Thirteen opened up her apartment, letting Chase go in first before she entered. The drive over had been terrible, the tension between them overwhelming. She had been trying her very best not to off him and was doing a good job thus far. That didn't mean she had to be nice to him. He was sleeping with her girlfriend after all.

She scowled. That was her fault.

It was hard for Chase not to notice the way she was looking at him, so he treaded carefully, made as little eye contact as possible, and kept quiet unless absolutely necessary. But right now, as she was leading him into the bedroom, the silence became unbearable.

"Sorry for doing this on such a short notice," he broke the silence.

The first words that came to Remy's mind were 'go to hell' and several other more colorful insults, but she was sure that wouldn't end very well, so she settled for no reply at all.

She walked over to the closet and put her hands to the handles. Noticing how he was staring over her shoulder, she ordered, "Wait in the living room."

"Uh, sure," he answered hesitantly, not sure what to make of it. Then he remembered. "Allison said something about a purple shirt. She seemed pretty insistent on getting that one back." Thirteen looked in Chase's general direction, staring off into space for a moment before catching his eyes.

"It ripped. We threw it away." Her voice was monotone, almost forced.

"Right. I'll be in the living room." With those words he left. The way she had talked and looked at him didn't sit well with him. The thought that he should've told someone that he went to retrieve Cameron's things from Thirteen's place suddenly sounded like a pretty good idea. In case he wouldn't show up at work the following day.

Remy opened the closet and almost immediately came across the shirt on top of a stack of other tops. She took the shirt and studied it for a moment. It wasn't really purple. She'd have described it as some dark, bluish purple. There was probably a fancy name for a color like that. The main reason she remembered the shirt was because it had the honor of being the first garment that she was allowed to strip off the blonde. Well, technically, Allison had done it for her, right before she had examined her back.

Biting back a sigh, she put it to the side. She didn't want to give it away to Chase, of all people, so he could please Cameron. It was spiteful and childish, but she didn't care.

She couldn't prevent the memories from bothering her as she looked over the rest of the clothing. They had arranged the closet together, like the happy couple they used to be. To pack and give away the clothes felt like the end of their relationship had been made hard reality.

She gritted her teeth, willing away any thoughts as she grabbed a pile of shirts.

Allison sat in the locker room, staring at the ground. She had forgotten so many things, even the uninteresting ones in this particular room. Changing for work, getting the lock on her locker fixed, throwing out her old, comfortable shoes she wore to work, saying hi to other passing doctors—the brief vibration of her mobile alerted her of a message.

She took out the device and flipped it open, selecting the txt message she had received from Chase. 'DVD after work?'

She sighed. She didn't feel like seeing a movie. She felt like a bottomless pit in which her memories had been tossed, and relaxation time and casual conversation were the last things on her mind. Why her mood had been getting worse over the past few days, she didn't know, but she was feeling down today and that was exactly what she was going to txt him.

She began typing the rejection of the idea, rewording it once or twice and accidentally exiting the proper screen by pressing the backspace function once too often. Her eyes widened; her inbox was mainly filled with messages from a person named Hadley.

Quickly, she searched through the messages, affirming her sudden suspicions. A lot of those messages had been plain, uninteresting, and/or friendly, but few of them left little room to the imagination. She had definitely been seeing Hadley for at least – she checked the first message – a month. She knew that she deleted her messages regularly, so it could have been longer. "But a month?"

She looked at her mobile in utter disbelief. She had been cheating.

"So, how's life?" House sat himself down next to the patient Cameron was treating. Well, not so much treating as she was in the process relocating his shoulder.

"Oh, dear Jesus on a stick!" he cursed when she pulled the limb back into its proper place. When he noticed the looks he was given, he smiled sheepishly and turned his eyes away, meekly rubbing his shoulder.

"Anyway," House continued nonchalantly, "how are you digging life without your girlfriend?"

