Chapter 7

When Cameron woke up the sun just had started to rise. The birds were singing already and the soft rays of light were flooding through the whole room, covering every shape into a mix of light and shadows.

She stretched and closed her eyes for a few more seconds until she turned around, finding Joe next to her, asleep.

After she had started to kiss him last night, they had laid down across each other. Nothing had happened. She wasn't sure if it was because he still had to take it easy because of his wound or if she wasn't ready for this yet.

So instead they just looked at each other in silence, hands intertwined with their slow steady breathing being all you could hear.

Lying on her back she gazed at the shadows dancing on the walls; she realized she felt good.

Like all those previous dramas in her life hadn't just happened at all. It was like the last night had done something.

"You awake?" she heard Joe whisper.

The corners of her mouth lifted and she smiled, twisting her head to the side looking at him in the dim light.

"Morning," she grinned.

"Hey. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, very good indeed," she sighed loudly, but then her face got serious,

"Is your chest okay? Any pain?"

"No, Dr. Cameron. I am fine, please stop worrying," he teased.

"It is just …" but when Cameron saw Joe's face she gave up immediately, and laughed, "Sorry."

He cupped her face with his right hand slightly stroked over her cheek with his thumb, drawing tiny circles on her skin.

"I really missed you, Joe," she whispered as a small tear rolled down her cheek.

Joe slowly leaned over and kissed it away.

Cameron shuffled over and he wrapped his arms around her slight frame, her head resting against his chest. His heart beat was strong and steady; she could get used to this.

Just like she easily had gotten used to it during the time, Matthew was in the hospital.

Joe had held her like this every night, until she had fallen asleep, after hours and hours of crying.

It seemed like an eternity had passed; like a lifetime had already been lived.

It felt right. To be here with Joe now, to let him hold her like he used to.

This was just what she needed … after …

'No' she told herself 'do not even think about letting him inside your head again'

She was over Gregory House. It had taken her long enough and no one, especially not House himself, should be able to put her in that kind of state again. It had been too easy for him to break her; she was not letting him do this ever again.

She would not break. She couldn't.

Screw House.

Cameron closed her eyes and tried to shake off the thoughts. When she opened her eyes again, she was still lying in Joe's arms. The sun was higher.

"Damn it, what time is it?" she quickly sat up, waking Joe.

"Uhm, it is 9.35," he answered sleepy.

"Ah, I need to get home and change," she quickly got out of bed.

"Let me give you a ride, I need to get a check up anyway."

It was 10.14 when they finally arrived on the PPTH parking lot.

They had no cases.

This was why House had spent the last two hours in Wilson's office and why he was now rummaging through the books in the conference room. The reason? To find out whether he would win his bet with Wilson about a case back in the 1930's.

When the door flew open behind him, he did not turn around. Cuddy was late; usually she would have found him half an hour ago, demanding that he would do his hours in hell.

"Oh my, I already thought …" he stopped when he saw it was actually Cameron who was rushing over to her desk.

He was surprised, even mildly shocked that she was obviously late. She never was late.

"Well, good morning Dr. Cameron," he said in a cheery voice, putting back the book he had just pulled out.

She threw him a disgusted look and sat down behind her desk, switching on the computer screen.

House watched her for a minute, wondering why she had been late, but eventually decided to leave her alone for the time being. It would be much more fun to mock her about it, when his other two minions were around.

He unhooked the cane from the shelf and limbed back to his office. House had already drawn all the blinds in case Cuddy came looking so he slumped into his chair and decided to play some PSP.

Just five minutes later the door opened again. But House knew it wasn't Cuddy, because his neck hair did not stand on end. So he tried to concentrate back on his game when he heard someone had entered the conference room.

"Hey, what are you doing here already?" he heard Cameron say, her voice being soft and so un-like everything he had ever heard from her.

"My appointment got cancelled, some emergency came in," the male voice belonging to Joe Martin, answered.

House slowly got up from his chair and moved to the wall, peaking through the blinds he only saw Cameron; she was smiling.

