Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: House is the creation of David Shore, not me.

Brendan Wheeler stifled a yawn as he stood in front of the vending machine that sat just down the hall from room 415, jingling the coins in his hand as he tried to decide what to get. Cleo had gone back to his parent's house to have a hot shower, and ring her parents to check on their children; his mother had brought her knitting from home that morning and was working silently by her husband's side; and an exhausted Cameron had fallen asleep in the uncomfortable chair on the other side of the room.

Brendan knew that his little sister wouldn't sleep easy, tired as she was, until their father was awake and she was positive he was okay. He also knew she was much more tired than she was acting, and he wasn't surprised after the week she'd had. During the long wait whilst Jack was in surgery, Cameron had confided in her brother about the case she had left behind in Princeton, and her confrontation with House. Brendan suspected it wasn't just concern for their father that was keeping Cameron up at night, but also her worries over what she was going to do for work now.

When the elevator doors opened, Brendan didn't pay them much attention. Suddenly his peripheral vision caught a tall man enter on to the floor and begin walking down the hall in his direction. What caught Brendan's attention was the fact he used a cane, and looked remarkably similar to the photo of Dr. Greg House Brendan had Googled soon after his sister began working in New Jersey.

"Dr. House?"

The man stopped abruptly and regarded Brendan quizzically. "Have we met?"

Brendan smiled tightly. "Not exactly. I'm Brendan Wheeler- Allison's brother."

"Allison? Oh, Cameron! Right."

Brendan was puzzled. His sister had worked for this guy for three years and he didn't even know her first name?

"How's your Dad?" House asked finally.

"He woke up late last night. He should be fine, but he's sleeping now," Brendan replied.

An awkward silence fell.

"I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression my sister quit on you? Again," Brendan said coolly and House stiffened slightly, knowing that Cameron's brother knew a lot about him.

"She did," House replied eventually.

Brendan raised an eyebrow slightly. "So you're here to what?"

"Make her un-quit," House supplied.

Brendan nodded. "Again. You seem to be making a habit of this."

House's mouth tightened. "Is your sister here?"

"She's asleep at the moment," Brendan answered.

House shrugged. "'I'll wait."

Brendan sighed, wearily. House was making it obvious he wasn't going anywhere, so he lead him into room 415, and Sarah looked up as they entered.

"Hello," she greeted House politely, standing up and speaking in a soft voice so as not to wake Cameron or her husband.

"This is our mother, Sarah Wheeler. Mom, this is Dr. House. He came to see Allie," Brendan reluctantly made introductions and Sarah looked delighted.

"Oh, it's so nice to finally meet you! And I can't thank you enough for letting Allison come out in the middle of a patient," she said warmly and House masked his surprise with difficulty.

His gaze was caught by the sight of Cameron curled up and fast asleep on a chair in the corner, exhaustion evident on her face even when sleeping. Sarah moved over and gently shook her daughter awake, and Cameron's head jerked up.

"Mom?"

Sarah smiled gently. "Hi, sweetie. Sorry to wake you, princess, but you've got a visitor."

Cameron's brow wrinkled in confusion, and then she turned her head, eyeing House in the room and her eyes widened in surprise.

"House?"

House wasn't sure how to greet her, especially with her mother and brother in the room, so he managed to get out a simple,

"Hey," and winced at the awkwardness of the situation.

Cameron was speechless for a minute. House's arrival had taken her by shock, especially when she was still half-asleep. Finally she found her voice and demanded,

"What are you doing here?"

"Wasn't it nice of him to come?" Sarah said happily. "Allie, this is a good chance for you to get out of here for awhile!"

Cameron's eyes widened slightly and she tried to protest. "What? No, Mom..."

"Don't be silly," Sarah dismissed her. "Go out, have a proper meal for once and relax a bit."

Cameron glanced at her father, sleeping and her mother knew what she was thinking. "Sweetie, your Dad will understand. You've barely left the room since you got here!"

It was never any use arguing with Sarah Wheeler and Cameron shared a helpless look with her brother before giving in.

"OK, fine," she sighed and picked up her coat and shoulder bag, reluctantly accepting the keys to her mother's car as House casually dumped his bag on the floor against the wall so he wasn't carrying it all over Chicago.

Sarah turned back to House, smiling. "If you don't have anywhere to stay, Dr. House- there's plenty of room at our house."

Cameron startled at this but before she could say anything House spoke up charmingly. "That'd be great, thank you."

"My pleasure," Sarah replied warmly and waved House and Cameron out the door.

As the door to room 415 shut behind them, Cameron sighed and began walking to the elevators, not looking at House.

"So..." House began, awkwardly.

"I'm not talking to you," Cameron said coldly, pressing the button for the elevator.

"So, you're not happy to see me then?" House asked and Cameron shot daggers at him.

House sighed in mock disappointment. "So much for the reunion I imagined on the plane over. I kind of thought more Simba-and-Nala, less Scar-and-Simba."

Cameron outwardly ignored him, but inwardly rolled her eyes.

House struggled for something to say to her as they strode through the parking lot towards Sarah Wheeler's car. As they came near enough for Cameron to begin digging through her bag for the car keys, House cleared his throat.

