Part 6
The move back to Princeton hadn't been without its challenges but they'd made it work, an agreement had been made between her and Matthew on which weekends he would have Oliver and when she would fly to Chicago with him and when he would fly to Princeton. It wasn't ideal but it was the best they could do with the situation.
She'd found a townhouse close to the hospital which had a backyard for Oliver as he grew up. Chase had helped her move in when she'd arrived, luckily Matthew had taken Oliver that weekend so that she could set up the house properly for him. There was some decorating that she planned to do over the next few months but the house was definitely liveable for now, even if Oliver's room was painted a very ugly orange color at present.
Starting work had been another challenge, one she hadn't necessarily expected. Getting used to the hospital again had been more difficult than she'd anticipated as so many of the senior doctors from when she had been there as a fellow had now left or retired and now it was her generation that was taking over. She wondered what House, Cuddy and Wilson would think about the three of them taking some of their positions in the hospital, she hoped they would be proud of them but she couldn't be sure. Foreman and Chase seemed to have already developed a rhythm of working together by the time Cameron started working there, it was different to how Cuddy and House worked together but that was probably a good thing, more effective anyway.
Having previously been a senior attending in the emergency department at Princeton Plainsboro she was at least comforted by the fact that she knew so many of the nurses and other ER doctors, making the transition slightly easier. The cases were different to Chicago, less trauma and more medical cases that needed her diagnostic skills, but even after her extensive diagnostics experience, she'd still had to refer a couple of her patients to Chase's team. Something that he never let her forget. She hadn't had any run ins with Foreman yet, after years of working together he at least seemed to know that she was reasonable with her investigations and treatment, she wasn't one to cross a line without a very good reason which made that aspect of her job easy.
Being a single working mother had taken its toll on her, she hoped that it was just stress of moving that was making her so tired all the time but the longer it went on the more she realised that this was reality for her now. As the head of the emergency department, she was lucky that she didn't have many night shifts and she was able to organise them for when Oliver was with Matthew for a weekend. She'd found a good day care close to their home and committed to leaving work on time every day because no matter which patient she was treating, her son came first now. It was a stark difference to her attitude when she had worked here before, always putting the patients before her own needs.
Her friendship with Chase had again deepened as he'd helped her settle back into life in Princeton. He'd come over for dinner a few times and they often met for coffee at work, they'd even had a couple of dinners with Foreman, a nostalgic reminder of their days as fellows together. Of course, so much had changed since then, but there was something about being together in a group like that, it made them revert to being those fellows without the responsibility of being the heads of departments that they were now.
"Hey."
She turned around to see Chase approaching her in the emergency department.
"You know I wish my department was so quiet that I had time to just wander around the hospital during the day," she teased as she put the patient file in her hands on the desk for her to finish dealing with later.
"I'll have you know my fellows are hard at work diagnosing one of your former patients actually," he snarked back.
"The guy with the jaundice and ascites?" she asked, now becoming more interested in the conversations. "What are you thinking?"
"Cirrhosis but he's too young for that and doesn't have a heavy alcohol history," he commented. "Hepatitis or Wilson Disease seem most likely at this point."
"It'll be Wilson disease," she said confidently. "He didn't have a drug or sexual history indicating hepatitis."
"Are you forgetting House's motto?" he asked, letting himself grin at her. "Everybody lies, remember?"
"If you're so confident about hepatitis then put your money where your mouth is," she dared him, not thinking about the potential inappropriate nature of betting on their patient's diagnosis. These were the things that she'd missed about this hospital; the legacy that House had left behind that had influenced the entire hospital, the betting and pranking. She didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing, it was easy to forget that doctors and nurses were just human outside of saving lives every day and they needed normal human interaction to keep their sanity.
"How about if I win you buy the pizza while we're building your bookcase tonight and if you win then I'll buy it?" he suggested.
She nodded, still feeling confident about her chances.
"It's a deal."
She noticed Chase's smile after she'd answered him, it almost reminded her of the way he used to look at her when they were friends with benefits all those years ago, like she had a power over him.
"Look," she said, suddenly avoiding eye contact with him. "Even if you have fellows to do all of your work for you, I still have a lot to do right now so I'll see you later tonight?"
"I'll be there around 7pm," Chase said as he walked off.
It worried her that Chase might be feeling things for her again, she didn't want to jump to conclusions but she was getting a sense of déjà vu. She remembered him asking her for more and how it had ruined everything that they'd had for months, she didn't want that again, not when everything was even more complicated now.
