Firstly, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who reviewed (and voted!) – it's a mega ego-boost! I have been reading House fiction on this site for a while now but finally decided to give it a bash myself. I'm also sorry about the spelling and grammar – us tech-girls don't do inglish very well :p The other issue is I am from the UK but have tried to 'Americanise' where possible – although this has apparently resulted in me just mixing up my terms – one minute using 'elevator' the next saying 'kerb'! I have decided to give up so I am warning my American House fans that anything I write will have UK terminology and 'u's!
Also, sorry it has been so long since I updated this – been quite a busy month and seen as quite a few people seemed interested I didn't want to make a complete hash of the rest of it! I have decided to pad it out a bit more than I first thought so I hope you enjoy the rest...promise to update soon:)
"Next time implies I will give you another chance"
"You could at least give me time to practice, and I think you enjoy a bit of competition. Not going to take the helmet off?"
-----CCC-----
"Maybe next time" With that she hit the starter, a few revs and was soon out of sight, for once in his life, he was speechless.
Cameron hadn't quite decided what to do about her little encounter with House, she was certain that thanks to the blacked out visor he had no idea it was her and was more excited by the idea that she could get so much closer to him pretending to be a total stranger. On the other hand, if he did 'catch' her she would no doubt suffer for it and be humiliated even more than usual, tricky, very tricky! The week had been sluggish and much of it spent under mountains of House's paperwork, nothing important but unlike the guys she would feel to guilty just messing around in between clinic shifts. On the Friday morning however she was rudely awakened from what had been a very pleasant dream by ringing. "Need you, now!" "What's going on?" "Patient, can't wait and we need an answer" "Is House there yet?" "It's 5am – what do you think?" "OK, I'm leaving" As most of her conversations with Foreman, it was short and sweet which sometimes she was very glad of, unlike Chase who always seemed to have an agenda, and House who seemed incapable of just asking a simple straightforward question without 5 lines of subtext. In the space of 10 minutes she had dragged herself up, quickly washed and changed, and was on her way to the car-park in her building – something about arriving home and going back to work when it was dark was quite wrong.
"Shit, not now, please not now!" The pitiful groan of the starter told her the old girl wasn't even going to attempt to move today, it had been acting up for a few weeks and she had just put off going to the mechanic for fear of the bill. Now however, she was regretting this. "Dammit!" she yelled as she slammed a fist on the dashboard, just as her phone started ringing. "Are you on your way yet?" Chase, pain in the ass "The car's acting up – i'll be there as soon as I can" "Well hurry it up, we don't have all day" Push me again - roo!! "Alright!" She got out and slammed the door, not locking it in case she had the luck that someone might steal the thing. As she headed back upstairs to call a cab she caught sight of the bike, perched on it's stand, taunting her. She had never taken it to work, never really used it as a mode of transport but the idea of having to call and wait on a cab seemed ludicrous when she could be at the hospital so much quicker using her own wheels. "Well, if needs must!" With a quick run upstairs she grabbed her gear and quickly slipped it over her outfit, and in 5 minutes she was roaring into the hospital car-park, praying no one would be hanging around, of course, why would they – it is 5.30 in the morning after all.
Stopping off at the locker room to ditch her helmet and riding gear she was making her way down the hall to the conference room to see why she was beating world records to get here in the first place – as it turns out she could have done with getting here 10 minutes quicker. Foreman was gripping the whiteboard as he frantically scribbled symptoms as Chase paced the room muttering to himself – it was going to be a very long day.
---HHH----
"Urghhh" He squinted at the red piercing display hoping against all odds it was actually reading '15:30' instead of '5:30' as the last glimmer of hope faded the phone rang again – there wasn't much point in really answering, there was only one reason he would get a phone call at this time, or any time really. House managed to brush his teeth and splash water on his face before locating yesterdays jeans on the floor and pulling them on. The first t-shirt that came to hand was navy with a white triangle in the middle, a ray of white light changing into a spectrum running through it – one of his favourites although he usually avoided wearing band t-shirts to work, it would give too much away he felt and although he liked nothing more than probing into the personal lives of everyone around him, his personal life was never up for grabs.
It was just after 6 when House swung into the Princeton Plainsboro car park and rode up to his usual spot, only to be greeted by an intruder. "Holy..." No way, it couldn't be the same bike, had to be a coincidence. No sooner had the word 'coincidence' entered his mind than he mentally scolded himself for using it – he didn't believe in coincidence and certainly was not about to change his belief for something so obvious as this. Maybe I have an admirer. Although to any stranger House bore closer resemblance to a tramp than a doctor, he wasn't always so scruffy. When he was younger, House never had any problems attracting females, and he was proud of this, always clean shaven and dressed in stylish – but not trendy clothes. It was only after his infarction that he had something to hide, and how better keep people away than to look like you might be about to ask them for spare change. It had worked so far, but beneath this stubble and scruffy, greying hair, he knew he still had it – i mean, if you can a nun you can pretty much get anyone.
Parking his fireblade next to the blue racing bike, House made his way to the conference room, to find the guys still frantic and Cameron (mental note – grey suit trousers, white shirt, matching waistcoat – subtle pinstripe, hair tied back) flipping through test results. Here we go... "Morning my little beavers – how's the dam?"
"Bursting" Foreman snapped, his gaze still not leaving the whiteboard.
"Excellent" As much as it literally pained House to be up and working at this time, this was his haven, the best distraction he could ask for.
------HHH-------
Within an hour the team was forced to make a call – one or the other meaning possible life or death for the patient and despite his barking orders at the them based solely on his arrogant assumptions Cameron had managed to overrule House, the fact was she actually had medical evidence, and without her that day they would have lost their first case in a long time. Of course, instead of relief that they had saved the poor guy, this had left House in a horrendous mood – for once it seemed Cameron's work ethic of 'stay in the lab till you find an answer' had worked. As the afternoon wore on, House sent Foreman and Chase home, purely because they were annoying him, thankfully Cameron was on clinic duty so at least she couldn't gloat, although he knew that she was even above that.
----CCC-----
When the clinic closed it's doors at 7 Cameron made her way back to the conference room to pick up her bag and call it a night – despite being exhauster, malnourished, and slightly smelly from the kid with the projectile vomiting issue, she was content, she had done her job and that's all that mattered.
"Pleased with yourself?" Jesus, House! Her head snapped round to see his distinctive silhouette filling the door frame between the conference room and his office.
"Shouldn't I be?" Ask questions, look smart, expect smart-arsed comment from boss
"Yes, you should, a year ago you would never have the balls to tell me I was wrong, now you almost all grown up"
"Thanks – I think" Bastard, sometimes you just couldn't tell if he was complimenting or insulting you "I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow"
"Mm, bring cookies" She nodded and gave him a small smile as she headed to the car park via the locker room again.
Cameron was just about to hit the starter on the bike when she heard him shout "You're in my spot!"
OK, don't give yourself away Alison "I don't see any name here – and I don't plan on being here much longer"
"Good, I'm a cripple you know, the extra 6ft walking makes all the difference" He quickly looked the rider up and down, the heavy over-jacket and trousers made it hard to tell whether or not this was his mystery woman from the night before, the bag did look oddly familiar though, he just couldn't place it.
Realising any more chat and she would probably get caught, Cameron hit the button, revved the engine and left the car park before he got too close.
