Chapter Thirty-Five
Now I'm Lookin' Up and It Keeps Comin'...
"Where are we going?" Cameron asked as they walked down the darkened hall.
Unable to see in front of her, she delicately placed one palm against House's back so she wouldn't loose him and another one against the cold glass wall.
"Gee, I don't know. Why don't you check your coloring book?" he snarked.
"House..." she growled.
"How should I know? I'm a lot of truly awesome things, but psychic is not one of them, Cameron...Jeez!" he snapped, instantly regretting it. He shivered at the cold air that overwhelmed him when Cameron retracted her warm hand in a wince.
He sighed and softened his voice, mumbling something resembling an apology. Her hand gradually made contact with him once again, only this time, it wrapped around his forearm, just above his elbow.
Using his cane, he sought out his surroundings before him. A hit to the left indicated a structure in the way.
"Table," he warned her, stepping to the side in order to avoid hitting it.
"Huh?" Suddenly, her knee smacked deeply into the corner of a large wooden table. "Ow!"
"Welcome to New Orleans, Helen Keller," he quipped.
She scolded him. "Not funny. You could've mentioned where the table was instead of letting me find out myself."
"Yeah, well," he shrugged, "more entertaining this way."
"I'm so glad that my pain brings you-" she sneered, before stopping abruptly.
He noticed her hesitation. "What?"
Cameron fumbled around the wall until her hand landed on a cool piece of metal. "There's a door here."
"That leads where? The shark tank?"
"You think it does?" she asked, now too nervous to open it to find what was behind it.
House rolled his eyes and growled in frustration when he remembered she couldn't see it. "C'mon now...think about this. There's a half-inch space under the door. It's not water-lock tight. It's probably Joe's timeshare."
"Who?" she asked.
"Our janitor," he replied in a "you should know" tone of voice. "The one that wears his pants backwards."
"What?!"
"It's true. He's on odd one. Not to mention he's got six toes on his right foot."
"He does not!"
"Evidently you're not as close as you think you two are."
"We're not close. I know his first name and that he works as a janitor. I'd get to know people better," she said, absentmindedly opening the door, "if my boss didn't overwork me so much and gave me time off to actually have a social life!"
Before them was another blackened room.
"Then consider it a favor I did you, especially if the only person on your conversing list is Six-Toe Joe," he grinned, walking past her.
She huffed and followed slowly behind him. Luckily for them there was a window in this room, giving off very little light, but still enough to help them make out larger obstacles in their way.
House felt around the back side of the counter in front of him. "Huh."
"What?" Cameron asked curiously.
"What luck. Tell me Cam, can you see me now?" he grinned as he blinded her with a large ray of light. He delighted in his action upon hearing her squeal and turn her head away.
"Ow! I see you found a flashlight," she said dryly, raising her hands to block the light from her eyes.
He turned the light and focused it around the area he found the lamp in his hand. Behind the counter were shelves stacked full of knickknacks and odds and ends, all animal related. Finding another flashlight, he shined it on the one in his hand, confirming it was also in the shape of a zoo animal.
"Here," he said, tossing it to Cameron.
She caught it, just barely, and ran her fingers over it, looking for the on/off switch. Finding it, she flipped it on and also began to shine it around the room, discovering what else there was.
Many of the shelves had figurines of animals, souvenir cups, hats, stuffed animals, t-shirts and disposable cameras; personalized with animals on them. There was film, sweatshirts, guidebooks, postcards, jewelry, candy, one of those presses that turns pennies into elongated tokens to remind you of where you've been and last, but not least, a candy wall. Definitely not your healthiest choice, but if you haven't eaten for a while, unhealthy is better than nothing.
"Cameron, give me your backpack," he ordered.
"What? No!" she insisted, subconsciously clinging to the backpack she'd forgotten that she'd had on her back for security. "Get your own!"
"I have my own. It's in Mississippi along with my hot rod. Now throw me the bag," he insisted, reaching out his arm to take it.
"No, use a different one!"
"Where am I going to find another one?" he growled exhaustively.
She walked over to one of the shelves and pulled one from the bunch, tossing it to him.
When he caught it, he swore it was a stuffed animal, not a bag. Upon further inspection, he was appalled to see that not only was it both of those things, but it was, House gulped, cute.
"Oh, no!" He protested. "Too sissified. Throw me yours and you can have this one."
"Not a chance. It's either the cute little backpack or nothing," she smirked.
He had to hand it to her, she was good.
"But...Mo-om! It's a girl backpack!" he whined.
She shrugged. "Than look around for something else."
"Fine," he grumbled, opening the bear's side and making his way towards the candy rack.
