Vivid pictures skipped across Cameron's closed eyelids, becoming frenzied as they reached their climax. She had only been awake for a few moments and she'd already assessed her injuries as best she could. It didn't seem like anything to serious. Her body hurt like hell and every muscle ached from tension, but she didn't think anything was broken. She hadn't opened her eyes but she knew the room was dark. There was at least one other person in there with her- she could tell that much. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to hang on to semi-consciousness for a few moments longer. She wasn't ready to face the rest of the world and all the chaos it brought with it.

"I know you're awake" She didn't move "I've watched you sleep enough times to know that you're too tense to be asleep." Chase, she knew it was him instantly, yet still she refused to open her eyes. She heard him breathe heavily for several more moments. He was awaiting the oncoming storm. She sighed and rolled over, still not opening her eyes. She didn't want to face him. After she realised he was going to let the awkward tension force her into conversation she gave up her defence. Slowly Cameron looked at him; she was holding a breath she didn't remember taking. His face was a mask of placidity. She'd expected to see anger, or maybe pain (although his voice hadn't shown any) but he didn't even seem to care. Everything going on in her mind jumbled together and started to seem unimportant as their eyes met. She couldn't think, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak.

"I'm sorry" It wasn't enough; it barely covered what needed to be said, except she didn't know what else to say. She frantically searched inside herself trying to find something worth saying, something he would accept or at least understand.

He scanned her face- looking for something, anything, more.

"I know it's not enough and I know-" She stammered, not caring about staying detached or hostile anymore. She needed to know that he could talk to her, maybe not forgive her, but talk to her at least.

"It doesn't matter" he shrugs her off and doesn't make eye contact. "You only crashed the car because I was distracting you" He softens slightly but Cameron knows he doesn't believe that, he just feels bad. He shouldn't.

"That wasn't what I…" She goes to correct him but realises that he knows she wasn't saying sorry for crashing the car, he's just choosing to think that she is. And she is sorry for crashing it, but that wasn't what she was apologizing for. God she could've got them both killed. What was she thinking? She should've pulled over the minute she realised she was incapable of driving. However the thing that worries her most is that potentially killing him barely even makes the list of terrible things she has done to hurt him.

A tepid silence wormed its way between them. This is the first time Cameron examines her surroundings. They are in a suffocatingly too-close-for-comfort room which is masked in a half light creeping in through the windows. Shadows hide in the corners like cloaked figures. Her and Chase are both seated on hospital beds positioned uncomfortably close. It reminds her of a time when they stayed in a hotel which had screwed up and given them a twin room. They'd tried pushing the beds close together but in the end Cameron had just curled up in Chase's arms. Now it seems as if he is trying to get as far away from her as possible. She shivers, the cold hostility that is emanating from him freezes her skin. She pulls the too thin covers up around her neck, longing for his warm embrace. She continues to look around: Chase doesn't seem too badly hurt although she can't be sure-he has always been good at hiding things, especially his pain. An ancient looking crash cart that she hopes isn't still in use is the only thing to decorate the room.

"Foreman was in here while you were asleep. We were at the county hospital after the accident but they moved us here." He gestures around and then realises that Cameron has no idea where here is. "The research hospital. Where you work" She nods in understanding whilst trying to make sense of what she's hearing. "Our doctors didn't want to let us discharge but we didn't have any extensive injuries and we work with doctors who can take care of us. Also House tends to get whatever he wants. I'm pretty sure it's his doing that put us in the same room" Cameron carries on looking around, although there isn't much left to see, she's not ready to make sense of anything yet. "You were awake when we were being moved but you were pretty out of it, I doubt you remember." His voice goes quiet for awhile and then he starts again. "Do you want to hear about your injuries? Nothing too serious, you'll be fine in a week or two-" He's rambling on-trying to make her listen.

"Shut up" It's all she can think to say. She knows how much Chase needs to talk because she needs it too. They are clinging to imaginary straws in some last desperate attempt to make contact. They are talking about the irrelevant because at least they are talking. They need to keep talking about mundane, insignificant things to stop them getting to the real stuff. They are both good at avoiding what needs to be said. But at the same time she needs to address the more serious issues. She needs to know where they are, what's going on and what seeing each other again means for them. Probably nothing, she's probably convincing herself that this is more than it is. They've barely had a conversation, and yet she can't help but think, hope, that there's more.

"I don't… I don't really- I don't…"

"I know… I just-"

"Yeah…" Neither of them can speak, they just sit and stare, because they've never been very good at communicating, and this is the most honest conversation they've had in along time.

"I'm sorry" Chase starts this, after several minutes of silence; he suddenly seems incapable of words just as Cameron was a few moments ago.

"I'm sorry too." She echoes a conversation that is forever engraved in her mind.

Cameron shivers unintentionally and curls deeper into the bed.

"You cold?" Chase knows it's a stupid question a soon as he asks it but he suddenly feels an overwhelming need to be close to her. For so long he's tried to move on, tried to hate her, but it's all been in vain. He's had a total of 3 conversations with her since he's been here and it's just told him what he's been avoiding since she left: He's in love with her, always has been, and no amount of sleeping around or running away from the truth will change that. He moves without thinking-sliding into her bed and wrapping his arms around her skinny frame. She doesn't resist but gives him an uneasy look that questions what he's doing. He shouldn't love her. She doesn't want to love him; it's not fair to him.

Something has changed and she's not sure what. Some sort of unseen bond has told them both that the other wants more but they haven't even spoken. They're both on pain meds and they're probably just reacting to a traumatic event. They're reaching out and clinging to the nearest sign of comfort or normalcy which, unfortunately, happens to be each other. They can't go back to what they had, no matter how much either of them wants to, if either of them wants to, but something has to change. For now they are both just glad they have someone to hold.

But Cameron and Chase both worry separately about the repercussions that will attack them when they wake.