Disclaimer: House is not mine. Whew, at least I'm past the denial stage.
Rating: M
Pairings: House/Cameron
Spoilers: Umm not sure but I'll say Seasons 1 and 2 just to be sure.
Addiction: Chapter Three
Exhausted, Dr Allison Cameron, slipped into her apartment, dropping her keys on the small table next to the door. Looking at her watch, she swore softly. Two-thirty in the morning. She had been out with her friends for seven and a half hours. Not bothering to turn on any lights, she undid her pumps and slid them off, tossing them to the side, then padded down the hallway towards her bedroom. Deciding that she would have a bath tonight as opposed to her usual shower, she grabbed a new towel, her sweatpants and a T-shirt and stepped into her bathroom. Flicking on the lights she squinted slightly as her eyes adjusted to the sudden illumination of her bathroom. Hanging the towel on a shower rack, she went over to the tub and after plugging the drain and turning on the taps, she busied herself with brushing her teeth. When the bath was full, she slipped slowly in, and sank back until her whole body was underwater except for her head. Her mind flew immediately to her deceased mother. She was still trying to come to terms with it. It was as though she had been running on autopilot since the phone call; not feeling, not thinking. Now she was alone, forcing her to think. Her mother was gone. She felt like she was alone in the world now, without her mother's guidance. But she would be strong. She would pull through.
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Half an hour later, Cameron figured she had better resume her hunt for flights soon, and then call her brother later on in the day to tell him the details. Assuming House gave her the time off. She knew she didn't want to tell him why she was leaving, but she really couldn't see any other way; he had an odd way of knowing when she was lying and even sometimes what she was really thinking.
When she was done washing herself, she got out, dried herself and slipped into her sleepwear. Going out into the lounge room, she opened up her laptop, which remained on the coffee table the way she had left it hours ago, and started once more to look for flights from New Jersey to Indiana tomorrow evening. Twenty minutes later she had booked a flight and noted down the booking information. Rubbed her eyes tiredly, she decided to call it a night. Well, morning actually. It was quarter-past three when she fell into a disturbed sleep, tossing and turning, until her alarm went off with a series of irritating, tinny beeps at six-thirty, and she dragged herself out of bed to get ready for work.
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House sat in his office playing his Gameboy. The current level he was playing was a diabolical challenge. He had been trying to get past it for a day now. Stupid Super Mario Brothers. This new game was his latest attempt at distracting himself from a certain member of his diagnostics team. Looking up, he was surprised to see that only the male members of his team sat in the conference room. Where was Cameron? He heard a metallic bleeping coming from the object clutched in his hands, indicating that once again Mario had gotten the best of him. Chucking the game onto his desk, he stood and went into the conference room.
"Where's Cameron? It's not very common to have her running off playing hooky, is it? I'd have bet on the Kangaroo Man, but hey, I'm allowed to be wrong sometimes," he said to Foreman and Chase.
Chase, although slightly irritated by House's latest nickname for him, let it slide and said, "She was scheduled for the clinic this morning but only until ten o'clock."
After taking in this new information, House said, "Well, Daddy's off to go visit Uncle Jimmy, page me if anything happens with the patient. Don't get into any mischief now."
