CHAPTER 3. EVERY NEW BEGINNING COMES FROM SOME OTHER BEGINNING'S END
Allison Cameron drove down the New York Thruway, her first trip
back to New Jersey in ten years. Her daughter, the light of her life,
lay in a bed at PPTH in a coma and running a fever, and nothing was
going to keep her away.
She'd thought about her last night at that hospital more times than
she'd ever admit. But it was the past. And now she was on her way to
confront that past and wasn't sure what to expect.
The party was over. Literally. She walked back to her office carrying
her going-away gifts, still trying to convince herself that leaving
was the right thing to do. She ticked off the list of reasons in her
head: her fellowship was almost over, she'd have more opportunities at
another hospital, she could be more useful somewhere else, she could
start over, make new friends, and build a new life for herself.
She wasn't running away, despite what House had said when she'd asked
him for a letter of recommendation. He'd had her write it herself and
then signed it without reading it.
If she were the type to run, she would have left months before. But she
had to be honest with herself, she had to include the real reason she
was going. Her relationships with her colleagues had become weird,
even intolerable. Yes, the rift between Foreman and her had been slowly
narrowing, but deep down she still couldn't forgive him for stealing
her paper and even worse for insisting they weren't friends. And she
still felt guilty for any damage she'd done to his brain. Then there
was her relationship with Chase. Things hadn't been the same between
them since she'd slept with him. She still cringed and blamed herself
for that one too.
And if she lived to be a hundred, she knew she'd never figure out what
her relationship was with House, or even if he cared about her as
anything more than a pretty possession. At the time, no matter what
she told him or anyone else for that matter, she hadn't been over him.
Maybe she still wasn't.
Both Chase and Foreman had been at her going-away party. They'd even
hugged her and wished her well, told her to come back for a visit, said
they'd visit her.
She hadn't expected House to be there, but she'd still been very
disappointed when he didn't show. That stung.
She reached her office and looked around. She put the gifts she'd
gotten at the party and the last personal items into a large box on
her desk and carried it out to her car, never looking back to the
place that had really been her home for the past two years. She stowed
the box in her trunk for her trip north the next day and drove to her
apartment.
Walking into the apartment, stopped to stare at more boxes. Just about
everything was packed for the movers to take in the morning. She tossed
her keys onto the counter and reached into the almost empty
refrigerator for a bottle of water.
She sat down on the couch, shoving over the box of CD's she'd packed
the night before. Caught up in her confused thoughts, she'd been
brought back to reality by a 'tap, tap, tap' at her door. She couldn't
enumerate all the emotions she felt as she walked to the door to open
it, running the gamut from anger to apprehension to hope.
House stood in the doorway, a wrapped package in his hand. "Sorry I
couldn't make it to your party. The hooker was having way too much fun
and I didn't want to leave her."
She stood facing him with her arms crossed against her chest and a
smirk on her face, but didn't say a word.
"Guess you didn't buy that, huh?" he said frowning. "Anyway, I got you
a going-away present." He shoved it at her. "Open it" he urged.
She examined the package, shaking it, then looking for a seam in the
pretty wrapping paper.
"Aw, just rip it!" he said.
"You took the time to wrap it, so I'll take the time to open it" she
insisted. Finally she found where the paper was taped and carefully
opened it. Inside was a small whiteboard and a package of dry-erase
markers. She smiled. "My very own board and markers! How can I ever
thank you?" she asked facetiously, but she couldn't help smiling. "I
guess you can come in." She held the door open wider and stepped back
so he could limp past her into the living room. She hugged his gift to
herself and then stuffed it into one of the open boxes.
"The last time you were here, it was to convince me to come back," she
said, then mentally kicked herself for even bringing that up.
"Yeah, well, not why I'm here," he said.
They stood there and stared at each other for a while. She wondered
'Is he going to torture me up till the last minute?' She shook her
head to clear it and asked automatically, "Can I get you anything?",
then realized there wasn't much left to get him.
"Nah, I just...um...wanted to say 'Good-Bye'," he said. He moved closer
to her, reached his hand out and cupped her chin. His blue eyes looked
deeply into her greenish-blue ones, then he seemed to come to a decision. He
pressed a sweet, chaste kiss to her lips.
Without hesitation, without any thought to the consequences, she let
her arm fly up and around his neck, and she kissed him back.
Suddenly, all the passion and longing he'd been able to suppress for
two years surfaced. He dropped the cane and held her tightly. When he
finally let go, without taking his eyes off of hers, he began to
unbutton her vest as she reached up to open his shirt. He started
to move towards the couch, but she shook her head, handed him his cane,
and taken his other hand in her smaller one to lead him to the bedroom
for a night she'd never forgotten.
But she was now a different person from that pathetic, needy young
woman. She was a mother and the head of the Infectious Disease
Department at her hospital, she had her own home and a circle of close
friends. As she approached the familiar buildings of PPTH, she did so
with some trepidation, but also with some self-confidence, ready to
deal with whatever she found.
