Further to my last report of RL being hell and the next few chapters coming slowly, I just realized, in 2 weeks I wont have a computer anymore! Eek! So I'm writing like a demon, trying to finish this before I move. Future chapters wont be betaed, sorry, no time. I hope I caught everything major, but please forgive me if I didn't.

Cat

-xxx-

Chapter 5

"Why aren't you at work?" House asked Wilson, as he answered the door to him.

"I could ask you the same thing. And why you sent poor Cameron in to work after what happened!"

House looked concerned as Wilson entered his apartment. "She okay?"

"She's fine, getting on with things."

"Good." He sat next to Wilson on the sofa. "That's why I sent her to work."

"Not 'cause you're a mean son of a bitch, then?"

House pouted. "That hurts."

Wilson noticed the coffee table strewn with papers.

"What's all this?"

"I'm organizing things. Getting her place redecorated, new stuff, insurance claim, that kinda thing."

Wilson had to let go of his anger. He's driven over in his lunch hour because he was afraid House's usual lack of concern was going to ruin his relationship, one of the few good things House had in his life. He was a little shocked to see how much effort House was putting into this. He wasn't sure House would even put the same concern into getting his own placed fixed.

House picked up the phone and began dialing. "Can you get me a beer before you go?"

Wilson did as asked, then left. He hadn't been confident of how House felt about Cameron before. Now he knew House had fallen, hard. He smiled. It couldn't happen to two nicer people.

III

Hank Williams led a small life and this was reflected in his apartment. It was small, one bedroom, furnished with second hand items which had all seen better days. He worked as an IT technician for a local firm, where he was under valued and unappreciated. In his spare time he liked playing role playing games online, reading science fiction, particularly Arthur C Clark and watching a lot of documentaries.

He didn't eat well, preferring the diet of a child to that of an adult.

He had no pictures of family or friends, but a few movie posters adorned the walls.

House almost felt sorry for him.

"Who are you!?"

House stood up. "Oh no, don't play dumb. That just makes everything so time consuming while I explain what you already know, and you pretend not to understand."

Hank considered bluffing for a moment but decided against it. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"I've come to threaten you."

Hank took the news well. He looked a little surprised but recovered quickly. "You don't look like you could do me much damage," he said, pointing at House's cane.

"Looks can be deceptive. Besides, I'm not here to hurt you. And if you hurt me, there's a note on my desk saying where I am and my car is parked not 50 yards from here."

"You don't drive a car."

House smiled. "That's you're first mistake. I prefer the bike, but I also have a car. Sit down."

Hank continued standing.

"OK, your call." House sat on the arm of a chair. "Here's the deal. Dr, Cameron means a lot to me. If you upset her, that upsets me. I don't like being upset, so if you have any contact with her again, I'll make it my business to make sure you suffer."

Hank considered his words. "I'll just leave notes everywhere saying if anything happens to me, they should look at you." Feeling cocky, Hank sat on the sofa.

House smiled. "You think I'd be so dumb as to come in here and bludgeon you or shoot you?"

Hank's smile faltered slightly. House stood up and walked around the sofa.

"I'm going to give you three examples. Don't bother writing them down because they won't be the ones I use. I have a hundred different ways to hurt you, not one can be traced back to me."

House continued walking around the sofa as he spoke.

"First, we have heavy metal poisoning. Now, granted they'll look for the common ones, ones that could have made it into your food and water supply. They may also check for the ones commonly used as poison. There are a lot more that are never checked for. It's painful and once it's stored away in your organs, hard to get rid of. It will have long term effects like neurological symptoms, loss of physical coordination, difficulty in speech, hearing impairment, blindness, I could go on, but it's a very long list and I'm bored now.

"Next we have drugs! I love drugs. There are drugs like colchicine, which will stop your cells dividing. Very painful, your organs break down one by one. How severely you're affected depends on the dose and how long your exposure is. It's also very versatile, coming in capsule, tablet and liquid form. You'd never be able to eat or drink anything again and be sure I hadn't got there first. No one's going to test for it because, well, why would you take it?

"My final example, and my personal favorite, GHB, commonly known as the date rape drug. Now, I have a lot of options if I give you this. I give you enough to induce unconsciousness and amnesia, then do what I want. Plant some heroine on you and call the police. I can tie you naked to a fence and call the local gay bar. Or, and this is my personal favorite, I can push you off a bridge or tall building. Now, you may die, which would probably be better for you, or, more likely, you'd just be crippled for life. Paraplegic, quadriplegic, maybe just brain damaged. And you'd have no recollection of how and why it happened."

House paused. Hank had gone rather pale.

"This is just a small selection. Something to think about. If I do decide to hurt you, you won't know what hit you." He headed for the door and put his hand on the knob. "You only get one warning. That was it."

