Hello, everybody! Hope you're all having a fantastic day.
Thank you all so much for the amazing response I got in reviews for the last chapter. It was amazing to read that people liked it and I gave me a huge smile all day. I got some very odd looks.
Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter, which is slightly longer than the last one. Enjoy!
Excuses.
Chapter 13.
House's usually quick mind ground to a halt the moment his lips touched Cameron's. Where was he again? Did it matter? No, it didn't matter. It wasn't important. It was, however, vitally important that Cameron did not leave this office thinking that he didn't have feelings for her. As she had turned away from him he had stood up from his chair, seizing his cane. She was walking towards the door. He couldn't let her leave. If she left then he had lost his last chance. That was how he came to be in the situation he was in- stood, in the middle of his office with his lips pressed to those of a beautiful woman several years his junior, in plain view of anybody passing the office and honestly not caring one iota. Let them see. Let everybody see. Especially the male workers of the hospital. Maybe then they'd stay away from her.
Cameron, clearly getting over her initial shock from being kissed by her usually emotionally repressed ex-boss, lifted her arms and wrapped them around his back. She kissed him back eagerly; her lips moving over his own and he pulled her closer. He deepened the kiss and met her eyes. The emotion he beheld there made his heart beat faster and a warm feeling radiated through his body, starting from his chest and reaching the tips of his extremities. Cameron was experiencing similar feelings. She could see affection in his eyes and happiness swelled in her chest at the thought that it was her that inspired this caring in him. His touch was tender and his kiss as good as she remembered.
Finally they broke apart. Neither knew how long it had been and neither cared. They looked into each other's eyes, savouring the moment until House took a step backwards, adjusting his balance to ease the ache in his leg that was quickly becoming more painful. He dragged his eyes away from her wide-eyed gaze to locate the orange Vicodin bottle resting on his desk. He rested his cane in the crook of his arm as he emptied two of the white pills onto his palm before swallowing them quickly. After doing this he looked back up to find Cameron's eyes still fixed on his face now with a question clearly written in the captivating blue. She was clearly waiting for him to speak. She wanted him to explain. He turned away to buy himself time and walked around the desk, leaning heavily on his cane as he went, and sat down on his chair. He settled himself, still not looking at her, finding it was easier to think when he was looking at something else.
He cleared his throat and opened his mouth. A dozen responses ran through his mind and in a split second he had dismissed them all. Too cutting, too unintelligent, too tasteless. He was in uncharted waters. What was he supposed to say? Luckily Cameron rescued him.
"House? What was that?"
Once he had a jumping off point, House found the words leapt into his throat much more easily. "That is what's known in layman's terms as a kiss." He mentally reprimanded himself. He was making fun of her? Now? What the hell is wrong with you, House? He asked himself. Cameron looked taken aback.
"You know what I meant." She offered no further information. There was no need. They both knew she wanted him to tell her how he felt.
"You want me to declare undying love? I can't." He almost apologised but stopped himself. The atmosphere in the office was awkward. House wondered what she expected now. Would she want him to give more than he was comfortable with?
His natural defence mechanism kicked in as he tried to push her emotions away and resume his standoffish demeanour. It was not a conscious process but dimly he recognised what he was doing. It was like watching a train derailing. He knew what was coming but was completely powerless to stop it. He didn't think Cameron would push him to move their relationship forward too quickly but his impulse to defend his emotions from advancing females was too strong to override. "It was a kiss, Cameron. Not a marriage proposal. It's not a huge deal."
Cameron flushed, whether in anger or embarrassment House couldn't tell. Until she began speaking, that is. "You can't do that, House." Her voice was quiet but every word had a huge impact. "You can't. If you feel nothing, you should have let me leave a few minutes ago. I was ready to leave; I would have left if you hadn't kissed me. You gave me hope and that was wrong if you don't have feelings for me too." Yes, she was definitely angry.
She fell silent but did not break eye contact. The lack of emotion in her usually warm eyes sent an unpleasant feeling through his body. He didn't like her like this. He didn't like this Cameron. He wanted his Cameron back. The Cameron who was kind, friendly and happy.
Finally she turned and, without hesitation, walked towards the door. He didn't stop her this time. There was no hand on her arm, no lips pressed against hers. She didn't even pause at the door. His eyes were fixed to her back as she walked down the corridor. He was unable to tear them away from her form until the elevator doors closed behind her once she was inside.
The moment she was out of sight he let his head fall forwards onto the desk and his forehead connected painfully with the surface. House, he told himself, you're a complete moron. He had always considered himself rather intelligent but at that moment he was having trouble believing his stupidity.
