"Are you sure you want to go into work today? You could always call in sick and watch DVDs with me all day?" Hayley watched as her sister shook her hair loose from its ponytail. Cameron grabbed a brush and pulled it briskly through her hair.
"I'm going to work. And you should be working on that assignment. Just 'cos you have an in-service day doesn't mean that you just get to mess around." Hayley rolled her eyes.
"As if I would. The DVDs are research. Kind of."
"Kind of?" Cameron raised an eyebrow, dragging the brush through her hair again; trying to get rid of the kinks that were refusing to be flattened.
"Don't change the subject. I'm just saying; if you don't want to go to work today you don't have to." Cameron deftly spun her hair around her fingers, and secured it into a topknot with a hair band.
"It's my job. And House is my boss. If I don't turn up on his first day back at work, what's that gonna say about me?" Cameron stepped into her work shoes, and looked at herself in the mirror. Since House had been gone, she, Foreman and Chase had considerably relaxed their usual working standards; she wondered if they – like her – were standing in front of the mirror scrutinising their attire to see how long it would take House to pick it all apart. She wrinkled her nose; Foreman probably just threw on whatever he wanted and Chase…well Chase was probably more fussed about his hair.
"You look fine. Tiny bit uptight but if that's the look you were going for…" Hayley commented, noticing her sister's careful examination of her cream blouse and dark brown pants suit.
"Hayley…" Cameron said with a warning tone in her voice.
"All I'm saying is that maybe it wouldn't do any harm to maybe wear a skirt. Or maybe a different shade of lipstick. That's all."
"I spent three hours last night deciding what to wear and you tell me now, five seconds before I have to leave, that I should wear something else?" Cameron sounded stern but there was a playful glint in her eye.
"That's what sisters are for."
Cameron arrived at the hospital at 8.26. She walked into the conference room at precisely 8.31 and sat for thirteen minutes wondering what she should do. Before she and House had broken up their routine had been almost exactly the same as it had been when they weren't an item; except that most days they would arrive together rather than separately. She would make the coffee while he tried to think of excuses not to do his clinic duty. She would sort his mail while he tested the excuses out on her, and then they would sit on his couch and sift through the cases she wanted him to work on while they waited for Foreman and Chase to arrive.
Now, she didn't know what she was supposed to do. Would he still expect her to answer his mail? She hadn't since their break-up. The same went for coffee; she had deliberately made a pot of decaf – knowing he couldn't stand it. The fact that Foreman and Chase preferred caffeinated was beside the point. If her making decaf meant that House didn't get coffee then it was worth irritating Chase and Foreman.
Cameron sighed. Was she really that childish? She drummed her fingernails on the conference table for a moment, and then got to her feet. Coffee wouldn't hurt anyone – and if she knew House like she thought he did, it was likely that he was going to be in a foul mood when he got in. There was no sense in making it any worse by not having coffee ready.
She was just pouring coffee into her mug when she heard the familiar thump of House's cane. She tensed slightly, but continued pouring as she listened to the change in the sound; from the cane hitting the polished floor in the corridor, to the cane hitting the carpet of the conference room. She turned around slowly, coffee pot in one hand and half-filled mug in the other.
House looked…well, if she was honest with herself he looked hot. He'd been working out; that much was obvious. He was wearing a dark-blue button down shirt loose over a white t-shirt, and his muscles were outlined through it. Even though he didn't look happy to be leaning on his cane, he was still the same House.
"Hi." Cameron said quietly.
"Hey." He replied. He had hoped she wouldn't be in so early, but of course; this was Cameron. He moved to go into his office; she realised he had a pile of mail in his free hand.
"Coffee?" she said, stopping him in his tracks.
"Coffee would be good." He answered, nodding when Cameron asked if he wanted her to bring it through.
"That'd be good."
"Good." Cameron agreed. House walked into his office, berating himself for his unexplainable lack of vocabulary, and Cameron turned back to the counter, reaching for House's red mug.
Once inside his office House hooked his cane on the edge of the desk and stood for a moment, surveying the room he hadn't seen for more than three weeks. It looked much the same. Cameron, Chase and Foreman must have spent their time in the conference room. There was, however, a pile of case files almost twelve inches high in the centre of his desk. He picked the top one off the pile, and settled down into his chair to read.
Cameron knocked on the door. House was engrossed in the file, or maybe he was just pretending, but either way he didn't notice her standing with his red mug in her hand.
"Hey." He said. "You've been busy." House waved the file slightly when Cameron looked confused.
"Yeah, I guess we have. Coffee." She set the mug down on the desk in front of him.
"Thanks." Cameron glanced at the pile of mail which House had left stacked on his desk.
"You want me to take care of these?" she asked, and House nodded.
"That would be good, thanks." Cameron nodded and moved towards the door, stopping suddenly in the doorway.
"House?" she said, with a question in her voice.
"Yeah?" House took a sip of his coffee, trying to focus on Cameron's face rather than the way her outfit clung to every curve.
"Welcome back."
"I'm home!" Cameron called, setting her laptop bag down next to the door and toeing off her shoes at the same time.
"We're in the kitchen." Hayley called back. 'We?' Cameron thought, wondering who 'we' might be. She made her way into the living room; one of Hayley's CDs was playing on the stereo and there was an empty pizza box on the coffee table, accompanied by a stack of DVDs. A quick glance at the dial on the stereo revealed that it was almost ten to nine. Cameron knew she had stayed late at the hospital but she hadn't thought it was that late.
"Poptart?" Hayley asked, appearing around the corner with a plate in either hand.
"Sorry I'm so late." Cameron said, taking the plate that Hayley offered her. Hayley shrugged.
"I have some friends over, that's ok, right?" Hayley nodded her head towards the kitchen. Cameron leaned forward and glanced into the kitchen where a tall dark-haired guy was elbow-deep in the sink, and a diminutive brunette was handing him dishes to wash. A second girl, who Cameron recognised, was drying the clean plates and stacking them. From the various open cupboard doors Cameron figured Hayley had been responsible for putting away.
"Yeah, of course it's ok. You had a good day?"
"Yup. How was House?" Hayley asked through a mouthful of Poptart. Cameron rolled her eyes.
"I'm gonna go have a quick shower first. Coffee?" Hayley nodded, and rejoined her friends in the kitchen.
"So…his first day back…?" Hayley asked. She and Cameron were both wearing their pyjamas, and were sitting on the sofa listening to music. Hayley's friends had left a short time after Cameron arrived home.
"It was ok. We didn't have a proper patient, so we divided time between the clinic and filling House in on the cases we've worked on."
"How is he?" Hayley asked, sipping from the coffee mug she was holding in both hands.
"He's still using the cane, but I think it's a new one. He seemed a bit…I don't know. He was kind of quiet all day; he was polite, I guess…and fairly interested in the cases we've had." Cameron replied.
"That's all?" Hayley asked, and Cameron's cheeks reddened. "What? What did you do?"
"Nothing!" Cameron laughed. "It's just…he just…is it completely wrong to say he looked hot?"
"Allison Cameron!" Hayley feigned shock, but both sisters were laughing.
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