Chapter twenty-two- Understanding.
"I see you have a Christmas tree. Not totally Ebenezer Scrooge, huh?"
"Don't get your hopes up, I'm not going to start enjoying myself this Christmas. Even though you're here"
He flopped down onto the couch and put his feet up. He watched his new- girlfriend? As she looked uncomfortable wringing her hands, overnight bag at her feet.
"Cameron" He said, looking at her. She clearly had no idea what to do with herself. She looked incredibly out of place and small all of a sudden. When he said her name she looked up and smiled at him, but it was clearly strained.
He continued:
"Sit down"
She immediately did as she was told. She perched on the edge of the couch, sitting bolt upright looking forward. She wanted to relax, she really did, but somehow she couldn't. She felt out of her depth now she was in his townhouse.
He tilted his head at her puppy-like obedience, so he tested his luck:
"Take your top off"
It didn't work; she gave him a little smile and a weak attempt at a laugh.
"Cameron. Relax."
"I am" She defended quietly.
"Yeah, right"
"Really, I'm good" She tried to even convince herself, to no avail.
"Wanna meet Steve?"
"Your rat?"
"My rat." He said, inwardly pleased that she had remembered his little pal's name
"Sure"
He stood up, and held out his hand to her. He could see she was feeling out of place, and he didn't want her to, so he offered her this silent comfort, which she gratefully accepted as he led her to the kitchen.
"Steve, this is Cameron. Cameron, this is Steve." He was uncomfortable now; he was being pathetic trying to make her a little less tense.
She let go of House's hand and bent down a little so she was at eyelevel to the rat, smiling.
"Hey Steve" She said gently "you're cute, aren't you? Is this your little wheel?"
"He doesn't use it"
Cameron frowned a little
"Really? It's good for them. He's tame right?"
"How would I know?"
"From when you pet him"
"Pet him?"
Cameron ignored the sarcasm and disbelief in his voice and opened the cage door. She gently placed her hand next to the little rat, who sniffed at it before tentatively putting his tiny front paws onto her palm.
"He's tame" She smiled at House, before talking to the rat in front of her "Now come on sweetie; let's see what Cameron can find for you."
She scooped the rat up until she was cradling him in her hand against her stomach, wandering over to the fruit bowl and offering the creature a grape, which he happily accepted. House was watching with an amused, however slightly patronising expression on his face.
"Sweetie?" He said disparagingly "How come he gets called sweetie?"
"Because he is one" she smiled at House, before addressing Steve "now let's see if you really don't like your wheel"
"He doesn't. Put him away"
"House, don't you play with him?" She asked in a concerned manner
"I talk to him, isn't that enough?" He asked despairingly
"No. But it is cute" She shook her head at Houses horrified expression before talking to the rat as he began to discover his wheel for the first time "Daddy just doesn't understand, does he? No he doesn't!"
"Daddy?"
"Yes. Look, look at him, House!" She was excited now "He loves his wheel! You see, you just have to help them to find these things. Then they love it. He was probably scared before. I'm so pleased you have a pet"
"Right" He was looking at her in complete surprise now. She was like an excited child, but he liked how she was with his rat. It was sweet to watch. So he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing a kiss on her cheek, then her temple, then the top of her head.
They looked at Steve whizzing happily round in his wheel like proud parents.
"He does like his wheel, huh?" House smiled. He didn't feel the need to have his usual gruff exterior when he was with Cameron.
"Yes. I like him, when did you buy him?"
"I didn't"
"What?"
"I found him" House noticed Cameron pale slightly "And took him to the vet. He's not diseased."
She let out a sigh of relief
"You don't mind if he has treats do you?"
"No, why?"
"Its Christmas tomorrow, and I went to the pet store, they have the cutest little things for gifts"
"Oh my God"
---
By nine o'clock, House and Cameron had settled back down on the sofa eating a pizza House had ordered. They were talking casually, as if this came naturally to them because this was a normal evening. Neither had brought up the fact that it was Christmas Eve since Cameron announced she bought animals gifts, and House decided to get it over with.
"So, you're staying here tomorrow?"
"Yeah" She answered, placing an olive she had removed from her pizza slice into the cardboard box. "If that's ok"
"It is. You doing anything?" He was curious
"Uh, no, the guys are busy, and Lisa… didn't say. She's probably got family stuff" She replied
"Expecting any phone calls?" He desperately wanted to know why she didn't spend the holidays with family.
"Should I be?"
"Nope. I am."
"Oh, from your parents?" She took her chance at becoming the interviewer.
"Yeah" he went silent before asking; quizzical look on his face "You're not expecting a call from yours?"
"Not really"
"Oh?"
