A/N: This chapter starts the introduction of some original characters. As someone who hates when the OCs start cluttering up a fic, I kept the number of them as realistically small as possible while maintaining the focus of the story on House and Cameron. When I wrote this, I had given up on TPTB ever giving us some background on Cameron beyond the nameless dead husband, so I gave her one of my own. Apparently, I was right, since even Chase doesn't get to know her dead husband's name, nor did anyone (her father) walk her down the aisle at the kangaroo court wedding. /bitter rant Okay, on with the chapter... lol
Her brother's truck rattled along the lonely stretch of road at a steady clip, as if trying to out run the sunlight spreading across the morning sky. She ignored the cup of coffee in her grip and turned to study her brother's profile as he drove, yawning deeply as she did. His dark hair was cut short, his arms and chest well muscled. He looked more like a man now than the last time she'd seen him, with a touch of gray along his temples and crinkles of laughter around his eyes. At the moment, his mouth was set in a tight line, a sure sign that he was worried.
"You get much sleep on the plane?" he asked, glancing at her briefly.
"I dozed a little," she answered and yawned again, leaning her head against the window.
"If you want, I can take you straight home so you can get some sleep," he offered.
"NO!" She jerked her head up and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm fine. I just want to see dad. Besides, I'm guessing you didn't get much sleep either."
"No," he admitted with a yawn of his own. "Not really."
"Matthew..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say. If he needed reassurance, well, she didn't have any to spare at the moment. All she had was a lot of questions and a great deal of worry. "What exactly happened last night?"
His lips turned downward, his knuckles whitening as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. "I'm not sure. I just found him out back, lying in the grass. He was conscious, but so weak he couldn't get up. He's not been feeling well for about a week. Just thought he had the flu. The doctor's haven't given us any answers yet." He turned toward her, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. "He's a tough old guy, Ally. I'm sure he'll be fine."
She could picture her dad now, larger than life in a faded button down and blue jeans, whistling a Nat King Cole tune as he went on his evening walk. He'd worn a path through the field and out to the little creek that ran across the back corner of their property.
Most nights she'd gone with him, holding tight to his hand and grinning as he'd wink down at her. On those days, they'd travel a little further along the creek and see what new species of insect or plant life they could find before darkness fell: cream colored blossoms of the buckeye trees that later turned to large brown nuts, fringed prairie orchids, Queen Anne's Lace, spider wasps and ground beetles, both of which made her shudder a bit with fear. They'd kept a journal of their findings, marked in her childish penmanship; a treasure that she still kept on her bookshelf. He'd triggered her interest in science at a young age and fed it with books and weekly trips to the library throughout her childhood. And when she'd decided to become a doctor, he encouraged her wholeheartedly.
She smiled weakly back at Matt, grateful for his presence, his words of comfort. There was so much knowledge in her head about all the things that could go wrong, all the diseases that were fatal, and those thoughts were crowding out all others. She was having a hard time separating idoctor/i from idaughter/i.
Twisting a bit in her seat to face him, she asked, "So, how's fatherhood?"
For a moment he lost the worried expression and grinned at her, his brown eyes lighting up with pride. "It's great!" he exclaimed. "'Bout time you got out here to meet the little guy."
"He's only four months old, Matt. Besides, you know I was planning on coming out this summer."
"I know," he conceded. "But wait until you see him."
She smiled indulgently as he extolled the virtues of his infant son. Most new parents were the same; she'd seen it enough times at work, but she had to admit she was eager to get her hands on her new nephew. A little joy in the midst of all the worry.
Baby Greg, she thought. It was kind of amusing in a weird way that her nephew's name was Greg. Of course, her thoughts detoured to the only other Greg she knew, pondering his behavior of the night before.
Matt had just finished describing how baby Greg was very close to sitting up all on his own, and how he was sure that the little guy had said "Dada" just the other day when he grew quiet again and looked at her curiously.
"You're not even listening anymore, are you?" he asked, laughing lightly.
"I'm listening. Sort of," she admitted sheepishly. "It's just, my boss...his name is Greg. Not that I ever call him that. It's just weird to hear that name."
He nodded, looked at her reluctantly and then plunged ahead, "You have a thing for him?"
Sucking in a quick breath, she stuttered, "I...How...What makes you ask that?"