Why did he do that? Why couldn't he just tell her how he felt? Cameron was not Stacy. He couldn't blame her for Stacy's actions. Cameron wouldn't betray him like Stacy did. On the other hand, it would hurt a hell of a lot more to lose Cameron. But she was worth it. If she forgave him, he would just have to make sure he did everything in his power to keep her. How was he going salvage his chances with her?
Cameron left the elevator on the ground floor, upset and very angry. How dare he play with her like that? It wasn't fair of him to kiss her if he didn't want the same things as she did. All he achieved was to destroy the last bit of dignity she had and make it that much harder when she had to walk out of there. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she was not really watching where she was going. As a result she managed to walk straight into another person in the entrance hall and almost fell to the ground. A hand shot out to steady her.
"Thanks." She said.
"No problem, Cameron." Cameron looked up and realised that it was Chase who she had collided with so unceremoniously. He looked nervous, almost like he thought she was liable to attack him. "Er... listen, I'm so sorry I told House. It just slipped out."
Cameron shrugged. "Doesn't matter. In a way it helped. Made us talk about things and finally get things out. He kissed me but it turns out he doesn't want me." Both were silent for a moment and Chase offered a sympathetic smile. "Anyway, at least I tried one last time and I know now. Things don't always turn out the way you hoped."
"I'm sorry, Cameron. You deserve to be happy. I might not particularly like House but if you wanted him then he should've realised how lucky he was." He gave Cameron a brief hug and after they broke away, Cameron smiled at him.
"Thanks. Chase. You mean a lot to me, you know. I hope you're happy too. Is there anyone new on the horizon for you?" she asked, keen to move on from the subject of her and House.
"There might be." Chase stared above her head, pensive. "I'm not sure yet how it's going to pan out."
Cameron nodded. "Good. I hope it works out." Her pager went off and she pulled it out, reading it. "The ER needs me. I'll see you later." Cameron smiled at him and hurried towards the ER. Chase headed towards the elevator to go up to the Surgery department, his smile falling from his face. He might not like House but he did like Cameron and thought she deserved to be with him if that's what she wanted. He couldn't believe House had rejected her. House wasn't an idiot, though, and Chase was sure he would come around sooner or later. If he had to guess, he thought House had simply panicked and pushed her away. But he'd change his mind. Cameron wouldn't have long to wait.
The remainder of the day passed uneventfully. Having decided to find Cameron, apologise to her and beg for another chance, House had found it was surprisingly difficult to locate her. He knew she was avoiding him and it hurt that she felt it necessary to hide from him. He kept catching glimpses of her but she would spot him and disappear behind a corner or into an elevator. Whenever House tried to follow, he was accosted by nurses asking for advice on a patient and he would be forced to go and see what they were talking about. After being asked to check on a routine chest drain, House developed the sneaking suspicion that Cameron had asked several of the nurses to help her avoid him. Through these helpers' ambushes and Cameron's careful movement around the hospital she managed to avoid him for the rest of the day.
House was not happy. He wanted to see her, to explain and, hopefully, get the chance to kiss her again. So it was not in the best of moods that he left the hospital that night, resolving to try and call her tonight (although he doubted she would pick up her phone- she had caller ID) and if she didn't answer, find her tomorrow. He paused outside the main doors of the hospital, taking a Vicodin to ease the throbbing in his leg. He had just started to walk towards his motorcycle when he heard a soft British voice from behind him.
"Chase?"
Chase pushed his hand into his coat pockets and looked through the glass doors into the foyer searching for Vikki. She was not there but Chase ducked behind a pillar as he saw House limping across the expanse of the entrance hall towards the doors. He had not spotted Chase who aimed to keep it that way. He peered out as House pushed open the door and stood still for a moment, shaking a Vicodin into his palm and swallowing it. He began to move off towards where his motorcycle was parked.
"Chase?" At the sound of the voice both House and Chase turned around. Vikki stood behind Chase looking confused. "Are you hiding?" House limped around the pillar and a grin spread across his face as he saw the pair. Chase's face turned red as he grappled with words, trying to force the right ones out of his mouth.
"You avoiding me Chase? Didn't our passionate moment in my office mean anything to you?" House asked. Vikki looked from Chase to House and instantly recognised him.
"You pushed me out of the way in the pharmacy. You were very rude." Vikki stated, looking at House with distaste. Chase smiled at this; Cameron had never looked at House in that way.
"And you were in the way." House responded, barely glancing at her before returning his attention to Chase.
"I was-" Vikki was cut off by House.
"Don't I mean anything to you, Chase?" House asked in a mock-hurt tone. "What about our moment?"
