Disclaimer: I, again, own nothing.
A/N: Thanks to all the wonderful people I like to call reviewers. I am really glad to hear all of you are enjoying the story, and even more to hear how many of you love Sipho. Not that any of you are really wondering where Weiss is, but you won't see him again until next chapter. So enjoy the last moments of the Hameron interaction (not so much Hameron love - YET!) and please review.
A/N: Brains and porcupines, Melissa. Brains and porcupines. IT WAS SO CUTE!
Cameron was shaken awake after another restless night's sleep and an even more restless midday nap in the break room. She blinked confusedly several times and shook her head to clear it. She groaned when she saw who had woken her this time.
"House," she groaned. "Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Believe me, Cameron," he began, without missing a beat. "No matter how much more beauty sleep you get, it's not going to help. You'll still look dreadful."
"Thanks," she replied sarcastically. She knew he was right, though. Her continued insomnia had done nothing to improve the circles under her eyes. She had tied her hair back in a loose ponytail that morning, but she could feel the strands coming out on the side she had slept on. Cameron reached up and took out the hair tie, letting her messy hair down onto her shoulders.
"That's marginally better," House said, reaching up to brush some of the hair from her face.
She grabbed his wrist with her good hand. "Don't touch me," she hissed. She hadn't forgotten the incident with the Vicodin pill only a few nights ago.
He pulled back. "Someone's a prickly porcupine today."
Cameron sighed. "What do you want, House? I have to get back to work." She made to stand up.
"I'm leaving."
She stopped, halfway between standing and sitting, and then slowly sat back down. "Really?"
She knew he wouldn't miss the skepticism, but she wondered if he had also heard the surprise. "Really, really," he said seriously. "Cross my heart and hope to die, cowgirl."
Cameron rolled her eyes as she began combing through her hair with her fingers. "When do you leave?"
He pretended to look hurt. "You want to get rid of me that quickly? I know you don't like me hearing when you come, but I must say, it really helps a man get off."
"House!" she exclaimed, scandalized. She felt a heavy blush creeping up her cheeks.
"Oh, don't look so embarrassed," he scoffed. "It's a compliment. I like pretending it's me who's getting your rocks off or whatever those preppy Brits say nowadays."
"Daniel isn't British," she snapped.
He raised his eyebrows. "It's Daniel now? What happened to Danny? Or Dan? Why so formal?" She didn't say anything. "Yes, I've noticed it, too," he said solemnly. "Your screams aren't nearly as loud as they used to be. Attraction not what it once was?"
"House," she hissed.
He held up his hands in defeat. "I'll stop and save some for later. I have to go anyway. Don't want to make Mommy mad before dinner. I really want my dessert tonight…maybe even seconds, if you know what I mean." He gave her a huge wink.
"Bye then," she said dismissively. She stood up from the chair and turned to leave.
"Come with me."
His voice made her turn around again. "What? Where?"
"I said, come with me." She narrowed her eyes. He was serious. "You know where."
"I can't," she answered shortly. "I promised I would stay for two months. I have another month to go."
He shrugged. "Skip town and get the hell out of Dodge." She just shook her head. "What are you going to do after the two months are up anyway? Leave? Stay and get fired from Yule's team?"
"I don't know," she replied. She felt a sense of unease settling in the pit of her stomach. What was she going to do once the two months were up? She hadn't thought about it, as she'd been too busy with the clinic and Mary and now House's appearance and Sipho…it seemed unreal that half her time had already passed.
"Well, let me tell you what to do then," House said. "Come back to Princeton with me. You can have your old job back. Or – better yet – you can have Chase's job and Foreman's! It'll be the Cameron and House show. They can call it Hameronostics."
"Right," she said softly. "My answer is still no."
"What do you want?"
She sighed. "I want you to leave."
"Not without you."
"Stop being a child."
"Stop being an idiot."
She groaned. "This isn't a game to me, House. I can't just pack up and leave. I don't want to, anyway. I don't want to work for you anymore. After all, we both know you only hired me to be your furniture."
"You're right!" he exclaimed. "Why don't you be my couch, and I'll just take off my clothes and then we can--"
"House!" she yelled. "This is why I don't want to work for you. You don't respect me, as a person or as a doctor! I have finally found that respect here. That's why I don't want to leave. Because I've found a place where my work is valuable and I, personally, am considered valuable by my co-workers. Because I've finally found a place where I care so much about the patients it hurts and when I can make them better I--"
"That's why you can't stay," he interrupted her. "You can't stay because sooner or later one of them, perhaps the one whose name so resembles a disease I'd very much like to give you one day, if you know what I mean, is going to die. And then you're going to be upset and pretty-boy Weiss is going to comfort you, except he'll do a piss poor job and then you'll have to come crying back to me in Princeton. So why don't we just cut to that part and spare you all the emotional drama in the middle?"
