to even THINK about piercing the satin, unless it was for a good reason.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward into the room, simultaneously trying to get her bearings in the room. The hors d'oeurves table sat at the far back of the banquet hall, and she could see Chase in his black tuxedo chatting up a nurse from the third floor recovery wing. She held back a laugh and gazed around the rest of the room. A Baby Grand piano sat in one corner, it's player's bench empty and pulled out from under the keys ever so slightly, as if awaiting someone to take a seat and lay out a melody.
"Doctor Cameron," a beaming voice came from behind her, and Allison turned to face Cuddy, a smile on her face. She was certain that the smile didn't look one hundred percent genuine, but she figured that Cuddy would forgive her just this once.
"Doctor Cuddy," she returned the greeting with a nod, as Cuddy reached out to hug the younger doctor. Speaking while in the middle of a hug from Cuddy was never easy, but Allison still managed to get out a, "How are you?"
"I'm...still alive," Cuddy laughed before leaning back into Allison's ear. "You haven't seen House yet, have you?"
Cuddy's whisper was barely audible, but Allison could sense the worry in Cuddy's words. The immunologist could only shake her head. Cuddy's head bobbed in reply, a little too quickly as if she knew what Allison's response would be.
"Wonderful," the Dean of Medicine muttered to herself. "If you see him, please send him my way, all right?"
She waited for Allison to nod in agreement before tossing out her final remark with a wave of her hand, "And get some champagne, loosen up, have a good time!"
Allison gave a half-hearted nod as Cuddy walked away, and plucked a flute full of champagne from a tray carried by a passing waiter. A tap at her elbow caused Allison to turn around, a curious look on her face. Sitting behind her, hands folded over his cane, sat Doctor Greg House, looking up at her smugly.
"Lying for my benefit, Cameron?" he asked her, his bemused expression growing by the moment.
She wasn't sure whether to slap the look off of his face, or to stare at him until his clothes fell off. It was a rarity to see Gregory House in anything but ragged jeans and a rumpled, day-old t-shirt, so seeing him here, tonight, in a tuxedo, complete with bow tie and tails...it was an adventure. Not that Allison was complaining. In fact, he almost looked charming.
He tugged at the collar, his motions adding even more evidence that he was uncomfortable, and Allison reached up and straightened his bow tie. She ignored his question, biting back a saucy retort, and gave him a dazzling smile.
"You look...handsome, House," she told him quietly. "You should dress up more often."
He shook his head vigorously, holding back a chortle. "Not a chance. Cuddy threatened to increase my hours in the clinic sixfold if I didn't dress up for this. I told her that slacks and a tuxedo t-shirt should be good enough, but she seemed to think otherwise. I don't know what it is..."
He gave a shrug and Allison allowed herself the tiniest giggle. "Well, I think you look wonderful."
She ran her fingertips lightly along his jawline, just below his earlobe, and House fought the shudder that always followed her touch. A quick vision of her kiss flooded his mind, and he wondered what it would be like to taste her again. It seemed as if he could taste her on his lips for weeks after her act of deception in his office. The taste of her lips had been the sweetest chaser that he'd ever had, even overcoming his cocktails of scotch and Vicodin. It was something that he had regretted fading away, and at the time he felt like he would do anything to have it back. Well, almost anything.
"Eh, you know," he muttered, pretending as if her touch hadn't moved him at all. "When you're giving a concert at some lame donor's banquet..."
Cameron's eyes widened and darted back up to the piano in the corner of the room. "What? Concert? I didn't..."
House gave her a genuine smile and rose from his chair, taking one limping step toward her so that he was only a mere few inches away. He took her hand in his and raised it to his lips, brushing a kiss across her knuckles.
It was such an un-Houselike gesture, that Allison caught herself tottering backward in her ivory heels. She tugged lightly at the tiny pearl beadwork on the bodice of her dress out of nervousness, and allowed her hand to drop from his to hang limply at her side. She watched as House consulted his dress watch and gazed toward the piano.
"Wilson signed me up for it months ago, and only thought it nice to tell me about it yesterday morning. Payback is going to be such a bitch," he told her with a snicker. Allison couldn't hold back her laugh this time, and took a moment to brush a stray hair back from her face. She caught him watching her movements and felt a blush begin to crawl up her cheeks.
"When do you play?" she inquired quietly, catching movement out of the corner of her eye. Chase was walking over to the two of them, purpose in his step.
"Five minutes ago," he smirked, following her flickering gaze to the Aussie. "The wombat still pestering you, Cameron?"
She gave House a stern glare, but left a smile dancing in her eyes. "Be nice," she warned as Chase pulled up at her elbow.
"What?" House smirked, a feigned innocence on his face.
"Allison," Chase greeted her, his blue eyes flicking back and forth between her and House out of curiosity. She simply nodded her response, and kept her attention on the man who was her boss. House leant in toward her ear and smiled as he did, hoping it would make Chase's jealous streak come out to play.
