Sorry it took this long for me to update. I've been busy cough cough splutter choke. But it is certainly the longest I've ever written. Anyway, hope you love it as much as I loved writing it.
"So what have you got for me? C'mon, gimee gimee gimee," House meeting his ducklings in the hallway.
"Nothing," Chase says sighing.
"Could you be a lee-tle more specific?" House asks.
"The MRI showed nothing and we couldn't find anything else abnormal in her stomach or intestine," Foreman says.
"Which leaves us with nothing," Chase says sighing.
"What does she do?" House says interrupting them.
"Uh...what?" Foreman asks.
"What does she do for a living? You know? A job?" House says making wild hand gestures.
"Um…well she's kind of a…she's a hooker," Chase says.
House raises his eyebrows.
"Ooh-hoo! So that's why you wanted me to take the case. I bet she's really hot," House says.
Everyone just rolls their eyes at him He heads into the conference room, followed by the young doctors expectantly. Kimee is sitting there, her legs propped up on the table busily sketching something. She looks up as the come in, staring intently.
"Hey Cameron," she says raising an eyebrow at her, completely ignoring everyone else. "Nice outfit,"
"What do you mean?" Cameron says innocently.
"Well it's certainly different from what you usually wear," Kimee says getting up.
"How so?" Cameron asks.
"Let's see now, then, shall we? You're wearing black fitted pants which seem made for you and your to-die-for legs. Seriously, they are very sexy. And you're wearing a low-cut, red top which screams 'take me right now!' Certainly a change from you usual beige and necklines up to here," Kimee says gesturing at her throat.
"I…don't know what you mean Kimee," Cameron says.
"And the only reason I can think of as to why your wearing those fab clothes, is because you wanna look good at work," Kimee says slyly, and walks over to House. "For a certain someone, I wonder…?"
"Kimee, shouldn't you be doing something? Like, say, I dunno, leaving?" House says "Exits are located to your right," he says doing that pointing thing air hostesses do.
"Oh you're so funny, House. I have no idea why you're not a comedian," Kimee says sarcastically.
"Not enough pay," House retorts. "Anyway, you wear more revealing clothes than Cuddy sometimes,"
"I do not!" Kimee says, but that's not exactly far from the truth. She was currently wearing dark blue skinny jeans, brown leather boots and a green strapless tunic top.
"Um… so we'll just go get a blood test now," Foreman says.
The three of them leave House and Kimee to their snarky conversation.
"Whatever their paying at the moment for their therapy sessions, it's not enough," Foreman says shaking his head.
"House is the idiot causing trouble," Chase says.
"But Kimee was right about something," Foreman says looking at Cameron now. "You don't usually wear that kinda stuff,"
"What?" Cameron says exasperatedly.
"That shirt is pretty sexy compared to your usual stuff," Foreman says, rasing an eyebrow.
"My other stuff is at the drycleaner," Cameron says shrugging.
"I know for a fact that women have enough clothes to last them a lifetime," Chase says crossing his arms in amusement.
"Look, I don't have to explain myself to you two. I'll go run the blood test and you two can go get a better family history," she says and walks off before they can reply.
"Whatever," Foreman says and he walks off with Chase to the patient's room.
------------------------------------------
"Hey Kimee," Cuddy says walking over to the girl sitting on an armchair in the waiting room outside a surgery.
"Dr Cuddy," she greets the doctor in the same tone House uses when he is attempting to avoid the administrator.
"What are you doing here?" Cuddy asks.
"House," she says simply.
Cuddy nods her head.
"Um, Kimee can I ask you for a favour?" Cuddy asks delicately.
"Favour?" Kimee repeats her ears pricking up.
"Yes," Cuddy says.
"Well, what is it?" Kimee asks intently.
"The hospital is hosting a charity dinner, and I haven't really got the time to organise it, so I was wondering if you could help me out and plan it," Cuddy asks.
"What? Really? Well, I've got so much on my plate at the moment. Oh but if you insist, darling, I accept!" Kimee says smiling. "I must be off now. Gotta go order place cards!" she says getting up.
"Oh you don't need to get place cards," Cuddy says.
"Of course I do!" Kimee says brushing past her.
"Whatever," Cuddy says shaking her head.
---------------------------------------------
"Dr House," Cameron calls catching up to the doctor.
