Chapter 11
Cameron woke up to find her head resting on House's shoulder and her arm sprawled across his chest. She slowly turned her head up to look at his face. A pair of cerulean eyes stared back down at her. House was smirking.
"I thought I told you to keep your hands to yourself, Dr. Cameron."
She blushed and slowly moved from his embrace. Immediately they both missed the warmth of the other. She got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Before entering it, she turned around and asked him, "Did I kick you last night?"
He shook his head. "No, my leg doesn't hurt. But my arm does. Your head is heavy!" he said as he rubbed his arm for emphasis.
She shook her head at him before closing the bathroom door behind her. House reached over for the familiar amber bottle and dispensed two pills. He paused for a minute before putting one of the pills back in the bottle. He usually took two in the morning but he didn't need it today. Somehow, the pain in his leg didn't hurt as much as usual whenever he's around Cameron. He popped the pill and laid back down on the bed, waiting for its effect.
Half an hour later, Cameron walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to find that House wasn't there. She wandered into the sitting area where she found him sitting on the couch, watching TV.
He tore his eyes away from the screen and looked up at her.
"Well, aren't you smelling fresh today."
"What are you talking about, House? I smell fresh everyday."
But House didn't hear her. He was too busy looking at her figure to notice.
Her hair was still wet which caused water to drip onto her shirt. His gaze was glued to her chest area that he could now see through the soaked blouse.
Cameron looked down to see what he was staring at. "House!"
She was pleased at his admiration but was somewhat uncomfortable and angry under his gaze.
"Hello? My face is up here, not down there."
House reluctantly looked away from her chest and moved his gaze up. It traveled up her neck and across her lips. House swallowed hard at the sight of her red lips.
His gaze went up further until they met her eyes.
"What?" he asked nonchalantly.
"My face is up here," she repeated irritably.
"So? It's prettier down there," he said, pointing to her chest.
"House!"
He just smirked and stood up from the couch. He brushed past her on the way to the bathroom. When he was close enough, he bent down to her ear level and whispered, "Besides, you said that I'm going to see them later anyways."
And with that, he continued walking towards the bathroom. Cameron rolled her eyes to cover up her excitement.
"What do you want for breakfast, House?" she yelled at him. "Whatever. I'm not really a breakfast-type guy," he yelled back, behind closed bathroom doors.
She called room service and placed the orders. By the time House was done, the food was already there.
"I ordered you pancakes. I didn't know what you wanted so I just ordered whatever," she said, looking up from her plate of scrambled eggs.
House said nothing and proceeded to sit down, next to her on the sofa. She turned towards him.
"If you want, I could order you some eggs. These are really good. Here, try some," she said, lifting her fork.
House bent down and instead of eating the morsel of food, he bent down further in search of her lips.
She was taken back but that soon passed when she felt his tongue begging for entrance. She complied and soon they were having an all-out tongue wrestle.
House pulled away when he felt that their lack of oxygen would soon cause them both to black out.
"You're right. That is good," he replied, winking at her as he returned to his plate of pancakes.
Cameron blinked away her surprise and turned back to her breakfast.
Out of the corner of his eyes, House could see that she was smirking as she ate her breakfast.
He looked at her. "What are you smiling about?"
Her smile got bigger. "Nothing."
"Right," he said, not believing her.
"It's nothing."
"If it's nothing, then why are you still smiling?"
If it was even possible, Cameron's smile got broader, enough to almost turn her eyes into tiny slits.
"What is the matter? Does my breath stink? Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose? Am I that lousy a kisser?"
"No."
"No to which question?"
"If you must know, it's no to all three."
House's face portrayed that smug expression of his. "I thought so. I always knew that I was a good kisser, but I didn't think that it was so good that it made your mouth that way for several minutes," he said, pointing at her smile.
She rolled her eyes. "For your information, I wasn't smiling about your kiss…although I must say that it was good." She paused when House gave a small chuckle.
"Are you done?" House nodded. "I was smiling because it's not…like you to do something like that. Not that I'm complaining about the kisses," she quickly added, "it's just that they surprise me."
House was quiet for a minute. Cameron was afraid that she said something that she shouldn't have. She opened her mouth to apologize when House said something.
"Well, if you don't like it, I could stop. If that is what you want."
"You don't have to stop. It just surprise me because this is a side of you that nobody has ever seen before." She took a breath before continuing, "Look…forget what I said. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know what I was thinking. Just pretend it didn't happen, okay?"