"What are you doing?" Cameron asked, watching House grab handfuls of cavity-causing rocks of sugar and stuffing them into the bag.
"Stuffing the turkey," he replied sarcastically.
"It's a bear," she corrected him.
"Whatever," he said, trying to zip his side back up, pushing all the contents around to work with the zipper.
"I'll ask again; what are you doing?"
"I'm getting him ready for hibernation," he quipped. At the roll of her eyes, he continued, becoming serious. "We have no food. If there's a fridge somewhere in this place, the food in it's going to be in the same condition here than it was at Stacy's place. No food edible in there. Although, if we're ever in the need of penicillin, we're overstocked."
"So, we're going to live off of gummy bears and animal crackers for the rest of the week?"
"Unless you know a five-star restaurant that's still open, yeah," he said, stuffing another one he'd grabbed from the shelf.
She nodded, understanding that they would have to deal with the cards they'd been dealt.
"Okay," said House, slinging the animal backpacks over his shoulder, "you ready?"
Cameron was trying so hard not to laugh at the sight before her. Not trusting herself enough to say anything, she nodded and followed him out the door.
"We need to find a bathroom," she informed him.
"Can't hold it, huh?" he teased.
"Not for too much longer," she confessed, blushing at the embarrassment that washed over her.
"What's the map say?" he asked.
She pulled the brochure from her pocket and looked at it closely.
According to this, it should be..."
"Straight ahead and to the right?" House answered.
Cameron looked at him in disbelief. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"I didn't. But I can read," he said pointing to an arrowed directional sign suspended from the ceiling in front of them.
She smacked him playfully in the chest and ran up ahead, proving just how bad she really had to go. A few minutes later, she emerged, feeling like a new person as House hurriedly pushed past her to also relieve himself.
After House had emerged, they decided to continue looking around the building. Down the hall and a little to the right, they found themselves on the opposite side of the glass door that kept them from their safe haven not long ago. Cameron walked up to them, staring in awe as the rain continued to slam down onto the earth in sharp sheets and everything that wasn't bolted down to the ground was being blown away. She watched as the world before her began to deteriorate.
"Hey, don't stand so close to those doors! What are you tryin' to do, get yourself killed?" he snapped.
Cameron spun around, expecting House to have an irritated and snarky look on his face. However, his attempt at casual sarcasm died when he couldn't bring himself to be angry. The only feeling he had coursing through him was the feeling of sympathy and hopelessness. She nodded and with her head hanging low, she backed away from the glass panes and lightly stepped over to House's side.
"I wonder if the elevator still works," he quipped, hoping to brighten her up a bit.
She snorted. "Not with our luck."
"True," he sighed. "I suppose I'm going to have to endure blinding pain up those stairs. I hope you're happy."
She knew he was only joking, but when they thought of the reality of the situation they faced, she looked up at him sadly. "Seeing you in pain never makes me happy, House."
Seeing that his mood-lightening plan had been foiled, he nodded and limped over to the bottom stair of the staircase. Hooking his cane at his right elbow, he grabbed the railing to his right and waited.
Cameron nudged her shoulder underneath his left hand and they slowly, carefully and, for House, painfully made their way to the second floor landing.
A quick walk around the higher floor turned out to be most disappointing and also pretty depressing.
There were several displays lining the walls, most of which once held some form of aquatic life. The stingrays that once swam around in a small open tank in front of an wall lined with information about them, now floated lifelessly on the top of the water.
As they kept walking, they came upon a stage used for a sea otter show that had once been put on several times a day. Cameron frowned at the lack of sea otters, hoping they were able to find a safe refuge.
The same went for the rest of the exhibits that lined the walls. There were also missing penguins and the unfortunate floatings of some drowned frogs and seahorses. While everything looked to be unhelpful, a few steps later they discovered the Food Court.
"Finally!" House remarked, limping double-time behind the counter.
Pushing the sad thoughts of all the animals aside, Cameron approached the counter and sat on a bar stool in front of it, watching him rummaging behind it. "Find anything?"
"Nothing edible," he replied, swinging cabinets open and pulling drawers. He hesitantly opened a mini-fridge under the counter and shined his flashlight around in it. Fortunately, it was filled with non-perishable beverages like bottled spring water and Gatorade.
"BINGO!" he exclaimed, leaning down to grab them from the lukewarm cooler.
"You found a dog in there?" she joked lightly, hoping there wasn't REALLY a dog in there, knowing it wouldn't be a live one.
"Nope, no Chinese food in here. Here's some electrolytes in a bottle, though," he said, tossing the bottle to Cameron.
Catching the drink, she quickly opened it, took a sip just large enough to hydrate her palate, and closed it again, putting it in her backpack. "Here," House said, noticing her sharp survival instincts in play, he threw her a couple more. "You can down one while we're here. There's plenty."
