Ch 38

"I'm not," Stacy defended quickly.

Wilson cocked his eyebrow slightly. "Are you sure about that?"

"James..." Stacy started.

"Because it certainly seems like you're trying to."

Stacy sighed. "But I'm not."

Wilson nodded slowly. "Stace, you have to understand something. You moved on. You got married. You have to let him move on as well."

Stacy looked at Wilson closely. "I don't know what's going on in that head of yours Jimmy, but I don't know what you're talking about," she said snippily.

Wilson sighed tiredly. "Yes you do Stacy. Greg is indifferent to you right now. You can't keep doing what you're doing..."

"What are you..."

"Greg being indifferent to you is the only thing that's going to keep him on to treat Mark. You've seen it Stacy, by attacking Allison Cameron you will only take him from indifference to blind rage-filled hatred. Do you really want to risk that?" He calmly reasoned while placing his hand gently on hers.

She looked down at Wilson's hand, lying in what she was sure was supposed to be a reassuring manner, but it only felt stifling. She yanked her hand out from under his violently. "Allison Cameron is the last thing on my mind. My husband is sick." and I might be pregnant she added silently.

Wilson nodded. "And Mark needs you right now, so quit attacking his doctors."

"She was baiting me this morning," Stacy snapped.

Wilson shook his head rolling his eyes. "By doing what? Changing her shirt because her niece spit up on it? Stace that's not baiting you, that's good hygiene."

"She threw her relationship with Greg in my face," Stacy snapped.

"She doesn't have a relationship with House to throw in your face," Wilson said pointedly. "At least not a romantic relationship."

Stacy shook her head." That's not what it looks like to me."
"And what does it look like to you?" Wilson asked.

"It looks like they're living together."

Wilson sighed. "That's just temporary."

"He's taking care of that baby..."

"That I won't try to defend. He cares about that little girl."

"House has never shown one iota of attention to babies. And don't tell me he doesn't care about Dr. Cameron."

"I never said he didn't care about Allison. I said they weren't romantically involved. He cares about her. He trusts her," Wilson sighed. "See, this is what I was talking about. You can't sit here and be possessive over Greg. You did what you did and that's all there is to it. You have a husband who is already paranoid enough about why you came to Princeton. Do you even love Mark?"

Stacy's eyes flashed angrily. "Of course I love my husband. How can you ask me that?"

"Because it seems to me and everyone else that since you've come here you've cared more about what's going on with Greg and Allison than what's going on with your husband."

Stacy glared. "That was out of line."

"Yeah well..."

"And just because I care about what happens to Greg, I'm what, evil?"

Wilson rubbed his temples feeling a migraine coming on. "I never said you were evil, Stacy. What I'm saying is back off of Allison Cameron. Stop demanding her removal from Mark's case. Stop screaming at her in the hallway."

"Why should I even listen..." she started.

"Because if you don't, House will stop treating Mark. And because the only thing you're doing is making yourself look like an idiot," Wilson snapped interrupting her. He then stood up and left the cafeteria leaving behind a shell-shocked Stacy.

xxxxxx

"The tests are inconclusive," Foreman informed House as he briskly entered the conference room.

"Okay," House said uninterested from where he stood, while his eyes were glued intently to Mark's symptoms on the whiteboard.

Foreman glared at him. "Okay? That's it?" he asked. "That's all you're going to say? I just spent hours running these tests and all you have to say is ok?"

House shrugged. "What do you want, a gold star?" he snarked, not taking his eyes away from his boldly written notes.

Foreman silently shook his head and smirked. He ambled over to the coffee pot and poured himself a hot, steaming cup. This case was tiring, but he wasn't going to let House get to him. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice House reaching for the phone behind him.

House's lean fingers punched in Chase's page first, and then reluctantly, Cameron's to call them to the conference room. But instead of waiting for them, he slipped back into his office wanting a brief solitude to ponder Mark's increasingly complex puzzle.

Turning, Foreman was relieved by House's brooding absence and sat down to enjoy his coffee in peace. No more than ten minutes later, Chase showed up. Foreman looked at him curiously. "I thought House said you could go home."

Chase glared at House's office. "He did. And then, I had the unfortunate luck of pissing him off, so he changed his mind." Chase said leaving out how he pissed House off in the first place. Then he pointed at the name tag on his lab coat that still said Dr. Cameron.

"Plus, he changed my name," Chase added before plopping himself down in a chair and pulling out a crossword puzzle he'd left unfinished.

"Well, you do have great hair, " Cameron quipped, her voice coming from behind them.

