A/N Contrary to popular belief, no, I did not die… although there was a time that I wanted to… let me tell you, Mono is a bitch… and then the longer I didn't write the harder it was to coax my muse to come back… I don't know if anyone even cares any more but here is the next chapter, and I will stop rambling and let you all read it…

Foreman and Chase entered House's office to give him an update on the state of their patient and were only mildly surprised when the found the room empty. A quick glance into the conference room confirmed he wasn't anywhere in the department.

The two men looked at each other, neither having any clue where he might be. Considering the fact that since they weren't even supposed to be at work, there was no way that Cuddy could have dragged him into the clinic and Wilson wasn't even in the hospital to bug.

"You want to start in the cafeteria and I'll start on the roof and we'll meet in coma guy's room?" Foreman suggested.

Chase nodded his compliance and they were about to go and look in his usual spots in search of their boss. The search was short lived however; since when they turned to leave they found him standing in the door to his office with a hammer and a box of nails in his non cane hand.

"And neither of you would have found me," House revealed as he passed by both of them and crossed over to his desk, setting the tools on the table top. "I was in the basement, talking to Lou."

"The janitor?" Foreman asked.

"Do you know of someone else on hospital grounds from whom I could procure a hammer?" he replied, nodding to the tool on his desk as he took a large stack of framed photos out of his backpack.

"What do you need a hammer for?" Chase asked curiously.

"I don't know how they do things in the land down under," House retorted disdainfully,
"but here in the states we use hammers to drive nails into walls, not our thick Aussie skulls."

Forman started whistling which was an odd enough occurrence to make both men turn to look at him.

"What's that now?" House asked.

"Men at Work," Foreman replied as if it should be obvious. "We come from the land down under..."

House evaluated the neurologist for a long moment before speaking. "I like you, what you lack in skill, you make up for with enthusiasm. Carry on," he announced with a nod as he turned back to his handy work of hanging his pictures, this time with theme music.

Chase just rolled his eyes, having had his heritage mocked enough that it didn't phase him anymore. "So what are you hanging up?" he asked again, his curiosity undeterred.

"Office art," he replied cryptically, taking a couple measurements before he began hammering.

"Adele went into acute respiratory distress and we had to intubate her, she's also not clotting," Foreman announced, going back to the original reason for coming to find House. "And is Cameron aware that you are hanging that kind of art in your office?" he asked as he picked up the photo of Wrath, giving it a cursory glance before handing it to his boss to hang on the newly inserted hook on the wall.

"Start her on corticosteroids for the ARDS and transfusions for the coagulopathy. And I wasn't aware that I had to tell her what I'm doing in my office," he retorted snidely, as he hung the frame and took a step back to evaluate its placement. "Besides I think she will be proud."

"Yes, because I'm sure that Cameron will be proud that her husband is hanging up-" Chase paused as he tried to find the right word, "-provocative pictures in his office."

"Watch what you say about my wife," House replied warningly.

"Why? I didn't say anything about her," the blond man asked confused as he picked up one of the frames to closer examine the photo within it.

"You inferred that my photos were smutty, I don't think she would appreciate that," House repeated, carefully watching the younger man's expression as he studied Greed. "I think she looks quite classy myself." It was almost comical to watch as comprehension slowly dawn over the intensivist's face.

"Oh shit! These are Cameron!" Chase exclaimed quickly grabbing the next photo off the pile which happened to be Lust. "And she looks HOT!"

"And underage you pervert," House retorted, snatching one of the photos back so that he could hang it. "She's fifteen in those photos."

"Gah!" Chase shouted dropping Lust back on the desk as if it was suddenly scalding, only to have it retrieved by Foreman who wanted to see that it was his coworker for himself.

"Day-um!" Foreman interjected laughingly. "There is no way she is only fifteen in this photo."

"Believe it," House confirmed, snagging the picture back and placing it on the pile. "And you, will do well to remember it," he continued turning to the Aussie as he brandishing the hammer in his hand like a weapon. "Just like you will remember to keep your hands and thoughts off the grown up version as well."

"Right… I mean of course… I would never…" the younger man stuttered, not missing the territorial glint in the elder mans eye, and not forgetting the threats made at the hockey game just a few weeks prior. "We should be seeing to Adele about that…."

"Yes, we should get going, you seem to have another appointment anyways," Foreman said smirking at his coworkers unease as he took pity on him by quickly agreeing and turning to leave the office just in time to see Cuddy making her way towards them.

"House," Cuddy greeted as she held the door open for Chase and Foreman who were leaving. "How is your patient?"

"Not dead," he answered, as he dug through the box of assorted nails for one of the correct length.

"Always a good sign in a hospital," she retorted. "Is she going to die?"

"Not if I can help it," he returned as he began hammering in another nail.

"What are you doing?" she asked, noticing what he was doing.

"Trying to break the world record for number of jumps on a pogo stick," he deadpanned.

"You can't hang those in here," Cuddy sighed tiredly.

