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Chapter 7
Cameron pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant ten minutes later and found a parking space close to the front. She sat in her car for a minute and took a couple of deep breaths, hoping to calm the fluttering in her stomach. She checked her lip gloss one more time in the mirror, turned off her car and quickly hurried inside. She stood inside the entrance and scanned the room for her dinner companion.
House had been keeping an eye on the entrance, when he wasn't checking his watch and saw Cameron the minute she walked in. He stood so she could see him. She gave him a little wave to let him know she saw him and immediately made her way across the room to his table.
She arrived at the table with a luring smile. "Hi." She said.
"Hi." He helped her with her black wool coat and quickly looked her over approvingly. "You look nice."
"Thanks." She said feeling the warmth of the fire. "The fire is nice. It's really cold outside." She sat down and saw the glass of wine. "What's this?" She asked.
"Thought a glass of wine would be nice after a day in the ER." "Thank you." She looked into his eyes and the memory of how breathtaking his steel blue eyes were washed over her.
House watched as she picked up her glass and took a sip, running her tongue over her lips, as she tasted the wine. He found himself mesmerized by such a small detail and realized he was holding his breath.
Cameron looked up at him with sparkling green eyes. "So, this place is nice. Do you come here often?""Once in awhile. The food is good." He answered as he looked into her eyes, admiring how they sparkled. "Are you hungry?" He asked hoping his voice didn't betray him and sound nervous.
"Very. I skipped lunch."
House picked up his menu and opened it.
Cameron did the same. She glanced at the menu for a few minutes and then placed it back on the table.
He eyed her over the top of his menu. "Already know what you're having?" He asked curiously.
"Yes. I believe I will have the salmon."
"Salmon? You should try their steaks."
She smiled. "You seem to have forgotten that I am a vegetarian. However, I do eat fish."
He had indeed forgotten that she was a vegetarian. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"And spoil your fun? You were willing to buy me a steak dinner. That's a pretty big deal. Besides, I love salmon, so no problem. What are you having?"
"I think I will have the large filet." He said and put his menu down also.
As they waited for the waiter they continued with small talk while they enjoyed their drinks. The waiter quickly took their order, leaving behind some hot rye bread with butter for them to nibble on. It didn't take long for both of them to indulge in the bread.
After several bites of bread, Cameron put her wineglass down and looked seriously at House. "Okay. Before I consume any more alcohol, what is this proposition you have for me?"
House sighed. He had hoped for a little more time before he revealed what was on his mind. He took another sip of his drink and noticed how she was watching him, not taking her eyes from his face.
Cameron waited patiently, remembering how he could be. He wasn't going to say anything until he was good and ready. She tried not to appear too anxious.
"Do you like working in the ER?" He finally asked.
She furrowed her brow and answered. "It's okay. It has its good points." She took another sip of her wine and tried to drink it slowly. "Is this why Kutner came to see me today?" Again she questioned him.
"I told you, I didn't send him to spy, really." He was amused at her continuous doubt. "Remember when you gave me your resignation letter?" He paused.
She nodded her head. "Yes." She thought briefly about how painful it was for her to hand him that letter and wondered if he ever read it. If she knew House, he probably shoved it into a drawer somewhere, unopened, not wanting to read what she had to say.
"You said that you had gotten all you could from your job. Did you mean that?" He watched her face carefully as he tried to anticipate how she would respond.
She shifted in her chair and looked at him curiously. "I did at the time." Her words came out softly but steady.
"What does that mean?" He asked curiously.
She took a deep breath as she eyed him nervously. "Truth?"
"Of course." He answered without hesitation.
Cameron took another sip of her wine and let the liquid linger in her mouth a few seconds before answering. "You had changed. You acted like we, meaning me, Chase and Foreman, bored you. You acted like you didn't want us around any more. It also seemed that you had become disinterested with the cases." She stopped for a moment trying to collect her thoughts before she continued. "First Foreman quits, then you fire Chase. Just like that, they were gone and you didn't seem to care. I didn't want to stick around to catch all the crap that was going to be rolling down hill."
"So you bailed?" He asked as he tried to let her words sink in.
She gave him a smirk. "I took the opportunity to move on."
