"You invited Allison!?"
Thirteen walked into the doctors lounge the next morning only to be greeted by the very loud voice of Robert Chase, who had practically pinned a rather un-intimidated looking Foreman against one of the walls as he shouted.
"Of all the people in this hospital to invite, you had to pick my ex-wife!? She doesn't even want to speak to me yet!" Chase began pacing up and down, obviously starting to panic.
"Who else was I supposed to invite?" Foreman eventually spoke as he watched his friend do a few laps around the room, sounding like he really couldn't care less about how Chase felt about the situation . "At least all three of us know her so it won't be awkward."
Thirteen leant against the door frame and nodded slightly to herself in agreement, she was the obvious choice after all. Who else were they going to invite, one of the nurses?
Chase came to a complete halt and glared at the man. "Not awkward?" He laughed bitterly. "You're right. What could be less awkward then spending an entire day with a woman who resents most of the people going to this stupid activity," he spat out, words dripping in sarcasm.
Foreman knitted his brows together and frowned slightly. Since when had Cameron had anything against him? Deciding that he was referring to Thirteen, thought not quite sure when the two women had apparently fallen out, he set his focus back on the angry Australian.
"She wouldn't have agreed to come If she really didn't want to see you. Relax, it'll be fun." Foreman placed a reassuring hand on the blondes shoulder as he finished justifying himself. He picked up a half folded newspaper as he went to sit back down, presumably resuming the last page he was reading before Chase had stormed into the room to interrogate him over his choice of inviting Cameron along with them today.
Thirteen let out a small laugh at the extreme monotone of the dark man's voice when he said they were going to have fun. Even while they were dating she was pretty sure she'd only seen maybe one or two genuine smiles from the man.
Her small snigger caught the attention of the two men sat in the room, so she finally made her way completely into the area, directing both of them a small smile in a lame attempt at a greeting. She didn't really feel like talking to them, especially if she was going to be spending the next six or seven hours with them. At least while they were at work they split up and did their own things rather than being with each other throughout the whole diagnosis.
She'd originally considered bailing. She'd woken up that morning and in all honesty didn't really want to spend a day with two other guys participating in a ridiculous game. After thinking it over, and figuring she really didn't have anything better to do with her day, she changed her mind. Now hearing the news that Cameron was also going with them, she was extremely glad of her change of heart.
"Everyone ready to go?"
House's employees looked up to the sound of Allison Cameron addressing them. The blonde stood in the doorway, much like Thirteen had been a few moments before - fortunately just missing the end of Chase's rant about her joining them for the day. If what she'd just heard was any indication, things were already going to be slightly awkward, the last thing they needed was to add a catalyst to it.
"Hey Cameron," Thirteen greeted with a broad smile. She was genuinely happy to see her even though she'd spent most of yesterday morning with her, and as it turned out, a lot of the afternoon as well. She'd been sent down to the ER by Cuddy to help out. Even though she had practically worked non stop until she was finally allowed to go home, the two of them had managed to chat in between patients as best they could.
Thirteen had never had a relationship like that. The simple idea of grabbing a coffee and casually talking with a co-worker in between their shifts was a totally new concept. Normally it was grab a coffee and go somewhere quiet to ensure that no one would harass her. She could definitely get used to this new routine. She found herself drinking three times the amount of coffee she'd normally have in a shift just so she could go with Cameron to the doctors lounge and carry on their discussions.
Cameron smiled back at Remy just as eagerly and gave a small wave. She then turned to look at the rest of the rooms occupiers and acknowledged them with a simple nod of the head, smile falling a bit when her gaze left that of the brunette who had spoken to her moments before and met the sight of Foreman and Chase.
Honestly, she never liked Foreman after the whole 'you stabbed me with a needle' thing, and Chase... well, Chase was Chase. When Foreman had asked her If she wanted to go paintballing she almost laughed out loud at the completely ridiculous invite. A day with the man who had stabbed her and her ex husband didn't exactly scream fun.
She planned on saying no right then and there, and had even opened her mouth to do so - but before any words left her mouth, Foreman had casually mentioned the fact that Thirteen was going with them as well. She jut her jaw to the side and quickly thought it over before nodding in acceptance. Apparently the thought of Thirteen being there with her was enough motivation for Cameron to change her mind.
Cameron hoped that spending time with the brunette would be worth putting up with two people she really didn't get on with. Yesterday made her realise just how well her and Remy actually got on, leaving her slightly dumbfounded as to how they'd never become friends before now.
Foreman nodded in answer to Allison's question as he stood up once again and picked up his bag, "We're all ready. Let's go."
"Where's Taub?" Cameron asked as they left the room, suddenly noticing the short man's absence.
"He said no as soon as we found out what we'd be doing," Thirteen answered with a grin as they left the doctors lounge. "He's too old I guess. Kutner would've loved it though."
