i.
Cuddy didn't exactly want to bring her work with her to the bar. All she really wanted to do after a nightmare of a day at the hospital was relax over a glass of cabernet, but she didn't feel like being at home nor did she want to give the impression that she was in need of company. So as a compromise, she worked diligently at one of the dimly lit booths, drinking wine while taking notes and reviewing endless employee reports and their various medical procedure requests.
Not so far away, Dr. Cameron walked into the tiny neighborhood bistro and stood patiently at the bar. More concerned with his numerous happy hour customers, the bartender ignored Cameron standing by the takeout counter for longer than she deemed acceptable. Stepping up onto the brass foot rail under the bar, Cameron hovered over the counter and playfully drummed her hands on it, raising her brows in coy annoyance once she'd finally gotten his attention.
"Name?" The well-polished but incredibly rushed bartender asked, nodding at her.
He was clearly the new guy. "Allison Cameron," she said, stepping down from the foot rail and sitting in one of the barstools to wait. Looking around for a moment while the bartender searched for her order, Cameron took off her gloves and looked over at one of the small booths in the corner, not realizing until the second glance that it was Dr. Cuddy sitting there and working, as usual.
"Ma'am?" The bartender addressed her, drawing her attention away from Cuddy. "I'm sorry, but your order didn't get put in, so if you wouldn't mind waiting for a few minutes, I'll throw it into the queue now."
Cameron sighed, irritated that she had to wait at all. She hadn't been home in at least 36 hours and she was in serious need of a long bath, a good book, and at a minimum, a 12-hour nap before her next endless shift started all over again tomorrow afternoon. "Okay," she said, forcing a smile.
She'd have to wait for food no matter where she went so at least by waiting at the corner bistro, she'd get the dinner she'd been craving all day and maybe even win some brownie points with Cuddy along the way. "Excuse me," she interrupted the bartender before he got too far away. "What is she having?" Cameron asked, nodding to Dr. Cuddy.
"Cimarrosa Cabernet. Can I get you a glass while you wait?" He asked, already pulling down a wine glass from the rack above his head.
"Two," she said, stepping down from the barstool. "And would you bring them over to us please?" He nodded at her with a smile. Thanking him over her shoulder, Cameron walked over to sit with Cuddy.
Cameron couldn't remember ever seeing Cuddy looking so…serene, and dare she say, content? She could only assume that it was because House wasn't anywhere within range. As she approached, Cameron noted the dim flicker of candlelight that beautifully accented the contours of her face, the length of her eyelashes, and the soft curl of her hair. Without a doubt, Cuddy looked like a different woman outside of work. Her intellect and poised sophistication were devastatingly attractive and Cuddy sure as hell knew it, but she was always so nonchalant about it. It was admirable and kinda hot, Cameron admitted. For a brief moment, she thought that maybe she shouldn't interrupt a rare moment of peace for Cuddy, but it was too late. She'd already ordered two glasses of exorbitantly expensive wine and she wasn't about to drink them both herself.
"I'm pretty sure it's against the rules to work during happy hour," she said, sliding into the booth opposite Cuddy. "Kinda defeats the purpose," she smiled.
Glancing up twice at Cameron, just to make sure it was she, and then putting her pencil down, Cuddy strained to smile; her defenses already up and ready for whatever Cameron's ulterior motives were this time. How did she even know she was here? "Dr. Cameron," she greeted her stiffly, reaching for her near empty glass of wine and running her fingers down along the stem. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She asked, briefly looking around.
Seeing the rapid shift in her demeanor and suspicious glances around the bar, Cameron quickly tried her best to reassure Cuddy. "I'm not here for House," she said, falling short of a better explanation that would have put her at ease.
"Uh huh," Cuddy nodded, sitting back in the booth and folding one arm over her chest while resting her chin on her other hand, not at all convinced. She'd never been to this bar before and specifically chose it because it was completely out of the way of where she lived. There was no way in hell running into House's most devoted con artist was a coincidence. He'd been pestering her all damn day about an extremely risky and in her opinion unnecessary surgery for this new case of his and if he'd sent Cameron to stalk her for approval, he was in for some serious disappointment.
"No really, I'm just…waiting for my dinner," she laughed while nervously pointing to the bar beside them. "It's kind of a local secret, but they have the best ribeye in town." She wasn't sure why she said that. It was irrelevant, but Cuddy was studying her like a contaminated Petri dish, waiting and hoping for her to develop into some infectious disease called House and as a result, she was spewing nonsense. Even if her intentions were pure, Cameron shrank beneath her stare and fumbled for a conversation that would reassure Cuddy that House had nothing to do with her being at the bar.
"Is that so?" Cuddy asked, raising a questioning brow. "I've never had it, but then again I've never been here before," she said, not even trying to conceal the snark in her tone. Taking a last sip of her wine, Cuddy looked up when the bartender came to their table to drop off two fresh glasses for them. "You bought me a drink?" she asked Cameron, perplexed and even more suspicious.
"Why not?" She shrugged, feigning confidence and spinning the deep, crimson liquid around in her glass.
"Can I get you anything else?" The bartender asked.
"No. Thank you," Cameron replied.
"All right. Your food will be right out," he said leaving them alone the table.
"See? Told you I was just here for food," Cameron said, cocking her head to the side and smirking, knowing she was just as paranoid as Cuddy about House's shamelessly manipulative mind games.
Chuckling uneasily, "You must think I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for thinking otherwise, Cameron," she apologized, accepting the new drink by drawing it closer to herself at the table.
"No, don't worry about it. I get it." Raising her glass to Cuddy, "To a night without House," she grinned.
