Sunday turned out to be the best day of the entire conference. After bowling, the team went out to lunch at a local Italian place, which had pretty good food. Once they'd finished eating, the team decided to go back to the hotel and go swimming. It wasn't as enjoyable as when Remy had gone swimming with just Allison, but it was great to send her looks and bust up laughing, both of them remembering that night of breaking into the pool.
House refused to remove himself from the hot tub, claiming that "the big pool" wasn't designed for cripples. For a man who didn't want people to treat him like a cripple, he certainly mentioned being one quite a lot.
For a while, Allison was floating across the pool on one of those blow-up rafts, looking peaceful and beautiful, until Kutner whispered to Remy that they should dunk her out of it. Getting an evil smirk, Remy agreed and swam around out of Allison's view before diving under the water and swimming under the raft. She then surfaced, succeeding in flipping Allison off of the raft with a squeal.
"Remy!" Allison growled. Remy swam away in fear of the wrath that was Allison Cameron pissed off. Chase looked at his ex in curiosity, picking up the use of Thirteen's first name. When Remy looked over her shoulder, she noticed Chase's expression and cursed under her breath. It wasn't exactly like her newfound friendship with Allison was something she felt the need to hide, but it would surely bring on a whole new round of harassment from House if he knew. Thankfully, he was busy turning into a prune in the hot tub.
The hotel was rented for one more night, so the team all went inside after a good bit of swimming. Kutner ended up setting up Playstation in his room, much to the delight of the other doctors, who all took turns playing. They then got dinner at the attached restaurant to the hotel and retired to their hotel rooms for the night.
"It's only eight, and I'm no where near ready to sleep yet," Allison complained once she and Remy got back to their room.
"Okay, we could go break into Kutner's room and play a videogame again," Remy suggested.
"No, I'm sick of games today," Allison groaned. "Why don't we just curl up and watch a movie?" she offered. She found the remote and turned the television on to find something good playing. Remy sat down on her bed, noticing a problem immediately. With the way the small room was situated, the television was positioned directly in front of Allison's bed, making it very difficult for Remy to see.
Allison settled on a rerun of a Harry Potter movie and Remy tried sitting on the closest edge of the bed to the television and craned her neck to attempt to see better. About five minutes into the movie, Allison looked over and saw her brunette friend struggling.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I should have known you couldn't see from there. You can come over here," Allison said, scooting over to make room for Remy to sit next to her.
"I'm fine, really," Remy turned down the offer, keeping her gaze firmly on the teenage witches and wizards on the screen.
"Seriously, come on. I promise I won't bite," Allison pushed. Remy had a great comeback prepared about how she would, but didn't find it appropriate when she was about to give in and share a bed with the woman. But really, didn't Allison know Remy was bisexual? Didn't she know this would only tempt her? Being friends with someone as beautiful and sweet as Allison Cameron could be difficult.
With a short sigh, Remy gave in and got off her bed and onto Allison's. She sat on the very edge, making sure that there was absolutely no contact between the two of them, nor any chance of it. In fact, she was pretty sure half her butt was hanging off the side. She sat stock-still, not moving a muscle, and tried to take in what was happening on the screen. Allison seemed to be enjoying it, which was good, but she glanced over and saw how uncomfortable Remy was.
"Oh, come on," Allison repeated. "These beds were made big enough for two," she teased. Remy, in spite of herself, smiled at the joke. It poked at a particularly sensitive nerve, the one of her sharing a bed in a completely platonic way with a straight woman, but it came from Allison, which automatically made it adorable and funny. God, she sounded like a lovesick puppy. What had happened to her denial?
Remy eased into the bed a little more, allowing her body to be safely on the bed, but she still made sure that her arm didn't so much as brush against the blonde's. There was silence as the two watched the movie, rather, as Allison watched and Remy freaked out internally.
The movie had started partway through, so at first Remy had a hard time identifying which one it was, only going off the age of the actors. But as she caught bits and pieces of it, she realized that it was the second movie in the series. The scene with the giant spiders came up and Allison yelped.
"What, don't like spiders?" Remy inquired. Allison shook her head vigorously.
