Yay! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and, once again, thank you for being patient while I was trying to update the last chapter.
A/N: Glad to know that my drunken writing wasn't so horrible. Once I went back to look it over once it was posted I found that it wasn't too bad after all…a few typos, but that's about it.
A/N2: I'm sorry that this one took so long. I had three exams this week, another one next week, and two papers to write by the end of the month. It's been a little hectic, but I promise to try and get better with the updates.
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Chapter Ten- You Broke Her
Friday afternoon finds Cameron in the ER, as per usual. She is writing out a prescription for a patient and finding it very hard to remove the soft smile from her face as she hands the slip of paper over to the middle aged woman before her.
"There you go Ms. Hansen. This should do the trick," Allison informs the woman kindly.
"Thank you very much Dr. Cameron," Ms. Hansen smiles before exiting the exam room, closely followed by the blonde doctor.
"You broke Thirteen," a male voice accuses from behind her.
"Didn't we have this conversation earlier this week?" Allison questions with a sigh. "No, I did not cause her to sprain her ankle during sex because we-"
"Not that," House brushes her off.
"Then what are you talking about? I have patients to get to," an exasperated Cameron replies.
"She's acting all…weird," the older man explains vaguely. "Thirteen is being all…nice," he says with distaste.
"Nice?" The blonde inquires, wondering why this is cause for concern.
"Yeah. I have been calling her Huntington's, Lesbian, Thirty-One, and Hot Mama all week and she hasn't even flinched. I think she might have even smiled at me about it a couple of times."
Allison arches an eyebrow. "Okaaaay," she draws out curiously.
"She hasn't called me selfish or childish since last week. She won't morph into a rabid bitch and tell me to grow up when I start talking about things that aren't 'medically relevant'. She let me talk about Wizard of Oz memorabilia without so much as a scoff or eye roll. You had to have done something to her," House whines pathetically.
"She's fine House," the blonde smirks at her former boss.
"Well, if you didn't do anything, then it must be a brain tumor," he mumbles to himself.
"What?" An appalled Cameron barks out.
"It explains the personality shift and uncharacteristic behavior…Not to mention the sudden interest in you," he shoots over at the blonde, earning himself a glare. "I'm going to get an MRI done on her."
"I'm sure she'll be all over that idea," Cameron sarcastically replies with amusement.
"With as passive as she's been these last few days, I wouldn't doubt it. Besides, if that doesn't work, I can always drug her and do it anyways," he mumbles.
"You can't drug her!"
"She did it to me so that she could biopsy my organs after that blood transfusion," he answers with a quirked eyebrow.
"That was to try and save a patient."
"But this could save a doctor."
"She doesn't have a brain tumor. Maybe she's just, I don't know…happy?" Cameron asks rhetorically.
"Please," House scoffs with an eye roll.
Allison sighs and rubs her eyes. "Get out of here House," she sighs in annoyance before turning and walking off, completely frustrated with the older doctor.
--
"We need to do an MRI on you," House announces as he walks back into the Diagnostics Office upstairs.
Thirteen quirks an eyebrow in response. "We do?" She asks in amusement.
"Yeah."
"Why do I need an MRI?"
"I think you may have a brain tumor," House informs her easily. Remy actually chuckles at the suggestion. "This is no laughing matter," he chastises.
"Aren't you missing Passions right now?" She questions him seriously.
The older man glances at the clock out of the corner of his eye. He narrows his eyes at her. "This conversation isn't over," he grumbles before turning and exiting the room with a flourish.
Hadley smirks as she turns back to the guys in the room. "So, back to the patient. I think that Ms. Argento's hemorrhaging could be from-"
"House just said you had a brain tumor," Kutner blurts out.
"I know. I was there, remember?" Remy asks rhetorically, wanting to get back on track before their boss interrupted them.
"Yeah, but-"
"Let's just get back to the patient," Foreman butts in.
"So…A parasite?" Taub guesses as he reads the charts over again.
"You think House is a parasite?!" Kutner shouts incredulously. The other three doctors shoot him an aggravated look. "Right. The patient. Shutting up now."
--
Finally having some down time, Remy decides to take a coffee break in the lounge. As she is adding the sugar to her Styrofoam cup, House saunters in.
"Did she brain-wash you?" He asks her suspiciously. "You can tell me if she did."
Thirteen groans at the accusation. "No. She did not brain-wash me House. I just…like her," she confesses.
"Ew," House grimaces at the confession. "I think the two of you should break up now," he says, sounding suspiciously like an order.
"Yeah, okay," Remy replies sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she does so.
"I'm serious."
Hadley watches him for a moment. "Okay, I'll bite. Why should we break up, House?" She asks him with amusement evident in her tone.
"Because you're boring now. You don't fight back and you haven't gone into any long speeches out how I'm being childish or how I am being insensitive. You've been too busy daydreaming and being, in general, all googly-eyed over Cameron and, quite frankly, it makes me throw up a little in my mouth every time I see you two together," he informs her honestly.
"So, I need to break up with her because I am not yelling at you and it makes you sick when others aren't as miserable as you are?" She questions, trying to make sure that she has it all straight.
