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Allison left Lisa Cuddy's office in shock. She'd been offered a wonderful promotion out of the blue. Even more shocking had been the veiled suggestion that said promotion would allow her to pursue "a certain personal relationship" without professional concerns getting in the way.
She'd said yes of course. Even ignoring the whole "being attracted to House" issue she knew this was an important step forward in her career. And one way or another it was time to get out from under House's authority. Either she was making progress chiseling away at his armor, in which case it would be beneficial to their relationship, or she was fooling herself and she would be best away from the day-to-day torture.
Cuddy wasn't going to inform House until Monday, which gave Allison a bit of a reprieve. As it turned out the timing would be perfect.
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Saturday night and Allison was sitting at home watching an old movie, eating a dinner of popcorn and Ben and Jerry's ice cream dressed in an old baseball jersey and sweats.
Pathetic.
Maybe she should have taken up one of the O'Malley brothers on their invitations, but besides not wanting to use one of them just to make House jealous, it had seemed like playing with fire to pick one over the others. Maybe she should have just made a date with each of them.
Her pager going off saved her from her sugar-induced flight of fancy. They had a new patient and she was needed at the hospital. She looked over at the clock. It was 7:14pm. Suddenly she had a brainstorm. She didn't actually have to have a date to make House jealous. She just needed to look like she was dressed for a date.
Five minutes later a very different looking Allison got into the taxi she had called to take her to the hospital. With no car, she would just have to beg a ride home when the time came.
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House was waiting for them when they arrived, Foreman and Chase within minutes of each other, both dressed to kill and mumbling about having their dates interrupted. House, in his normal jeans and t-shirt suddenly felt underdressed. But it was the appearance of Cameron that really made him wish he had at least changed into a clean shirt.
The skirt was short and leather. The top was sparkly and red with a halter style neckline. And just in case he hadn't been knocked out by those alone the entire expanse of creamy skin down her back to just above the hips was bare and begging to be touched. He barely contained a groan. The woman just didn't play fair.
"Was there a party I wasn't invited to?" he quipped as they grabbed coffee and settled around the conference table.
Cameron held her breath. If no one else responded she wouldn't have to say anything. She didn't want to lie to House. But if he assumed she was on a date that was just fine.
Without really waiting, House launched into the specifics of their case. For the next ten hours they all did what they did best, and at the end of that time they transferred their patient upstairs for surgery. For once Foreman had been right when he guessed that the problem was neurological. He would be assisting Dr. Klein later in the day to remove a small mass in the hypothalamus that had been originally hidden by some swelling. As Forman left to find a spare room to get some sleep, and Chase vanished as if he needed to be home before the sun rose, Cameron approached House.
"House, I hate to impose, but could I get a ride home? I used a taxi to get here last night," she explained.
"Can't your boyfriend come and rescue you?" he asked.
Cameron simply sighed in exasperation. "That's not the issue. Can I get a ride? I'd call another taxi but it's not even 5:00am on a Sunday morning. I'll have to wait forever."
"Oh alright, as long as you're begging. Just be glad I didn't ride the bike in last night," he commented.
Secretly he was thinking that in the Corvette that little black skirt was going to ride up nicely. This was shaping up to be a pretty good weekend.
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House wasn't disappointed. When Cameron swung into the low seat of the car she had to struggle to keep her skirt at anywhere near a decent level. Of course House didn't know that she'd planned it, and she wasn't about to admit that whole get up was strictly for his benefit. They spent the drive to her apartment mostly in silence, although Cameron didn't miss the glances House kept throwing her way. As they pulled into a parking spot in front of her building she unfastened her seatbelt and turned slightly to face House.
"Like what you see?" she challenged.
"Really Cameron, what would I have to pay you to dress like that everyday to work?" House quipped.
"I don't think it would be good for our patients' blood pressure," Cameron pointed out. "But all you have to do to see me dressed like this is to ask me out House," Cameron paused only slightly before leaning in and kissing House gently on the lips. "Think about it," she whispered, and then she left him to sit in shocked silence and watch her as she walked away.
He could still smell her perfume hours later.
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TBC