He doesn't want to answer the question she's asked on the other side of the island counter.

"It doesn't matter," he finally replies.

She bites her lip and shakes her head in something close to disbelief. It's nearly August, over a full year since she'd thrown herself back into Princeton Plainsboro, and nearly six months since she'd gotten herself into the messy affair with Gregory House.

"That's just it," she says with just a hint of hoarseness as her throat begins to burn. "It should."

It had been six nights of sleeping alone, seven days of quick retorts, four lunches eaten alone, and two dinners gone to catastrophe in the blink of an eye.

She almost wanted to wallow in her pain, but she'd be damned if she'd act like a rejected junior being stood up for prom. She could think about it, dwell on it, try to act on it. But the answer she wanted so desperately for him to give, would most likely break her spirit. This way, she'd have a reason for leaving, and he'd have his reason to not be with her.

Things were spiraling down at such a rapid speed, that he wasn't even sure how far they had till they'd reach bottom. He swallowed his Vicodin as he opened his cell phone. It wasn't her.

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking that you might, oh I don't know, want to eat lunch with your girlfriend."

"Aww, Wilson, I thought we graduated to dinners?"

"House, she's been eating lunch by herself for the past week. What's going on?"

Hesitating, he almost laid it out on the line. He caught himself.

"Wait! What? I can't hear you! I must be losing connection because I don't want to talk to you!"

He hung the phone up with a snap. Great, now Wilson was in it. He could hear the musings now of why he was intentionally sabotaging his and Cameron's relationship.

She didn't know why she had to go see him after she got off work every night. The way things had been going between them, she would think she'd want to stay away to give him his needed space. Then again, she'd been doing this too long. He would stop talking to her, teasing her, eventually not even acknowledge her. And then it would pass and he'd make a funny quip, whisper in her ear at work, kiss her without doubt.

Knocking on the door, she waited for him to answer. She didn't have to; she could make her way in with the spare key she'd long since found. Tonight was different however, since this was the first time he'd made her feel like a stranger.

Before she knew it, they were face to face. Unsurprisingly, he didn't say anything, but he looked at her with that look he only gave her. It made her heart jump like there was hope. Fleeting as it was, it meant something.

"Did you eat already?"

He took his hand off the door and began to turn away. "Yep."

His back to her wasn't something new. She walked in, closed the door, and stood there as he put a plate into the sink. Her rage, disappointment, annoyance, fear, collided in a single moment. Her footsteps were so heavy, she was surprised she could even walk. Vaguely she could feel her keys slip out of her hand onto the small coffee table. When she finally made it to the kitchen, it surprised her she'd actually made it that far.

"What do I do?"

Playing dumb might work. It would put off this discussion for awhile at least. "About what?"

"You can stand there and pretend you have no idea and drag this out, or you can just get it over with."

A tense moment passed. "Please, House."

"What did you think was going to happen?" he asked gruffly. "We're two totally different people. I'm not changing into a brighter, patient man."

"I don't care about that."

"That's what you say, now, because you think you know what love is. You have this fantasy that you haven't let go of, and I won't fit into it. I'm the surly bastard who's going to miraculously understand life and appreciate the little things because some young girl got into his heart?"

"Shut up!" She was tired of this excuse. "You keep saying that and...oh, I'm just so tired of it. You are a mean bastard, and trust me, I know I will never change that. I wish you would just get over it! Quit thinking if I don't change you I'm going to leave!"

"That's not what I think!"

"Then why do this? Why push me away for weeks and then suddenly come back to me? Why are you giving me the ammunition to break up with you? I've been trying so hard to make you acknowledge me, but you don't."

"That's how I am, Cameron! I don't need people the way some do. I'm fine by myself, and I like being by myself most of the time. Where's the problem?"

"So, I'm just a person?" Her mouth twitched in anger or sadness.

"Yes, you are."

She breathed deeply and couldn't take her eyes off him. All this time when she'd thought she'd made a little difference in him, made her mark on him, and she hadn't. She wasn't anything more than a stranger he'd bump into on the street. Had she expected more?

He didn't want to take it back. What he wanted to do was explain it better. He didn't want to be there again, attached to a woman he knew needed more. She would stay with him, he was sure, but only because of obligation and guilt.

"Do you," her voice nearly caught. "Do you still want this?"

He didn't want to answer the question she'd asked on the other side of the island counter.

"It doesn't matter," he finally replied.

She bit her lip and shook her head in something close to disbelief. It was nearly August, over a full year since she'd thrown herself back into Princeton Plainsboro, and nearly six months since she'd gotten herself into the messy affair with Gregory House.

"That's just it," she said with just a hint of hoarseness as her throat began to burn. "It should."

There could have been something for him to say as she pushed away from the counter and grabbed her keys off the coffee table before making her way silently out of his apartment. As the front door closed quietly, he raised his head to the ceiling, listening to nothing but him. It did matter. It always had.

A/N: Yeah...sorry for the long wait. There's been...agh, mess to deal with. Anyways, we went straight from first date to near break up didn't we? I'm gonna say they hooked up in April...finally started dating in mid May, and it's been rocky ever since then. Well, thanks again for reading and maybe steeling yourself for the dramatic ending coming in a few chaps.