AN:A thanks to blueheronz for being the first to lay eyes upon my idea and a huge thanks to my beta ponks19 for all her help.Please read and review...
House is sitting in a corner of a bar, alone for yet another night. He drinks and watches the people around him. Most look happier than he is, but surprisingly, some look less happy. Most of them are there with friends. Some are with lovers. A few are simply alone.
Suddenly, he feels a breeze of fresh air. The door has opened and the characteristic little bell above the door jingled once among the voices of the barflies.
He senses immediately a change in the atmosphere. He could almost smell her; almost listen to her footsteps leading her to the bar.
He slowly lifts his eyes and sees her. Medium high boots. Simple gray slacks. Soft, cashmere sweater. Her coat and purse in hand. Her long auburn hair cascading free down her back. Cameron.
He watches her as she approaches the bar and settles herself on a stool.
"What will it be?", he thinks. "A glass of wine? A beer maybe?"
She surprises him by ordering vodka. His surprise is even bigger when she reaches into her purse and takes out a pack of cigarettes. She lights one, inhales sharply and exhales slowly as she raises her glass to take the first sip.
He stares at her, mesmerized by her long, fine fingers holding a slim, complete girly for his taste, cigarette. He can almost feel her unique scent,-cinnamon and vanilla-, blended with the sour one of the smoke coming to his nostrils.
She enters the bar unsure that she actually wants to be there, but not ready to go home just yet either…
Sitting on a stool at the bar, she debates with herself over ordering a beer or a glass of wine. She orders something she hasn't drank since college-vodka. Wanting to finally let the stress of the day out, she reaches into her purse and takes out a pack of cigarettes. Her small and secret habit…
"Even House would be surprised to see me here vodka and cigarette at hand", she thinks. She smiles at herself and takes her first sip.
Soon a guy approaches her.
In spite of himself, House shifts in his place feeling a jolt of jealously creeping inside him. What the hell is that guy doing with Cameron? His Cameron…
He watches the scene unfold with the intensity of a hunter stalking his prey.
The guy is obviously trying to get her attention, to make her talk to him…She keeps her ground surprisingly well, not really looking at him, barely nodding her head to whatever this out-of-nowhere guy is saying. Abruptly, she turns to him and speaks to him in an obviously annoyed and firm way, probably telling him to get lost…The next moment the guy walks away disappointed.
Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding he thinks: "That's my girl!".
Her drink is almost empty by now and he decides to toy with her a little…He waves at the waiter and tells him something, putting a 20 dollar bill in his hand. He nods and walks away…
He waits until the bartender places another vodka in front of Cameron…
The bartender places another vodka in front of her.
"I didn't order a second drink", she tells him.
"It's from the gentleman at the back", he tells her as he points somewhere behind her back.
"Not again…Just a minute ago I managed to get rid of that moron!", she thinks while turning around to see who sent her the drink…
She is beyond surprised to see House sitting in a booth in a corner of the bar, giving her one of his devious smiles, that are never a good sign…She smiles back at him, holds onto the eye contact , raises her glass and toasts to him…
Not long after, he takes a seat next to her…
"Well, well, well!!! What is my little duckling doing at this hour away from its home, drinking and smoking? Decided to come down to the bad, real world or were you too bored without Chase being your boy-toy?", he asks, giving the last part of his sentence an even more sarcastic tone…
"I've been legally drinking for the past fourteen years House…And I've been living in "the bad, real world" for a lot longer than that…I think that after a long day, doing your bidding, I'm entitled to relax, get a drink and do what I please, thank you very much!", she answers him a bit irritated…
"I've already started pushing her buttons", he thinks…
"So, tell me really, why a beautiful woman like yourself is sitting alone in a bar on a Friday night", he asks as he takes another sip from his scotch,
"God, House! Only you can make a perfectly good pick up line sound like an insult", she says playfully referring to his mention of her being beautiful.
She looks at him more seriously then, saying in a low, calm and a bit sad voice: "You know, beauty has nothing to do with someone being alone or not…There are women more beautiful than me or younger than me that are alone…Plus, I may be a nice piece of lobby art as someone kindly called me once but I do have brains too…When the physical action ends, you need something more than a beautiful body lying next to you…", she adds with an honesty that surprises him, even if he doesn't show it.
"Well, Dr Cameron", says with a playful tone in his voice , "Would you like to elaborate on your thoughts a little bit?"