"We didn't have a moment, House." Chase said to the diagnostician.
"Are you sure? I'm positive I had a moment with somebody." House started.
"Excuse me, I-" Vikki tried to say.
"It was definitely one of my old team." House carried on regardless of her attempted interruption.
"House." Chase warned, suddenly terrified of what House could say. He hadn't mentioned Cameron to Vikki yet and didn't want her to hear about her from House. She might think Chase was deliberately not talking about Cameron to lead them both on. House could destroy any potential relationship with Vikki with a few carefully chosen words.
"It wasn't Foreman..."
"Wha-" Vikki spoke again.
"It was definitely someone feminine..."
"House." Chase said again, slightly pleading now, even though he knew it wouldn't stop House saying what he wanted, especially as he seemed to have caught him in a worse mood than usual.
"Oh yes. I remember now. It was Cameron." He gauged Chase's reaction to this news, unaware that he already knew, and mistakenly attributed Chase's slightly paler face to his shock at the thought of Cameron kissing her older, crippled ex-boss, rather than what it was- fear of Vikki's questions and subsequent opinions of Chase after hearing the answers. Chase was looking sideways at Vikki who had given up trying to interrupt and was looking between the two men, slightly bemused. Even in the high tension situation, Chase had to admit she looked attractive. House drove the point home adding, "It was Cameron I was kissing in my office."
"Who's Cameron?" Vikki chose the most relevant question and directed it at Chase but it was House who answered.
"Cameron's his ex. She broke up with him a few days ago after he was after her for months. She works in the ER." House finished, flashing a faux, saccharine sweet smile at Vikki. She shrugged.
"Okay." She said simply. "Come on Chase. They'll charge extra if I'm late picking the car up." She placed her hand on Chase's arm breaking him out of his trance that he had been in throughout the exchange. House stared at their retreating backs as they left.
Maybe he shouldn't have done that but he had been angry and irritated with himself. Displacing this annoyance onto Chase and lashing out at him had seemed like a logical thing to do at the time. He had a lot of anger reserved for Chase anyway. Chase had run to Vogler for protection, Chase had taken advantage of Cameron when she was on drugs, Chase had kissed her, Chase had touched her and... House ground his teeth and determinedly cut the thought off before it progressed. He didn't want to think about it. If he had his way then no man other than himself would ever touch Cameron again. He began limping towards his bike. He would let Cameron cool off tonight but first thing tomorrow he would make it up to her. He couldn't let her go again. He wouldn't.
Chase turned left onto the road out of the car park and drove for a while in silence. Vikki turned on the radio and, at his consenting nod, began flicking around the stations.
"Oh! I love this one!" she exclaimed as the opening lyrics to a soft rock song began pouring out of the speakers. Vikki tapped her knees in time to the music.
As the second verse finished Chase said suddenly, "Does it bother you?"
"A little." Vikki replied. "You just missed the turn for the garage." She grinned as Chase cursed softly and went down a side road to turn around.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You said you knew where you were going. Anyway, seeing as how we're on the way to pick up my hopefully relatively cheap but well-repaired car I don't think I'm in a good position to be handing out driving advice or instructions."
Chase laughed softly at this. "True. But that's not what I meant when I asked if it bothered you."
"I suspected as much. Go on then- does what bother me?"
"I didn't tell you about Cameron."
"No. I never imagined you were celibate, Chase. I knew you must have ex-girlfriends."
"So you don't mind that I didn't tell you?"
"I've only known you a few days. You might not feel comfortable telling me yet. We're friends- you would have told me eventually, right?"
"Of course I would." Chase pulled into the garage car park and the pair fell silent. This silence continued as they got out of the car and walked into the building. Vikki walked up to the desk and smiled at the receptionist.
"Hello. I'm Vikki Tatum, I'm here to pick up my car."
"License plate number?" The receptionist asked, while typing Vikki's name into the computer. Vikki told her while Chase stood a little way back, not wanting to invade her privacy. "It says here that it just needed general repairs, is that right?"
"Yes. The brakes weren't working as well as they could have been."
"Okay Doctor Tatum, if you'd like to take a seat over there somebody will be with you soon. Yes, sir?" The receptionist asked Chase who started at the unexpected question.
"Er... I'm fine, thanks. I'm with..." he gestured at Vikki and the receptionist nodded.
"I see. I'm sorry." The receptionist turned back to the computer screen. Chase and Vikki made their way to the seating area and sat down, waiting for a mechanic to come and talk to them about Vikki's car. Vikki looked across at Chase and smiled.
"Thanks for coming, Chase. I appreciate this."
"I told you, it's not a problem."
