Title: Vicodin is for Lovers pt 5?
Author: revolution25 aka laurieisme
Summary: will later be House/Cameron. Between love and hate, Cameron and House find a happy in-between.
Rating: Teen right now, may go to Adult later.
Author's Notes: My first House fanfiction, but hardly my first fanfiction. As ever thanks eternally to my beta vessybeta.
Vero (really)
Two months.
Two long painful months.
That was how long House had been gone for, two months, other wise known as sixty one days.
Now she avoided the Emergency Room like the plague, knowing at any moment they could wheel in House, dead on a gurney.
Every emotion seemed to be getting to her, and it all circulated around House not being there. She was angry at him for loosing control, and worried for the same reason. She found that in a day her emotions would change ten times over, and she would have to drive home with a headache.
Foreman had taken over in House's absence, which was working fine, but it wasn't the same, and the patients were... well they weren't as successful as they had been in the past.
Wilson had helped a bit, he wasn't in contact with House, but he made her feel as though it were only a matter of time before House came back. That is until he left, then ten minutes later she was sure he wasn't going to come back ever again.
Of course lying to everyone was horrible. Wilson and she talked, and they decided that the best thing to tell everyone was that House was on sabbatical. The worst part of it was to try to convince Cuddy, but that had been left to Wilson. On the surface it seemed as if she had no involvement, no knowledge of what happened to House, and even Wilson didn't think she knew anything.
It was hardest to lie to him, she wanted to tell him what she knew about what was happening to his friend, but she always seemed to fall short. Saying what happened that day, what she found out that day, would make everything too real. She couldn't actually bring herself to say that House admitted to sleeping with a prostitute, that he was drinking himself to death. That with the liquor and pills she doubted that it would be long before he overdosed.
But it had been long, obscenely long.
Sixty-one days of long.
She was again the first one to arrive of the day, she set up her laptop and paperwork, then took out her thermos and began the day just as it had been done sixty one times before.
She had stopped making coffee for everyone when the two other men began shaking their empty cups in front of them, almost demanding a refill. She was not Susie Homemaker, and she was not going to be the coffee wench for any of them. At least House had enough brains to get up and refill his own damn coffee.
Without House there, they would take advantage of her kindness without noticing it. Her being as nice as she was when House was around was mostly a counter balance, without him, everything was off kilter.
She opened up the first letter and after skimming it she put the name of the university in her 'template.' The template was a pre-written letter, explaining that Dr. House was on sabbatical and could not speak and or take the case. She felt guilty about not being more personal, especially if it were a case, but it was necessary because even though they were good doctors they could never be as good as they were when House was there.
She took a sip from the red coffee mug and went on to look at the rest of the mail. She threw out a piece of junk mail, but at the same time heard a bang in House's office.
Cameron looked to see the blinds had been closed, she knew she had kept them open.
She took the golf club that was propped up against the wall, and cautiously made her way to the door. She opened it up as quietly as she could, then stepped inside; looking to the back of the office where it sounded like the noise came from. There was nothing there, but the office was not in the way she left it.
"Hey."
Cameron swung the club at the direction where the voice had come from, which was behind her. The club was caught though and Cameron was face to face with the intruder.
"House."
"That's me, and that weapon is my golf club."
He looked good. He was still not clean-shaven, but somehow his eyes seemed that much brighter, which was something odd considering his eyes were always a piercing blue. Maybe it was the light of the person behind them; maybe that is what shone through so much clearer now.
"House." She repeated.
Before she knew what she was doing she had dropped the club to the floor and was hugging him. It was something she always wanted to do, but House's gruff exterior would never allow. Now she was sure he still did not appreciate it, but she was overcome.
"Hey..." he gave her one pat on the back to try to comfort her and tell her to let go, then said, "Not in front of the rat."
She reluctantly let go of him, then looked to the front of the office, there on the television sat the cadge for the rat, and the rat as well, who seemed to be sizing her up.
"I thought you'd be dead."
"It's lucky I'm not, or this would be really awkward."
"How... Where..." She said, which made complete sense to her but she doubted that House would entirely understand.
"I was at home, taking your advice," He produced a paper out of his pocket, "Look ma, no STDs."
She took the paper and read over the lab results, "you should get this framed."
