About Livers

They started with the romantic movie. They were both closeted romantics after all; well, in Cameron's case that wasn't exactly true. Everyone believed her to be a hopeless romantic, totally sappy and a sucker for candlelight dinners, and she so was, Lisa thought.

After the main characters were happily married, they put on another movie while eating some more of the pasta. It was a horror flick and Cameron didn't like the fact that the guts spilled on the floor looked somehow a bit like her sauce.

'Ugh, if that was a real liver the guy would've died of cancer years ago.' She said.

'It's not a real one.'

'I know that.'

Cuddy snorted. 'Then why are you thinking about real livers at all, Dr. Cameron?'

'Don't start. I know you can't watch horror movies with me…sometimes when someone's throat gets slashed or something I often think that the blood's not gushing out the right way…my friends in med school hated me for always commenting on it.'

Lisa smiled and took a swig of wine. 'I think it's fun.' She gave Allison a grin. 'No one can take those movies seriously after all, right?'

'Right. And those who do should get a psych exam.'

'Hehe…yeah.' Cuddy mumbled distractedly as the blonde girl was stabbed in the back and her throat slashed.

'Now look…it's not supposed to 'gush' out like that.'

Lisa just chuckled.

Don't Care So Much

It was getting late and they were finally watching something with depth. Allison said nothing for a long time and Lisa could see that she was relating to the characters in the movie; even for them she felt sympathy. It was astounding in a way but sad in another that she cared so much.

Caring can sometimes be a burden, Lisa mused.

This year's Hanukkah certainly was unusual. Lisa was used to fancy Christmas parties, dinners, evenings with relatives and friends, people she loved. Allison was now her friend and it required some getting used to.

They hadn't been friends before after all. She cared about the young doctor a lot more than a few weeks back. And that was somehow all that mattered – spending Hanukkah or Christmas with someone who meant a great deal to you. It didn't matter that they were merely watching movies and didn't have a huge dinner and weren't lightning the lights on the tree or the candles on the menorah. It was just fine the way it was.

'Hey…' Lisa said quietly and waited for Allison to tear her eyes away from the screen.

'Yeah?'

'Thanks for inviting me.'

Allison smiled gently. 'Thanks for coming.' She looked a moment longer at Lisa; this felt good. Really good and comfortable, who would've thought? Cameron's smile widened as the pleasantness of the moment warmed her insides. She hugged Lisa, squeezed her tightly and took a breath. 'Happy Hanukkah.'

Cuddy chuckled. 'Merry Christmas.' Allison could hear the contentment in Lisa's voice, she enjoyed hearing it.

They drew apart slowly but still held onto each other.

For a moment Allison couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman. Lisa couldn't either but she always came back to reality faster than most people. She cast her eyes downward and sighed and smiled to break the moment.

It worked for her quite nicely. She shook and lifted her head to look at the recognition that would no doubt be displayed on Allison's face; Cameron was young, younger than she was but not naïve, she must've felt it too.

But what she saw wasn't the slight embarrassment or the blush she had expected to see. Allison was still looking at her, still studying her, she was still caught in that moment and Lisa didn't know if the pull she herself had felt was pulling stronger on Allison or if she just didn't want to leave that moment. It had felt good, she could understand why someone would want to revel in it.

The nervous smile Lisa had smiled slowly morphed into a shy one and then vanished altogether as she realized that Allison had no intention to withdraw and forget all about it.

All Cameron could think was that she should take a chance, take this chance. She wasn't like that but she felt she could be in this moment. Maybe she really should just admit it…

Allison leaned forward, slowly, her eyes focused but glassy, her body totally still. Their lips touched just barely. She tilted her head to the side as slowly as she could and watched Lisa's eyes close. Allison closed hers' too…

And her lips were soft. Soft and gentle against her own. It was a strange feeling, a strange situation, kissing her friend. It felt serene and fresh, like a crisp morning, like snow and silence.

Allison leaned in further because Lisa didn't and moved her lips. Lisa touched her as they sunk into the couch and the cushions, Lisa touched her cheek, Lisa touched her neck, Lisa kissed her back.

But…

But.

Cuddy drew away first, immediately she covered her eyes with her hand then wiped her mouth with her fingertips and sat back. 'This is ridiculous.'

Allison sat up too and cleared her throat. Ridiculous? She wanted to say something but Lisa beat her to it.

'This is ridiculous. I mean, we're so afraid that House is right…and…and at the same time we believe that he is actually right because you know he's House and he's always right and we end up kissing oh my god.'

Cameron stared at her for a moment, wanting to say Lisa shouldn't assume knowing what she was thinking but refrained from it; Cuddy was nervous enough already. 'Look…nothing happened…'

'Nothing happened? We were just kissing!'

'Yeah…so? Let's not freak out, okay?' Allison took a moment to take her own advice and composed herself. 'I'm sorry.' She said. 'You're my friend. It's Christmas…Hanukkah and we had wine and we kissed. We did it, it happened, it's over.'

Lisa was a bit taken aback by the rationalism Allison just showed but went with it. Usually being rational was her part. 'Okay. I'm sorry too.' She smiled. 'Oh god. This was really stupid.' She chuckled, Cameron joined in.

'Yeah, it was.' Allison cast her eyes downward as her heart suddenly felt somewhat heavy. 'Want to unwrap your gift?'

'Hey, I told you: no gifts.' She watched Cameron get up and open a drawer. She took a white envelope out and came back with a huge but shy smile on her lips.

'It's not really a gift…' Allison began as she toyed with the envelope. 'Don't get mad but I think a patient gave it to me. There wasn't a name on it or anything so…' She placed the envelope onto Cuddy's knees and grinned. 'Just open it.'

Lisa smirked and did as she was told. Two tickets to a concert. Wow.

'I thought you might like to go. I'm not really into classical music but I know you're a bit.'

Lisa smiled at her and leaned her head on the backrest of the sofa. 'Thanks…' She said quietly. 'It's nice that you thought of me and yes, I'd like to go…under one condition. You have to go with me and sit through the whole thing.'

Cameron groaned, pretending to not be keen on going but she was and Lisa knew. It was okay.

Fun

'Did you get a nice present for Christmas-slash-Hanukkah? Cuddy with only a bow on maybe?'

Cameron just snorted; no anger, no embarrassment. 'I had a wonderful Christmas…what did you do?'

House waved her off. 'Oh, the usual. Just watched some old Christmas flick…what was it again? Oh, right. Santa and The Naughty Elves.'

'Sounds fascinating.'

House followed her into the elevator and pressed a button while trying to contain his curiosity until the doors closed. 'You wanna tell me you actually had fun? With her?'

Cameron nodded and smiled at House genuinely; he was still a pest but at least refrained from being downright mean at the moment. 'Yeah. I had fun. What were you up to?'

House sighed and made a face. 'My parents were visiting.'

'Bet you would've had more fun watching Santa and The Naughty Elves after all, huh?' She smirked as she saw his pained expression.

'Yeah…would've had more fun watching a fat lady at an All-You-Can-Eat buffet.' He glanced over at Cameron and lifted both his eyebrows. 'Sooo…you asked her out on a date yet.' And here we go again.

'Nope…' Allison said coyly as the elevator came to a halt. 'But I might.' She left him standing there and walked away expecting to hear a comment any moment, but there didn't come one.

House stared at her retreating back; this wasn't supposed to turn out this way. He hadn't seen that coming. He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. Was she playing him? Probably.

TBC

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