Dr. Gregory House's deep blue eyes flitted around the room. He pulled a small bottle out of his pocket, popped two pills out of it and swallowed them dry. He leaned forward and rested his chin on the top of his cane. A look forward revealed a messy apartment, with a magnificent black piano against the near wall. Miscellaneous papers were strewn about, and a old cup of coffee sat on the stand next to the chair he was in, along with a slender, fairly tall lamp. It was off, however. The only illumination in the whole room, actually, was from a small fishtank in the corner, and that put out a ghostly blue tinted light. He leaned back once more and closed his eyes.
He woke with a start. A quick glance at the clock nearby told him that it was around seven in the morning. He needed to get to work. He limped over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a apple. He pulled out his pill bottle again, and dry swallowed two more pills. He grabbed his work things and shut the door to his apartment. He didn't bother to lock it. He never did. Getting down stairs was a bit of an ordeal to House, thanks to his leg. Even with the cane, things had to be taken slightly slowly to get anywhere. Unfortuneately, his apartment happened to be on the fourth floor, giving him quite a bit of stairs to walk down. He made it down the stairs sucessfully and walked out to his car.
Cameron was in the lab at the time, about to look at a culture that Foreman had handed to her. She didn't know what she was looking for, however, she had not been paying attention when he had given her instructions. She had become quite good at nodding her head and acting like she was listening. Her attention, instead, was fixed on Dr. House walking down the hallway with Dr. Wilson. She saw him take his Vicodin pills out of his jacket and swallow two. As he drew nearer, She pretended to busy herself, but, when he neared her on the other side of the glass wall, she looked up. House's attention was not on Wilson, for the moment. His eyes were studying her, watching her. She gave a little smile and, as usual, House just fixed his eyes into hers until he was forced to bring his attention back to Wilson, as he had walked to far ahead to be able to look at her without turning around. He wouldn't do that, turn around. It might register something in her brain. Wilson had now given up trying to hook House's intrest and had broken off to go down another hallway, leaving House in his thoughts as he neared his office. He pushed the glass door open and limped to his desk. He sat down and propped his leg up on his desk, tilting his head back.
It was now about Five, the time when most of the hospital employees packed up and went home. House, however, stayed a little longer. A noise indicated that the door to his office was being opened, and he turned his head to look. Cameron was standing there, staring at him. Goddamn, was she ever beautiful. Her eyes sparked in the dim light in his office. The hallway behind her was fairly dark, most of the staff had gone home.
"So, how come you're still here? Wanted to sneak a dark groping in with your boss, eh?"
"No, I just wanted to-"
"Come over here. Sit. It'd be a shame for you to collapse suddenly from fatigue." He guestured to the chair on the opposite side of his desk.
"Alright, so what's the real reason that your here?"
"Well, I just wanted to talk with you." She put her bag down and leaned back more into the chair.
"Look, pretty female doctors don't stay late just to review medical terms with their bosses. They go home and have romps with their boyfriends. Now, needless to say, your not home, your in clothes, and I'm not your dream boy, eh?"
She stammered. "You can be a real jerk sometimes." But nothing in her voice indicated that it was a mean-spirited comment.
He tilted his head back, sighing as he did so. He would give her about a minute to collect her thoughts. What did she possibly want to say to him? A random noise, a moving noise was heard, and he looked forward. She was in front of him. Standing, right there, in front of him. He could smell something, a light, orangy smell.
He managed words .
"Oh, is this the part where you kiss me, tell me that you want me, and We proceed to make passionate love on my desk? Oh, but how will we deal with the shame in the morning, when I grab your cute ass in the hallway and you give me these little kisses throughout the day?"
He could see her biting back tears. He stopped. He didn't want to push her over the edge of whatever she was standing on. A tear spilled down her cheek. Jesus, he didn't mean to make her cry. He didn't know what he did to, but maybe he should of stopped playing the role of Anti-Social bastard for a few seconds. She stepped back, and looked out the window.
"Look, when you told me that everyone liked me, but you didn't, I wanted to thank you for being honest, at least."
He leaned forward.
"Oh, come off it, Cameron. This is ridiculous. You and I both know that you were hurt by it. You were expecting something more, or atleast expecting me to say yes."
For a moment she was surprised by the lack of sarcasm in his voice.
"If that ruined-"
She turned towards him and stepped forward, cutting him off.
"Has it, House? Has it ruined our relationship?"
"I have no idea of this fairy-tale relationship of which you speak of."
Jesus Christ, could he be a royal bastard.
He continued.
"Look, looking for something from me is a mistake. Even if I...If I admitted...If I...how would this be different if I had said "yes"? What would of happened differently?"
She didn't know what to say. She stammered effortlessly.
"Vogler is breathing down my goddamn neck, He's refused to allow me to fire Chase, and earlier he threatened to remove anyone in the way of removing me. If I admitted something, anything, You would be in the way to him, and It's hard for me to put you at risk even though I am, well, me. You shouldn't be removed because of my...actions."
She was surprised at the sudden presence of caring in his voice. Not overly, but a bit more then she had seen him ever use.
House was fired up now. His brain was confused, confused as what to tell her, confused as how to deal with this situation.
Dr. Cameron turned to face him again, looking in his eyes as she did so. Shit. She didn't mean to do that. She didn't mean to look into his eyes. That blue, the blue that she had never seen with such an intensity before. Even in this dim light, his eyes seemed to illuminate his face. And his face, the sexy gruffness about him. The way that he was totally a son of a bitch most of the time, but his witty remarks put about some kind of attractiveness. They way that she fell for him. And the goddamn way he looked at her, he could see into her, it felt like.
She turned and walked stiffly back towards the chair opposite his desk. She picked up her bag, and slinging it onto her shoulder she said:
"I'm sorry, House. I dunno why I came here, and I'm sorry if I've...upset you."
He softened. Goddamn, she was breaking his heart.
"Cameron, you are too damn nice, too damn forgiving. Every other woman probably would of slapped me by now, called me a bastard or something of the like. Don't apologize."
She turned, a couple more tear drops splashing down her cheeks.
"Well, thanks anyway."
As she turned to leave and pushed open the glass door, House wanted to call out. To say something.
As She pushed open his door, she wanted him to say something, to call her back.
But Nothing happened.