"Dr Cameron," House says acknowledging her as she walks up beside him as he was waiting for the elevator.
"We need to talk," she says as they walk into the elevator.
"Really…?"House says.
Cameron suddenly darts forward and presses the button. The elevator immediately stops with a lurch.
"They're gonna find out soon," Cameron says looking at him slightly stonily.
"That I'm trapped here? Yeah they will," House says.
Cameron looks at him. "I meant about us. Or lack thereof," she said.
House gives a quiet snort.
"I don't want to change you. I know what you're like, and still I can't help but have feelings for you. I can see there's more to you than work and Vicodin. And I want to be a part of it," she says.
"If you don't feel the same…I'll leave you alone and forget it. I don't want to push you into anything. I just need to know," Cameron continues. "Was last night…just a one off or…or something else?" she asks timidly.
When House doesn't say anything, she walks closer to him.
"I–"Cameron says, but House cuts her off.
"Something else," he says in a barely audible voice.
Cameron smiles at him, and House turns to face her properly, his face expressionless, but his eyes alight. She knows what he means. He doesn't need words to talk to her. Not with Allison Cameron.
"Besides this means I don't actually have to pay for sex anymore…" House says his voice returning to its usual sarcastic tone.
"Oh yeah? You wait, you're gonna pay more than you could imagine," Cameron replies slyly, now relaxed enough for such banter.
House suddenly does something Cameron wouldn't have imagined. He puts his hand around her waist, and pulls her towards him and plants a passionate kiss on her mouth, taking Cameron by surprise, like everything he did around her, but responds positively, her tongue gently easing into his mouth. She wraps her arms around him, and he holds her closely. There is nothing that could take their minds away from each other, not even the movement of the elevator as it began to move again…
---------------------------------------------
Mean while…
"Hey," Kimee says walking up to Chase and Foreman, as they were waiting for the elevator. "Have you two seen my uncle," she asks.
"Don't call him that. Uncle sounds like the term for a nice person who shows affection to people" Foreman says shuddering at the thought of House being all warm and fuzzy.
"Alright, have you seen House?" Kimee asks again, rolling her eyes.
"Nup," Chase says. "You know where Cameron is? She kind of ran off before,"
"No." Kimee says shaking her head. "She seemed kinda flustered when I mentioned that whole revealing red top thing,"
"Oh well, you were right. It was out of the ordinary for her," Foreman says.
"Yeah, hope she didn't– Oh God, not now…" She says as Stacy and Wilson walk up to them.
"Hi. What are you doing?" Stacy asks Kimee in a false-cheery voice.
"Painting the Mona Lisa. I'm the next Leonardo Da Vinci, except the hot version," Kimee says, looking at her patronizingly.
"Kimee…"Wilson says warningly.
"No, Wilson, don't 'Kimee' me." Kimee says pointing at him Taylor Townsend style. "I don't show good manners to back-stabbing, skanky old hags," she says looking at Stacy with disgust.
"OK, now, come on, Kimee–" Stacy says annoyed now.
"Wilson! Have you seen House?" Cuddy says walking up to the cluster of people around the elevator.
"No, I was just looking for him. I haven't seen him since yesterday, and I'm kinda surprised he hasn't come to distract me from work yet…" Wilson says in that voice he uses as if he were thinking about a really philosophical subject.
"Dr Cuddy, do you know where Cameron–" Foreman asks Cuddy.
"What is with this elevator? What, have we been here for like 10 minutes!" Kimee says tapping her foot impatiently.
"Oh, for God's sake!" Cuddy says sighing. She takes a key out of her pocket and inserts it into a key hole on the panel of buttons. Instantly the elevator was moving again.
"Oh. Cool," Kimee says simply.
Then the soft ping of the elevator broke the silence, as Kimee prepared to give the rant of her life, the doors opened to reveal…
House and Cameron, together, and there was no other words to describe what they were doing except, making out.
It took them about a millisecond to register what was going on and stop, but everyone had seen.
"Oh my God," Kimee says, a mixture of surprise, shock and mild happiness in her voice.
"Oh my God," Cameron says, slightly embarrassed to be caught kissing her boss by her colleagues and other boss.
"Oh my God," Wilson says, as if rejoicing in this moment..
"Oh my God," Foreman says, rather disturbed from this visual.