"Stop it House." She sighed as she put the now empty box onto the coffee table, before continuing "I know you're desperate to solve the puzzle. There is none to solve. I love my parents, they sent me gifts, I sent them gifts. We're just not a 'family' unit. And no, it doesn't bother me."
"Maybe not, but it surprises me." He was looking at her now,
"Why, you reckon I grew up with a white picket fence and a chocolate Labrador?"
"I reckoned you grew up… something like that"
"Like you did?" He couldn't help but be slightly surprised by that comment of hers.
"What?" He was intrigued
"Like you did" She said it quite confidently this time, looking him in the eye "let me guess, dad in the army, mom a housewife, happily married since high school. Big house, private school, plenty of money. Smart kid from smart parents, you did better than they could ever have wished for?"
She noticed his surprised expression as he said:
"Nearly right"
"I thought as much. Remember, though, not everyone did."
"OK? So I'm guessing you didn't have those things"
"What makes you say that?" Her expression was blank
"The bitterness with which you delivered that little speech gives it away."
"Ha. Right" She picked up the pizza box and went into the kitchen presenting Steve with a pizza crust. She heard him enter the room behind where she was facing the cage and said clearly:
"I'm not bitter. I just hope that one day; a child of mine can be in your place rather than mine"
"A cripple? Come on, wouldn't want that for any kid" he tried to lighten the mood
"You know what I mean"
"Yeah"
She went silent, and so did he. She turned around from the cage and leant against the counter facing him. It was then that he spoke:
"Do you want to tell me how you grew up? You had a great insight into 'Gregory House- the early years'"
"I probably didn't, you know. It can't have been quite so two dimensional."
"Wanna bet? All you got wrong was that my dad wanted me to be in the army, not a doctor. And preferably to avoid infarctions in favour of military injury. But you can't have everything, right?"
"Right." She sighed. "My childhood was great. I went to a private school."
"I know, I read on your resume"
"Right. I'm just never going to be the person my parents hoped for"
"Jesus?" He guessed sarcastically
"No. Someone with a 4.0 and scholarships into Ivy schools."
"You're an immunologist"
"Not a brain surgeon though, huh?" She laughed a little as the played with the hem of her shirt nervously.
"But, you're smart, funny, pretty, everything they could want."
She nodded sadly:
"They always want more that I can give them is all. They're great parents, they're just perfectionists. They're proud of me, but I could always be a little better. A little less naïve. They always want more, more than I can give them. It doesn't matter what I do, or say or achieve, they just want more" Her voice was quiet now, and she wasn't looking at him
He made his way over to her and nudged her gently, inviting her into his arms. When she was there, he said softly:
"I don't want more"
She held onto a fistful of his shirt tightly, head against his chest, before whispering:
"I know"
---
They stood there for quite some time, comfortable in one another's arms; it was nice that they both knew that little bit more. House knew about Cameron's childhood, and Cameron knew House didn't want her to be something else, someone better. It was a relief. Only the shrill ring of Houses home phone disturbed their embrace. He would have ignored it but she asked him 'aren't you going to get that?' and he did, because she obviously didn't mind.
It appeared that it was Wilson on the phone. House was rolling his eyes occasionally and winking at Cameron after making snide comments down the phone. He pulled that expression he always pulled when he got an idea, and Cameron didn't have enough time to wonder suspiciously what little plot was being conjured up behind the cerulean blue eyes. He pulled her by the waist towards him, but before she could question him he started kissing her. She tried to resist at first, but pretty soon she started enjoying herself, and had her hand on his neck.
Every so often he would stop kissing her to say 'yeah' or 'no' into the phone. It turned into a kind of game, and they were laughing between kisses. Wilson became pretty confused with the behaviour of his friend, whose conversation had become pretty monosyllabic, and spattered with what, had he not known House better, he would have usually thought to be quiet laughter.
The main gist of the call was to ask House to have a drink with Wilson, who also informed him that Cuddy would be joining them and was going to try to get a hold of Cameron. Sure enough, just then the theme tune to 'Sex and the City' rang out from Cameron's bag, gaining a scrutinising eyebrow raise from House and a defence from Cameron:
"I like the tune!!" She clicked to answer the device "Hello? Lisa! Oh…. Sounds great, who with? Wilson, that figures…. I'm not implying anything, much. Anyone else? House agreed to that? Oh, well, sounds great…. Ok, talk to you soon, then…. Bye."
Hanging up, Cameron looked over at House, saying:
"So, we're going for drinks tomorrow? With Wilson and Cuddy?"
"Oh, it'll be like a couples evening!" House said with mock excitement, which earned him a withering look (tainted with a smile) from Cameron.