Cameron sat alone in the conference room, idly gazing over the day's newspaper. She'd just prepared the coffee and it sat waiting for the arrival of her team mates.

Cameron scratched her arm absentmindedly, but paused when she felt the material of her shirt. A small, knowing smile crossed her face as she tugged loosely at the too big button down shirt she wore.

House's button down shirt.

She'd worn it home from his place a while ago and had simply forgotten to return it. That seemed to be happening a lot between the two of them, forgetting things at each other's apartments. Cameron almost always wore one of his jackets home when she left and she had forgotten more than enough embarrassing clothes at his place.

She even had a spare toothbrush in House's bathroom, a toothbrush she'd snuck in a few weeks ago and coyly hid in his medicine cabinet. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered the day he'd discovered it.

Cameron had been lying on his bed, running her hands through her hair as she waited for him to return when he called out,

"You're not as sneaky as you think, Alison Cameron." She had just smiled and mumbled,

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Greg House." She saw a hand appear in the bathroom door holding the toothbrush between the thumb and pointer finger, as if it were something so disgusting he didn't dare touch it with all his fingers.

"This. Sneaking these things into my house, are we?" She had just laughed, rolling over.

"What makes you think it's mine?" He leaned out into the frame now, arching his eyebrows at her curiously.

"Well, it could be Wilson's, though I didn't know he was a fan of Hello Kitty." She laughed at the pink toothbrush in his hand, covered in little kitty heads. She'd bought it especially for his bathroom just to get on his nerves.

"I dunno, House. It is Wilson we're talking about." This time he laughed, as well, disappearing into the bathroom again.

The next time Cameron went into the bathroom the toothbrush was next to his in the holder, no longer hidden away in the cabinet.

Cameron laughed to herself now as she reflected on it as she sat in the conference room. She couldn't help but wonder what the toothbrush meant…

"Cameron," a voice called, bringing her back to the present day. She glanced next to her to see the grinning face of her Australian coworker.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked, a smile still on his face.

"What?" she murmured, pretending to not understand the question. That was one question she knew was better left unanswered.

"Nevermind," he replied as he moved to the coffee pot, greedily pouring himself a cup. Cameron glanced out the glass door, wondering where Foreman and House were.

Ok, mainly wondering where House was.

"So Cameron," he murmured as he sat down next to her. She glanced back down at the newspaper, not in the mood for small talk. She wanted to go back to her toothbrush thoughts…

"Hm?" was all she attempted as she continued to study the newspaper.

"I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to go out later tonight, you know, after work. Maybe get some coffee or something, I don't know," he rambled off, his eyes intently locked on her.

Oh jeez. Cameron was not in the mood today to deflect Chase's futile advances, but she didn't want to be full out rude, either.

"Um, no thank you, Chase," was all she could think of to say in that moment.

"Why not?" he asked, almost offended. What was wrong with him? I mean, come on. It's not like they'd never slept together before. He still remembered when she'd called him over, desperate and high. Sure, he should have said no, but she didn't seem upset about it later, so why bother? Chase had always secretly been hoping for a repeat.

"Because," she answered, though she wasn't sure how she was going to finish that statement. Because I'm sleeping with House? That wouldn't work. What was her excuse? She couldn't say she was seeing someone, could she? Does House consider us a couple?

No, no. Don't be ridiculous. It's just an affair, you knew that going in. Besides, you don't need to be dating someone to turn Chase down. You can just turn him down.

"Because I don't think so," she finally finished, unable to find any other excuse.

"Really? Is that all I get?" Chase murmured, his eyes still intently on her. Cameron realized he wasn't going to let it go and, under the intensity of his stare, she found herself blushing and utterly avoiding his eyes.

"Seriously, Cameron," Chase continued,

"Why are you acting like this?" She felt her face growing hotter as she stared intently at the newspaper, praying for him to move on. She didn't know what to say now to make him stop harassing her, but it turns out she didn't need to.

"Ow!" Chase exclaimed suddenly, clutching the back of his head where a certain rubber ball had just struck him.

