By the time the blonde joins him in the lab, House has already set up a small selection of vials and works slowly to unwrap a couple of slides. Negating to acknowledge her as Cameron pulls over one of the stools that flank the counter, he simply places the freshly unpackaged slides neatly in front of her and waits as she pulls on a pair of gloves.
"You know, if people weren't dying, I'd call you an idiot of accepting work out of hours."
"You call me an idiot plenty, anyway."
She mutters noncommittally as she prepares a swab from the first of the vials containing a sample of blood.
"True, but you should find solace in the fact that I still hold you in higher regard than the wombat."
"I'm touched."
"Of course, Chase hasn't attempted to rearrange his organs in a bathtub..."
"That you know of."
"Ah! A fair point by a fair maiden! I mean, perhaps he's into that... You would know."
"Would I?"
"Oh, don't be coy... Come on, what makes our fine, young surgeon tick?"
"Well, he very much likes it when you leave him alone. Other than that, I really can't say."
"Always a lady."
"Medically, it keeps things from getting too complicated."
She snips back, slotting the slide carefully into place under the microscope and leaning forwards to analyse its contents. House watches casually as she fiddles with the focus while bouncing her knee in a way he remembers well.
"... Though, I suppose if I have to imagine anyone lying around in their underwear, I'd pick you over Foreman or the Hobbit..."
"What about Thirteen?"
"Oh, she's there too; tending to your needs. I'd imagine-"
"-House, I'm sure you have a whole, feature-length scenario figured out, but could you maybe keep it to yourself?"
"Oh, Cameron, no one's saying you're gay... They're just lamenting the alternative-"
"-Did you want my help, or just a discussion about my sexuality?"
"Well... If you're offering-"
"-Where are the notes your team took? I don't want to tell you what you already know... White blood cell count is low, which I'm sure you guys picked up on. There's some sickling of the erythrocytes too, but not enough to explain any of her symptoms..."
She murmurs as House limps over to the far side of the counter and picks up a thin file. Holding her hand out for it without looking up from the lens, she takes it from him, and eventually sits back to rifle through the papers enclosed.
"Foreman says she's been abused?"
She broaches; glancing up at the greying doctor over the frame of her glasses.
"Why do you think I asked you to help in the lab, rather than check out the patient? I'm already having to spend time with you, I don't need your heart bleeding all over the floor."
"... I've dealt with abused patients before just fine, House."
"I know, but it's the whole drama and overdose of empathy I was trying to avoid."
"You know, whoever taught you how to show gratitude towards those trying to help you really missed the mark..."
"So help. What have you got for me?"
Sighing as House shows no sign of acknowledging her irritation, the blonde looks back down at the notes in her hand and taps her fingers pensively on the pristine surface of the counter.
"Nothing the others haven't written here already. I agree with- Kutner? Is the black print his?- it looks like there's a reaction taking place, and I don't think it's organic... I think you need to take a step back and look into each symptom individually- which I'm sure you're doing, I'm just saying- as the anomalies in the sample here could be due to a toxin, but there might also just be an abnormality due to her body trying to ward off infection... Not all of her injuries are current?"
"No, there's a couple of scans in the back of the folder of her fractures which also show previous breaks and regrowth. Open lacerations and wounds that have started to heal and scar go back at least a week, but older scar tissue points to her suffering whatever conditions she's been in for several months at least."
"Shit... Did you guys ask security to check if they got the plates of the car that brought her here?"
"Why? You fancy yourself a little game of Nancy Drew?"
"No. But your team might... Chances are it's not registered to wherever they've been keeping her, but if you're stuck for any other leads, it can't hurt to look."
"Ah, Dr Cameron; 'chances are the felons have a stolen vehicle'. Spoken like a true, naive, little white girl."
"... You realise that I'm twenty-seven, have been published in several journals, and have so far managed to cross the street without getting mown down by on-coming traffic, right?"
"Get out! Next you'll be telling me you don't sleep with a night-light!"
"It's true; once I quit working for you, the nightmares stopped."
House chuckles darkly at this, before taking back the patient file and browsing through the litter of notes dotting the pages. Sighing, he watches as the blonde slips from her chair and pulls off her latex gloves, throwing them neatly in the trash.
"You're not going to check out any of the others?"
"No point. You have all the information I could give you written out in front of you in pretty, blue cursive. Thirteen's?"
"Jealous?"
"Of Hadley's handwriting? I don't think I'll lose any sleep."
"Not what I meant."
"I know, I'm just tired of you asking me that. Yes, House, we both have breasts and lady-parts and have worked beneath you, it doesn't mean I compare myself to her any more than I do any of the others. She's welcome to you. I quit, remember? And incidentally; you're the one that keeps seeking me out."
"Well, I could have just left you to bleed in the middle of the ER..."
"You could have stayed home rather than limp all the way to my apartment late at night..."
She bites back irritably; used to House's less redeeming characteristics, but finding herself altogether a little exhausted trying to keep up with them just recently. It has been almost six months since his new team started working properly beneath him- rather than simply keeping him occupied by vying for their positions- and she had hoped the constant remarks about her thoughts towards Hadley would have petered out by now.
She has been enjoying their camaraderie.
She doesn't want to keep being reminded of the fact he'd turned her down.
Or the pitiful fact that it did nothing to stop that pathetic sense of wanting, and we both know it...
The thunder that crosses House's brow lets her know she's hit a nerve, and she sighs.
"Look... Your team's done the tests already... I can't tell you anything else just by looking at blood and fluids. I could maybe tell you more if I studied the patient, but you're right; I did quit... I don't mind helping you, House, but I'm not obligated to do it... If you want my help and you want to be friendly with me, then I'm more than happy to indulge both those things, but I'm not your little girl anymore, and I'm not going to let myself get all worried and confused about the fact that one minute you're nice to me and then next you make a point of trying to bring me down. Colleagues, I can do... But, you're not my boss anymore."
"Hmm... The kitten's grown claws..."
House growls moodily. He is unsure exactly where their playful bickering has taken this nastier turn, but he is sure that she's the one to blame. He can't see how a proposition for help has ended up in the blonde scolding him as though he were a child, and the fact that she regards him cooly, and with none of her usual nervous energy when in his presence frustrates him.
The casual way in which she had flirted with the nurse back in the ER had frustrated him.
Her unwelcome starring role in his dream had frustrated him.
He has grown used to seeing her around the hospital- just as he is used to purposefully rapping Chase's shins with his cane whenever stumbling upon the surgeon- but this is all starting to feel a little too familiar.
Familiar, but for one, disconcerting element:
She's not the one losing sleep.
Glaring at her- trying to find within himself a distaste for pale curls and slightly darker makeup- he shrugs and picks up his cane.
"Fine, I shouldn't have bothered. I'll let you get back to work, Dr Cameron."
"Hang on, what? You shouldn't have bothered? It's not my fault there's nothing else hiding away in those vials. I was trying to help you!"
"Then it turns out I was right; you are an idiot."