Chapter 37

"Mr. Warner, I assure you we are doing everything we can do to ensure a quick diagnosis so that you can return to your normal activities. We're just going to run a few more tests and then get back to you." Cameron said professionally ignoring the daggers Stacy was shooting in her direction. "Please let us know if anything changes or you start to feel worse."

Mark nodded. "Thank you Dr. Cameron. But honestly I'm fine."

Cameron smiled tersely. "With all due respect Mr. Warner, the symptoms you've been experiencing prove otherwise."

"Mark. Please let House run the tests. He'll figure out what's wrong with you." Stacy pleaded.

Mark rolled his eyes. "You sure have a lot of faith in a man you left..."

"Mark. Don't start with that. My past relationship with Greg has nothing to do with now. I'm with you. I married you. I love you."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Dr. Foreman will be in shortly to run those tests." she said before excusing herself. She had barely gotten back to the elevators when she heard her name. Groaning inwardly she turned around to see Stacy walking toward her. "Yes?" she asked.

Stacy shot Cameron a look of pure hatred. "If you and Greg can't control yourselves long enough to care for my husband adequately you should remove yourself from the case."

Cameron's eyes shone in anger. "You have no reason whatsoever to suggest we aren't caring for the poor guy that married you adequately."

"You're running around swapping shirts and fooling around in elevators, when you should be caring for my husband." She said icily.

Cameron scoffed. "That's the actual problem isn't it? It has nothing to do with how I'm caring for your husband. It's about me and Greg. You're upset that we're fooling around in elevators. You're jealous. And that's pathetic," Cameron snapped before turning to walk away again.

"Excuse me?" Stacy yelled.

Cameron halted and whipped around venomously. "You are married!" she screamed. "You have a husband. You moved on! Did you honestly think he wouldn't? I heard you ask him if he honestly thought you would never get married! Why is it ok for you to move on and not him? Are you really that selfish? Or are you just that much of a bitch?!"

"Little girl you don't know who you're dealing with and what I'm capable..." she started before the sound of machines going off in Mark's room interrupted her. Cameron ran back into the room and saw that he was crashing. She immediately pulled a crash cart over to him. After shocking him twice, the machines went back to normal and he was stable once again. Once she was sure he was fine, she looked back at Stacy. "He's stable."

"Thank you," Stacy said sighing.

"It's a shame his wife is such an unstable bitch," she mocked under her breath, but still loud enough for Stacy to hear her before storming out of the room again. This time Stacy stayed behind.

xxxxxx

Foreman looked up in surprise when the conference door slammed shut only to see Cameron fuming. "Everything ok?"

Cameron nodded trying to quell her anger. "I need you to run tests on Mark Warner."

"House..." Foreman started.

"I know House told you to do his clinic hours but I'll trade with you."

"Why?" Foreman asked curiously.

Cameron opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by House's voice. "Did you really call Stacy Warner a bitch?" he asked in shock.

"Yes." Cameron said clearly.

House nodded. "Foreman…go and run those tests. You can pretend to be me later."

Foreman started to walk out but was halted by House's voice again. "While you're at it stop up in the NICU and send Chase home."

"What makes you think he's in the NICU?" Foreman asked knowing Chase was using it as a hideout from House.

House rolled his eyes. "Because I know he's hiding from me up there."

"How do you know that?"

"I am all knowing," House replied emotionlessly.

Foreman nodded and left the room.

Cameron looked at him funny. "All knowing?"
"The nurse in the NICU has a big mouth."

Cameron shook her head slightly before looking back at House. "She accused me of being unprofessional and taking mediocre care of her husband, who by the way coded again."

House nodded. "You had to shock him?"

"Twice."

"Ok," House said taking in this new bit of information. He then looked over at Cameron taking her in thoroughly. She was genuinely upset, that much he could tell. Her skin was flushed in anger. Her foot tapped anxiously on the floor and if someone looked close enough, they could see her clearly grinding her teeth.

He took a deep breath and studied her silently for a few more minutes watching her slump into a chair in front of the white board. "I don't get it," he finally said.

