A/N Sorry again it took me to long to get this up, but I'm back at school with unlimited internet access so hopefully we'll go back to our normal updating schedule… Thank you again everyone who continues to support this story…. It means the world to me…
"I come bearing gifts of bagels," Cameron announced cheerfully as she extended her offering in its brown paper bag as House opened his front door to her that morning.
House's usual grunt of a greeting sounded suspiciously like 'toast mine,' as he turned to limp back to his bedroom to shower and get ready for the day, leaving Cameron to let herself in and close the door behind her. Three weeks into their game, she now moved around his apartment with relative ease. She slipped off her pumps, shrugged off her blazer and dropped off her bag in the living room before moving into the kitchen to get their breakfasts ready.
She began by putting a filter and grounds into the coffee maker and hitting the start button, then reached into the drawer behind her grabbing a knife to cut the two bagels in half, popping them in the toaster. While she waited, she flipped through a copy of US weekly that House had most likely stolen from the clinic. She was just finishing up reading about the twelfth kid that Angelina was adopting when the toaster popped at the same time she heard the water turn off in the bathroom.
"Butter or cream cheese?" she called towards the back of the condo as she snatched the hot bagels out of the toaster and dropped them onto plates.
"What?" he called back opening his bedroom door a few inches to poke his head out.
"Do you prefer butter or cream cheese on your bagel?" she asked again.
"Cream cheese," he called back starting to close the door before pausing and sticking his head out again. "But only if it hasn't become penicillin."
Cameron laughed and looked in the fridge, finding a tub of cream cheese in the very back. She lifted the plastic lid just enough to confirm that it was well on its way to becoming a biohazard before throwing it into the trash bin behind her, now grateful that she had thought to grab a few extra packets of cream cheeses from the bagel place. She reached back into the refrigerator to grab the carton vanilla soy milk that she preferred in her coffee, before closing the fridge door with a bump of her hip.
House joined her in the kitchen as she finished with the bagels and the coffee maker beeped announcing its completion. He accepted the bagel she handed him and watched her move across the kitchen to get them mugs for their coffee. He only watched her struggle to get them off the top shelf of the cabinet for a moment before he took pity on her and got them down for her.
"Whedioogeoort?" he asked through a mouthful of bagel.
"I believe that it's customary to chew, swallow, then speak," she told him as she grabbed the sugar from its more accessible shelf in the pantry.
"I said, when did you get so short?" he repeated once he finished his bite, moving to stand right next to her at the counter to illustrate the height difference.
Cameron gave him a strange look, "I'm 5'4, I'm not that short. And I've pretty much been this height since my sophomore year of high school House."
"No," he insisted, reaching around her to grab the soy milk that had suddenly materialized in his fridge the week before, "I'm fairly sure that you've shrunk. You are incredibly short and usually you're just not tall."
Cameron laughed as she stirred sugar into the other mug of coffee, "You're just used to the four inch heels I wear every day at work."
"Now I'm no podiatrist, but that cannot be healthy," he said looking down at her stockinged feet.
"No probably not," she agreed, "and I'm sure OSHA would have something to say about it too, but I'm used to it and as you said, without them, I'm incredibly short. And for some reason people take me more seriously when I'm taller."
"And you need all the help you can get in that department," he snarked as they exchanged mugs.
"We need to fight," Cameron announced after taking a sip of the coffee he had just handed her.
House looked at her for a moment, not following her train of thought. "Is it because I pointed out that you're vertically challenged, because the crack I made about no one taking you seriously, or because I put too much of that ridiculous soy crap in your coffee?"
"No," she laughed lightly. "Chase said something a couple days ago about being surprised we haven't killed each other yet and that got me thinking. We're getting along too well, it's not believable, we need to get in a fight at work. Although frankly, I'm surprised we haven't yet anyways, I don't think we've ever gone this long without getting pissed at each other for something."
"Say what you mean," he replied as taking a long sip of the coffee she had prepared.
"What?"
"You meant that you've never gone this long without getting pissed off at me," he clarified.
"No, what I meant, is that you have never gone this long without doing something to purposely piss me off," she corrected with a grin.
"Touché," he conceded with a return of her grin, "but it's only because this time, you're my partner in crime. As long as you're actively helping me annoy and irritate other people, you're safe from my diabolical plans."
"I'll have to keep that in mind," she replied as she finished off her bagel. "If you cant beat the devil, stay in hell and enjoy the tan."
He snorted mentally at her analogy, making a point to file it away in a corner of his brain for later. "But you're right," he agreed, reaching for the coffee pot going back to the original purpose of the conversation. "So I guess I should get in an extra cup in now, since I wont be getting any more coffee at work."
