I'm so sorry! I posted the wrong chapter for this story. Please disregard the original Chapter 20 if you read it before.
Chapter 20
Cameron begrudgingly knocked on the door. When Alex Karev opened it, his smile hid no delight. "Hey," he said smoothly.
Cameron rolled her eyes. "I need a place to sleep. Since Chase will not be occupying his bed tonight, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind," she said.
Alex was standing there in all his masculine beauty wearing nothing but boxers and socks. His eyelids came down at half-mast and he planned to say something enticing, but then his mind started clicking. He realized there was a reason Cameron couldn't stay in her room. His eyebrows came together as he asked, "Where's Chase?"
The other doctor sighed. "He's with Izzie."
Pangs of anger and envy stabbed at his stomach and the back of his neck. He knew it had been over between him and Izzie for a long time, but he was not ready to hear about her escapades. Alex kicked the door open wider with the back of his foot, making it hit the wall behind it with a loud smack. He stepped back and let Cameron walk through.
She washed her face and put on the long t-shirt and pair of boxers she borrowed from Alex. "These are clean, right?" she hollered from the bathroom.
"Relatively speaking," he shouted back. He threw himself on the bed and wallowed a little in his own bad luck.
Cameron stepped out of the bathroom, noticing the pair of eyes intently glancing up and down her body. She pushed back the covers of the other bed and lay down. Pointing at Alex, she said in her most demanding voice, "Karev, if I so much as see you step a foot by my bed, I will induce your coma."
Alex leaned over to shut out the light as he sighed, "What the hell happened to chicks?"
………
Chase watched Izzie sleep peacefully, not knowing that it was the first night in a long time that she had slept well. His eyes danced around the features of her angelic face. Chase's hand began to roam until her eyes flitted open. They stared warmly at each other as they both remembered what had happened the night before.
Izzie, Alex, and Chase watched Cameron reproach Derrick Shepherd. Alex and Izzie snickered at the thought of McDreamy getting what was coming to him.
Chase's eyes followed Cameron as she left the bar. He knew that she had had a tough year, maybe even two, and hoped that she didn't get herself even more hurt with House. House. Chase thought he was an utter fool if he let Cameron go. And he thought himself to be a bigger one if he passed up an opportunity with Isobel Stevens. His muscled tense, Chase was ready for Karev to get lost. Chase's eyes scanned the bar. Picking the most vulnerable-looking female, he challenged Alex, saying, "I bet you fifty bucks that you can't get that girl's number, Andy."
Karev's eyes squinted competitively. His voice was low and had a hint of danger. "My name's Alex. And you've just lost fifty dollars, Aussie." He slid off the barstool and headed for the woman.
Izzie chuckled. "You're subtle," she said jokingly, realizing that he had just tricked Alex away from them. "Where's Eric?"
Chase's smile faltered at the mention of Foreman. Why would she care? he thought enviously. But a mischievous glow brightened his face as he said, "The hospital called and left a very important message. He needed to call back and I'm sure will be on hold for quite some time."
Izzie laughed again. "You are a very bad Australian," she teased.
His smile oozed charm as he replied, "It's what we're known best for."
Izzie could feel stress pouring out of her as she talked freely with Chase. She knew that Denny would want her to be a doctor, a good doctor. She also knew that he would want her to live again. "Do you want to go upstairs?" she asked provocatively.
Chase's eyebrows raised at her forwardness, but he thrilled at it as well. She wasn't a wilting flower and she knew what she wanted. Izzie was a Cameron that wasn't in love with her boss. "I'll follow your lead," he said, leaving room for a double entendre.
They left the bar, noticing that Alex had struck out when the target's boyfriend showed up.
"Hey," Izzie cooed, stretching her morning muscles. She cuddled up against him and kissed his neck.
"Hey," he huskily returned. "What do you want to do today?"
Because it was Sunday, all the doctors at the conference were allowed a free day. Izzie threw her eyes up in thought. "Hmm, we could stay in bed," she purred.
"No wonder you're a doctor, Miss Stevens," Chase growled, nipping at her neck. "You are brilliant."
Miss Stevens. The sound of her name made her shudder. If Denny hadn't have had a blood clot, she would be Mrs. Duquette by now, lying there with him. She could not help but compare the two men. Robert Chase was lean, with pretty, long hair and gorgeous eyes. He was cute. But Denny had been big and strong, muscular. She had envisioned, dreamed of him so many times standing up from his hospital bed and picking her up, swinging her around and dancing with her. He had a wide chest that she loved to lay next to, that made her feel safe. His eyes were like dark pools that could fill hers with tears, make her gasp, make her heart jump with joy or passion. Denny was scruffy and manly. Denny Duquette was not cute. He was a man, a beautiful man.
Chase was a distraction. Denny was the one. But Denny was gone.
She still wanted to spend the week with Chase in order to escape, but now she squirmed at the thought of being alone with him all day. Izzie kissed Chase slowly and delicately. Then she offered, "Cameron told me everyone's going to the hotel pool today. I think it would be fun."
……
House woke up that Sunday morning with a pain shooting in his leg and nausea spinning in his stomach. In a few short hours, Cameron would be in a bathing suit, waiting for him to join her. He could barely handle seeing her in formal wear so he was pretty positive he was going to have a mental breakdown seeing her wet and half-naked. And she was going to see him in a bathing suit, which burned an even bigger hole in his gut. House did not even know why he had brought a pair of trunks, kicking himself now for doing so. Sitting up, he hung his legs over the bed while he held his head in his hands. "Damn," he said under his breath as he grabbed his bottle of Vicodin from the nightstand.
He finally heard the pangs of water hitting the bottom of a bathtub. Shooting a look over at the other bed, he saw that McDreamy was not there. Great, he thought, I have to wait to bathe. I might as well still be living with Wilson. House swallowed his pills and flipped on the television, but he did not hear any of the noise. Cameron's voice was banging around his head. She had told him that he had to accept the fact that she liked him, that she was attracted to him. He turned the remote in his hands as he found it difficult to accept it. Allison Cameron was young, strong, beautiful. What in the freezing blue hell did she want with him?
But try as he might to fight it, he wanted her. With all of his reservations and doubts and lack of confidence, all House could think about was how great it felt to hold Cameron's hand, how amazing it would be to kiss her lips and soften her ever-hardened jaw. He was dizzied by the thought of caressing her…everywhere.
House shut off the television and tossed the remote onto the bed when he heard Shepherd leaving the bathroom. He snatched up some clothes and brushed past the other doctor saying, "I know you have a dreamy reputation to uphold," House said snidely, "but try to cut down your bathroom time. Trust me, the extra time's not helping." He slammed the door shut before Derrick could respond.
As he stripped down, House pondered his feelings for Cameron. Huh, he harrumphed, feelings for Cameron. He had refused for two years to admit that he had one iota of emotions for her, and now he was so close to exploding in front of her. In fact, he pretty much already had the night before with that stunt in the hallway.
He turned on the tap. House knew he felt more than just a physical tie to Cameron. She was sexy and unbelievably beautiful, but she was the woman he had always looked for before—before he met Stacy, before his leg looked like ground meat. Glancing down at his bare thigh now, his nausea returned with a vengeance. He wanted Cameron for more than her body. He loved her mind and the way she thought. He loved that she drove him crazy and that he could always get under her skin.
Stepping into the shower, he doused his head with water, trying to wash away his nerves. The water deafened the word he whispered, almost in a prayer of hope. "Allison."
TBC