"I didn't know hanging photos was so controversial," he said conversationally, as he added Envy to those already adorning the wall.

"It is when they look like those," the dean countered. "What if a patient saw those, I don't look forward to explaining why one of my doctors has underage eye-candy decorating his office."

"First of all, I avoid patients at all cost, so I don't think I'll be inviting them into my office any time in the near future," he replied, thinking that this would be really annoying if it wasn't so amusing. "And if anything they'll just be jealous."

"No," she insisted. "House, take them down."

"I don't see what the big deal is. You have a picture of you and your sister in your office," House pointed out.

"Yes, but she is my family," Cuddy replied slowly as if talking to a three year old.

"Well I can't help it if my family is more attractive than your family," he retorted equally as condescendingly. "I hear Hammond up in cardiology has a hot daughter, are you going to tell him to take her picture off his desk too?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, not understanding the connection, but having no doubt that there was one.

"What do you mean what am I talking about? You're the one who is telling me I can't put pictures of my wife up in my office," he said accusingly.

"Wait," Cuddy paused, her eyes narrowing, "those are Cameron?"

"The one and only," he said taking Greed off the top of the pile still on his desk to show her.

Cuddy examined the photo and then stepped around the desk to take a closer look at the rest of the series already on the wall. "Fine, you can keep them," she said after a moment. "But I want you down in the Clinic."

"What?! You're making me do clinic because of the photos?" he exclaimed, absolutely appalled. "It's Saturday, I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

"I'm making you do clinic because two of the doctors who are scheduled to be in there called in sick today," she corrected, unmoved by his outburst. "And since it is Saturday, they're swamped down there. Since you're on site and don't have anything to do once you're done redecorating, congratulations, you've been elected."

"I wasn't even aware I was running," he said pounding another nail into the wall with just a little more gusto then what was required. "Truly it's an honor just to be nominated, therefore it is with deep regret that I must pass this privilege onto one of my less fortunate contemporaries."

"Finish hanging your last couple photos then I want you're honored ass in the clinic," she said with finality.

"But I don't wanna," he pouted as he rooted through the box of assorted nails.

"If you work until five, I'll give you a get out of clinic free card for the next two weeks," she bargained.

House considered this. The tests he was waiting on wouldn't be out until about then anyways and two weeks clinic free certainly sounded appealing.

"Make it three and you have a deal," he proposed.

"Fine," she agreed not even putting up the usual obligatory fight.

"Those were poor negotiating skills, I would have done it for the two," House revealed

"Yeah well," she shrugged sitting down in the chair on the opposite side of House's desk. "I'm about as pleased about getting called in on a Saturday as you are. The sooner I get everything handled here the sooner I can get home. So," she began conversationally, picking up a photo and turning it over in her hands, "hanging up family photos in the office. That must mean things are going well."

House paused in what he was doing, his right arm still poised to strike the nail which he was holding steady with his left as he turned to look at the woman on the other side of the desk with interest, assessing the intentions of her statement.

"I suppose this means that we have concluded the boss/employee portion of our interaction," he said, turning back to driving the nail into the wall, "and have segued into the old college buddy segment of conversation."

"I was just making an observation," Cuddy continued. "Sometimes I still have a hard time believing you two are actually married."

"Why would you say that?" House asked lightly, wondering if she knew something about their deception as he hammered another nail into the wall.

"Even you have to admit that this all came out of left field," she began. "I mean it was just a little over two months ago that I think I'm sending Cameron to Vegas with you so she could baby sit you and instead comes back married to you. And then you tell us all that you've actually been in a relationship since last Christmas that no one, not even Wilson, was privy too? Then suddenly you two are practically joined at the hip in all your newlywed bliss. It was just surprising is all, a lot to take in."

"Yeah well, no one was more surprised than we were to find ourselves in a relationship," he confessed, smirking at the truthfulness of his statement.

"I can only imagine," Cuddy continued, "especially considering the way you shot her down a couple years ago. At the time I was first in line to condone a relationship between the two of you, I thought that a woman who was willing to resort to blackmail to get what she wants is a kind of woman that could keep up with you. But then when your date turned out to be a disaster, it seemed that even she had given up on you, I had all but lost any hope of you not dying alone," she said only half jokingly. "So, things are going well?" she asked once again, getting back to her original inquiry.

"Better than either of us really imagined they would I suspect," House admitted, almost talking to himself, a slight tone of amazement in his tone. "Yeah, things are going well."

"Considering you've been almost tolerable the past couple months I just can't help but believe in miracles."

"Not a miracle, just Allison," he said absently as he hung the final photo.

"How's that?" Cuddy pried, taking advantage of House's unusual openness.

"Allison is…" he trailed off for a moment as he gathered his thoughts, "complicated. There is a lot more to her than she shows here at work. I like that person. Well either that or its not a miracle at all," he said shaking himself out of his reverie when he realized the conversation had become far to much like friends sharing, "and really its one of the signs of the apocalypse."

