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Chapter 7: Alone Can Be Dangerous

Everyone had gathered within 20 minutes, which was 19 minutes longer than House wanted to wait.

"God, what is with you people? You take forever." House commented flippantly, not lifting his eyes from his gameboy.

"We have other patients." Izzie shot back, equally flippant.

"Yes, you do. You in particular, are very dedicated to those patients, aren't you Dr. Stevens?" House snarked back.

"That is enough." Wilson protested, coming to the defense of the kindred spirit he'd found in the young intern.

House rolled his eyes at his friend's actions. "Christ, don't make me call your wife…" He muttered.

"House, get on with it." Derek suggested sternly.

"What? Uncomfortable talking about unhappy wives? You'd know all about that. Yours snuck in 5 minutes ago." House said, pointing his cane to the back of the room where Addison Montgomery Shepherd stood, unnoticed until now.

"Addison, what are you doing here?" Derek asked, turning to his wife.

She crooked an eyebrow at him. "Dr. House is a celebrity around here. I was curious. What are you going to do? Kick me out? Throw a tantrum? Oh wait, you've already beat me to it." She snapped, her voice laced with sarcasm and bitterness.

Chase watched the volatile couple with vapid interest. But what really caught his attention was his seat mate. Meredith had been sinking lower and lower into her chair since the marital spat had began.

"Are you ok?" He asked softly. Meredith didn't raise her eyes to the attractive young intensivist.

House watched his conference room/makeshift office go to pieces. He knew he should be stopping them, reminding them that they had a dying patient, a job to do, but this was all so much more interesting to him.

His bright blue eyes panned across the room. Foreman and Burke intensely discussing the meanings of the symptoms written on the board, Cristina trying to jump in. Alex's head tipped back against the wall, half asleep. Bailey standing in the corner, her arms crossed, unimpressed and nonplussed by the room's activities. The married couple arguing in back, the seemingly private and intense conversation going on between Izzie and Wilson, George subtly trying to listen in on the conversation between Chase and Meredith, Chase's probing into Meredith anxiety about the married couple fighting in back…His eyes caught Meredith Grey's as she finally lifted her head.

She was an interesting study. She was intensely intelligent, fiercely dedicated. She stood up for what she thought was right. When he'd asked her for 5 diseases, 5 possibilities, she'd given him 6. She wanted to be the best. She wanted to be her mother.

House was too busy zooming in on everyone else to notice he was being watched. Cameron watched him, voyeuristically, she knew he hated to be watched, hated having people stare at him. But the way he was watching Meredith, it made Cameron shiver just a bit. Cameron didn't know much about the young woman, just that she was incredibly intelligent, the brightest spot in the SGH Internship Program, and that her mother was Ellis Grey, and oh yeah, House respected her. That unnerved Cameron the most. The fact that he trusted a virtual stranger more than he trusted her.

House kept his eyes on Meredith, even after she'd turned her attention to Chase. He had deeply respected Ellis. He knew that the apple didn't fall from the tree. As much as Chase aggravated him, House knew he was one of the best. Some people attain great intelligence, others are just born with it. And Meredith Grey and Robert Chase were shining examples of that rare gift.

"Cameron, stop watching me and make these people behave." He commanded to the young woman who'd been watching him under her hooded eyes for several minutes.

She felt her cheeks get hot. She'd been caught. She briskly turned away from the man who made her blush and got everyone's attention.

"OK now that we got that out of the way…. These are the symptoms that Dr. Cameron brought me. Find me a disease. Now if you'll excuse me, it's quitting time. I'm going back to my hotel." House announced as he picked up his car keys and tossed them to Cameron. "You're driving me." He instructed as he made his way out of the room, everyone's eyes on his back.

Cameron turned her eyes to Wilson, hoping he'd have an answer. "Someone has to drive him so that we can have a way back to the hotel later." Wilson pointed out. She turned her gaze to Chase and Foreman. Neither of them made a move to volunteer. She sighed, grabbed her purse, and hurried after him.

"Race you to the car." He challenged as she caught up with him. He was rewarded with a rolling of her bright blue eyes.

They walked out to the SUV in silence. House approached the driver's side with Cameron pulling open the door for her. She didn't say anything, she knew he didn't want her to. So she kept her mouth shut and climbed in.

"Good work." He told her after a few moments of comfortable silence.

She glanced over at her seat mate. "Thank you." She replied quietly before turning her eyes to the road.

She pulled up to the hotel a few minutes later and he moved to get out. "Take this as you will, but I'm glad you came." He said softly. With that, he turned on his heel and headed to the hotel, as though they'd never spoken.

She didn't know what to make of the statement. It was very out of character for him and she found herself wondering what had possessed him to say something like that.

She made her way back to the hospital, his words echoing in his head. Leave it to him to leave her totally clueless.

She returned to the conference room to find Wilson at a table with a couple of books in front of him.

"He told me he's glad I'm here." She reported numbly as she sat down.

The oncologist looked up from his research. "He's glad you're here?" He repeated.

She nodded.

"Wow. That's like, 'I love you' in House-speak." Wilson muttered.