He took the last sip of his drink and motioned for the waiter to come over. "Another round." He said.
Cameron moved a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. House watched and thought how sexy she had looked with it hanging down in her face. He shook the thought from his head.
"You didn't go too far." He continued.
"I was planning on leaving the state until Lisa called." She defended her actions.
"And you thought accepting a position to run the ER was moving on?"
They both paused when the waiter returned with their drinks.
Cameron pulled the new glass towards her and placed her hand around the stem of the glass and ran her finger of her other hand around the rim. She looked back up at him. She knew he was waiting for her to answer. "As demeaning as you may think it is, I don't think running the ER is a step backwards. I'm just doing something different, which in a way, has been refreshing."
"It certainly wasn't a step forward no matter how good you are at running that place. It only makes Cuddy look good." He stated and took a sip of his fresh drink.
For the first time tonight, Cameron looked away from his stare.
"So, were you lying when you said you had gotten all you could from the job?" He asked, watching her closely.
"No." She answered without hesitation. "When I said that to you, I completely believed that. I felt I was at a dead end. Besides, I figured it was only a matter of time before you would find a way to get rid of me too."
"I wouldn't have fired you." He was actually shocked she had thought that.
"Are you sure about that? Because I'm not. You had a lot going on in your life at the time and you acted like you wanted a change. I wasn't too sure I fit in the scenario any more."
"Why didn't you say something instead of quitting?"
"I took it as a sign to move on."
The waiter walked over with their food and placed it in front of them. The sight and the smell of the food took their thoughts away from the conversation for a moment.
House spoke first. "This looks good." He said as he cut a bite of his steak and put it into his mouth. "I can't believe you don't like steak. You don't know what you're missing.
Cameron laughed a little. "Yes I do. That's why I ordered the salmon." She also took a bite of the salmon that was cooked to perfection. "Mmm. This is delicious. You should try a bite." She insisted, holding her fork out to him with a bite of salmon on it.
He stared at her fork for a second, surprised. For the second time today, she had surprised him with her actions. He carefully leaned over and took her fork into his mouth, taking the bite of fish she offered. He slowly chewed the fish that seemed to melt into his mouth. He nodded in approval that he liked it and Cameron smiled a pleasing smile.
House was pleased also that she was enjoying her food. They ate in silence for a few more minutes before either of them spoke again.
After a few bites Cameron decided she needed to know what he was up to. She looked up at him again.
Without looking up, he could feel her eyes upon him.
"What does any of this have to do with your proposition?" She asked.
House took a couple of minutes and chewed his steak slowly, savoring the taste. He let out a long sigh. He looked into her green eyes again and spoke. "I asked you here tonight to offer you a job." He said, hoping she didn't read anything else into his offer.
Cameron was not sure if she had heard him correctly. She swallowed her food and laid her fork down, looking at him with raised eyebrows. "You're offering me a job?"
House looked up at her, still chewing. "Uh uh."
She leaned back in her chair. "Of all the things I imagined your proposition could be, asking me to come back, was not one of them. Wow. Why?"
He saw that she wasn't eating, thinking about how she needed to eat. "Eat before your food gets cold."
She picked up her fork again and moved the food around on her plate not really caring about her appetite any more.
"Two reasons. First, because I need you. I mean, I need your help."
"With what? You have three new people.""Ah, there in lies my problem. They don't make my job fun. They don't inspire me." He spoke in between bites.
"So you are asking me back to help inspire you?" She said as she tried to understand what he was saying to her.
"To help them inspire me. You know how I work. I feed off their ideas. If they don't argue and throw out different ideas at me, I don't have anything to feed off of. I don't have anything to work with."
"And you think I can show them how to do that?" She asked cautiously.
"Yes. I like the fact that you don't back down and what I admire most is that you're not afraid to tell me when you think I'm wrong."
Cameron couldn't help but smile. "Are you admitting that you miss me?"
House couldn't suppress a smile. "You would like that wouldn't you? Maybe I miss you a little. What I do miss is how you, Foreman and Chase worked with me. There were times the three of you would drive me insane with your bickering but it inspired me. It made me think. I can say the most ridiculous things to these guys and they buy it. They never question me because they are too scared of being fired. I can't work that way. I need more from them and they don't seem to get that." He reluctantly admitted.