"Chase and I are still together," she answered before she could help herself. She closed her eyes for a moment to ignore the grin on House's face, let out a sigh, and then decided to walk away. House would follow and that way they'd have the privacy to have the inevitable Talk. And follow her he did.

"Of course you are," he said plainly. "Have you had sex already?"

"What?" She stopped in her tracks, looking at him disbelievingly.

"So you have," he concluded, looking thoroughly interested.

"No!" she uttered hastily, almost disgusted. She had expected strange questions, but this was beyond strange and plain nasty.

"Why not?"

"Because," she had it all figured out, she knew. There was a really good reason for not having slept with her loving boyfriend. So good in fact, that she was momentarily stumped as to why he was asking for said reason. "I… I don't know. Because."

"It's because he doesn't shave his legs, isn't it?" The mocking tone returned to his voice. When he didn't receive a coherent answer, he wondered out loud, "Or maybe it's because of the stubble." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You're not making any sense."

House opened his mouth to say something, but before he could produce any sounds an angry voice interrupted, "House! Get your ass here!"

"Have you seen the game yesterday?" he asked as if they were discussing sports, ignoring the way Cuddy was storming over with killer intent. "Talk about action!"

The dean eyed House suspiciously before turning to Cameron. "Dr. Cameron, is he bothering you?"

"Now why would I go and do that?" The surprise in his voice was obvious. "We were just discussing baseball, weren't we?"

"No, we weren't," she responded almost immediately. She spared a glance over his shoulder, noticing a patient that needed her attention. "Excuse me."

When Cameron was out of hearing range, Cuddy turned to House. "Just leave her alone," she half ordered, half asked.

"What? Are you afraid she might end up enlightened and happy?" he asked, staring her down.

"You know I don't agree with Dr. Hadley's wishes either," she returned the stare in kind, "but we have to respect them. They're not our affairs to be meddled with." She forced the last part out, showing that she didn't particularly like it either.

"Have you ever heard of the catchphrase 'see no evil'?" He raised his eyebrows, apparently trying to imply something. Cuddy seemed to consider it, switching her weight from one foot to the other.

"I'll be in my office," she said, leaving a victorious House behind.

He searched the ER, finding the blonde immediately, and approached her again. When she heard the telltale sounds of his walk, she turned to him face him. "What do you want?"

"So many ways to do this and only one try to get it right!" he exclaimed almost giddily, noticing the strange way in which she was looking at him. "Well alright, maybe a few tries." She raised an eyebrow. "And a hint."

"Just get on with it," she urged.

"So impatient," he muttered, eying her disapprovingly. "How's your memory?"

"The same. Wait—that was what you were bothering me for?"

"Music can carry a lot of emotion, maybe even memories. You should listen to your new CDs," he said, seriously enough for Cameron to consider it, but casually enough for her to get suspicious.

"What new CDs?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't just say it for the hell of it.

"How should I know? Ask your girlfriend." He smiled when he pronounced the last word, but his jovial behavior faltered when he was met with a blank look. "Oh, right, Chase." He rolled his eyes. "Enjoy your 2009 and happy hunting."

Cameron frowned as she watched him walk away. Had Chase done something over the last few months to earn him the nickname 'girlfriend'?

"It feels wrong," Chase's voice came through. Remy stopped before fully opening the door to the lab.

"You're going to tell me about your problems with Cameron, aren't you?" Foreman asked, sounding bothered. Thirteen couldn't will herself to move forwards, instead listening in on the conversation.

"In the beginning everything was okay; it seemed to be going well. I wasn't expecting things to become like they used to be, but things are just getting worse. She's slowly slipping away." Her eyes searched the door. It might have been inappropriate (well, not really), but she was relieved to hear that.

"You're going to tell me," Foreman deadpanned.

"I'm not sure what to think of it anymore, it feels like I'm forcing myself onto her."

"In a way, you are. She just doesn't know any better."

