Chapter 15

"She dumped you?" Foreman asked as they waited for test results.

Chase turned to him. "I never realized how empathetic you are. Truly, you are a saint."

The other doctor laughed at the sarcasm. "What happened?"

Chase was still reliving the scene in his mind. He had come with flowers and the promise of breakfast. Cameron had told him she had something to say.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore." Cameron looked straight at him, never flinching.

"Why?" Chase was incredulous. He was the one that got hit, and she was going to run off with House? Chase couldn't believe it. "Why?" he repeated. "Because of House?"

Cameron inhaled deeply. "Because it's not fair to you. You are trying to give me your whole heart, and I can't give mine to you in return. I love House and that's not going to stop because I want it to. I have no right to continue seeing you under false pretense."

Chase looked down at his hands and nodded. He knew he had to remain calm. "Despite everything," he said, "I still want you as my friend. Just be happy, Allison. That's all I want."

Cameron's brows rose. She hadn't expected it to go this well. "Thank you, Chase. I want you to be happy, too."

Chase squeezed her knee and then got up from the couch. "Why don't you still have breakfast with me? As friends?"

She consented, but looked apprehensive as she thought about the implications of the invitation.

"You let things end that easily? What happened to fighting for her?" Foreman asked after Chase had communicated the morning's events.

"I am fighting for her," Chase said with a sly grin. "What's going to happen? She'll run to House and he'll self-destruct within days."

"You mean like you did?" Foreman asked with a glint in his eyes.

Chase ignored the dig. "If I continue to be the nice guy, the best friend, then she'll come to me when he acts like the jerk that he is."

Foreman folded his arms over his chest. "What if he isn't a jerk?"

Chase smiled again. "He will be."

…………………………

"What do you mean you broke things off with Chase this morning?" House asked as he limped towards his office.

Following close behind him, she answered. "I told him that it is unfair of me to keep dating him when…"

Cameron's words trailed off, so House finished them for her. "When you have feelings for me."

Cameron's brows furrowed. "Is it just me, or did our roles reverse somehow?"

House chuckled at the observation. As he sat down at his desk, he fought to open his Vicodin bottle. "I know I hired you for your looks instead of your brains, but you're more than smart enough to deduce that no Chase means you can go out on a date with me."

She frowned at his sarcasm. "No, it doesn't, House. Dates do not go well for us."

House's bottom lip jutted out in thought. "So we can skip straight to the sex then. Great."

This time she smiled and put her head down in the way House loved to see. "I mean," she said more forcefully, "that I'll see you at the ball, and we'll see how it goes."

He looked agitated. House bounced his cane on the floor several times. "You want to go slower with me than you did with Chase," he almost whined jealously.

"If I've learned anything from the circus that has been the last two weeks," she said, her hands on her hips, "is that I shouldn't jump into anything. It only hurts people later."

House nodded in acquiescence. "Okay, but save me a dance Friday?"

She smiled at the vulnerability projecting from his face. "Play your cards right…" she said as she got up to leave.

House smiled proudly at her confidence and teasing. "Oh, by the way," he said, making her turn around. "We are so making out behind the bleachers."

Cameron laughed and left the office. She put her arms up to her stomach, vainly trying to ignore the warm swirls that were once again in her belly.

TBC