"I know. The symptoms are all over the place," she said studying the white board.

House nodded. "Well…yeah but that wasn't what I was talking about," he said earning her full attention. "I don't understand why you're letting her get to you like this."

Cameron looked at him in annoyance. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You never even let me get to you like this," House pointed out.

Cameron shook her head. "Sure I do. You piss me off all the time."

House laughed without hesitation. "And I enjoy doing so. It's almost as fun as a General Hospital marathon on Soap Net or staring at Cuddy's fun bags!" he said before winking.

"Pervert," Cameron said earning a waggle of House's eyebrows. She smiled at his blatant innuendo, but her smile quickly dissipated when she heard the next words out of his mouth.

"Maybe you just weren't ready to come back to work yet. Your emotions are all over the place," House said honestly while eyeing her reaction.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Cameron snapped angrily getting out of the chair and stepping closer to him.

House rolled his eyes. "It means just what I said. You're all over the place, Allison. You bawled this morning when your shoe broke," he said more gently than he thought himself capable.

"They were my favorite pair..." she reasoned.

"You broke my favorite mug because I laughed when you stubbed your toe..."
"After you laughed when I broke my favorite shoes," she said her eyes flashing in anger.

House sighed, "You're screaming at Stacy in hallways."

"She started that," Cameron snapped angry that he was defending Stacy.

House shook his head. "You're letting her bait you."

"She..."

"She nothing!" House snapped grabbing her by the shoulders. "You need to realize something Cameron...she's... she's a pain in the ass but she's... she's irrelevant," he said boring his eyes into hers.

Cameron shook her head. "She's not irrelevant House," she said with conviction, never breaking eye contact with him. She could feel the tears forming in the back of her eyes. Then pausing, her words softly spoke, "She's our patient's wife."

"But that's not a reason to hate her, Allison."

"I hate her because she's a bitch," Cameron said trying to shove the tears back.

House nodded. "True, but you hated her before you met her, before you knew for sure that she really was a bitch."

Cameron tired to look down but House wouldn't let her. "I knew what she did to you..."

House sighed and locked eyes with Cameron again. "You hate her because you think she broke me. Because you think it's her fault, I never let you act on those feelings of yours."

Cameron looked down instantly knowing that the tear she had been repressing was about to slide down her cheek. She hadn't expected House to pull her eyes back up to his gently brushing the tear from her cheek with his thumb.

House was standing there with Cameron's cheek cupped in his hand; his thumb brushing a tear away, all while their eyes were locked on each other. The sexual tension that was more than evident in the elevator was now back full force, and it was having a strange effect on him. He knew he could lean forward and kiss her, and he was scared because he knew that was what he wanted to do.

"House..." Cameron said breathlessly.

The hushed stillness in Cameron's voice had been enough to break what resolve he had left. He leaned in, his lips mere inches away from hers when Chase sauntered into the conference room abruptly jolting them out of their moment.

"Foreman said you said I could go home," Chase said looking between the two of them as they suddenly split apart like shrapnel. "Did I interrupt something?"

Cameron blushed deeply and snatched House's name tag off the table next to them before attempting to dart out the room towards the clinic, but was stopped by Chase's voice.

"Oh my God…Cameron what happened to your arm?" Chase asked worriedly as he did a double take, and noticed the cast on her arm.

Cameron looked back at House discretely before simply saying, "Car accident…kamikaze squirrels."

"When?" Chase asked concerned. "Was the baby hurt?"

Cameron shook her head. "No Maddie's fine…and last night. I came in and Foreman was still here. He set my cast and I went home. No biggie."

"But I was here last night, why didn't I hear anything about it?" Chase asked confused, wrinkling his brow and tilting his head to one side.

Cameron shrugged. "I don't know," she said before turning to House. "Can I go now?"

House nodded. "Yeah…I'll page you when Mark Warner's test results come back."

Cameron nodded and quickly walked out.

