CHAPTER 35
Cameron unlocked the door of their hotel room, and looked around. Everything was so still, so silent, which seemed out of place when compared to her raging pulse and rushing adrenaline. She just had to get out of there. She couldn't be a part of what he did, she couldn't watch her idol fall so far beneath himself, degrade and embarrass himself, make his own mother's funeral about him.
She paced the room gathering her thoughts, and with her heart still pounding, she pulled her suitcase onto the bed and started throwing her things into it. She removed her dress and slip and threw them in with everything else, and quickly put on the jeans and t-shirt she had worn on the drive to Michigan. She didn't have much to pack, so it didn't take long, and when she had everything together, she dropped the luggage on the ground with a thud and pulled up the handle to roll it behind her. When she reached the door, she stopped, her chest heaving with each breath. She stood frozen, with her hand outstretched toward the handle, and thought about what she was doing. If she stayed with him, there would be hard times. If she stayed with him, this wouldn't be the last time something like this happened. If she stayed with him, she would have to learn to live with it. Why should she have to bear that?
On the other hand, what would she be leaving behind? Passion like she'd never felt before. A blindingly brilliant mind, a quick wit and keen sense of humor, more talent than one person should ever have. She couldn't bear the thought of losing those strong arms, those large hands, the chest, the beard, the legs, ass, nose, neck, hair, the crippled thigh, and those magnificent blue eyes. A lifetime of the six years she lived without him, made worse by the knowledge of what she had for a moment and lost. Could she do that to herself?
The answer to this mystery was more elusive than even the most complicated and obscure medical cases she had ever known. The differential diagnosis of what would be her future was an infinite list of possibilities, and the course of treatment was unprecedented, experimental, and very dangerous. How would House find the answer?
The room was quickly darkening as Cameron sat on the very corner of the bed leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees. In her hands was her elastic ponytail holder, which she stretched and twisted while wading through the sludge of ideas and emotions that overtook her whole body.
She was startled by a sound coming from the other side of the door. House's room key. Her stomach fluttered and she raised her head and watched the door slowly open.