"Are you ready to go?" Cameron asked as Hayley surveyed the room one last time. The younger girl nodded.
"For the fifth time, yes!" she enthused. "I am so glad to finally be getting out of here."
"Hey, I work here!" Cameron objected lightly and Hayley rolled her eyes.
"And I'm sure it's a really nice hospital, I'm sure that now I'm officially discharged I'll love it and want to spend as much time here as you do." She said. Cameron raised an eyebrow and Hayley grinned. "Joke! God, what did House do to you?" It was a throwaway question, one that earlier that day Cameron would have easily brushed aside. But given what had unfolded a few hours before in her old bedroom, Cameron was even more sensitive to her sister's gentle jibes about House. A blush spread over her face and Hayley paused.
"What?" she asked, suspicious of the telltale pinkness of her sister's cheeks.
"Nothing." Cameron answered quickly, knowing that Hayley would be able to spot the lie but silently begging her to let it go, because right at that moment she could hear House limping up the corridor and she didn't want to get into anything. Hayley somewhat wisely allowed it to slide and shrugged on her boyfriend's NYU sweater. Jake had left it with Cameron for her, telling the older of the two sisters that Hayley wore it more than he did anyway.
"So," House announced as he entered the room. "Checking out already?" Hayley turned, flipping her hair out of the neck of her sweater, and beamed.
"I exhausted the mini-bar; figured it was time to leave." She retorted and House's eyebrows raised just a fraction; he was impressed.
"We should probably get going." Cameron told her sister, lifting a duffel bag full of Hayley's things. In her time at the hospital Hayley had accumulated enough 'stuff' to fill a junk-shop.
"Sure." Hayley grabbed her backpack, the only thing Cameron had allowed her to carry considering she was technically still a post-surgery patient. The only reason she was being discharged today was because she was going to live with Cameron; if she had been returning to New York her stay would have lasted another few days, just to be on the safe side. As Hayley had joked,
"There are some advantages to a mom who doesn't want you."
House walked them to the elevator, making small-talk with Hayley and studiously avoiding any eye-to-eye contact with Cameron. As Cameron was about to step into the elevator, where Hayley was waiting impatiently, House took her arm. Hayley's eyebrow shot up as she wondered what he was doing but House missed the action; his attention was focused on Cameron. He leaned in close and she felt him slip something into her jacket pocket; it rustled, like it was a paper something but he caught her hand before she could reach into her pocket and investigate.
"Don't spoil the surprise." He muttered and withdrew, allowing her to enter the elevator. Hayley was watching with her mouth slightly open in surprise, not quite sure what she had just witnessed but enthralled all the same.
"Lemme see! Lemme see!" Hayley bounced around the elevator like a four year old, grasping for the piece of paper in her big sister's hand. Cameron restrained her with an arm and stared at the note. It was so typically House; blatantly obvious to it's destined reader but impossibly cryptic to everybody else. Which is why when Cameron relinquished the note to her little sister all she got was a 'Huh?' in response.
"What's he on about?" Hayley asked as they loaded her bags into the trunk of Cameron's car.
"It's nothing." Cameron answered, moving to the front of the car and opening her door. Once inside, Hayley persisted.
"I just had surgery, you can't not tell me!" she objected. Cameron whipped the piece of paper out of Hayley's hand and folded it, tucking it into her pocket.
"You didn't just have surgery and I'll tell you later." She said as she started the car.
"Spoilsport." Hayley muttered, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her feet against the dashboard.
"Child." Cameron retorted as she pulled away from the parking space. "And put your feet down, do you want to end up back in there?"
"Because me having my feet up is suddenly going to cause a car-crash?"
"Because you having your feet up means I can't see, which could cause a car-crash." Hayley's feet remained on the dash. "If you don't put your feet down I won't tell you." The younger of the two sisters stuck her tongue out and returned her feet to the floor of the car, feeling the hum of the engine reverberate through the soles of her shoes. After a few moments of silence she turned her head to Cameron.
"Tell me now!"
"Oh…my…God. You didn't!" Hayley exclaimed, her voice brimming with girlish excitement. Cameron cringed. She had managed to withhold the details of the day before until just after ten-thirty and now, as they waited for their take-out pizzas to arrive she had finally spilled the beans. They were sat on opposite ends of the sofa, facing each other. Hayley's legs were crossed as she lead forward in anticipation, while Cameron was clutching her legs to her and smothering her face in the sofa cushion she had balanced on her knees.
"I did. And it was such a mistake!" she groaned.
"Well House doesn't seem to think so!" Hayley responded, reaching over and grabbing House's note from the coffee table. She had read it so many times that she knew it's message by heart, so waved it in front of her sister's face while reciting; 'Wrong place, wrong time, right idea.' That sounds to me like he didn't mind so much!"
"You aren't helping." Cameron muttered, her voice muffled by the cushion.
"Well I think you should call him. He clearly wants you to." Cameron raised her head.
"I think I missed the part of the note where he says that."
"Read between the lines, big sister!" Hayley laughed, hopping off the couch to answer the door to what she thought would be the Pizza guy. She swung it open quickly and stopped short.
"You aren't pizza."
"And you're the wrong Cameron." House countered, walking past her into the apartment. "I wanted to talk to you." He said to the 'right' Cameron, who was sitting stunned on the couch.
"uh…I'll just be…getting the pizza!" she said, seizing on the unsuspecting delivery guy. She gave him a twenty from the table by the door and thrust it at him. "Keep the change." She told him, shutting the door abruptly and turning to face the two 'adults', who at that moment couldn't have looked more juvenile if they had tried. "Oh, for god's sake. You two are worse than two thirteen year olds on a first date. I am going to take the pizza into the kitchen, and then I am going to go to my bedroom for an unspecified amount of time. Get your damn acts together!" she gave them a look that House supposed was supposed to be stern, but came out more comical than anything else, before flouncing towards the kitchen. Cameron giggled.
"I am so sorry about her." She patted the sofa seat beside her and House took it gratefully, his leg was protesting about the amount of strain he had put on it today. While Cameron had insisted that he wasn't allowed to lift any boxes she had caught him on more than one occasion trying to balance his cane in one hand, a box in the other and still walk in some semblance of a straight line.
The rest of the afternoon hadn't been that awkward, House had considered after dropping Cameron and the boxes off at her apartment. As he drove home he told himself that after his idiotic statement it could have been a lot worse. Of course, as usual when it came to Cameron he was lying, and about an hour ago he had come to the decision that he was an idiot.
"So…" He began, at the same time as Cameron said,
"Listen…" Neither of them knew what to say, and an empty silence followed, broken only by Hayley walking through the living room with a glass of Coke and a plate of pizza. As she saw them she tutted loudly and the two adults looked at each other, suddenly realising how stupid the situation was.
"Look, this afternoon was awkward. And I did want…that…but you would have regretted it." House said in one breath, holding a silencing hand to Cameron when she opened her mouth to speak. "And the note-thing was juvenile, but that's me. I don't do…this…whatever this is." Cameron leaned her head slightly to one side; in the dim light of her living room House looked even more attractive than he usually did. She shuffled forward slightly, closer to him and he turned to look at her; surprised by the action.
"Lucky for you," she said; her voice low so that Hayley, who she knew would be eavesdropping, couldn't hear, "I am great at this."
There, all you obsessive House/Cam people...are you happier now??? Cos I have to admit, I am!!! As always, review...I'm hoping to hit 300 reviews in 20 chapters so pleeeeease!