As is protocol for a first day in training, Cameron goes about her usual duties and Thirteen shadows, observes. She doesn't say a word but watches the doctor carefully and takes notes.
"You can take a break if you want," Cameron says while tending to an elderly patient. "I'm sure you're bored out of your skull by now."
Thirteen doesn't look bored. In fact, she looks fascinated. But Cameron can't believe how quickly she is picking up on things; it's not even noon and already Cameron feels Thirteen is ready to work on her own.
But she nods at Cameron and tucks her notebook into a jacket pocket and heads for the door. Before she exits, she turns around to look at the doctor. "You smoke?"
Cameron chews nervously on her lip. She can practically taste the sweet nicotine on her teeth as she thinks about it. She hasn't had a cigarette in months. Chase had given her an ultimatum – if her mouth continued to taste like the bottom of an ashtray, he wouldn't kiss her. So she quit, cold turkey.
She nods. "I'll be out in a minute." Chase will never know, she thinks. She makes a mental note to buy a package of breath mints from the vending machine on her way outside to chew before she runs into Chase at lunch.
When she is finished with her patient, Dr. Cameron takes off her jacket and rushes outside, stopping briefly at the vending machine to buy breath mints and several packages of gum. She hopes to catch Thirteen before the girl comes back inside and so she sprints the rest of the way outside.
Thirteen leans against a wall, one leg bent and her foot resting against the brick behind her. She blows smoke rings above her head, effortlessly.
"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Cameron inquires as she approaches. Thirteen hands her a cigarette automatically. She nods a thank you.
"Years of practice. I've been smoking since I was 12."
Cameron laughs and puts the cigarette between her teeth. Thirteen reaches out and lights it for her.
The intern's hands smell wonderful; not perfume – it's not allowed on the job – but some kind of subtle lotion or hand soap. Cameron wants to know if they feel as good as they smell.
She swallows hard and puffs at her cigarette, watching Thirteen's lips as they hold tightly to the near-finished smoke in her mouth.
"So how do you like it so far?"
Thirteen shrugs and butts out her cigarette in a near by bucket of sand. "I wish I could do more, to be honest. I'm a hands on kind of person," she says, gesturing her preference for tactile experience.
Cameron nods in understanding. "What do you think of House?"
Thirteen laughs for the first time. It's a sarcastic laugh, but also endearing at the same time. Cameron notices a personality forming; she hopes to bring out this human side of Thirteen more often.
"He's a little pompous, narcissistic – but I don't mind him. He reminds me a lot of me, actually," Thirteen says with a smile.
Cameron smiles from the side of her mouth, blowing a cloud of smoke into the wind. "Well then, I'll probably think you're an asshole too."
For awhile, they are trapped in silence. Cameron catches Thirteen watching her lips as she sucks on her cigarette. Every time, the girl blushes and looks away.
"So, Dr. Cameron, do you have a first name?" Thirteen asks, curiously, still leaning comfortably against the wall.
Cameron grins, stomping her cigarette out on the pavement below. "That's really none of your business."
Thirteen rolls her eyes, realizing she's just been given a large dose of her own medicine.
"It's Allison." Cameron pops a stick of gum into her mouth and chews it vehemently. She offers one to Thirteen but the girl declines.
"I like Cameron a lot better. It suits you."
The doctor smiles and holds the door open. "Thirteen suits you too. A little sinister, mysterious."
Thirteen walks past Cameron and inside, tossing her a sly grin on her way. "You have no idea."
