A/N: It's been a while but here is a new one-shot. It happens probably during the end of season 4 or beginning of season 5. Not during the golden age *ohhh snap!!* aka season 1,2,3. That is probably pretty obvious but, I just wanted to mention it. Haha, so as always, read and review. And enjoy. Of course enjoy.
"Cameron! I just can't do this anymore!" Chase said, throwing his hands up in the air and grabbing his hair in an attempt to not physically harm anything. "I can't be with someone who may still have feelings for someone else, I just can't."
"What have I been telling you for the past year? I don't still love House, and if you can't trust me then I can't be with you either!"
"So I guess this is it," he retorted back.
"Yeah, I guess it is," she said turning his head from him. Chase got up and made his way to Cameron's front door. He grabbed his coat from the chair he always puts it on, and left. Cameron just stayed where she was standing, unable to completely comprehend what had happened. She had finally let someone get close to her, and it came back and ruined her. She walked back to her bedroom and began to get ready for bed.
It would be different not having Chase flirting with her and playing jokes on her when they got home after work. It would be different not meeting Chase for lunch during their hectic lifestyle at PPTH, not having Chase to confide in after a long, hard, stressful day working in the ER. I would be different not having a shoulder to cry on when she lost a patient, not having someone to buy her ridiculous things she had absolutely no use for. Her whole life would be changed, but she made her bed, and now she has to sleep in it.
Cameron and Chase hadn't spoken to each other for weeks. By now, the entire staff at PPTH had known about their relationship, or lack of a relationship, status, but they were all afraid to confront one of the doctors and tell them that they needed to get over whatever it was they were fighting about get on with their lives together.
Things stayed as they were for a month after their little argument until the two of them had their first run-in since the breakup. Chase was standing at the hospital cafeteria register paying for his late-night dinner when Cameron was making her way up to the line to pick up a napkin, busying herself with a case file. She was too wrapped up in the file to notice Chase was the person standing at the register. Cameron reached for the napkin just as Chase was turning and they collided, knocking Chase's tray and Cameron's file down in the process.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Let me get it!" She said while looking around to see if anyone saw their collision, but realized the cafeteria was empty. She bent down to grab the food and file but stopped when the owner of the food spoke.
"Oh, you're fine," Chase said, unaware that it was Cameron whom he had collided with. Cameron took a deep breath, still crouched down, knowing that now she would actually have to talk to Chase. Cameron stood up to look Chase in the eye. "Oh, ummm, hey, Cam. Cameron," he said catching himself from calling her by her nickname.
"Hey yourself," she responded looking down at her shoes. She shoved her hands in her pockets and kept talking. "So, how have you been doing?"
"Uhhh, pretty well. Busy," Chase said giving her an awkward nod. "You?"
"Same," she nodded returning the gesture. The two of them just stood there for a while, nodding. "Well, ummm, I should probably get back to work," she said glancing up a the clock, and a last attempt to not look him and the eyes, and immediately become hypnotized, once again.
"Oh, right. Ummm, me too," he replied. Just as Cameron started to walk away he grabbed her arm making her look him in the eyes. "Be sure to take care of yourself, Cameron."
"I will. You too," she replied. Chase let go and Cameron made her way down the hospital corridor.
I miss you, they both thought to themselves.
Chase and Cameron had both been thinking long an hard about their recent confrontation. Thinking about how nice it was to finally look into each others eyes and get lost in them. Cameron, personally, could not stop replaying the scene in her head, over and over again. She had been distracted in the ER, and quite a few people had seemed to notice and let Cameron take the simpler cases in the ER so she would screw anything up.
There was one day in the ER when Cameron received a call from an EMT, that a bus had crashed and half the victim would be sent to her ER. Cameron sent a notice around which notified any available staff what would be happening, so they could come down and offer assistance in the ER. That included Chase.
Just as expected, the victims all came bursting trough the double doors, one after another. Cameron grabbed the first person and moved them over to an open space. She began doing her thing when she realized the person she was working with happened to be Chase. She just stood there in completely distracted barely hearing Chase's voice say, "V-fib! Paddles! Cameron! ......Cameron! ...... CAM!" the final calling of her name had finally gotten her attention and she reached over and handed Chase the paddles. "Charging, Clear!" his voice shouted over and over again, apparently getting no response. "Cameron, call it," he said nudging her.
"Ummm, I don't think.... Ummm," she said, her voice shaky.
"Cam- Cameron, I'm not authorized to call time of death. You have to," Chase's comforting voice said.
"Oh, right," she replied giving him a slight smile. "Time of death: 7:52 PM."
Chase was waking down the hallway, but stopped in his tracks noticing someone sitting in a booth in the cafeteria by themselves. Chase walked into the empty room and noticed the person was Cameron. She looked like she was crying. Half of Chase wanted to go over there, another half of him wanted to stay. He decided he could go over there, doctor to doctor, colleague to colleague, not lover to lover. That doesn't break the rules. That would be OK. He slid himself next to her, careful not to get to close, and said, "Hey, are- are you OK?"
"Yeah," she said, trying to make it look like she was OK, even though, she clearly wasn't.
"Listen," he sliding closer to her so she could lean on him. She rested her head against his chest as he spoke, "there was nothing you could have done differently. It wasn't your fault."
"It may not have been, but we lost 12 people today. 12!" she said, letting more tears fall from her eyes. "It sucks! It is just so terrible!"
`"I know, I know," he said pulling her closer, completely forgetting about all the "rules" the exes share.
The two of them stayed like that. Chase stroking her hair, and Cameron burying her head into his scrub top. During that time period they both realized how much they missed each other. How much they missed being able to cry and be comforted, and how much they missed each other in general.
"Chase?" Cameron said looking up to meet his face. "This is stupid."
"What?" he said, looking overly adorably confused. "I know that we aren't together anymore but-"
"That's not what I mean. I'm talking about how we aren't together anymore when we clearly can't live without each other. How about we just forget about about everything that happened we just start over," she said.
"I'd like that, I'd like that very much," he said. "It Tuesday," he continued grinning, "I missed you."
"I missed you too," she said laughing.
As it turns out, being apart from each other had brought them closer together.