Title: She's the Blade

Author: Stuck In Reality

Summary: '...As she hangs up, you release a breath that you didn't even know you were holding.'

Rating: PG for some language and later chapters

Spoilers: Is a post "Role Model"

Pairings: House/Cameron

Disclaimer: If I owned House, this would be on the show and not on this site

A/N: Chapter 2 is finally up! Sorry it took so long to post but I do have a life you know. Anyways, this chapter isn't the 'date' but don't worry, it's coming!

Chapter Two: Space Monkeys and Messages
You're sitting in your office, your eyes focused on the GameBoy in your hands. You punch furiously at the bottons and your forehead is scrunched in concentration. You're trying desperately to defeat the evil Space Monkeys that have already managed to destroy three of your lives. But you aren't ready to give up just yet and after seven levels played, you aren't going down without a fight. You continue to press the buttons that you've become so used to, your fingers are practically moving self-consciously. You are not about to lose to stupid, computer animated monkeys. Losing has never been a thing that you take easily. And besides, you still have one life left...

Or you had one life left.

The familiar sound of the 'game over' music fills the office and with a frustrated growl, you place the GameBoy in one of your desk drawers. You lean back in your chair and stare up at the ceiling, wondering how the hell you lost to a game that you've played over a hundred times. You had done everything right, you had followed all the game hints and cheat codes, and yet you still managed to lose. Just goes to show you that no matter how much you think you know something, it could still blow-up in your face.

Suddenly you remember something.

You have your date tomorrow.

With Cameron.

Great, just great you think and a sigh escapes your lips. You hadn't thought of it all week, not since you last called her to tell her that you were picking her up at seven on Friday. She had asked where you were taking her and you hadn't told her. Why? Because frankly, you still hadn't figured it out. You weren't sure where was the appropriate place to take her. You could take her somewhere romantic but she might get the wrong idea. A monster truck rally was absolutely out of the question, that was just not date material and it would bring to much memories back. Happy, fun memories. The ones you hate the most.

How was picking a place to go so difficult?

You search through your mind of every place you can think of, every place that someone has ever mentioned to you. Cafes, restaurants, shows, movies...all of them come through your mind and you begin contemplating good combinations. You wanted to at least impress the girl and not look like some regular cheapskate. That was never a good thing to be called. Sure bastard and jerk weren't very nice either but you had become accustomed to them over the years.

You twiddle your thumbs, pace around the office, toss your old softball a good amount of times and you even think about calling up Wilson for advice. Sure the guy had a bad marriage but he still knew how to go about with this whole 'dating process'. You hadn't been on a date over six year and the last one had been with Stacey. Ever since you and her separated after your surgery, you hadn't been near a women since. And no, the lady at the supermarket did not count, even though she gave you a discount on tomatoes a while back.

You end up back at your chair and you scan around your desk, hoping for an idea to pop into your head, hoping for something to just come to you.

Your eyes fall on an old patient report. You pick it up and scan through it quickly. It was some old clinic patient, a man who owned a restaurant with some weird French name, who had come in because of a minor sore throat. Of course, he didn't know that and thought it was some serious illness or something like that. You had told him what was wrong and prescribed him some medicine that would clear it right up. The patient had been eternally grateful and told you that if you ever wanted a good meal, just call him up and dinner would be on the house. You hadn't thought of it but now...

You reach for the phone and quickly dial the number the patient left you. It rings a few times and you wait patiently, hoping to dear God that this worked. A moment later someone picks up.

"Hello, yes, this is Gregory House. Is a Mr. Blautec there?..."

That night, you sit in your living room at the piano, a glass of Scotch sits nicely on top of it. You take a gulp of it and then place it back on the piano with a small thud. You always have drank Scotch, you never really liked beer and ever since Stacey left, Scotch is probably your only real friend.

You sigh and let your fingers glide along the smooth cold keys. The music pours out from beneath your fingertips and you shallow it in, feeling it relax your nerves. You're not sure what you're playing, all you know that it is making you forget everything, making everything vanish. The date, Cameron...you don't think of it and you feel all your nerves just leave you with every note that comes out. It's just the piano, the Scotch, and you.

RING! RING!

The phone stops you and the music is cut short from it's peak. You try to ignore the ringing and continue to play, but that damn ringing is feeling your ears and blocking out the music. You wait patiently for the answering machine to pick up. Whoever was calling would leave a message if it was really that important. It was most likely Wilson calling in to check up on you. He seemed to be doing that lately, calling you every so often just to see if you were okay, to see if you were still alive.

'This is House. Don't leave a message.'

You're expecting Wilson's voice to fill the room but instead, her voice does.

"Hey House, it's Cameron. I was just calling to you know...see if everything was still on for tomorrow. Seven o' clock right? Um, my address is, wait! You already know where I live so... I should just skip this part."

Pause.

"Well, uh, I guess you're not home so I'll just try later. Okay...bye."

As she hangs up, you release a breath you didn't even know you were holding. You sit there for awhile in silence. You wonder why you didn't pick up the phone or didn't even make a move to. During that whole recording you just sat there, staring at the piano's ivory keys, holding your breath. You sigh without realizing it and gulp down the rest of your Scotch, hoping it will just get rid of all this confusion in your head.

It doesn't.

A/N: Yeah, sorry this chapter is so short but I promise that the date chapter will be up as soon as I finish it which will most likely be tomorrow. Hope you liked it and please review because reviews are like cookies. And I love cookies!