Disclaimer: Fox, Shore, etc have ownership, not me.

XI.

House pulled up in his corvette.

Cameron stood under the shade of a tree and watched from a safe distance.

He was wearing sunglasses and his hair had blown around during his journey. He slammed the car door shut and stood surveying the park. Looking for her.

She dialled his number on her cell phone and watched him answer: "Where are you?"

A tingle ran down her spine. Did her name show up on his phone? Was she on speed dial?

"I'm underneath the willow tree," She said quietly.

She watched him look around and then spot her in the distance.

She waved and then felt shy and stupid.

"How poetic…" he said and made his way across the field towards her. Cane in one hand and phone in the other he walked slowly and purposely. "I thought you said you were wearing short shorts," he breathed down the receiver.

She slammed her phone shut and put it into the pocket of her knee-skimming attire.

She nervously watched him approach. He was looking unbelievably sexy. The idea that she could touch him now – the spell broken – that she could run her hands down his arms, squeeze his ass, drag her hand down between his shoulder blades, take his cock in her mouth and make him come, turned her on. She tried to keep her thoughts in check.

He must never know. If he did, he'd be unbearable.

He ducked under a large branch and into the shade. The disturbance caused some of the willows to flutter and he brushed them from his t-shirt.

His eyes danced over her appearance and she suddenly felt very unattractive. Her hair stuck to her face and her exposed middle (where her sports top ended) was sticky and pale with sweat.

"How was the filing?" She asked, offering him her water bottle.

He declined and watched her take a long drink and then wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, "Fascinating."

There were things that she needed to say to him. About the other night. What happens next? Are we…?

An awkward silence passed between them.

She sat down amongst the daisies and the freshly cut grass. Propping herself up against the bark of the tree and feeling it's roughness against her back.

"Okay," House said slowly, looking down at her. "Do we have to do small talk before I get my payback?"

She didn't hear him, watching dreamily through the long branches of the tree as the water of the duck pond ebbed and flowed against the afternoon breeze.

"I said -" He began, hooking his cane on a branch and settling down next to her. He changed tack when he saw her faraway expression. "Who we're you expecting a call from earlier?"

"My friend," she muttered nervously and then to cover her tracks: "Friend: look it up in the dictionary, there'll be a torn out page where Wilson's mug shot used to be."

"Funny," He muttered back.

"Are we hiding?" She suddenly asked, watching a couple of teenagers begin to nervously grope each other on a bench.

"I don't know." He replied, nudging closer to her side. His strong arm pulsating next to hers, "Are we?"

She looked down at her skinny knees, half covered in the grass: "I just thought…"

Why are you so quiet? Why are you so still?

She moved her eyes over to House's knees. His legs, stretched out much further than hers, crossed at the ankles. He was picking up daisies. Absentmindedly making a chain as he spoke:

"This is a really bad idea. Anyone will tell you this."

She closed her eyes as a branch tickled her face. "Right."

She watched his tongue touch his lips in concentration as he scanned the ground for more flowers.

"I don't need anyone to tell me," She muttered.

"But they will," His thumb nail deftly slid across the stalk of a daisy, splitting it, and he hooked another through it, "They'll tell you to stop now. Before you get in too deep."

She swallowed hard. Holding back. I am in too deep.

He formed his chain into a circle: "They'll say it's doomed. And it is. Doomed from the very beginning. They'll warn you and maybe you'll listen to them. Because if you don't I can't promise that I won't…"

He paused to lean across her, grabbing her water bottle and taking a drink.

"…I won't hurt you."

She shook her head. Confused and appalled in equal measure.

"Right," She muttered bitterly, "Let's just end it here then."

He paused. His eyes turned to her. He raised his eyebrows.

"Right." He said slowly, another test.

"Yes," She said, bringing her knees up to her chest and pulling her shorts a little further over them. "It's all about doing what other people want. That's exactly how you live your life."

Sarcasm gripped her: "You never take chances, you never do something because it feels good. You never break the rules."

His fingers fumbled with the daisy chain. His eyes stilled on her mouth. He watched her, admiringly.

Sarcasm turned to anger: "You take risks every day with other people's lives and yet when it comes to your own – when it comes to mine - you completely wuss out. Wow, House, you sure push the boundaries."

He tilted his head back, looking longingly at the skin beside her temple, amused: "Did you just call me a wuss?"

She looked at him. His eyes bright and full of mischief. She didn't know whether she loved him or hated him. Whether she wanted to slap him or kiss him. Both. Always both.

He stuck out his bottom lip, "Are you angry with me?"

She paused for a moment. Listening to the sound of a distant radio. She moved her hand so that it was exactly next to his. Fingers lined up next to each other in the grass.

I don't want you to use me and then leave me. I don't want you to ignore me. I don't want to be your fuck buddy.

"I don't…know."

"Allison Cameron –" he began, gripping her fingers hard and holding them into the ground, "You drive me insane."

Her face reddened and she broke free of his grasp.

He tentatively reached for her knee but she pushed him away.

He growled playfully and carefully placed the daisy chain on the top of her head.

"You're beautiful," he breathed into her ear, even though she wouldn't look at him, "But you've always known that."

She turned quickly, catching his lips with her own, drawing him into a long kiss, anger and frustration melting away as his hands gently cupped her face.

She enjoyed the moment, hiding with House, away from prying eyes, just the two of them in the whole world. And they could keep something to themselves. Them.

"My place…" he mumbled into her mouth.