"I don't know. Maybe the way you sounded when you were talking to him on the phone. All whispery and stuff."
She laughed then, hard and long, clutching her stomach and trying not to spill her coffee. It wasn't funny. Except it was in an absurd way. She had fallen for her grumpy, bitter, older boss, and apparently she couldn't even hide it from her brother who, after all, had never met the man.
Matt was looking at her now as if she'd lost her mind, which only made her laugh harder. Maybe she really had lost her mind. After a moment, she sobered up and tried to explain. "Yeah, I guess I do have a thing for him. It's just... really complicated."
"Really? He's not married, is he?" he asked, frowning.
"No, of course not. You know me better than that," she scolded.
"Yeah, sorry." He gave her a sheepish smile. "I suppose the fact that he's your boss makes it difficult."
"Yeah, that's it," she answered, her voice tinged with sarcasm. "It's not that exactly. It's just that House is...rude, abrasive, sarcastic, caustic, obnoxious..." She barely refrained from laughing again at the look on her brother's face.
"Right. I can see why you like him then."
"You didn't let me finish," she said with a soft chuckle. "He's...Underneath all the layers there's a heart in there somewhere. I think... he feels things more deeply than most people, but he doesn't want anyone to know that. But when he looks at me, I can see it in his eyes. And sometimes he does things that are uncharacteristically kind, like last night when he booked my flight and drove me to the airport. He's also the smartest person I've ever met. He...he challenges me, and I like that. Plus he's sexy as hell."
"I did not need to know that last part," he quipped, rolling his eyes.
That almost sent her into another fit of giggles, but they were stifled immediately by her next thought. "He...he doesn't share my feelings, so it doesn't really matter what I feel."
Matt frowned and glanced at her, opening his mouth and then closing it again like he couldn't decide what to say. "I'm sorry, Ally," he finally murmured. "You deserve to be happy."
"Don't worry about me, Matt," she reassured, "I am happy. I have a good job and people I care about. I'm fine."
Hoping that conversation was over, Cameron took a swig of lukewarm coffee, grimacing at the bitter taste.
"H-how's Mom?" she finally asked, staring down at her feet.
At the timbre of her voice, Matthew shot her a glance. "She's okay. She's just so worried about dad, ya know?"
She nodded, even though his eyes were back on the road. "You told her I'm coming, right?" There was a hint of insecurity in her voice that she hated, and wondered if she'd ever overcome. How old does a person have to grow before they stop needing to feel a mother's love or approval, she wondered. Was there a magic age where it simply disappeared? Or would it fade slowly over time, lessening each day until one day you realized it was gone?
"Yeah, I told her." He paused, looking at her gravely. "Ally, she loves you. You know that right?"
Her mind went blank for a moment, wondering how she was supposed to answer him. No Matt, I don't know that. I've never known if she loved me or even liked me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've been nothing but a constant disappointment to her. But she couldn't say any of that to Matthew, because he hated quarreling and discord. Matt was always the one trying to smooth out all the wrinkles in the family dynamic. And she had no desire to upset him.
"Of course," she answered, her voice sounding meek and faraway. After that, she grew silent and took up staring out the window at the passing scenery.
She had forgotten what it was like to see miles of land stretched out and flattened before her. Despite it's reputation, New Jersey was a beautiful place to live, mountainous and rugged and sort of wild. She liked that within a few hours she could be in New York City, standing amidst the hustle and bustle, horns honking and streets teeming with life, or walking on the beach watching the Atlantic roll in and play tag with the shore. She really didn't miss the long stretches of farmland laid out end upon end. The monotony of life here gave her a feeling of hopelessness; the way changes came so slowly that they were almost unnoticeable.
Finally they came to a small town. They called them cities here, but that misnomer just made her laugh. Since the last time she visited there were quite a few changes. Businesses sprouted up in the fertile fields where crops had once grown. Small places struggling to make it: mom and pop video stores and pizza parlors, a bike repair shop, a few fast food joints. And most of them competing against a large Wal-mart where she knew her sister-in-law did most of her shopping.
Soon they were pulling up to the hospital; another newer structure that was barely bigger than one of the smaller buildings on the entire of the PPTH campus. It was neither ugly, nor attractive. It just was. But if it served its purpose of helping people, her dad especially, that was all that mattered to her.
She took a deep, steadying breath and followed her brother through the doors.