"They're creepy! They have too many legs, too many eyes, and the way they move is just… creepy," she summarized in a huff. Every time the movie would pan toward the enormous spider, Allison would grasp at the blankets on the bed and curl up a little more. When it was revealed that there was actually a whole colony of mammoth spiders and said beasts started chasing the young heroes, Allison actually raised the blankets over her eyes.
Remy took pity on her and couldn't help it- she reached out and put an arm around Allison. It was no more than she'd done before, no more intimate, but it felt different, probably because they happened to be sharing a bed. Allison instantly curled into the embrace as if to find safety.
"Sorry, I really hate… spiders," Allison muttered. Remy chuckled lightly at how childish that sounded. Sure, everybody had their irrational fears, but for one reason or another it made no sense for a doctor to be afraid of something as harmless as a spider.
"It's fine. I'll tell you when it's done," Remy said, gently running a hand through Allison's hair. She knew she shouldn't, but she couldn't stop herself. It was like the analogy of putting an alcoholic in a liquor store- he can't stop himself from drinking. Well, put Remy in close proximity to Allison, and she couldn't help but indulge herself.
"It's done. The car got them out and drove back into the forest on its own," Remy informed Allison when the scene changed.
"Okay," Allison said as she emerged from her cocoon of blankets. She did not, however, remove herself from Remy's arm. The brunette let it go for a few minutes, trying to watch the movie and ignore the wonderful feeling of Allison slowly falling asleep in her arms. No. This shouldn't happen.
Remy abandoned the movie completely to look down at Allison. She decided that if she could freeze this moment in time, with Allison peacefully in her arms just about to drift off to sleep, she would. It was perfect except for one thing…
"Allison," Remy said so quietly she practically breathed the name. Allison opened her eyes slightly. She looked like a sleepy angel. "You should… I should…" she trailed off, not wanting to get the point across that they shouldn't be doing what they were doing. Allison said nothing.
Remy closed her eyes and breathed in, loving even the scent of the other woman. She was intoxicating. So when she opened her eyes to find the moment not yet shattered, she could not help herself. She leaned down until her lips just barely brushed the other woman's forehead. It was chaste, over in a moment, but it was surely a mistake. Remy pulled away slowly, not wanting to make the situation worse by any sudden movements. To her surprise, Allison simply closed her eyes and took a deep breath, in and out.
"I…" Remy stuttered. She wanted to find some way to explain herself, to assure Allison that she meant nothing by it, that it was supposed to be a friendly gesture. But the other part of her warred against the idea that she should make everything return to the status quo, pretending that she felt nothing for the beautiful doctor. That part of her wanted to take a risk. She ended up in limbo, words undecided on the tip of her tongue as her mind waged the war of safety versus the possibilities that came with risk.
Allison sat up, removing Remy's arm from her. But before Remy could even start to process the disappointment, Allison had taken a hand to Remy's face, gently outlining her cheek. Remy barely dared to breathe. Allison's hand fell away, and the moment seemed broken.
"Listen, I probably shouldn't have-" Remy started to explain, but she was cut off, she might add, by the most fantastic way she'd ever been cut off.
Now, with a boss like House, she'd been interrupted plenty of times. By insults, by medical data, by files being thrown at her face, and even by awkward displays of insanity. But never, not once, thankfully, had she ever been cut off by her boss in quite this manner.
Allison placed a hand under Remy's chin, pulling her toward her softly. Allison's eyes fluttered shut in anticipation. Remy had a sudden understanding of what was happening, but she didn't stop it. She didn't want to. She couldn't. No, she was one person against a train, what could she do to stop it? She was left to just watch until the last second when Allison's lips touched hers, and then she could keep her eyes open no longer.
It was just a light brush, like a timid teenager that had been afraid to miss their target, but it was like fireworks to Remy. Bright and hot and signaling some sort of victory. Allison's hand did not even have time to fall away from Remy's face before she pulled away, eyes still closed as if she was afraid that when she opened them, everything would disappear.
"Allison," Remy breathed her named again. It was somewhere between the start of a sentence and the end of a breathtaking dream.
"Remy, I..." Allison started, finally opening her eyes, but not backing very far away. In fact, she was kneeling in front of the brunette with an arm on either side of her lap.
"I shouldn't have-" Remy started.
"I should have-" Allison said at the same time. They both broke off and looked at each other helplessly.
