Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it?


Alison had been brought to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital; it was quite a spectacle to behold; the world renowned doctor Gregory House holding on to the hand of the person he had come to respect and admire, and possibly even love, running with a gurney. Her gurney.

She had been treated for the external injury's first, and was then sent up for an MRI to asses the internal damage. While MRI took place House had secluded himself in his office. The misanthrope paced the office floor until his leg hurt, and then paced some more, waiting for any news on her condition.


In the end House had given up on pacing and started to read about the Clinical aspect of abuse, his ipod was on full blast with the Stones singing the melodic line 'You Can't Always Get What You Want'. This meant that he was completely ignorant of Lisa Cuddy entering his office and screaming his name.

"House," she tried, but received no answer from the man the chair."House, HOUSE!" She yelled.

Lisa Cuddy was standing in front of one Gregory House waiting for him to acknowledge her. He finally did, looking up and that was when she saw the reason he hadn't answered her, his ipod was on. She now hear the music blaring from the headphones and he had a medical journal lying open on his lap. Lisa could have sworn she heard the Rolling Stones 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', but that could have been her imagination.

"What."

Short and to the point, just like House.

"Cameron's awake," she said.

His ipod was left forgotten as he sprinted out of the door, cane in one hand medical journal in the other.

Throughout the time she had known him, Lisa Cuddy had never seen him move so fast, not even escaping Clinic Duty and it brought a tear to her eye as she remembered a conversation that she had had with him earlier that day.


Lisa was getting annoyed, where the hell was he? He was three hours late for Clinic and she was short staffed. Normally Cameron helped out but she had decided not to turn up today. It wasn't like her, but she wasn't going to begrudge the girl for playing hookie from work for a day. Though, if it did continue then they would have words.

She sat thinking about Alison and about how she seemed different if compared to a couple of months ago; her hair was badly kept, she hardly ever wore make-up so the dark circles under her eyes were even more pronounced and her clothes appeared to be hanging on her petite frame. Overall she looked like hell, and she decided that if she didn't look any better by the time she had come back to work, she would have a woman to woman talk with her about what was happening with her. Because something else and Lisa Cuddy would find out what that 'something' was.

Her musings were interrupted by her office door being slammed open. It was House.

"What do you want House, shouldn't you be in Clinic?" she asked.

She knew it was useless reminding him about it but if anyone asked, she could answer truthfully, she had tried (albeit somewhat dejectedly) to get him into the Clinic.

"Alison," was the only word that came out of his mouth.

Never in all of her time in Plainsboro had she heard him call Cameron Alison. And she wasn't sure whether to be happy or concerned.

"What about Alison House, she's off today."

"I didn't sign anything," he said and Lisa scoffed, since when did House care about holiday forms and days off slips? Never, was the answer.

"You never do," she said, bemused.

"Chase is off too and now Alison... I think I love her."
Lisa couldn't speak. House had always had the ability to shock her like that, she hadn't ever in her life had she been so shocked, now this was properly because he had been talking about days off before hand, but even still...

"Okay, that's a leap," Lisa muttered, her voice not quiet steady.

"Chase is hurting Cameron," he said simply.

"That's an even bigger leap. What even gives you the right to accuse someone of abuse? And, did I even hear you correctly? You just said you 'loved her'. House..." she trailed off, not quiet knowing what to say so she decided to say nothing at all. "I may not have control of whether you're in Clinic or not but at this moment in time if you do not get your ass down into Clinic, I will suspend you and leave it up to the board to decide whether you stay or not. Now OUT House."

He left with a frown upon his face. She didn't believe him.

Lisa was still sat at her desk ten minutes later, wondering if she had made the biggest mistake of her life when her phone ringed.


House made it to her room in record time, not even caring if people were in the same elevator cart as him. He had purposely whacked a couple of people with the medical journal he was still clutching in his hand because he was nervous, Gregory House was nervous. It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to and he didn't want to become accustomed to it, he didn't like it.

He peered into her room to see if she was still awake and to his relief found that she was, he hobbled to her side and took her hand in his. Cameron gazed up at him and his face morphed into a smile, which then made her smile at the sight of him smiling.

"H-House," she said, her voice sounding raspy.

Her voice was raspy due to the tube which had been put down her throat during the operation, he brought a cup to her lips and told her to sip it slowly.

"I'm here," he murmured, grasping her hand in his.

He started to caress her hand and his mouth formed a small smile when she didn't pull her hand back.

"Thank you," she said, her voice filled with emotion.

"You welcome... Alison," he said, using her first name, for the first time in a long time.

"No, I mean thank you for saving my life... and for being here," Cameron explained.

"Alison-" he started.

Houses reply was cut off as a police officer came in, one that strongly resembled Chase and Alison looked a little queasy, went as pale as a ghost, then fainted.

One word from House was all it took to have the Police officer quaking in his boots.

"Out!"

It was the quietest tone anyone had ever heard him used, but that didn't discourage that fact it was probably the deadliest tone that his voice had ever taken.

Without thinking of the consequences he locked the door after the police officer had left through and stumbled over to the bed, his cane laying on the floor, and he had no intention of bending down to pick it up when Alison was still dead to the world.

He sprinkled some water over her face and she mumbled something intelligible as she came back to the world of grumpy doctors and underpaid staff.

"Hey," she grumbled, "I'm really getting sick of the land of murkiness." Despite the seriousness of the situation, he smiled. His smile turned into a frown when he remembered what he was try to say before he was interrupted.

"Alison... what I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted was that I-"

"House! Unlock this door or else," Lisa Cuddy screamed.

"Perfect timing" he grumbled under his breath, and Alison wouldn't have caught the comment had his face not been so close to hers.

"House," she yelled again.

"I'm coming woman!" he shouted back, making his way to the door. When he opened it he came face to face a very irate Cuddy.

"House," she said, the expression on her face betraying the rage her voice did not

"Cuddy," he said smirking.

"Clinic. Now," were the only words she spoke.

"But Mummm," he whined.

"Now," she repeated.

"But, what about Cameron?"

"I can look after Cameron. House..." Though the threat had not been spoken it was there, hanging in the air over his head.

She looked over to see Alison looking at Greg with an inkling of admiration, she couldn't fathom where that had come from.

"Look," she conceded, "if you do one hour of Clinic you won't have do any more for the rest of week."

"Done," he said gleefully.

He turned back to Cameron to see a small smile on her face and smirked at her, "see Alison, that's how to get out of Clinic."

"Out House," Lisa commanded.

"Fine, fine. I'm going, happy now?" he said, limping out the door. Lisa closed the door behind him and she made her way over to Cameron, muttering under her breath about him loosing the cable privileges he had permanently.

"So dear, how are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, all things considered," Alison answered, wondering why Cuddy was talking her to her, she never normally did.

"Good, that's good. Alison... let's cut to the chase, you need to tell me what happened," she said, startling the woman before her, "start from the beginning."


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