TITLE: Little Victories (7/25)
AUTHOR: enigma731
PAIRING: Chase/Cameron
RATING: T
SUMMARY: A collection of canon vignettes.
12. Hurt
"You're a masochist," says Chase, the moment she arrives at his apartment.
"Wow. I'm glad you had a good day too," Cameron answers, piqued. Pushing past him, she peels off her jacket and drapes it over the back of one of his kitchen chairs. A mere few weeks in his space have made her comfortable here, confident in her effects on him.
"I'm serious," Chase presses, following her. "You went to see House in surgery today. And don't say you didn't. My staff saw you."
"I was curious," says Cameron, feeling her frustration rise. She knows that he has already done the same, but it is clear that he measures his own intentions by a different standard.
"About what? We've seen him do surgery a hundred times."
Cameron shrugs. "I wanted to see the new team. What's so masochistic about that? I know you're curious about them too."
"I'm curious because I want to see how his latest game blows up," says Chase. "You're curious because you want to be in their place. You still want to work for him. You're like an alcoholic going to a bar. Sniffing around what you can't have."
For a moment Cameron is stunned into silence. It is clear that Chase is both terribly upset, and being entirely honest about why. Both of these things, she thinks, are a rarity.
"Even if that's true, why do you care? Neither of us is leaving Princeton anytime soon. And I'm with you. I want to be with you."
The truth is that she still has not worked out her own complicated tangle of emotions regarding House and her old position on the team, but she knows without question that she does not want to lose her relationship with Chase.
He hesitates for a moment, looking suddenly uncertain about this argument he's begun. "Sometimes I just—worry," says Chase, gaze fixed on the folds of her jacket. "House hurts you again and again, and yet you always go running back to him. If—If I don't hurt you, will you still want to be with me?"
"I want to be happy," Cameron breathes, shaken by this image she's somehow given him. Sometimes it is still difficult to believe, even in her own mind. "I want us to be happy."
Chase looks at her for a long moment, then nods. When he wraps his arms around her, she can feel that he is shaking. For the first time, she realizes how profoundly lost he has become in this thing between them. She cannot yet allow herself to acknowledge it as love.
Cameron fists her hands in the fabric of his shirt and holds on, unable to find words to express how deeply she hopes that hurt will never come from him.
