Nothing much happened over the next few days. Cameron's arm was getting better, she could now uncurl her forearm away from her body a few inches but it hurt so nothing more than that could be done, it was going to be a very slow process to get her arm back to normal again. Her family and friends had sent her a truckload of flowers and cards, she now had three bouquets, eight "get well soon" cards, a few letters and her old childhood Winnie The Pooh stuffed animal around her room and Chase Wilson and Foreman came to visit her practically everyday. Only House seemed to be keeping his distance. However, wherever he went he couldn't escape her because as much as her coworkers insisted on keeping her in her room, she would always sit in on meetings and finally convinced House to let her do a bit of lab work. Wilson Found her bent over a microscope in the lab one time and asked her why she insisted on working when she was injured. She told him it kept her mind off of more unpleasant things, and he never bugged her about it again.
Considering the circumstances, things seemed to be going pretty well, except for one small abnormality, Cameron hadn't slept in four days, the last rest she had was the drug induced one after her surgery, but since then she hadn't slept a wink. The one night she did fall asleep, she woke up kicking and screaming half an hour later. She had taken a liking to the night and to wandering the corridors of the Hospital at night, trying to keep her mind off of Andrew Clark. One night in particular, she was walking past Houses office and noticed the door to his balcony was ajar. She turned inside to close it, but as she stepped up to the door, a cool evening breeze wafted across her face and suddenly her body craved the fresh air she hadn't been getting and she stepped out onto the porch. She stood for a few long minutes staring mindlessly at the city lights when she heard footsteps behind her, every other step had a second clunk that went along with it, and she could hear he limp, so she wasn't surprised, and didn't bother turning around when House stepped up behind her and said
'What are you doing out here?'
'Couldn't sleep' she said still without turning around, she was, for some reason, angry with House and she wasn't sure why.
'You should try' he said
'I can't sleep' she repeated
'Your immune system is down, you could get sick and I don't want that to happen…' he didn't get to finish because Cameron interrupted
'Why?' she said with a steely note to her voice 'because it would mean that one of your little slaves would be out of commission for longer?'
'What's that supposed to mean?' House asked
'You know what it means' Cameron replied, she still hadn't looked at him.
'Listen Cameron, I just don't want you to get in any worse condition than you already are…' Cameron finally looked at him
'Don't talk like that' she said 'don't pretend you care! You don't care about anybody but your own reputation!'
'That's not fair' he said frowning
'It may not be fair but it's true, you know it is, I mean you pick the most complicated cases you can find just to prove that you can do it, that you can figure it out.'
'I pick complicated cases because, yes, I want to know I can do it, but the more complicated the case the more the people generally need a good doctor!' House said his voice rising.
'There you go again!' she said 'you're so arrogant! You think you're god! That's why you can't take it when we lose a patient because it means that you failed! You couldn't figure out the puzzle!'
'This coming from the woman who runs on her emotions and who becomes a wreck on every case! You'll stay up for hours because a patient is getting worse!'
'You're not any better!' she shouted back 'you'll stand in a patient's room and mope around until you get your freakin' answer!'
'Because I want to make them better!'
'Because you cant stand the thought of failing! You have no empathy at all for a patients emotions or how your crazy procedures may be traumatizing them or their families!'
'When you're a doctor you cant have empathy for everybody, if you did you would turn into… you! Emotions can get in the way of progress Cameron, if you want to get a person better sometimes you have to forgo the "morals" of the situation!'
'Sometimes! But not all the time House! You never care you never think about morals or the rationality of your own brain!'
'You cant have it both ways! Either you make them better and they'll forgive you or you have empathy and kill them'
'But if you don't make them better then the family will hunt you down!'
'It hasn't happened yet'
'Because you always get your answer!' her voice lowered 'your brilliant House' she said 'you know that, we all know that but you need to start thinking about the people more, care for once, don't take a case because it's a great puzzle for the great Gregory House to figure out, take the case because the people need you to. Because not everyone wants to be treated like a jigsaw puzzle, you'll start losing patients, you'll lose your job.'
There was a long silence in which they both stared at one another
'I'd have lost my job a long time ago if I didn't care' he said
'Prove it' Cameron said 'I bet you fifty dollars that you cant choose an easy case, something any ordinary doctor could figure out'
'I can't do that' House said, Cameron nodded
'I knew you couldn't, you don't care, you never care, you probably don't even care about me, I'm just another case to prove yourself on.' She shot him a particularly nasty look then turned on her heel and disappeared down the hall.
Cameron wasn't the only one who hadn't slept in a while, Wilson would lay awake in bed for a long time then give up and go watch the late night news, eventually he would fall asleep on the couch only to be awoken again by disturbing dreams. Always the same one, Cameron is sleeping and Clark comes over and stabs her in the chest, he always wakes up right there, like now for instance. He was lying on the couch with his eyes open; he had just been woken by the dream again, this time with a bizarre ringing in his head. His mind was foggy and he couldn't shake the ringing. It took him a full minute before he realized it was the doorbell. He shook his head and sat up, who would be ringing the doorbell at this time of night, unless House had forgotten his key. With a groan Wilson stood and dragged his feet to the door, he pulled it open and was shocked at who he saw. He swung the door open wide and ran his eyes over the figure on his doorstep.
'hi' Cameron said.