Cameron let his words sink in. "You have Foreman. Why do you need me?"
"Foreman is only there because he couldn't get a job any where else and he's Cuddy's spy. He's not there to help me."
"Really. What I heard was he couldn't get a job any where else because someone kept sabotaging his interviews."
House rolled his eyes. "That's not my problem."
"Of course not." She said sarcastically. She eyed him for a minute before continuing.. "You said there were two reasons you were offering me a job. What's the second?" She asked as she took another bite of her fish.
"To save you." He said as he intently looked at her.
"Excuse me?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
"No matter what bullsh!t you try to feed me or anyone else, you can't tell me you are happy working in the ER." He swallowed a bite of food. "Sure, it'll give you what you need for a while because you have been telling yourself that it's all you need. But eventually, you will want more. You came to work for me because you like to be challenged. The ER isn't a challenge for you. The cases we have are like a drug and once that drug is in your system, you can't ignore it, not until you find something that beats it and that's hard to do. Besides, I had a little help in making you who you are and I don't like seeing it go to waste on something like bandaging boo boo's in the ER." House finished eating and pushed his plate away.
"I like what I'm doing." She said, trying to convince stared at her without any emotion displayed on his face. "I don't believe you. Eventually the ER is going to bore you to tears, if it hasn't already. I also believe you took this job instead of the one at UW Medical because you know Plainsboro still has something to offer you and it's not in the ER."
She looked at him shocked. "You know about the job offer from UW?"
"I have spies everywhere." He said with a smirk.
Cameron sat in silence for a minute trying to let all he said soak into her head. It was almost too much to comprehend in such a short time.
House watched her and tried to read her thoughts. Her silence put him on the defensive. "If you don't want the job, just say so and I'll leave you alone."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're doing what you always do." She softly scolded him.
"Doing what?" He asked curiously.
"Dismissing me because you are impatient. If it's that easy for you, why offer me the job at all?" She said a little defensively.
"And you like making things hard." He reminded her.
She ignored his remark and continued. "I didn't say I didn't want the job. I'm just trying to let this all sink in." She took a sip of wine and pushed her plate away, not finishing her food. "What would my position be? I mean, I've finished my internship and you already have Foreman." She looked at him questioningly.
"I've given that some thought." He said admiring that she expected more. "You would be more like my protégé, a teacher."
She looked at him. "And Cuddy is going to go for this?" She asked in a skeptical tone.
"I spoke with Cuddy and she said if you accepted, she would make it happen."
Cameron let out a small sigh. "Can I have a day to think about it? I want to make sure I make the decision for the right reasons. After I left, I really never thought I would be working with you again."
"The right reasons? And what are the right reasons?" He carefully asked.
Cameron blushed slightly. "I want to make sure I give you an answer that comes from my head and not my heart." She said not wanting to elaborate more. "Can I give you an answer by the end of day tomorrow?"
He couldn't help wonder if she still had feelings for him. "I suppose I can give you a day to think about it." He gave her a serious look. "Do you need to discuss this with Chase." He asked knowing they were still seeing one another.
Cameron looked away, pausing for a minute. "No." She decided to not say any more on the subject.
He watched her face take on a different look. "Really. That's interesting." He said, hoping she would say more but when she didn't, he thought it best to drop the subject… for now. "So, how about some dessert? They have a killer chocolate cake."
Cameron stared at him. It was so like him to just abruptly change the subject to another one. "I'm really stuffed."
He looked at her plate and saw that only half of her food was eaten. "You barely ate anything. C'mon share a piece of cake with me." He whined.
She saw the look on his face and laughed. "Okay, I'll share a piece."
He ordered the cake and another scotch. He laughed at Cameron's expression when the waiter brought the huge piece of chocolate cake out and sat it down between them.
They continued with light conversation, mainly catching up on the latest gossip going around the hospital.
House is surprised at how comfortable he felt with her. He was actually enjoying the evening and a little disappointed when it came to an end.
As promised, he paid the tab and helped her with her coat and then put on his. They walked to the front of the restaurant and looked outside, it was snowing harder than when they first arrived.
"Sh!t." He said under his breath.
