A/N: okay, writing 'the date' scene is harder than I imagined, so hopefully this chapter will do until I finish it. Apologies up front for the amount of dialogue lifted from the show. Any comments or ideas on how the date should go are very welcome!

Disclaimer: House doesn't belong to me, Cameron doesn't belong to me, I don't even own Wilson. Reality bites.

HOUSE MD

"So she's coming back?" Wilson asked curiously. He sat opposite House in his office, keeping him company while he hid from Cuddy and clinic duty.

"What made her change her mind? I mean, it couldn't have been because she likes you."

House, who was currently absent-mindedly twirling his cane, lifted his eyes to meet Wilson's gaze. It was only seconds before the wheels in the oncologist's mind started spinning dangerously fast.

"Wait a second, she did come back because likes you!" a huge grin was plastered on Wilson's face that made House regret his choice of friend.

"I've agreed to take her on one date, that's it, no biggie."

"So you do like her! I can't believe-"

"I don't like her!" House interrupted, rolling his eyes at Wilson's confused expression. "She's not giving me any choice."

"What, did the sweet, gentle, immunologist bully you into dinner?" Wilson chuckled.

"For god's sake grow up. You're like a woman, get out of my office before I throw something heavy in your direction." Wilson rises and makes towards the door.

"Fine, I think I'll go have a nice chat with Cuddy; tell her where you are."

"Traitor." House yelled as he reached the hallway.

"Coward." Wilson retorted, laughing as he carried on with his journey.

Forman and Chase were sitting in the briefing room, idly playing ball when Cameron walked in and caught it. It was good to see them, and fun to see their shock.

"Hey!" Foreman said, giving her a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Chase asked, curious, but glad to see her. It was always a little easier to deal with House if Cameron was here to distract him.

"I work here." She said playfully. "House practically begged me to come back."

"Pease tell me you took him to the cleaners!" Foreman joked.

"Same lousy salary." She replied, glad that she could slip back into the banter that existed between them so easily.

"Then why'd you do it?" Chase asked.

"Because this" House motioned as he walked through the door with Wilson, interrupting them "is obviously the happiest place on Earth." He glanced at Cameron as he breezed past her, causing her to tense a little. Why did he have that effect on her? More to her annoyance, why did she have no apparent affect on him? She stood straighter, trying to not let it show. She was confident in her guess about the CT scan, and, at the end of their meeting, was prepared to go about her routine as normal when House made a jibe about keeping the 'perks' of her new contract secret.

"What perks?" Chase inquired as soon as they exited the office and entered the hallway.

"Nothing you'd be interested in." she replied, a little angry at House's request. Foreman always looked out for her, and she got on well enough with Chase; she didn't see any reason to keep them in the dark just save House's pride. Besides, it would be priceless to see their reaction, and to annoy House for a change.

"Office space, insurance, parking- anything he could offer you, we'd be interested in."

"He agreed to take me on a date." She announced smugly, witnessing the shocked looks pass between them. Foreman was the first to regain the powers of speech.

"A date? Date; dinner and a movie, naked and sweaty date?"

"He only committed to the first two." The hint of disappointment in her voice forced Chase to be extremely grossed out.

"But he's so, old!"

"And you're so young." She countered with a flirtatious glint in her eyes.

"This is a big mistake" Foreman interjected, slightly concerned for his friend.

"It's my boss" she shrugged coyly, "I'm allowed to sexually harass my boss. I'll arrange for the EMG, Chase you want to set up the angiogram, and Foreman you get the blood samples, patient history, patient consent?"

Foreman just shook his head while Chase worked on picking his jaw up from the floor. They loved working with Cameron, and they were glad she was back, but what she saw in their boss they would never really get. Chase especially. Foreman figured, like House, that she wanted to bring out the hidden goodness in him. Either way, both agreed that it was like watching an accident about to happen.

Some hours later, the group stood in the hallway discussing their case. They came to the decision of what to do next, and as Foreman and Chase wondered down the hall to attend to their duties, Cameron stayed in her spot and plucked up the courage to talk to House about the 'perks' of her contract.

"About tomorrow night."

"You couldn't keep your mouth shut." He said coldly. It gave her a little pleasure to know that she had gotten under his skin, it was a rare twist of fate, but she stored the moment and moved on.

"I didn't see any reason to. Where are we going? I want to make sure I dress appropriately." She followed him as he walked towards his office; she wasn't about to let him get off that easy.

"That would be army boots and t-shirt. It's the county paintball tourney. First prize is fifty bucks; I'll split it with you if you hold your end up." He was mocking her, or at least she hoped he was joking. Paint balling had its advantages, but there was no way he could take her there for a date. But she wanted to make sure; it was impossible to predict what obstacles House would throw at her.

"I'm not sure if that was the deal." She remarked.

"Relax. I made a reservation at Café Spiletto." He paused as he opened the glass door leading to his office. "Regarding wardrobe: are you too young to remember spandex?"

"I'm sure I'll figure something out." She replied casually as he gave a nod and disappeared into his office. Why was he being so cagey? He had agreed to the date after all. Perhaps he was having second thoughts. But if that were true he wouldn't have made reservations, especially not at café Spiletto. If she thought about it for too long it made her head hurt. He sent so many and so few signals that it was hopeless to try and estimate his emotions. If she didn't have a patient to deal with, she would have followed him into his office and tried to probe some more answers out of him. But, she was busy, so the enigma of Greg House would have to wait until this evening.

Apparently though, Wilson couldn't wait. He found Cameron some time later doing paper work, and entered the office.

"Hi, are you, uh, can we talk?" he asked awkwardly.

"Gee, I wonder what this is going to be about." She replied, getting up to put a file away.

"I just want to make sure nobody gets hurt." He said, almost apologetically.

"I will be fine. Everybody is acting like I'm going out with Jack the Ripper."

"Oh its, its not you I'm worried about." Cameron turned to look at him, thoroughly confused by his admission. Wilson tried to explain his concern.

"It's been a long time since he opened up to someone, and I…you'd better be absolutely sure you want this, because if he opens up again and gets hurt, I don't think there's going to be a next time."

"You're worried I'm going to break his heart?" she asked, not needing an answer but trying to make sense of what had just been said.

Wilson was House's best friend, so concern for him was natural. But had he really felt this strongly? He had felt the need to speak to her about it, and she couldn't help but wonder what else that meant. The fact the Wilson thought there was a chance that House might open up to Cameron was puzzling, and the fact he thought there was a chance she had the power or influence over House to abuse such a trust was even more so. The chance she might hurt him. The chance she might reject his feelings? Perhaps it was possible, that behind the façade of sarcasm and apathy, that House actually liked her. House likes her. She knew she was leaping a gap the size of the Grand Canyon to come to that conclusion, but the words gave her comfort, and tomorrow night became that much more appealing.