Hello everyone :) So sorry that this one took so long, but like some of you know, I went to Europe for a week. It really was wonderful, and I plan on going back there one day for sure. I know I will be going during the summer though, as the coldness was a little too much for my weak, Australian bones to take haha. But really apart from that, it really was a wonderful experience, to the point where I haven't been able to write this or even my assignments since I've been back as I'm still on a complete high :D
I hope this one is okay though, and that you enjoy it! Oh, and see if they can pick up on the book reference in there…
Enjoy :)
Somewhere Only We Know
Chapter Four
;';
"Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky"
...
Cameron's eyes slowly drifted open, as the first signs of morning began to appear in Wilson's guest bedroom.
She had been unbelievably grateful for the oncologist's hospitality. She knew though that he did like the company. It had been months since House had moved out to alternate between his old condo and Cuddy's, and Wilson now had their huge apartment all to himself.
She gingerly rose to her feet, and walked out to the hall. She had found the perfect centre for Alex to stay whilst she was at work, which specialized for caring for children with disabilities, as well as illnesses like Alex's…so she needed to get him up and ready. She walked into the room that he was sleeping in, and sat down in the large armchair next to the bed.
She smiled as she watched him sleep, making tiny whistling noises with each breath he took. He was by far the best thing that had ever happened to her. He was her anchor, her last piece of home…the one person in her life that she knew she could count on until her last breath.
She could go a few minutes now without thinking about Alex's condition…Sometimes even an entire hour. However, as soon as the day began to slow down, and night began to set in, those thoughts rose back up from their graves like the persistent ghosts that they had become, and it would start all over again.
Granted, the pain hadn't been as intense as it had in the beginning, and for Alex's sake she had taught herself to keep her emotions at bay…but she knew that wasn't because she was getting over the unbearable pain. She was just learning to get used to it.
Like a callous forming over a vulnerable stretch of unprotected skin, her heart was simply trying to protect itself from the ache that would no doubt always be there, no matter how many years went by. She'd been through this before. At least this time she knew what to expect.
She had been contemplating the horrible, yet necessary idea of telling him that he could be dying for quite some time. However, trying to explain that to a child, who was still a couple of months off turning three, presented as a challenge itself.
That's where Wilson's experience with terminal children had turned into a Godsend. He had explained to her that Alex knew what was going on without it needing to be explained. Children, even the very young ones, were surprisingly insightful. Alex would know from listening to the adults around him, as well as what was going on in his own body that there was something wrong.
A few weeks before they had moved back to Princeton, Alex had asked her to look after his teddy bear once he was gone. It was in that one moment, that the brutal realization hit Cameron that he knew what was happening. She had pulled him into her arms, and cried uncontrollably for over an hour…And throughout her breakdown, he had never once tried to move out of her clutches. He just nuzzled his head into her neck, and played with her hair, while the heartbreaking sound of sobs poured out from his mother's mouth.
A small tear fell from Cameron's eye as she watched her son sleep, yet she made no move to wipe it away. She moved her hand to his head and ran her slender fingers through his dark hair. She quickly pulled her hand away however when she heard him begin to stir.
His eyes suddenly fluttered opened, and he sat up quickly and looked around the unfamiliar room a few times in uncertainty. Cameron quickly ran her hand down his back in an effort to comfort her bewildered son.
"Hey, it's just me." She soothed when he jumped.
He turned his head suddenly in her direction, and his bright blue eyes met hers, calming quickly when he saw his mother. "Hi Mommy."
"Hi Baby." Cameron smiled as she continued to rub his back in small, comforting circles.
The little boy gave no verbal response, instead placed one tiny arm on Cameron's, and the other on her neck, gesturing for her to pull him onto her lap.
Cameron smiled and did as he wished, wrapping her arms around his tiny form as he sat on her lap.
"It otay Mommy." The little boy said softly as he reached up and ran his tiny hands across his mother's forehead, and Cameron's eyes involuntary fluttered closed. "Don't cwy."
Another tear slipped from Cameron's eye and she leant down and kissed the top of his head for a suspended moment.
She looked back up, and was suddenly startled when she noticed Wilson standing at the doorway, who was also clearly affected by the moment. Although Wilson had experience with this type of thing, he hadn't experienced it with a child that he had become extremely attached to like he had with Alex.