He had to admit, this was a smile he hadn't seen on her more than maybe twice. But definitely not in the last 6 months.

"So, this is where you work?" Joe asked.

"Well, yeah. Pretty much. Hey, how about a coffee, down at the cafeteria?"

House could hear her tone becoming slightly nervous and stepped back from the glass wall, because she probably was looking over to his office, checking if he had noticed them.

This could get interesting; House thought and then opened the joining door.

"Dr. Cameron, are you leaving again? You just came here," House said his voice exaggeratingly cheery and loud. He walked over to the coffee maker and did not even look at Joe when he walked pass him.

"We just wanted to grab a coffee," Cameron said, a bit irritated and was already on her way to shove Joe out of the room, when House turned around.

"Well," he trailed off, waiting for Cameron to turn around, he pointed to the coffee maker in front of him, Cameron just sighed exhaustedly.

"No big deal, I can go alone if you got work to do," Joe said smiling at her.

It was one of those smiles that can make you sick to your stomach. And it did.

"Yeah, work. Isn't that something you have to do at … uhm … work?" House said mocking, looking back to Cameron.

"Huh, weird, and I always thought it involved playing game boy all day long, and trying to avoid your boss in order to get away from work," Cameron shot back, staring at him.

"I know that it doesn't involve escorting former boyfriends of yours to the cafeteria," House said wanting to go back to his office when Cameron moved his way, her eyes glowing in anger.

"It is not my job to do your work, either," she counted.

With this she pointed on her desk where a rather big pile of letters was just waiting to be opened. Both were staring at each other, completely oblivious of Joe and everything around them.

"Then why do you still bother? You are the one who annoys me and everyone else with stupid cases from those letters," he said.

"Maybe I should just quit then. Make it easier for everyone," she said her voice dripping with venom.

"Like that worked out last time," he burst out before he could even think about it.

And then something changed in her eyes. All the anger just vanished. It was gone in a second. Instead he saw something else and even if it was just for the tiniest of seconds, he could clearly see that she was hurt. He had done that.

But a second later, he wasn't even sure if he had seen that or if it had been just an illusion.

Now all he could see was blankness.

Nothingness replaced her emotions. She was getting too good at shutting her feelings out. Something she had learned from him. Something he had always wanted her to learn.

But then, why was it bothering him now?

He should have been proud, but all he felt was disappointment.

House saw her opening his mouth when the door opened again. Only then the both of them realized they weren't alone anymore, that they hadn't been alone in the first place Joe was literally staring at them.

Then he realized that Dr. Andrews had just entered the room, and was looking at Joe, then at them and then back at Joe like he was trying to find out what was going on.

"Uhm, Dr. Cameron? I was just wondering if you got a minute to talk. In my office?" he finally said addressing Cameron.

"Yeah, of course. I'll be with you in a minute," Cameron said turning around, now slowly nodding.

Then she turned back to him, her look obviously said that this wasn't over, then walked over to Joe. She had lowered her voice, so House did not hear what she told him, but Joe just nodded smiling giving her a quick kiss on her left cheek and left.

Just a second later, Cameron had left, leaving House standing alone in the conference room.

Cameron was sitting across from Dr. Andrews in his office. After she had told Joe that she would come to see him later she had went here immediately.

Five minutes had passed since and she was still angry. House had gotten to her, again. But right now she tried to not think about him, this was about her.

Andrews just had told her about the job offer, at first she had thought she had misunderstood him, but he obviously was offering her a job with the best Immunology Department in the country.

"I know this comes probably unexpected to you. You are not getting such an offer every day," Andrews joked.

"Yeah, you could say that," she smiled slightly.

"It would be a major career jump and working under Ira Mellman would definitely improve your skills."

"I know. Wow, are you sure about this? I mean, I haven't even finished my second fellowship yet."

"Well, I talked to Cuddy. She said she would agree to let you out of your contract in two months, if they find someone to replace you."