"Okay. But just so you know, sharing a room with a woman your age is not helping me. I'm warning you now that I won't be able to stop myself if I get the irresistible urge to throw you down on the bed and have my way with you."
"House!"
"What? I'm just telling you to be on alert." He leaned closer to her and in a soft voice, he whispered, "It could happen any time, you know. It could happen tonight or even right now."
Cameron looked at him and gauged his expression. His face was serious but his eyes were twinkling. House was joking. Cameron was relieved that House didn't take her stupid comment too seriously and was able to make joke of it.
"You wish, House."
He flashed her that arrogant smile of his once more. "Hey, if I remember correctly, it wasn't me who first suggested this idea. It was you that suggested this before we even left Princeton. So if you ask me, you had the hots for me since then…perhaps even before then."
She shook her head. "Whatever. What time is the party?"
House shrugged. "How should I know? I don't pay attention to minor things like that. If you have a question about General Hospital, The OC, or Desperate Housewives, then I'm your man. Otherwise, I don't know and don't really care."
Cameron got up and headed over to the small table by the window. She picked up the white envelope that was laying there, and opened it.
After a few seconds of scanning the invitation, she turned back to House, where he was still sitting in the sofa and eating his breakfast with his eyes glued to the TV. The Roadrunner raced across the screen, all the while saying, "BEEP BEEP."
Cameron laughed to herself. House can sometimes be just like a kid. She interrupted his concentration when she announced, "It's at 7:30. What do you want to do 'til then?"
He turned towards her, "I can think of one thing that's entertaining. The best part is that we don't have to leave this hotel room at all."
"I'm not sleeping with you, House."
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Cameron. I'm not talking about that…although I certainly don't oppose it." He was interrupted with a "House!" from Cameron.
Laughing softly, he said, "I was going to suggest watching movies again, like last night."
"I don't want to sit around this room all day. I want to explore a bit, you know, see Seattle."
"Oh…," House groaned. "I don't wanna go. I want to stay here!" For emphasis, he stuck out his lower lip, crossed his arms across his chest, and stomped one leg.
Cameron sighed. My two-year-old nephew acts better him, Cameron thought to herself. "Fine, if you don't want to go, stay here. I'm going to go and see what Seattle has to offer."
"See, now you left me no choice."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have to go with you."
"Why?" she questioned.
"Because I can't let you go alone with muggers and rapists lurking around out there. You'll fall into one of their traps and before, you know it, you're missing."
"You're taking this too far, House."
"No, I'm not. I have to go with you. You never know what kind of person is out there, preying on women like you."
"Women like me?"
"Yeah, naïve, pretty women like you. Women that are too trusting for their own good. Nope, my mind is made up. I'm going with you."
Cameron smiled inwardly. She heard House's hidden compliment within that remark. Even though he tried to cover it up with naïve, he had called her pretty.
"But--"
"Besides," he interrupted, "your big brother Foreman would kick my ass if anything happens to you."
She sighed again. "Well, if you say so." She couldn't help but smile to herself. House is just too easy to manipulate sometimes.
House sipped his cup of coffee as he stared at the people sitting at the nearby tables. Some were laughing, talking with their acquaintances while a few were sitting there reading a book or a newspaper, occasionally raising their cups of coffee to their mouths. Cameron was sitting on the opposite end from House, staring at the people walking by.
They were sitting at one of cafes, drinking one of Seattle's finest coffee. It was around four o' clock. Since noon, they had spent the day touring Seattle.
One of the first place they visited was an art museum that was seven blocks away from the hotel. Cameron had to practically drag House into the building with her. Going with House to an art museum proved to be…interesting.
House had commented on every single art piece in the building. He mocked the people in portraits and loudly criticized the works. After about forty-five minutes of House's endless sarcastic comments, they left the art museum.
They saw the Space Needle within half an hour. When they were done, they didn't know what else to do. House made the mistake of suggesting that they should go to Pacific Place and look around for a little while. A little while turned out to be nearly three hours.
Pacific Place was an upscale shopping place. Cameron had insisted on trying on every single piece of clothing in the place. She bought five tops and two pairs of jeans. She saw that House was getting cranky so she took him Westlake Shopping Center and brought him to a music store. When she saw that he was occupied with looking at CDs, she went into a nearby store and bought him a box of cigars. That seemed to cheer him up a bit.
When they were tired, they stopped at one of the cafes for a break.
"You want to go back to the hotel now?" House asked Cameron.
She nodded. She was tired from all that walking around. She needed a nap.