"Sorry. It slipped." House's sarcastic voice called from where he stood at the entrance of the conference room. Cameron couldn't help but wonder how long he'd stood there, watching her desperately try to divert Chase's attention.

He moved forward smugly, picking the ball up and moving across the room. Cameron saw a hint of a smile appear on his face and, to her surprise, he threw a wink at her the moment Chase looked away.

"Jeez, House. Why did you just hurl that at me?" Chase whined, rubbing his head, the pain taking away all interest he had in harassing Cameron.

"Stop being a baby, wombat. Go talk to the patient or something. Get a history."

Chase stared at him in confusion before mumbling,

"We don't have a patient." House responded by tossing a new file in front of him, barking, "Now we do. It's a 20 year old female with stomach bleeding, hypertension, and hallucinations. Go get the history."

When Chase didn't budge, House shouted,

"Now!" causing an annoyed Chase to get up and storm out of the room. Cameron sat there for a moment, staring at House.

"…Thank you," she finally managed, though it really didn't matter.

He'd already turned and left the room.

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He found her a few hours later by the nurse's station. House glanced around quickly to make sure no nurses were in ear shot before he mumbled with just a hint of a smile,

"You're wearing my shirt." Cameron glanced up at him from where she'd been doing her filing and, without any expression in her face or voice, murmured,

"Oh really? Hmm. I hadn't noticed," it took all her strength to suppress the devious smile that was forming. House smirked openly, glancing down at her files as he mumbled,

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" he fought for a professional face, always aware that there were people around them.

"You know it drives me crazy when you wear my clothes, right?" Cameron knew he said it to get a reaction, but that didn't stop her from coughing in sudden surprise, her face growing bright red. House's smirk grew even bigger when he realized it had worked and he suddenly found himself reaching out super quickly and grabbing her hand, squeezing it gently.

Realization of his action hit him suddenly, though, and he pulled his hand back, his eyes wide with confusion. His eyes matched Cameron's perfectly as she gave him a sideways look, not entirely sure what to make of the moment. He had grabbed her hand in such a sweet, gentle way. It was almost endearing.

What the heck?

The shock disappeared into his usual arrogance as he mumbled,

"Listen, I've got clinic duty for the next hour." She stared at him in confusion, though thankful for the topic change. She didn't know what to make of the sudden subtle display of affection.

"Alright. And…?" He just sighed, as though he were a teacher who had to explain how to solve an equation for the tenth time.

"Which means," he began slowly, enunciating everything, "you have clinic duty for the next hour. I'll be in my office doing doctor stuff." He turned swiftly, limping past Chase on his way to his office. Cameron just rolled her eyes before shouting,

"Your game boy does not count as 'doctor stuff'."

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Chase did a double take.

He couldn't have--- did he just see what he thought he had? He'd been watching Cameron from across the room for awhile, his eyes locked on her suspiciously.

She'd been standing by a counter filling out paper work when House walked next to her. They'd chatted for a bit, which was completely normal, considering he was her boss and all.

And that's when Chase saw it. Cameron had started coughing when he did it. It was so subtle, just a slight movement as House reached forward and took her hand, squeezing it softly. And then his hand was back at his side; neither of their expressions had changed.

It was like it hadn't even happened.

But it had happened.

Chase had just seen it, he would swear to it. It had been so fast and it would have been missed by anyone not staring stalkerishly at them, but it had definitely occurred.

Chase reflected for a moment about that incident with them in the conference room when House had assaulted him with the ball. He'd assumed he had just been doing it to be a jerk, but was it possible?

Could he have been doing that to save Cameron?

To help her escape his onslaught of questions?

But what could it mean? Chase wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. The seed of suspicion had been planted, and he knew he needed to investigate.

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Ok so it's a funny thing—the minute I told myself "I am done with this story" I get an idea in my head of Chase getting super suspicious and then suddenly all these possible scenarios start popping up and I realize I may not be done with this story after all :o

So yeah.

I also have a Cadley story in my head I might write down, perhaps.