Sorry for the delay of this chapter, and that it is kind of short. I promise the next chapter will be longer and I will have it up this week :)
Enjoy! And please comment, cause that is what keeps me going.
House had just entered the elevator when he noticed Cameron standing in the back, leaning against the wall, her eyes closed.
She was wearing dark blue jeans and a plain red pullover, half covered by an unbuttoned coat,
Her hair was held back in a ponytail; loose strands had escaped and were hanging down her face, framing her features.
"Good morning, Dr.Cameron," he said smirking.
On that she opened her eyes and looked at him. For a brief instance he thought he saw something like anger across her face, but it was immediately replaced by another of a blank expression; one he could not read.
Damn, she was getting good at this.
"Didn't know it was casual Saturday, today," he tried to tease her, but then the door opened she quickly stepped out, not giving him any look or response.
When House entered the conference room just a minute after Cameron, he saw that the reason why Cuddy had called him in on a Saturday morning wasn't just another regular case.
Besides his ducklings, were there also, including Cuddy herself, Wilson and Dr. Andrews, the head of the Immunology Department.
"Oh great, a party. And here I thought you would forget about our 3 and a half months anniversary, darling," he said making a face towards Cuddy.
But the hospital administrator just ignored the comment and turned to Andrews,
"George?"
The doctor, who was in his late Fifties nodded shortly and then turned to House, who was leaning against the wall that separated the conference room from his office.
"Maggie Patterson, 27 year old female, was admitted last night after she had trouble breathing. We gave her oxygen and she is stable now," Andrews stated handing House the chart.
But House did not even look at it, instead threw it back on the table.
"That is a though one. I think last year there was a case of this really uncommon disease. I think it starts with an 'F' and ends with 'lu'," he grimaced turning towards his office.
"She was tested negative on any viral or bacterial infection. No elevated SED rate," Andrews said louder.
House stopped, then turned around and sighed,
"White count?"
"Normal."
"Let me guess: Important donor is involved here?" he turned to Cuddy while he grabbed the file from the table.
Cuddy just gave him a look.
"Okay, people. Shoot," he said taking his marker in hand.
"She is suffering from fatigue for the last 6 months and nausea for a couple of weeks now," Foreman responded.
House wrote the two symptoms down.
"That is all?" he asked teasingly and turned to Cuddy, who gave him a humourlessly smile.
"Ok then. Foreman, go take a detailed history. Get every information that could be helpful. Cameron and Chase, you guys go and do some blood tests. Start with the basics."
---
About three hours later everyone was gathered in the conference room again.
"Okay, Foreman? Anything?" Cuddy was facing Foreman across the table.
"She said, she started having this fatigue about 6 months ago. It got really bad so she started to take antidepressants."
"Anything else?" House followed up.
"The nausea started about two months ago, but is under control. Last night she was coming back from a trip to San Diego when suddenly her breathing started to get heavy."
"Okay, what about the test results?" House turned back to the whiteboard.
"Her blood work looks normal. White count is still normal," Chase replied.
"Okay, we hardly got anything," House sighed exhausted, put the marker down and turned around, "Do a full-body scan. I guess we will just have to wait."
With that he turned and went into his office.
After spending the whole day and night completing test after test, CT's, MRI's and blood cultures, they were still no wiser since she was admitted, but at least the patient was stable for now.
Cameron had gotten some sleep in the doctor lounge the night before, but was hardly what someone would call, rested.
Now she was on her way back to the conference room, Foreman had paged letting her know the latest test results were back.
"… because we are about 98 sure it is not cancer," Wilson was saying, when she entered the room
"98? Wow, that sounds like an awful lot," House mocked him.
"Well, we practically scanned her whole body and this is the closest we can get," Wilson sounded almost as if he was apologizing.
After Cameron had sat down every pager in the room started to beep frequently.
The steady sound echoing through the hall.
Half an hour later they were back in the conference room. The patient had started to cough blood after she had been ex-tubated a couple of hours ago. She had lost enough blood to warrant a transfusion.
"Okay, now we got a new symptom," House said and wrote down 'Hemoptysis'.
"Could be Aspergilloma," Chase said.
"No, there was nothing on the x-ray. What about a Coccidioidomycosis? She just came back from California," Cameron suggested, looking from Chase to House.
"Unlikely, she did not present with rash, fever or muscle pain. But then again … do a PCR test. What else?"
They threw in some more theories, some very unlikely but it was the best they had.
House was sitting in his office, playing with his giant tennis ball when his door flew open a couple of hours later.