"What?" She asked looking at him. She looked out the window and guessed what had him agitated. "You rode your bike, didn't you?"
"Yep."
"I'll give you a ride."
"I don't want to leave my bike here."
"Then I will follow you to make sure you make it home okay."
"Great and you can watch when I wreck and kiss the pavement."
"Well, at least you'll have a doctor at the scene." She teased.
"Funny. I don't need you to follow me." He insisted.
She wanted to insist on following but didn't want him to take it the wrong way. So, she dropped it.
"Fine." She said in a teasing voice. "But, you probably should get a ride in tomorrow. The roads are going to be bad." She managed to say without sounding too caring.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Just as they were both about to walk out, the red headed hostess approached House and placed a folded slip of paper in his hand. She then leaned in, ignoring Cameron and whispered something in his ear. House couldn't suppress the evil grin that crossed his lips.
Cameron watched with her mouth open as the woman blatantly ignored her and made a play for House right in front of her. She so wanted to snatch the piece of paper from House's hand and read it but she knew that would be stepping over the line.
The woman walked away and gave House one more look over her shoulder before she disappeared into the adjoining room.
House unfolded the piece of paper and saw that she had written her name, Angela and a phone number. He smiled again and looked up at Cameron who still had her mouth open. "Close your mouth."
"Did that woman just give you her phone number right in front of me?" She asked.
"What? We aren't a couple." He said trying to defend her actions.
"Yeah but she doesn't know that."
"Can I help it that I'm so irresistible?"
Cameron rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable. Are you ready Romeo? Or are you going to wait for Juliet to get off from work?" She asked as she started walking towards the door.
"I said I'm irresistible, not easy." He said and followed her outside.
Once outside, she turned towards him. "Thanks for dinner. It was nice." She smiled.
"You're welcome."
"I suppose I will be talking to you tomorrow." She said and started walking backwards to her car, which was parked several spaces from his bike.
"Tomorrow. Drive safely." He said seriously.
"I will. You too."
When she made it to her car, she saw the little patch she had cleared on her windshield had iced over while she was inside. She started her car and again, grabbed the little blue ice scraper and attempted to scrape the ice once more. A few seconds later, she heard House pull up beside her and get off his bike.
"Get in. I'll finish." He said.
Cameron was clearly surprised. "It's okay. You don't have to." She said, squinting her eyes as the snow hit her face.
He looked at her face getting wet from the snowflakes and had a sudden urge to reach up and touch her face but resisted the urge. Instead, he took the scrapper from her. "Get in and get warm." He insisted and finished cleaning her windows for her. He tossed her the scrapper a few seconds later and told her good night.
He followed her out of the parking lot to the red light. He turned one direction and she the opposite, both heading home for the evening.
**********
House made it home in one piece and walked into his dark condo, not bothering to turn on any lights as he entered. The snow cast enough light into the room that he was able to make his way around the room without any lights. He immediately walked over to his piano and picked up the partially lit cigar and lit it. He continued to watch the snow as it quickly blanketed the streets. He breathed in deeply as thoughts of the evening began to slowly invade his head. He had forgotten how comfortable it was to be with Cameron. Sitting with her tonight had made him realize how much he had missed being around her. How much he had missed hearing her voice, her laugh and how she smelled. She always smelled like lilacs and vanilla. A smile came to his lips as he thought about how attractive she had looked tonight, with her sparkling green eyes and her blonde hair falling across her shoulders. Being with her again had stirred feelings inside of him. Feelings he didn't expect or wanted to address at the moment. He hoped asking her back wasn't going to be a mistake. It had been damn near impossible for him to resist her in those three years she had worked for him and he was asking her to be by his side again. He shook his head. He didn't know if he was an idiot or a genius. Then again, he never liked to do things the easy way.
After taking a few puffs of the cigar, he put it out and decided he needed sleep. As he started to limp across the room he glanced at his bookshelves and eyed the gray covered book, high on the top shelf. He thought about the unopened envelope that he knew was safely hidden between the worn pages. Many times he thought about that letter and the words that it held, words meant only for him but still remained a mystery. Someday, he thought, but not tonight. He continued down the hall when a little smile crossed his mouth as he thought about the possibilities.