With that, he limped out of the conference room and headed for the elevator. Instead of pressing the button for the oncology level, he pushed level one, intending to go down to the clinic. Of course, he wasn't going down there to do any work- yeah, right: dream on, Cuddy- he was going to find the elusive third musketeer. Yesterday, he would have welcomed her absence, as he wouldn't have to waste valuable energy in avoiding her. Today, though, he wasn't as eager to keep away from her. When he stepped out of the elevator he walked to the reception desk intending to look at the clinic roster. Snatching it up and evil-eyeing a young receptionist who looked as though she might try and stop him, he scanned it quickly. Dr A. Cameron: Checked in- 7:00 a.m., Checked out- 10:00 a.m. So, Dr Cameron was playing hooky after all. Interesting. Deciding to keep looking for her – it really was quite entertaining- he thought of all the possible places she would go to. The lab? Out of the hospital? House decided the lab was a very likely option, so he checked there first. No luck. Glancing at his watch, he realised it was nearly twelve. Something dodgy was definitely up and he was going to find out what it was. After searching nearly the entire hospital, House suddenly decided to check the one place he hadn't thought of: the roof. He took the elevator up to the highest level it could take him, which was still one level below the roof. This meant only one thing... stairs. It was tough work, but he'd never admit that to anyone. He came up here regularly enough, though, that he knew what he had to do to get himself up there with minimal pain. Opening the cold, grey metal door slowly, he peeked out. She was over by the edge, her head bowed, her silky hair forming a makeshift curtain, shielding her face from him. Her shoulders were shaking slightly and he could faintly hear her soft sobs from where he stood. House shifted uncomfortably. While her sobs were almost heartbreaking to hear, compelling him to comfort her, he knew he wasn't very good at emotional stuff. Hell, he could even end up making her cry harder. Deciding to go ahead anyway, he limped slowly towards her until he stood beside her.
Tapping his cane against his sneaker, he said in his softest tone, which somewhat contradicted his choice of words, "You gonna tell me what's got you crying your eyes out?"
She looked up at him and he could see her tear stained cheeks, and her red, puffy eyes that held so much emotion in their depth. Cameron didn't know what to say, she was dumbstruck: since when did House actually care about someone else's feelings?
Without thinking, she swiftly turned, and embraced him tightly, her arms wrapping around his middle, laying her head on his chest and sobbing uncontrollably once more. House stiffened at first, stunned at her sudden action, but then hesitantly put one hand on her waist and the other on her back, attempting to soothe her.
After a while, Cameron lifted her head up and off of House's chest, and looked up at him.
"My mother died yesterday. A stroke. I'm leaving tonight to go and stay with my brother," she said quietly, looking away from his powerful gaze.
House didn't say anything, just continued to hold her and rub her back soothingly. She had probably been very close to her mother. Called her regularly, talked about her life and her problems. Confided in her. That would explain the extent of the grief she was experiencing. He would give her the time off no questions asked. Wiping her eyes, Cameron smiled a tiny, watery smile up at him.
She leaned towards him and kissed him softly on the cheek, "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
Then she slowly slipped out of the embrace and quietly walked out of the large metal door leading back down into the hospital, leaving a pensive House behind.
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Pushing his office door open, he made his way over to his desk. Looking down at the clock, he realised that it was just gone twelve-thirty. Grabbing his jacket, he turned back and limped out of his office. Five minutes later, he was on his motorbike speeding down the highway on his way to a jewellery shop that Wilson frequented on a regular basis- sparkling pretties being a guaranteed ticket out of the doghouse and all. Walking into the shop a little later, he still wasn't entirely sure if he was going to regret doing such a random act of sappiness later.
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It was evening before Cameron had returned to her desk in the conference room. She had spent the rest of the day in the lab, while they waited for the patient to show any new symptoms. Rearranging some papers on her desk, she attempted to tidy it before she left. Her flight was at quarter to six that night, and she had already said her goodbyes to Foreman and Chase, not mentioning why it was that she was leaving, though she knew they were dying to know. Giving up her attempt to clean up the mess of paperwork, she moved around to the other side to get her jacket. As she picked it up off her chair, she noticed a small navy-blue box on her chair. Cameron's curiosity peaked instantly, she picked up the box, lifting up the lid gently. She gasped lightly when she saw what was inside; nestled in white tissue paper was a beautiful butterfly brooch, various coloured gemstones decoratively encrusted onto its wings. Her lips turned upwards into a small smile as she placed the lid back onto the box and put it carefully into her shoulder bag. She didn't need a card to know who it was from.
To Be Continued...
Authors Note: Hopefully that wasn't too OOC. I tried to make the sappiness as un-sappy as I possibly could! I swear! Please review :D