Disclaimer- Oops, didn't put one in for Chapter 9. So will stress doubly that the lovely doctors do not belong to me, if they did I'd keep it a secret anyway

Lab 10.18am

House knew where he'd find her. In times of crisis, she always sought sanctuary in the lab. Personally, he thought she was addicted to the smell of formaldehyde. And, just as he'd thought, there she was, eye glued to the microscope. Jaw clenched. He had no idea what he was about to say to break the ice, to gloss over the sniping comments he'd thrown in her direction a half hour before.

'Don't tell me the centrifuge needed urgently calibrating again. You know you're gonna put those poor lab techs out of a job the way you're going.'

Cameron continued to look down the microscope. She had come here to clear her head, not enter into Round 2 of the long and bloody battle that was her relationship with House.

'Uh-oh. Let me guess, 'scopes make you tearful too. You know, you should consider laying off watching Disney movies at the weekend, it's making you way too sensitive to inanimate objects. Take a tip from me, go watch some Steven Segal. Mind you, I don't expect Brits are too big on him. Figure they're more into Merchant Ivory. What do you reckon? Am I even in the ball-park?'

Cameron turned to face House, thankful that she hadn't been crying, he would have noticed straight away. She had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd got to her.

'Breakfast at Tiffanys actually, since you appear so interested.'

'Ewwwwwwwww.' House screwed his face up in horror. 'You're pulling my chain, right? He took you to see that on a first date! Did he serenade you on your balcony too? Give you a peck on the cheek and tell you that you have the cutesy-wutesiest lickle button nose?'

Cameron fixed him with her best attempt at a steely glare, and firmly placed her hands on her hips.

'Do you actually need me for something, Dr. House? Or did you just figure it's Tuesday, must be Cameron-bashing day?'

'Need you? No. Want you as my little executive plaything, yes. Better than a stress ball. More pliable. Stress balls don't make great coffee, or know where the sugar is kept. Hell, don't know if I'd trade my Slinky for you though.'

Part of Cameron wanted to smile at this back handed compliment, the greater part however was too busy registering the thought that he knew she had been on a date with Tony. How could he have known? Perhaps he was just fishing and had struck lucky. She looked searchingly into his eyes. Nope, he knew. He most definitely knew. Chase and his big mouth.

'So, what's the real reason you skipped out of class today? Couldn't be the sushi, you would've headed for the little girl's room. Morning sickness? Nah, if you were pregnant, I'd have noticed. If you so much as swallow a Tic Tac your belly bulges. Been imagining me and Cuddy getting jiggy in the elevator again, made you come over all unnecessary. It's ok, it has that effect on me too. You can tell me. I'm a doctor.'

'I just needed some air, and being as the conversation wasn't going anywhere productive, I came in here to get on with some real work. You know, the kind we get paid to do. Last time I looked it wasn't in my job description that I was to be your whipping-girl in debriefing sessions.'

House's eyes brightened as he could feel her begin to rise to his bait.

'Whipping girl? Debriefing? What are you trying to do to me Dr. Cameron? Make me hot under the collar with your double-entendres? I have to say, keep it up, it's working. I trained you well in the art of smutty innuendo.'

House adjusted his grip on the cane, and leant back against the cupboard door. 'In all seriousness, Dr. Clarkson seemed most concerned with your hasty exit. Kinda touching to watch. Him playing Heathcliff to your Cathy. How did you get him eating out of your hand so quickly? Kill him with kindness? Shackle him to the bedpost with a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs?'

'We just caught a movie and grabbed a bite to eat afterwards. Nothing more, nothing less. I've been out for a meal with Foreman and Chase plenty of times, but didn't have you chewing my ear off about it the next day. Why now? What's different?'

House froze. Now or never. Time to tell her. Tell her it was different because Foreman and Chase posed no threat to him in the battle for her affections. Different because Clarkson was everything on paper that Cameron would be attracted to, he ticked all the boxes. Different because now he felt more than just a fatherly protectiveness towards her, had started to feel an emptiness within when he saw her flirting with Clarkson.

Let her know that she made him feel younger, more alive, almost forget his pain. That he cared about her in a way he thought he would never be able to care for anyone again. And she liked him. Just the way he was. Didn't want to change him, always believed in him. Kinda like a shorter version of Wilson with breasts. But he took the easy way out, his bravado not quite strong enough.

'What's different? Just didn't want your pretty little head to be turned by Dr. Moonlight& Roses, for you to take your eye off the ball. He'll break your heart you know. It comes naturally to us guys. It's genetic, out of our control. Right now, he's giving you Audrey Hepburn and sonnets, but in six months time you'll be waiting by the phone, and he'll be stuffing $20 bills into a hooker's hot pink G-string in the Pussycat Club. Trust me on this one.'

'What are you saying?' Cameron asked indignantly. 'All relationships are ultimately doomed, so don't even dip your toe in the pool, 'cause eventually you'll fall in and drown?'

'Got it in one, Sherlock. Relationships are best left well alone. It's the reason men have porn and women bulk-buy batteries. 'Cause the real thing is more trouble than it's worth.'

She frowned, and felt her heart droop a little in dismay. 'That's how you see it? That's how you really feel?'

'Uh-huh. In the words of the King, wise men say only fools rush in. Fools, women and hormonal 16 year olds.'

Cameron looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and disappointment. She dropped her hands from her hips and began to make her way to the door.

'You going? Don't wanna thrust and parry a little more?' House asked her. He wondered what was running through her mind, what had made her shoulders slump and her bottom lip protrude. 'Something I said?', he shouted as she left the room and headed off down the corridor. Nice. Well played House. You finally put the nail in the coffin good and proper. Couldn't have screwed it up any better. Wilson's really gonna drag my ase over the coals on this one. He reached in his pocket for his faithful white friends, and popped two into his mouth. Knowing as he did so that even they weren't going to numb his pain this time.