She tried not to react to the thought of him potentially having feelings for her, it wasn't as though she would even be able to do anything about it if he did. She had only just ended her relationship with Matthew and she had a baby now, automatically making any feelings either of them might have infinitely more complicated. She liked having Chase in her life, he was a source of comfort and happiness for her and she didn't think she could have made the move back to Princeton without him. It wasn't until she'd moved back that she'd realised how lonely she had been in Chicago, apart from Matthew and her parents she hadn't had much interaction with adults since Oliver had been born. She felt more human when she was around him. And then there were the memories of that night, the one after House's funeral when he had held her so close in her arms, as though he was almost scared to let her go again, she couldn't help but release a smile at the thought of it.
She shook off any thoughts of Chase and their night together and she got back to work. She would deal with everything else later.
Cameron was sat on the floor with an instruction manual between her legs, the pictures not being much help in their endeavour to build her new bookcase. Chase was using a screwdriver to fasten what he thought was a shelf to the frame but she wasn't convinced it was in the right place. Oliver was sat in his swing, awake and watching the two of them while they worked.
She supposed that the bottle of wine they were sharing probably wasn't helping with the effectiveness of their building skills but it was definitely needed for both of them after a long day at work.
She heard a knock at her door and jumped up to answer it, knowing who it would be.
Matthew was on the other side of the door with a car seat in hand, ready to take Oliver for a weekend. It was the first time Matthew had come to Princeton to see his son and only the second time she had spent a weekend without her baby. It was hard; Oliver was such a huge part of her life now and it felt like a piece of her heart was leaving her when she saw Matthew walk away with him. But she knew that Matthew was a great dad and Oliver was in safe hands. She also knew that it must be hard on Matthew to only see Oliver on weekends and realised how lucky she was that she got to have Oliver as much as she did.
"Hey," she greeted him awkwardly from the doorway. Despite sharing a child together, their breakup hadn't actually been that difficult. They weren't at a stage where they could be friends but there wasn't a lot of animosity between them, they were both committed to raising Oliver so they would be cordial as much as they could be.
"Hi," Matthew replied with a tight smile. "Is he ready?"
"Yeah, he's awake," she said. "Do you want to come in and I'll just grab his bag from upstairs?"
She opened the door wide for him and he slowly entered the house, she saw that he was taken aback by the sight of Chase in her living room. As far as she knew Matthew didn't know what Chase looked like and wouldn't know that he was her ex-husband but the sight of a man in her house must have been surprising to him.
"He's just in his swing over there," she said as she pointed to where Oliver was. "This is Robert, he's helping me build this bookcase."
Matthew nodded but didn't say anything, instead choosing to pick up his son and interact with him whilst Cameron went upstairs to get Matthew's bag for the weekend.
As she walked down the staircase, she could vaguely hear the sound of male voices in her living room and when she got to the room, she immediately noticed the tension, Chase was stood next to the bookcase glaring at Matthew who was stood near the door with Oliver in his arms.
"Everything okay?" she asked nervously, placing herself between the two men.
"Fine," Chase replied sharply before going back to the bookshelf.
When Matthew didn't reply but continued to look pissed off Cameron decided it was time to end this interaction.
"Come on," she said as she pointed to the door. "I'll help you bring his things to the car."
When they had put Oliver in the car Matthew finally let out what he had been wanting to say.
"You didn't wait long to move on," he commented and she could hear the resentment in his voice.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Robert is here to help me out, as a friend."
"Come on," he scoffed. "He's your ex-husband and you're just friends?"
"Yes," she disputed. "And even if there was something going on you don't have the right to get mad about it."
Matthew rolled his eyes and took a step towards the driver's door, clearly with plans to leave. But he suddenly turned around, he had more to say.
"You know I am surprised you've moved on so fast," he said. "But I'm not surprised it's with him."
She didn't know what to say to that because it was ridiculous, she had never really talked about Chase with Matthew so she didn't know where he'd get the idea that she still had some sort of feelings for him.
"You're not going to even say anything?" he challenged her.
"I don't know what you want me to say," she defended. "There's nothing going on between me and Robert, he's been helping me since I've moved back and we're friends, and we're not together anymore so I don't have to tell you anything."
"As the father of your baby and the ex-boyfriend that you dumped a couple of months ago with no real explanation, yes I think I do have the right to know about it," he said to her, he was keeping his voice down for Oliver's sake but she could hear how upset he was.