She caught them, slightly squealing in surprise at them falling from the air, straight towards her. Once she held them in her hands, she looked to him in appreciation, which he seemed to convey back as well. For a few moments, they held each other's eyes in a powerful, emotional gaze. It was more than just a look of thanks and the other knew that too.
Finally, when it became too much to handle, Cameron shouldered off her backpack once more and placed the unopened drinks safely inside for later.
House searched the rest of the bar, grabbing a few found snack bars and condiment packets, and walked out from behind the counter to share in his discovery.
Cameron looked down into the palm of his hand at what he was able to scrounge up. She rose her eyebrow at the sight. "I think we could live a few more days on the barbecue, ketchup, mustard and honey sauces, but salt and pepper?"
He shrugged. "For seasoning."
She arched her brow higher. "Seasoning?"
He nodded. "Right. For seasoning our seasonings."
She nodded, smiling at his reasoning, throwing her arms up in the air. "Well, now it all makes sense!"
He grinned when he realized how stupid the conversation had turned. "Of course! We can't eat normal, bland seasonings. That's so lame."
"I like lame," she grinned.
After a momentary pause, in which he heard Wilson mention the same words, he smirked. "Good, cuz that's all we've got to choose from."
Cameron laughed and shook her head. House soaked in the feeling of the moment. He made her laugh and it was a great feeling to be able to make his duckling happy. He only wished he could do it more often and not seem like he was going soft. Then no one would listen to him and he'd loose not only his respect but his reputation too! He couldn't have that.
"So," he said, grabbing her attention, "let's see if we can find ourselves a spot to have a nice 'Caffeine and Sugar' picnic".
Cameron's breath hitched in her throat as she felt House's warm, strong hand slide down her back to rest over the small of her back. Physical contact. He wasn't very big on PDA, but if there was no public involved, then there seemed to be no problem. In fact, it seemed he was a different person away from work. He was more...tolerable and, almost unbelievably, less sarcastic. Lowering her head, she smiled and starting walking off in the direction he pushed towards.
Down the hall, they came upon a special exhibit called "The Amazon Rain forest". Curious, they pulled out their flashlights and walked through the door.
Inside was a beautiful two-story atrium, covered in tropical trees, rock formations, and structures made from tree branches.
"C'mon," House motioned, walking along the slanted wheel-chair accessible concrete pathway that wound down into the wooded area.
"House," Cameron called nervously, "I don't know...there's a lot of glass in here."
He looked up at the glass-paned ceiling. "Yeah, I know. It'll hold," he reassured her as he kept walking.
Cameron hesitantly stepped away from the door, shining her flashlight all around to get a better grasp of her surroundings. After noticing House's almost complete absence, she ran down the path to catch up to him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"House?" she called, shining her light around, looking for any sign of movement. "House, where are you?"
When her calls were met with silence, she began to panic. She was lost in a jungle surrounded by a glass dome in the middle of a hurricane. Boy, she thought, when it rains, it DOES pour! Hearing a faint rustling behind her, she whipped around to see moving plant leaves, but nothing else.
"Greg?" she squeaked, quietly.
The plant's movements stopped short and fear began to overwhelm Cameron. Slowly, she stepped forward and kneeled down. Shining her light at the fern and reaching out her other hand, she began to move the fern's branch out of the way when she was met by two blood-red eyes.
Cameron shrieked loudly and fell backwards onto her butt, frantically scrambling to get away when she felt something grasp onto her arm. She screamed at the contact and dropped her flashlight, wanting desperately to get away, but whatever had a hold of her was strong and unrelenting. Searching for her light source, she fumbled around in the dark around the ray of light that was beaming into the distance. Finding it, she grabbed ahold of it and shined it on her shoulder. The heavy source of weight was a human hand with four large fingers draping over the front of her shirt. Still terrified, she shined it behind her in the direction of the hand's origin.
"Agh!" the man growled, releasing the grip on her. Taking this opportunity, Cameron scrambled a little ways back up the pathway, far enough to make an escape if she had to, but still close enough to face her attacker.
"Get that light outta my face!" he grumbled, his hands blocking his eyes.
Finding comfort in the words as they left his mouth, Cameron ran straight for him, almost tackling him at the waist and clung onto him as if her life depended on it. "Jeez, House! What are you trying to do, put me in cardiac arrest?"
"What's got you in a frenzy? See a monster? Or a ghost? Or Chase?" he smirked at his own joke.
Cameron ignored his last comment. "There were evil eyes! They were red and glowing and it was horrible!"
Raising his eyebrow, he ran his flashlight around them. "Oh, Cuddy's here?"