Remy grinned at the idea of Kutner playing paintball with them, only to slowly fade into a sad smile as she once again reminded herself of her old friend.
"I'm sure he would have," Cameron agreed as she smiled softly at the brunette walking beside her, noticing the hidden sadness almost straight away, but glad that her comment seemed to pull her friend out of her sad thoughts and back into a real smile.
The four of them left the hospital and made their way across the car park, deciding to only take one car between them. After much persistence, eventually Foreman was able to convince the others that they should take his car, even though none of them really wanted to. Foreman always liked to be in control, even if it was over something as insignificant as driving.
Chase couldn't have clambered into the front seat any faster If he tried. Obviously he didn't want to be stuck in the back next to Cameron, but he could've at least attempted to be a bit more subtle. Thirteen watched Cameron roll her eyes at the immature behaviour and make her way to the back doors.
"Here," Thirteen quickly followed her round and opened the car door before Cameron had chance to open it herself. The blonde smiled at her warmly as she climbed inside the vehicle, with Thirteen following behind as she too entered the car.
"So where exactly is this place Foreman?" Thirteen asked once they had set off, partly because she was slightly curious as to where they were all headed, but mostly so that the twenty minute silence would be broken. Talk about awkward car journeys.
"It's just up the road from here, we should be there in a few minutes." He replied, clearly not interested in engaging in any further conversation with Thirteen or anyone else for that matter. Thirteen nodded and sat back in the seat, contemplating starting a conversation with Chase but quickly deciding against it.
She tried to get a group conversation going as soon as they'd got in the car, but it had just ended in Cameron and Chase bickering. Not so much Cameron as it was Chase, but it was still pretty obvious she had no intention on talking to the Australian.
So, opting out of a group discussion, she instead turned to her right and started to make small talk with Cameron, much like they'd been doing yesterday in the ER.
True to his word, Eric Foreman stopped the car a few minutes later. The four of them walked up to the building, none of them quite sure what exactly they should be feeling. Excited perhaps? It could be fun. In fact, Thirteen found the opportunity to shoot both men with an actual excuse sounded very enjoyable. Unbeknownst to Thirteen, Cameron found herself thinking the exact same thing.
"So, everyone understand?" The dark haired man who had introduced himself as Steve looked up from his clipboard, waiting for confirmation that they had in fact been paying attention to him whilst he had been speaking.
Twenty minutes after entering the facility the four of them had been kitted up and given a brief safety talk about their day's activity. Much to Thirteen's dismay, shooting at the face was a big no no on the whole safety aspect of paintballing. All of them nodded and were led outside to where they'd be playing for the rest of the day.
"We only have one other group with us this morning, so we'll keep you four as a team, and later in the afternoon you can split up into two teams of two, okay?" Spoke another one of the marshalls in charge of the first round they were going to be playing. The four of them nodded again and made their way over to the large row of guns, each held up individually by a small wooden frame.
"This over here is our very own warm up area. You can practice your targeting for a few minutes before we take you out to each course. It'll also give you a chance to check that every thing's working okay." There was a small silence as the doctors, and a small group of strangers, stood still looking between each other.
"Well...go ahead." The man prompted again.
Everyone jumped at the sudden succession of loud shots coming from somewhere nearby. Thirteen looked for the source of the sound as she watched one of the targets repeatedly hit bang on dead in the centre. Great, we're playing with professional paintballers...this should be fun.
Much to her surprise, and most probably the surprise of everyone else, she found her eyes locking onto the end of Cameron's gun. Thirteen managed to compose herself quickly, unlike the others who were still stood staring at Cameron with wide eyes and hanging jaws, as If she'd actually shot someone.
"What?" Cameron asked as she reloaded her weapon and shrugged her shoulders, sounding slightly smug. "I grew up with four brothers, I know my way around a paintball gun." With that she shrugged again and headed off in the opposite direction.
Thirteen couldn't help but grin as she followed behind the blonde, extremely entertained by the still startled expressions being worn by both Foreman and Chase. Maybe today could still be fun, even without shooting at their faces.
Impressive.
That Is the only word Thirteen could think of to describe Allison Cameron during a game of paintball. Who would've thought that little miss caring could kick some serious ass when she wanted to. The doctors team managed to dominate the morning sessions, leaving behind some very grumpy participants complaining about playing against someone so good.
Thirteen herself wasn't amazing, but she wasn't bad. She definitely managed to hit a few of the other players and only take a handful of hits herself. Foreman was pretty good too. Not exactly the fastest of players, but his shots seemed to be pretty accurate and reliable.
Chase on the other hand... Not exactly what you'd call a natural. In all honestly the rest of them had expected him to be somewhat good at the sport, but he was no way near good. In fact, in Thirteen's opinion, he was the worst one there - even managing to beat out the small group of teenage girls who had at the very least managed to shoot someone. Thirteen blamed their only loss of the morning on Chase's poor paintballing skills.