"I was thinking of getting it laminated on my door." He stopped for a moment then said, "Cameron... I-"
"Cameron," Wilson entered the diagnostics office, looking solely at a file and not looking up, "I have a patient, has cancer in her heart, I was hoping you..." He looked at her desk and saw she was not there, which was rather a surprise considering she had always been there no matter if House was in or not.
"Wilson." She said calling his attention.
He looked over to her and saw House.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
"I think I'll let you boys catch up." She moved from her spot in front of House and grabbed the file from Wilson; "I'll get the lab results back to you before lunch."
And with that she left.
"Where in the hell have you been?" Wilson asked.
His voice didn't have much emotion to it, it was almost as if he was on automatic pilot.
"At my place."
"Did you think it might be a good idea to tell someone where you were, that you were FINE?"
"I'm sorry baby, I meant to call."
"This isn't a joke! You were gone, not a note, nothing. I had to cover for you with Cuddy, she's threatened to fire me seven times. You can do what you like but tell someone first!"
"Didn't Cameron tell you?" House asked genuinely confused.
"Tell me what?"
House's eyebrows went up in realization and he shook his head, "Never mind. I must have hallucinated calling the office and telling her... Well in the state I was in I probably hallucinated a lot. So you didn't come over dressed as a badger trying to eat up my piano?"
"So, that's the only explanation you have? You want to tell me what really happened to you?"
House thought about it for a moment, then walked further into his office, "I was detoxing."
He said it quietly, like a child in elementary school admitting to their ill deeds.
"You finally got help?"
"No," as he said it Wilson's face fell so he went on, "I did it myself."
He limped to behind his desk and picked up a paper looking at it strangely, then throwing it away.
"You can't tell Cuddy, Stacey, anyone. As far as they are concerned I'm still popping Vicodin. Got it?"
Wilson nodded, even though he did not understand this strange request from his friend.
"You look good; for you."
"House is back?" Chase asked.
Cameron looked down at the slide; the cancer was not going into remission.
"I just saw him in his office." She said, trying not to smile.
"Did he say why he was gone?"
She shook her head, "no, he didn't mention it. Just yelled at me for using his golf club as a weapon."
"Foreman's going to be pissed."
Both she and Chase tried with no avail, the both laughed at the thought of Foreman coming in and hearing the news.
"You've got to let me tell him." He insisted.
"No, that will take all the fun out of it. Once I'm done with this I'm going straight up to the conference room, I want to see his expression when he sees House for the first time."
Chase thought about it for a moment, then started to help her with her lab results so they could get up there faster.
"Fine, but the rat has to go, this is a hospital House." Cuddy said trying to inch away from the cadge as much as possible.
"No can do. The rat's with me. We bonded over my time on sabbatical. We bonded in a way only a man and his rat can bond... you wouldn't understand the complexities-"
"It's a disease ridden rodent." She looked disgusted at Steve.
"Rodent, yes that's what most rats are, but he is not disease ridden. He's had all of his shots."
Cameron walked through the door and handed House three files, "these are the cases that were mailed to you. I thought you'd find at least one of these interesting."
Just as she was leaving she turned to Steve and handed him a piece of cheese which he gladly took from her hand and began nibbling on.
"I knew you'd remember me."
"What's wrong with you," Cuddy asked, "It's a rat!"
Cameron looked at her for a moment then shrugged, "he's cute."
House nodded, "they had a moment in the elevator."
House then checked the files over; once he found the one that was the most dire he took that one in the conference room.
"Where's Foreman?" He asked looking around.
Wilson smiled, "he has a new reason for car trouble."
"And no big boss man to impress by being in on time." Chase completed.
"He actually has car trouble," Cameron stepped in, "His car's been leaking anti-freeze for the past week, no matter what any mechanic does it still leaks. And before you call me naive I saw the leak myself."
Wilson rolled his eyes and Chase sighed.
"Let's start without him then. Patient is ten years old and has bone loss as well as..."
Cameron noticed that House was very much the same person he had always been. Whatever he worked out didn't make him any less of a bastard, it didn't make him an overall nicer person, He was just better than he had been when he crashed.
He and Foreman had a rather awkward time of it, at first they were just distant, but once they got back into the rhythm of it, it seemed as though they were as they had always been.
House's return was more than welcomed, and Cameron soon forgot how many days had gone by without him.
end of part five