CHAPTER TWENTY TWO – Day 2, cont'd

"Okay," Cameron started, talking between bites of pizza. "I picked a fight with this girl that nudged me, innocent enough, right? The ecstasy my "friend" put in my drink made me go ballistic. The last thing I remember I was on the floor beating the crap out of this girl, but she in turn gave me a huge gash over my eyebrow.

"My friend never admitted she put it in my drink so I was sent to the hospital for stitches and then sent to jail overnight. In court the next day I was sentenced to thirty days in rehab, which of course I didn't need. I only did three days in rehab because my friend confided to Rick what she did. He came and got me out.

"But I still had to do 200 hours of community service on top of trying to catch up on my classes I'd missed, but Rick was there almost every day to help tutor me. That's why I was only second in my class. If that hadn't happened, I would have been first."

Cameron set her empty plate on the coffee table, leaned back and threw her head on the pillow, sighing.

"Okay, so…Rick gets you out and to pay him back you sleep with him then marry him. Wow, let me know whenever you need to get out of a jam again!" House said with a laugh.

Something occurred to him: he kept flirting with her.

Stop it, House, just stop it.

"Very funny," she said quite seriously. "That's not how it happened and you know it."

House got serious for a moment and reflected over the story Cameron just finished telling him. He, too, put his plate on the table and sat back on the couch, facing her. He wasn't too shocked and instead thought it was trivial.

"That's not a big deal. It's not like you took it by choice like you did that acid," he said, very sarcastically.

"Yeah, and you know why I did it."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to fire you. But you did answer a few questions I had. Thanks."

I just thanked her? Oh, my god. What is she doing to me?

"Okay, now you," she told him.

"Now me, what?" he asked, knowing full well what she meant.

"I want to know what happened before…how I got hurt. The last thing I remember I was kissing you in your office," she said with a sly smile.

Oh, yeah. The infamous kiss. Okay, this'll be easy. You can do this.

"You and I were at dinner and I was walking you to your car – I had the bike, remember that? It was the same night we kissed in my office," House said.

As he spoke, he tried not to make his voice shake or say it an octave higher than his normal voice. But when he said, '…we kissed…' it didn't sound right. Those words that came out of his mouth shocked him to the core. He'd never said it out loud to anyone, and he figured if he didn't say anything about it then it never actually happened.

But, man! What a kiss! Her lips were so soft and her body pressed against mine and she felt soooo good– GAWD! Wait! Get a grip, House!

Cameron's eyebrows furled and she tried to concentrate hard, trying to remember. She shook her head.

"Just as we reached the curb a delivery truck barreled in front of us, going over on the curb. You were two steps ahead of me, because you always take short, fast steps because my legs are longer than yours and we were holding hands and…when the truck hit you it threw you back several feet and I couldn't hold onto you…you flew out of my hand and landed against the building wall and collapsed."

House finished the sentence it seemed like, in one long, uninterrupted breath. He looked into her eyes, trying to read what she was thinking, or feeling.

"You don't remember any of that?" he asked.

"I vaguely remember the dinner, but…" Cameron stopped herself by first stretching then yawning. "…nothing else after the kiss, I guess."

She rolled over on her back, settled her bad ankle/leg on the arm rest and put her head down on House's right thigh very, very gently.

"Is that okay?" she asked. "Am I hurting you?"

"Uh, no," he answered awkwardly.

House was so unprepared he put his hands up in the air as if he were being robbed while she positioned herself in a more comfortable position. He put his left elbow on his end of the arm rest and, well, couldn't find a place for his right arm.

But Cameron did. She silently reached up, grabbed his arm and brought it around her waist, putting her own hand on the back of his, brought it up to her chest like she was holding a teddy bear and held it close to her.

Instantly he felt her heartbeat against his curled fingers.

No no no! What am I supposed to do now? No! She's…touching…me…

Then, just as sudden as the anxiety came, it went. It was comfortable to him – holding her, like an old pair of blue jeans you've had since high school. He looked down at her and saw her eyes were closed, but that a few strands of hair draped a little over her eye.

Muuuust leeeeeeeave her hair aloooone!

The next thing he heard was Cameron snoring. He knew he was trapped now. There was no escape. He just didn't have the heart to wake her.

Damn, two days here and I can't find the balls to wake her up?? She's changing me already…muuuust leeeeave hair alooonnnne

And what did House do when he had a sleeping Cameron in his lap and snoring louder than Steve's wheel churning in high gear in the far corner of the room?

He gently pulled the hair from her eye with his middle and third finger until it rested on her forehead. Then he reached for another strand of hair and ran his fingers through it ever so gently. He rubbed her hair between his fingers and remarked to himself how soft it was.

"What am I going to do with you?" House asked to no one awake. Well, there was Steve, and he knew his daddy wasn't talking to him so he stopped churning and took a huge bite of his cheese ball.

A smile slowly etched across House's lips. Without moving his leg, he slowly pushed his shoulders into the back of the couch to get comfortable and rested his head in his left hand. He didn't close his eyes at first. He just kept staring at her.

She is beautiful, isn't she? God, this isn't as easy as I thought.

Cuddy. Cuddy can watch Cameron from now on. Yeah, that'll get me out of it. That'll keep me away from Cameron.

But I don't want her away from me…I just don't want to be feeling like this about her.

Life sucks.

House finally stopped talking to himself and closed his eyes. Within minutes he, too, was asleep.

It would be the next morning when he awoke that he would come to terms with what he was feeling about her.

And he would be in for the shock of his life.