See Part 1 for notes and disclaimer
Author's Notes: It's so good to be back! Things have been a bit dark in my life since November, but now that I've made it through I'm ready to stretch those creative wings again. Speaking of which, my talented beta is in this middle of finals and so all mistakes are my own for the time being... Let me know if you spot anything terrible and I will fix it the next time I update (Thanks J Daisy!)
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Allison stumbled on the answer to her dilemma quite by chance. She'd gone to the mall to look for new shoes to go with the black cocktail dress she was planning on wearing to the upcoming charity event at the hospital. For once even House would be attending as the event was featuring a poker tournament. She had almost passed the small shop when the red dress in the window caught her eye and immediately her goal changed from looking nice to making House drool. Over the next week she would spend a month's salary on herself, but the time spent at the spa under the professional care of a hairstylist, manicurist and skin expert who provided a facial and body wrap had given her creamy skin a soft glow, and left her hair looking lustrous. The dress fit her like a glove and the shoes made her legs look great. She kept any other adornment simple, only adding a bit of sparkle with a pair of diamond drop earrings.
Now all she had to do was to get House to look up from his poker game.
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Twenty-four hours later the dress looked only a bit worse from wear. After all she'd had it on for almost the entire time. Now it hung back on it's hanger on the door of her closet, the shoes tossed haphazardly on the floor in the same general vicinity. Damn her feet were killing her. New shoes and a triple shift just didn't mix well.
But they had a patient that was on the road to recovery, and Cameron would never forget the look on House's face when he'd turned from the white board and gotten his first look at her. She could honestly say that she's caused the great Dr. House to lose all power of speech. And while the rest of the time she'd spent in the dress was stressful when all was said and done, House had given her one last wistful look as she'd prepared to leave and snidely suggested to Chase and Forman that they petition the hospital to make Cameron dress up like that every day.
Yes, Plan B could be called a success.
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Meanwhile across town, House sat at his piano, sipped his scotch and bid farewell to Esther's ghost. And as the specter of one of the few patients he couldn't diagnose faded it was replaced by a totally different vision in red.
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The following weeks were hectic and confusing. Hectic due to a sting of cases that left them all little time to regroup. Confusing because House was alternately extra snarky, and eerily quiet. Several times when he was in one of his pensive moods Allison caught him staring at her and Allison would find herself suddenly short of breath. Five minutes later it would be like it never happened, and he would be back to the sarcastic, arrogant bastard she was accustomed to, and she would be left to wonder if she'd imagined the moment. The effect was disconcerting at best. After her attempts to leave House off-balance the tables were definitely turned. She felt like she was standing on very unstable ground, and she couldn't figure out anything to do to regain control of the situation.
House for his part hadn't set out to throw Cameron off balance, it was more of just a natural result of his own slightly shaky foundation. He had no romantic feelings for her he told himself. So why was he having so much trouble keeping his mind off her? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the image of her in that red dress out of his head. Worse yet were the images of him slowly removing that red dress. He'd even called on his favorite escort service thinking that a roll in the hay would put his libido back on track. The evening had been far from satisfying. So now whenever he found his mind wandering, his mood would shift to downright disagreeable, and it was happening more frequently. The whole hospital was on House alert due to his mood.
Unfortunately things were going to get worse before they got better, and it would start with their next case, one Sean O'Malley and his family.
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TBC