"Your table is up front, Cameron," House whispered, motioning with one hand toward the piano. "I already checked."
Allison watched him walk away, and smiled as he limped over to the piano. She caught Cuddy's eye and motioned toward the large black instrument. Cuddy's eyes widened and then flooded with relief as she watched House take a seat before the crowd. Allison was mildly aware of Chase chattering at her ear, but she did her best to ignore him as Cuddy climbed the three stairs to the top of the makeshift stage and took up a wireless microphone.
"Hello, everyone!" Cuddy's warm greeting reverberated off of the walls, and even produced a little feedback before the volume was reduced. Allison's hands flew to her ears, her index fingers plugging up her ears from the offending noise.
"Sorry about that," Cuddy muttered before continuing. "We here at Princeton Plainsboro would like to extend a warm greeting to all of you here tonight, employees, family and our most honored guests, the people who have given so much to see that this place runs as smoothly as it does.
"At this time, I would like to ask you all to take your seats so that we might take a few moments to enjoy a concert by one of our most accomplished doctors on our staff, Doctor Gregory House. Doctor House is our resident diagnostician, with a specialty in infectious disease, and has saved countless lives, along with his team, immunologist Doctor Allison Cameron..."
Allison gave a tiny wave and a smile to the crowd at a look from Cuddy as she made her way to the tiny two-seater table near the piano and took her seat, placing her glittering handbag into her lap.
"...neurologist Doctor Eric Foreman..."
Foreman followed suit, echoing Allison's wave and smile from across the room. He resumed his seat fairly quickly as if he were embarrassed to be stuck in front of the crowd so abruptly.
"...and intensivist Doctor Robert Chase."
Chase stood awkwardly and held one hand in the air, looking directly at Allison with a puzzled smile on his face. She gave him a soft smile and turned her gaze to the stage where House was perched on the black bench directly in front of her. She gave him a smile, and he gazed down at her, a rare flicker of nervousness dancing in his eyes. She nodded her encouragement at him as Cuddy gave him the cue to begin plaing.
The sounds that emanated from the piano were something that Allison had never imagined could come from a man like House. He always seemed so cold, so distant, so...incredibly aggravating. But the notes he played were like brushed velvet to her ears: beautiful, soft, slow, comforting, deliberate, touching. She was definitely not an aficionado of the piano – she had quit playing when she was seven – but something about the music he played felt...personal. Almost like he had written it himself.
She glanced around her, and all of the patrons in the room, employees included, sat with their hands folded in their laps, their jaws slack in awe of the 'harsh, crude Doctor House.'
Allison smiled.
She had known that the soft side had been there all along, underneath layers and layers of crass, provoking behavior and years of hiding who he truly was. She could see it peeking out while his fingers danced over the keys, his eyes closed, more feeling the notes than playing them. It was the way true musicians played, and Allison was grateful to have this glimpse into the truth behind the mystery that was Greg House. Who knew when – if – she would ever see it again, so she decided to take all of it in that he had to give. She closed her eyes and felt the music vibrate within the room, each note dancing over her skin, touching something inside her that she had thought she'd buried long ago. She found herself reliving every experience with House that had even been briefly promising, even the kiss from weeks ago.
Her fingers moved up to touch her lips absently, as if she could feel the touch of his lips on hers once more, and she smiled. Allison opened her eyes to find House looking down at her, and a blush crawled up her cheeks once more. She smiled at him, and he returned the smile knowingly before turning back to his piano and finishing his song.
As the notes faded away into silence, Allison smiled and rose to her feet to give him a standing ovation. Foreman and Chase followed Allison's lead, as did Cuddy, Wilson and several of the clinic nurses. Before she knew it, the entire room was on its feet, clapping and applauding House for his marvelous performance. He nodded to the crowd and then turned back to the piano for another song.
Allison spent the better part of the rest of his thirty-minute performance glued to the edge of her seat, and even a few standing up, leaning against the edge of the table. Somewhere in the middle of the songs, she had looked over at the second placecard on the table and seen "Dr. Gregory House" scrawled in Cuddy's practiced handwriting. Whoever thought that all doctors had terrible handwriting had never met Lisa Cuddy. Allison had found herself beaming and giddy with the knowledge that she would be sitting with House, but also felt somewhat traitorous at the feelings stirring within her once again. She brushed as many of those thoughts away as she could, and found herself staring up at House as his time ended and he descended the three steps from the stage to meet her at their table.
"What did you think?" he asked her, a real, honest grin tugging at the corners of his lips. Lips that Allison Cameron wanted nothing more than to have pressed to hers once again. "Honestly?"
"It was...wonderful, House. Seriously beautiful," she beamed up at him. "I loved it."
He let out a sigh and nodded. "I've never done anything like that before...playing in front of this many people. I mean, not in years..."