"That's a concept I thought not possible, but here goes nothing," she joked, lifting then clinking the edge of her glass against Cameron's.
Cameron laughed, taking a drink. Moaning softly in appreciation of its flavor, "Very nice, Cuddy," she said complimenting the wine. It was no surprise why Cuddy liked it. Its body was full, rich, and complex; it suited her. "Not that I'm surprised," she said, thinking aloud. "I should have expected you to like only the best."
Cuddy's eyes widened, surprised by Cameron's candor. "Thanks…?" she said hesitantly. "And thank you for another glass. You didn't have to do that."
"It's my pleasure," Cameron replied, licking the wine from her lips and watching Cuddy, wondering if she felt as nervous sitting with her as she did. She didn't appear to be, but then again, nothing ever seemed to faze Cuddy. Not even House half the time. Jumping at the sensation of her phone vibrating in her pocket, Cameron grabbed it to answer. Lifting a finger for Cuddy to wait, Cameron stepped away from the table to take the call.
Cuddy sat quietly, staring at the dark shade of red in her glass and then delicately swirling it around, thinking. She couldn't help but consider the chances that Cameron would be at this bar on this night. It was odd…or was it? God, she really hated House for making her so ridiculously paranoid, always suspecting that there was an ulterior motive of some kind whenever she had a random encounter with one of her employees outside of the hospital. Princeton was a small town; of course she would run into Cameron on occasion. Besides, it was evident that Cameron was here of her own volition, out doing the hunter-gatherer thing in one quick sweep by way of takeout, but she still couldn't trust it because she knew House's tactics all too well. This is insane, she thought dismissing her own psychosis. But then again…even if House wasn't behind this, retaliation was in order for making her think he was, she mused. Lifting the glass to her lips, Cuddy took a long drink of her wine, considered her options, and waited for Cameron to return to the table.
Slumping back into the booth, Cameron returned with a heavy sigh. "Sorry, that was Chase."
"Everything okay?" She asked, though in truth, she didn't want to know. She'd just toasted to a night without House and she had no intention of returning to the hospital even if House had somehow badgered Chase into performing that ridiculous surgery without her consent.
"Oh nothing," she deflected though feeling Cuddy's mistrustful eyes pinned on her for any slight deviation from the truth. "You probably don't want to know," she said shifting a bit in the booth and leaning forward, her long bangs falling from behind her ear.
Cuddy's shoulders tensed and her eyes closed slowly, "House," she snarled under her breath.
Cameron felt like an ass. She couldn't lie to her, but she didn't want to ruin Cuddy's night away from the hospital either. Of course, she also didn't want Cuddy to shoot the messenger so instead she tried to coax the situation as best she could. "Well, it's not all bad," she said. "Maybe one of the new fellows will come up with an alternative plan before 11 tonight."
Cuddy scoffed aloud at the thought, "Right. You'll forgive me if I don't hold my breath." Taking another long sip of her wine, Cuddy placed the glass back onto the table, shaking her head in frustration. "So 11:00, huh?"
"Apparently," Cameron shrugged.
"You're right. I'm sorry I asked," Cuddy growled, taking another sip of wine and fuming at the notion that House would actually go through with this even though he knew she was opposed to it. She might as well get home and start prepping the lawyers again.
In an effort to pique her attention again, Cameron reached across the table and clasped her hand over Cuddy's. "I'm sorry," she said.
"Not you're fault," she said petting Cameron's hand with her own and smiling back at her. She could be so sweet sometimes. It was such a shame that it was all a façade in an attempt to protect the people more dear to her.
"So!" Cameron exclaimed, quickly thinking of a change in subject in hopes of swapping Cuddy's mood back to what it had been before she showed up. She certainly didn't want her to dwell on this surgery long enough to consider leaving…or firing Chase, she supposed. "Have you had dinner yet?"
"Not exactly, no," she replied, putting her files back into her briefcase. "Why?"
"Would you care to join me? I only live about a block away from here," she suggested, tucking her fallen bangs back behind her ears.
"Oh," Cuddy said, surprised and unable to think of an appropriate reply at first. Giving Cameron her full attention, Cuddy stopped putting away her files. "I don't know, Cameron," she backpedaled, playing with the cardboard coasters on the table as if they were poker chips. It was a harmless offer and she'd certainly gone to dinner with other colleagues before but having dinner at Cameron's apartment was an entirely different story. "I have a lot of work to do before tomorrow thanks to You Know Who, and now I have a headache to nurse so I think I should probably just get home." Pausing for a moment, "but thank you for the offer. Maybe another time," she smiled.
Ouch. Shot down by Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine Extraordinaire. And without any real justification either. It probably happened to a lot of people, but it'd never happened to Cameron and now she felt like a damn fool for asking…not that she was going to let that stop her.
"Are you sure?" Cameron asked. "This place always serves gigantic portions as it is and with Chase not coming home tonight, I'm going to have enough ribeye, boursin mashed potatoes, and asparagus to last me a week! Not to mention, I feel guilty enough for having been an indirect cause of that headache. It's the least I can do," she added, flashing Cuddy an infamously glowing smile as incentive. God, how she wanted to pick that brain of hers, hear sordid stories about House's past, and learn a secret or two about Cuddy herself. Or at the very least, she could maybe earn herself a free pass next time she did something unquestioningly idiotic for House and was summoned into Cuddy's office for a little chat on ethics.
Cuddy laughed, "It's a very generous offer. Really Cam," she paused. She was kind of hungry, now that she thought about it. "How far away did you say you lived?"