Chapter twenty- Stirring
Ten minutes later she came back into her room carrying two mugs of coffee to find him quite at home in her bed. She was wearing his shirt, and she loved how natural it felt.
"You're a domestic goddess I see. Coffee in bed. Can I expect eggs and toast on a silver tray?"
"I doubt that" She laughed, handing him a mug, and settling down next to him, her on top of the coverlet.
"It snowed again." He commented
"I saw. I love the snow."
"And I'll just bet you make snow angels." He kissed her temple, she loved how tender he could be.
"No, but Chase and Foreman did last year." House laughed as she recalled the story of standing on the college campus, on 'look out' (as Chase had put it) in the park area at 1.30 in the morning as her two colleagues made no other than snow angels.
"I swear, if I didn't know better, I would put money on Chase having high estrogen levels."
"Ha! And how do you know better?" She took a sip of her drink.
"I trust you would have informed me of the fact."
"Oh, really?" She pecked him on the cheek. "I was going to give you your gift last night, but I got sidetracked. I trust we'll be seeing each other again before Christmas?"
"I WAS hoping… yeah" He confirmed the answer to her question.
A few moments of snuggling later and he moved away from her. He scooted to the other side of the bed, put on a really serious face and looked at her:
"Cameron?"
"Yeah?" She was sitting up, off the pillows, listening intently now.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, anything. Shoot" She was confused, slightly concerned, and concentrating on what he was about to say. It showed on her face.
"Was I better than Chase?"
She burst out laughing because he had totally conned her into thinking he wanted to talk seriously, grabbing up a pillow she smacked him over the chest with it:
"I hate you!" She laughed hysterically, and flung herself over him, kissing him on the lips. She pushed away from him a little, and looked into his eyes.
"But was I?" He pushed.
"Ugh!" She sighed and made an exasperated sound, flopping down on the bed next to him. A few moments passed in silence, and just when he had given up on getting an answer she said:
"Much"
He laughed then, and rolled over onto her. They wouldn't be getting up for quite some time.
---
He left at around noon. After her initial little crazy dance of happiness, she rattled around her apartment which suddenly felt empty even though he'd been there with her less than twenty four hours. She had made him promise, after kissing her goodbye, that he would call her. She wondered how long it would be before he did. He had been gone ten minutes and she wanted to hear his voice again. She needed a distraction, so she picked up the phone, and speed dialled the hospital.
It rang three times before it was answered by a professional voice:
"This is Dr Cuddy."
"Lisa, it's me"
"Hey Allison. My God I shouldn't have drunk last night, my head is pounding"
Cameron didn't intend on telling her friend all about last night, or indeed anything about it. She simply needed to talk to someone rather than be alone.
---
He sat in his corvette, driving through town to his townhouse. He was missing her voice already. It had been so long since he had actually been with someone so loving and affectionate. In fact, come to think of it, he wasn't sure if he ever had. He considered how long he should leave it before he called her. Mentally, he could perhaps distract himself from the thought of her, but he was pretty sure his body would have very different ideas. He wasn't worn out, which was perhaps not a good sign.
---
"So, you and House were getting pretty close last night, anything happen?" Said Cuddy, as she made alterations to the neurology department's staffing rota with a pen.
"Uh, anything like what?"
"Anything like ANYTHING"
There was a silence before Cameron said:
"And what about Wilson? You and WILSON."
"There is no me and Wilson" Cuddy said in a lowered tone, but there was a smile behind her words, as she swatted her secretary away with a clip board full of 'to do's'.
"Liar"
"Prevaricator" Cuddy laughed, "Tell me."
"He was very polite. A true gentleman."
"Now who's lying"
"Not me, he was great. Amazing, even." Cameron smirked at the hidden meaning behind her words.
"Wow. Well, you certainly tamed him, so what-"
Cameron interrupted before the Spanish inquisition began:
"Tell me about you and Wilson"
"There's nothing to tell" The older woman had Cameron on speaker phone now and was organising a filing cabinet.
"Oh, come on"
"Shoot, I've got to go, hospital emergency, talk to you later" And she hung up on her friend.
"Yeah, right!" Cameron laughed into the dead phone rolling her eyes as she hung up too.
---
The day continued on in a steady pace, and more snow fell, sheeting over Princeton, giving a sparkling festive look to the dead earth. Under trees in the hospital gardens deep under the soil, stirred new life, snowdrop bulbs nestled in the darkness already rousing slightly, each with the potential and the means to grow into something new and beautiful.