Amazing Grace- A House/NCIS story

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything House related except DVDs. Ryan is mine, though.

AN. The thing with the knee really did happen to a contestant on Australian So you think you can dance, but I'm not sure I got it right or understand the medicine behind it.

Chapter five:

"He had an affair," House announced triumphantly when the teams reassembled in the conference room.

"How? The ship's ghost? The Quantavius is an all men crew," Cameron informed him.

"I never said it was with a woman," House retorted.

"There's no evidence to suspect an affair," Foreman backed Cameron up.

"No? McGee- show and tell."

McGee looked stunned at being addressed (and ordered) by House, but with a questioning glance at Gibbs, he stood up and cleared his throat nervously.

"Well, we contacted Captain Roosevelt's commander, who reported him as being unusually subdued and irritable on the voyage. He also said he kept to himself a lot more, and that a small group of men, including the two men that died on the voyage home, were caught a few times down in the storage rooms, but no one seems to know what they were doing, but they sure as hell didn't want anyone around when it was happening."

"See? Group sex on a boat. Every sailor's dream," House commented.

Cameron wrinkled her nose, slightly offended, after all her father and brother were in the same profession, and she highly doubted group sex on a boat was either one's dream. Just as she opened her mouth to protest, Chase cut in.

"That's not exactly proof of an affair. The guy's hundreds of miles away from his wife and kids and could die anytime. So, he's gotta be scared... I vote drugs."

"The wife said not," Foreman rejected.

Cameron seemed thoughtful, but Tony added his musings. "No, she said not that she knew of. Who knows what she doesn't know of."

"What about depression?"

The entire room turned to Cameron, who hastened to explain. "It explains the irritability and the subduedness on the voyage. And if he was on anti-depressants, which is likely, considering he's so far from home, it could cause migraines and nausea especially if used with alcohol."

"It'd be in his records though if the navy doctor prescribed anti-depressants," Ziva added.

Cameron shook her head. "Not if he went to a civilian doctor. Come on, a captain in the army, just wanting to do a job and get home, you wouldn't want everyone knowing you were depressed."

"And he wouldn't want the missus to know either, in case she worried," McGee said thoughtfully.

Cameron nodded and turned to House, who was still doubtful. "My Dad was diagnosed with clinical depression. During the Gulf War. He was in the middle east, minimal civilian contact; and it killed him that he was missing out on all this stuff that he didn't have to be 'Major Cameron' for, he could just be 'Dad'. My brother's first serious girlfriend, and my mom was working and being mom and dealing with the financial fallout from my accident. He just imploded."

She didn't notice Gibbs paying extra attention to her speech, though House did. However one phrase caught House's ear during Cameron's ranting. "Woah, whoa. Accident? What accident?"

Cameron seemed to realise what she had said and blushed. "Nothing."

"I thought you said he was Lieutenant Colonel?" Foreman asked.

"Not at that stage," she explained.

"No seriously, what happened? What accident?" Chase asked in concern.

Cameron hesitated, but realised the sooner she confessed, the quicker House would move on. "Well... I was sixteen, and I'd been getting leg pains for a few months on and off...and my siblings and I went skating... I've done dance since I was three, and Sophie, my sister, she dared me to do... this triple-jump thing. I'd done it before, and it was no biggie. Basically, you jump and spin three times in the air before you land. Anyway, I jumped and landed... and my leg just collapsed. At the hospital..."

She hesitated. "Go on," Foreman urged.

"They found a tumour in my femur. It had pretty much eaten away the inside of the bone and left a shell. When I landed hard on the leg, it shattered."

"So, what happened?" Chase asked her.

Cameron sighed, shooting House a strange look. "Well, it was benign... but I had no kneecap, pretty much. So they took some bone from the back of my pelvis and put it in my leg; but they didn't know if I'd walk again."

She gave a small shrug. "I did rehab. Was dancing again within six weeks."

Her colleagues' jaws dropped in amazement. House couldn't believe what he was hearing, but suddenly the faintly embarrassed look Cameron had shot him made sense. She had recuperated, he hadn't.

"Big scar?" he asked, brushing past that revelation.

Cameron rolled up her pant leg, and showed them the thin white scar running across the back of her knee diagonally.

"And where did they take the bone from?" Tony asked curiously.

Cameron turned and pulled up her top, whilst pulling her pants down slightly to reveal a dent and scar in the back of her hip. House softly reached out to finger the curve and Cameron shivered, pulling away from her boss's electric touch and resuming her seat.

"Ok, so depression. Yay or nay?" she asked House.

House was startled out of his train of thought. "Uh, sure. Go check the home, see what you find. Chase, Foreman... ask him and the wife, just in case they decide to be boring."

"DiNozzo, go along to the house," Gibbs ordered.

Tony eagerly jumped up. "Sure, boss. No worries." He pulled on his coat and hastened to the door whilst Cameron grabbed her coat and bag.

"Milady," he grinned, bowing and opening the door. Cameron laughed and walked out into the corridor.

Chase and Foreman left too, and Ziva and McGee went to find Abby; leaving Gibbs and House alone in the office.

"So," Gibbs said, smiling at House. "Exactly how long have you been in love with Dr. Cameron for?"