Disclaimer: They still aren't mine. But if I take out a big enough student loan...

Chapter Fourteen

House's apartment, Cameron had decided, was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, it was cluttered, but that could be cleaned up. Well … if he'd let her. Unique carpets were lying haphazardly on the wood floors, and the piano in the corner made her want to let out a little squeal. She'd seen his apartment before, but she hadn't really taken any of it in. "This place is huge," she said quietly.

"I figured I ought to get a place that matches me," he answered her with a smirk, tossing his bag into a chair and placing Steve in his previous spot on his coffee table.

She gave a snort of laughter and resisted the urge to go and pick up the bag and put everything where it should go. "I don't ever recall screaming, 'It's huge!' while we were having sex," she said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Screaming my name six or seven times told me what you weren't saying." He took the wine out of her hands and set it in the fridge, staying there for a short while to catch his breath. With Cameron around, he was able to ignore some of the pain in his leg and take fewer pills. However, the consequence of reducing his intake so quickly was the wonderful feeling of detoxing.

"You okay?"

"Perfect," he breathed out, straightening.

"You're sweating…"

"Cameron, I said I was fine," he snapped, wiping some of the said sweat off of his forehead. "You're a doctor and you ought to know that it's a bad idea for me to decrease my drug intake by half in less than three days."

"I'm not making you do it," she pointed out. "It would be nice if you could make it through the detox. But I'm not going to make you."

"You're one passive-aggressive bitch, you know that?" he asked, meaning the statement as a compliment.

"Mmhmm," she said with a smile, kissing his cheek. "Why don't you sit down? I can straighten up-"

"You're not straightening anything up," he warned, poking her shin with his cane. "This, Allison, is a bachelor pad. It shall remain sacred until the day I marry. Now, this may be never, and this may be within the next year. Either way, it stays beautiful and messy until that day. Understood?"

She laughed and held up her hands in surrender. "I understand. Keep my female touches off of the bachelor pad."

"You can, however, put your female touches all over the bachelor. That's allowed," he said with a nod.

"So when I decorate your belly with little flowers, you're not going to kill me?"

"You decorate my belly with little flowers and I'll decorate your ass with a cane," he said flatly. A picture entered his mind of him spanking her and he grinned. "You know what? Actually? Go ahead and decorate my belly with flowers."

"Kinky bastard."

"I know who my dad is. I'm a kinky jerk. Clarification is wonderful." He sat down on the couch and put his leg up on the coffee table. He moved his head to motion for Cameron to come sit next to him, which she did without question. There was no denying that he sort of liked that about her. It used to annoy the hell out of him that she listened and obeyed some things without asking about them, but now… Now it seemed endearing.

Cameron rested her head on House's shoulder, draping her arm carelessly around his waist. "Will you snark at me if I tell you that I'm proud of you?"

"Yes," he answered ruthlessly. "I will mock the hell out of you."

She smiled and snuggled into him anyway. "I'll live with it. I'm proud of you."

"For being able to get it up five times in one day? I'm pretty proud of that, too."

She poked him in the side. "The pills, Greg."

"They're not Viagra, if that's what you're trying to say. I'm offended!"

Again, she poked him. "For lowering the intake. I'm proud of you for lowering your Vicodin intake and not complaining for the most part. And for not running out and getting drunk at the first knowledge that I had no alcohol."

"Yeah, well… Don't get too sappy on me. I might kick you out."

"Even if I promised apology sex?"

He was quiet and rested his head on the back of the couch. "Too much sap can only be made up with amazing fellatio."

"Then I ought to feel free to be as sappy as I want to be. I've heard I'm pretty good at it."

"Being sappy? I noticed."

"I give great head," she said with a sweet smile before getting up and going to the bathroom, leaving a stunned and amused House in her wake.

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By Monday morning, Cameron thought she might not make it to work. Her body was screaming for her to throw in the towel and crawl back into bed. House was exhausting, physically and emotionally. A forty-five year old man should not have a libido like his. Not that she didn't like it. She loved it. It truly catered to her more sexual side. But damn… She was almost ready to tell him enough was enough.

She got to work at her usual, prompt, nine AM and went straight to the coffee-maker. Caffeine was the first thing on her mind. She'd gotten up earlier than she'd wanted to, though not so early as five. After all, she figured, she was getting plenty of exercise without the jogging now. She yawned as Foreman and Chase entered the diagnostics room.

"Someone's beat," Foreman said with a grin. "How was the weekend with House?"

"Exhausting," she admitted. They'd probably figure she meant that she'd fought constantly with him. Let them think that. House had told her that she could let them know about the relationship, but she wanted to drag them along on her little string.