"No, I know you must have better things to do. You're a good friend."
Chase opened his mouth to answer but they were interrupted by the arrival of a slim blonde man with a wide smile and a piece of paper in his left hand.
"Doctor Tatum?" he addressed Chase.
"No. That's Doctor Tatum. I'm a friend." Chase repeated his earlier gesture towards Vikki. The man turned to look at Vikki and gave her a false bright smile.
"Sorry about that." He sat down with them and placed the paper on the table. Chase saw Vikki's eyebrows lift in disbelief when she saw the price.
"It costs this much to fix the brakes? Seriously?" Chase looked down at the paper too. His eyes widened. They were really overcharging her.
The blonde man nodded. "It wasn't just your brakes, see." He pointed out several lines on the paper. "Once we got started there were a lot of things that needed tweaking a bit to make the vehicle safer." He lifted his eyes from the paper and looked at Chase, speaking more to him than to Vikki. Casting a fleeting look at Vikki he realised that this fact had clearly not escaped her. She was not looking pleased and Chase could understand why. They were trying to cheat her out of money and on top of that they were ignoring her.
"It's her car. It's her you're trying to swindle too much money out of. Talk to her." Chase told the man.
"Excuse me, sir? Swindle? You seem to be implying that we are charging too much. It's merely the price of her safety."
"You work on commission, right? Are you telling me that you wouldn't bump up the fee of people who don't look like they know anything about cars if it would help you pay your mortgage?"
The man bristled. "I don't like what your implying, sir." The words may have seemed polite but Chase could easily detect contempt in the man's tone.
"I don't like you charging my friend an extortionate amount of money for things that I know cost a lot less than that. Like this, for example." Chase jabbed randomly at a line on the page, hoping he looked like he knew what he was talking about. "I know that's too much."
The man regarded him for a second. "There is also the cost of labour and time, not just materials."
Chase opened his mouth to retort but Vikki got there first. "You can't expect us to believe that labour costs more than the materials." She pointed out the relevant labour and materials columns on the sheet. "That's just ridiculous."
The man stared at her for a second. "Look, I'll tell you what, I'll go and see my boss, see if I can reduce the price for you. I'm not promising anything and I won't be able to make it a lot cheaper in any case." He stood up and walked away, not giving them the chance to respond. Vikki looked across at Chase.
"Did you have a clue what you were talking about a minute ago?" she asked.
"Nope. Did you?" Chase replied.
"No. Did we fool him, do you think?"
"Maybe. He's gone to see his 'boss' anyway. I was very impressed when you stood up for yourself, by the way."
"Thanks. I'd had enough of obnoxious men ignoring me for one day." Chase grinned at this, knowing she was referring to House. "Thanks for helping me."
"It's fine." He looked towards the office into which the blonde mechanic had disappeared and noticed that he was on his way back. Vikki followed his eyes and sat up slightly in her chair, not taking her eyes off the approaching man, who only raised his eyes to look at them when he was a few feet away. He settled himself back into his chair before talking.
"Right. I've spoken to my boss and he's agreed to knock the price down twenty percent but we really can't do any more than that." He pulled a calculator out and quickly worked out the new price, writing it at the bottom of the page. Vikki and Chase both leant forward to read the much more reasonable price. Chase looked at Vikki who seemed happier with the reduced rate.
"Is that alright?" Chase asked her quietly trying his hardest to cut the mechanic out of the conversation. Vikki looked at him.
"What do you think?"
"I think you're not going to get a much better price than that."
"Yeah." She replied. "Yes okay then. Do you accept cheques?" She addressed this last statement to the blonde man who nodded. Vikki filled out a cheque and handed it to the man.
"Thank you Doctor Tatum." He handed her the keys. "Your car is in the left row of cars when you walk out of the door." He stood up and shook hands with first Vikki, then Chase. The doctors said goodbye and politely thanked the mechanic before walking out of the building. Silently they walked down the left row of cars and found Vikki's, as the man had said they would, about half way down. Chase turned to face her.
"Did you mean it?" he asked, suddenly.
"What?" she replied and her brow furrowed slightly in confusion.
"When you said we were just friends." The unspoken question in Chase's voice was plain for both of them. Was that all they would ever be?
Vikki smiled softly and leaned over, kissing him lightly on the cheek before getting into her car. She paused and leaned through the open window.
"Maybe in a while we can be more than that. I like you but you've just broken up with someone. I don't want to be a rebound girl." With that she started the ignition and smiled at him before starting to drive away. Chase watched her leave the car park, thinking about her last words. After she was out of sight he made his way towards his car and got in. He drove out of the car park and headed towards home.