"Oh my God," Cuddy says, mostly amused by this situation.
"Oh my God," Chase says in humour, distaste and preparation of mockery of all this
"Oh my God," Stacy says out of pure disbelief.
A pause.
"Oh, was I meant to say 'Oh my God' as well?" House says feigning innocence.
-------------------------------------
"Why didn't you tell me?" Wilson asks, almost wetting himself with laughter and excitement.
"You never asked," House obliviously.
"Oh so usually I ask 'Hey, have you and Cameron been messing around in the elevator lately?'" Wilson says sarcastically.
"Well, don't you?" House says, not bothering to think of anything cleverer or snarkier.
"Oh, oh so that's where you were last night!" Wilson squeals, jumping up and down like a little girl.
"I suggest you stop before my cane finds it's way up your ugly ass," House says looking at him threateningly.
"I would've thought being with Cameron would make you nicer," Wilson says smirking
"Shut up," House growls.
"Or what? You'll kiss me?" Wilson says teasingly
"Maybe I will," House says obviously joking.'
"Ew," Wilson says.
The two men don't say anything for awhile. Wilson knew House like the back of his hand. He didn't want to see his friend miserable and he was actually ecstatic that House had done something, anything that could lead to a mild form of contentment in his life. He was also glad to see that he was over Stacy. He knew House could never let go, but maybe, he could be happy again. But of course he couldn't tell House this. Some things are better left unsaid.
"Do you love her?' Wilson asks quietly.
"I don't know," House replies. "Maybe…" he says.
"You're really lucky, House. You have the chance of a lifetime. Don't ruin it," Wilson says wisely.
"I know," House says.
"I'm really happy for you," Wilson says, and then he grins broadly. "But you are never gonna live this down!" he says and dodges a tennis ball House hurtles at his head.
Wilson walks out laughing leaving House to his own thoughts.
-----------------------------------
Cameron was in the lab, mainly to hide from Foreman and Chase with their questions. She was going over some tests when Kimee walks in her heels clicking on the linoleum
"Dr Cameron?" she asks cautiously.
"Oh, Kimee," Cameron says blushing slightly. Aware that she was turning into a flushed tomato made her blush even more. What kind of grown adult turns red at the drop of a hat?
"Could we talk?" she asks.
"Um, yeah sure," Cameron says.
"Hem, funny, the Pathology lab has become the place of secrets-exchanging," Kimee says looking around.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Cameron says following her gaze.
"Look, about before…" Kimee says, not sure what to say.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that–" Cameron apologises, but Kimee shakes her head.
'No, it's alright. You don't think I want my uncle to be lonely forever, do you? I'm glad. Kinda traumatised, but still glad," Kimee says grinning.
Cameron smiles.
"Are you two…?' Kimee asks.
"Um, I think we are," Cameron says, nodding.
"That's good," Kimee says. But her face is serious when she talks again. "Though I gotta know, how you feel about my uncle. House is possibly the most difficult person I know. But you'd be wrong. I can read him like a book. And he really cares about you. So I need to know how you really feel about him. So I can make sure he will be happy,"
Cameron looks at her and she realises that Kimee and House could be so alike yet so different at the same time. Kimee was probably the only one who could control and love House unconditionally. She protected him like a little child, and House's behaviour was exactly the same when it came to the young girl standing before her. Undoubtedly of course, neither would ever admit to that.
"I've admired him ever since I first started working here. I've loved him ever since I went to the Monster truck rally with him last year. And I could never do anything to purposely hurt him. Because that would hurt me too much," Cameron says.
Kimee looks at her, and sighs with happiness.
How could anyone not love her? She thinks to herself affectionately.
"You're a beautiful person," Kimee says, smiling. "And not just on the outside,"
Cameron returns the smile. Kimee nods at her, and walks out without another word.
-------------------------------------
"How can those two be together?" Stacy yells, storming around Cuddy's office.
"Well…"Cuddy begins.
"Isn't there something that says that colleagues aren't meant to date? I mean, this has to be the definition of unethical!" Stacy says, pacing.
"Stacy–" Cuddy starts.
"And what about dating a younger woman? She's at least 15 years her junior. What, is Greg going through some sort of mid-life crisis? Honestly, what do you think that little gold-digger is up to?" Stacy says, her hair messed up and looking extremely flustered.
