I think this is my favourite chapter so far. It demonstrates how powerful a friendship between these two charcters could be, and how it could work.

Please R and R!


Their patient was screwed. She had a brain tumour, no doubt about it, and House was on a manhunt for Cuddy since she had given them such an easy case. But Cameron wasn't particularly worried about any of that right at this moment. She had bigger problems.

She had been walking down the hall reading a chart when she glanced up to turn the corner. Once she had reached the other side, she came face to face with her mortal enemy.

She froze, and the patient chart she had been holding crashed to the floor, making a big enough noise to get the attention of almost everyone around her.

"Hey Allie"

"G-g-ga-Gabe. Wh-what are you doing here?" she stuttered out.

"We have some unfinished business"

"No we don't! And how the hell did you get out of jail?"

"Made nice with the right people. Turns out your dad isn't as powerful as he once was." The man smirked as he said this.

Cameron didn't know what else to do. She could not be around this man. He had killed her sister. She was terrified of him. She turned on her heel and ran. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. As if she was running for her life. She didn't stop until she was safely in her car, and quickly started the engine. She didn't care about the looks she had gotten from people as she made her mad dash through the halls, she just had to get out of there.

HMDHMDHMD

There were times when some of the doctors had Princeton Plainsboro wondered if they worked at a gossip magazine or a hospital. The news of Dr. Cameron's marathon run through the building had spread like wildfire among the staff. To everyone that is, except Dr. House.

"Okay, so have any of you found me a new patient yet?" House asked as he came through the glass doors of the conference room.

Foreman and Chase both stared at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Is that really what you're worried about right now?" Foreman asked.

"Well, seeing as I am a doctor, and I do get paid to cure people, yeah, I'd like a new patient." Then he stopped and looked around the room. "Where's Cameron?"

"So you didn't hear," Chase spoke up. "She ran into somebody that she knows and apparently wasn't very happy to see."

An alarmed look appeared on House's face. "What? Does this somebody have a name?"

"Nobody knows who he is, but when she saw him she ran the other way. Literally."

"How did I not know about this?" House asked, bewildered.

"I don't know, it's all anyone's been talking about," Foreman replied.

Just then the puzzle pieces started to come together in House's brain. "Oh my God," he said before hobbling out of the room as fast as his bum leg would carry him.

"Where are you going?" Foreman called after him, but there was no response.

HMDHMDHMD

"CAMERON! CAMERON, OPEN THIS DOOR!" House screamed from out in the hallway of Cameron's apartment building. He knew she was here, and he knew why she had run. It was him. He was back. Her sister's murderer, and she couldn't deal with that. Obviously, she had every right, but House was terrified for her and her safety. Who knows what she might do. This wasn't exactly an easy situation. He had to get to her.

He continued banging on the door for several more minutes. "DON'T MAKE ME BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN!" He'd called to her through the wood. Then, a thought struck him. He didn't have to break the door down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his key ring. Hers was on it. He jammed it in the lock and turned it. Once he had the door unlocked, he threw it open and was horrified at what he saw.

Her apartment looked like a tornado had struck it. Everything was broken and most of her possessions were on the floor. There were lamps tipped over, a vase of flowers on the floor with the water dripping onto the carpet, the phone was off the hook and sprawled all over the room, and there were shards of glass everywhere. But there was one thing missing. Cameron.

Carefully House made his way into the living room, trying not to step on any of the glass. He didn't see her anywhere, but she had to be here. Suddenly, he heard a noise. He stopped for a moment, and the noise became louder. It was a whimpering. He followed it further into the apartment and as he poked his head around a cabinet, there was Cameron, curled up on the floor, knees to her chest, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

He immediately rushed over to her, and knelt down beside her, throwing his cane to the side.

"Hey," he said softly. "That was him, wasn't it?"

She started to cry even harder, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest.

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. He can't hurt you, I'm here now."

She sobbed uncontrollably for another ten minutes. All the while House just sat with her, slowly rocking her back and forth, not saying anything.

Finally, the crying stopped and she pulled away from him. "I'm sorry," she started.

"Hey," he said sternly, looking her straight in the eye. "Don't you dare be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

She sniffled and he looked around the room. "But I see your cleaning lady's gonna have quite a job ahead of her."

She gave him a small smile. "I don't have a cleaning lady."

"Of course you don't," he said. This was Cameron, she did her own cleaning. Then he noticed her hand. "Whoa, your hand. It's bleeding."

Cameron looked confused, and then followed his gaze to her right hand. "Oh, yeah, it is."

House looked at her closely, concern pouring out of his gorgeous blue eyes. "C'mon, let me get that bandaged up." He reached up to the cabinet, leaning on it so she could lean on him as he helped her to her feet. They walked to the bathroom and he immediately started going through her first aid kit.

Neither of them said anything while he cleaned the wound. "Well, the good news is you're not gonna need stitches," he said as he wrapped her hand tightly in gauze.

She didn't actually say anything to that, just let a brief sound of recognition escape her lips.

"Listen, Cameron," House started, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but assertive nonetheless. "I promise you, I'm gonna do everything I can to put this guy back in jail where he belongs."

She looked up at him gratefully for a moment, but then glanced away. "Thank you, but I don't see what you can do. He's out of jail. He's free."

"You can't give up just like that. The law's filled with loopholes. I'll find one."

A part of Cameron wanted to ask House why he was being so nice to her, but she knew that if she did she wouldn't get a straight answer, so instead she just nodded at him.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna grab a broom and start cleaning up out there, you go and get some rest."

"House, no. It's my mess, I'll clean it up."

"Right, and how exactly are you gonna do that wonder woman? You've only got one hand that you can use," he countered.

She sighed, he had a point, but she wasn't gonna let him win that easily. "Fine, then let me help you. Three hands are better than two."

House considered this a moment before he decided whether or not to protest. He finally decided to let her help. If he sent her to bed and just did it himself, not only would that be weird, but it would be one less thing she had any control over.

"Alright," he said, and he closed the first aid kit, putting it back where he had found it, and the two headed out to the disaster zone that was her living room.

They spent about a half an hour cleaning up the mess. It turned out Cameron owned a lot of breakable things. She swept while he put the phone back together, and then he swept while she salvaged a few things off the floor.

When they had it all cleaned up, they both plopped down on the couch, exhausted.

"Okay, I think I'm getting you a punching bag for your birthday," House said.

She laughed. "Yeah, who knew that someone like me could get that violent."

"Had me fooled. But maybe next time I want Cuddy off my back about clinic duty I should just send you after her."

They sat on her couch and shared casual conversation like that for the next little while. It was nice, that they could do that. Strange, but nice.

Finally, House looked at his watch and announced that it was getting late, and that he should go. They both rose from the couch and walked to her door.

"Thank you, for…this," she said, searching for the right word. It had suddenly become awkward again.

"You're welcome," he smiled at her, easing the tension, and he left her apartment. Once he was gone, she leaned against the door and smiled. Maybe there was hope for him yet.