"Okay, it's still only you four here for the afternoon session – which will be split into two rounds," Steve addressed them after they'd had a short break to get some water, food or whatever they needed. "Sort out amongst yourselves whom will pair with whom and meet me out there in about ten, okay?" There were a few nods in response and the man walked off.
"So, how should we decide the teams?" Cameron asked, already prepping her gun and adjusting her mask. "Wait, where's Chase?" She added after looking back up and only finding two pairs of eyes looking back at her.
"He's cleaning off his suit and mask, they're covered in paint again." Foreman answered, giving a small smirk. The two women couldn't help but let a small giggle escape from each of them.
"Hey! There wasn't that much on me!" The Australian defended himself as he reappeared from the locker rooms, looking somewhat annoyed.
"Yeah, this time..." Thirteen mumbled and received a small smirk from Allison in response.
"Well, clearly Cameron is dominating, so maybe Chase should go with her?" Foreman suggested, looking back and forth between the aforementioned in case of any sparked conflict his comment might have caused. To both his and Thirteen's surprise, Cameron eventually nodded and looked to Chase for any sort of response. Chase looked slightly offended but eventually agreed.
"Fine, but only If in the next round we can swap round again." Chase stated and crossed his arms defiantly in front of him as he scanned round the other doctors.
"Fine. Go with me this round and next time you can go with Foreman and I'll go with Remy." Allison said as she looked across at the brunette, flashing a small smile. It took a moment for Chase to realise that his ex wife was referring to Thirteen. Since when had they been on a first name basis?
"Sure," Remy smiled in agreement.
"That's settled then. Come on, let's go." Foreman gestured to Thirteen, suddenly remembering his conversation with Chase that morning.
Chase had said that Cameron hated most of them, and he'd automatically assumed that Thirteen was the one of 'them', but she'd just called Thirteen Remy and they appeared to be rather friendly with each other. He tossed a small smile over to the blonde woman and was slightly surprised when she gave him a slight glare in return. Maybe she didn't like him after all.
Not really caring too much, Foreman led the way out to the playing field where the first set of the two teams parted ways, shaking his head slightly as he heard the faint mumblings of Chase complaining to himself.
Compared to the morning sessions, the competition between the two teams were actually quite close, although it was essentially Thirteen and Foreman vs. Cameron. Chase didn't really contribute much to the game, a few missed shots here and there and a lot of hits, with Cameron only managing to get hit twice. Eventually the game finished with a victory to Thirteen's team, which was met with a short celebration on their end and moaning, primarily from Chase, on the other.
"Okay, next round rules: One hit and you're out." Steve told the four of them as they rearranged themselves and headed out towards the course.
"Don't worry, we'll win this round," laughed Thirteen as she spotted the subtle daggers Cameron was giving Chase as he walked away from them to join his new partner. "Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm the best here, they've got no chance." Thirteen joked and felt slightly elated as she watched Cameron break out into a grin.
"Is that so? Here I was thinking I was the one kicking ass all morning," Cameron winked at the brunette as the two of them walked away together laughing at their spontaneous banter.
"Ready!?" Steve shouted, waiting for confirmation from either team as he stood ready to start the game. After receiving various nods of the heads and thumbs up he counted them in.
"Three! Two! One!"
The two women got up and ran as fast as they could to the nearest trench as soon as they heard the loud piercing sound of the whistle break the silence, signalling that the game had started. Each had gone to either side and were sat with their backs against the stable pile of mud that was their current hiding place.
"Go round and try to draw them out... I'll stay here... I have a good view." Cameron managed to mouth out to Thirteen accompanied by a series of hand gestures to back up her non vocal words. Remy nodded and turned ready to sprint out of cover and into the main area. She took a deep breath before taking off as fast as she could, pumping both legs and arms as quick as she could physically make them go, trying to dodge any obstacles in the process.
She heard several loud shots and watched as surrounding trees and shrubbery became highlighted in various colours. Not long after, she heard another single shot, this time coming from where she had been a few moments ago.
"Ah!"
A loud cry was heard prior to the sound of someone dropping to the floor. Thirteen couldn't help but chuckle as she slowly positioned herself to get a glimpse of the fallen casualty.
Chase was lying on the ground clutching at his back as he rolled around the floor in discomfort whilst Foreman had momentarily emerged to look for his team-mate. Upon seeing the blonde Australian on the floor, Thirteen could've sworn she saw Foreman face palm before moving back into hiding. Out of the corner of her she also saw Cameron pop up to get a better look at her victim.
Cameron glanced over to where her team-mate was currently hiding, who was frantically signalling her to come to where she was by waving her arm in her direction followed by pointing to her gun.
