You've Got Mail

It was a beautiful Monday morning, which was rare because Monday mornings usually aren't beautiful. Monday mornings are normally just-one-more-vicodin mornings. This, however, was not the case on this particular morning for several reasons. First of all, there was the fact that House was waking up next to the drop-dead gorgeous Allison Cameron. Not to mention she had finally slept in (House had turned his alarm clock off for that very purpose) and the rays of sunlight were starting to enter his bedroom. Never in his life had House ever experienced such a lovely Monday morning. Of course, Cameron could make it a little better by indulging to House's playful wants. And indulge she did.

&&&&&

House and Cameron entered PPTH that morning at nearly 11:00. Needless to say, Cuddy was not pleased at all. She was especially surprised to find that for the very first time while working at PPTH, Dr. Cameron was late for work.

"Where in the world have you two been?" asked Cuddy in all her fury.

House was about to say something witty, but Cameron saved him the trouble.

"House's car broke down," said Cameron. "I had to pick him up on my way to work."

Cuddy accepted this as a valid answer and moved on, but not before demanding that the two of them head down to the Clinic as soon as possible.

Cameron decided to check on her brother-in-law first, though, before going to the Clinic. House, well, House had no intentions of going to the Clinic at all anyways, so he just went up to his office.

&&&&&

Cameron walked into Charlie's room to find that Angi and Gracie were already in there as well. Gracie was playing some sort of pinball game on Charlie's laptop, while Angi was busily talking on her cell phone. Judging by the one end of the conversation she could hear, Cameron assumed it was with her editor (who didn't sound pleased that Angi may have to postpone the book tour). Angi hung up the phone as soon as she saw Cameron enter the room.

"Aunt Ally!" shouted Grace. "Do you want to play pinball with me?"

Cameron laughed. "No thanks, but I think Elizabeth is going to be here for the rest of the day if you'd like to play with her," she said. "She leaves tomorrow I believe."

"Lizzie's leaving?!"

"Just for the week," said Cameron calmly. "She'll be back next weekend."

Grace sighed and decided that it would be best to make the most of her time with Lizzie. So, she closed the laptop and walked off towards the Witherspoon Wing.

"Maybe I should go watch her," said Angi as her daughter trotted off.

"Don't worry," said Cameron. "We have nurses and doctors all over this hospital; nothing will happen."

Angi nodded in acceptance.

&&&&&

House entered his office to find that it was empty. Cameron was probably still in the ICU, and the boys were probably in the Clinic or helping out another department. It didn't really matter to him where they were, as long as they didn't bother him. House glanced at the stack of unopened mail. Cameron hadn't been able to do her clerical duties the last few days because of Charlie's accident. He opened up his email inbox, and there was even more mail than the large stack on his desk. House decided to give Cameron a break for once and read his own mail.

Dr. House:

As Head of the Board of Education in –

Trash.

Dear Dr. House,

My name is Tina Marley, and I was wondering if you would guest speak at—

Trash. This mail sorting thing wasn't as hard as Cameron made it out to be. After all of his mail had been read and trashed, House moved onto email.

Well, the most interesting mail that House received was from the local electronics store. His latest video game order had just come in the mail, and he needed to pick it up.

&&&&&

Cameron decided it would be best to speak with Angi outside of Charlie's room. Something didn't seem right in her sister's mood today.

"Are you okay?" asked Cameron.

Angela sighed. "My editor doesn't want to postpone the trip."

Cameron thought for a moment. "Well, how long is it?"

"The trip?" she asked.

Cameron nodded.

"Ally, the trip is probably going to take at least 2-4 weeks," she said. "There's no way I can leave Gracie with Charlie when he's like this. I mean, he does remember her, but there still obviously something wrong with his brain."

Cameron nodded. "The hospital won't discharge him yet anyways," she agreed. "When do you have to leave?"

"Why?" All of her sister's questions were beginning to make Angela curious.

"Well," she said, "What if I watched Gracie until you got back?"

"I couldn't ask you to do that. School starts again next week, which is when I have to leave. Gracie can't afford to miss that much school and you can't afford to miss that much work."

Cameron agreed with her sister. It was quite the dilemma.

"I'm just going to have to cancel the trip," concluded Angi. "There's no other solution."

"No, Angi, don't do that," said her sister. "You've worked so hard on this book. Just give Charlie more time. Maybe something will come back to him. Maybe he'll get better. You'll see."

Angela nodded. She was willing to wait, but not for long. "If he doesn't get better by this weekend, I'm going to have to call my editor."

Cameron nodded in agreement. There must be something she could do to help.

&&&&&

House had finished off reading all of his mail and was debating what to do with his time leftover. There was no chance in hell he'd be caught doing Clinic duty. After giving the matter much thought, House finally decided that he would sort Cameron's mail for a change. Hopefully she would thank him and not get all pissy by the fact that it was a total invasion of privacy (the main reason House was doing it in the first place).

Dr. Cameron:

We would like to thank you for your recent donation to—

Boring.

Dear Dr. Cameron,

We would like to inform you that your subscription to People Magazine is—

Boring! None of Cameron's mail seemed to interest House the slightest, so he finally moved on to email. It took him some time, but he finally cracked her password (cute8cane).

After reading some of the dumbest emails he'd ever seen from old college buddies and from high school friends, House finally came upon something that really interested him.

Dearest Ally,

I miss you dearly. I'm sitting here with Princess, just thinking of you. It's been so long since you were with us. I wish you could get off of work sometime soon and come home. We both miss you so much. I hope you are having a nice time, though, and I can't wait to hear back from you. Good luck in Boston, Ally.

I love you, Sweetie.

House was in complete shock. The email wasn't even signed. Who was Princess? And who was the letter from? Cameron wouldn't be cheating on him, would she? No, not after chasing him for so long. But what other options did he have? It didn't make sense. None of it made sense at all. He pondered whether or not to tell Cameron about what he'd found.

&&&&&

It was nearly 8:00pm when House finally decided to confront Cameron about the mail. He figured she'd either be in the Clinic, or she'd be with Charlie and the gang. He headed to the ICU first because… well, he just wasn't in the mood to go to the Clinic right now. Luckily, he wouldn't have to. Cameron was sitting in the waiting room of the ICU drinking a coffee.

"Hey," she said smiling up at him.

House gave her a nod. "Can we talk?"

Cameron nodded as Angela and Gracie came walking towards them. They were headed towards Charlie's room, and Cameron went with them. House followed suite.

Grace put her father's laptop down on his bedside table and gave her father a big hug and kiss.

"Hey Princess," he smiled. "Did you have fun with your new friend today?"

Grace nodded. "We played Pinball and Solitaire!"

"That's sounds like a lot of fun," said Charlie. He and Grace went on to talk about everything Grace and Elizabeth had done that day. House, Angi, and Cameron all stood in the corner. Charlie barely seemed to notice anyone but Grace.

Finally, at around 9:00, Cameron decided that she should probably be heading home with Grace and Angela. Then it hit her; she'd never had a chance to talk with House.

"Greg?"

"What?" he asked, almost mesmerized by the sight of Grace and Charlie.

"What was it that you wanted to talk about earlier?"

House thought for a moment. "Never mind."

Cameron was confused but accepted his answer. "You ready to go home, Gracie?"

Grace gave her father one more hug before skipping off towards her aunt and mother. Charlie watched as Angela gave Grace her coat and as House gave Cameron a kiss goodbye.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know this seems weird now, but let the plot play out. It won't seem as insane once I'm done with the next few chapters.