Chapter 2
'What in the hell am I doing here?' House snapped to himself. 'I said I wasn't going to show up here.' he added as he looked around the hospital. Taking in all the formal wear, his eyes immediately searched out the bar and then Cuddy. Hoping that once he found her she'd silently just accept his presence he frowned as she began heading over towards him. He gratefully accepted the drink he had ordered from the bartender and walked to a nearby table to sit.
Cuddy smiled at him softly. "You're here?" she stated in faux surprise.
House rolled his eyes. "You threatened me."
Cuddy nodded. "I know. I'm just surprised it worked."
House shrugged with boredom. "I'm surprised you're fun bags haven't popped out of the skin-tight dress you have on there," he said then stared pointedly at her breasts and gulped down his first drink of the event. "Then again, they aren't really still completely in the dress now are they?"
Cuddy looked down self-consciously at her dress. "It's Versace," she said frowning.
House rolled his eyes. "I'm not sure why you thought I'd care. I'm not a female," he said boredly looking around the room again. "Or Wilson," he added as he saw Wilson heading towards them. House noticed Cuddy's preoccupation and stood up and walked back to the bar.
Cuddy looked up at House's retreating form and then over towards Wilson. "Look he's here," she said smiling.
Wilson nodded. "I see that," he said calmly before looking away from House's spot at the bar. "He's barely been here for five minutes and he's already on his second drink." he said nervously.
Cuddy looked at Wilson's worried expression. "Are you really that worried about tonight?"
Wilson scoffed. "You have House, Sebastian Charles and an open bar in the same room at a fashion show. How can you not be?" he said inquisitively. He started to head towards the bar but turned back around at her worried expression. "Nice dress, by the way. Is that Versace?"
xxxxxx
Foreman looked up at Wendy, with anger and disbelief dripping form his expression. "What did you do!" he yelled.
Wendy smiled nervously. "Ok, I
know what you're going to say. Just calm down Eric," she said
patronizingly.
"Calm down! Calm down? Are you serious?"
he yelled. "You're standing in front of me in a wedding dress
for God's sake! I will not calm down!"
Wendy sighed. "I don't know why you're so angry with me Eric," she said picking up a veil.
"NO! Put that down. Stop getting ready. I'm not doing this Wendy."
Wendy looked at him tiredly. "Not doing what Eric? We already agreed to this."
Foreman shook his head fast. "No. No. You agreed to this. I never signed up to play groom to your bride."
Wendy sighed sadly. "But, I love you."
"We broke up!" he yelled.
She frowned deeply. "I refuse to sit here and watch you turn into Gregory House! I don't for the life of me understand why you want to be alone Eric!"
"I don't!" he snapped. "I don't want to be alone. But I don't want to be with you!"
Wendy frowned and held back her tears. "And I intend to change your mind."
Foreman rolled his eyes and stormed off in search of Cuddy.
xxxxxx
Cuddy smiled warmly at Sebastian Charles as he approached her. "So the show starts in about twenty minutes. It should last about an hour and a half. Then the donation portion of the evening will begin and coincide with the dancing and cocktails."
Sebastian nodded. "Get enough liquor in people and the donations should start pouring in."
Cuddy smiled widely. "Exactly."
Sebastian smiled happily. "Sounds great...have you seen Dr. Cameron anywhere?"
Cuddy looked around for a moment before shaking her head. "No, she's probably in the back getting ready though." she said helpfully.
Sebastian smiled widely. "Thank you," he said politely, "Excuse me," he added before walking away.
"Of course," Cuddy said watching him head
towards the dressing room. She had barely turned around when she felt
a hand on her shoulder.
"Dr. Cuddy." Foreman said.
She smiled politely. "Dr. Foreman. Is there something I can help you with?"
Foreman nodded. "You can tell me that I don't have to be the groom."
xxxxxx
Cameron looked at herself carefully in the mirror. She loved her dress. It was perfect. The red fabric looked fantastic and reminded her of House's face the last time she had worn a red formal. She smiled widely at the memory of him speechless and then chastised herself for thinking about him. They were obviously going to be pretending the kiss had never happened and even that didn't upset her as much as House's fake cancer scare had.
He had terrified her. She thought he was dying and that she would lose another man that she cared about to cancer. He'd be lucky if she ever spoke to him privately again. Groaning as she realized that her thoughts were once again filled with House she briefly entertained the idea of beating her head against the nearest wall.
She wanted to talk to him. She could admit that. She wanted him to talk to her---to explain himself. She wanted him to explain why he had kissed her back with such passion and fervor. Suddenly realizing that she'd never know the real answer to that question she frowned.
"Now you look way too gorgeous for frowning," Sebastian said from behind her.
Cameron blushed slightly. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself," she said smiling at him.
"Thank you," he said smiling back.
"I meant to ask you earlier, how have you been feeling? Any relapse from the TB?"
Sebastian shook his head. "No, I'm perfectly healthy. I could use some more pills though."
"But you just said you felt fine..." she said confused.
"Do you have any idea how many people die from TB in Africa Allison?"
