CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – Day 2 cont'd

The t.v. played something that House wasn't even watching, even though it was an archeological dig in Egypt and he normally would be interested in it. He sat on the couch leaning on the arm rest with his left elbow, his left leg bent underneath his straightened right leg. His thumb was massaging his bottom lip as his thoughts wandered.

House knew revealing the truth now was way too soon for her, as she had to 'come back' on her own accord. He knew she wanted more from him than he could give; and to play into her fantasy by doing just that was something House could not do. But maybe if it were for only a few days or weeks, then maybe he could play along. He would simply keep his distance. Yeah, that he could do.

House looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 7:00 p.m. and Cameron would want dinner soon. He went into the bedroom and saw she was awake.

"Hey," he simply said.

"Hey."

"You hungry?"

"Nah, not really. My leg is killing me, though. Can I have another pill?"

House didn't say a word but turned and walked out to the living room, got her a pill and returned.

"Thanks." She took the pill from him and swallowed it dry. "Hmm, taking it dry wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

"Uh, yeah," House mumbled.

"I hate taking them. I've never had anything major to warrant pain pills."

"Let me know when you're hungry," House said disinterested then turned to walk out.

"Greg, stay, please," she pleaded.

He turned around and looked at her. He could see the pain in her face, in her eyes. That peculiar feeling in his stomach came back…was it…no, it couldn't be…sympathy? He took a deep breath, walked to the bed and stood there.

"You want something to read? I don't have any Cosmo's but I got a couple of Playboys."

She smiled. "No, you don't. I threw them away."

"You…what?" he asked, a pang of worry went through his body to his toes.

"I'm just kidding," she said. "But sadly I know you're not kidding about the Playboys."

He smiled at her then adjusted his weight on the cane. She turned on her side, moaning and groaning the whole time. She finally got comfortable and looked at him lovingly.

"Greg, there is something about me you don't know. You mentioned me being in court. Yeah, I was in court once. The records are sealed now but I…" she said softly.

House's eyebrows rose with curiosity, and he wanted to know, but not now.

"Cam, we don't have to do this now. We'll talk about it later," he told her.

"No, I'm tired of sleeping. I want to. I need to. First, I need to go to the bathroom."

He walked to the other side of the bed while she stood and reached for the walker, which was still out of reach.

"No, no. I'll get that."

He placed the walker beside her and watched her as she stood, stepped out of her way and watched her walk to the bathroom, looking for any sign that she'd need help. Or that's just what he was telling himself; he was actually watching her butt. She closed the bathroom door and House was silently pleased that she was able to make it on her own. When she was done she came back and sat on the bed, readjusted the pillows and sat up, half covering herself.

"I can order a pizza, I'm getting hungry," House said, still standing beside the bed.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm sure I'll be hungry by the time it comes," she agreed.

Cameron rested her head against the pillow and waited for House to call for the pizza and his return. She didn't know how she was going to tell him, but she felt it was time. And she wanted to know exactly what happened that put her in the hospital; they never explained to her what did happen. She figured if she told a bit of herself to House, he'd tell her the truth about her accident.

"Okay, I ordered a large pepperoni with pineapple and anchovies," House teased as he sat down on the bed beside her, not too close, of course.

Cameron took a deep breath and started to explain her hidden truth that she'd kept from her coworkers and her boss from the day he hired her.

"You know I was married to Rick, but I never told you how we met. It was my first year in medical school and I met him at a Starbucks, of all places. We had seen each other on campus – he was a teacher's assistant – but never spoke. I turned around and he was suddenly there. I ended up spilling my drink on him.

"We talked for two hours that night. It was really nice and he was so easy to talk to. We exchanged phone numbers but neither one of us called the other. I knew I wouldn't have time to date and give him the time he deserved, so that's why I didn't call him. We only passed a few times on campus after that but never spoke more than a chat about the weather.

"Anyway, I was having a tough time with all the classes I was taking, basically because I took too many classes at once. So one night I went out with some friends, and one in particular always got into trouble –we grew up at the same high school – and I knew I should have ended being friends with her but I just didn't. It was a shady club hidden in a side alley and I tried to wiggle my way out of it but they wouldn't have it.

"It was going okay at first and we were having fun but…things went downhill."

House showed interest in what Cameron was saying and he hung on her every word. He'd always been curious about her husband, and God only knew why he never just straight up asked her about it. But he was about to find out.

"She slipped something in my drink. I didn't realize how out of control I was until I started a fight with another girl and the cops came and …"

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Ah, damnit. Pizza's here. Hold that thought and I'll be right back with food. Or, do you want to eat in the living room?"

"I need to stretch a bit. Let's eat in the living room."

Several minutes later House and Cameron were sitting on the couch and devouring the pizza.

"Wow, I was hungrier than I thought. This is good," she said.

"It's DiGorno," he said with a laugh. "Okay, continue, please," he begged.