CHAPTER 4. DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE NEWS
She stood outside the room watching them. The smiles on their faces,
even occasional laughter, touched her heart. She didn't remember ever
hearing him laugh. But she dreaded what he might say or do when he
saw her. Slowly, hesitantly she slid the door open.
Gretchen broke off in mid-sentence with an excited, "Mom!"
Cameron stood up a little straighter, pushing her shoulders back as
she walked to her daughter's side,ignoring House's eyes following
her. She hugged the child and said "You're awake", then winced that
she'd said the obvious.
"They said you were coming," Gretchen said, clinging to her mother.
"Nothing would keep me away." Reluctantly, Cameron turned to House and
asked "Have you found out why she's running a fever?"
He'd been studying her. Her appearance hadn't changed much, maybe a
little older but, if anything, more beautiful than ever. He stared
into her eyes, then said, "Not yet. All the tox screens were
negative and she's not responding to any of the antibiotics we've
tried." Would she demand to take the child away, now that he'd met
her? "You know we won't stop until we find out what's wrong?"
"Of course." A brief smile crossed her lips as she reassured him.
"You're still the best."
He looked at her once more, then started to leave. "I'm gonna see what
else my staff have found."
"Dad?" They both jumped when Gretchen said that. "You'll come back
later to talk to me, won't you?" the girl pleaded.
He smiled at her. "Sure, kiddo."
"House, I want to sit in on the differential," Cameron said emphatically
before he could move a way.
"You don't have practicing privileges here anymore, AND you're the
patient's mother," he answered, just as adamantly.
She didn't have to respond. Her eyes said 'and you're her father.'
"I don't expect to treat her, just sit in. Besides," she added "I've
got her medical records with me." She pulled a disc from her purse.
"OK." He finally made it to the door. "Fifteen minutes. You know where
we'll be."
Two pairs of eyes watched him limp away. Gretchen was the first to
speak. "He's just like you said he'd be! Totally outrageous!"
"By that, I guess you like him?" her mother asked, smiling.
"Much more than I thought I would," Gretchen answered.
Cameron began to adjust her blankets and pillow to mask her mixed
emotions. She really wasn't ready for this. She'd planned on having
almost one more year. Funny how life happened.
"Mom, don't fuss," Gretchen demanded.
"OK. But is there anything I can get you?"
"Maybe some water. I'm a little thirsty."
"Sure, sweetheart," Cameron said. She brought over a cup of water.
Gretchen drank it all. "I really, really like him," she muttered as
she drifted off to sleep.
Cameron found House's current ducklings sitting around a new conference
table and House, as always, writing on the whiteboard. Only it was
different from the whiteboard she'd known, not unlike the ones used at
the hospital in Albany. You could print out what was written on it,
and even save it to the computer file for the patient.
It was strange to see what he'd written and realize these were her
daughter's symptoms.
A short, stocky brunette rose when she entered. "Dr. Cameron? I'm
Leslie Sullivan. We spoke on the phone."
Cameron smiled at the young woman. "Thanks for calling me."
"People, we're doing a differential diagnosis here, not a meet and
greet."
Sullivan looked chastised, but Cameron said pointedly, "As the patient's
mother, I'd like to meet the doctors who are actually working on her
case, emphasis on the word 'working'."
"Oh, ho! Very nice comeback, Cameron. Now sit and listen. Remember,
you're the 'rent here, not the doctor."
She noticed he hadn't introduced the other two doctors, so she held
out her hand to the small Asian woman sitting next to Sullivan.
"I'm Allison Cameron," she said. The young doctor said, "Hong Yen",
but watched House's reaction, and seemed afraid to say more.
Cameron addressed the other doctor, a good-looking man. "I'm Gretchen's
mother, Dr. Cameron". He also seemed reluctant to shake her hand
because of House's earlier rebuke. "Dr. Benjamin Sheffield," he
announced.
"NOW, can we get on with this?" House stared at each of them in turn.
"What else have we got?"
"It appears to be viral," Yen said.
House nodded and noted that on the board.
"I recently had two cases of a new type of viral flu," Cameron suggested
but then decided she'd been pushing it.
House surprised her by responding. "The Brazilian flu?"
"Yes" she said. She wasn't surprised that he knew about this newly
discovered strain, just that he'd listened to what she'd said.
He nodded. "I've been researching that online."
"One of the indicators we found was that the platelets become
elongated," she told him.
"Huh?" Sheffield asked.
"Did you look at the blood, or just run it through the analyzers?"
Cameron asked him. House smiled at the exchange.
"Microscope time boy and girls," House said.
"I'll go," Yen said as she jumped up and headed for the lab.
"How did you treat your cases?" House asked Cameron.
"The new antibiotic, acofloxacin, seemed to work even though it was
a viral infection, rather than bacterial," she reported.
"The last article I read recommended that or kanamycin."
"You're the doctor," she reminded him. "I'm just the mother."
He stared at her a minute before turning to Sheffield. "Start her on
acofloxacin," House ordered and Sheffield left the room.
"Give Sullivan the disk with Gretchen's records," House told Cameron,
then promptly turned and walked into his office.