Chapter 17
Cameron hung up the phone, and sat back in her chair. She scribbled a few more notes in the file in her hands, and then began flipping the pages. She paused at a particular page, how could they have missed this before? She walked into House's office and began speaking, before she realized he couldn't hear her. She reached down and pulled the earphones out, and then waited for the rage. Nothing. She leaned closer and saw that he was sleeping. She smiled. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. It was the only time he looked as though happiness was possible. She hated to wake him, but the patient came first.
"House," she said, shaking his arm. "House, wake up."
"Not now, I'm with Cameron," House mumbled. Cameron grinned, was he dreaming?
"What are you doing?" She asked softly. House mumbled something that made Cameron blush wildly. He must be teasing her, she thought. She couldn't believe House would be having that kind of dream about her. He tried so hard to make it clear he didn't like her at all. Maybe too hard? Cameron wondered.
"House," she said louder. "Wake up, I have news about our patient."
House jerked awake, and looked up. He saw the blush fading from Cameron's cheeks, and suddenly realized what he had been dreaming about. Had he talked in his sleep?
"You were right," Cameron said. "Her primary care doctor said when she came in for her last exam she asked about a referral to an ophthalmologist. She was complaining about her eyes getting tired and headaches. She thought it was because she needed glasses. She has an appointment scheduled next week."
"Good. That means we're on the right track." House replied. "Go and ask Wilson to take a look at her MRI, as soon as Foreman gets back." Cameron left the room, and House closed his eyes. If he was lucky, maybe he'd get a chance to finish that dream.
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Foreman and Chase came into House's office and put the MRI pictures on the screen. Closely following were Cameron and Wilson, chatting about how she was feeling. House got up and stood back, positioning himself so that he was standing right behind Cameron and had to lean slightly over her to look at the MRI. He noticed a slightly fruity scent in her hair, and took a deep breath.
Cameron, although trying hard to examine the MRI results, was having a hard time concentrating. She could feel House leaning over her; she could barely feel his breath on her ear, but it was enough to raise the hairs on the back of her neck and threaten to send a blush to her cheeks. She shook her head to try to clear it, and noticed a lock of her hair had rested on House's shoulder. Her head cleared, for the moment, she pointed to an area near the optic chiasm.
"What's that?" Cameron asked, hoping her voice sounded normal.
"You mean, what's this?" House said, as he took Cameron's pointing hand in his and moved it up just slightly. Her fingertip rested on an extremely thin line that was crossing over the optic nerve.
"And this." Chase pointed at another similar line, shown at a different angle than the first.
"That's your tumor," Wilson said. "It's extremely rare, but occasionally a tumor can form into strands, or tendrils, instead of the typical solid mass. Located in this area, its no wonder she's been having visions and going blind."
House and Cameron barely heard anything Wilson was saying. Cameron had lowered her hand, but House hadn't let go. Wilson turned, expecting an answer, and noticed how close the two were standing. He glanced down to see House holding Cameron's hand. He was astonished, and quickly turned his head so House wouldn't see that he'd been caught. This was exactly what House needed, but the last thing he'd want would be an audience. He could ask him about it later, without the boys around.
"House?" Chase asked. He turned and also saw House's hand still resting on Cameron's. He looked away quickly also, but for different reasons. He didn't want to see Cameron and House together. He knew he had been the one to tell Cameron that they shouldn't see each other again after that night, but that didn't mean he wanted to see her with someone else. And of all people, House?
"Right. Wilson, do whatever it is you need to do to confirm the diagnosis, and we'll transfer the patient to oncology for treatment. Foreman, Chase, go talk to the patient and explain what's going on, let her know about the transfer." Foreman nodded and left the room, unaware of anything. Chase left more slowly, glancing back at Cameron before he finally walked through the door. Wilson also slipped out; he hoped to give House a moment alone with Cameron.
Cameron, however, was trying to get out of the office as quickly as possible. She was confused, and didn't want House to have the opportunity to make it worse. She knew he was doing this intentionally, she just didn't know what his intentions were. Until she did, she didn't want him to know it was working.
She had nearly made it out of the room, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her breath caught in her throat, making an audible hitching noise. She turned and looked up into those blue eyes, and forgot all about not letting him know it was working. She couldn't have masked the look on her face with ten minutes to practice, doing it in an instant wasn't possible.