"You really want to do this?" she asked, daring him to say yes and knowing that she could have stuck the knife in even further if she told him she'd cheated on him with Chase. "I knew I could never be truly happy with you, it's that simple and if you can't accept that then I can't help you."
He didn't respond to that, just got in his car muttering something about dropping off Oliver on Sunday evening.
She let out a breath, feeling the emotion bubble up inside of her and walked back into her house seeing Chase on the couch, looking almost guilty.
"You heard that didn't you?" she asked unnecessarily.
"Maybe a bit," Chase admitted uncomfortably.
She smiled awkwardly for a second, still feeling the adrenaline from her argument with Matthew.
"I'm sorry," she apologised. "Matthew… I don't know why he would think something was… you know?"
"Maybe he can secretly tell when two people have had sex sort of recently," Chase suggested with a silly grin on his face.
She smiled back, rolling her eyes as she did, sometimes she forgot how goofy he could be. It was one of the reasons she had fallen so hard for him back then, the way he could use his boyish charm with his long floppy hair and blue eyes that had a certain glint when he was about to say something goofy.
"You still haven't told him?" he asked, there was no judgement in his voice, just curiosity.
"No," she said. "I didn't want to hurt him any more than I already had and now we've broken up what's the point."
He nodded kind of sadly.
"I feel sorry for whatever guy you date next," Chase said, almost teasing her. "He's going to be worse than an overprotective father."
"I can't really see myself dating," she said thoughtfully. "My life is Oliver now and I can't imagine bringing someone into his life unless it's going to be something really serious, but with my commitment issues I don't see how that's possible."
Chase nodded, again with no judgement.
Cameron sat next to the half-built bookcase, looking up and Chase and really noticing how much his shorter haircut suited him. There was something about the way that he had grown up, he was no longer the boyish doctor that she had fallen for, now he was truly a man. The evidence of the hardships he had been through over the years were on his face but rather than aging him, they made him appear wise.
"What about you?" she asked. "Are you dating a lot?"
Chase leaned back on the couch, running his hand through his hair like he did when he was feeling awkward.
"Not anymore," he admitted. "There was a time, just a few months ago when I was going out a lot, meeting different women, but things have changed now."
"How so?" she asked, surprised because she'd assumed that he was continuing to do this, just refraining from talking about it with her.
"I want something more," he said.
It felt honest and sincere, it was something that she'd seen from him before but somehow this time she truly believed he meant it.
She wondered if he'd ever felt that something more with her, because she remembered the fear that she felt when she realised she felt something more with him. She was tempted to ask him for a second, but her heart tightened and she felt herself move slightly away from him.
"Someday, right?" she asked light-heartedly.
She saw him smile at her, almost sadly, as though he wanted to say something more but couldn't.
"Let me order that pizza," he changed the subject. "I do owe you after all."
"Come on, you never really thought it was hepatitis," she argued. "You just wanted to prove me wrong when I thought it was Wilson's disease."
Chase shook his head because she was telling the truth, he had always thought it was Wilson's disease but there was still a part of him that felt the need to think like House, and House wouldn't have believed the patient when he said he didn't drink or do drugs.
"I've never seen you try to get out of someone buying you pizza," he joked, dialling the pizza place they used to order from when they were together and ordering her favorite, he assumed it hadn't changed.
"Thanks," she said as he put his phone back in his pocket.
"It's no problem," he insisted.
"No," she continued. "Not just for the pizza but for helping me tonight, for making this move easy on me. You didn't have to help me in the way that you have but it means a lot to me, I'm glad that after everything we've been through that we can be friends like this."
"Me too," he smiled back at her.
Friends was an odd concept between the two of them. They had started off as co-workers and then just as they were really becoming friends, they'd had sex. He never really counted that first time as part of their relationship because it had been a mistake on both of their parts, she'd known what she wanted that night but he still could have said no, it was one of the many messy parts of their relationship. But in some ways, it really had solidified their friendship. Then when their friends with benefits relationship started Chase fell hard and fast and knew that he would no longer be able to see her as just a friend.
But now friendship was a comfort to him, he knew that it was what both of them needed. She had just got out of a serious relationship and needed some company and he was fighting against the loneliness now that he wasn't going out and getting wasted every night. Maybe this could be their new normal? Hanging out, eating pizza while watching a movie. It wasn't that dissimilar to what their married life had been like, if you ignored the newlywed sex they were having at the time that is.
He watched her cleaning up the remainder of the screws from the floor and smiled, if this was the new normal then that was perfectly fine with him.