She fought hard not to laugh at his surprised and amused tone. Not finding her reason for being so frightened as hilarious as he seemed to, she punched him in the shoulder, without looking up or moving to do so. She wanted to get him back, but not at the expense of leaving the safe haven that was the manly, musk-scented area between his neck and shoulder.
"Ah!" he complained as he retracted his arm in slight pain. "Okay, okay. Where is it?"
She turned her head to the side, long enough to see where to point.
"Over there," she said, pointing to the dreaded fern.
"Ok, c'mon, let's go check it out," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her after him.
"No!" she insisted, pulling back.
He sighed. "Fine, you big baby."
Walking towards the fern, he used his cane to push the palm away and revealed the beady, bloody-red eyes that scared Cameron so much and stared at it in disbelief. "Oh, no!"
Cameron's eyes grew wide. "What? What is it?"
"It's...It's..." he stammered.
"What?" Cameron practically screamed.
"It's grotesquely cute," he glowered, staring at the ground.
Her jaw dropped and her eyebrows furrowed, looking first at House, then at the fern, then back at House again. "What?"
"I can't believe you were scared of THAT!"
Unable to fathom what could have evil eyes, and still be labeled 'cute', by House no less, she walked closer to House, still keeping her distance from the plant. Peering closer, her eyes laid upon her terrorist. Suddenly, uncontrollable laughter began to well up inside of her until she couldn't contain it any longer. She laughed so hard, her stomach muscles were starting to feel the burn.
"And...you've finally lost it," he quipped, shaking his head in disbelief.
Cameron folded her arms in front of her, bent over in hysterics. "It's a...a...a-" she stammered between laughs.
"It's a frog, Cameron. Technically, it's a Red-Eyed Tree Frog. Say it with me; Fur-awe-guh!" he sounded out, as if teaching a child the word.
With her laughter finally calming to a stifled giggled, she looked back down at the creature and back up at House, biting her lower lip. "He is pretty cute," she admitted.
House rolled his eyes and turned around, starting to walk away. "First he's terrifying, now he's adorable," he mumbled.
She ran to catch up with him. When she joined his pace and settled next to him, she smiled and looked up at him in a shy-like manner. "You were too, you know."
He looked sideways at her using his peripheral vision, but kept a straight face. "Come again?"
"You used to be terrifying. But now, you're no longer scary and I would say you're-"
"Don't you dare use the word adorable to describe me," he warned.
She grinned wider. "Why?"
"Because Gregory House is NOT adorable! Abrasive? Totally. Brilliant? Absolutely. Sexy? Devilishly. Mischevious? I have my moments. Sarcastic?"
"Understatement of the year," Cameron finished for him.
He looked over at her and the corner of his mouth lifted a bit. "See? Now, you're catching on."
As they walked a little further, they came to a clearing with a man-made waterfall. Though the power had gone out, leaving the waterfall's motor nonfunctional, one of the panes of the glass ceiling had busted out, letting the natural rain water fall in, simulating an actual Amazonian Rainstorm.
Next to it was a structured hut with a bench underneath, perfect for a break from standing or walking.
House propped his cane against the wall and sat down, fishing in his bear backpack for something he felt like eating. Cameron sat her bag on the bench, pulled out her drink, and hoisted it back upon her shoulders. Finding a couple of Twinkies, House pulled them out of their wrappers and began to scarf them down, chasing them down with water. He brought the bottle from his lips and gazed over at Cameron who was a few feet ahead, taking in the atmosphere.
"What absolute beauty," she breathed, trailing the plant life with her light.
"Yeah," House agreed, not referring to the vegetation, but rather to his companion. If Cameron heard or understood him, she didn't show it as she continued to gaze around.
A large gust of wind hit the glass dome, rattling the window panes and shaking everything in it. A large metal sign that was suspended from the ceiling swung two and fro. As another gust of wind hit it, one of it's cable's snapped, causing Cameron and House to look towards the sky. Shining their lights, they were unable to make out what was going on, since their flashlight beams didn't go much further than twenty feet. Spinning around from the wind, the remaining cable tightened as it twisted, growing weaker by the second. Finally, it could hold no longer and fell straight for the ground.
"Lookout!" Cameron cried, pushing House out from under the shelter and out of the sign's path. House fell to the ground as the metal sign crunched upon contact with the concrete pathway, separating the two.
"Cameron?" House called out, but was drowned out by the aftermath of the shattered sign settling. "Allison!"
Okay, so, that was a longer chappy because I know it's been awhile since I updated. Ah, but I've gotten a new gust of creative wind, so please tell me what you think! Like it? Review, please! It fuels my creative wind gust.
Danielle Lynne