Title: Days Go By

Summery: Just read…
Spoilers: Up until "Control"
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: You know I don't own it! I play.

Author's Note: Don't worry all. I think—finally—House and Cameron are on the same page. And if you can't tell, I love cliffhangers LOL It makes sure people come back to find out what happens. All part of my evil plan of world domination… And I found I have really grown to love writing Wilson dialogue. He's great!

To Shawcross Gal: You spread the word? WOW. I'm speechless. Thanks! And to anyone else who brought new fans to my story. You have all been absolutely WONDERFUL!

To Lilac Elf: "This stuff brightens a day clouded over by college finals." Why do you think I said last week sucked? I hope you pass all. I didn't…

To CSIindiegurl: Nope, I go to community college. Even though I live in NJ, I'm still too poor to afford Rutgers LMAO

To Patricia L. Bryans: MOG!

Confrontations

He stopped but didn't turn around.

"What do you mean, 'coward'?"

Wilson, you had better be right about this coming clean shit. Otherwise I'm going to kill you. "What do you want to hear, Cameron? That I haven't wanted to get involved with anyone in over 5 years because I didn't want to get hurt? That the last person I was with dumped me because she couldn't handle my rapid descent into crippledome and bitterness?" House finally turned to look at her. "That I didn't want you to do the same thing to me that she did. Is that what you want to hear? That I care about you too much to get hurt." He didn't notice that his voice caught. "I may give it good, Cameron, but that's just because I've gotten worse in the past."

"I'm sorry, too." Cameron walked out to stand in front of him and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "But don't think for a minute you're the only one who's ever been hurt. Cripple and bitter or not. You want hurt? Try death, House. You talk about being dumped because of a disability. There is no cure for breakup by death. That's the ultimate pain." Her voice started to crack. "And having been hurt before does not give you carte blanche to play around with someone else's' emotions." She paused and cleared her throat. "And I am sorry. I kind of led you on earlier by making you dance with me, and then trying to figure out what your motives were. That was only because you had burned me once already. What was I supposed to think?"

"I guess we've both been unfair to each other," he stated quietly.

"Yes." She turned and walked back into the apartment. Looking over her shoulder, she said, "Are you coming?"

House took a deep breath and followed her.

First, she had to get changed. Cameron forgot that she was wandering around in just a shirt and panties. She threw on pants and a tank top, and cleaned up the shattered bottle from earlier. Then she took a seat across from him at the dining room table. They sat in silence.

Finally, Cameron looked up at him. "So… what's going on here?"

"I'm not quite sure myself."

"Listen, House—"

"Wait," he interrupted. "I want to say something. I need to get it out and if it doesn't get said now, there is danger of it never getting said. Just let me say it and you can do whatever you want. Kiss me, kick me, kill me, curse me. Whatever. Just let me say this."

"Okay," she replied quietly.

"It's been a very long time since I've… had someone care about me." He took a deep breath and looked down at his leg. "A long time. I haven't always been a prick, you know. Just a borderline bastard. Yet always bitter."

She glanced at him. "I could tell you had some good in you. You wouldn't be a doctor otherwise."

"Yeah, well if you guard yourself against goodness, you don't get hurt again. You just hurt." He looked at her. "But you – you didn't go away. No matter how I insulted you or degraded you, you kept pestering me like a fly. You have this irritating kindness about you –"

"I'm sorry."

"Let me finish. And before I knew it, you managed to weasel you way into that cold, dark, vacated area in my chest."

"I think that's a hidden compliment."

"Yes, well, if you hadn't noticed, I didn't want you there. But you never hesitated to call me on my shit. And for some reason, you weren't afraid of me."

"I still don't understand why people are."

"Because I'm a bitter, nasty old man."

"Mmmhmmm."

"Shut up and let me finish. I guess what I'm trying to say in my babbling is that I'm so afraid of things ending badly and getting hurt that I push away. It's a defense mechanism." He laughed. "It's the 'It's not you, it's me' spiel. How sad is that?"

"You push away. I push forward. With that limp, I was eventually going to catch up."

"Nice."

Cameron smiled. "That's a lie though. Tonight I gave up. I pushed away."

"And here I am pushing forward. Interesting."

"It's funny how our emotions and mind play with us, isn't it?"

House just nodded. There was another awkward silence. "So… I'm going to go now. I've made a big enough fool of myself for the rest of my life."

"Don't I get to say something?"

"Of course."

She took a deep breath. "Do you like me, Dr. House? I need to know."

He looked at her long and hard. "Yes," he said, quietly. "Yes I do."

"Okay." She smiled.

1:00 PM, Saturday afternoon

House heard ringing through a haze. His cell phone. Where the hell was it? Where the hell were his pants? He stumbled out of bed and found his pants on the floor. He grabbed the phone out of the pocket… and it stopped ringing.

"You have got to be kidding me."

It started ringing again. Wilson. He answered. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes. 1 in the afternoon."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes. I stopped by your place this morning. You weren't there. So I've been calling your cell for the past 2 hours. Where are you?"

"Am I my brother's keeper?"

"What? You don't have a brother. What are you talking about?"

House sighed. "Never mind."

"Listen," Wilson said, getting agitated, "For some godforsaken reason, I care about your welfare. What's going on? Are you okay?"

"House," came a voice from the bed. "Could you tell Wilson to stop yelling? I can hear him all the way over here."

"Sure. James, could you keep it down—"

"Yeah, I heard Cameron," he snapped. "Tell her—" He paused. "Cameron?" House could practically hear the grin spread across his face. "You're at Cameron's?"

"Goodbye, Wilson."

"Wait, House, tell me—I guess not," Wilson said as the line went dead. He laughed. "Thank the lord for small favors!"

A/N: I think there is one more part after this and then… Time to work on a new story! Writing is such good therapy : - )