Chapter 34
Day Six
Cameron arrived earlier than normal on Monday morning, dreading the backlog of mail and charts she knew would be strewn about House's office. No matter how much she admired and respected him as a doctor, Cameron had been appalled by his lack of concern for paperwork. She had yet to question why she felt the compulsive need to take care of it all. The idea that House had been even partially right about her need to fix things had been carefully put out of her mind.
Cameron was pleasantly surprised to find that while there were little piles of mail all over House's desk and floor, there had been no new patients while she was out, so there was no backlog of charting for her to do. Cameron gathered up all of the mail and dropped it on her desk. She went to the coffee maker and began a pot of a new coffee she'd brought in with her that morning. It was a flavored blend, which she suspected House would complain about, but secretly enjoy.
While the coffee brewed, Cameron began sorting through the mail. There were several requests for House to speak, which she threw away without even reading, and a number of requests from both patients and doctors for a consult. She began sorting those to read through, hoping to find a case House would be willing to look at.
Cameron had read through the first few of the requests, dismissing them as too simple, when House came into the conference room. He'd come in early, hoping Cameron would be there.
"Good morning," Cameron said as he walked in.
"You look better," House commented.
"And you look like hell," Cameron answered. "You're not sick," she continued, "you already told me that." Cameron paused. "How many days has it been?"
"Six," House replied. "It's that obvious?"
"Only because I know I should be looking," Cameron reassured him. "How bad is it?"
"I don't want to talk about it," House said. He looked at the hall behind them and seeing it empty, pulled Cameron into a quick hug. "I did miss you," he breathed, almost too quiet for her to hear.
Cameron pulled back and gave him a quick kiss.
"Me too," she said. He smiled at her, then let her go and turned to go into his office. Cameron went to the coffee pot to make him a cup. While she was pouring, Chase and Foreman entered.
"You're back," Chase said to Cameron.
"Well spotted, Chase," Foreman quipped. "Glad you're better, Cameron."
"Thanks," Cameron replied. House came back into the conference room and took his coffee from Cameron. He took a big sip and made a face.
"What is this?" He asked.
"Cinnamon almond," Cameron replied.
"It's supposed to be coffee, Cameron, not one of grandma's cookies," House snarked at her. It was actually pretty good coffee, but he didn't want Chase and Foreman to know he enjoyed flavored coffee. Cinnamon almond didn't exactly go with his bad boy image.
Foreman and Chase chuckled. They didn't really care what flavor coffee the coffee was, as long as House didn't make it.
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Chase and Foreman were sitting at the glass table, Foreman working on research for a new article and Chase frowning around his pencil at a crossword puzzle. Cameron had gone to the personnel office, to get some paperwork about the fellowship renewals. She figured it would be easier to take care of it all herself and just have him sign it.
House was in his office, playing his newest game, Elf Bowling. It wasn't his typical type of game, but when Quig had described it to him, it had sounded too funny to pass up. Quig had been right, the game was great, although House wasn't enjoying it as much as he could have been. His mind kept drifting back to phone call he'd made last night. Today it seemed like a bad idea. He was feeling better this morning, not good, but better.
To be perfectly honest, he was feeling better since he got to work and saw Cameron. He couldn't explain it, and tried not to think about it too much, but he just felt better when she was around. He hoped nothing would come of that phone call, maybe he could just forget about it. House was just settling back into the game when Wilson stormed into his office, throwing the door open with enough force to crack the glass wall separating House's office from the conference room.
"HOUSE!" Wilson bellowed. "Have you completely lost your mind?"
House let out a small sigh. So much for nothing coming of that phone call, he thought.
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Day Six - Continued
Foreman and Chase had both jumped when Wilson barreled into House's office. They stared in amazement at the crack in the glass wall. What could House possibly have done to make Wilson this angry? Not even bothering to conceal the fact that they were watching, Foreman and Chase stood up to get a better look at House's reaction.
"You sent her to the clinic! Our clinic! Did it even occur to you that you might get caught?" Wilson ranted.
Foreman and Chase looked at each other in confusion. House sent a patient to the clinic? That didn't make any sense, House never even saw patients. Wilson had stopped yelling, House was saying something but Foreman and Chase couldn't make out what it was. Cameron came back into the conference room. Seeing the looks on Foreman and Chase she paused before sitting at her desk to fill out her paperwork.
"What's going on?" Cameron asked.
"Dunno," Chase replied quietly. "Wilson's flipping out on House about something."
"About what?" Cameron asked, concerned.
"Some woman in the clinic?" Foreman responded. "Sshh."
"Oh, like whoever saw her wouldn't be able to figure out she was faking!" Wilson yelled. Cameron was taken aback by his tone. She'd never heard Wilson speak to House that way. "Did you write down everything you wanted her to say? Because she sounded like she was reciting it! A med student could have figured out she was lying."
The three fellows leaned forward unconsciously, trying to hear House's response. Although they could hear his voice, they still couldn't tell what he was saying. Cameron didn't like the look on his face, however. He looked guilty. House looking guilty was scary. What could he have done?
"It's only been five or six days!" Wilson shouted at House, and Cameron cringed. This had something to do with his rehab, not with a patient. What the hell was going on? "How could you be that stupid and desperate already? My God, you could have gone to another clinic and gotten the prescription yourself from some other doctor. Why on earth would you send her here?"
Cameron tensed; House was looking for another Vicodin prescription? No wonder he didn't want to talk about this morning, she thought. But who was the woman Wilson was yelling about?
"I thought she could pull it off!" House retorted. He wasn't yelling, but had raised his voice enough for the other to hear him.
"Are you nuts? Did you even listen to her? She used her real name. Paula Demarco. She said her doctor friend Greg referred her to the clinic. You're lucky I got her and not someone else; they would have turned you in! How could you think she'd be okay? She's a hooker, House, not a stage actress."
Wilson continued screaming at House, but Cameron could no longer hear him. Blood was pounding in her ears loud enough to drown out everything else. Foreman and Chase stared at each other, aghast. House sent his hooker to the clinic to try to scam a Vicodin prescription? That was low, even for him. Chase turned to check Cameron's reaction, but he was too late.
Cameron opened the door to House's office and stepped inside. House and Wilson turned to look at her in amazement. Wilson opened his mouth to say something, but one look at her face stopped him cold.
"When did you see her?" Cameron asked.
"What?" House said, hoping she hadn't heard anything.
"When did you see her?" Cameron repeated, more slowly and emphasized each word. Her tone was flat and cold, almost dead. House didn't think he'd ever heard her sound like that before. He dropped his eyes to the floor and scratched his thumb across his forehead.
"Last night," House said to his shoes.
"And then you kissed me this morning. You told me you missed me while I was sick. Like nothing happened," Cameron's voice revealed only disbelief.
"Nothing did happen," House said.
"Right, you invited a hooker over to play Scrabble," Cameron snapped. She took a very deep breath. House stepped closed to her and reached a hand out to touch her shoulder. She stepped back, out of his reach.
"Don't," she warned. She turned around walked slowly through the door leading into the conference room. Foreman and Chase jumped out of her way, frightened by her expression. Cameron continued into the hall and out of sight without looking back or saying another word.
House tried to say something, but nothing would come out. He looked at Wilson, but Wilson only glared back at him.
"I hope it was worth it," Wilson spat, and left House's office without giving him a chance to respond.
