A/N: Well... what can one say about chapter 3::thinks: Nothing, apparently! ;) Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Spur of the Moment
"Any other symptoms?" House asked of the woman in front of him, trying to sound at least remotely engaged.
"No, just this god-awful pain in my shoulder!" the red-haired woman explained earnestly. "Although last week I did get this terrible headache."
"Have you changed your daily routine in the last week or so?"
"Well," the woman said, clearly having to think. "I did get a weekend job at this fish and chip place…" She seemed embarrassed. "Just to try and get these debts paid off, you know?"
"Shift length?" he asked, ignoring her explanation, not caring if she was the CEO of Microsoft or a casual at Greasy Joe's.
"10 hours," she replied. He sighed inwardly, standing up and walking towards the door.
"Well," he said heavily. "You're a medical mystery. An enigma. My limited general knowledge of medicine does not allow for a diagnosis at this stage in the progression of your symptoms."
The woman looked concerned.
"However," House said, as if he had just had a 'eureka' moment. "I do have a colleague upstairs who specializes in the shoulder! If I were you, I'd take a hike up there and see what she has to say. Either that, or you spare $5 from your repayments to invest in a bottle of deep heat."
He opened the door and walked out, rolling his eyes as he went, though there was a smile on his face. He was in a surprisingly good mood today, for some, unknown reason. He put a hand in his pocket and felt the weight of his Vicodin bottle, wondering if perhaps it was possible he'd had a little too much last dose. His mood quickly turned sour at the sight of his stormy-faced boss making a beeline towards him. He quickly turned on his heel and almost ran into a girl of about seventeen who was walking behind him. House grabbed her arm to steady her, and saw in her an opportunity.
"So," he said. "The pain has gotten worse?"
A bewildered expression crossed the girl's face. House jerked his head towards the rapidly advancing Cuddy, and the girl grinned as it dawned on her.
"Oh doctor," she said loudly. "Do you think I'll make it?"
"Unlikely," he said gravely, shaking his head. She immediately pretended to burst into tears, and threw herself at the doctor. He patted her back, sympathy evident on his face.
"There there," he said soothingly. "At least you can choose your own coffin!"
The girl snorted with laughter into him, but managed to make it sound like she was still bawling her eyes out.
"Dr. House," Cuddy said, eyeing the figure whose shoulders were shaking, seemingly with pain, with wariness.
"I'm a little busy here!" he hissed, and continued making soothing noises and comments that the girl found hysterically amusing, adding to effect.
Cuddy raised a knowing eyebrow and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
"Welcome to New Jersey, Rachel," she said.
The girl pulled away from House, the tears (of laughter) coursing down her face. She immediately turned off the act, however, when she saw the face of the person who had touched her.
"Aunt Lisa!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms about the surprised doctor, as House looked on in shock.
Taking advantage of the situation, House quietly slipped away. "Remind me to thank that girl," he muttered on the quiet.
A raised voice made him turn his head, and he spied Cameron walking fast towards the administration desk, face flustered.
"Must be Monday," House mused.
House shut up when he saw the figure who was following her. He was tall, rugged, and looked to be in his early thirties. His face was a picture of anger as he called out to Cameron to stop. When she ignored him and kept walking, he reached out and grabbed her right arm, pulling her around to face him. House took an involuntary step forward, and listened.
"Let go," Cameron said in a low, dangerous voice.
"Just tell me the combination and you'll never hear from me again," the man said huskily. Cameron closed her eyes, steeling herself.
"Go to hell," she finally said. His grip on her arm tightened.
"Tell me, damn you!" he snarled.
"Leave now, or I'll call security," she said.
House had had enough. He hurried over to the pair.
"Everything alright here?"
Cameron, who had been trying to stare her harasser down, almost jumped at his voice, but she couldn't contain the look of sheer relief that washed over her face as the man let go his vice-like grip on her arm. The man glared at House, who raised an eyebrow comically. The hostile man's gaze was dragged back to Cameron.
"This is not finished," he hissed, before storming out of the front doors. Cameron watched him go, neutral expression on her face. She closed her eyes, allowing her anger to dissipate.
"Thank you," she directed at House, and made to walk away. He took her arm before she could, and rolled up the sleeve, noting the flesh that had already started to bruise. He let her arm drop.
"Who was that?"
