Chapter 3: Let's Get to the Drinking

Over the course of their meal, the two women had decided it'd be appropriate to move on (much to Thirteen's relief) to somewhat less personal subjects matters, such as things going on at the hospital, recent happenings in the city, or the weather in general. Both of them were very much aware of the strangeness of their current situation, and quite affected by how easy it was to talk to each other. As a result, they consciously made an effort to hold back, keeping in mind that before all of this, they were merely acquaintances. But the fact that they were drinking wine didn't offer much help at all, because the more they drank, the looser they felt, and well... there could be no more denying the energy that was drawing them together. Eventually, their slightly intoxicated minds settled for attempts at compromising. There wasn't any harm in making a new friend, was there? There's nothing wrong with talking. Nothing wrong with getting to know one another. They never had the chance to at the hospital, and this was a perfectly good opportunity; they were simply taking advantage of it. Through this way of reasoning, they felt less need to restrict themselves from opening up. If they were to get to know each other, they 'd have to stop beating around the rather personal issues. And by now, the amount of alcohol in their system was just enough to let them to lose all sense of judgement that is telling them to do otherwise.

"So... Cameron..." began the brunette, obviously with something in mind.

"Allison."

"Right. Allison," Thirteen corrected herself.

"Do I get to call you Remy then?" she asked eagerly. The blonde was more than satisfied when she received a nod in response. "Yes, Remy, what were you going to say?"

Thirteen took a sip of her wine and smirked. "I know you've answered me earlier, but let's face it, that was a totally lame excuse. What's the real reason why you came to work today?" She leaned forward on the table, waiting for a reply. As expected, the older doctor was not prepared for such a question and seemed hesitant in responding. "I'll tell you my reason if you tell me yours," she later added.

Cameron avoided her gaze for a moment, but at the same time, knew that she wasn't going to let this go. To be quite frank, Allison didn't mind telling Remy these things. For some odd reason, she felt that she could trust her. And she did want to know why Thirteen decided to spend Christmas Eve at the hospital too... So she might as well just tell.

"Okay. Well, ever since I broke off the engagement with Chase, my parents had been giving me a hard time about it. They liked him. They thought he was perfect. I mean he was kinda perfect, but, like the reasons I've mentioned...I just couldn't. My mother didn't talk to me for weeks." She poked around at the remainder of her salad with her fork. "I guess I understand how exasperated my parents were... When they found out about my first husband, Daniel, well, obviously they flipped out. They thought me marrying Chase was the best decision I could ever make, and when I told them that we were calling it off, they immediately thought that it was me who managed to mess up again.

"I'm single, and my parents are still angry with me. I didn't really know where else to spend the holidays so that's why I decided I'd hang around the hospital," she ended with a shrug.

Remy watched her carefully when she ended her little speech. She would never have imagined Allison Cameron alone for Christmas. That was Thirteen's thing, being anti-social as she is. She never expected someone like Cameron to have family troubles. Her eyes met the blonde's and she realized that it was now her turn to give her reason.

Remy cleared her throat. "Well," she started. "Like you, I didn't know where else to spend Christmas either." She averted her eyes, knowing that the difficult topic was bound to come up. "I know I should've gone to visit my father...but if I did, he would see right through me and I'd eventually have to tell him that I tested positive for Huntington's." She felt Cameron's concerned eyes watch her, but didn't want to meet her gaze. "I know I'll have to tell him sooner or later, but not this year. No need to stress him out. He's gone through it once already...

"And I don't know if this is obvious to you or not, but I don't know a lot of people at the hospital. It's highly unlikely that I would spend the holidays with any of the guys on the team." Then Thirteen smirked at a thought. "I was thinking of getting totally wasted somewhere, but if that were the case, I'd probably end up back at the ER anyway, so I figured I'd save myself the trouble and just try to be productive by helping around PPTH." As she took a drink from her glass, Remy couldn't help but smile at another train of thought, one that she refrained from mentioning to her companion. Along with the plan of getting drunk off her ass, she was thinking of taking home some hot chick for the night. It was definitely better than spending Christmas alone. And she would've carried it out too, but the factor of Allison Cameron entered into the equation all of a sudden, and so now she felt no need to continue with that idea.

"Well I'm glad you decided not to go drinking. Who knows what you would've gotten yourself into," remarked the ER attending teasingly.

"Hey! I'm a responsible drinker... For the most part." This earned a laugh from both of them. Thirteen then checked her watch for the time. "Actually, it's still pretty early. I think I've got some time to hit a bar right after dinner." On this note, she received a displeased look from the woman across the table. "Come on. It's Christmas Eve. I'm allowed to have at least a couple of drinks tonight."

Cameron shot her another skeptical look. "By a 'couple', you really mean..."

"Bar hopping til I pass out."

"Remy..."

Thirteen's smile broke into a grin at her reaction. "I was just kidding, Cam. If I were to get wasted, I plan to do it in my own apartment. That way, I don't have to worry about getting myself into any trouble."

Unfortunately, that didn't erase the frown on the blonde's face. "I don't know about your drinking habits, and I'm no expert at these sorts of things, but I think getting wasted alone at home won't exactly guarantee that you'll be out of harm's way."

