Chapter 3 - Forgotten

"Morning Cameron."

Cameron was suspicious of Chase's overly friendly welcome; he'd actually lifted his head from his blasted crossword.

"Morning," she replied warily. "Why are you so happy?"

"Oh, I need a reason?" he asked, almost accusatorily.

"No, no," she said hastily. "Not at all…"

She dropped her bag by the table, and went over to the sink, but it seemed Chase hadn't finished.

"Maybe I don't have a reason," he went on," or maybe I'm just happy to see you."

Chase grinned. Cameron turned away, uncomfortable, though struggling not to be, as she figured that was Chase's intention.

"Shy," he said softly. "I like that."

Cameron tried to ignore him, rattling the mugs a little louder than necessary.

"Do you want coffee?" she offered.

"Thanks."

Cameron couldn't see him, but she knew Chase was smirking. She poured out two mugs and, leaving one on the sink, passed the other to Chase, carefully avoiding his eyes. She was relieved when House came in, interrupting their solitude.

"We have a case," he announced, moving to the sink, picking up Cameron's mug, and taking a gulp. Cameron opened her mouth indignantly. House swallowed the coffee.

"You look annoyed. Chase try to pinch you ass?"

Cameron stole a discreet look at Chase, but he had already returned to his crossword, and appeared not to have heard House's comment.

"Oh, wait," House paused, and bent his head back, looking at the ceiling. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Chase clearly heard that one, his shoulders were shaking. Cameron just narrowed her eyes; she couldn't think of anything to say back. House smiled annoyingly at her. She glared at him, and reached for another mug.

"Patient," House said, after a slight halt in conversation, "presents with heart failure, and inability to see. What's wrong with him?"

House paused. Neither Cameron nor Chase had any suggestions.

"Incidentally, where's Foreman? He's always leaving you guys to-" House's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh. Uh…do you want me to leave, too?"

Again, no one spoke. Cameron was seething silently, her back to the office. She counted to 10, breathing deeply.

"Cysticercosis."

"What?"

"Cysticercosis," she repeated, "could present with heart failure and blindness. Or it could be-"

"Yeah," House agreed dismissively. "But I haven't told you the most important point.

"What's that?" Cameron asked. She shot a nasty look at Chase, who was ignoring them both, but the expression was wasted; he couldn't have seen it. So Cameron thought.

"What? I'm listening."

"Patient's blind. Had a heart attack. Diagnosed as…boring."

Chase sniggered. Cameron couldn't decide who she was more irritated with.

Foreman walked in the room, and three heads turned to stare.

"Sorry," he apologised. "I was running some gels."

"On what? We don't have a patient," House said, putting his markers down, and sitting next to Chase.

"Some old ones. There's nothing else to do."

"Ah, too bad," House said. "If you'd been here two minutes ago, you would've seen our new case. We diagnosed her already."

"Him," Cameron stated. "He was male before."

House shrugged, as if the little fact didn't mean anything to him…which it probably didn't.

"What, so quickly? What was wrong with him?" Foreman asked frantically.

"Heart attack," Cameron put in quickly, noticing House open his mouth, doubtlessly to make up a crazy story to make Foreman jealous.

"Why did you get it at all? It was simple."

"Long story," House said, looking at Foreman as if Foreman wouldn't understand. "And trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Cameron rolled her eyes, and took a large mouthful of coffee.

Cameron watched Chase, sipping at yet another mug of coffee. He was staring at the crossword, mouthing words to himself, filling in a space now and then.

"Do you want some help with that?" Cameron offered.

"Sure." He pulled out the chair next to him at the table, and Cameron got up, and sat down next to him.

0000000000

You're not bad," Chase said after 20 minutes, smiling at the completed crossword proudly, then at Cameron. She smiled back.

"My mother used to love crosswords. And all these medical terms…maybe I'm just a good doctor."

"Used to?" Chase asked softly. Cameron hesitated, then nodded.

"She's…she went blind about 6 years ago."

"But surely-" Chase started, but Cameron continued.

"She kind of…gave up after that."

For once, Cameron really believed that Chase couldn't think of anything to say.

Cameron sat in the Diagnostics Office, staring blankly at the tabletop. She wasn't thinking. She didn't want to think. She couldn't believe she was getting hung up over one guy. The one guy who had to be Chase. She sighed.

"Hey Cameron."

Cameron jerked back into the real world. She watched Chase pour out a mug of coffee for himself. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out,

"Why are you so happy all of a sudden? And don't say it's because you're happy to see me, or that you don't need a reason. Just tell me, what's on your mind?"

Chase deserted his coffee (Cameron took a moment to consider reducing the amount she drank) and sat down opposite Cameron, hands clasped, eyes gazing directly at her, contemplating, perhaps, whether to tell her the truth, or even something vaguely similar.

"You seem to think I should be all sober. You think you're really that special, that I should mourn over my loss?" His stare had turned stony. Cameron shook her head angrily, regretting she'd said anything.

"You rejected me once before, you know. You didn't seem too worried about my wellbeing then. Has something changed?"

Cameron couldn't tell Chase's feelings from his tone or face, though his eyes had softened a little. She usually figured our a response based her response based on what the quizzer wanted to hear, but since she didn't know that vital piece of information, she had to change her plan, and go with what she wanted to say. Not what she should say, mind you, what she wanted to say.

"No," she said shortly, after a pause. "Nothing's changed."

Chase tried to hold eye contact, but Cameron found she couldn't.

"Right," Chase said, in a tone that indicated that he didn't quite believe her, but didn't push it. "Well, let's forget about this then."

"What?" Cameron looked up as he stood. Chase shrugged, dropping his hands to slap noisily against his sides.

"You never kissed me. Let's forget about it."

"It's forgotten," Cameron confirmed, and they both smiled, as if they shared a secret, which, Cameron reminded herself, they did.