III

Foreman and Chase were sitting in the conference room, Chase doodling on his pad, Foreman reading the newest Medical Journal, when a head popped itself through the door. The head coughed and the boys looked up.

"Can we help you?" asked Chase.

"I was told a Doctor Cameron would be here."

"She should be back any minute. Is there something we can help with?" Asked Foreman.

The man smiled and entered the room. Holding out his hand in turn for them to shake, he introduced himself. "I'm Joe, an old friend of hers. Just dropping by to surprise her."

Chase and Foreman were introducing themselves when a high pitched, "Oh my God!" interrupted them. Cameron flung her arms around Joe.

Chase and Foreman exchanged glances as the other two hugged. Cameron wasn't usually this enthusiastic, meaning this man had to be a good friend.

Deciding they needed some privacy to catch up, Cameron took Joe to the Cafeteria where she bought them both a coffee.

"What are you doing here?" Cameron asked, then grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like that, I'm just so surprised."

Joe hadn't taken offence. "Lisa and I are travelling around for a few months, visiting friends and catching up with people, seeing some places we've always wanted to."

"Taking a few months off? What did you do, win the lottery?" Cameron joked.

"Yes."

Cameron's smile froze. "Seriously though."

"We won the lottery. Seventeen days ago Lisa and I won thirty three million dollars." A satisfied grin crept over his features.

"You're really serious, aren't you?"

"Yep!"

"Oh my God! That's fantastic! It couldn't happen to a nicer couple."

"Well, the kids aren't in school yet, we figured we might as well take a break and enjoy it before we have to settle down into the hard grind of being rich."

"You poor thing."

"But enough about me, for now. What's been happening with you?"

Cameron's smile fell.

III

House arrived back at his apartment expecting Cameron to be there. She wasn't so he fetched himself a beer and settled down on the sofa.

He considered calling her to see if she was OK but decided against it. He wasn't sure why, but every time he reached for the phone, something stopped him picking it up.

Two hours later, worry was stopping his enjoyment of the TV. He called Wilson.

"Have you seen Cameron?"

"Not since she left the hospital, why?"

"She hasn't come back yet."

"She met an old friend, left with him. They're probably just catching up over coffee or something."

"That's a long coffee. What friend?"

"I don't know, I didn't meet him. I saw them leave and Foreman told me he was an old friend."

"Thanks," House hung up.

Now he defiantly wasn't going to call her.

III

It was nearly ten O'clock when he finally heard her key in the door. He'd had a few beers too many and a face like thunder.

She walked in weighed down with bags and was followed by a man, also carrying a lot of bags.

"Greg!" She dropped her bags and leaned down to kiss him. "I want you to meet an old friend of mine. This is Joe, I knew him in college. Joe, this is Greg."

Joe put his bags down and held out his hand to House. House looked at it but didn't shake it.

"Where have you been?" House asked Cameron.

"Joe took me shopping. I told him what had happened and he insisted on buying me a new wardrobe."

"Your phone stopped working?"

"Actually yes. I left my charger at my apartment and the battery died. We stopped by on the way back to collect it."

Sensing the tension, Joe said he'd better get going. Cameron saw him to the door and kissed him goodbye.

"Call me at the hotel if you need anything." Joe said as Cameron closed the door after him.

She turned to House. "What was that for?"

"What?"

"The hostility. He's an old friend helping me out."

"I'll bet. Helping how?"

"He bought me these clothes, he's ordered new furniture, he's arranged for people to start redecorating the apartment tomorrow morning and it should be finished by the end of the week. He's organised a video phone for the door, alarm system, panic buttons."

House's attempts at getting Cameron's apartment fixed hadn't been nearly so successful. The insurance company said it would take two weeks and all the contractors he'd called couldn't start until the beginning of next week, at the earliest.

"And he did all this out of the kindness of his heart?"

"Actually, yes."

"I'm sure."

Cameron snapped. "What is your problem?"

"My problem? I'm not the one swaning off with strange men, letting them buy me."

"He is not buying me!"

"Looks like he's trying to from where I'm standing."

"He's an old friend who's trying to help me out. And I told him I'd pay him back every dime!"

"Yeah yeah, pull the other one."

"Is that really what you think of me? That a guy just has to flash some cash, and I'm his?"

House didn't answer.

"Great." Cameron grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "I always thought you were a good judge of character. I'll be by to pick up my things tomorrow." She left.

House decided beer wasn't enough any more. He headed to the kitchen for his whiskey bottle.

How could she? OK, so she didn't know what he'd risked for her this afternoon, and he had no intention of ever telling her, but…

But what? She'd met up with an old friend, an old rich friend by the looks of it. But she hadn't cheated on him. Granted, she could have found a phone booth, or borrowed the rich friends cell phone, but in the grand scheme of things, did that really matter.

House sighed. He was jealous. Jealousy was a bad sign. Jealousy meant he cared more than he'd like to.