Author's Note: Thanks so very, very much to everyone who read and especially to you who reviewed. Special thanks to Gruffalo84 for the constructive criticism. And Kristen, I agree totally- and I plan on addressing that actually, probably not in this story though (I hit on it a bit in Ex Opere). Anyway, this is a short little interlude before the next chapter which will be the end. Feedback cherished!

MacGyvering It

Sunday 7 am

How much could you really know about a person if you'd never seen her bathroom? Everything in Cameron's bathroom was clean but it had a lot of stuff in it.

House slid the door of Cameron's medicine cabinet open. Tooth paste, toothbrush, several incarnations of aspirin and its descendents, Q-Tips, makeup remover… girly stuff. Under the sink he found cleaning products, tampons and probably every bottle of shower gel and bubble bath she had ever been given. There were lotions and soaps on the sink and a few shampoo varieties in the shower.

He half expected to see a few prescription bottles left over from her husband but anything of that nature was absent. Grabbing a Discover magazine and the latest issue of Cosmo from a basket on the floor, House exited the small bathroom that adjoined Cameron's bedroom.

She had been sound asleep when he woke up at 6:30 but she wasn't in the bed or the room any longer. House, caneless, hobbled over to his gym bag and retrieved a clean set of clothes. With his back to the door, he'd just unfastened his towel when said door swung open. "Oh! Sorry!" Cameron had shut the door again before he'd even thought to turn or reply.

House thought about what she must have been like the first time she'd given a male patient a physical. "Is that how you got Chase too?" He called through the door, "Snuck up on him?"

When he was dressed he found Cameron in the kitchen reading the newspaper. She briefly looked up and adjusted her glasses before blushing and looking back at her paper. "Sorry," she said again, "I'm not used to knocking on my own bedroom door."

"Cameron," he pushed her fort of newspaper down, "you walked in on me in a towel. You didn't walk in on me playing grab-ass with Wilson."

She blushed more before smirking slightly. "Is that an admission?"

"Touche." He blinked in the new sunlight coming through the windows. "Why are you awake at seven on a Sunday?"

She stood up and moved toward the pantry. "I'm also not used to someone dropping heavy things in my shower early in the morning, what's your excuse?"

"I'm a cripple and your shower is small," House replied.

"That's not what I asked," Cameron pointed out. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Yes." House said and Cameron made for the pantry.

She spun around when House grabbed his keys from the jacket he'd hung over a chair the night before. "Where are you going? I'm no Wilson," she said, "but I do have food."

"I know," he replied, putting on his jacket and walking to the closet to find Cameron's. "I did recon on your fridge." House found her jacket and tossed it in her general direction. "And while I was really psyched for Lite Cottage Cheese- you're out of diet water and it just wouldn't be the same."

"I have-"

"None of your cereals have marshmallows."

She rolled her eyes and pulled her jacket on. "You should have put it on my list, 007."

Sunday 8:30 am

"I always underestimate the fantastic drawing power of God and Garden State diners." House said and proceeded to mutter about 'church people' as their waitress refilled his coffee cup for the third time. They had been waiting for a half an hour in addition to being seated at the bar. House was less than thrilled.

"You have no excuse either," Cameron told him, "you're from New Jersey and we're in a diner. Who lives in New Jersey and doesn't know about the Sunday morning rush?"

A waitress walked by balancing no less than a dozen filled plates on her tray. "Cool." House said before climbing off his stool. "I'm going to pee," he looked back over his shoulder at her, "makes the food come faster."

The food did come while he was gone but that probably had less to do with his superstition than with the exorbitant amount of time he spent in the bathroom. Cameron had already tried his breakfast and made a significant dent in her own before he came back.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, House showed up and seizing two menus from the bar, threw up a makeshift barrier to his left and grabbed Cameron's wrist, pulling her behind it. She half expected him to say that someone had gone into cardiac arrest in the restroom and they had to hide 'lest they be recognized as doctors.' What he said was, "You started without me?" He looked accusingly at the bite of French toast that was speared on the fork she held in the wrist he'd grabbed. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that that's bad manners?"

"Didn't your mother ever teach you that a little raisin bran goes a long way?" She countered. "I almost called the coast guard." House looked at her blankly. "Because I thought you fell in," she explained lamely.

"Well," House was still holding the menus, "I was stuck on the bowl without a roll and the situation was getting dire but then I thought 'What would MacGyver do?'."

Cameron laughed. "Shhhhh!" House cautioned, but it was too late.

"House." Cameron had never heard another voice that could crack like a whip like that or make House react quite so violently. She'd have to get Cuddy to teach her.

"Dr. Cuddy!" House said with mock cheerfulness and lowered the menus. "What brings you to this particular diner this morning? Oh let me guess," he looked her up and down, "high heels, last night's dress- looks like a walk of shame Partypants, but this is a diner so that would make it a breakfast of shame…."

"Well you've obviously showered," Cuddy replied, looking at House's still damp hair. "But you're looking especially unshaven," turned her too-bright smile to Cameron, "even for you. Well, hello, Dr. Cameron." Cuddy's eyes flicked down and Cameron realized that House was still gripping her wrist and she was still holding that stupid fork.

House must have realized it at the same time because his eyes went from Cameron to the their hands to Cameron again and they said 'oh well' and he put the bite of French toast in his mouth. "Next time," he chewed, "IHOP."

"So what brings you here Dr. Cameron?" Cuddy said.

"Uh…." She felt herself blushing for the second time that day and, absurdly, heard her mother's voice telling her that it was unflattering when redheads blushed.

"Toilet paper emergency." House said and wrestled Cameron's fork from her hand and cut himself another bite of toast.

"You called her to bring you toilet paper?" Cuddy's tone said she clearly did not believe him.

"That's just silly, Dr. Cuddy," House said, intentionally talking with his mouth full, "she ran out of toilet paper at her place and I really had to go. The diner was closer than Wal-Mart but they don't give you a sticker when you walk in the door here. Oh well, can't have it all."

Cuddy's intense, I'm-your-boss's-boss stare fixed on Cameron and Cameron said, "There's a lacrosse game in a few hours. Hopkins at Princeton. My brother plays. Dr. House offered to explain the rules to me."

"How sweet." Cuddy said, looking at House again and Cameron felt distinctly like the kid at the grownups' table. "Well, enjoy your breakfast," Cuddy said, "and, Dr. Cameron, make sure he pays. You might as well get something out of the weekend."

When Cuddy was safely away in another section of the diner, Cameron let go of the breath she'd been holding. "I am really starting to regret this prank. Where did she come from?"

"Venus, I think. She has extremely acute tracking skills,. It's the only explanation."

"Did you see her when you went to the bathroom? Why didn't you warn me?"

"Relax," he said. "So we'll get one more person with my brilliant plan."

"She's your boss," she said.

"She kept me on when I single-handedly ran 100 million dollars out of town," House reminded her. "One-hundred million versus doing one of my subordinates," he pretended to weigh the two in his palms. "I think you lose. But don't let it get you down, Vogler had a few pounds on you but my money's on you in a fight. You look scrappy." He finished off the slice of toast he'd been working on. "Besides, Cuddy's been pulling for you since the beginning. She's thinks you'd be a good influence on me or something."

Cameron laughed. "Yeah," House said, "I thought was kidding at first too-"

"No," Cameron cut in, still laughing, "Cuddy thinks you need to get laid."

"Well she is a Dean of Medicine. She's a very smart woman."