Cameron smiled. "I thought I told you not to give away all your pills," she said jokingly.
xxxxxx
Chase
walked confidently up to his modeling partner. He assumed she was new
to the nursing program since he had never met her. He smiled his
hundred-watt smile and held out his hand in an attempt to shake hers.
"Robert Chase," he said happily.
She rolled her eyes at
his smile. "Lizette Dumont," she said plainly and then
added, "And don't bother. I'm not even remotely interested
in you, no matter how good your shark story is."
Chase looked at her in shock 'Bitch' he thought to himself. He was surprised when he felt her slap him across the face, and even more surprised when she stormed out of the room.
Foreman laughed loudly from his hiding space that he was happy Wendy had yet to find. "That was brave man, calling her a bitch with her standing right there in front of you," he said before leaving once he noticed the angry look on Chase's face.
Chase angrily rubbed his cheek that was searing in pain and watched Foreman leave. Apparently he had said that out loud.
xxxxxx
Wilson had taken his eyes off of House for a split second, barely even that, and he had managed to disappear. For a cripple the guy sure could slink away awful fast. He caught Cuddy's attention and she walked over to him.
"What's wrong?" she asked noticing the nervous look on his face.
Wilson sighed. "I lost House."
Cuddy groaned. "Damn," she said softly before walking away.
xxxxxx
Losing Wilson hadn't been hard. House wasn't stupid. He knew Wilson was watching him. He felt Wilson's eyes on his every time he moved. So when a cute nurse had temporarily distracted Wilson, House seized the opportunity and darted out of the room as quickly as his leg would allow.
He hadn't intentionally been looking for Cameron. Or at least that's what he kept telling himself. But when he found her he was yanked into speechlessness. He could admit that she was breathtaking. He had never denied that. He had known that she'd look beautiful tonight. She had looked beautiful the year before at the poker tournament; this was a fashion show, so of course she was going to look exquisite. If he wanted to get technical, he could admit that she looked beautiful at work every day as well. He loved seeing her in red. He loved the way the color made every other feature she had pop. He loved the confidence the color seemed to bring to her eyes.
He hadn't been able to think about much else other than Cameron since the kiss, and seeing her now wasn't helping matters any. He remembered her pulling him to her by his shoulders. He remembered the intensity in her eyes, locked onto his blue eyes refusing to break contact. He shivered in remembrance of the way her fingers danced across his face trailing down to his lips.
He sucked in a deep breath squashing down the desire to trail his own hands down her arms across her bare shoulders. He decided that she wore the strapless dresses simply to torture him.
He watched her smile at Sebastian Charles and bit back a groan. He had a perfectly clear view of the two of them but couldn't make out what Cameron was saying. But he didn't miss the job offer that slipped from Charles' mouth. He rolled his eyes knowing Cameron wouldn't leave, but his stomach lurched when she smiled happily at Charles.
"Just
promise me you'll think about this. And I mean really think about
it. Don't just tell me you will and then don't. Consider it
Allison," Sebastian said hopefully.
Cameron nodded. "OK. I'll think about it," she said looking straight at him. Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Noticing that House was watching, she fumed angrily. He had no right to be eavesdropping on her conversation. Turning her attention back to Sebastian, she smiled warmly at him and kissed him gently on the cheek.
Ignoring the temporary confusion turned smugness she looked over at the clock and realized it was almost time to go. "I have to go. The show starts soon."
"Of course," Sebastian said.Remembering the Cameron who had been freezing him out since he lied about the cancer, he realized with perfect clarity that he may have pushed her too far. He realized that she might actually leave. And if he hadn't already had that revelation before he would have had it the second he saw her nod and agree to think about it.
He knew the moment she realized he was there. He watched her kiss Charles' cheek and squashed down the hint of jealousy.
He couldn't fathom the anger he was experiencing when she tried to breeze past him without a word. He didn't intentionally reach out for her. But he did. Wrapping his fingers around her wrist firmly, he ignored the nervous twitch in his chest and locked eyes with her. The intensity in her eyes scared the hell out of him. "Gearing up for a safari Cameron?" he asked snidely.
Cameron rolled her eyes and snatched her wrist out of his grasp. She looked like she might finally break, and she knew it. So she did the only thing she knew she could do, she stormed off.
House watched her storm off and tried desperately not to stare at her ass as it swayed. She was almost out of earshot when he yelled after her. "If you want out of your contract, you do realize that you're going to have to talk to me, right?" House groaned when Sebastian walked over to him.
"Polite society frowns upon eavesdropping Dr. House," he snapped.
"Society also frowns upon being a pompous ass but you're still here. I'm betting I'm safe," he said sarcastically.
Charles nodded. "But I have Dr. Cameron's respect."
"And you don't think I do?" House asked shocked. "You can offer her jobs all you want, she's not going anywhere. She has a contract."
Charles shook his head. "Dr. Cuddy can override you if Allison wants out."
House sighed and shook his head. "You don't get it. She won't want out."
"She..."
"She won't leave me," House said confidently.
Charles looked at him closely. "I'm offering her a chance to do some real good here, you honestly think she'd turn that down to stick around for a fellowship that's almost over?"
House smirked. "I never said she wouldn't leave my fellowship. I said me. She won't leave me," House said smirking widely before walking away.
