Disclaimer: Don't own, unfortunately.

"There's a light at the end of this tunnel. You shout cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out."

- Breathe (2am), Anna Nalick

Simplicity.

There were times and places for it. Most things were simple. There were always other options, options that would lead to different events occurring and different outcomes which would ultimately lead to the next event.

Things were never simple with them.

She is confused. And frustrated. And completely and utterly in awe at what had occurred a few hours ago. She couldn't sleep, opting for lying back on her pillows and staring blankly up at the ceiling as her mind ran over and over that kiss and the way he held her and tugged on her shirt –

She needed to stop thinking about this.

His touch was dangerous. She had spent so much time pushing back these feelings, attempting to detach herself from everything that was him. Everything that could lead to this. And the thing she hated the most is that she can't detach herself.

She never could.

Her head snapped to her bedside table as she heard her cell phone vibrating against the wood. The blue lights flashed and caller ID let her know exactly who it was.

She rolled the phone in her fingers, working out quickly in her mind what to do. 'House' seemed to flash more incessantly and she rolled her eyes at her non-ability to deny him before flipping the phone open and holding it to her ear, sitting up against her pillows.

'Is there something you want?' She decided quickly to take a direct approach.

She heard him chuckle on the other end of the phone. She pursed her lips and rested her head against the pillows propped up on the headboard of her bed.

'Someone's touchy,' He stated, and she could almost see him rolling his eyes.

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. 'House … I'm tired. I don't want to deal with this right now.'

'Liar.'

It took every ounce of her restraint not to just hang up on him right there, or toss the phone on the floor and let him hang. She opened her mouth to respond before he continued.

'You do want to deal with this now. You never like to leave things hanging in the air. I can just imagine you sitting in bed, wracking your brain about what happened. You wouldn't be you if you didn't. Aren't you glad I called you so you can stop thinking about it?' He finished, his knowing voice penetrating her ear and causing her to tense up.

'It was nice of you to call and psychoanalyze me, but I have to get up early. Unlike you, I actually care about turning up to work on time,' She replied, rolling her eyes and fingering her bedcovers.

Her finger hovered over the 'stop' button when he spoke.

'Tomorrow. We'll see.' And the dial tone echoed in her ear.

"Did you notice did you take the time to listen to my breath or to my words?"

He had routinely avoided her all day.

A glance when she had walked into the office that morning. A smirk when he saw her gaze away from him quickly and busy herself with inanimate objects around her.

This was how it was going to be.

It amused him more than anything.

He sat in his office at the end of the day and watched her through his glass door. She was walking around her office, putting away files and switching off lamps. Her computer was the next to be switched off and she pulled on her jacket before picking up her bag.

The way she moves draws him in. He sees Cameron, the graceful widow who can always see the good in everybody. The Cameron who, up until recently, couldn't speak an ill word towards anybody.

He had changed that.

She walked past his glass door and couldn't help turning her head to face him. There was a flicker of doubt etched across her features. He stared at her, attempting to figure out exactly what she was thinking. She looked away and placed her hand on the cold glass of the door, pushing it open and stepping out into the corridor, walking out of sight.

He needed to finish the beginning.

It was a cool night when she stepped out of the automatic doors of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. She tugged her jacket closer around her and stepped down the cement landing to the car park.

She wanted to get home. Home was where he wasn't. He had avoided her all day, and without a flicker of doubt she knew that he was testing her. He kissed her to see her reaction. He called her to see her reaction.

She wasn't going to feed his narcissism.

'What, leaving without saying goodbye?'

She stopped, her heels crunching into the cement as she froze, hearing him step up behind her. It was stupid really, to think that this wouldn't happen. He kept on doing this. He needed to do this. And she didn't want to be his new toy.

'Was planning to,' She answered, keeping her voice even as she decided to keep walking over to her car. She stopped at the door, grabbing her keys out of her bag and sticking them in the lock. She opened the door and jumped when his hand came up from behind her and pressed the door shut.

'Not yet,' He stated, his breath warm against her neck.

Not again.

'House … ' Her voice was tired. Almost begging. Start and stop and stop and finish. She was sick of this beginning and then ending and everything that he had been doing to her was nothing compared to now.

He slid his hands around her waist and turned her around to face him, pressing her against her car. A lump gathered in her throat as she stared at him. Because it was happening again. And she didn't want to spend the rest of the night sitting in her apartment going over and over this.

'This is happening,' His voice whispered against her ear as he brushed his cheek against hers. There would be a mark. His mark. A mark of this and it would never let her forget.

'This is always happening,' She managed to mutter back, as her hands instinctively went to his forearms.

His lips brushed against her cheek. Her eyes fluttered closed and her mind began spinning at just the feel of his lips on her skin. It burnt and it stung and it felt like her heart was going to cave from the pressure. Her eyes prickled with tears at the sensation.

'Not like this.' He didn't wait for her to attempt to reply and moved his lips to hers, capturing them in his own and pulling her against him.

She whimpered slightly and even though her mind was screaming in protest because she knew how this would turn out, she melted into him, allowing him to pull her flush against him and move his hands over the small of her back. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth in response, tasting him and moaning all in the same breath.

He broke off softly, his hand still in her hair and the other still wound around her waist. She swayed slightly, her eyes still closed as her hands rested on his chest. He smirked and rubbed small circles on her hip as she opened her eyes.

'You need to stop doing that,' She said softly, looking dazed.

He gestured his head over to his car. 'Come with me,' He said, letting go of her waist.

She nodded, unable to think of anything else but the feel of him pressed against her and his mouth on hers. She picked up her bag, leaving her car and walked over to his, sliding into the passenger seat. He turned on the ignition and without another word sped out of the hospital car park.