"Then perhaps I need someone to come along and drink with me to make sure I don't do anything stupid."

Allison immediately smiled at the indirect way in which she invited her over. Guess the rumors around the hospital were true after all – Doctor Hadley did have a way with words. "Perhaps," repeated Cameron, eliciting doubt on purpose while knowing for certain that she was going to accept Remy's invitation.

After a couple more minutes of conversing, Thirteen insisted that they should start heading back to her place, announcing that she's "got enough alcohol to last til New Years." They split the bill, after the younger doctor's failed attempt to pay for the entire dinner herself. As the two of them walked back to Thirteen's car, Cameron couldn't help but admire Remy's playful personality, as well as her chivalric nature when she eagerly opened the car door for her companion. As she had previously mentioned, the brunette's apartment was not far from the restaurant, and it didn't take long before they arrived. Following Remy into the building and up the flights of stairs, Cameron felt her heart pound rapidly. It was an odd feeling, for she knew that there was no reason to be anxious or particularly excited about anything. So she brushed it aside as an effect of all the wine she had drank.

They eventually came to a stop in front of a door with a number 3 on it. "Hope you'll excuse the mess. Wasn't exactly expecting anyone," Remy said, giving her a wink as she unlocked the door with her keys and pushed it open. The two women entered, walking past the glass divider and into the living room.

Remy took off her boots and threw her coat aside. "Have a seat. I'll take out the drinks."

As the taller doctor headed for the kitchen, Cameron took the opportunity to look around and examine the humble abode of the mysterious number Thirteen. Shedding her peacoat and taking off her shoes as well, she made her way towards a nearby shelf and briefly scanned through the items it contained. Naturally, there were dozens and dozens of books – but to her surprise, not only were they about medicine and diseases, but some were of philosophy, psychology, ethics, and even world history. Along with the texts were random arrangements of trinkets and ornaments that seemed to come from countries outside of the United States. Looking off to the side, the ER attending almost laughed out loud as her eyes caught a familiar marathon bib hanging by the edge of the shelf, with the notorious number 13, big and bold, printed in the center. It certainly brought back a lot of memories of House's elimination game a few years back. In all honesty, Cameron initially didn't expect him to hire her. It wasn't because she had heard that Thirteen failed to make sure the patient took his medicine – it was the mere fact that she thought Doctor Hadley looked too damn attractive to be that intelligent. It would be unbelievable for a woman as gorgeous as her to be qualified enough to work for the best diagnostician in the country. Let's face it, a person with a body as voluptuous as Thirteen's belonged to a modeling agency, not a hospital. But Remy Hadley had still managed to pull through, earning her very well-deserved spot on the team. And after a couple of weeks of watching the new ducklings at work, Cameron regretted that she judged her counterpart with such assumptions. Even from the ER, she'd been hearing about her accomplishments – all the patients she had saved and the cases she had solved singlehandedly. And apparently, Thirteen was very strong-willed as well, unafraid to stand up to her maniacal boss. House had mentioned how difficult it was to manipulate her into doing things for him, unless she was on his side. That in itself was a skill that Cameron admired to no end – the skill to remain unaffected by House's cynicism and narcissistic priorities, not to mention his conviction that he has the ability to play God. Although she must admit, the two of them did share some similar qualities, but Remy was definitely not as corrupted as him and never will be.

Turning around, she saw that Thirteen was bringing out a myriad of bottles and glasses onto the coffee table. Cameron approached her and widened her eyes at the selection of alcohol presented. "Everything from vodka to tequila to sake. Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Baileys, Absolut, Jose Cuervo, Remy Martin... You name it."

The blonde doctor stood still, pretty much in shock by the collection. Remy chucked at her reaction and plopped herself down on the couch. "Relax Cam, I'm not an alcoholic. Half of these aren't even opened yet. A guy who lived down the hall moved to London a few months ago, and he couldn't bring all of his stuff with him, so he gave me some of his booze." She filled up two glasses with ice and watched out of the corner of her eye as her companion seemed to ease up a little at her explanation. Allison took a seat next to her and began examining the labels on the bottles of alcohol one by one. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. I would've immediately judged you otherwise," she said jokingly.

Thirteen grinned at her. "So what do you want to drink?"

"What's good? You're the expert here."

Remy found her inexperience utterly adorable. Then again, as their evening had progressed, she was beginning to deem everything about Allison Cameron adorable. The brunette forcefully tore her gaze away from the ER attending's slender body and immediately snapped her thoughts back to the bottles on the table. "Um... Well, okay. We could start off light." Cameron watched on with fascination as Remy poured a bit of Irish cream into the two glasses, and carefully added some whiskey into the mix afterwards. After stirring the two drinks lightly, she handed one to her friend and shot her the most charming of her signature smiles.

"Cheers."

Ooooo. Things are gonna be interesting in the next chapter. Can someone say tipsy Camteen? :D

EDIT: I never realized that Cameron's first husband was unnamed. I had read some fanfic in which the author named him Daniel, and for some reason, it totally stuck with me ever since. I literally thought that was his name. It felt strangely suitable. Oh well. Minor detail.