Note: Hey everyone. Well, I've been working of this for weeks. It originally started out as a House episode, but halfway through I realised that I had absolutely no knowledge of anything to do with Medicine, so I decided to ditch the 'patient' subplot and focus on the House/Cameron side of it, because romance is my specialty.
Anyway, this is set in season 2, it doesn't really contain spoilers because I live in Australia and we are still on season 1 (2 more episodes to go!) I hope I have done the characters justice, and keep in mind this is only my second House fic (and the first one with dialogue!) So enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own House or any of the mentioned storyline, characters or settings in this fan fiction. They all belong to David Shore.
ChangeAllison Cameron steadily walked towards her bedroom door, holding a mug of coffee in her shaking hand. Pausing just outside the room, she willed herself to go in and face what she had known would have come for months.
Walking in, her eyes immediately went to the man lying in bed, propped up on several pillows, his eyes closed. Cameron walked closer and placed her cup of coffee on the bedside table, slowly sinking into the bed beside the man, attempting not to wake him.
But he did. Opening his eyes slowly, the man turned his head and smiled weakly at Cameron, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
'Hey gorgeous.' He said in barely a whisper, as Cameron smiled and took his hand in hers.
'Hi.' She replied shakily, tears forming in her eyes. 'I tried not to wake you.'
The man smiled weakly. 'Always Miss Considerate, aren't you Ally?'
Cameron's eyes filled with tears once again and began to fall down her face.
'Hey,' the man said, noticing her sadness, 'Don't cry.'
Cameron shook her head and wiped her cheeks that had become blotchy. The mans eyes began to droop, but he forced himself to stay awake, returning his gaze to Cameron.
'Ally, I-'
'No,' Cameron began, 'don't talk. You need to rest.'
The man's breath began to quieten. Cameron started at him, tears streaming down her face. She didn't want to do it, not again…
'Ally, I – I love…'
BRIIIIIIIINNNNGGG
Cameron shot up in bed, her breathing ragged. Music blared from her clock radio on the bedside table, as Cameron leaned over and slammed her hand on the 'snooze' button. Straightening up, Cameron wiped her sweaty forehead and noticed that her cheeks were glazed with tears. Closing her eyes and sighing, she put her head in her hands before throwing off the covers and climbing out of bed.
……….
Robert Chase sat in a chair in the diagnostics office and threw his tennis ball up in the air. He caught it with one hand and tossed it up again.
Eric Foreman looked up at him from a manila folder he had been reading through.
'Do you mind?' He asked, clearly annoyed at the sound the ball was making.'
Chase stopped and placed the ball on top of Foreman's folder. Standing up, he walked over to the sink and began to make a cup of coffee.
'I wonder where House and Cameron are?' It's not like…well, it's not like Cameron to be late.' Chase said, grabbing a cup from the sink.
'Cameron's late?'
Chase and Foreman both looked up to see Greg House limping through the office doors.
'Yeah.' Foreman replied, closing the manila folder as Chase poured a cup of coffee.
'Well, well, well. Miss perfect has a flaw. Tardiness.' House said, placing his bag on the couch and walking over to Chase, where he simply took the cup of coffee out of his hand.
'Your using my cup.' He stated, taking a sip and walking over to the table, Chase looking highly affronted behind him.
House has just put the cup on the table when Cameron rushed in, looking flustered.
'Sorry I'm late. There was traffic.' She said, putting down her bag and coat and walking over to the table.
'Ah, but according to the road report on TV in the OB-GYN department's tea room, the freeway was clear this morning.' House stated, staring at her.
Cameron glared at him as she pulled on her lab coat and sat down at the table. She didn't reply and merely ignored his gaze.
House pulled a folder out of his bag and placed it in front of Cameron. 'During your absence, we got a case. 17-year-old girl. Collapsed yesterday afternoon after symptoms of fever, sore joints and migraines. Lucky for you, I was late too, so I haven't seen her yet.'
'Would it of made a difference if you were here on time?' Cameron replied, looking through the folder.
House mockingly touched his chest. 'Ouch. For that snarky comment, you can assess her. Actually, I probably would have told you to assess her anyway, but it gave me an excuse.'
Cameron rolled her eyes and stood up, not looking back at House as she walked out of the door, folder in hand.
……….
After assessing the teenager, Cameron walked back into the diagnostics office to see her 3 fellow colleagues all sitting around, doing nothing.
'Glad to see your all making an effort.' Cameron said, putting the girls folder on the table.