Looking downward, Chase merely nodded. "Yeah," he said absentmindedly while chewing on his pencil's eraser. "Hey…What's five letters for sometimes presents with butterfly-shaped rashes on nose and cheek?"

Foreman turned around and saw Cameron leaning against the glass door frame smiling lightly. He watched her eyes flit nervously back towards House's office and then back to them. His eyes follow hers back to House's office and instantly knows something is up. The events of the night before had him worried for her; but he didn't know if Chase knew what happened so he merely said, "Hey, Cameron."

Cameron smiled politely but silently before taking House's name tag off and throwing it on the table. She started to speak but was stopped by Chase.

"Is someone going to tell me what's five letters for sometimes presents with butterfly-shaped rashes on the nose and cheek, or not?"
Cameron rolled her eyes. "It's lupus. What did Mark's tests show?"

"That we still know nothing," House said from his office door, his eyes locked on Cameron.

"Fantastic." Cameron said sarcastically, her mind flitting back to earlier in the day. House moved towards the white board passing Cameron on his way and she immediately moved out of his reach. Her mind was trying to rationalize his behavior towards her earlier in a way that didn't get her hopes up.

House smirked inwardly when she moved away from him. He could tell she was trying to avoid him as long as they weren't alone and he was inclined to oblige. And he would have obliged if riling her up wasn't so much fun. And her discomfort wasn't enough to make him stop following her with his eyes everywhere she moved.

"Hey, I get to do the sarcasm around here," House snapped playfully and winked at Cameron.

"Forgive me," Cameron said with a hint of chill to her tone.

Foreman looked at Cameron confused by her sarcasm and her icy words directed at House. Then he looked at House, and if the slight frown that had formed on his face was any proof, so was he. "He also coded again while I was there," Foreman said, hoping to get back on track in discussing Warner's case.

"See Cameron, you're not the only one who makes his heart stop," House snapped icily then thought…If she was going to be cold, so be it. Two can play at this. He rolled his eyes, his mind working on…Sure, Mark…there's nothing wrong with you…figures…Stacy's right.

Aloud with a tinge of sharpness still left, House said, "Okay…Chase go home. I'm tired of looking at you. Same goes for you Foreman. Then he looked at Cameron who was frowning slightly and that was enough to thaw the ice from his words. "Cameron you're much too pretty to get tired of looking at but you have a baby, so go home,"

Foreman rolled his eyes. "Someone should stay with Mark in case he crashes again or something changes."

House sighed and nodded. "You're right. I'll stay. Foreman and Chase rest up and be prepared to drive to Short Hills tomorrow. We're…and when I say we're," he says gesturing between the four of them. "I really mean…you're," he pointed to Chase and Foreman, "searching the patient's home."

"Short Hills is three hours away," Chase whined, feeling the fatigue he'd been under doing a double shift.

"Take a map, I'd hate for you to get lost," House said flinging the two an irritated look.

Foreman nodded and quickly grabbing his things before House could change his mind. Chase, however, looked at House strangely. "You're going to stay with a patient?" he asked confused.

"Yeah. Why?" House snapped. "You want to say? I figured you'd be ready to get out of here since you've been picking up all those extra shifts in the NICU to avoid me and living in the clinic. But if you want to stay..."

"No. No, I'll go. Goodnight Allison," Chase said grabbing his things and leaving.

Cameron sighed. "Do you have to take such pleasure in making him miserable?"

House nodded. "Yes."

Cameron looked at House for a long moment waiting for him to say something else. When he didn't, she sighed sadly and grabbed her things and headed to the daycare center.

House sighed. Finally, he was alone. He knew she had wanted to talk about what had almost happened but he hadn't meant for things to go down the way they had between the two of them. Their almost kiss... kisses... were hanging over him like a dark cloud. He didn't know what he had been thinking. It had just occurred to him that he had to go home with her when Foreman had come in with Mark's test results. He was glad that Foreman had given him a reason to be away from the apartment that night. He needed some time to process the day and clear his head and he suspected Cameron would as well.

xxxxxx

Cameron sighed softly as she stopped by the hospital daycare to pick up Madelyn. She knew how weird it was going to be alone in his apartment all night. She considered going to a hotel for the night but decided that she was being ridiculous. Plus, if House ever found out that she had done it, he never would have let her live it down. If House had minded her being alone there, she knew that he would have made Foreman or Chase stay with Mark instead.

She knew that House's decision to stay was based solely on their almost kisses. She could have physically killed Chase for the interruption, although she suspected it was for the best. If they had actually kissed, who knows what would have happened. How would they have handled it if Chase had walked in while they were kissing instead?

