A Call To Apathy – Chapter IX

Meredith walked to the vender in the cafeteria with her tray. Ordering a long black she stood at the counter and added in the sugar, reflecting over her conversation with House.

"Double espresso thanks."

Meredith looked up to see Derek standing next to her, handing over a note to the clerk.

"Hey Derek."

Derek looked over to Meredith, eyes twining. "Good afternoon, Dr Grey." He said in his most pompous voice. "How has your day been?"

Meredith stirred her coffee and replaced the lid. "Alright."

Derek took a sip of his espresso and leaned on the counter. "Excellent! So I was thinking about making you dinner tonight."

Meredith raised her eyebrows. "You cook?"

"I have four very girly sisters, of course I cook. And I can the most fabulous braids!"

Meredith smiled. "You've never cooked for me before."

"Neither have you. And to be honest I don't want you to."

"Hey!" Meredith chuckled.

Derek swallowed hard as he realised how much he melts from that laugh, from that smile. "So, I cook and you come over to the trailer."

"What, so you can get me drunk and into your bed again?"

Derek smiled mischievously. "Maybe. You look good in my bed. It suits you. I think it's the beige sheets."

"That must be it."

"It must." Derek gave his best dreamy look. "Anyway: You, me, carbs, meat, salad and copious amounts of wine."

"Count me in."

Derek smiled and moved past her, brushing up against her as he walked away, whispering in her ear: "I'll see you at seven."

Unable to contain her smile, Meredith picked up her tray and moved to the table where Christina, Cameron and George were sitting.

Sitting down, Christina looked at the expression on Meredith's face and let out a groan.

"Oh for god's sake, I liked it better when he was with Addison. You were all whiney and pissed, not like now when all you need is a look from him and you swoon, becoming all warm and fuzzy."

"Bright and shiny, Christina." Meredith corrected.

"You couldn't do bright and shiny if your life depended on it."

"I guess you're right."

George looked up from his sandwich. "So what's up with the patient Allison, did he actually shoot House?"

Cameron put down her coffee. "Twice."

"Dammit." Meredith added.

Christina looked confused. "And he's actually trying to save him?"

"Yep."

"That's just confusing." George ate his sandwich again.

"That's House for you." Cameron sighed, thinking of the multitude of mixed signals from him. Then again, she would be stupid to say that it wasn't expected.

"I can understand why you like him though." Meredith interjected.

"What?" Cameron looked up.

"House. At first I thought you were crazy to like him, let alone love him. But now, I dunno, I can see where you're coming from."

Cameron was surprised. "Thanks."

George suddenly put down his sandwich. "No!"

Everyone looked up at him, confused.

"No, you cannot have a thing for House. No way, not at all!"

"Oh relax George. I don't have a thing for House. I'm merely empathising with Ali. Is that ok?"

Christina scoffed. "Not for you."

Meredith glared at her. "Shut up."

Foreman, Chase, Izzie and Alex walked up to the table and sat down.

"What's the time?" Foreman asked.

"3:30." George checked, making way for the others.

"Talk about a late lunch."

The interns ignored Foreman as they all watched Chase sitting next to Izzie, now stealing one of her celery sticks.

Chase didn't notice the unwanted attention. "So Izzie, Joe's tonight?"

George, Meredith and Christina quickly shot looks at each other, then at Alex, sitting in the corner, scoffing down his lunch.

Unlike Chase, Izzie noticed the uncertain glances of the others. "Ah, sure: You guys want to come to?"

Meredith quickly sat up in her chair. "Uh, I've got Derek tonight."

"Burke." Christina quickly added.

"Callie!" George added frantically, needing an excuse.

Izzie looked curious. "I thought she broke up with you?"

"Yeah, but, you know. I've…um. I'm on call and she's the resident."

Izzie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What about you Eric?"

Foreman nearly spat out his coffee. "Ah, sure! You're coming right, Cameron?"

Cameron smiled slyly. "I can't. I've got to monitor the patient till late. Sorry."

Alex looked up from his lunch. "I'll come."

Quickly George, Meredith and Christina shot looks at Izzie then Alex and Chase. Foreman rolled his eyes and took another sip from his drink. "This is going to be a fun night."

"BAAAAA!"

Quickly they all turned around to see House waddling over to them, ignorant of the many other pairs of eyes staring at him.

"How are my little sheeplings going? Still sticking together? Ah, instinct never fails."

Cameron glared at House. "What are you doing here?"

"What, can't I socialise with my evil minions? I have nothing better to do, but I could torment the patient some more."

Foreman crossed his arms. "Where's Wilson."

"No idea. So, Dr Cameron. How's the treatment going? Any results?"

"Not yet."

"Maybe that's because there's never going to be any results."

"Or maybe it needs to take its time. The symptoms do indicate that it's fatal."

"Maybe it is, but it certainly is not Guillain-Barre, or even a autoimmune disease"

The rest of the group sat in awkward silence, watching the two having a glaring competition, oblivious to those around them.

"So what is it, Dr House?" Cameron crossed her arms.

"I will find out. Soon."

"Soon?"

"Well, it's better than treating the guy for the wrong diagnosis, I thought you understood that I didn't want to do that."

Cameron continued to stare down House, who in turn remained still. After a minute he stood up and picked up her tray. "I'm going to check the guy's vitals."

House watched her walk away then looked at the others, still sitting in awkward silence. "Pathetic. I am the staring contest King!"

Walking away, House closed his eyes and sighed deeply. Stopping at the door to the hallway, he quickly shook his head and took an extra Vicodin then opened the doors, walking down through the corridor, enveloped in his thoughts.

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NB: Righto, that was a bit of a filler chapter but needed for later chapters with House/Cam, but you'll understand later. Of course there was the long awaited Mer/Der moment, which many people were waiting. And about the pagers: yeah, I guess I do have a slight obsession with them, but only slight. Will try and think of more creative ways of getting everyone together. I'm thinking House, chain mail and the Hornburg.

Anywho: to all those people who have reviewed already (you know who you are hopefully) I'd like to say a big ol' Aussie CHEERS!! And for those who have not: REVIEW!! Please please please?? Like another writer has said (think Lizzie9, in that case writers) 'reviews are our heroin'. But don't worry, it's perfectly legal!