"I think if you want me to actually make any sense, you're going to have to back up a little," Remy said with a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Allison put out a hand again and twirled a lock of brunette hair between her fingers. "What if I don't want to make sense?" she whispered, staring right into Remy's eyes. Remy felt all words dry up at that.
And Allison was leaning in again, this time with more than just a small brush of her lips. This time she was determined, her mouth moving against Remy's, and the second woman couldn't help but respond, with her lips and by running a hand through Allison's hair. When she felt Allison's tongue against her lower lip, she tore herself away.
"Remy?" Allison questioned. Remy backed away to a safe distance, pulling her legs up in front of her as a sort of barrier.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Remy asked, half scowling at a pillow, not looking Allison in the eye.
"Um, I may not be the best diagnostician in the world, but I would give that a diagnosis of kissing you?" Allison responded with sarcasm.
"Last time I checked, you were straight," Remy pointed out. Allison laughed at that.
"Last time I checked, I never really labeled myself with a specific sexuality to you, or anyone else at the hospital in fact," Allison countered, the laughter quickly disappearing from her face.
"So you've done this before?" Remy asked in disbelief, raising an eyebrow.
Half of her wanted to just shut up and grab the blonde and kiss her senseless, ask questions later. But she had to know that Allison really wanted this, that she wasn't just tired, cuddly, and missing having a man in her life.
"If by that you mean making a move on someone that I find attractive, then yes, I have," Allison said, a bit of frustration creeping into her voice.
"No, I mean kiss a girl. You said a little while ago when we went out to drinks with the team that you'd never kissed a girl. Am I to assume that between then and now you've gone out, reevaluated your sexuality, and kissed a girl since then?" Remy asked. She knew that it was harsh, probably unnecessary, but she was feeling vulnerable. She really liked Allison, and not in the I-want-to-screw-you-and-leave way she usually felt. She didn't want to be just the object of the older doctor's bi-curiosity.
"If I say yes, does that mean I can kiss you again?" Allison asked hopefully.
Remy actually had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Here House had called her the one with the uncontrollable libido, but Allison was the one pressing to hard to get back to the physical contact. In fact, Allison's hopefulness was so adorable that Remy almost gave in.
"No. I just… do you know what you're getting into? I'm everything you shouldn't want. I'm dying of Huntington's. I've got a dangerous history of self-destruction. I… I've another woman for God's sake," Remy tried to explain. At that, Allison ran a hand through her own hair and gave the brunette a funny look.
"Did you just give an argument against bisexuality?" Allison said slowly. Remy groaned audibly.
"That's not the point. The point is that I think you're confused. You've never felt this way about a woman before, and you're not prepared to handle it. You're probably just confused," Remy said, trying desperately to get her point across.
"You're right, I haven't ever felt this way about a woman before. But so what? I'm not confused. I see this beautiful and obviously intelligent doctor in front of me who has more compassion than I suspected, more than she likes to let people know, who is chivalrous and hilarious at times. That's what I see," Allison said seriously. "I didn't really stop to notice what gender you were," Allison tried to joke at the end.
Remy didn't even know how to address the first part of what the other woman had said. So she focused on the second part. "But gender is an important part of-"
"Oh, shut up!" Allison interrupted sharply. Remy clamped her mouth shut obediently. "Yes, I've never felt this way about a woman before. How old were you when you had your first girl crush?"
"Fifteen," Remy answered quietly.
"Alright, fifteen. So, before that, you had never liked a girl before. Did that stop you from liking her? Did it make it invalid? Just because I've never done it before doesn't mean I shouldn't," Allison said much more calmly.
Remy took a few deep breaths, processing what Allison was saying. "Okay… but what about everything else I said? All the other reasons why you shouldn't be interested in me?"
"For the second time, would you just shut up?" Allison groaned, rolling her eyes. "And kiss me while you're at it," she added in a playful whisper.
"Yes ma'am," Remy answered with a smile.
A/N: So... finally! I'm a fan of the slow-ish build-up in the Cadley relationship, but I thought that it was about time. Actually, I had planned for this to happen on the last day of the conference, and it did. Now then, there will most likely only be one or two more chapters of this unless you guys really want me to keep it going, so review and let me know what you think!