Chapter 3

When House got back to the conference room, there was no sign of the ducklings.

So instead of going down to the clinic he could use the time until the tests were done, to do something productive.

He got himself a cup of coffee and went into his office, plonking himself down on his couch, switching on the TV he was just in time for the second half of General Hospital.

But knowing Dr. Craig had just poisoned Nikolas, he just could not concentrate, his mind constantly kept drifting away.

No, instead he kept thinking about on how he didn't know about Cameron's special friend.

When she had been hired three years ago, he thought he had her all figured out after two months; but some time ago he realized his whole neatly packaged theory about her had holes.

Huge worm-hole like holes in it; and they kept on growing bigger and bigger with every day.

She had changed so much over the last year, and she sure wasn't the little naïve schoolgirl anymore. Sometimes House wondered if she ever was.

When he heard noises from the conference room, he slowly got up dry swallowed a vicodin as he made his way through the glass doors.

"The test results are back," Foreman announced and handed him the folder. He skimmed over the numbers then looked up and closed the folder.

"Where is Cameron?"

"She had to see a patient of hers," Chase said taking the folder from House.

"Oh, really," House said, then turned to the whiteboard, and started to write.

She really went through with this. She had changed, and yes, the holes were still getting bigger.

Cameron was looking down from the observation room.

Joe was being prepared for surgery at the moment, and all she could do now, was stand there and watch. She had talked to him the whole twenty minutes before he had gone under the anaesthesia.

Leaning her forehead against the cold surface of the glass in front of her she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

He would be okay, in a couple more days, he would have to take care of his wound but he would live. Why was she worrying so much?

Watching the surgeon cutting into his flesh she realized he was the last part left of her past.

Of course, there were still her parents, but she had lost contact with them when she had married Matthew. And after he had died, she had cut out everyone that reminded her of that time.

Everyone.

Even Joe.

But then again he also was the connection to the better parts of her past, too. Before the tragedy of death had entered her life.

She had been young, probably too young, when her whole life had turned into a disaster. But Joe, he had been there, in the end. He had kept her breathing when she'd thought she would suffocate.

And now, he was back.

Their lives had collided again. Even though this time it seemed like it had happened without the face of death she knew that this did not mean it would not turn out to be a complete disaster again.

A dull thump-step-thump pulled her out of her thoughts.

She had already wondered when he would come to talk to her, so she lifted her head up from the glass wall, turning her head slightly, silently watching him from the corner of her eyes.

A small eternity passed between them, until he finally said something.

"How is he?"

"What to do you want House?" her voice traced a slight hint of hostility. She was not going to let him get to her.

"For starters, how about … do your damn job."

Now she looked up at him, for a few seconds she just stared at him. When she lowered her face, she took the badge out of her scrub-pocket and frowned.

"Hm, this is weird. It says 'Allison Cameron, MD'," she emphasised the last two letters to make her point.

"And this looks suspiciously like an OR," she added and looked back at him.

House had his difficulties to hide a grin, because this part of her was new, and he had to admit that he liked it. Instead he kept staring at her,

"Might be, but your medical license also says "Immunologist". Now I do not want to be a smartass here? But last time I checked that big word had nothing to do with bones, or broken ribs in particular," his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Cameron should have been surprised, he knew about Joe, but somehow she wasn't. Of course he knew. He always did.

"Okay, look. He is a friend and I just wanted to make sure he would be okay and get the best treatment available," she said softly, though she was still wondering how much he really knew.

"Well, that is not your job. There are those women, you know, I think they are being referred to as nurses, they look after patients while we do … you know, complicated doctors stuff," he mocked. She gave him a look and he sighed adding, "and I am sure our patient wouldn't also be very pleased to find out that my immunologist rather wants to hang out with patients than to help cure her."

Now he handed her a folder, she hadn't noticed before. It was the patients chart.

"Foreman and Chase are currently doing some more tests. I'll expect you in the conference room in 10. Did you get that? Or do you want me to write it down for you?"

He gave her another look and then left.

Five minutes later she was entering the conference room, the folder in her right hand. When she saw his pleased look she cursed herself for the tenth time this week, for letting him get to her so easy.

But today was different, because when she sat down next to Chase, she decided she would have to do something about that.

It was not until late that evening when they finally diagnosed the patient with a rare form of leukaemia, then handed the case over to the oncology department and their job was done.

House was leaning against the balustrade on his balcony in front of the office, getting some fresh air after a long day when Cameron stepped out behind him.

"Dr.House?" she almost whispered.

"Dr.Cameron," he did not turn around, his gaze fixed on the small lights in front of him.

Princeton at night was always mesmerising.

Silence.

He pulled out his vicodin and swallowed two, hoping this would stop the pinching pain in his head and leg.

When she was still not saying anything he slowly turned around, glancing at her. Cameron was looking up at the sky, her hands deep in the pockets of her pants.

"Did you came here to swoon at the size of the sky, pondering about the purpose of life?" he grinned slightly, his left hand still placed on the balustrade.

