Title: Damaged

Summery: Just read…
Spoilers: Up until midway through "Heavy" and takes a twist.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: You know I don't own it! I play.

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hate to do this (well, not really LOL) but I am going to pimp myself out. I have another story up—it's a co-written story by myself and The Lilac Elf of Lothlorien. It's a House/Law and Order: SVU crossover. The title is "When Worlds Collide" by The Orange Elf of Oblivion. Go check it out : - )

Monday Evening

House left the hospital at 5pm with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Worrying about how Cameron was going to react… well frankly it was freaking him out. Either she was going to be happy that he was finally behind bars, or she was going to freak and bring up the memory of the attack again. The weekend went so well, and she was doing much better. A smile flittered across his face as he remembered how she crawled in to bed with him again on Saturday and Sunday night. Every time, she was gone before he woke up. He sobered up quickly. He didn't want to see her go through a relapse. House had come to realize that he cared more about Cameron that he wanted to admit. Maybe she was right about him all along.

He parked in his designated space, and slowly made the way to his front door. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped in.

"Cameron?"

No answer. She had to be home. All the lights were on and he could hear the TV blaring. TV blaring… 5 o'clock news… House hurried into the living room. He found Cameron sitting on the floor staring at the TV. There was liquid and glass all around her.

The fucking news had beaten him too it.

House very carefully got down as much as his leg would let him. "Cameron," he said quietly, "are you okay?"

"He's gone?"

"Yes, they arrested him this afternoon."

"The report said 5 other women came forward."

House's anger flared up again quickly. Wilson should have given me five more minutes. Instead, he said, "He won't be hurting anyone else ever again."

Cameron just nodded.

House gestured to the mess on the floor. "What happened here?"

"I was getting a drink and watching the news when they flashed his picture on the TV. I squeezed the glass so hard, it broke."

"Did you hurt yourself? Lemme see your hand." He pried her clenched fist open. There was a piece of glass stuck in her palm, and a few other oozing scratches, but nothing that needed serious attention.

"I'm sorry, I'll buy you another glass."

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "Can you get up and go sit on the couch while I get stuff to take care of your hand?"

She nodded again.

When he came back, she had cleaned up the mess on the floor and was seated and waiting on the couch. House took her hand in his lap and began to operate with a needle and tweezers. She looked around the room while he worked, her eye catching something.

"House, what happened to your other cane?"

"Oh," he said casually, "It broke."

"How?"

"I got angry and hit something."

"What exactly did you hit," Cameron asked, suddenly suspicious.

He looked up into her eyes and decided he couldn't lie to her. "Kevin Breaker, the guy who attacked you came into the clinic today." He paused as he heard her sharp intake of breath. "The police had sent a file with his picture in it to Cuddy and she posted that picture around the hospital in case he showed up again. You must have gouged him good, because he came in to have some infected scratches on his face looked at."

"I'm just sorry I missed his eyes," she said vehemently.

House nodded. "Anyway, the nurses recognized him and locked him in an exam room and called the police. Wilson saw him in there and came to get me."

He finally got the piece of glass out of her hand. He cleaned it with some peroxide, put some Neosporin on it, and wrapped it in gauze. "I saw him and, well, I snapped."

Cameron's mouth dropped open. "You beat him up?"

"So hard I broke my cane in half. I would have killed him if Wilson didn't pry me off," he admitted.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Hey, nobody gets to hurt you but me," he said, half jokingly, knowing that he has caused her some emotional pain.

She smiled at him. "That's right," she whispered.

They ordered take out for dinner. It was a quiet evening, without much more talking going on. Cameron was still in her own little world after finding out that her attacker had been arrested. Finally, after a very distracted evening, she headed off to bed. Just before he was going to crash, too, the phone rang.

"What?"

"Good evening to you too."

"Good evening, Wilson. What do you want?"

"Please. Like I was calling to check on you. I wanted to see how Cameron took the news."

"I'm not sure," House replied. "She had the TV on and saw it on there before I got to her."

"Was she okay?"

"I guess so. She broke a glass when she found out, but otherwise… I think she's still in shock from it. That she doesn't have to be afraid of him anymore."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Again, I don't know. She's been distracted all day."

"Just keep an eye on her for a few days."

"Will do. As a matter of fact, I'll keep both eyes on her, how's that?"

"You're a moron."

"Good night, Wilson."

House went to bed shortly after the phone call. It was around midnight. He had between 2 and 3 hours before Cameron would come to his room. And tonight, he was going to stay awake until she did.

A/N: Sorry the chapter is a little short. I had some serious writer's block this time around. I wanted to make it longer, but my brain wouldn't let me LOL