"I'm sorry." He said softly, obviously feeling bad about intruding upon the mother/son moment. "I just wanted to know what you two wanted for breakfast?"
"Powage Jimjim!" Alex chirped suddenly happier, and Cameron laughed slightly at the name that he referred to Wilson by.
She smiled as she picked him up and headed towards Wilson. The oncologist gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as they walked out to the kitchen…Both secretly grateful that House hadn't been there to call them a pair of saps.
...
The bright, vivid manifestation of midday light shone into the conference room, illuminating the glass walls, and warming its interior.
Eric Foreman and Robert Chase sat alone at the briefing table, consumed by a comfortable silence that they had developed after years of working together.
"So it really doesn't bother you?"
Chase's head suddenly shot up in Foreman's direction and he rolled his eyes. "For the last time, no."
"So it really doesn't bother you that Cameron found someone else and had a baby so quickly after she left you?" Foreman continued to prod, completely ignoring Chase's hostility about the issue. "I know Cameron said that Alex's father is some Joe guy that she used to know, but he's not yours is he?"
Chase suddenly glared at the neurologist, who clearly didn't see anything wrong with his question. "No, I've done the maths…He physically can't be mine."
"Math." Foreman corrected.
"What?"
"We say math in America, not maths."
The Australian rolled his eyes, and continued to review the patient chart in front of him.
"So what are you going to do?" Foreman spoke again.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
Chase looked up from the chart, and once again glared at the man across from him. "If you mean am I going to treat Allison like crap while she's here? Then no, of course not. She really needs us right now, both of us. I'm just going to try and be a friend to her and help her through this."
Satisfied, Foreman sat back in his chair. "It should all be very interesting anyway."
"Cameron's son is extremely sick and you think it's going to be interesting?" Chase asked in disgusted disbelief.
"No, not that." The neurologist snapped angrily. "I mean Cameron being back here is going to be interesting."
"How so?"
Foreman just glared at the man across from him. For such a smart doctor, Chase could be surprisingly dense. "She comes back here to find that Macy has not only taken her place on the team, but also her ex-husband. That's got to be tough for her." He paused for a moment as he watched a wave of guilt inhabit Chase's features. "And then there's House…"
"What about House?" The Australian injected quickly.
"Come off it Chase." Foreman scoffed. "You especially would know that House has always had a thing for Cameron." He paused as the guilt on Chase face turned to anger. "And you also know that he's been different. He's become more and more withdrawn and miserable if that's even possible. He's in pain again, and he's back on Vicodin. He just doesn't seem to care about the cases or the puzzles anymore." The neurologist looked to Chase for a moment to see if any of what he was saying was sinking in. "Surely it isn't just some huge coincidence that all of this started right after Cameron left."
Chase opened his mouth to respond, when Macy bounced into the room and beat him to it.
"Back from the lab." She smiled as she kissed Chase on the side of his head. "Miss me?"
"Of course." The Australian smiled to his girlfriend reassuringly, his mind however was still on the conversation that he and Foreman had just had.
Foreman groaned inwardly to himself. He really didn't have much of a problem with Macy as a person, although she had always been a little too "bubbly" and outspoken for his liking. In the year that she had been on the team, he never really interacted with her unless it was medical…And although he concluded that her medical ability left a lot to be desired, he was content to let that slip by, as Chase did seem to be genuinely happy for the first time since Cameron had left.
However, the public displays of affection between the two of them he hadn't liked. Hell, Chase and Cameron had been married, and their relationship hadn't created as much of a problem for the team as Chase's relationship with Macy had.
He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts, as House limped into the room.
"Hello my little chickadees." He said brightly, forcing Foreman to realize that there was something extremely different about their boss today. "What have we got today?"
"Ah…" Chase trailed off, clearly also noticing House's mood. "Still the thirty-six year old with schizophrenia…We did the detox as you said, but the symptoms just continued to get worse."
"Yeah, your alcohol diagnosis was wrong." Macy told House spitefully.
"Okay, okay. I get it." House responded in annoyance. "It's alright though, because the trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was".
Chase glanced at the test results that Macy had placed down on the table. "Looks like she's got an elevated white count.
