A/N: Wow, this is like the earliest I've updated, yay. Well I really need reviews on this one to know how you think it's going and basically anything, including if you think I should end this story soon. thanks.
She didn't know how they had convinced Cuddy to let them both take four days off, but there they were, throwing luggage into the trunk and getting ready to leave.
"Is that everything?" Chase asked before he slammed the trunk shut.
She thought for a moment. "One more thing," she said and bolted up the stairs into her apartment.
She came back a minute later with a case of CD's and a big sweatshirt. "For the ride," she explained. "You do know where you're going right?" she wondered as they got in the car and Chase started the engine.
"Nope," he admitted. "That's why you're navigation," he smiled.
"That's a bit dangerous, you know?" she said.
He smiled briefly, but turned serious as he asked her, "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine," she told him. "I wasn't too close with my dad," she said as emotion crept into her voice.
"How come?" he pushed, though he knew she might not want to elaborate, they hadn't really talked too much about her family.
"He and my mom didn't exactly get along, it's complicated," she told him.
She put her chair back a bit and took Chase's free hand. "I don't hate him I just resent the way he turned me against my mom," she said, staring out the windshield. "Turn left."
"You want to talk about it?" he asked, though he desperately wanted to know if she was still holding on to anything from the past.
"My parents never got along, they just put on this big show for everybody," she continued. "The show ended when they walked through the front door. They were so obsessed with their problems." She sighed as images of herself as a child, sitting alone in her room trying to block out whatever petty argument her parents flooded into her mind.
"They neglected you?" he asked, suddenly very glad he'd come with her.
"That's not how I would classify it," she said, searching for the right description. "It's more like they were normal goodparents but they chose to involve me in their fights."
"How'd you take it?" he asked.
"I hated being out in the middle, but things got a lot better once they finally split up," she continued to explain. "I was so happy they divorced. People would tell me 'oh I'm sorry to hear about your parents' but I was ecstatic."
"Did you ever forgive them?" he wondered as they continued driving down the seeminglyendless highway.
"Time goes on," she said. "I keep the past where it belongs."
He nodded with understanding and truly believed she was past it. "I think your phone's ringing," he told her.
She dug for her purse and found her phone and flipped it open.
"Cameron," she said into the phone.
"So you drove to the next state on my time, just to save Daddy?" House said without any introduction.
"I don't care, fire me if you want, but I have to do this," she boldly said.
"Fire you? Whatever gave you that idea? You seem to have some sort of paranoia complex. Might want to get that checked out."
She rolled her eyes, as if House could see her. "I'll be back in a few days. Bye House," she said and hung up, not giving him a chance to say anything more.
"He is so ridiculous," she said.
"Yep," Chase agreed.
An hour passed with little small talk as they drove past gas stations, hotels, and small restaurants.
"Hey Al?" Chase said.
No response. He glanced over to see her asleep with her head resting on her hand.
"Allison," he said again. He lightly shook her shoulder to make her wake up.
She sat up and opened her eyes. "What? I was trying to sleep," she said with mock sternness. "I was kidding!" she said when he shot her a defensive look. "Are we there yet?" she asked, letting out a yawn while stretching her arms as much as she could in the small car.
"No." He laughed at how girly she looked with her wild curls, slightly disarrayed from the ride, and tired expression. "You're beautiful, you know?" he said and closed the distance between them with a kiss.
She smiled and looked around to see why did they weren't moving.
"I needed some food, want anything?"
"Yeh," she said as she remembered how little she'd actually eaten that day.
"Okay, what do you want?" he said and dug for his wallet.
She thought for a moment. "I'll just come."
"Okay," he said and got out of the car.
He turned around when he realized she wasn't behind him. "You coming?" he asked through the open car door.
"Yeh, as soon as I can find my shoes," she told him as she searched through the things in the passenger side.
A minute later she gave up, throwing her hands in the air. "I can't find them, and I'm not going to risk going in there barefoot."
"Yeh, I wouldn't recommend that," he said, a smile playing on his lips as he walked closer to her.
"What are you doing?" she asked with an eyebrow arched.
He said nothing just turned his back to her and knelt in front of her. "Just get on my back," he offered as a solution to her not having shoes.
She smiled and rolled her eyes at the fact that she didn't care how funny they might look.
She carefully wrapped her legs around his waist and successfully got onto his back, purse in hand.