"Exactly!" House grins triumphantly. "I knew you'd see it my-"
"No," she cuts him off.
"What?" He asks, thoroughly deflated.
"I am not going to break up with her just because you asked me to. We like each other and it doesn't have anything to do with you or-"
"It does concern me if it interferes with your work," House interrupts harshly.
"It isn't interfering with my work," Thirteen denies in confusion.
"When the brightest member of my team is off in her own little world while the rest of us are trying to save a person's life, I call that 'interfering'. Foreman tries to keep me on task while Kutner and Taub tend to suck up. But, I know that you are not going to just blindly follow. I count on you to challenge me so that we can really get to the bottom of a case," he answers honestly.
Remy stands before him, stunned at how open he just was. "I understand…but I'm not breaking up with her. I'll do a better job at paying attention and being a bitch," she compromises.
House grins. "That's all I ask Lesbo," he retorts lightly as he throws an arm playfully over her shoulders.
Remy pulls a face as she removes his arm from her shoulders. "I am not a Lesb-"
"You're back!" He happily declares. "I was so worried," he grins as he wraps his arms around her in an awkward hug.
"Very funny," she deadpans, pulling away from the embrace.
"So, how about you and Kutner go break into Ms. Harper's home and see what you can come up with?" House grins before walking away, satisfied with the outcome of the conversation.
Hadley watches him limp out of the room, shaking her head and smiling at his antics. She then hobbles off to find Kutner so that they could get the keys to the patient's home.
--
"So, you and Cameron, huh?" Kutner asks as he goes through the patient's dresser drawers.
"Yeah," Remy replies, small smile ghosting across her features at the mention of the other woman.
"When did that happen? How did that happen?" He inquires, almost completely abandoning his search.
Pausing from her task of breaking through the password on the patient's computer, Hadley looks up at the other man. "It just…did," she explains briefly before looking back down at the screen.
"That just explains it all. You're so…detailed and concise. I totally understand now," Kutner snarks back, obviously expecting more.
Thirteen grins to herself as she cracks the code and pulls up the woman's email. Her birthday…so simple. Breaking into people's computers, House must be rubbing off on me. Dammit. She looks up at the other doctor with a sigh.
"She asked me out last week. I have the sneaking suspicion that House wanted her to spy on me or something," she informs him, mumbling the last part idly to herself as she searches on the computer for anything useful.
"You think House asked her to spy and you decided to go out with her anyways?" Kutner asks, walking over to her, any pretense of looking around completely abandoned.
Remy looks up at him briefly. "He found out what he wanted on his own and she was still interested, so I figured 'why not?'" She shrugs.
"So, are you guys like 'girlfriends' now or something?"
"I don't know what we are," is the honest reply. "We've only been on one date…kind of."
"How can you 'kind of' have a date?" The other doctor asks curiously.
"We were supposed to go out Saturday, but I was sick and I sprained my ankle. She came over anyways and we just watched movies and talked," Remy answers back, not in the mood to be evasive today.
"How did you sprain you ankle?" He wonders, taking full advantage of her rare display of openness.
"When I was riding my bike, I sneezed and…rode into a parked car," she grumbles the end of the sentence in hopes that he wouldn't hear.
No such luck. He burst into laughter, taking several minutes to regain his composure. Once he looks at her and her stern expression, her erupts once again.
"Seriously, why were you riding your bike while you were sick? I know you're not stupid," he inquires after finally getting control of himself.
"I promised my daughter and the neighbor's kids," she answers absently as she begins closing out the windows she brought up on the screen. She stops immediately once she realizes what she said.
"You have a daughter?" A stunned Kutner asks.
"Don't you dare mention this to anyone else. Don't even let House know that you know this," Remy threatens, standing up to look him evenly in the eye.
"You mean, House already knows?"
"He found out last week when she was brought into the hospital with a high fever. If he finds out that someone else on the team knows, then he will bring it up all the time. So, seriously, keep your mouth shut," she all but growls out, hating herself for slipping up.
"I promise, I won't mention it to anyone," Kutner replies, holding up his right hand as if to swear on it. "Does Cameron know?"
Remy smiles slightly. "She was Alex's doctor when she was brought in. Allison found out when I went down to see her in the ER." Kutner smiles enigmatically at her. "What?" She frowns.
"You called her 'Allison'," he states.
Thirteen rolls her eyes and smiles at him. "I know, I know. Let's get back to the hospital and let House know what we found."
"What did we find?" Kutner asks, confused.
At this, Remy scowls at him. "Weren't you paying attention. I found out that Jessica Harper has been having the same blinding headaches for at least six months. It was in her emails to her sister in New Haven. We should probably get in contact with the sister to see if she has any other relevant information and go from there," she instructs as they make their way out to his car.
--
"Well?" House asks the team expectantly. The other four stare back blankly. "Don't you have any suggestions? Any thoughts at all?"
"You've already shot down anything we've suggested," Foreman points out.
"That's because your earlier suggestions were stupid. I'm ready for the good ones. Lay it on me," he answers back obviously.