"Cool, an infection." House said cheerfully as he poured the contents of a sachet into his coffee mug.
Foreman quickly looked to Chase who had an equally perplexed look plastered across his face. "You're actually interested in this case?"
House turned around from the coffee station and looked at Foreman in confusion. "Sure. Would you prefer it if I wasn't? Because I'm sure I could force myself to ignore it and go hang out with Wilson instead."
"No, I mean it's good that you are." Foreman said quickly, confusion still evident within his voice. "It's just that you haven't taken an interest in a case in ages…and this isn't exactly the most interesting one in the world."
House rolled his crystal blues as he came back to stand in front of the group, choosing to ignore the neurologist's interrogation. "Ideas people?"
"Cancer." Chase suggested quickly. "Explains the high white count, the fatigue, the weight loss and the fever."
"Doesn't explain the damage to the liver." Foreman pointed out. "HIV? Would explain the liver, the weight loss…"
"Not the high white count though." House injected, annoyed that he had to point that out to Foreman of all people.
"Rhabdo?" Macy asked.
"Aw, that's cute." House fawned with a slight smile. "Chase used to just pick ideas out of thin air that made absolutely no sense…You two are so good together." He said condescendingly before turning serious. "Come on people, think!"
Foreman, Chase and Macy all stayed silent, which caused House to grumble in annoyance, and put his mug down on the table.
"Seriously, you three are about as useful as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest." He said finally, whilst rolling his crystal blues and limping out of the conference room.
...
It had surprised Cameron just how quickly she had fit back into the workings of the ER. Luckily for her, there hadn't been a big staff overturn since she had been gone, so she was already familiar with most of the doctors and nurses in the department, as they were with her.
She had just finished stitching up a toddler's head that had run into a glass door. The little girl's mother had been hysterical, causing most of the other staff members and patients to roll their eyes. Cameron however had taken over the little girl's care, remembering how worried she had been when Alex had done the exact same thing.
She smiled whimsically to herself, remembering that day with Alex as she made her way back to the nurse's station. She was extremely hungry, but she pushed that thought out of her mind, intent on seeing more patients before lunch.
"Differential diagnosis for a thirty-six year old female with liver failure, fatigue, weight loss, fever and a high white count."
Cameron's head suddenly sprung up to look at House, her dark curls falling over her face as she did so. "House…what are you doing?" She asked in slight confusion.
"Got a case. Need your magical immunological powers." He quipped happily.
"Well right now my patients need my magical suturing powers." She rolled her eyes jokingly. "And anyway, you have a team for these things."
"They're idiots." He said as he leaned against the counter, looking her in the eyes grinning. "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
She threw him a look over her shoulder as she surveyed the ER. Unfortunately for once there were very few patients, and the ones that were there were already being taken care of, so she had no way to get away from House. Finally, she turned back to him. "Well then Mr. Genius, if you're so brilliant, then I think you can work out the diagnosis all on your own."
"Please?"
"Fine." She agreed reluctantly, annoyed at the thrill she got from diagnosing tricky cases. "Show me the file."
Happy with himself, House tossed her the file, and drummed his fingers along the counter as he watched her read it. "So, what's the diagnosis Doc?"
Cameron frowned for a moment, before closing the file and chucking it back at him. "Id say Cirrhosis." She paused for a moment as she watched a grin appear on House's face. "It explains the fatigue, the weight loss and the fever. The white count's high because the infection has attacked the liver…which I'm assuming you already tried to pin on alcohol."
She looked back up to House, who was continuing to grin. "…Why are you smiling…" She trailed off as a realization hit her. "You already knew that was the diagnosis?"
House merely nodded, and a smirk danced across his lips as he watched her face tense momentarily in anger.
"Then what are you doing down here House?" She asked finally, her blue eyes meeting his.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I wanna show you something. When's your lunch break?"
"Not for a while." Cameron lied as she looked around the ER, looking for something to do…anything to do.
"It's your department. You can go whenever you want." House pressed.
"No, I can't. You see unlike your department, we actually have emergencies." She said as she rolled her eyes and pointed to a piece of paper on the counter in front of them. "See? I'm not down for my break for another hour." She told him before walking off to ask the new intern whether he needed any help with the patient he was currently with.