She was almost having enough fun to forget why they were making this trip. The thought made her feel a little guilty as she pushed it away and told herself that the less she thought about it, the better.
She sighed as she realized how grateful she was to have him. To express this she leaned forward and kissed his neck as they approached the building.
Chase laughed. "Keep doing that and I might just drop you."
She laughed lightly. "I'll keep that in mind, no more kissing."
The ring of her phone interrupted the moment as she skillfully held on to Chase and answered the call at the same time.
"Cameron," she said with a trace of laughter.
"Enjoying yourself? You leave me here with Foreman while you're off with lover boy having fun?" House lashed off.
"Goodbye House," she said and closed the phone, placing it back in her purse.
They managed to get into the rest stop building andget a couple subs and drinks from a sub shop in the rest stop.
"Hurry," Cameron laughed into his ear as she struggled to carry everything and not fall.
Chase found a nearby table and set her down gently just as she was loosing her balance.
"Hmm, strong," she said and was once again interrupted by her phone. She looked at the caller ID first this time."If he calls me one more time I'm going to explode," she said and instead of answering it she was struck with a better idea. "You know what, I'm not even going to give him a chance," she told Chase and shut her phone off. "Shut yours off too so he can't play his little games."
He smiled and shut his cell off too.
"We're almost there," he said a minute later between bites of his turkey sub.
She looked out a nearby window and sighed. "In a way I just want to turn around now, avoid him and just go on with life."
He looked back at her, listening, but not completely sure what to say.
"But it's my dad," she said, reasoning with herself. "I owe it to him to be there."
"It's better to be there now than to regret not being there when it's too late," Chase spoke from experience.
"Your dad?" she asked though she knew that's what he was referring to.
"Yeh," he said. "I justcan't shake the feeling that I should have been there."
"You didn't know, there was no way you could have," she reassured him.
He gave a weak smile and changed the subject, indicating to her that he didn't want to mull over it anymore than he already had. "What exit do we need?"
"Twenty one," she answered.
They finished eating, Chase carried her to the car and they spent the remaining half hour of the trip debating peacefully over new medical practices that Chase had read about recently.
"I don't care, they still have ethical values to protect," Cameron said. "That's our hotel!" she said quickly pointing to a nice hotel nearly hidden by a large supermarket and trees.
Chase swerved quickly into the parking lot and pulled into a parking space.
"Sorry about that," he said and shut off the engine. "Let's dump off all this stuff and we'll head to the hospital," he said as he grabbed some luggage out of the trunk.
They checked in, found the room and unpacked quickly. A little over a half an hour later they were walking into the hospital.
"I'm looking for David Cameron's room," she told the nurse at the front desk.
"You family?" the nurse asked in the same tone Cameron was sure she used every time she asked people that.
"He's my father," she responded.
"Room 201," the nurse read from a screen and directed them to the room.
Cameron looked at Chase and hesitantly started down the hallway. He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
She knew she should have expected what she saw, but it was still a shock to her. There he was, lying on a hospital bed under light blue sheets with a heart monitor beeping from his side.
She wasn't sure how long she sat in the chair beside his bed leaning on Chase's shoulder, but it had to have been at least an hour.
"You must be Ms. Cameron," she heard somebody say. She glanced over to see a doctor in a white lab coat carrying a clipboard.
"Yes," she said, not bothering to correct him that it was Dr. Cameron. She was too out of it to care.
"Well he's not awake right nowbecause ofall the pain medications, but you can come back tomorrow and he should be awake," he informed her.
She nodded slightly but didn't make an effort to move.
Chase glanced up and the doctor. The doctor caught his silent message and left the room.
"Hey hon," Chase said quietly while running his fingers through her hair soothingly. "We can come back tomorrow; you need to get some sleep."
"Let's go," she said almost silently and got up.
They got back to the hotel around 8. Cameron set her purse on the small coffee table and flicked a light on as she made her way to the bed and sat down. Chase stood in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Fine," she replied absently.
"Don't lie," he said in a non-accusatory tone.
"I really don't know," she said and stood up to change out of her clothes.
She crawled onto the bed and under the flowered comforter. Chase followed her.
"Thanks," she said as she laid her head on his chest.
"You've got the hard part in all this," he replied, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
They got comfortable and drifted off to sleep, Cameron on her stomach with an arm over Chase's middle, keeping him close.
TBC.