She slowly lowered her head and locked eyes with his. Eternity passed between them, again. Now he could hear her exhausted sigh, he raised an eyebrow.

"You really have to stop this," she said almost inaudible. By trying to avoid his gaze now, she started to clench again.

'When would she stop doing that?' he thought.

"What are you talking about?"

She looked up again and just for a split of a second he thought he saw a smile, but blamed it on the light from his office, forming shadows on their faces.

"I am talking about today," she said gently, still looking at him, "He is a friend, House. You may not be able to understand what that means, but I care about him, and wanted him to be safe."

"Oh, snarky, aren't we?" House responded.

"I am not willing to let you do this. Not this time," she completely ignored his last comment, still looking at him with determined eyes.

"Okay, again, what are you talking about?" he started to get annoyed now, and wasn't trying to hide it.

"Nothing, just … stay out of my life."

"Hm, that could be a problem, you know, since we're working together."

"You know what I mean," she looked at him, looking even more tired.

About a second later she had turned and was back inside, getting her stuff and left.

And again, she had done something to surprise him. Standing up for something she wants, that was something the Cameron from a year ago would have never done. Now here she was, pulling a mini-version of himself; with all the sarcasm and witty answers to boot.

This was going to get complicated.

On her way out, she quickly grabbed her jacket and her laptop and when she walked to the elevator she noticed she was smiling.

This had gone better than she had expected it to. Actually it had been a lot better.

But she just wouldn't … couldn't let House do this to her. Not again.

It was easy for him to break her, but it always took her a long time to recover, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to do that again.

Joe was back now and this was probably the best thing that could have happened to her at this time. Maybe she was able to pick up the pieces … the pieces that once belonged together but had been ripped apart by Gregory House.

Just five minutes later she entered Joe's room where she found him awake, watching some commercials on TV.

"Hey, I think I am going to have to order the George Foreman grill now," he joked turning off the electronic device. Cameron put her jacket and her bag down on the chair next to the door and smiled at him,

"It is way past midnight, shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Well, uhm, my physician said she would be here when I woke up and since she wasn't, I figured I should really wait for her. Who knows, she might need to tell me something important," he smirked winking at her.

"I am sorry, Joe. We had … well, to be honest my boss decided I wasn't expendable," she sighed and sat down on his bed.

"Your boss … Dr.House?"

Cameron frowned and so Joe added, "I heard the nurses talk. They said that it is a surprise you are still working for him after everything he did to you."

Cameron looked away, and stared at her shoes.

"What did he do to you?" his voice sounded so soft and caring, nothing like she had heard in a while now.

"Let's not talk about that right now, okay? How are you?" she looked up, a friendly smile on her face.

Joe looked at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, but decided to leave the topic for now.

"I am feeling pretty good. Must be all the morphine," he said grinning.

"We are going to take you off tomorrow but I think I am going to prescribe you something for home. I'm pretty sure you can leave here on Friday."

"In that case, Dr.Cameron, would you like to go grab some dinner on … lets say, Friday?"

Joe sheepishly grinned at her.

Cameron tried to hide her smile, but then just had to laugh out loud. God, she had missed this so much.

"How about this? I am going to take you home after work on Friday and then I am going to make you some dinner," she was still laughing.

"As long as you promise me to not drink a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon while you are making it," he commented.

Again, she laughed out loud,

"It wasn't my fault that the tomato soup was spilled all over the carpet before we could eat."

"Yeah, but you got drunk," he teased.

"That is odd, since I remember you making me drink it, because you said it was the last one and it would get foul if we would not empty it."

Now it was Joe who started to laugh loudly, but after a few seconds started to stop and cough.

"Here," Cameron handed him a cup with water and then lifted his blanket.

Joe took a sip and put the cup back on the table,

"What are you doing?"

"I just want to check if you pulled any stitches."

Fortunately everything looked okay, and she put the bandage back on. Then she leaned back and watched him smiling at her. She had thought she had known why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. Now she was sure it was his smile. It had been the one thing that had helped her while Matthew had died. She had met Joe just a week after she had met her husband; Matthew had introduced them at a party on campus. After that they had spent a lot of time together, the three of them. When Matthew had proposed to her just a month later she said yes without even thinking about it. At that time her parents had turned from her, because they had married without them, in a small chapel out of Chicago, Joe being the only one invited.

Then things had started to take a turn for the worst. Matthew started to get sicker and she spent as much time with him as possible, as did Joe. He had been the one she clung onto while her husband died. Either she was at the hospital, or she was spending time with Joe.

As cheesy as it sounded, he had been her light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.

And now here he was, back in her life, giving her back the hope for finding love. Something she had thought she had lost forever about a year ago, when she had told House she would be happy for him being able to love, even if it wasn't her after all.

"I should let you get some sleep now," she said slightly stroked over his cheek and Joe nodded. She got up, took her stuff and went to the door, but turned around when she was half-way out.

"Joe?"

He looked up at her.

"I missed you, too."

When she arrived at her car she was still smiling. Maybe she wasn't so hopeless after all.