"My answer is still no."
He sighed. "Fine," he snapped. "Be an idiot. Stay here. Break your heart, get yourself killed. Just remember when you're dying of malaria or when someone you love is shot and killed again that you could have spared yourself the trouble and left with me when you had the chance." He picked up his travel bag and turned around. He had reached the door and opened it before he turned back to her and said quietly, "Don't you know I only want you to come back because I love you?"
She shook her head. "Don't you know you taught me well enough not to fall for any bullshit?"
He just stared at her. "Touché," he finally muttered as he slowly walked from the room without looking back.
Cameron watched him retreat without really seeing it happen. Her mind was on overdrive, trying to sort out what he had just told her. Had he really said that he loved her? Or had it just been a way to make her follow him back to Princeton?
"Why didn't you go with him?"
Good question, she answered herself. Why the hell didn't I go with him?
Don't ask me.
That's when she realized the question hadn't been asked in her head. It had been voiced aloud, by someone else. She slowly turned around and found herself staring at Sipho. His eyes were wide, and she could tell from his face that he had heard entirely too much of her previous conversation.
"Sipho!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Where's Nomzamo?"
"Appointment," he answered nonchalantly. "But stop changing the subject. Why didn't you go with him?"
Cameron sighed. "I can't leave," she said, "I have another month on my contract. And even if I didn't, I don't want to leave; I love it here with you and the clinic and Danny…"
Sipho shook his head. "That's not important. He said that he loves you."
She laughed. "Believe me, he'll say anything to get me to go back. What he says means nothing."
"I think it does," Sipho said seriously.
"Really?" she asked skeptically. "Why is that?"
He waited a moment before answering, but when he spoke, his tone was even and low. "It's the way he stares at you in the clinic. The way he watches you whenever he can, the way he sneaks glances at you when he thinks no one is looking or doesn't care who sees him. He would never show concern to you, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care. It's obvious to me that he cares a great deal--" Sipho broke off suddenly as he started coughing.
Cameron lunged forward. "Here, sit down," she said, offering him the chair she had been sitting in earlier. She guided him into it. She was relieved the coughing fit stopped almost as quickly as it had started.
"I'm fine," he insisted. "It's just dry in here, that's all."
"I'll get you some water," she said. She walked over to the counter and took one of the unopened bottles and brought it back to him. "Here, drink this," she instructed.
He did. "Thank you," he said gratefully.
"You're welcome," she said. Her hand itched toward her stethoscope. "Are you sure you're okay? I can listen to your lungs if you want to make sure."
He shook his head. "No, I'm fine."
Cameron bit her lip. "You will come back, won't you, if the cough gets worse?"
He smiled. "I'm here so often, I'm sure I will be back if the cough gets worse. And I promise you can listen to my lungs then, if it does. But not now; we're wasting time. Nomzamo will be almost done with her appointment, and I still haven't given you your present."
"You have a present for me?"
He nodded as he pulled a small package wrapped in a brown bag out of his pocket. "I made you this," he said, handing it over.
She took the package from him and slowly pulled back the wrappings. Inside was a hand-crafted object she recognized as a dream catcher. He had taken an old bracelet and used it as a hoop. The web was made with colorful yarn and the tassels were made of braided yarn with beads at the end. She had never had a dream catcher before, but she thought it was beautiful.
"I read about it in a book. It's called a dream catcher. It's what Americans use to catch bad dreams. I wanted to make you something to remind you of home," he said in a rush. "The book says Native Americans make them."
"Yes, they do," she told him. "It does remind me of home, and I think it's beautiful."
Sipho beamed. "There's a note on the back, too."
She turned the dream catcher over. The note was attached to the web and stunned her into silence.
Nightmares, nightmares, go away.
You are not welcome here to stay.
Don't you dare come back again.
Leave alone my dear friend Allison.
"You don't like it?" Sipho asked, panic-stricken, misinterpreting her silence.
"No – no!" she exclaimed. "No, I love it. Thank you so much, Sipho. This gift is so thoughtful and sweet. I absolutely love it."
Sipho beamed again and threw his arms around her. She couldn't help but smile, too, though her smile faded slightly when she felt him start coughing again. As she led him back to the chair, insisted he sit down, and forced him to drink some more water, she couldn't help but wonder if every word of House's prediction was going to come true.
A/N: I will make an attempt to update soon. Muse, I see you. Don't you dare leave me!