Ghost From the Past (4?)
Rating: PG-13 (I think)
Word Count: 1,136
Disclaimer: I own House. Um, right. That was a lie. I don't own anything. Except season 1 & 2 on DVD and my own insanity.
Summary: In the middle of a case, a figure from Cameron's past arrives, creating complications and confusions in her life.
Author's Note: As I said, this is my first House fanfic. The characters may be very, very OOC. It is possible. I have no medical experience, therefore anything I write is probably very wrong. I have no beta, so all mistakes are mine. Some of this might be confusing. Hopefully, it will explain itself, even it not in this chapter... I should add, too, that there are no spoilers past season 2.
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"This is absurd," Chase protested angrily. "I hit my head. I'm not sick."
He wasn't sure why he bothered. When House thought that he was right, no one could convince him otherwise. Still, Chase couldn't give in. If he did, then House would want to run a series of pointless and no doubt humiliating tests on Chase. He couldn't let that happen. He wasn't sick. House's insane theory would keep them from diagnosing Elizabeth, who really was sick.
"Do you have a headache?" House asked.
"Yes," Chase knew it would be pointless to lie. His head did hurt.
"Then you're sick," House insisted.
"I rolled off Cameron's couch and hit my head," Chase repeated slowly, losing his patience. He'd already gone over this. House had seen him rub his forehead and immediately assumed that since Chase had a headache, he was as sick as Elizabeth. "I'm not sick. I don't have a fever."
"Maybe, maybe not," House said. "I guess we'll know for sure when you drop dead."
Chase glared at him. He picked up Elizabeth's chart. "I'm fine. You said that the girl had another symptom. There's nothing on the board, and the last note on her chart is the change in her meds this morning."
"You don't think that the fact that her illness is contagious is important?"
"It's not contagious," Chase said. He looked at Foreman and then Cameron. Foreman shrugged. He'd been hearing this all morning. Cameron wasn't looking at him. That wasn't a good sign. "House, please. Her family isn't sick. Cameron isn't sick. It's not contagious."
House pointed his cane at Chase. "Don't go near the patient."
Chase groaned, letting his head hit the table. Foreman spoke up. "Chase has a point. He's the only one showing any symptoms, and there's an explanation for them."
"Yes," House agreed. Chase closed his eyes and sighed in relief. It was short-lived. "So why is Chase the only one showing symptoms? Chase, did you kiss another little girl?"
"No," Chase spat angrily. He banged his head against the table a few times. "I'm not sick."
"Sure," House agreed. "Were you alone with the patient?"
"I took her back to her room after her MRI," Chase answered. He shouldn't give House the satisfaction, but he just wanted this over with. "Nothing happened."
"Nothing? You didn't talk to her?"
"We talked. She's sick, and she's scared. I tried to reassure her."
"Oh, boo hoo," House mocked. "Did you hold her hand? Wipe away her tears?"
"No," Chase didn't bother looking up. "We talked. She calmed down and fell asleep."
"Did she sneeze? Cough?"
"If she had, I would have noted it in her chart. Nothing happened that would have caused me to get whatever she has. The fact that no one in her family is sick would make it a non-airbourne transmission, and I haven't been in contact with any of her body fluids." Chase shook his head, trying to make this go away. He looked up at House. "Why are you so sure that I'm sick? If my illness is the basis for your theory, you're wrong, and you're going to kill her. I am not sick."
"Cameron, examine the girl's blood. Don't just test it. Look at it," House ordered, picking up his ball and bouncing it. "We're missing something. Foreman, test Chase."
"I'm not sick. You'll just waste Foreman's time," Chase protested again.
"So?" House demanded. "Do it anyway."
Chase dropped his head back on the table. "I'm not bloody sick."
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"Allison."
The name made her jerk. The speaker made her wish that she had never been born. She's guilty for more than one reason, and she had the crazy feeling that he knows about all of them, and she felt like she had betrayed him, but she shouldn't. Joe had no claim on her.
Except as Elizabeth's uncle.
Cameron swallowed and looked up at him. Before she could apologize or make an excuse, Joe spoke. "You told me you'd let me know, that when you got to the hospital, you could tell me about Elizabeth."
She heard Foreman draw in his breath beside her. He would probably have something to say about Cameron staying on the case when they were alone again. Still, Elizabeth's case was a case for an immunologist. She had what looked like an infection, but she wasn't responding to antibiotics.
Cameron opened her mouth to speak, but Joe continued. "Then we see Dr. House, and he insists that we leave Elizabeth's room because she's contagious."
Foreman cursed under his breath. Cameron shook her head. "It isn't likely that you'll catch anything. We have no proof that this is contagious."
"Dr. House said someone else was sick. A doctor. He asked Elizabeth about her MRI."
Foreman groaned. Cameron sighed. "Did Elizabeth remember coughing or sneezing on Dr. Chase?"
Joe frowned at the mention of Chase's name, but he shook his head. "She didn't seem to remember what Dr. House wanted to hear. He scared her."
"That's House," Cameron said. "Chase was fatigued, and he hit his head on my coffee table last night. He rolled off the couch. He has a headache, so House thought he was sick, too. But he doesn't have a fever."
"He's not sick," Joe repeated, looking at Foreman for confirmation. It hurt her to realize that he thought she would lie to him about it.
"His tests are negative," Foreman answered. He didn't add that Elizabeth's had been, too. "Cameron, I'm going back to the lab to run some more tests."
She nodded, watching him go. Foreman thought that Elizabeth probably had a virus, though they had already eliminated the common ones. House hadn't been willing to listen, but Foreman was still looking. Joe touched her arm. "Allison, can we talk? Just talk? I know, you have to work, and I need you to save Elizabeth, but you have to eat and if we—"
"Joe, I can't," she interrupted. If she'd let him continue, she might have let him convince her. But there were so many reasons what that was not a good idea. She looked at his hand, for a second wishing that he would take her into his arms and hold her as he had once. She'd let him hold her when her husband died. Then she had run. She ran before it became anything more. And now, it had finally caught up to her.
"I really can't." She cleared her throat, stepping out of his hold. Joe looked disappointed. He nodded, and she started to walk away.
"Allison?"
She stopped, turning back to him. His eyes pleaded with her. "We used to be friends, Allison. I know, right now, I'm Elizabeth's uncle, and you're her doctor, but when this is over, can we still be friends?"
"I don't know."