"Lots of yelling?" Chase asked, his grin matching Foreman's.

"Mmm…" She watched the coffee maker with a pathetic whimper. "Why can't it go faster?"

Chase looked at Foreman and held out his hand. He'd bet that Cameron and House would most definitely not sleep together over the weekend. Foreman grudgingly reached into his pocket for his wallet.

Cameron's gaze slid over to them and she smirked. "You two start a betting pool behind my back, didn't you?" she asked.

"That's the way things work around here," Chase said, smiling brightly as Foreman handed over two hundred dollars. "He bet that you two would have sex over the weekend. I bet against him."

The coffee was finally made and she all but jumped for joy as she poured herself a cup. "And just what makes you think that you won?" she asked, blowing to cool the coffee.

Chase paused and his face went slack. "You didn't…"

"Oh, we did," she said with a smile. "We did a lot. And it was great." She took a long swig of the coffee and let out a satisfied sigh. "I love caffeine…"

Foreman let out a loud laugh and took his money back from Chase. "Give it up," he said, putting his hand out.

"I can't believe you actually got nasty with House," Chase said, shaking his head as he dropped money into Foreman's hand.

"I can," the neurologist replied, stuffing the money into his wallet and his wallet back into his pants pocket. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. Does Wilson know? I'll bet he'll be ecstatic. He had three hundred riding on this."

"That isn't fair," Cameron stated plainly. "He's got insider information. He's House's best friend."

"You two hop in the sack and you still call him by his last name?" Chase asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Would you rather she called me Greggy-poo?" a voice came from the doorway. "I'm sure it could be arranged… Though, she might puke every time she says it. Hell, I'd puke every time she said it." House went straight for the coffee as well, and Cameron handed him his usual cup.

"Here before ten again," Foreman noted. "I'm impressed."

"I would have come in later, but someone woke me up when they left this morning." He glared at Cameron, delighting in the shock that settled on the other two ducklings' faces. They probably couldn't believe that he was discussing this in front of him. He had his reasons, though… Namely, disgusting the hell out of them. "What the hell did you have to leave at seven for? I woke up uncomfortable."

Cameron snorted and took a seat at the table. "I needed to get a change of clothes. I wasn't coming in today in jeans and a tee shirt. I'll make it up to you later." She got a small thrill when she heard Chase cough uncomfortably before she noticed a file inHouse's hand and nodded to it. "Got a case?"

"Oh, you. Always wanting to work." He turned to the dry erase board and hung his cane on the side, writing down the symptoms as he explained the basics of the case. "Twenty two year old male, diagnosed with thyroid cancer at twenty. He went through the chemo and has been declared to be in complete remission."

Cameron's attention was riveted to the board, her heart speeding up. Oh, God… she thought, beginning to panic. No…

"He's been complaining of tinnitus and neck pain…"

The rest of the information passed in one ear and right out the other for Cameron. This case was already hitting too close to home. What if the patient wasn't in complete remission? He could be relapsing. Who was the physician that declared the patient to be in remission? Now there was the question…

"Who declared the patient to be in remission?" Cameron interrupted the information session.

"A Dr. Mycas in Pennsylvania."

"Have Wilson look at the patient," she said immediately.

"Cameron, he's in remission," Chase reminded her softly.

"Not necessarily. Cancer's tricky. It can come back even after remission. He needs to be looked at again, and by a better oncologist," she insisted forcefully. "Who is this Dr. Mycas anyway? What sorts of articles has he had published? Where was his fellowship at? Have Wilson look at the patient."

House was silent, studying Cameron with a tense look. He'd been hesitant to take this case, knowing that she'd be far too close to it. And he hadn't wanted to expose her to it so soon after the anniversary of her husband's death. But a part of him had realized that she needed this. She needed to close this door and move on. It would always be difficult for her, but it shouldn't stop her work. He looked to Foreman and nodded to the phone. "Call Wilson. Tell him to stop by room 203 and take a look at the patient in there when he gets the chance. Explain the history with thyroid cancer."

As Foreman followed orders, House grabbed his cane off of the board and leaned on it, staring down Cameron. "You're too close to this case, aren't you?"

"I'm fine," she snapped in response.

Even Chase gave her a slightly pitying look. "Cameron…"

"Don't," she told him, turning her anger to him. "Don't give me that pitying look and don't baby me. I'll be fine on the case. It was just a bit of a … shock when the symptoms were read." She turned to House and frowned. "I'm fine," she reiterated.

He didn't believe her in the slightest, but he'd let her think what she wanted. "I need a more detailed patient history."

"I'm on it," she responded, grabbing up a notepad and storming out of the room.

Chase glared at House. "You're a complete ass, you know that?" he asked angrily.

House cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "Now … are you saying that because you don't like how I'm treating your fellow duckling? Or are you saying that because you're upset that I'm currently dating your fellow duckling?" He knew he'd hit the spot when Chase's jaw tightened.

"You don't deserve her."

"Neither does the coworker who had sex with her while she was high on drugs," House shot back immediately. "At least she was sober when we had a roll in the hay. Actually … she was sober every time we had a roll in the hay." He slapped the folder down on the table in front of Chase. "Research the symptoms," he ordered. "Occupy that keen mind with something other than my girlfriend." He went into his office and turned on his iPod.

Foreman had watched the exchange slack-jawed, blinking a few times after House had left the room. "So… How about those Devils?"

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The rest of the day passed quietly by. Wilson had met with the patient and found that the thyroid cancer had, in fact, relapsed. He caught it before it was too late, which was always a wonderful thing. As it was, he was looking for Cameron. He wanted to talk to her about a few things. House was, of course, one of them. But more important was how she was feeling about the case she'd almost had to work on.

He found her sitting in the diagnostics room on her laptop, glasses sitting on her nose, brow furrowed in concentration. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms casually across his chest. "No work to do and you're still working?"

Cameron looked up and smiled at Wilson. "What can I say? I live for it." She took off her glasses and set them on the table. "How's the patient?"

"Great, considering the circumstances." He moved to sit near her at the table. "He's taking it all really well, and so is his wife." He was silent as he watched the sad smile on Cameron's face. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine," she answered immediately, though not crossly.

"I know this must have hit close to home…"

"Wilson, really," she assured him with an honest smile. "I'm okay. It was a shock. I'm okay now."

He nodded and tapped his fingers on the table. "So … how are things with House?"

Cameron gave him a look and put her glasses back on, her attention returning to her computer. "I'm sure he's told you. Or you've asked him and he refused to tell you, so you came to ask me."

Wilson laughed and nodded slightly. "You've got the routine down," he admitted. "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into," he said hesitantly. He didn't want to upset Cameron, but this needed to be said. "House isn't going to be some … knight in shining armor. He's been through a lot and he is going to hurt you plenty of times. He'll be sorry for it, and he'll show you somehow, but he'll never come right out and apologize. He's been through a lot and he's the epitome of cynical. He hates typical romance, happy endings, and anything conventional."

Cameron sighed and took her glasses off once more. "I appreciate your concern," she told him truthfully, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And I'm glad that you didn't come and accuse me of having the potential to break his heart this time." She cleared her throat and sat back in her chair. "But I know what I'm getting into. I knew what I was getting into the first time he kissed me. I'm not expecting some dashing man who will sweep me off my feet, okay? Greg will push me down so that I fall on my ass and laugh while I'm down there. But he makes up for it; and that's really all that matters to me. I'll take my knight in tainted armor; shining armor is overrated anyway. It just gets dirty and dinged up along the way."

He gave her a wide smile and sat back in his chair. "I knew you two would be good together."

She gave him a small smile back. "I did, too."

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It was about twenty minutes later when Wilson reported to Cuddy's office with the news. House and Cameron had, indeed, gotten together. And not just for a fling. They were in a full-blown relationship.

Cuddy had a satisfied smile on her face. "Do you think they'll last long? I'd hate to have to fire one of them because they can't work together…"

"Lisa, I would put money on them staying together."

Cuddy's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "How much? I'm willing to place another bet."

Wilson laughed and shook his head. "I'm not betting with you again. I paid over one hundred dollars for your dinner last time."

She gave him a sweet smile. "But we had a good time," she reminded him with a wink.

"We did." He shifted in his chair, which made Cuddy laugh. "House would kill us if he knew."

"If he knew what? There are a lot of things he'd kill us for… There was the fiasco with the exterminator. He didn't seem to upset about that, actually…"

"Then there are the bets we've made concerning him and his now-girlfriend," Wilson added with a bright smile.

"Not just the bets," she reminded him. "The plotting and planning. I never realized it could take months to figure out how to get House to fall for what was right in front of his face."

Wilson responded with a smirk. "Took you long enough."

"We aren't talking about me," she said with a sniff. "We're talking about House."

"Sure, switch the topic… Anyway, House now has his apartment back. And guess who stayed over there last night?"

Cuddy grinned. "She'll be so good for him," she said softly. "I'm glad they're together."

"She'll keep him from doing something stupid, which might cause you to have to fire him," Wilson added. "Since the third day he stayed with her, he's stopped making the nurses cry and he actually does his clinic duty when it needs to be done. He still bitches about it. But the point is that he does it."

"Thank God for Allison Cameron."