His confession fell on her ears as a DJ began playing a slow song from the late nineties. She smiled at his honesty and took the cane from his hands, leaning it against the edge of the table. House gave a silent protest as he frowned at her and reached for the cane, shifting his weight uncomfortably from his bad leg. Allison took his outstretched hand in hers and implored him with her eyes. House arched an eyebrow in curiosity at her antics.
"Let's dance, House. I've wanted to dance this whole time listening to you play," her words rushing out as if they were uncontrolled, and she blushed again at her own admission, and the reaction that they got from the man before her.
"What?! You refused to dance with the nancy-boy over there?" House joked, poking her in the side just to watch her squirm.
"House!" she admonished through clenched teeth, knowing full well that he meant Chase. "Honestly! Come on!"
Allison led a protesting House out onto the dance floor as the music surrounded them, and wrapped her arms around his neck. With Allison's two-inch heels, the height difference between the two was maneuverable, nearly erased, and she smiled, feeling how she fit against his body. She could feel how rigid he was, and laughed.
"House, relax," she stretched up to whisper in his ear as she wrapped one of his arms around her waist. "I won't bite."
He gave a soft laugh in reply. "You're not afraid I'm going to cop a feel, Cameron? I'm surprised..."
She leaned back from his chest and gave his shoulder a playful swat before returning to his embrace. She felt House let out a deep breath and wrap his arms completely around her, pulling her tightly to him. She sighed contentedly and let herself drift away into the scent that was Greg House, and the music the couple were gently swaying to.
House found the words incredibly truthful, at least for himself. It was a song he hadn't heard in years, soft and loving. He wondered if he would be able to keep this up with Cameron beyond the current evening, this level of honesty and truthfulness. It wasn't at all like him, not nearly like anything that he was known for or stood for. There was just something about her that made him want to hold her until the end of time, especially tonight. He recognized that she had always had an effect on him.
In the beginning, that effect was more like lust than what he felt at this moment. But, if it weren't for that lust, he never would have hired her, and they would never be here. Like this. He would still be his crotchety old self, just biding his time, playing guinea pig with patients. It was Cameron that made him different, almost better, and for some reason while he held her, he wanted to stay that better person.
Lost in his thoughts, he found himself lowering his cheek to hers, and felt her shudder a little at the sensation of his stubble brushing her cheek. He smiled and held her closer as they danced, and she buried her face into the crook of his neck.
She smiled against his skin, smelling a combination of his cologne and Old Spice, and lightly laid a kiss on the side of his neck, just above the collar of his dress shirt. He jumped, the tiniest movement, and she pulled away from his neck just enough to look up at him, just enough to see the look of curiosity cross his face. A smile threatened to blossom across his face and Allison smiled widely up at him, trying her best to coax it out of him. She succeeded, and the smile that she never thought she'd see stretched across his face, right before he pulled her away from his body and spun her in a circle in time to the music.
Everyone in the room clapped at the display as she fell right back into place in his arms, beaming up at him as they continued to dance, lost in each other's eyes and the music.
Just barely, Allison caught House singing the words of the song as he pulled her back into his embrace, and she looked up at his face as the song began winding down, watching his lips move with the words of the song.
"And I'll be...the greatest fan of your life..."
She beamed at the words of the song and their implications. Could he mean it? Could he maintain this level of honesty and openness with her? Allison didn't know. But in that moment, she wanted the chance to find out. In that moment she thought that maybe, just maybe, it could be worth the leap of faith. She decided to let her emotions do the talking as one hand moved up to the back of his neck and pull his lips to hers.
House nearly collapsed in shock as she sealed her lips to his, but finally gave in to the kiss, drinking her in, tasting the sweet chaser that was Allison Cameron, his heart and mind reeling from the suddenness of the kiss. He wrapped her even more tightly in his arms and lifted her off the ground ever so slightly, causing her to break the kiss and toss her head back in laughter. He realized then that, even when he was with Stacy, he had never been truly happy, and that now he had an actual shot with Cameron...if he didn't screw it up.
He set her back down on the floor and looked deeply into her eyes, searching for some sign of sincerity that she wasn't playing him around. She looked at him with questions in her eyes, the same that were swimming in his mind, and he gave her another genuine smile. If she could risk her heart on him, why couldn't he do the same on her?
She echoed his earlier sentiment and sang the last chorus of the song back to him, softly as he pulled her against him once more.
"I'll be your crying shoulder
I'll be your love suicide
and I'll be better when I'm older
I'll be the greatest fan of your life..."
For the third time that night, the third time in years, House smiled.
And it was a smile that he actually meant, a smile full of hopes and promises and love. That smile didn't last long and Cameron reached up once more and claimed his lips with hers. The electricity between them was undeniable, and he smiled against her lips, praying that that moment would never end.
Little did he know, that in that instant she was praying, hoping, for that very same thing.