'Well, we couldn't really do anything until you got back, and here you are, so now we work.' Foreman said, sitting up properly.
Cameron smirked. 'The girl, Abbie Jensen, still has the headache and the sore joints. She doesn't have a rash or a sore neck so we can rule out Meningitis.'
House stood up and walked over to the whiteboard, writing down the symptoms. 'No, we shouldn't rule it out Dr Cameron. The rash could develop.'
'If it was Meningitis she would be dead by now. She was admitted yesterday afternoon, remember?' Cameron replied, putting her hands on her hips.
'No need to get defensive.' House said sarcastically. Cameron rolled her eyes.
'Ok, what do you think it is then?' House asked her.
'An infection. We can do an MRI and try to see if we can get anything out of that.' Cameron said confidently.
'Foreman, you do the MRI, Cameron, you do her blood work and Chase, stick her on the Med's for Meningitis just is case Miss perfect is wrong.' House instructed them.
Cameron shook her head and walked out of the room down to the lab.
………
Cameron sat in her office at the end of the day. It had been an exhausting one at that, not to mention House being a complete and utter jackass.
Sighing, she put her head in her hands. She had been shaky all day from that dream she had had that morning. It wasn't as if she hadn't had it before. It had happened before, but lately she had been waking up in a cold sweat due to the dreams.
And House had not been making anything any easier for her lately. Being a son of a bitch was a personality trait of his, but lately Cameron could barely get a word in without him making some smart-ass comment.
Figuring out the case they had was difficult enough, and it turned out that both Cameron and House had been right in their diagnosis. Abbie had an infection and a mild case of Meningitis. That had made House extremely cocky, even though he was only half right.
Cameron heard a thumping noise and immediately knew what was coming. House limped into her office, uninvited as he usually did, and stood right in front of her desk.
'Hard day?' He asked innocently, looking down at her tired form.
Cameron smirked and stood up, closing her laptop and putting it in her bag. 'Oh yeah, you know how it is.'
House nodded and watched her as she slung the laptop bag over her shoulder. 'I sense a sarcastic tone in your voice.'
'You'd be the master at recognising them.' Cameron replied, rolling her eyes as she walked around her desk, but was blocked by House.
'What did I do now?' He asked her.
Cameron glared at him. 'There is really no point at me explaining it to you because you'd just switch off.'
She attempted to get around him, but he blocked her again. 'What if I didn't?
Cameron laughed. 'When that happens, I'll eat my hat.'
House sighed. 'Well, that's just silly cause you don't have a hat.' He said sarcastically.
'It was a figure of speech.' Cameron replied, giving up and turning to her desk where she picked up some papers.
'Your angry at me.' House said to her, staring at her back.
'Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.' Cameron replied quietly.
'Your overly emotional today. More than usual, I mean. And it's not just me. Something happened to you last night.' House said, staring intently at her.
Cameron turned around. 'Stop trying to analyse me.' She said, her voice dangerously low.
'Ah, but I'm right. Something did happen.' House said in his annoyingly sure voice.
'That's none of your business.' She replied, glaring at him.
'I like to make things my business.' House said to her.
'You really want to know what's making me upset? You. You and everything you do and say to me. You make me irate. You niggle me because you know I'll take it. You use the fact that I have feelings for you to your own advantage.' Cameron said angrily.
'I thought you were over me.' House said after a prolonged silence.
'I lied.' Cameron replied, still annoyed, and picking up her jacket.
There was a long billowing silence that Cameron expected after a proclamation like that. But that just made her more irritated at the man standing in front of her.
House was the first to break the silence. 'Why?'
Cameron faced him, her face unreadable. 'Everybody lies, remember?'
'You don't lie.' House stated, staring at her.
Cameron smirked angrily. 'Stop acting like you think you understand me. You don't. The real reason I lied? Because I figured that maybe if I voiced it, then maybe I might stop having feelings for you.'
Cameron didn't wait for a reply as she grabbed her bag and walked out of her office, leaving House alone in the dark room.
…………
House sat in his office, twirling his cane through his fingers. He was deep in thought, mostly about a certain someone who had just stormed out of her office 15 minutes ago.
House's mind was raging a battle between itself. Apart of him wanted to go after her, but the other part, the sane part, held him back. He didn't know what he would say to Cameron if he did follow her. Apologise? Apologies were something House considered himself terrible at, and rarely did it. Admitting he was wrong was also a fact House did not want to voice at that particular moment either.