House slapped a couple of bills onto the table and they both stood up. At the corner, House waved down a cab. On the ride back, Cameron was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open.
Somehow Cameron made the trip up to their room without falling down from sleep. As soon as House opened the door, she wandered into the bedroom and fell facedown onto the mattress. She didn't even take off her shoes. She just went straight to sleep.
House chuckled at the sight and let her be. He closed the double doors behind him and poured himself a drink at the wet bar. With a drink in hand, he sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. He didn't really pay attention to what was playing on the screen. His eyelids were getting heavy. He decided to rest for a minute.
A loud gunshot woke House up from his slumber.
"What the hell?" House looked around groggily to see where the noise came from. He walked over to the window to see if there was something going on the streets below. There was nothing; the streets were quiet. He looked back at the TV screen where a cowboy movie was playing.
Sighing, he went back to the sofa. His eyes started to close once more when this time the pain in his leg woke him up. Cursing to himself, he searched his jacket pockets for the bottle. After swallowing a pill, he looked at the clock.
The clock on the wall read 6:37. I better wake Cameron up so she can get ready.
He opened the doors and walked into the bedroom to find her still sleeping peacefully. He almost didn't want to wake her up so they both could miss the party, but if Cuddy found out, she would give him more clinic hours. And he didn't want that.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he shook her shoulder. "Hey, Cameron," he said in a singsong voice. "Wake up."
When Cameron didn't even so much as to move a muscle, he shook her harder and yelled, "Hey, wake up. We're going to be late."
Still Cameron didn't wake up.
Exasperated, he bent down and gently kissed her on the lips. That woke her up.
"What--? What's going on, House?" she said sleepily, as she raised her head from the pillow and regarded him with squinting eyes.
"Time to get up and get ready for the party. It's," he looked at his watch, "6:44 and if you don't wake up now, we're going to be late."
"It's 6:44 already? I'm so tired. I don't want to go."
He smiled at her. "I don't either. If you don't want to go, we could always stay here and find ways to entertain ourselves."
"Okay. I'm up, I'm up." Cameron said hurriedly. House laughed. He knew that would wake her up.
Cameron took her dress and some make-up with her into the bathroom. Meanwhile, House was pulling his suit out of the closet. Sighing, he threw it onto the bed and began to undress himself from his everyday clothes.
Soon it was 7:09. "Are you done yet, Cameron? We're going to be late if you don't come out of there soon."
He was standing in front of a mirror, adjusting his tie. He felt ridiculous in his tux. He planned on wearing his normal clothes when Cuddy handed him the suit.
"You're representing this hospital and I won't have you wearing that," she said pointing to his rumpled clothes. "I took the liberty of renting this for you. Wear it," she said, shoving the tux into his hands. She turned around and walked away from his office.
"With my luck, the last person who wore this suit was probably a corpse," he mumbled to himself. He adjusted his tie one last time before yelling, "Cameron, get your ass out of that bathroom! We're going to be late. What could you possibly--"
He stopped mid-sentence when he caught Cameron's reflection in the mirror. He quickly spun around.
Cameron was wearing a deep blue dress that did wonders to her figure. It was slinky, silky, and body-hugging. The gown was sleeveless and hooked behind her neck. It was stretched tightly across her chest. Her hair was sleek and up in a fancy hairdo. No wonder she took so long in the bathroom. That hair do must took her a long time to do. House found himself having difficulty swallowing for his mouth had suddenly gone dry.
"You look…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. "Wonderful." He felt that it was an understatement.
"Thanks. You look very handsome in that suit, Dr. House," she said, blushing slightly.
"Don't call me that."
"Call you what? Dr. House?"
"Yeah, don't call me that. Call me Greg. It's just because if people found out you work for me, they would give me all these looks of pity. As if to say I can't get a date. I also don't want them to know you're my babysitter, so just for tonight, call me Greg."
"Okay," she said slowly, "Greg." It sounded weird coming out of her mouth.
He limped over to her and held out his arm. "Shall we go," he said. He quietly added, "Allison."
She gave him one of her brightest smiles. "Let's, Greg."
He opened the door for her. And as he closed the door behind them, he couldn't wait for what the night would soon offer them...at and after the party.
Disclaimer: You know, the usual. Not mine, blah, blah, blah.
Author's Note: You like it? Sorry it took long, I kind of wrote myself into a corner in some parts. Hope you'll like it anyways. I'm writing Chap. 12 as fast as I can.