Chapter 14

"Glad to see you here. Now where's my coffee?"

House limped into the conference room Monday morning and addressed Cameron.

"Good morning to you to House. Glad that you appreciate me for something. Here's your coffee." Cameron said as she handed his coffee to him.

"You're in a good mood. I take it you saw the boy toy this weekend?"

"Besides Friday night, I only got to talk to him last night because he went on duty Saturday and gets off Wednesday."

"So you had fun Friday?" Chase asked.

"Yes, he's a very nice guy. I'm going out with him again Wednesday night. Oh, House, I was hoping that it would be okay to bring a friend of mine in Wednesday. She's going to be in town for most of this week, looking at some apartments but I think that she'd like to get a tour and see how we work. Would that be alright?"

"Like I care. Wait, is she hot?"

"Why are asking if someone is hot?" Harrington asked, walking into the room. House sunk down in his chair and looked away, whistling and pretending that he hadn't heard Harrington. Harrington laughed and said, "Hey, I don't care if you look at other women. Just as you don't touch."

"Really? Oh nice. Can you tell Cuddy that so I don't have to do clinic duty anymore?"

"Examining someone isn't the same as touching. So that isn't going to work. Nice try though."

"Hey, it's me. Of course it's the same."

Harrington just raised an eyebrow at him before turning to Cameron.

"So who are you talking about?"

"I was asking if it would be alright for me to bring a friend in Wednesday. She's going to be in town this week and I know that she'd like to see how we work."

"That would be fine. If there are any problems with the patient, she'll just have to leave."

"That's fine."

"Okay everyone, get settled in. We need to discuss the case. The patient is being transferred in later this morning and we need to get started."

Everyone did as Harrington said and got to work.

--

It was 6:15pm and Cameron was finally able to get her things together to go home. Harrington was off with Wilson in the cancer ward, House was playing guitar in his office, Chase had quickly grabbed his things and left already and Foreman was starting to walk out the door.

"Bye Foreman. Have a good night."

"See you tomorrow Cameron."

She turned back to her things and looked at her watch yet again. House limped into the room.

"I don't think that time is going to change that much every few seconds. What are you in such a hurry for? Boy toy waiting?"

Cameron blushed a little and in an agitated tone replied, "Could you please stop calling him that? His name is Brian. Say it with me House, B-R-I-A-N."

His only response was a huff before limping back into his office and picking up his guitar again. Cameron shook her head and finished getting all her stuff together before heading to the door. As she was starting to walk out she heard House call out to her,

"And don't forget. You're fired if my coffee is late. So tell Bryant that he can't keep you on the phone all night."

Without turning around she raised her hand in a wave and said, "Good night House" before continuing on her way.

Her phone rang just after she had locked the door and taken her jacket off. She rushed over to pick up the phone before the answering machine got it.

"Right on time." Cameron said.

"Hi. You sound a little out of breath."

"I just came in."

"Ah. So how was your day?"

"It was good. I'll be glad when I get off shift Wednesday! Besides being able to see you again, I'll be glad to not have to clean the house and all the other stuff we have to do when we're not putting out fires, et cetera. We do have a first grade class coming in tomorrow. I love that. So that's something to look forward to."

"Oh, nice. I remember going to the local firehouse when I was a kid. We got to honk the horn on the truck and got those honorary badges."

"Yeah, the kids really like that. I'll be showing them around and letting them try on my jacket and helmet. Our dog loves kids so we are going to let them pet Jake."

"Jake. Not a name I would think a fire dog would have."

"Jake is actually New England slang for firefighter. The dog the house had before Jake was named Cinder and the two before that was Ember and Ashes."

"Oh cool about the slang. I didn't know that. The names of the previous dogs are cute. Different from the typical 'Sparky'. That's the name of the dogs at my hometown firehouse. Either that or Spot."

"The guys are trying to convince the Chief to get another dog. I've suggested Flare and Flames. I even suggested Chief to get an extra vote from the Chief but then one of the guys said that would be too confusing. So far another dog is a no go but we're working on it."

"Why do you want another dog?"

"We think it would be good for Jake to have a playmate."

"Oh I bet that he'd like that."

"Yeah. Hey, I talked to Ethan and he still was still looking for someone to take those extra tickets so I got them. So we're on for monster trucks Saturday. You still want to go right?"

"Oh definitely. It's been awhile since I saw them live so it would be nice to go again."

"Good! It starts at 8 so I thought that I could pick you up at around 6:30 and that should give us enough time to get there, get through the line and then get some food. That sound good?"

"Yeah, that would be good."

"Great. So now that we've talked about me and our plans for the weekend, on to you.How was your Monday?"

"It was a Monday. It dragged by the last couple hours. Was busy most of the day though with the patient and some clinic duty so it wasn't too bad."

"So how is working the clinic? Do you get a lot of interesting people in?"

"Oh yeah! Though I think that my boss gets the most. He hates clinic duty and I think that all the crazy's somehow know to come in when he's there. It's like the universe likes to mess with him! It's really funny!"

"Sounds like it. So what is your boss like?"

"He's rude, crude, cranky and a genius at what he does. He really is great at his job so that makes up for his rough exterior."

"Sounds like an interesting guy."

"I wouldn't put it exactly that way but it is nice working with him most of the time. I've gotten used to him. But enough talk of work."

"What do you want to talk about then?"

"Umm. How about, read any good books lately?"

Brian laughed and then answered, "Yes actually. I'm finishing up 1776. That's pretty good if you like historical novels."

"I do like them. I read one about Abe Lincoln last month that was really good."

Before Brian could answer, Cameron heard the sharp twill of the alarm going off.

"Sorry Allison, we got a fire. Talk to you later, bye." With that he hung up not waiting for a response from Cameron. She wasn't upset though. He had his job to do and she understood. She leaned back for a moment, too comfortable on the couch to get up but when her stomach started to grumble some more from hunger she finally got up to fix some supper.