But apart from the battle in his mind, there was a voice, right in the back, telling House that Cameron was right and had been all along. He did niggle her, because he knew she would take it. He took advantage of her feelings, but because of something he didn't want to admit to himself, let alone Cameron. He liked her. Cameron intrigued him. And the fact of the matter was that House didn't know Cameron. And that made him want to.
House sighed and knocked the top of his cane on his forehead. He had been attempting to hide how he felt for so long, not wanting to risk getting hurt again. He covered his true feelings with raw sarcasm and rudeness. But Cameron saw pass that. She saw that he, alike herself, was damaged and outside his harsh exterior, he craved human attention; and love.
Sick of the dark office and dwelling on the obvious, House stood up and limped over to his bag and coat. Slinging his bag over his shoulder and limping towards the door, House attempted to put all thoughts of Cameron and his 'feelings' out of his mind.
House walked along the dark corridors of the hospital and had nearly made it out the door when he heard it.
'Dr House.'
Sighing, House turned around and saw Cuddy walking towards him.
'As much as I love our little chats, I would like to get home.' House said to her.
Cuddy smirked. 'I heard your little discussion with Dr Cameron. You really should be aware that noise travels through an empty hospital.'
'And you should be aware that you've been attracting attention from all the cleaners with all these promiscuous tops you love to wear. I'd tone it down a bit…wear a couple of high cuts. See if they quit because their view isn't as good as it was.' House replied, in his usual sarcastic manner.
Cuddy shook her head. 'You really don't get it, do you? Your completely oblivious to your own feelings towards Cameron.'
House rolled his eyes. 'Oh god, not you to. Your sounding exactly like Wilson. You two start a club?'
Cuddy smiled. 'Maybe you should start listening to us. You may actually find that what we are saying makes complete sense.'
House didn't say anything, yet he didn't move. Cuddy smiled and turned around walking towards the exit.
'Have a good night, Dr House.' She called over her shoulder as she walked through the doors of PPTH.
House was knocked out of his thoughts as he nodded and limped out the door, his mind set on his next destination.
……………….
Cameron walked out of her bedroom after changing into a pair of old tracksuit pants and a Singlet top, and grabbed a blanket off her chair, tossing it onto the couch as she headed into the kitchen.
Grabbing a bag of chips from the pantry and putting them into a bowl, she walked back into the living room and sunk into the couch, pulling the blanket over her lap and reaching for the remote.
Switching on the TV, Cameron sighed as a scene from General Hospital lit up her television screen. Shaking her head, she reached for the bowl of chips and stuffed some into her mouth.
She didn't know why she had said it. She had just blurted out everything she had been feeling for the past couple of months to the one person she didn't want to tell them to. Cameron sighed again and tossed her head back on the pillow behind her. It wasn't as if she was surprised by her recent outburst. She had a tendency to bottle things up and House had hit far to many nerves today for her to contain them ay further.
Three hard knocks on her door awoke Cameron from her revere. She looked at the door. She knew those knocks. They were the knocks that a hard solid piece of wood made with direct contact with another wooden object. A cane.
Cameron contemplated not answering, pretending she wasn't home, but that was soon squashed when House's voice echoed, 'I can hear your TV.'
Damn.
Cameron heaved herself up from the couch and moved tentively towards the locked door. Sliding the latch and turning the key, Cameron opened the door reluctantly and was faced with Greg House.
'You sure know how to keep a guy waiting.' He joked, standing up straighter.
Cameron didn't smile. She simply stared at him, her hand turning white with her grip on the door handle. 'What are you doing here House?'
House ignored her opening words and looked into her apartment. 'Aren't you going to let me in?'
Cameron glared at him. House kept his gaze on her and when Cameron realised that he wasn't going to back down, she rolled her eyes and stood aside, allowing him to enter.
House limped into her living room as Cameron reluctantly shut the door behind her. House glanced around at her apartment before turning back to Cameron's stiff form. 'Your apartments very…you.'
Cameron didn't reply, but walked over to he couch and sat on the edge. 'So are you going to tell me why you are here, or are going to continue making lame small talk?' She asked, staring up at him.
House looked at her TV. 'General Hospital? You don't strike me as the type who likes watching soap operas.'
'Again, with the assumptions. In actual truth, you have no idea what I like.' Cameron stated, eying him.
'You like being nice.' House said simply.
Cameron smirked. 'That has more to do with my personality.'
'You like talking to patients.'
'So does the majority of doctors. With the exception of you, of course.' Cameron replied, shrugging.
'You like me.'
Cameron froze at his last statement, unable to think of a reply, and too stunned to register one. House's expression did not waver, even as the room filled with an echoing silence.
