Disclaimer: Sadly, not mine.

This is just a little chapter I put together. I'll probably be posting a new fic soon. If you see it, please check it out! And I hope to be updating this one even more regularly.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed- I love you all!

Please let me know what you think!

"You're not agreeing to this, are you?"

Cuddy sighed deeply. What did he expect? She wanted to keep Allison Cameron as acting-Head of Diagnostics; she'd already promised not to tell House that his youngest fellow was filling-in for him while he was away; and she'd agreed to the very thing that Wilson was protesting against.

"I don't have a choice," she said, somewhat heatedly. It had been Wilson's idea to give Cameron the job in the first place. The young doctor hadn't asked for more money, or caused any of the unnecessary fuss that House always seemed to enjoy making. All she wanted was to be given a free rein, as well as being able to keep from her sick boss the knowledge that she was running his department.

"Of course you have a choice!" James was annoyed, "You could just have told her 'no'! Are you really going to tell House that you closed-down his department for the summer?"

"I am," she said firmly, "I'll tell him that his fellows are being re-distributed around the hospital- or something."

"Why? Can't you just tell him that you'll be over-seeing their cases?"

"He would never buy that. He knows I'm too busy to run a department as well. And even if he did buy it, he'd be in here- and upstairs- all the time just so that he could annoy me."

Wilson was silent; she was right.

Pressing her advantage, Lisa continued: "Look, it was your idea to give the job to Cameron. I admit that I was sceptical at first. But now, I see what you see. I think that she could make an excellent boss, and I think that we should give her this chance to prove herself. She's a good doctor, and a really nice person, but I think she needs a chance to flex her muscles, so to speak," she paused, carefully choosing her words, "House has been…stifling her- I think. Look at what she's gotten done in such a short time."

The other doctor nodded: "I know- three patients diagnosed in two days, and more clinic hours than the three of them usually do in a week."

Cuddy smiled: "Not just that- all of House's charting is up-to-date, and this morning I got a call from a Jenny Somebody-or-other wanting to make a donation to the hospital."

"One of the patients she treated a couple of days ago?"

"Exactly."

"The one who had lupus?"

Cuddy nodded: "She was transferred to Chicago General to be closer to home and, of course, she's under-going treatment, but she told me on the phone that Cameron's called her twice in the last few days to see how she's getting on. She also said that she'd been trying to get House to see her for months; she was delighted when Cameron got in touch."

"And she didn't mind that House wasn't treating her?" James asked curiously.

"She was disappointed at first, I think, but she said that she felt comfortable with Cameron, and that she really looked after her."

He nodded slowly: that sounded more like the Cameron he knew.

"You know that she doesn't want to see House?"

Cuddy looked surprised, but then shrugged: "That's her business."

"But don't you think it's odd?" he persisted.

She seemed to turn the question over in her mind: "Well, as a matter of fact, I do. But it's not affecting her work. And I'm not here to get involved in my employees love-lives."

The remark was flippant, but she had a point.

"You do know that she's been staying late at the hospital- maybe even sleeping here?"

Cuddy saw what he was doing.

"Ok, I'll tell you what: I'll tell her to ease off a bit and get some rest- if you promise not to tell House that the department is still open-for-business."

Wilson paused indecisively.

"You know he's just going to get in the way if he finds out what's going on," came Cuddy's persuasive voice, "He needs to be focusing on other stuff right now."

He sighed, knowing that he had been beaten. "Fine. But you better tell Cameron to relax a bit."

Later that evening, Allison Cameron sat in a piano bar that she'd never been to, swilling the contents of her glass and mulling things over.

Dr. Cuddy's voice still echoed in her head.

"I've told House that I decided to shut down the department until he gets back, and I've let Wilson, Foreman and Chase know that they're not to say anything." Cameron had smiled her thanks. "However," Cuddy continued in a warning tone, "I may end up acutally shutting it down if you don't start spending less time at the hospital, and more time in bed."

She nodded in agreement, smiled, thanked her again, and made her escape.

Cameron raised her glass in a silent toast to herself.

She re-designed her new office space, done a load of clinic hours, treated more patients than House did in a month, gotten through the backlog of emails and paperwork that House always managed to avoid, done some fund-raising for the hospital without even knowing it, and let her colleagues know who was boss. The House problem had also been sorted out by Cuddy- for the time being, anyway.

Now all that was left to do was be the boss.

She sighed a little. She was learning that it wasn't as easy as it looked.

AN: How was that?? I promise to update soon- it'll be a long sort of summary chapter (I'm trying out different styles of writing). I want to get House back to the hospital as soon as possible, and then...conflict can begin!