It turned out that he did. However after she showed him the correct way to clean a wound, she turned around to see House still standing at the nurse's station. "Are you still here?" She asked, walking back over to him.
Disregarding her question, House simply smiled at her. "Okay, lunch time."
"I already told you, I don't have lunch until one…" She trailed off as she looked down to her schedule. She quickly rolled her eyes however when she saw that House's familiar handwriting had moved her lunch break forward by forty-five minutes.
"Oh look at that, you must have been wrong." House mocked as a small grin appeared on his face. "Come on, I know you want to get out of here just as much as I do."
Cameron let out a long sigh. That was true, she did. Finally, she took off her lab coat and dropped it on the counter in defeat. "Fine."
"Excellent." House smiled, before taking a piece of black material out of his pocket and gesturing for her to turn around.
Genuinely amused, Cameron did as he instructed, and a small shiver ran down her spine as House's hand grazed her face as he tied the piece of material around her eyes. "And this is needed because…?"
A small smirk danced across House's lips. "The place I'm taking you to is so super secret that I can't let you see how we get there."
He could see Cameron smile in confusion under the handmade blindfold, and he let out a small laugh. Slowly, he took one of her hands, and used his spare one to brace himself on his cane as he led her towards the nearest exit.
...
Cameron pulled her sweater tighter around her as House led her towards their desired location, unable to resist doing so after being surrounded by the fresh, crisp yet earthy scent of the pure, natural air.
Finally they stopped, and House let go of her hand. "Okay, you can take it off now…and I'm not talking about the blindfold."
Cameron rolled her eyes momentarily, before reaching up, and pulling the black fabric from her eyes. She blinked a few times in uncertainty, struggling to come to terms with the sudden brightness surrounding her. Once she came to her senses, her gaze became ensnared by a sight that she hadn't been expecting, and a smile graced her features.
"Where…are we?" She finally asked in confusion. She knew that they were still very close to the hospital, however the beautiful and utterly peaceful park that they now found themselves in almost made her believe that wasn't physically possible.
"I've been coming down here for ages now, when I need time to myself." House told her seriously, before giving her a small, yet knowing smile. "I thought that you could use a place like this at the moment."
Cameron smiled, genuinely touched by his kind, and totally un-house-like gesture. "I guess I could…Thank you."
"Sure." House shrugged simply, trying to downplay the gesture. "Well come on." He instructed, before starting to limp down a grassy hill.
Still slightly confused, Cameron followed him down to an area of the park that was covered by a giant, old tree.
She watched on in amusement as House dropped down on the grass under the tree, and laid on his back, staring up at the tiny pieces of sky that managed to break free from under the thick, dark canopy.
A after a few moments, she heard him yell at her from his lying position. "Are you just gonna stand there looking like an idiot?"
Cameron grinned and laughed quietly to herself, as she walked over and laid down next to him…their heads mere centimeters apart.
They lay there, watching the sky and the tree's think branches for a few moments. "It really is beautiful here House." Cameron said finally.
House smiled slightly, disregarding her comment, before, "You wanna play twenty questions?"
"Sure." Cameron laughed.
"Cool." House smiled. "But, there are rules. You have to be completely honest okay?"
"Deal." Cameron agreed, knowing inwardly that rule would only apply to her and not him.
"Okay." He began. "When did you know that you wanted to be a doctor?"
Cameron turned her head to face him, and quirked a perfectly sculpted brow. "You could ask me anything. Anything in the world, and you want to know that?"
"I'm curious."
She turned her head back to the sky. "Ever since I was in kindergarten and Christopher Black operated on me…He saved my life."
"Operations are big for someone that young. Must have had a big effect on you."
"Huge effect." Cameron nodded. "I was in the playground during lunch, and I fell over while playing hopscotch and hurt my knee. While my friends were discussing amputation, Christopher ran in and gave me mouth-to-mouth." She saw House smirk out of the corner of her eye but she continued. "Just like that the pain was gone…and that's when I knew."
"That you wanted to be doctor?"
"That I wanted to marry Christopher Black."
House just smiled. "And did you?"
"Nah." Cameron said casually. "Became a doctor instead."
"I'm happy you did."
A small smile graced Cameron's lips, not really caring whether he was being genuine or not.
"Okay." House said quickly. "Your turn."