"Uh…maybe it's psychosomatic," Kutner offers tentatively.
"You mean, it's all in her head?" House questions. Kutner nods. "So, she just imagined internal hemorrhaging?"
"Okay, maybe not," the other man mumbles.
"Lesbian, what about you? Anything going on upstairs?"
Thirteen glares irritably. "What do you expect from us, House? We've been running around all day-"
"Running?" He interrupts with a smirk, pointedly glancing at her sprained ankle.
"You know what I mean!" Remy snaps back at him.
"Well then, I suggest you guys get comfortable," House says.
"What are you talking about?" Taub inquires, finally contributing to the conversation.
"You guys aren't going anywhere tonight until you get a clue as to what's killing the patient," he grins.
"What?!" Remy shouts, enraged.
"Afraid to leave your-"
"House," she barks out, preventing him from finishing his sentence. "Fine. I just need to make call," she sighs, getting her cell phone out as she stands up.
"Say hi to Alexis for me," House requests cheekily.
Remy cringes to herself as she exits the room, leaving Taub and Foreman perplexed at House's statement. Kutner just appears uncomfortable.
Out in the hall, Remy hits her speed dial number 1. She waits patiently for the phone to pick up.
"Hey," Richard greets his daughter on the third ring.
"Hey," Remy echoes tiredly.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah…Well, no. We've kind of reached a dead end with our patient and House is making us stay here until we can get figure out something we can use to help her," Hadley replies honestly.
"So, you need me to keep her for the night?" He guesses with a smile.
"Please," she says, nearly ready to beg.
"Of course I will. Don't worry about her."
"Thanks Dad. Tell Alex that I love her and I'll see her tomorrow."
"Okay Sweetheart. Good luck," he says before hanging up his end of the line.
Remy sighs and flips her phone closed. She closes her eyes briefly before poking her head back in the office. "I'm taking a break," she notifies the guys.
"Get me a coffee while you're out," House says.
"Oh, me too," Kutner adds with an eager smile. Hadley just arches an eyebrow at the two men as if to say 'are you kidding'. "Or not," he mumbles.
"I'll still have one," House informs her.
"You know where it's at. Get it yourself," Thirteen replies before turning and leaving on her crutches. Foreman smirks and Kutner tries to stifle a chuckle.
--
Cameron decides to detour through the Doctor's Lounge before leaving the hospital. She finds Thirteen laying on the couch, sipping on the bitter hospital coffee and staring blankly at the television screen.
"Hey you," Allison greets the other woman, effectively breaking her out of her daze.
"I didn't hear you come in," Remy greets with a weak smile.
The blonde looks carefully at her for a moment, sensing something of with the younger woman. "Something on your mind?" She asks, deciding that the other woman isn't going to offer it up easily on her own.
"No, not really," Hadley shrugs nonchalantly. She notes the serious expression on the other doctor's face before sighing and leaning her back against the couch. "A little bit…maybe," she evades.
Cameron takes a seat next to the brunette and places a comforting hand on her arm. "Is everything okay? Is it something to do with Alex or your dad?" She inquires, clearly worried.
"A little, but mostly it has to do with…me," Thirteen nearly whispers the last word. I don't want to tell her, but she has to know. I can't not say anything. It wouldn't be fair to either of us.
"Oh?" Is all the other woman can articulate, having a feeling that she knows where this is going.
"Yeah. Last week, I tested myself for Huntington's," Remy begins slowly, having difficultly forcing out the words. Allison offers an encouraging smile and nods to show that she is following along. "After Amber died, I got the results back."
"And you tested positive, right?" Cameron finishes as though it were a question, although she already knows the answer.
"Yeah," Remy confirms. "I wanted you to know before anything serious-"
"I already knew," Allison cuts in, trying to reassure the other woman that she didn't mind.
"You knew?" Hadley asks incredulously. "When did you find out?" She wonders, stunned by the revelation.
"House told me a little over two weeks ago. The Monday after Amber died," Cameron answers sheepishly.
"The day you asked me out," Remy growls out angrily.
The blonde swallows nervously. "Yeah. The day I asked you out," she confirms, waiting for the inevitable explosion.
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This was in the episode with the magician and they tried to give House a blood transfusion to see if the blood was tainted. Also the same episode where we found out that Thirteen's mom died of Huntington's.
Also, someone mentioned that Cuddy was, perhaps, coming across as being jealous or "overly attentive" when it came to Thirteen and Cameron. I assure you that there is nothing to worry about with her, she is just making sure that her employees are doing okay. She seems like the kind of person who wants to make sure that the tension between them won't affect their work.
Okay, just a little bit of an FYI, this story isn't likely going to be too much longer. We're probably looking at between 12 and 15 chapters here. Knowing me, it will probably be closer to 15 seeing as how I tend to take an idea for a small scene and turn it into half of a chapter. Anyways, I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads up
One last thing, wasn't the season premiere last night awesome? I like how they seem to be portraying Thirteen this season. She seems like she's going to be a bit more ballsy and assume more of a leadership-type role…if this episode is anything to go by. Olivia Wilde was great.