"So, your Dad looks pretty good."

Cameron whirled around to face him, unmistakable anger on her face. "Oh, so now you give a damn about my Dad's health?"

House paused. "How is he?"

"He's going to be okay. It's no gunshot to the head," she repeated his own words back to him, and House winced.

"Look... Cameron-"

"Did you know he went into respiratory arrest on the table?" she demanded.

House nodded. "Foreman and Chase mentioned it."

There were unshed tears in Cameron's eyes even as she glared at him. "His heart stopped beating for two minutes. He could've died, you jackass! He could've died, and I wouldn't have been there!"

To the horror of both House and Cameron, the brave face she had been putting on for the past few days finally crumpled with exhaustion, anger and emotion and she began to cry, burying her face in her hands. House stood there awkwardly for a moment, watching her sob and he did something he had never done before to anyone- pulled Cameron into his arms to comfort her. She struggled against him for a moment, so determined to remain angry at him and stop her tears, but House persisted and she relented easily, weeping against his shoulder.

Finally, Cameron regained some of her composure and pulled away, embarrassed. House said nothing as she wiped her eyes, took a few deep calming breaths, and resumed her search for the car keys, finding them quickly.

"I'm starving. You're the Chicago girl- where's good to eat around here?" House asked lightly, moving towards the passenger side.

Cameron was surprised. No sarcastic comments, or teasing? Uncertainly, she unlocked the car and slid into the driver's seat, sighing tiredly.

"I'm not really in the mood to go out," she said quietly. She was still tired, her clothes were wrinkled, she longed for a hot shower and to wash her hair, and she could already feel the headache coming that resulted of a good cry.

"We could just get something from the supermarket, and I'll cook? I'm pretty sure there's not much in the house at the moment..." she suggested unsurely, but knowing House would love the opportunity to see her childhood home.

"Sure," House agreed.

It was slightly unnerving how agreeable House was being, Cameron thought to herself as she started the ignition. Then she supposed he just didn't want her crying all over him again.

"By the way," House spoke up as she drove out of the hospital. "Good work on the diagnosis."

Cameron shot him a startled look. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Please, it was obvious. Like Foreman was going to notice she bit her nails!"

Cameron paused for a moment. "So, she's going to be ok?"

"She'll be fine," House replied.

Cameron nodded. The patient brought up memories of that painful scene just after the phone had rang and an awkward silence filled the car. In an attempt to break it, Cameron switched on the radio and they drove to the supermarket in silence.

Cameron gave him the option of coming inside or waiting in the car, and House decided to come inside,

"To make sure you actually get something good," he'd assured her and Cameron had sighed. She was much too tired to deal with House at the moment.

They decided on lasagne for lunch, House's one condition being that it came with hot chips. Cameron decided she may as well get a few necessities whilst they were there, and went back to the entrance to get a shopping cart, which House insisted on pushing.

Cameron couldn't help but roll her eyes at him then, it reminded her of when she and Brendan went grocery shopping with their parents as children; and they would always argue over who got to push the cart, or to stand on the end and ride around the supermarket.

She had just collected bread, milk, eggs and a few basic things when a voice called out to her.

"Allie!"

She whirled around in surprise and smiled as she recognised her best friend from high school, Lindsay, and her husband Matthew coming down the aisle towards her.

"Hi!" she said excitedly, embracing Lindsay tightly and then Matthew.

"How's your Dad, honey?" Lindsay asked her in concern and Cameron smiled faintly.

"He's going to be ok. He's awake and not in too much pain, and Michael thinks he can probably go home next week."

"That's great!" Matthew said sincerely. "We were hoping we'd see you while you're in town, Al. We wanted to come see you, but we didn't want to intrude."

"You're my best friends! That's not intruding," Cameron smiled warmly.

"So, how long are you here for?" Lindsay asked eagerly.

Cameron hesitated, and resisted the urge to glance at House. "I'm not really sure yet. I'd like to see Dad settled back home, make sure he's following doctor's orders, you know how he is," she laughed slightly.

Matthew grinned knowingly and then a low whistle interrupted their conversation and they all turned around. Cameron glared in exasperation at House, who was making a point of leaning casually against the cart, twirling his cane between his fingers and whistling tunelessly.

"Subtle," Cameron said pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"Subtle is my middle name," House replied.

"Lindsay and Matt, this is my..." she hesitated, remembering that she had quit, so technically House was no longer her boss.

"Guys, this is House. House, these are my best friends, Lindsay and Matt."

Lindsay's expression was first one of recognition, then confusion. "I saw Cleo yesterday morning at the gas station, she said you'd quit?"

Cameron sighed. "I did."

Matt grinned. "Déjà vu, Al?"

Lindsay hushed her husband, and embraced Cameron again. "Call us before you leave," she instructed her. "I'm not having you back home and then leave without having a proper catch up."

Cameron smiled. "I will," she promised, saying goodbye and heading to the checkouts, House following behind her.

AN. Sorry, this seemed kinda rushed, but I wanted to fill out the story a bit. Remind House that Cameron has a life that doesn't revolve around him.