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Cameron arrived at the hospital first and stopped to speak to the nurses in the lobby making sure that she was in clear view of Cuddy's office. She knew that House would only be a few minutes behind her since even though he gave her a ten minute head start, he could make the trip to the hospital much quicker since he could weave in and out of traffic on his bike. So it wasn't long before she stiffened consciously, hearing his specific gait coming up from behind her.
"Its not very nice to your crippled husband or the environment to leave him at home when you were supposed to car pool and save on precious fossil fuels," he said coldly leaning against the counter next to her, purposely loud enough for all the nurses to hear.
"Well then it's a good thing you rode the bike instead of driving the 'vett, much more fuel efficient," she retorted just as coolly as she turned to walked away.
"Hey," he called grabbing her upper arm to halt her escape, "you don't get to just keep walking away before we're finished, just because you don't want to have a conversation."
"Oh so you're the only one who is allowed to walk away?" she practically growled at him.
"Yes," he shot back, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, I guess that's why you're so good at it," he returned. "You have plenty of practice."
House couldn't help but feel his ire rise in his chest. This may be a fake fight but she sure looked royally ticked off for real, and he had enough experience to know what that looked liked. She was also bringing up the very real point of his tendency to avoid or divert their conversations when things became to emotionally heavy. He was about to respond with a comment that actually would piss her off for real, but was luckily interrupted.
"House!" Cuddy called walking into the lobby.
"WHAT?" they both yelled stunning Cuddy into freezing mid-step, not that they saw as they were both too busy staring down each other.
"See you already respond to my last name, why don't you just take it like a normal woman?!" House asked angrily.
They actually hadn't decided what it was they were fighting about, but this lead in seemed like as good of one as any. After all Cameron had already made several public statements about her choice in keeping her maiden name and it would give them something to work with instead of ranting ambiguously.
"Because I told you I wanted to keep my maiden name," she retorted back, picking up on his train of thought. "And what do you mean by a 'normal woman?' Should I just go home and do your laundry and make a pot roast for you to come home to?"
"Okay lets do that," he replied, "and you can wear an apron and pearls while you do it."
At this point Cuddy had recovered from the shock of actually being yelled at and moved to intervene as she waved a file in between the two feuding doctors.
"You have a patient," she announced slapping the file against House's chest.
Cuddy was prepared to go into her hard sell on why he should take this patient and then lecture both of them on not bringing their personal lives into the hospital and reminding them that if it affected their work she would have to take action. But she never got the chance because House simply gave her a disdainful look, took the file, and quickly made his way to the elevator.
"Well are you coming?!" he sniped to Cameron, holding the door open with his cane.
"I'll take the stairs!" she snapped back.
"Are you alright Dr. Cameron?" Cuddy asked gently.
"I'm fine," the immunologist replied, plastering a fake smile across her lips. "Well I should go get to work, we do have a patient after all."
Cuddy watched as Cameron turned and walked away, indeed taking the stairs like she said she would. She waiting until the other doctor was out of sight before turning herself and making her way into her office. She knew that Cameron had gone toe to toe with her boss in the past, but she had never seen the younger woman loose it with House quite so publicly before. Of course usually they argued over work related topics and not matters pertaining to their marriage.
Marriage, now that was a word she had never expected to use in conjunction with her grumpy head Diagnostician. Dr. House and Dr. Cameron were married… it was still an concept that the Dean was having trouble wrapping her mind around. Sometimes she still got the feeling that it was all some kind of game and at some point they were going to turn to her and say 'just kidding!' and they could all go back to the way life used to be.
Up until now it seemed to be working well for them, almost too well, she acknowledged as she sat behind her desk. So, she supposed, it would make sense that when they finally did fight, they would do it in a big way. After all House should have a 'contents under pressure' sticker on his ass, the longer he held in his bastard tendencies, the bigger the explosion would be when something did set him off. And she could only imagine what it must be like for poor Cameron to have to deal with him practically 24 hours a day. The woman was practically a saint for putting up with him, she should be allowed to loose her cool once in a while. And so she decided not to interfere with the disputing doctors, choosing instead to let them work it out on their own and hope they didn't make any messes that would be too difficult to clean up.
A/N Alright everyone, this is actually only the first half of what was supposed to be one chapter but it was getting long so I split it up… the second half appropriately titled Round Two should be up shortly as soon as I finish it up and revise it…I might be able to get it done by the end of the night if properly motivated, so let me know if you want it!