House looked down at her. Her face was an open book, and he could see that she clearly still had feelings for him. It was obvious she was attracted to him; he could feel that from her anytime he had an excuse for the two of them to touch. But was it anything more than a physical attraction? He needed to know before he went any further with this.
As he opened his mouth to speak, Wilson came back into the room. When he opened the door, both House and Cameron looked up. With eye contact broken, Cameron took the opportunity to exit through the conference room door, without giving House a chance to question her about anything.
"Got time for lunch?" Wilson asked. He knew his friend was annoyed at being interrupted; he figured the best way to get him over that was to offer him free food. He wasn't wrong; House nodded his assent, took two Vicodin and the two went to the cafeteria together. Wilson wanted to know what was going on with House and Cameron, and he figured he'd better get the scoop before Cuddy forced the meeting she'd been hinting at. After that meeting, he wasn't sure he'd still have a friend in Greg House.
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House loaded up his cafeteria tray with more food than it would seem possible for one man to eat. Wilson said not a word. He wanted information, and in order to get that, he needed to stay on House's good side. Well, there really wasn't a good side, but he needed to stay off the shit list. Wilson paid for their meals, and the two sat at a table in the corner.
"You want something," House said, as he began eating.
"Why do you say that?" Wilson asked.
"You never offer to buy me lunch. The only possible reason is because you want something. Did your new girlfriend throw you out? Need a place to stay?" House was mumbling slightly, as he hadn't really paused in his eating while he said all this.
"No, I don't need a place to stay. But you're right," Wilson smirked at House's 'duh' face, "I do want something. What's going on with you and Cameron?"
"What are you talking about?" House asked. He was watching Wilson out of the corner of his eye, but not lifting his head from his food.
"I saw you holding her hand. I don't think the boys noticed, but I'd have to be blind to miss the way you were looking at her. And the way you two were staring at each other when I came in the office? Come on, you're seriously going to tell me nothing was going on?" Wilson looked intently at House.
"She was having trouble with her contact, she asked me to see if I could see it," House said, still without looking up.
"Cameron doesn't wear contacts. And you were holding her hand because..?" Wilson let the question trail off.
House sighed and shifted his weight in his chair. He turned his head and stared at the wall. He could feel Wilson staring at the back of his head. Resignedly, he turned around to face his friend.
"Oh my God, you do like her." Wilson gushed. One look at his face was all Wilson had needed. "I knew it, I knew it!"
"Geez, Wilson, you're such a girl. Hey, maybe you could pass her a note in study hall and ask her if she likes me back," House snarked. He turned back to eat the rest of his lunch, but he just wasn't hungry. He pushed the tray away, disgusted with himself for letting Wilson trap him so easily.
"House, don't be such a jackass. You like her; she likes you, what's the problem? Is it Stacy?" Wilson couldn't believe House would let Cameron get away so easily. He knew his friend preferred misery to happiness, but this was crazy.
"She liked me," House corrected. "That was a year ago. I have no idea how she feels now, and I'm not going to ask."
"Then what are you doing?" Wilson asked. "House, I know you've been bored, but playing with her like that is just plain wrong."
"You're hardly the one to be passing moral judgments, Wilson. How many wives have you cheated on now, three, isn't it?" House shot at him.
"We're not talking about me, we're talking about you and what you're doing to Cameron. House, you already hurt her once, do you really want to do that again? She may like, you. Hell, she may even love you. But if you play with her emotions and then shut her out like you did last year, she'll leave. And then you'll never know." Wilson hoped House was listening.
"Do you really think she'd leave?" House asked.
"Yes, I do. For the same reason you sent Stacy away. Could you have lived with having to see her everyday, knowing she would never tell Mark about you? Knowing that you couldn't have her? Knowing that you'd only end up hurting more?" Wilson knew House knew all these things, but the man had a blind spot when it came to the truth about himself big enough to drive a truck through.
"I don't want her to leave," House admitted.
"I'm not suggesting you propose. Just ask her out for a beer. Take her to a ball game, or a tractor pull for Pete's sake. Maybe you should try being friends with her. It might be worth it." Wilson had ulterior motives for wanting House to befriend Cameron, but he wasn't going to let on. If he could get the two of them on the right track, things might not be so bad for his friend later on.
House said nothing in reply. He just sat, thinking to himself. He could do that. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have another friend. And really, Cameron was so much prettier than Wilson.