Cameron jerked her head to the oncologist when he spoke those words.

"No, no, that's not what I mean. I just mean that it's a big deal that he said that, that's all. Don't worry." He assured her, mentally kicking himself for his choice of words.

They resumed their reading for a few minutes before Wilson piped up again. "I don't need a ride back. I'm having dinner with Izzie." He told her.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "She's a sweet girl, she's only been back in the program a little while, she lost her fiancé. I'm just being nice. She's too young for me Cameron. It's friendly. That's all." He assured her.

She nodded her head, satisfied with his answer.

DEREK/MEREDITH/CHASE

Meredith took off for her favorite spot in the research lab when she was joined by Derek. "Heard you and the vet broke it off." He commented.

She rolled her eyes. "Addison told you?" She asked, not even bothering to think anyone

else would've known or told him.

"She and Dr. Dandridge are friends. Like you and I. They tell each other things." He told her.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure if we qualify as friends but I have work to do." She told him with a small smile. Meredith had retreated to the research department and was sitting on the floor, piles of books around her.

"So this is the cool hang out at Seattle Grace?" A distinctly Australian accent questioned from above her.

"Not exactly. At least, not until they start serving alcohol." Meredith responded with a smile as Chase thumbed through the collection of books.

"Pretty impressive for a hospital." He remarked, selecting a few off the shelf and casually settling himself down next to her.

"We're second in the country for our intern program." She hit back, a smile playing on her face.

"Hmm, yes you are…Now, who's number one again? They always slip my mind. Some little school on the east coast, New Jersey I think… Oh that's right! Princeton Plainsboro TEACHING Hospital." He mocked, emphasizing the third word in the hospital title.

"Cute." She zipped back, returning her nose to her book.

"So you're the bright star here. I could see that. Bloodlines, beauty, personality. Easy to see why you're the one to beat." He complimented, keeping it casual, hoping it wouldn't send the wrong message.

Lucky for him, it didn't. "I don't really like being the star though. The only reason is because my mother is Ellis Grey. I'm sure you know what its like to follow in family footsteps." She told him, marking her page in the book and turning slightly to speak with her floor mate.

"I can relate. It's not exactly what it's cracked up to be, especially when the parents are as successful as ours. It's hard, constantly being compared to them, knowing you'll probably never be as good as them, or even if we are as good, no one else will think so." Chase continued.

Meredith was really beginning to enjoy the breath of fresh air Chase was offering. She smiled and started to reply but was cut off.

"Meredith, where are you with the research?" Derek questioned, coming around the corner.

The tension between them was palpable. Chase could tell just by their actions that they weren't just co-workers.

"I'm going to get going." Chase told Meredith and prepared to stand.

"No, don't. You're fine. He's only here to snoop. Here's what you want. Now, I'm working, can I get back to it please?" She asked, turning her attention to Derek.

He had nothing, no other excuse. He nodded briskly and turned on his heel and stalked off.

Chase turned back to Meredith. I can't believe I'm actually nervous about this. "Are you off this evening?" Chase asked, gearing up for the follow up question if her answer was yes.

As luck would have it, her response was yes. "Would you like to have dinner with me?" He questioned, expecting her to say no, in light of the obvious tension between her and Derek.

"I'd love to." She agreed, a genuine smile on her face. Hey, nothing wrong with having dinner with a cute Australian! They quickly exchanged information and agreed to leave from the hospital.

Twenty minutes later he ran into Cameron. "Hey I don't need a ride. I've got plans with Meredith." He called as he passed her on the way to the bathroom.

God, at this rate I'm going to be all by myself tonight…With House… No, wait, I'm sure he's found himself a stripper by this point.

Sure enough, as 5 pm rolled around, she was strolling out to the parking garage when Forman caught up with her. "So what's your excuse?" She questioned, turning to him.

"I'm going to stay here for awhile. Shepherd's got a couple cases he wants me to look at. I may have you bring a spare set of clothes for me tomorrow if that's OK?" He asked. She nodded and climbed in.

She pulled up to the hotel at almost 5:30. She grabbed her stuff and made her way to the elevator. She got off at their floor and trudged to the suite. She stuck her key in the door and swung it open.

There, sitting on the couch, his feet up on the table, was House.

"What're you doing here?" She asked.

"Watching TV. You know, this city has some great programming, much better than Jersey. Maybe we should move out here." He suggested sarcastically.

"I mean, why are you here?" She asked as she dropped her stuff just inside the door of her bedroom.

He shrugged. "Why not? I've got booze and TV. What else do I need? Oh, by the way, my hooker's showing up in 20, make yourself scarce… That is, unless, you want to join us?" He suggested, his voice full of sarcasm. He'd never admit that the reason he was here was because Wilson called and said she'd be home alone. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to spend a little 'alone' time with Cameron…

"Looks like it's just you, me and the stripper then." Cameron said, flopping down on the couch, reaching over him to grab the takeout menu.

He grabbed her arm as she brushed against him. Their faces were inches apart. "Or I could just cancel the stripper…." He whispered softly, their lips getting closer….

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