"We got a new symptom, her kidneys are starting to shut down," Andrews informed him, then waited for House to get up to follow him into the conference room.
"What about Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria?" Chase threw right in.
"I take it she was tested negative on Valley Fever and all the other stuff?" House asked while limping over to the whiteboard.
"Yes, she did. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her," Andrews said, more to himself rather than the group of doctors in the room with him.
"Well, except for the fact that she is anemic and that her kidneys decided to quit, which basically means, that she is dying," House mocked and gave him a mischievous grin, "Okay. We got lung problems and the kidneys are affected. What would …"
"Hang on," Cameron suddenly burst out.
Everyone turned around to her, she was smiling. She knew it. He could see that she did. Because usually it was him who had this slight smile all over his face.
When she turned to look at him he stared into her eyes.
"Her first symptom was the fatigue, right? Then the lungs and now the kidneys," her smile grew even wider. But everyone else just stared at her, like she was speaking another language.
"Anti-glomerular basement membrane disease ... Goodpasture's Syndrome," she finally revealed.
And the wall was down. Why didn't he think of that? It had been right in front of him all the time.
But strangely, he did not feel any disappointment at all. Instead he felt proud, that one of his fellows had solved the puzzle. Cameron had solved it.
"I think we should do a kidney biopsy and then start treating her with immunosuppressants," she added, now talking to Dr. Andrews.
It was two hours later, House was about to leave, when Andrews knocked on his office door.
"Dr. House? Do you got a minute?"
When House did not respond he entered anyway,
"I just got the results. It is indeed Goodpasture's syndrome."
House looked up, nodded shortly and grabbed his backpack.
"Listen, uhm. I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Cameron," Andrews said before House could leave.
Now he got House's attention.
"I have this job offer on my desk. From the immunology department at Yale. I would like to propose Dr. Cameron for the job."
House looked at him for a second,
"So? Do you need my consent? Or approval?"
"No, I actually just wanted to give you a heads-up. I already talked to Cuddy, too."
"Well, thanks a lot," House mocked then headed out, pushing past the man.
'Great' he thought, his headache was coming back.
It was late afternoon when Cameron finally left the hospital. She would have to go back to work in about 15 hours and all she wanted to do was take a bath and go to bed.
When she arrived at her car and she fiddled out the keys her cell started to ring.
"Hello?" she answered, unlocking the car doors.
"Take a look to your left" a male voice said.
She let go of the keys and slowly turned around.
Joe was leaning against his own car, grinning. She hung up, walked over to him and smiled.
"What are you doing here, Joe?" she asked.
"Nice to see you, too," he laughed and gave her a hearty hug.
When they separated she stepped back a bit and smiled at him, Joe turned around and now she noticed the huge coffee he handed her now.
"You know you are a hero, right?" she asked, her eyes glowing she took a sip and closed her eyes, letting the brown fluid warm her from inside.
"Of course I know that," he joked, "So, I was thinking we could grab something to eat and watch 'Some like it hot.'"
On that Cameron looked up at him, surprised.
"Don't tell me you rent it."
"I didn't." on that he turned around again and this time he had a dvd in his hands,"I bought it."
"You are unbelievable. Oh my god, I haven't watched it since …" she trailed off.
It was the movie she, Joe and Matthew used to watch all the time. It was their movie.
"I … I am sorry …I wasn't thinking," Joe started to stutter.
"No. No … It is just … wow, I would really love to watch it again," she looked back at him, now smiling all over her face.
"With you," she added softly.
Just half an hour later she was sitting on Joe's couch again, a steaming hot chocolate in her hands, a blanket wrapped around her feet and her head leaning against Joe's shoulder.
And ten minutes into the movie she was asleep.
---
She felt a movement around herself. At a far distance.
When she opened her eyes, it was dark. She felt like having solid ground under her again, she propped up on her elbows and looked around.
"Joe?"
"Yeah?"
She saw a shadow at the door, it turned around and came back.
"What time is it?" she rubbed her eyes with her left hand after Joe had switched on the nightstand light.
"It's past 9. Go back to sleep."
"I am sorry," she suddenly said, the tears forming in her eyes.
"About what?" Joe frowned and sat down next to her.
"That I … pushed you away after … after Matthew died. That I wanted you to leave. That I could not see you without thinking of him. That I blamed you for what I felt."
The tears were rolling down her cheeks and she had no power to hold them back. Joe bent his head slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting a tiny bit. He took her cheek into his hand.
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for, Ally," he whispered.
Cameron now slowly closed her eyes taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes and saw him looking at her she realized something. Without thinking about it, she leant forward kissing him.