She watched Madelyn play with one of her bear's feet in the rearview mirror while she waited for the light to change colors. Madelyn was the only true bright spot in the mess that was the last month. Cameron pulled her car into a parking space in front of House's building and took Madelyn out of her car seat. Once she was in the apartment, she set her down in her play pen and started rummaging for food.

xxxxxx

Cuddy walked in from her meeting with a hospital donor to find Wilson sitting in her office. "Please tell me you're not here to tell me more bad news." she said surprised to see him.

Wilson smiled reassuringly. "I don't think so, but I could go scrounge the hospital. I'm sure I could come up with something."

Cuddy smiled. "Please don't."

Wilson nodded. "Okay I won't. But I think I might have solved your Stacy versus Allison problem."

Cuddy smiled appreciatively. "Really?"

Wilson nodded. "I think Stacy finally understands that attacking Cameron is just going to piss House off. And that if she doesn't stop pissing House off there's a very real chance that he'll refuse to continue treating Mark."

Cuddy nodded. "You really think telling her that will help?"

"Or it will make everything worse, but I really do think she'll stop now."

xxxxxx

House sat at the table in the conference room staring at the white board angrily. He still had no clue whatsoever what was wrong with Mark Warner; and, it was driving him crazy. But at the same time, he was glad to have the puzzle so that he didn't have to think about the fact that he could have lost Cameron the night before. He sighed angrily and forced himself to think about the task at hand---curing Mark Warner. He wanted Stacy gone, and she wouldn't leave until he had restored her precious husband's health. He looked over from the board and towards the door when he heard it open. He groaned loudly. "I'm really not in the mood for you."

Stacy nodded. "I figured as much."

"What do you want?"

"I want to apologize."

"For what?" House asked. "I mean, there are so many things you should be apologizing for."

"The way I spoke to Dr. Cameron today."

"Today? What about the way you spoke to her last night? Berating her like a four-year old after she had just been assaulted and nearly killed."

"I was out of line. I know that," Stacy said shamefully.

House nodded. "Damn right you were. And it needs to stop. I don't feel like listening to the two of you snipe at each other any longer. She didn't do a thing to deserve it."

"And I did?" Stacy snapped angrily

House glared at her.

Stacy sat silently at the table across from him. She looked at the board he was staring at so that he didn't have to look at her. "She's the one you're living with?" she asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

"Yes," House said still refusing to look at her.

"You lied to me earlier. You said the woman you were living with was blonde and that you were in love with her."

House finally looked at her. "Who said I didn't love Allison?" House asked pointedly.

Stacy's eyes widened. "You're in love with Dr. Cameron?"

House shook his head. "No. I was just pointing out that no one said I didn't," he said looking back at the board.

Stacy rolled her eyes. "You're insufferable."

"And you're a pain in my ass," House stated. "Look Stacy, does it make a difference whether or not I'm in love with her. It doesn't change a thing. You're still married and even if you weren't…I still don't love you."

Stacy sighed softly and sadly, got up and walked to the door. She stopped and turned around when she got there. "One of these days Greg, you're going to have to forgive me for saving your life and not your leg."

House turned around and looked at her and then turned back to the board. "Don't hold your breath."

xxxxxx

Cameron had just got settled on the couch and ready for bed when the phone rang. She reached over and picked it up. "Hello," she said through a yawn.

"Hey." A familiar deep voice rumbled.

"Hey." Cameron replied.

"So…I wanted to make sure that you and Mads got in and she got to bed fine," House said.

"We're fine. I was just about to go to bed actually."
House sighed. "You wimp, it's only nine thirty."

"I'm tired," Cameron defended.

House smiled. "Ok then I'll let you get to sleep."

"Thank you," Cameron said. House sighed and was silent for a long minute causing Cameron to say, "House?"

"I could have lost you last night. Your head hit that table pretty hard. You could have died."

Cameron sighed sadly. "But I didn't. I'm fine." she said reassuringly. "I could have lost you just as easily."

House nodded. He knew he had to get off the phone before one of them said something they'd regret. He had just needed to hear her voice and know she was okay before he could have even entertained the idea of sleeping that night. "I just wanted to say goodnight." he said ending their conversation.

Cameron nodded. "Goodnight Greg."

"Goodnight Allison." House said softly before hanging up.

Cameron placed the phone back on the charger and laid back down on the couch. Not even two seconds after she laid back down, she found herself getting up and crawling into House's bed. She stretched across his bed and smiled as sleep overtook her.