"That's just it. She thinks she doesn't know, but she does." Her eyes shot up, widening. "It's in the way she turns away from me after we kiss, the way she sighs when she picks out clothes I know belong to that woman," she smiled forlornly, feeling a strange sense of pride well up inside her, "how she has picked up these little habits—"

"Then tell her."

"I should, but I can't. Not unless she asks for it herself." Chase sounded frustrated and disappointed.

"Look, Thirteen doesn't know what's good for her. Ignore her. Do what's best for them both." Her eyes fell on the door handle as guilt started to consume her. Even Foreman was disagreeing with her. After the strange behavior he had been displaying over the last few days, that was a considerable feat. And by the sound of it Cameron was starting to remember on some unconscious level. If she wasn't, there was a pretty good chance Chase would tell her anyway.

She turned away from the door, disconcerted, a hand traveling up to cover her mouth. Allison would go mad if she found out what kind of stunt she had pulled this time. She would be praised as the luckiest woman on earth if they ever managed to get out of this unscathed.

A crash startled her from all the doom scenarios, followed by a few curses coming from Foreman. Remy hadn't noticed when it became silent, but when she did, she opened the door, pretending to have been reading the results in her hand as she walked in.

"Hey you!" Cameron snapped out of the thoughts she had sunken into, initially assuming that the black-haired man coming right at her was yelling at someone behind her, but was proved wrong when he stopped in front of her. His overall rugged but kind look and eyebrow piercing stood out the most.

"Can I help you with anything?" she asked as professionally as possible, even though the man was sending out casual vibes. In the last few days she had learned that her instinct was her best friend, but that wasn't nearly as safe as common sense.

"Naw, not really," he slurred slightly, flashing his teeth as he smiled widely. "You're Remy's girl, aren't ya?"

"I- who?" she asked, now intrigued at the sudden whirlwind of emotion bubbling up inside her.

"Aw dayumn, she ain't told you her name? That's harsh, man." He sympathized visually, frowning in disapproval. "And ya two looked so close too."

"Who are you talking about?" Desperation washed over her suddenly when he mentioned she had been close to someone called Remy. It felt important, so much so that she felt it physically. It was weighing down on her limbs almost painfully.

"The girl you was with last week, at the club, y'know?" His disapproval was replaced with slight confusion. "That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," she improvised, not because she remembered, but because she needed more information. "I just drank too much and everything's a little woozy." It was odd, lying about something she had no recollection of because 'it felt important,' but she shrugged if off and continued, "I didn't embarrass myself, did I?"

"Naw," his smile returned and it probably would have been infectious if she wasn't feeling so helpless, "you were all fun and smiles." He nudged her in the shoulder with a fist and winked. "I bet ya got lucky, didn't ya?"

"I got… lucky?" she asked, the question directed more at herself than at him. She tried imagining going to a club with friends and leaving all fun and smiles with Chase, but she couldn't; it sounded like a fantasy gone wrong.

"Yah, you two were all over each other. Don't deny it." He smirked, and Cameron realized that for all that he was implying, it didn't come off as creepy at all. "Oh! So sorry!" he said suddenly, as if he realized something. "I din't introduce myself. I'm Vincent. I'd shake your hand, but the missus gets impatient easily." He spared a glance over her shoulder and started for some place behind her.

"Uh, yeah, by all means, go," she said lamely, dazzled by all the feelings the conversation had awakened within her. Remy seemed like a very good friend of hers. She should search into that. Maybe she knew about this Hadley person.

Well, House certainly was lame in this chapter.

Next chapter, some Camteen/Cadley/Thiron interaction. I hope. And you might have noticed the awesome grammar and punctuation (well, at least I hope it is), which is made possible by my newly acquired beta, Meiyo. If the updates are slow, spam her. Her email address is- no, just kidding :P

The slow update has nothing to do with me, playing Prototype at ungodly hours. The Sims is still awesome, but Prototype is love.

I have no life.