Chase sighed and looked at Cameron closely before he lost sight of her. He shot Cameron one last lingering look before he began packing his stuff up. "So, what was going on in here before? What did I walk in on?" Chase asked nosily.

House looked at Chase annoyed at his blasé attitude, prying questions, and the way he was looking at Cameron.. "What are you doing?" House snapped as he watched Chase preparing to leave.

"Getting my stuff since you said I could go home." Chase answered obviously.

"I changed my mind."

"What?"

"I changed my mind. It's been known to happen." House snapped throwing Cameron's name tag at him. "Cameron's downstairs pretending to be me, and now you're going downstairs to pretend to be her." He sniped with an icy blue glare.
"But..."

"Your hair's shiny enough. You'll pass as a girl. Get out," House ordered.

Chase rolled his eyes and headed out the room. He had almost gotten out the door when he heard House snap, "Next time mind your own business!"

xxxxxx

Cuddy watched Stacy anxiously pace in her office, then heard her spurt out, "I want her off of Mark's case."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "Why Stacy?" she asked dully, hardly disguising the weariness in her tone.

Stacy noticed the boredom in Cuddy's voice and stopped pacing instantly. "She obviously has a problem working with me."

Cuddy nodded for a moment as if she were considering this true. "So does House. Should I pull him off the case as well?" she asked saucily.

Stacy rolls her eyes angrily. "Oh stop being so blasé Lisa. The woman hates me."

"Have you given her any reason not to?"

"I haven't given her any reason to hate me either!"

Cuddy laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing. I just...how can you honestly say that?"

Stacy stood there expressionless.

"You've cut her down in front of my staff. You refer to her as little girl every chance you get. You criticized her medical expertise. You scream at her in the hallways... should I really keep going?" Cuddy asked with an arched eyebrow and a pointed finger for emphasis.

"I-I-I…" Stacy sputtered.

"You've been hostile towards her since before you met her. Is it all about Greg or is it something else?" Cuddy asked exasperated.

"Like what?" Stacy snapped.
Cuddy shrugged. "I don't know. All this ranting and raving. The constant mood swings. You're either acting like a crazy person or a pregnant one."

Stacy looked at her flabbergasted. "That's absurd!!"

"Is it?" Cuddy asked.

"Of course," Stacy replied her mind working overtime trying to remember the last time she had had her period. Coming up with two months ago, she inwardly sighed in dismay as she realized the idea wasn't as farfetched as she had implied. Gulping in a hasty breath she turned her eyes to Cuddy. "Stop trying to change the subject. I want Dr. Cameron off of my husband's case."

Cuddy sighed tiredly. "Stacy... come on... she's a great doctor."

"She's green."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "No she's not and I refuse to pull her off the case because you don't like her. Give me a legitimate reason to remove her and then I'll consider it."

"She's rude to me..."

"But she's not rude to Mark, who is her patient. Maybe she wouldn't be so rude if you'd quit calling her a bitch and ordering her out of every room that she and House are in together."

Stacy opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it and simply turned on her heel and headed out of the office. She was halfway down the hall when Wilson came out of nowhere.

"Stacy," Wilson said.

"Hey Jimmy," she replied absentmindedly, being distracted and mentally exhausted from her having had "bouts" with both Cuddy and Cameron.

"You want to have lunch with me?" Wilson asked hopefully.

Stacy looked down at her watch and realized it was, in fact, lunchtime and that she was actually hungry and could use an energy lift after what she'd been through. She found herself saying an almost enthusiastic..."Sure."

Wilson smiled happily and led her to the cafeteria. After they had their food and sat down, he looked at Stacy closely. She appeared to be in a better mood then when he had eavesdropped on her conversation with Cuddy.

Wilson sighed softly earning her attention. Plus, familiar with his mannerisms, Stacy knew that Wilson's palm rubbing the back of his head meant that he was pondering something.
"What's wrong Jimmy?" Stacy asked with caution.

He slowly dropped his arm and shook his head. "Why are you doing this Stacy?"

"Doing what?" her eyes widening.

"Trying to destroy Cameron." Wilson said tiredly.