Damage Control, a house, m.d. fanfic

Part 1: Paged

"You had no right!" Cameron yelled as she followed House back into his office. "It was his place to tell her that he got HIV from a hooker, not yours," she reprimanded.

"Yeah, he did such a great job not cheating on his wife, I figured that his telling her would have been top-notch work, too," House stated scathingly.

"Hmph!" Cameron growled as she marched out of his office in a steam. House watched her beautiful round ass as she walked.

She really was right, but this wasn't about patient confidentiality. This was about control. This was about making this man tell her everything he had done and had planned on doing. This was about vengeance. No, it wasn't about vengeance on his patient, it was about helping himself cope with what someone had done to his body without his consent. This woman now had HIV just like he had a useless leg. No, it was nothing alike. House hated when he psychoanalyzed himself, though he couldn't help it. It was just like any other situation, he had to be in control. It was just like his relationship with Cameron. He had to keep her at bay with his wit, so he could stay in control of it all.

She really was beautiful, though. She really did care about him. No, no she just saw him as a broken man, that she needed to fix, to change. No, he didn't want her pity. He didn't want it. He'd rather jump off a building. But she was so beautiful, and right there for the taking. No! Control! He had to stay in control.

"This is ridiculous," he said.

Cameron laid down in an empty room. House was insane. He had violated a key moral doctors had to live by. It was not just courtesy, it was law. But she couldn't help feeling that he was right at the same time. He wasn't doing it because it was right though. he was doing it because he was a conniving bastard. Yes, that's what he was. He's an ass, one big giant asshole, with deep pale blue eyes, and a rugged body, and a really nice bum, and— No! No, he was a jerk. Nothing more. She was lying. He was more than that. He was an addict, a cynical bastard, a cripple, a philosopher, and a man she needed. His body may be weak, but his mind was strong. Twisted, yes, but strong.

He forced her to become a better doctor. He also forced her to see the bad in people. He would never see a good thing in a single person. He always had a theory. What was their gain from something? He always needed to know. She couldn't stay around him long. His sarcasm and scarring comments always drove her away. You can only take so much in one sitting. But, those eyes...

She slept.

Where is she? It had been hours since he'd seen her. She wouldn't just leave, she was too good to do that. She must be in the clinic. Charity work. Typical Cameron.

When he arrived he checked the sign in sheet. She would definitely sign in. She did have to reach a quota every month just like the rest of them. Why not exceed it? Except when he got there, her name wasn't on the list.

If she wasn't in the clinic then she must be checking in on some dying patient of Wilson's or some other broken person she could try to fix.

As he walked past his office he pulled out his phone. He would page her. How about a code blue. Yes, that would get her attention.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It was coming from a room down the hall. He shuffled down to it as fast as he could. It didn't make any sense. The room was empty. This was his division. He would know if a patient had been put there.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

This was getting really odd. She should have come out in a panic already, someone was dying here.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The last set of rings and she still hadn't left the room. He turned in to find the lights out. The curtain was pulled on the far bed. He wondered what was going on. He flicked on the lights and rushed over to the bed opening the curtain in one swift movement.

"House? Whasrong?"

He hadn't thought about that.

The bright light hit her eyes like a flood of drastic proportions. The curtain pulled back with a loud swooshing noise and she was brought back from the land of nod so abruptly it hurt.

"House? What's wrong?" she asked. She knew that it must have been incomprehensible. Her eyes pained as she squinted to see who it was.

There was no answer.

"House? Is that you?"

"Why didn't you answer your pager?"

"What?"

"It was a code blue! We've got a dead patient because of you."

"What? Oh my God. I knew I should have gotten some coffee. I can't believe it. I'm so sorry."

"Don't tell me. Tell little Johnny's family."

"Where are they? I can't believe I messed up so badly," she said as she crossed the room toward the door. "I've got a lot of expl— wait. We don't have a patient right now. We just discharged the HIV guy. What are you getting at, House?"

Shit! It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to leave in search of a family she wouldn't find so he could come up with a better story for when she came to his office in a fit.

"A test," he said. "Sleeping on call. Not something I would expect from you. Clinic duty. That I would expect from you, Allison." Shit! He'd used her given name. He couldn't believe he'd done it. Would she read into it? She wasn't as adept as seeing clues as he was. Oh, who was he kidding. She was female. Of course she'd read into what he said, she had a vagina and was attracted to him. She'd read into anything he said. Best to get the hell out of there. He made for the door.

"Wait!" came her voice from behind him.

"What, Cameron? I've got to go. I've got an appointment with the couch in my office in five."

"You were actually trying to test me? Send in a code blue and scare the shit out of Cameron, huh? Real funny," she was angry. House could tell. Then she turned and walked away.

Good. Now he could go get some sleep. He'd have at least an hour until Cuddy called his office about some regulation he'd neglected to observe. Possibly about sleeping while on call.

He attempted sleep, but to no avail. He had to sort out this whole thing out in his head first. Complete control. The only way he could control it, would be to know everything about it. He had to think.

She needed to find a place to think. She wasn't tired anymore. She'd rather just sit and ponder the events of the day.

A/N - Sorry everyone, I completely forgot to title this chapter, or give you any decent explanation for my musings, as I usually do.

This one came from a desire to get on with what the writers of House have been playing at since the pilot episode. The tension was there and they have been much too slow for my liking. I hope you all don't mind a little angst as this will take a bit to get going. I expected about seven chapters, but lately it hasn't been looking too good on length. We might see about five come out. I'm really not sure yet, plans are indefinate.

Hope you enjoyed. R&R. Flames welcome ;)

Also, sorry for the people who got alerts, it was only an edit :(