"STACY!" Cuddy cries. "What are you doing? Can you hear what you're saying? You are married. You and House are not together. You have been apart for 5 years! You moved on. Why shouldn't he be able to as well?"
"Lisa…" Stacy says regretfully.
"Stacy. You weren't there. You didn't see what he was like. The only reason he isn't still sitting at home in his own filth, was because Wilson would not stop pestering, arguing, comforting and pleading with him. He needs somebody to accept him for who he is, and you couldn't be that someone. Let him be happy with Cameron. You owe him that much," Cuddy says.
"You're right, Lisa," Stacy says sighing.
"Look, it's understandable that you should feel jealous–" Cuddy says, rubbing her forehead.
"Jealous? Of what? That my ex is dating a young, beautiful doctor who didn't sign papers that saved his life? Of course I'm not jealous," Stacy says waving her hands about like a madwoman.
"Stacy. Just don't go doing anything stupid," Cuddy says, looking at her pleadingly.
"No, no, Cuddy. Everything is fine. I have to go now," Stacy says, and rushes out quickly.
Dr Cuddy shook her head. This is why she hated getting too involved in her colleague's private lives. It just made things harder.
-------------------------------------
Cameron walked into House's office, to find it empty. She walks over to his desk, and smiles to herself at the mess that one person can make. She starts to shuffle through some papers, rearranging everything into neater piles. She opens a drawer to put away his Game Boy, and moves some stuff out of the way, when she finds something under some papers.
It's a photo of a younger House with Kimee, who looked barely 10. She was smiling like the cat who got the cream. She looked so adorable. But it was seeing House that really made her smile. He looked…carefree. Like nothing in the world was wrong. And Cameron understood right then, that Kimee was right. He was a different person once, but that person was locked away inside. After seeing the photo, how could she not fall more in love with this man who everyone saw as the ultimate cold-hearted bastard?
"You know, most people would consider what you were doing at the moment, illegal and violating. That's my stuff you're going through," House says from the door way.
Cameron jumps in surprise.
"Oh, sorry, it's just your desk looks like a lawnmower ate it then spat it out." Cameron says, putting the photo back in the drawer, discreetly, so he wouldn't see. He didn't seem to notice.
He slowly limp-walks over staring at her in that uncanny way.
"Well, at least everyone knows now," he says lightly.
"Is that such a bad thing?" Cameron asks him, her voice unwavering.
House thinks for a moment unsure what he should say.
"No," he says slowly.
"So what now?' Cameron asks.
"Well, usually I'd have to initiate the idea of some sort of date but since you seem so good at forcing people into that kinda thing, you can do it," House answer, walking closer to her.
"Why Dr House, is that your charming way of asking women out?" Cameron asks coyly, now sidling up to him.
"Is it working?' House replies.
"Maybe," Cameron replies. Then she sighs, and looks at him. "This feels so real," she whispers.
"Yeah," House kind of grunts.
"Don't worry, I won't go all mushy and 'Days of our Lives' on you," Cameron says, smiling again.
"Oh good, I was getting worried there," House says, pretending to be relieved.
Cameron looks at him for a second, before reaching up to him, and kisses him, long and passionately, her hands holding his face. Her emotions are all released in that kiss. Her lips are soft on his and she feels him respond to her abrupt actions.
After a long time, they break apart, and House lets out a low whistle.
"Wow," he says.
"Impressed?" Cameron asks playfully.
"Very. Wish you'd always be like that at work. Life at the hospital will never be the same," house says wistfully.
Cameron gives him a reproachful look, but laughs anyway. Because he was right life at the was definitely not going to be the same anymore…
------------------------------------
Hope I'm not going too fluffy with all this. I want to keep it very House-esque and very parallel with the real show. And everyone, I really need your opinions on whether Kimee should continue as House's niece or not.
I had vowed not to refer to Chase, Foreman and Cameron as 'the ducklings' but I couldn't help it.
Also 'Taylor Townsend' is of course from the OC, she always points to people when talks to them, as if she's scolding a child or something.
Lastly I know 'making out' sounds very juvenile, but seriously, there is nothing else to describe it!
OK, so please review, I would love to read you comments! And everyone who has reviewed thank you so much for your extremely helpful and fabulous replies. It's a great feeling to now that you have actually taken time to write them!