Disclaimer: See chapter 1

A/N: Thanks again for all of the reviews and comments. Sorry that I've been keeping you waiting for this, real life has been catching up with me again – lots of work from Uni! But here's the next little bit. I also have a feeling that I'll be wrapping this up soon, I don't want to draw it out longer than necessary, but there are a few things that I want to do first…

Broken

Chapter 21

House and Cameron didn't speak for the rest of that day. Cuddy passed on her apologies for getting stuck in the elevator and then gave them the rest of the day off.

In the parking lot House tried to speak to Cameron but she blew him off and left him alone.

…

Back at home she tried to relax herself with a warm bath. But she couldn't settle. At last, after an hour and a half of laying in bed and not sleeping, she pulled on some clothes and got into the car.

When she pulled up outside his place she realised that perhaps she should have called first – all the lights were off. Knocking on the door brought him almost right away and he had a concerned look that seemed to be becoming familiar.

House reached out to touch her arm and felt her stiffen.

"I was hoping you'd show up." He told her and moved aside so she could walk through to the sitting room. "About earlier -"

"I get it. You were in pain. You were stressed. Of course you were angry." She was pacing around the room, unable to stand still.

"I scared you."

Cameron shrugged but didn't stop moving. "It's fine. Really. It was a difficult situation."

"Of course, which is why you're behaving so normally."

He caught her arm and she spun around to face him. "Okay… You reminded me of someone I'd rather forget. It wasn't you who scared me, it was what you reminded me of." She kept her eyes fixed on his hand which was holding his cane.

"Allison. I'm really sorry." His eyes managed to catch hers and she nodded. He switched his cane to the other hand and then with his right he touched her cheek, catching a tear as it began to roll down her face.

"Sometimes I think I'm over it and then something'll remind me of what happened. Today it was you." As she spoke she could see the pain in his eyes. It was the thing that had brought them together – but that they barely mentioned.

Now she leaned into him and they kissed. He was holding her tighter than he'd ever held her before, suddenly aware of how easy it could be to lose her.

They slowly walked down the hallway to the bedroom. Once there she returned to his arms and they lay there, cocooned in the warmth of the bed. Earlier that day she had been scared by him, but now Cameron couldn't believe how safe she felt, and that feeling lulled her to sleep.

…

As usual, House was woken by the pain in his leg. But he didn't immediately reach for the pill bottle by the bed. Instead he watched the young woman sleeping beside him with a smile on her face.

He downed his two Vicodin and then woke her up. A romantic man might have given her a kiss or gently rubbed her arm, but House was not romantic so he did neither of these things.

"Allison. If you want a shower you'd better go and take one now. Just a suggestion. Not that I'm implying anything of course."

She swatted at her tickled ear, then she came to. "Allison?"

"No sense in being so formal if we're not at work. By the way, I'm Greg." He held out his hand as if he were introducing himself for the first time.

"Greg." She smiled and pulled herself out of bed. "I like it."

…

Foreman had seen the way that Cameron had blanked House in the parking lot and so he was quite surprised to see them arriving together in the same car.

In fact, House was actually smiling until he reached the hospital entrance. Once he hit the sliding doors his eyebrows furrowed and his cane hit the floor a little harder than before.

As soon as she got inside Cameron began sorting mail while House disappeared to do some mundane task or other. Foreman took the opportunity to speak to his friend.

"Recovered from spending an hour stuck in a lift with Doctor Grumpy?"

She smiled and continued sorting the mail into organised piles. "Yeah. It was nothing really."

"Really? You seemed pretty pissed at him."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Well I guess I was."

Foreman got the sense that he should stop pushing for answers. He turned away as she rose to her feet. She didn't immediately follow him, instead she took another moment or so to tidy the desk. He turned back to her and watched her for a moment. He never would have said it before but he was actually beginning to think that they were good for each other.

…

House returned in time to take over the white board for their latest case.

"So, that explains why she's having the hallucinations and the sleep apnea. What about the fever?" He asked putting bright blue circles around two more symptoms.

"What's her white cell count Greg?" Cameron asked. Her hand flew to her mouth and she began a fake coughing fit.

That morning they had a simple discussion about how much they would give away at work. She'd also used his name every time she spoke to him until they reached the hospital. If it was anyone else House probably would have objected, but he quite liked the way his name sounded on her lips.

She was too late to react of course, Foreman and Chase stared at her but House just continued without pause. He dispatched Foreman and Chase to check various tests, then turned to Cameron, saying, just loud enough for her departing colleagues to hear, "A word, Allison."

She was a little worried that he would be angry but he was actually smiling a little.

"You're really getting the hang of this keeping work and personal lives separate thing, aren't you?"

"House… I'm sorry. I was just getting so used to… well… you know… I forgot."

Now that the younger men were out of sight House allowed his smile to spread. He raised a hand to her face, although he didn't touch her. "Wilson thinks you're good for me… so I suppose I can let it slide… but I draw the line at holding hands and feeding each other."

Cameron smiled. She didn't need to say anything, he'd said it all.

…

He should have guessed that sooner or later Cuddy would get wind of what was going on between them. He knew that she knew, but he didn't know how much she knew. Even he couldn't deny how serious the relationship was becoming.

Sure enough, the day after they had been stuck in the lift together, he was summoned to Cuddy's office.

"House. I really feel that I should say something." She was sitting smartly behind the desk. When he'd entered the room she'd indicated that he should take a chair but he'd chosen to stand.

This was uncomfortable but it encouraged Cuddy to speed up the proceedings.

"About your relationship with Doctor Cameron…"

"Yes, I know. Shouldn't be in a relationship with an underling. Do you think that I really care?"

"How will you cope if the relationship breaks up?" Lisa Cuddy felt strange discussing House being in a relationship. The word didn't seem to phase him at all.

"Why don't you let us worry about that?"

"Because it's my job to worry about it." She fiddled with a pen on her desk, he stamped his cane against the ground but she ignored it. "Rest assured, I hate it as much as you do."

"So why are you doing it?" House twirled his cane in his hand and looked up at Cuddy. "Are you telling me that I have to end our relationship?"

Cuddy was momentarily thrown. House had just stated that he was in a relationship. He hadn't flinched. In fact, he'd been perfectly serious.

She took a deep breath. "No." She thought she caught a smile crossing House's face, but she blinked and it had gone. "But rules are rules House. Doctor Cameron won't be a part of your team forever. Remember that. And the moment I have you warn you about your professional conduct -" House raised an eyebrow which caused Cuddy to sigh, "regarding Dr. Cameron, action will have to be taken."

"Are you finished?"

"Yes."

"Good."

House had turned to go when Cuddy said his name, he swivelled to face her, expecting another great spiel about protocol.

"I'm happy for you."

She had been expecting a trademark sarcastic comment from House so his response surprised her. Just as he pushed open the door he turned back to face her and said. "Thank you."