A/N: uber thanks for the awesome reviews for the last chapter! *squee* made me so happy!
This chapter is fairly dialogue – heavy.
It was coming up to lunchtime and Doctor Cuddy was in her office, feeling flustered by the amount of paperwork she had to do, when her phone rang. She made a slight whining noise of annoyance before picking up "Lisa Cuddy."
The Dean of Medicine from Princeton General was on the other end of the line "Doctor Cuddy, George Adams here, do you have a moment?"
Cuddy let out an inaudible sigh as she sat down heavily "what is it George?"
George Adams shifted awkwardly, slightly uncomfortable with the news he was about to deliver "On Friday night we had a patient admitted. A rape victim. Her wounds were fairly severe. Cracked ribs, severe bruising to her face and a lot of damage to her vaginal area..."
He trailed off, swallowing hard. Cuddy on the other hand was getting impatient "why are you telling me this? You know the drill George, do a rape kit, phone the police, patch the victim up then send them home."
George gripped the phone as he said quietly "Doctor Cuddy, it was a member of your staff."
Cuddy gasped in horror as she uttered quietly "George...who was it?" But even as she asked the question, Cuddy had a feeling she already knew.
"I believe she is a member of Doctor House's diagnostic's team. Doctor Allison Cameron."
A tear trickled down Cuddy's face as she choked out "yes. Yes that is her." Realisation dawned on Cuddy and her sadness for her employee turned to anger as she asked "why was I not told about this before? And who discharged her?"
George sighed softly "I'm sorry Doctor Cuddy. Doctor Cameron's attending had the weekend off, so I only found out myself this morning. As for her being discharged, she discharged herself, AMA."
Cuddy hung her head in sadness before saying in a quiet voice "thank you for telling me Doctor Jones. I trust that this information is on a need to know basis?"
"Of course, I would not have it any other way. How is Doctor Cameron?"
"I only saw her briefly this morning when she was rushing out of the hospital. She has taken a leave of absence."
"Yes, understandable. Thank you for your time, I just felt you should know."
"Thank you for telling me. Goodbye."
Cuddy hung up the phone before slumping back in her chair and weeping sadly. Once her tears had subsided Cuddy re – applied her make – up in her private bathroom before heading up to Doctor Wilson's office. She needed to tell someone and although Wilson could be a bit of a gossip sometimes, he knew when to be discrete. As she rode the elevator up to his floor, Cuddy couldn't help biting at the skin on the sides of her fingernails, a habit she had when she was nervous. She hoped to God that House wasn't in Wilson's office.
With a trembling hand she knocked on Wilson's door and was relieved when she heard him say "come in." It meant he hadn't left for lunch with House yet. Cuddy entered and quickly shut the door behind her before locking it and then moving across Wilson's office to close the blinds. Satisfied they wouldn't be disturbed Cuddy let out a soft sigh and turned to face Wilson, who was looking at her with curiosity. She sat in one of the chairs across from Wilson and finally looked him in the eye. She took a deep breath before starting: "Wilson, I have something I need to tell you. It's imperative that no – one finds out about this, especially House, ok?"
"Cuddy, what is going on?"
Cuddy took another deep breath before replying "did you see Doctor Cameron this morning?"
Wilson looked a little confused before nodding. Cuddy exhaled a deep breath before asking "how was she? Did she say anything to you?"
Wilson nodded "yeah. I saw her right after House startled her in the conference room. She looked terrified. I was with Chase and Foreman at the time. Cameron grabbed her stuff and ran out, bumping into the three of us because we were kind of blocking the door. Cuddy, I've never seen anyone look so scared and she said to us 'please, don't hurt me' before running off."
Whilst he was talking he was looking more and more worried. He looked at Cuddy and said "what's going on?"
Cuddy couldn't bring herself to look at him as she replied "I just received a phone call from George Adams over at Princeton General. On Friday night a young woman was admitted. She'd been raped..." She trailed off, unable to finish as she looked up at Wilson, realisation dawning on him "oh God" he muttered.
"Now do you understand why House cannot know?"
He nodded, his face pale. Cuddy stood up and added before leaving "this stays between us."
Wilson nodded numbly, in a state of shock as Cuddy left his office. He remained that way until House barged in, announcing loudly "I beat my high score! A celebratory lunch on you!"
Wilson looked up at him and nodded before standing and making his way down to the cafeteria, House limping along beside him. Wilson was aware of the fact that House was talking about something but he wasn't paying attention to what he was saying, so he just offered an occasional grunt in response to House's ramblings.
When they got their food and sat down in the cafeteria House bit into his rueben sandwich with great relish, whereas Wilson merely sat and picked at his salad. After a few minutes of silence House sighed in annoyance, put his sandwich down, looked at Wilson and asked "ok, what's the matter? Did you cheat on your girlfriend? Did she cheat on you?"
Wilson looked at House and imagined what his reaction would be if he told him about Cameron and what he imagined was not pretty. Realising House was waiting for an answer Wilson muttered something about having lots of paperwork to do before standing and quickly bussing his tray before leaving the cafeteria. House watched his friend leave with interest. Something was going on with Wilson and he was going to find out what it was. His friend could never keep anything from him for long.
Whilst this was going on, back at her apartment Cameron was a mess. After sitting under the shower and scrubbing herself until the water ran cold she dragged herself out of the bathroom and into her bedroom where she stood and stared at herself in her full length mirror. She took in her self - inflicted red raw skin and the black and purple bruises that covered her ribs, back and thighs. She looked at the deep red ligature marks on her wrists before finally staring at her face. The make – up had been washed away, revealing the yellow and green bruises that tainted her alabaster skin. After staring at her thin and trembling body with disgust she turned away and stumbled through the apartment to find her mobile phone. She found it and turned it on, scrolling through her contacts before she found the number she was looking for. She fumbled slightly before pressing the call button. After three rings a kind and familiar voice answered "hello?"
"Wilson?"
A/N: ooh, slight cliffhanger! Hope you liked it, and seriously, thanks again for the amazing reviews!