Author: ksyd
Rated: M
Pairing: a little Cameron/House
Summary: Rubbing her right shoulder blade, feeling the scarring line that wetted her soft skin with the letter "J", she got up and packed her things, forgetting to take the invitation with her.

Author's Note: I do not own House, M.D. I just play a little.

I wanny say a big THANK YOU TO to my wunderful Beta Kate, who did a really amazing job on this chapter!

Haunted Chapter ten

The morning sun shines onto her beautiful face, making her look younger, almost light-hearted, but the dark circles under her eyes tell another story. Her head is resting against the arm of the sofa and her eyes are closed, as her chest slightly moves up and down.

The scent of tea fills the air and House is gently moving, not wanting to awake Allison Cameron as he limps about her kitchen. He liked the way she has furnished her apartment; nothing here seemed at all girly. It was more…simple. Comfortable, but simple. Even in her bath (and this had really surprised him) he only found the necessary things.

He goes back to the chair he had rested in last night, only a few feet away from Cameron's sleeping form. He hadn't slept. He could not, and he hadn't wanted to. He´s almost certain that Cameron hadn´t slept peacefully in days and he had watched her through the entire night. He had seen every shrug or stirring; had heard every moan and whisper, though he hadn't understood what she'd said.

After taking her into his arms they had stood there in silence for several minutes, neither of them wanting to let go. Cameron had moved first, trying to avoid his gaze. Neither of them had known how to act, or what to do next. He still could see the anger in her eyes, could feel it. He didn´t like that expression; it showed too much of her pain, but it still was easier to bear than her frightened, tortured look. He had taken off his coat and walked into her kitchen, trying to find something to eat. But an empty fridge was the only answer, so without really even thinking about it, he had left her apartment, rushed into the closest shop and came back with two full bags of food. While he cooked something for her to eat, Cameron sat silently in her living-room. She finally had given up trying to scare House away.

He didn't tell her when he later put some narcotic into her tea. That woman had to sleep or she would collapse. So after forcing her to eat he had brought her the fluid, waiting for her to fall asleep. The moment her eyes began to get heavy, she had glared at him, pointing her finger with a scared look and a shocked face toward him. And for a moment he had regretted going behind her back, but he knew it was for the better, so he set that feeling aside.

"You little…did something in…what?" Then her words had faded and her eyes closed.

As he had covered her body with a blanket, he had sat down, his thoughts going back to his conversation with Cuddy.

"Years ago, Cameron had a relationship with a guy. They were a couple for almost a year."

He was only surprised by the fact that this guy…Jared…had been her boyfriend. He had always figured that whatever had happened to Cameron was… well, he didn´t know what he had thought. Almost a year, so it was likely a serious relationship. It had to be. Cameron's not an easy girl. So she had loved that guy.

"Someday, something went bad. I´m not telling you what. But it did."

Something went bad. What? There are many things you consider as "went bad", so what did she mean by that? But at that moment, he hadn´t thought about that scar on Cameron´s shoulder bone. But now, with knowing the Name of that little Bastard? He was beginning to put the pieces together. The "J" obviously stands for his name. And he had engraved it into Cameron´s skin. But why? And how could a human being do something like that? Something so cruel?

"…And it turned out that this guy was a drug dealer with connections to the Italian Mafia."

A drug dealer. That caught him off guard. Cameron´s boyfriend was a drug dealer and with the Italian Mafia? Boy, that´s a crazy thought; apparently the son of a bitch was through and through an evil person. For seconds he had wondered how Cameron could have possibly not realized that fact in all the months she was with him. His brain quickly continued on to realize she probably had, and her discovery had led to all the things that…"went bad".

"After everything was over, the police accused Cameron of being his partner. Of course she wasnt. The police believed her eventually."

That one almost made him laugh. Not the after-everything-was–over-part, but the thought of Cameron being a drug dealer. Yeah! Allison Cameron, the most honest person he ever met, was secretly a lying, cold-hearted woman. But he didn´t know under what circumstances the police had found her, so he probably can´t blame them for going this way. What really got to him was the first part of this sentence. After everything was over. Replaying those words in his mind, House became frightened again. Over. What the hell was over? And why did the police show up in the first place, accusing Cameron of being involved in Jared's business? This only could mean that the police found the two together after…"everything was over".

"The police believed her eventually. But there still was the Mafia. Maybe they thought that Cameron knows something that could endanger them. So the police made sure that her real name never showed up in the reports and that nobody learned the real person behind the alias. They even came up with a falsified report to explain why Cameron was in the hospital at the time."

That had made him sick. Even to think about the danger she was in…And now he knew why he had read a report that had led him in the wrong direction. And if he had thought better about that report, he wouldn´t have missed the simple fact that there was no consideration of the scar at all. Now he understood Cameron´s mysterious words and her strange actions at the psychiatry ward.

She wasn´t only hiding her past, she was protecting herself, and she had good reasons to do so. Though Cuddy didn´t say it aloud, he knew why she had told him some of the truth. His researches could endanger Cameron and him, but right now, it wasn't himself he was worried about.

The morning sun brings him back to the present, along with a little moan from Cameron, who was still asleep.

He wonders what Cameron was like before. Before bad ghosts and haunting memories began following her. Before angst could touch her. He remembers the little conversation they had when Foreman was fighting for his life.

"How do you know that you´re not infected?"

"Do I seem happy to you?"

"Never."

Chase had laughed about House´s response, and he had felt the urge to strangle the Australian.

He´s almost sure that some of the strong ideologies Cameron has are a result of the experience she had with that guy. He can no longer blame her, its probably her way to deal with all this. And it definitely was the reason for her desire to speak the truth. One lie had destroyed her entire life.

