Cameron sat at the end of the long glass table trying to glare holes through House's white board.
Excessive Caring. House had written.
Bastard with a bum leg. Cameron wanted to write. If only he'd let her touch his pen.
Cameron had just been charged with signing consent papers for Daniel Hadley to have emergency surgery to quell the swelling in his brain. There wasn't really any other option, but being his medical proxy put everything into perspective. He could die and she could be responsible. Sure patients had died, and she'd been responsible as a doctor, but as a guardian everything seemed different. She had every right to care right now, and House was a bastard for annoying her about it. He got her into this mess in the first place.
She stared up at House, considering giving him a piece of her mind which he would inevitably ignore or use as evidence to prove that she had some sort of pathological problem. But House was watching something else. She spun around in her chair just in time to see nurse Jeffrey arriving.
"Whatever the hell you think I did, I probably did. But Cuddy will fuck you before she fires me." House stated with the type of nonchalance generally reserved for Wilson's actual problems. Nurse Jeffrey raised his eyebrows and dramatically turned to Cameron.
"You need to check on the Hadley kid." He said, shooting House the occasional glare.
"I just signed the surgical consent forms a minute ago." Cameron sighed. What could have gone wrong in the ten seconds she'd been sitting in the office for?
"Other Hadley. She had an asthma attack. I gave her a rescue inhaler, but I can't examine her without you." Jeffrey said.
"I'll take care of it." Cameron nodded. She thanked him and left the office. He didn't follow and Cameron wondered if he and House were going to have it out. He'd been openly trying to get House fired for, well, about a week less than the amount of time he'd been working at the hospital.
Reaching the patient's rooms, Cameron realized she should have asked Jeffrey where Remy actually was. But she figured checking in her brother's room would be a safe first bet. Cameron wondered if perhaps she should have put her in the doctor's lounge or something. It may have been irresponsible of her to just leave the girl alone, but she had been a bit overwhelmed by, well, everything.
At first glance into the room, she thought it was empty, and in bad need of janitorial service. Then she noticed Remy hugging her knees in the corner of the room. She was eerily silent and looked utterly traumatized. Though it wasn't surprising given the situation.
"Hey Remy, I heard you're having some trouble breathing." Cameron kneeled down in front of the girl.
Remy looked up before quickly scrambling back towards the wall. Cameron took a step back. She was clearly scaring the girl, but she wasn't sure why.
"What's going on?" She asked, trying to keep her voice calm.
"He's dead isn't he?" Remy asked, trying to push herself further into the wall.
"Your brother?" Cameron asked, when Remy didn't respond she continued. "He's in surgery right now."
"Are you sure?" Remy finally made eye contact.
"Why don't I double check. Will you let me examine you when I come back?" Cameron asked. Remy thought about it for a moment.
"Can that man just do it?" She asked. Cameron thought about that for a second. As an immunologist, this was close to her specialty. Additionally she was female and currently legally in charge of Remy. She supposed that for something as simple as this Nurse Jeffrey would do perfectly fine, but she wasn't thrilled with it.
"I'll go check on your brother." Cameron stood up. She quickly found Jeffrey stomping back towards the nurse's station.
He looked angry, but Cameron hoped he would calm down when he realized he still had job duties. She gently touched his shoulder to get his attention.
"What?" He snapped as he turned to face her. Cameron shot him a look. "Sorry." His cheeks went pink.
"Could you please do the exam on Remy Hadley? She seems to feel comfortable around you." Cameron couldn't believe she was saying that. From what she could tell the man had about the same bedside manner as House.
"No problem." He nodded.
"Do you think you could get her into a different room or maybe the clinic?" Cameron added. Jeffrey nodded in understanding. "Thank you."
They parted ways and Cameron made her way towards the OR to see how Daniel Hadley was doing. He had only been in surgery for maybe fifteen minutes, but she figured the walk would give her a few moments to clear her head.
This was the first time she'd felt so out of her element in the teaching hospital. Besides for, of course, the first few weeks of learning to deal with House. But while House was one serious mess, this was much more complicated. She had no idea how sick this boy was, how traumatized this girl was, and how long "a few days" would last. Additionally, there were funeral arrangements, probate courts, a mother dying across the street, and school. She'd only ever dealt with two things on that list, and both had been a long time ago.
Trying to keep herself from remembering the last and only funeral she'd been in charge of, Cameron rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants and pushed open the door to the gallery.
She took a seat in the front row and peered down at the surgery. It was still going on, so he was definitely alive, but Cameron knew only slightly more than the average Grey's Anatomy fan when it came to neurosurgery. She peaked around at the interns watching the procedure.
"What's going on with the brain bleed?" She asked. The interns looked between each other. "This isn't a test. He was my patient."
"It looks pretty extensive, but nothing unusual." One of the interns shrugged.
"Chances of a full recovery?" Cameron asked.
"Highly likely if Ryan doesn't screw it up." Another intern laughed. Cameron bit her lip to keep from scolding them. She knew they were just laughing at each other, which was almost necessary in such a stressful program, but she was genuinely worried.
"Thanks, guys." Cameron said, ducking out of the room. A few mumbled good-byes before the door swung shut. Cameron walked slowly back towards the clinic, hoping Jeffrey had talked Remy into moving. While watching surgery with interns wasn't quite her idea of a morning well spent, she wasn't sure where babysitting sat comparatively.
Entering the clinic, Cameron spotted Remy sitting in one of the waiting chairs. She looked thoroughly unhappy and was ignoring the lollipop in her hand and magazine on her lap. She was just staring at the clock.
Cameron approached the nurse's station first. "How is she?"
Jeffrey spun around in his chair and handed Cameron a file. "All is good. Can you give me a quick signature?"
Cameron skimmed the file and signed it. "Thanks, Jeffrey." He smiled politely before moving the file into its proper stack. Cameron glanced at her watch. It was nearing twelve-thirty.
"Hey, Remy. I'm glad to hear everything is okay." Cameron approached. Then she froze, needing to mentally hit herself for that comment. Nothing was okay.
"Me too." Remy deadpanned, closing the magazine she hadn't been reading.
"Your brother is doing well." Cameron said, knowing it was what Remy was waiting on and probably the only way make their conversation less awkward.
"Can I see him?" Remy perked up. For the first time since Cameron had met her, it looked like there was light behind her eyes.
"He's not going to be out of surgery for a little while. I was thinking maybe we could go over to your house and then pick up some lunch." Cameron sat in the chair next to her.
"I don't want to leave here." Remy pulled her knees up to her chest. The light quickly fading.
"I think your brother would appreciate it if we brought him back some of his stuff from home for when he woke up." Cameron tried. This seemed to look a little better.
"You're sure he wont wake up while we're out?" Remy asked. Cameron's gut reaction was to chuckle, but she held back. Daniel Hadley would not be regaining consciousness for several hours, if it were to even happen today.
"There's no way." Cameron squeezed Remy's arm. "He wont be out of surgery for a few hours and then it will take some time for him to fully wake up. He's going to feel a little weird after having his brain operated on."
"But he'll be okay?" Remy asked. Cameron gulped. Rule number one was never to promise surgical outcomes.
"Unless something new crops up, he should be fine." Cameron said, wondering if she had chosen the right words. Remy eyed her skeptically.
"Perhaps we should leave the hospital." She finally said.