House was the first to break the silence. 'This is the part where you pipe up with some sort of reply. You should have learnt by now never to leave the ball in my court.'
Cameron cleared her throat. 'What do you want me to say? I've already told you how I feel. Countless times, I recall.'
House stared at her, apparently at a loss at what to say. He seemed to be contemplating something.
Cameron sighed. 'What is it that you want? Really?'
House knocked his cane on the floor. 'I don't know. Clarification?'
Cameron smirked. 'Clarification? You want me to explain my feelings to you? I told you why I like you. I left. You come here asking me to come back and I obliged. We went out on a date that ended disastrously and we've been going round and round in circles ever since Stacy arrived and still end up in the same place. Is that enough Clarification for you?'
'Please don't bring Stacy into this.' House replied, his eyes focused on the floor.
Cameron stood up, a look of pure distain crossing her normally pleasant features. 'Why shouldn't I bring her into this? Why shouldn't I be pissed off? She left you five years ago and ever since she came back all you've been doing is pining for her. And then you show up here, with no real reason behind it, so excuse me for being a little annoyed.'
House stared at her. He wanted to tell her how he felt. He needed to. But the invisible bond in his brain prevented him from doing so.
He walked away, towards the kitchen and froze, turning back around to face Cameron, but his eyes were directed to the carpet.
'After,' House swung his cane around, gesturing to his leg, 'this, everything got screwed up. I got hurt. More than I ever had in my entire life. It's hard to let anyone in. I don't want to go through it again.'
Cameron's face softened and she took a step forward. 'I've already seen you at your worst and I'm still here. What does that tell you? I'm not going anywhere, no matter how hard you try to push me away.'
'I'm not the type to express…anything really. Anger and sarcasm, yes, but actual feelings…I can't.' House replied, looking uncomfortable.
'And I don't expect you to.' Cameron said, taking another step forward.
'What do you expect?' House asked, finally looking up at Cameron.
Cameron sighed and stopped about a meter away from House. 'Something. Anything. I know your not going to make any heartfelt proclamations anytime soon, and I'm ok with that. But I need something.'
They both looked each other in the eyes, silence echoing through the living room. Cameron could see House's brain working, and his facial expression registered contemplation. Cameron shook her head and looked at the floor, fearing she had crossed some invisible line, when she heard him take 2 steps forward, right in front of her. She looked up and saw that he was inches from her, staring down at her face.
'Something?' He asked, placing his hand not occupying his cane on her waist.
Cameron's breath caught in her throat as she felt his warm hand on her waist.
'Anything.' She replied breathlessly.
She had barley gotten the word out when House roughly placed his lips on hers.
The feeling of passion rose in Cameron's stomach as she slowly responded by placing her hands on his shoulders. House dropped his cane to the floor, ignoring the pain of his leg as he opened his mouth and dragged his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entry.
Cameron opened her mouth and her tongue collided with House's in a whirl of fiery passion and suppressed sexual tension that had been building between them both for so long.
When oxygen was becoming an issue for both of them, they broke away, breathing heavily. Cameron hung onto House, her breathing ragged, as she stared at him, licking her swollen lips.
'That was…something.' Cameron smiled.
'I think that qualifies as a little more than something.' House replied, his breath returning to its normal speed.
Cameron nodded and bit her lip. 'So, where do we go from here?'
'I'm not thinking that far ahead.' House replied.
'Might be wise not to.' Cameron said.
They continued to stare at each other as both their brains processed the fact of what had just happened.
House was the first to break the silence. 'I should probably go.'
Cameron was knocked out of her thoughts, and was startled at what he had just said. Did this mean he regretted it? That he didn't want to make something out of it? To forget it ever happened?
'Oh. Ok. Um…' Cameron managed to get that much out as she walked over to the door.
House followed her over to the door. Cameron put her hand on the doorhandle, ready to open it when House placed his hand on top of hers.
'Things have changed. That's one thing that I can't deny. I plan to have many more of these visits.' He said softly into her ear.
Cameron turned around, her hand still on the doorknob, and House's still on top of hers. She nodded, smiling slightly, as she opened the door.
House took his hand off her's and began to make his way out the door. He stopped in the doorway and turned around, pressing his lips on Cameron's. She kissed him back.
It was quick and before Cameron knew it, he was already halfway down the stairs.
Smiling to herself, Cameron closed the door and leant on it.
Things had changed. For the better, neither of them knew. But they were willing to work on it.
Please Review; it would be appreciated more than you know!