"I'll cover you!" Thirteen shouted out, just in case the blonde hadn't understand her frantic arm flailing. Cameron nodded and quickly made her way over to the mound of tires Remy had gone to, watching her shoot warning shots in Foreman's direction.
Thirteen knelt back down beside the blonde and reloaded her gun, "You know, we could win this now. Chase is still on the floor so we only have to deal with Foreman. Two against one." Thirteen proposed, not bothering to hide her amusement of the Australian still rolling around on the floor. Cameron nodded eagerly in agreement and the two of them went their separate ways again, planning to pin Foreman into one area.
It didn't take long before they had achieved their goal in successfully cornering the surviving opposition. Foreman dropped his head in defeat whilst simultaneously dropping his weapon and holding his hands up in surrender.
Cameron looked across to Thirteen with raised eyebrows and a mischievous grin, silently asking permission. Thirteen grinned right back and gave the thumbs up as the two of them stepped forward, still aiming their guns.
"Hey! I surrendered! You can't sho-" Foreman's protests were cut short by the sound and impact of several dozen paintballs slamming into his chest and sides as the two women successfully finished their ammunition off. The two couldn't help but burst out into laughter as they examined the appearance of their colleague who had since gone wide eyed, expressing a mixture of what looked like both surprise and anger.
A few moments later another laugh was heard coming from Chase who had since lifted himself up off of the ground and joined the rest of them, clearly happy that he wasn't the only one that would come away looking like a rainbow today.
"I can't believe how bad he was," Thirteen commented as her and Cameron re-entered the hospital, followed shortly by Foreman and the subject of their discussion.
"I can still hear you guys, you know." An agitated accent called after them as they scurried off down the opposite hallway in fits of laughter.
The two of them made their way into the locker room, both planning on changing their clothes. Apparently the protective equipment wasn't all that protective as they both seemed to have random paint markings on their outfits.
"So you played paintball a lot with your brothers, huh?" Remy asked as she opened her locker, wanting to talk to the blonde again.
Cameron nodded with a smile as she glanced over to the younger woman. "Not often, but enough that I knew what I was doing."
"Obviously," Remy grinned as she recalled Allison's rather impressive game earlier on. Allison chuckled slightly as she opened her own locker and pulled out a fresh pair of scrubs. Remy knitted her brows together in confusion.
"Are you on duty?" The brunette asked, feeling slightly disappointed. She had been planning on asking If the other woman wanted to go grab a bite to eat together.
Allison nodded her head with a 'what can you do' shrug. "I had this morning and afternoon off. I work night shifts on Wednesday's," she informed the brunette with slight grimace.
Normally she didn't mind working late, but then again she wouldn't normally have spent the day leading up to it running around shooting people with a paint gun. All she wanted to do now was grab a hot cup of coffee and curl up in bed.
"I could come and he-," Remy stopped speaking mid sentence as she watched the blonde pull off her top and reveal the black laced bra she was wearing underneath. She cleared her throat quickly and turned to face her locker again.
"Help." Remy finished her initial sentence, speaking more to herself than Allison, as she refolded her clothes. She willed herself not to turn around and stare at the other woman. She'd only caught a glimpse, but Allison's body was apparently as flawless as her smile.
"That would be great," Allison answered with her perfect smile, not noticing any odd behaviour from her friend. "The company would be nice," she added genuinely as she shut her locker and turned to face the brunette.
The sound of Cameron's locker securely shutting convinced Remy that the blonde was no longer half naked, so she turned her head back around and returned the smile. She was about to reply when a small patch of yellow on one of Cameron's cheeks caught her attention. Frowned slightly she moved a bit closer to see what it was, smiling to herself when she realised.
"What?" Allison questioned when she noticed Remy staring at her, instinctively pulling up one of her hands to wipe at her face.
Remy smirked slightly.
"I have paint on my face don't I?" The blonde asked with a small smile.
"Just a little," Remy laughed as she watched Cameron try to locate the source. "It's just there.. " Remy tried to indicate with her own face, laughing again as she watched the older doctor desperately rubbing at the wrong cheek. "No, the other one... no not there.."
Remy rolled her eyes as she shook her head and walked over to help her struggling friend. Allison dropped her hand as the brunette approached her, watching as one of her hands came up to cup her face while the other gently wiped the yellow paint away.
"That's better." Remy whispered lightly as she gently rubbed her thumb over the other woman's cheek, eyes not leaving the ones staring at her. She stayed still for a moment before giving a small smile and dropping both hands, stepping away and turning to leave the room.
Allison let out a small breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She shook her head as she followed the brunette out of the locker room and towards the ER where they'd both be starting their first shift of the night.
Okay so believe it or not I don't actually hate Chase :P He's just an easy target (pun not intended)
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated! I really do like to hear what you guys think :)