"Ah yes, I remember that line in the torah," Cuddy joked. "And the Lord Said to Moses woe onto the world when a cranky bastard with the name of House is happy, for it is a sign that all that was done will come undone. Now I always thought it was a coincidence, but if it starts raining frogs I'm running for the hills."

"Well it is overcast today," he retorted, "I'll keep an eye out for amphibians."

Cuddy laughed and stood, making her way towards the hallway. "I'm happy for you Greg," she said pausing in the door way and turning back around, "I really am."

"Thanks Lisa," he replied with a rare sincerity.

"Now get down to the clinic!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

House walked into his office to find a thoughtful Cameron standing pensively in the open doorway looking out onto the balcony watching the rain fall. He could see her reflection in the open door, seeming very far away, as she wore a deeply introspective expression that he wasn't quite sure he liked.

"Don't even think about it," House said jolting her out of her thoughts.

"Don't think about what?" she asked turning around startled, having been so deep in thought that she was oblivious to his entrance.

"Don't even thinking about going out into the rain," he clarified. "I don't need you getting sick again. I know you were sick longer than you were admitting even after I let you come back to work."

"What are you talking about?" she asked defensively, it had taken her awhile to kick that stomach bug, but she thought she had hidden it well.

"You are not that stealthy when you were sneaking out of bed to puke and even though you were still making coffee for everyone else, you were drinking ginger tea to settle your stomach. Also your eyes are duller when you're not feeling well."

"Wow, I'm impressed," she said, the corner of her mouth upturned.

"They don't call me a world class diagnostician for nothing," he returned with a smirk.

"I just didn't realize that I merited the utilization of such world class skills," she joked. "Certainly someone such as myself isn't worth paying attention to."

"I've always paid attention to you, you know that" he replied, looking down at the tennis ball at the edge of his desk, embarrassed by his confession.

Cameron smiled, but didn't call any more attention to House's admission knowing it would make him even more uncomfortable and looked past him to above his desk.

"So is going from lobby art to wall art considered a promotion?" she asked with a nod towards the photos.

"Well I realized that I can't see the lobby from my desk, therefore lobby art is useless to me the majority of the time. I considered having you quit your job and just standing in here all day but then I realized that I would have to hire a new fellow and that just seemed like far to much effort," he said with an affected sigh. "This seemed like a satisfactory compromise."

Cameron laughed lightly flashing him a small smile before turning away and back out towards the rain soaked balcony.

"So what was with the pensive face?" he asked.

"Adele's kidneys are failing, if we don't figure out what's wrong with her we're going to have to start her on dialysis and maybe put her on the donor list," she relayed.

"Our patients have organ failure all the time, and don't cause pensive face," he replied. "And pensive face is only a couple steps away from sad face and I don't think the centrifuges need recalibrating."

Cameron let out a half hearted chuckle, paused, and the followed it up with a deep sigh. "I was talking to her after I took the history," she revealed.

This time it was House who sighed. "We've talked about you caring too much bef-"

"Do you want to lecture me or do you want to hear what I have to say?" she shot over her shoulder before he could finish his sentence. When he remained silent she continued to speak. "She doesn't have any family on this side of the country and she wont let me call her boyfriend. She doesn't want him to know what happened."

"Sexual assault victims often feel like they are somehow responsible for the assault," House pointed out walking over to stand next to her by the window. "Refer her to Williams up in psych-"

Cameron shook her head, "I already tried, she doesn't want to see a therapist. She said she knows its not her fault, she already talked to the police and is willing to go to court to testify if they catch the guy. But she wont let me call anyone to be with her. She doesn't want anyone to know…"

She stopped talking, but House knew she hadn't finished and uncharacteristically waited patiently, watching her reflected expression as he tried to figure out what was bothering her so much.

"In fact she was joking about the whole situation," she said with a mirthless laugh. "Saying that at least she was on her way to see her boyfriend, so she didn't have to worry about getting pregnant."

House thought about what Cameron just revealed before letting his forehead bang against the glass window with a thud. "I'm such an idiot," he exclaimed, his interest in Cameron's mental state abating as the revelation struck, "she has TSS! I didn't even consider it because she isn't menstruating, but she was planning on sleeping with her boyfriend."

"She must have been wearing a contraceptive sponge," Cameron continued when she caught onto House's train of thought, immediately snapping back into doctor mode. "And the ER removed it when doing the rape kit. But she's been on antibiotics for hours and has been getting worse," she pointed out.

"Do a pelvic exam and make sure the entire sponge was removed. Stop the broad spec antibiotics and switch her to Clindamycin then start her on Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy in case she is just resistant."

Cameron nodded succinctly and hurried out of the office to carry out his orders as they both switched back into their professional personas. House watched her walk away before sitting heavily behind in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk, glad to have another case solved, making a mental note to find out what was bothering her once they went home.

A/N So there it is… I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you thought :D also I'm hopefully going to be back on track with posting now and the next chapter will be up soon… that is if you guys want it :P