That Monday at work, House watched Cameron from a gap in the blinds. He had heard what she'd said to Wilson the guy was a friend, but one with 'benefits' he assumed, or maybe she'd just made it up altogether and really her and the gentleman were together. That was the most likely. She hadn't wanted to tell Wilson in case he told House and she didn't want him to feel bad that she didn't like him anymore. It was a pity-lie. She was making coffee, soon she'd pour in the exact amount of sugar and milk he liked and bring it through. For the first time ever, he wasn't looking forward to his morning coffee, it would mean facing her which felt so much harder after talking to her other half.
She'd had another early phone call this morning; she'd asked the person on the other end if he wanted to come down again the next weekend. She'd said she got lonely when he wasn't around. House had thought that he couldn't have listened to Cameron say things like that to him, but now he thought about it, maybe a bit of sap would do him good.
It had only been two weeks since House had heard the first phone call, which meant they hadn't been together very long. There was still a pretty good chance of separating them, and now he knew what he was up against, that would be easy. He just had to be nicer, more polite, and funnier and do everything one notch better than her current man and she's be like putty in his hands.
He limped out of his office and offered to help her with the coffee; she looked shocked at his offer and politely declined, assuming he was up to something.
"Good weekend?" He asked, seeing a slight pattern forming.
"Yeah, it was great! Actually I saw Wilson at the movies on Friday night, he was alone." She finished sounding quite sad about it.
"Oh." House wasn't sure what he was meant to say to that, since he knew Wilson was not in fact on his own.
"Yeah, he said he was there to get away from you." Was Cameron trying to stir up trouble? "Maybe you should be a bit nicer about his divorce, you know, be more of a friend." No, she was just trying to iron out the world's creases.
"Maybe I will." House said, trying not to laugh in her face, or point out her mother Teresa complex, he was after all trying to be nice.
She handed him his red mug and he smiled in thanks, she looked even more shocked now than she had when he offered to help. She smiled back at him, before quickly excusing herself to check his mail. Shortly after he followed her to ask if there were any cases, she replied in the negative, expecting him to leave but instead he picked up the ball of his desk and threw it at her.
"Think fast!" he said is it flew towards her.
"Ow!" She shouted as it hit her on the head. "House! What the hell are you doing?"
"Sorry! You were meant to catch it!"
He stood up of the sofa with slight difficulty, his leg was still sore from Friday, and limped around to where she was sitting. He pushed her hair of her ear and looked at it, to check he hadn't hurt her.
"House, what are you-"
"Shhh, just checking your ear."
She could feel his hot breath on her neck, and subconsciously started holding her own. House grinned to himself, she might be dating someone, but judging by how she wasn't breathing, she was still very attracted to him! After taking a long time to check it was fine (which really he knew it would be,) he slid her hair back over it and smoothed it down.
"You'll be fine." He said, like she didn't already know.
"Good," she said "That's good." Her voice was slightly shaky and her breathing hitched.
Suddenly House found himself feeling awkward about the sentimental moment.
"I, uhh, have to go, you know, doctor stuff."
"Yeah, yeah of course." She said, in a hushed not-quite whisper.
With that House limped as fast as he could out of his office.
He hid himself from Cuddy in an empty exam room, figuring she would never look there and thought about what had just happened. He'd certainly enjoyed it, even though it wasn't the sort of thing he usually did. Or ever did for that matter. But if he could just tell her that he liked her, it wouldn't be so uncomfortable and he could enjoy it a lot more.