He tries to imagine another Allison Cameron. One who would laugh more? One who would be a little more cheerful? One who had a happy spark in her puppy eyes, not that sad one?

He wants to know that Allison Cameron. And maybe, but just maybe, he would be able to.

He looks at his watch. Cuddy would already be waiting for him. Clinic duty. Sighing he stands up. Grabbing a piece of paper he starts writing down a note for Cameron. When he puts down the pen, he goes to her, touching her face softly and lightly kissing her forehead before leaving her apartment.

Cameron opens her eyes, still feeling the touch of his hand on her cheek, feeling his lips on her skin. She can´t put into words how she feels about that. About him. About his caring actions. She´s so lost in those thoughts that she almost didn't notice his touch hadn´t freaked her out. Instead it had felt good. Maybe the light was slowly coming back to her. Maybe she would tell Dr. Tiek about that thought in their next session, later that day.

"I think someone was in my office. I don´t have any evidence, but I think that someone has gone through my stuff." Dr. Tiek looks, sitting across her, at Lisa Cuddy who sighed when she heard those words.

"Is something missing?" She almost knows the answer.

"No. But some of the some of the files were not at the same spot I left them in yesterday evening." Amanda Tiek was shaking her head slowly as she spoke.

Cuddy nodded, unsure of what to do about that. This had never happened before (well, beside House stealing Stacy´s file), and with no evidence and nothing missing…But she believed the therapist.

"Do you have any idea what the burglar was looking for?" Let´s hope for the best.

After a brief pause, Dr. Tiek nodded.

"Yes. I think someone was looking for Dr. Cameron´s file. Not for the report, but for my own records about our sessions." The pen in Cuddy´s hand drops to the table. "Beside her I have two other patients and I don´t think anyone would have an interest in their problems, which are rather…normal, and they are already some months into therapy, and nothing had happened, ever."

"But the record wasn´t there." It better not have been, cause if…but the therapist before her does not let her down.

"No. I am not keeping Dr. Cameron´s record with the others'. I store it away together with the original report. And that´s in my safe. At my home." Dr. Tiek had never asked any questions about the two files Cuddy had given her. After reading the original, she didn´t need to. The words and the circumstances they described spoke volumes.

A soft knock on the door breaks off the conversation and both women turn around – to see Cameron.

"Oh, I didn´t want to disturb you. I´m sorry. I come back later and…" Wait a minute, something doesn't seem right here...

"What is it?" She knew that expression on Cuddy´s face. It meant nothing good.

Cuddy decided to be honest with her. Cameron had the right to know.

"Someone broke into Dr. Tiek´s apartment tonight. And she thinks that this someone was looking for your file."

Oh no. NO. NO. NO. It can´t be. This all had to be a mistake, a…

"Maybe it was House." Cuddy´s voice cuts through her thoughts.

Cameron only shakes her head slowly. "No, it wasn´t him. He was with me last night."

The shocked look on Cuddy´s face almost makes her smile. Almost. If the circumstances where anything else.

"And with that, we have a problem." House´s voice surprises the three women. And his facial expression almost frightens them. It held blank anger.

Damn that stupid bitch of a therapist! She had stored Cameron´s record somewhere else. He only found the faked report, but he already knew what that one said. It was a rape report.

He giggles, remembering some of Cameron´s word through their last days together. He had made love to her, all night long, but afterwards, as hell broke loose once again as she tried to fight him, she had called it rape. Rape! This accusation had made him angry and he had lost his patience with her. It was too much for him. First she had gone behind his back, trying to escape from the house there were in. He had caught her, just in time, and she had started to fight him. It was no problem to overpower her, it never was, but he was deeply hurt by her betrayal.

"Why are you once again destroying everything? After we spent the whole night making love to each other? I thought that you had come to your senses." He comes toward her, causing Cameron to take a step back, only to find the wall behind her. She shakes her head.

"Rape. It was rape, not 'making love.' I was too weak to stop you, too weak from the drugs you gave me yesterday morning in order to bring me here!" As soon as Cameron's words come out of her mouth, she instantly regrets them.

"What did you just say?" Anger rises in Jared´s eyes, leaving Cameron more frightened than ever before. He now stands right before her, with his arms pinning her against the wall. She can´t speak, too shocked that the words had slipped out.

"I asked you something." His voice cold as ice, his eyes burning dangerous. It was too late. There was nothing she could say now that would calm him down. Her voice nothing more than a whisper, her whole body shaking, she answers him.

"You took advantage of my weakness. You may be calling it 'making love,' but it wasn´t. I had no other choice than to… sleep with you. It was rape. And I despised every time you touched me."

His fist comes down hard against her face, sending her to the ground, leaving her barely conscious. Feeling the pain in her face, touching her cheek, Cameron once again sends a prayer that something, someone, would stop him. But experience had shown her that nothing would, and playing nice with him wouldn´t help her this time.

His hand grabs her forearm, forcing her to stand up and to look at him.

"Then why don´t we do it all over again so you can show me exactly what you mean, honey?"

No, he had never hurt her in that way. A rape was something else, like that one in the faked report. But he never, never, forced her to sleep with him. He always had left her with a choice, in many ways. Every time he had to hurt her, every time he was forced to punish her, it was because SHE had made the wrong decisions. And, no matter how hard he tries to see it like Cameron, he can´t understand her accuse of being raped by him. She wasn´t enchained, could have leave the bed every time, but she choose not to. And Jared Carter truly believes that, easily overlooking Cameron´s attempts to not make him angry. She was too afraid to stop him, so she had let him.