Thanks for letting me know what you guys think, and thank you to iyimgrace for reminding me that I completely misspelled Cate's name. Also, the next chapters will move things along a bit faster. This chapter is in Cameron's POV.

-E

Your first boyfriend used to call you Cherry. It was a pet name that you had assumed came from the color of your lips in the chilly Chicago air. He'd ask if he could kiss your cherry lips and you'd nod as young love took over. Then days had turned into months and it was suddenly your one-year anniversary.

You were barely fifteen, and he thought the perfect way to commemorate the occasion would be to have sex. You weren't ready, and you told him. He was pissed, "stop being so fucking cherry," he'd said and you realized the nickname had a whole other meaning.

That night you'd broken up after hours of yelling and crying. Cherry came from you're honesty and morality, traits you'd always taken pride in until that night.

"I chopped down the cherry tree"

He'd mocked you with Washington's famed words (one's that weren't actually said by him too!) because like the past president you could tell no lies, do no harm, and according to him would hold onto your virginity until you shriveled up and no one would touch you.

And you had held on to it for a while. You hadn't had sex until you were married. You really were Cherry, but by then you'd learned to love yourself for it again.

But, you've always known that life would be a lot easier if you weren't so morally conscious. You could have been the popular girl in high school if you hadn't felt so bad about making fun of other girls, and you could have gotten an A in P-Chem if you hadn't refused your TA's passes. But, you wouldn't have been you.

When you married Chase, you thought you were done having to defend your way of life. You thought you'd be married, live happily in love, close enough to the boss so that you could slowly try to fix him, but far enough so that he couldn't manipulate you, and then maybe eventually have a family. But, you'd failed at step three. House had manipulated you. He'd "jumped down the rabbit hole" as Cate had read a loud, and when he came back he got you and Chase back onto his team.

You figured it would be temporary; maybe a fun little reunion, but it had ruined your life. Chase had purposefully killed a patient, and you would never be able to forgive him. You tried tricking yourself into blaming House and running as far from him as possible with Chase at your side, but Chase had knocked that option down. He had confronted you about your inner lie, which normally you'd appreciate, but he'd sealed his own fate.

Your only option was to run away from him. He had taken a human life, destroyed a soul. Then he lied to you about it, and when he finally came clean you two were left in a ground zero that you would never have been able to build back up.

So, you'd gone home. Stayed with your brother, and had been mentally tortured everyday as his three children and sweet southern wife existed around you in perfect harmony. Then Cuddy had called, and it seemed like it may have been the right time to come back. You hadn't even started divorce proceedings with Chase and you still had years worth of your things inside of the apartment you once shared. You figured you'd stay in Princeton for a few months, finish out your contract as the ER head, file for divorce, talk to the friends you abandoned without a word, then leave when you had closure (the way emotionally healthy people do it, you'd figured).

She'd told you about the Psych workshop that legal had required, and you'd obliged. You'd even thought it could be a great idea for you and Chase to attend in the same room. You'd arrived first, and had been surprised to see Thirteen enter the room. You two had worked together in the ER, but she had always been too emotionally distant to get close to. Then Chase came in and sat as far away from you as possible, then Foreman and then Kutner and Taub.

You figured it would be okay, you liked what Catehad to say, and you'd confessed your sins. You wrote about how guiltless you felt while leaving Chase, how you were sad your life here was ending, how you'd spent the majority of your time in Chicago drinking and sleeping around like most people get out of their systems in college. You wrote about how you were just in your 30's and had been divorced twice. How you weren't sure if you'd be able to do it again, how this was not your life plan, and worse of all how you weren't sure how much you cared anymore.

Then she'd read House's card out loud and you couldn't believe what he had to go through, or how you'd just learnt more about him from a flashcard than he had ever shared with you during your fellowship.

And, before you'd gotten over the shock, she'd read everyone else's, including yours. Your ears felt like they were going to bleed, like you'd just heard so much forbidden information, things that really were none of your business.

You were, are, sitting in a room with a man who'd witnessed a murder, two who'd been abused as children, two who had attempted suicide, and the pile of fucked up shit went on. You were locked in a room of human catastrophes, whom you'd worked beside for quite a long time without ever really knowing.

Then she'd locked you together, and you had read her note to the room while five faces glared at you. A tear dropped down Thirteen's cheek, and just the sight of seeing someone so emotionally strong on the verge of a breakdown brought tears to your eyes. House was rubbing his temples, plotting what to do, and you could see Kutner eyeing the window, wondering if he could jump.

This was fucked.