"It's not difficult to understand really. There are limited options as to what may happen in one's life…There is the ideal one, where I would find the perfect man for me…handsome, smart, caring, and so on with the list for Mr. Perfect. The fact that I used the words "ideal" and "perfect" makes it quite clear I think that it's impossible to happen. There is no such thing as perfection…Not in our world anyway…"
He stares at her, not quite able to disguise his surprise at her words. It's like she tries to destroy all his little theories of her being a hopeless romantic idealist. He doesn't speak though, letting her continue…
So, she continues: "Then we have the second choice…Which is for me to be with someone just for sex. I would be able to enjoy the pleasure of a good sex life, the feeling of being desirable and the warmth of another body next to mine until morning…And that's it"
Feeling desirable? That's why she's been sleeping with the wombat? To feel desirable? She is more beautiful than any normal woman and doctor is allowed to be, he thinks before he can hold himself.
Yet, he has no time to ponder on his thoughts as she continues: "On the other hand, I could be with someone who fascinates me as a person and satisfies me all time even without physical action… But, I am still a woman and I have needs after all , so I have to scratch that option too…"
He nearly smiles at that comment since he is not accustomed to seeing her so relaxed and calm and so willing to talk openly about her needs and desires…When did she become so self conscious? When he hired her-three years ago- she was timid, almost shy in his presence…Bringing some pieces of her puzzle together he thought she was naïve, hurt, damaged. And she was up to a point. But she grew to be more complicated and complex. She was still vulnerable, yet she was growing stronger. She could be hurt -but still have faith in others. Damaged but happy to be alive. She was full of contradictions, contradictions that challenged him and intrigued him.
"Is there another option or does your philosophy stop there?" he asks her not being able to suppress the need to tease her, just in order to lighten up the mood.
A knowing smile graces her face. It's amazing how her face changes when she smiles. Deep down, he feels satisfied to see that smile, knowing he caused it, knowing at the same time that he was one of the reasons why this smile was so rare.
"Well, there is one more option…That is for me to fall in love…"
He looks in her eyes. He knows that he is in dangerous territory. He also knows that he can stop the whole discussion right now. A sarcastic remark, one of those he mastered so well, and it's a done deal. Yet, he can't bring himself to stop things from taking a dangerous turn…He blames it on the drinks he had, even if they were merely three glasses of whiskey (much less that his usual intake)…
Seeing that he doesn't stop her or make a move to leave her, Cameron continues…She doesn't really know where she is going with her latest comment nor what has possessed her and made her open up to him of all people, but she knows she doesn't have the power or the will to stop it…'
"Love is one thing I cannot control. I might fall in love with someone whom I'd never thought possible yet that is the exact feeling that makes everything right about him…You know what they say…"
"No, what do they say?", he says stressing they.
"They say that love is blind…I prefer to believe that it just makes you overlook some things…"
"No matter how you decide to say it, it never changes what you mean", he says.
"No it doesn't…It's only your approach that changes…And that is what makes everything different." she concludes looking straight in his eyes, this time her green-gray irises piercing into his prideful blue…
"Well, as interested as I am in your life and love theories, you still haven't answered my original question…What are you-a beautiful woman- doing here, in a bar, alone?"
Before she has the chance to respond, he continues: "You obviously aren't searching for a random guy to spend the night with…Otherwise, you wouldn't have immediately dismissed the guy who approached you before…"
"So, he was watching me before" she thinks.
He still talks though, oblivious of her thoughts: "Then again I may be mistaken…"
"Did he just say he might be wrong?"
"…and you are looking for someone for a one-night-stand…A stranger or maybe not a stranger…", he says, raising suggestively his eyebrows as he had done so many times during her fellowship.
"You know, for someone who claims not to like me at all, you certainly seem eager to spend time with me…I mean you were watching me as I was telling off that guy, you buy me a drink, you sit down and talk to me and now you're suggesting I spend the night with you, if I read correctly between the lines…"
"I wouldn't like to see you get in trouble with an unknown guy…" he says, putting up his most innocent face, " plus, I'm still waiting for an answer…" he says dismissing their previous and rather danger subject of spending the night together.
She smiles again playfully, a smile of hers that he had never seen…
"I just wasn't ready to go home yet" she answers honestly.
"So, when you are not ready to go home, you usually go to a bar?" he asks with a rather devious tone in his voice.
"Why, would you care to join me again?" she asks following his lead.
And for the first time in the three years of her fellowship, she sees a gleam of a genuine smile forming on his face…Not a big one and not for long…But it certainly had been there…
"I've got my answer" she thinks and stands up.
"Well, thanks for the drink…I'll see you around…" she says and touches his arm, "Goodnight House".
He simply nods at her and watches as she exits the bar…
"You certainly will" he thinks to himself and smiles before standing up and leaving for his own home…