She surveyed him coldly. "I appreciate your concern, Dr. House, but I am not in the mood for the 20 questions thing, or for satiating your curiosity. Let's just say my taste in men leaves a lot to be desired," she said, proud of her ability to deflect the question and have a dig at the asker at the same time.
She turned on her heel and stepped into the just-opened elevator. When the doors closed, she pressed the button for the top floor and leaned against the back wall, letting out a sigh. Seeing Andy again was a shock to her, and an unpleasant one at that. He had just wanted something from her,as he always did.Perpetually wanting. She let her mind fly back to four years ago, and their brief liaison. She had had no idea what she was getting herself into when she got involved with him, and she had thought she had left that world far behind when she had come here. She closed her eyes, trying to expel the image of his face in hers, demanding the 'combination', one she did not have, not anymore. His damned paranoia was coming back to slam into her life, once again. She tried to rationalize it, going through the event in her mind. All that time ago, Andy's brother, Ben, who was a good friend to her, had entrusted to her the combination of a safe, one that contained a lot of his wealth and personal possessions, in the event of something happening to him. Andy had found out about this, and suspecting that she had been unfaithful to him with his brother, plotted to steal the contents of the safe from Ben, framing her for the act. She had gotten wind of his plan, and knew that, now they were effectively 'over' in his mind, he would stop at nothing to get the combination. Cameron had urged Ben to change the number, thinking she had floored Andy. But he became increasingly violent, and, fearing for her own welfare, she had fled to her sister's house in New Jersey. She had quit her old job and picked up her fellowship here, and she hadn't heard from Andy or Ben since. It caused her to wonder what had transpired in her absence to cause Andy to resurface after all this time and harass her for the combination. Had Ben died? Cameron didn't want to even speculate about it.
The elevator beeped, and stopped. Hastily, Cameron pressed the 'close' button before anyone else could step in, and pressed the button for the floor she really wanted. It opened and she stepped out, having composed herself wonderfully.
Their office was fully occupied, to her dismay. Chase and Foreman were pottering about in the ante-office, while House was talking on the phone in his. She planted a smile on her face and walked in, the picture of cheerfulness. Obviously she was good at it, because no one even suspected that there may be something amiss with her.
"Taking Cameron's two weeks, Chase?" House called from the door. Chase waved the comment off, and House scowled.
"So I am going to have to get a replacement," he said.
"Surely we can manage for two weeks?" Foreman said. Cameron remembered Chase's strange request, and met his eyes. Her deadline for 'thinking' was almost up. In light of the event that had occurred not ten minutes before, Cameron's mind did a backflip in its reasoning. She gave a short nod to Chase, who grinned in response.
"I hope that means what I think it means," Chase said discreetly.
"Yep," she said. "What have we got to lose?"
-----------
Cuddy was not stupid enough to ring from work.
She had mulled over the events of the past few days. The one word that kept returning to haunt her thoughts was 'vulnerable'. Something she had never had cause to consider herself before now. Brian had definitely had the upper hand… why? Well, the gun pointed at their heads was a clue. Her mind latched on to that. How could she protect herself if the situation ever arose again? Her niece was also a motivator in the course of action Cuddy was dwelling on. The girl had a mind as sharp as a tack, and on many occasions had had her Aunt splitting her sides laughing. Just that day, Cuddy had been forced to bite the inside of her mouth to keep herself from laughing at the combined antics of Rachel and House. They were a good match, those two, she thought, humour lighting up her eyes just at the thought.
The girl was sitting in front of the television at the moment, brown hair pulled back loosely out of her face. Cuddy watched her discreetly, she was glad her niece had visited; she needed a break from her tumultuous school and home life. Cuddy's brother was a businessman in Nebraska somewhere, and had little time to spend with his daughter. They never spoke of Rachel's mother. Cuddy had no idea what had happened to her, and had never had the will to broach the topic. The girl was surprisingly well held together, despite this, and always had a smile on her face and a joke on her tongue. She was refreshing to be around. Cuddy's feelings for the girl suddenly got the better of her. She would not be able to live with herself should something happen to her. It would be so easy for some madman to break into their home and hurt them both. And it would be entirely her fault forbeing unprepared for theevent, were it forthcoming.Cuddy retreated into her office and picked up the phone.
"Jen? Yeah, it's Lisa. Look, I need a favour."