This chapter isn't very dramatic or very long, but it has another cliffhanger ending. You might be able to guess this one, but oh well.

Did I mention I love reviews?


Catholics use confessionals to rid themselves of unwanted blame and sin. Cameron wasn't religious, nor had she ever been, but she felt like she had just stepped out of a confessional. When she woke up that morning, having slept through the night for the first time in weeks, she felt refreshed, and didn't feel like she had to drag herself out of bed and to work. She liked that feeling. What also surprised her was how House had acted. She thought that telling him would be embarrassing, but he somehow managed to make her feel comfortable. It was that thing. That thing he had that she couldn't pinpoint or give a name, but made her like him even more. True, when you dump a something like that on someone, their reaction is probably going to be strange, but she had never expected him to actually resemble a real human being as much as he had the night before. She appreciated it. Really, she did, and now she was reconsidering giving up on him. Maybe the tin man really did have a heart.

She had thought about the possibility of it being different between them at work, but after further analysis, she realized that it was House, and there was no way he'd treat her differently just because of what she had told him. Besides, then people would start asking questions. Wilson, Chase and Foreman, Cuddy. House wouldn't want to hint that something had happened between them. By something, she didn't mean romantically. It was almost like, dare she say a friendship? It might not be something that would continue, but it was there. It had happened. This thought made her smile as she walked into the diagnostics office.

HMDHMDHMD

"Hey, so where were you last night? You didn't have a hooker scheduled again did you?" Wilson asked House as they walked towards Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

"Oh, no. I just wanted to take the bike out for a spin."

Wilson looked closer at his friend. "Where did you really go last night?"

House turned to look at him. "I told you, I just went out for a ride. Didn't stop anywhere."

"uh-huh. Then why are you so happy? Something happened last night. Come on, just tell me what it is," he pleaded. Yes, Wilson needed a life, he knew that, but House's was far too interesting for him to worry about that.

"I think I'm gonna leave that to you and your imagination," House said, stepping into the elevator. He was lucky, and the doors closed with Wilson on the other side.

HMDHMDHMD

"It was amazing! He scored 81 points alone!" Foreman exclaimed to his slightly less-interested colleagues.

"Sounds like fun," Chase replied in monotone.

Foreman rolled his eyes at him and turned to Cameron. "What about you Cam? How was your night?"

"Oh, fine," she answered, adding milk to her coffee.

"And everything's okay? From yesterday?"

"Yeah, much better," she offered up a small smile and then placed the coffee to her lips.

"I still don't get it," Chase spoke, apparently unaware of the last exchange. "How is basketball entertaining for you? It's just a bunch of guys running around fighting for a tiny ball and then jumping on each other when they get it through a tiny hoop."

"That's your problem. You don't know how to relax and have fun. I bet both of you haven't had a fun night in years." Foreman replied.

Cameron smiled as she listened to her two colleagues argue about the definition of fun. What would she do without these two? Oh yeah, probably keep her mind.

Just then, House walked in with their next case. "Hello people!" he said loudly.

"Hey, is that a case in your hand?" Foreman asked hopefully, dropping his argument with Chase.

"No, it's a list of all the hookers I've been with this month," he said, throwing a rather thick file on the conference table. Foreman picked it up and opened it.

"27-year-old female. Presents with a whole bunch of really bad things that we need to fix," House stated, turning to face the group.

"ICP's elevated, we should get a CAT scan," Foreman said, looking up from the file.

"And an MRI," Cameron said, as he handed it to her.

"Okay, good. Go." House said.

The ducklings moved to exit the room. See, normal. Cameron thought to herself. Good. She didn't want House treating her any differently just because he knew her secret.

She wanted to put it behind her. She needed to be strong.

If only she knew what was in store for her when she turned the corner.


Sorry, another note, that is about as complicated as the medical terminiology is going to get in this story. I'm sorry, but I just don't possess the ability to focus on such matters and therefore cannot place them in my story. However, this is a character driven story, so I probably won't be mentioning any medical stuff throughout the rest of it.