This threw her off. Andrews started to laugh at her facia expression.

"I know, this probably sounds like a joke to you. But it is not. You are an exceptional doctor, Allison. Not just with the Goodpastures-syndrome case you solved. And I wouldn't have proposed you for the job if I wouldn't be absolutely sure you are the best."

"I really do not know what to say," she said honestly, trying to get some order into her thoughts.

"You do not need to decide right away. Dr. Mellman, Dr. Cuddy and I agreed that we can give you until the end of the week."

"Okay, thank you," was all Cameron could say. Shaking Dr Andrew's hand she got up and slowly left the office.

On her way back to the conference room, she had to tell herself multiple times that this was happening. This was real. This job offer was probably the best thing that could have happened.

Of course that would mean she would have to end her fellowship under Gregory House. This was probably the most important time of her whole medical career.

Lately it hadn't been exactly the job environment she'd like to have, with this whole Tritter thing going on and House getting even harder to cope with every day.

Maybe it was time to move on.

Situations like the one earlier showed her that nothing good would come out of this anymore.

She had learned a lot under Greg House, maybe too much.

It was just after noon and Cameron was still sitting at her desk, the mail all sorted and all necessary responses answered. Her mind was still all about the job offer at Yale.

How much she wished she could go home to Joe and tell him about the news.

Moving. The word suddenly appeared in her mind. She would have to move. Would Joe even consider coming along? And did she want him to come in the first place?

Cameron could not even define their relationship if someone were to ask her. How could she then already think about moving with him?

"You should eat the green stuff instead of staring at it," a gruff voice pulled her back to reality.

House was standing across her desk, pointing down on the salad. He himself had a lollipop in his mouth. She looked at him, for a second she wasn't sure what he was talking about, but when she did she lowered her face and took the fork into her right hand.

Silence.

House had gone over to the conference table, a gossip magazine open in front of him.

Another two minutes later,

"I think you should take it," his voice casual, almost friendly.

"What do you …?"

"The job at Yale. Ira Mellman. He is a great doctor; it would be a great opportunity," he was still not looking up.

Cameron was staring at him, unable to respond to his words. This whole situation seemed so surreal after what happened this morning. He was actually sounding like a friend giving her advice.

"Andrews said you could start in two months?" now he looked up at her. When she realized he was looking at her, questioning she quickly looked down to her salad and nodded shortly.

"Take the job," House said after another minute of silence, then took his magazine and shuffled back to his office.

When she looked up at him getting up, she thought that the wall around him had shut down, though it was just for the briefest moment, she was sure it had been real.

Where did that sudden change come from?

"So what did you tell her?"

House was standing in the dark kitchen, when he realized it had been a mistake to tell Wilson about the job offer for Cameron. Because the oncologist immediately had drawn his own conclusions and had invited himself over for a beer and was now sitting on House's couch, watching an old movie.

And of course, Wilson wanted to talk about it.

"I told her to take the job," House replied his eyes focused on some crumbs in his sink. They were almost hypnotizing.

"Why?" He heard Wilson opening another beer.

"She will earn twice as much and will have to work twice as less … she will have time to golf and actually be a real doctor," House mocked, still staring down his sink. He had stemmed his arms on the edges, his cane hooked right next to him.

"Seriously?" now Wilson stood behind him, leaning against the door frame, looking at him, he was pathetic.

"No, I am just afraid of my feelings," House joked, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to admit that it wasn't just the sarcasm speaking. Maybe that was why he hadn't acted like himself and had told her to take the job.

He grabbed what he came in here for, a bottle of beer, and went back to the living room trying to shut out his current thoughts.

Wilson followed immediately. Obviously not willing to let go of the topic so easily.

"So, you are just letting her go like this?"

"Guess so," House responded slumping down on the other end of the couch, his gaze focused on the TV screen.

Before Wilson could add something, he quickly grabbed the remote and turned up the volume, hoping that would tip him off to leave the topic.

And it did.

I made a banner for this story but since I am such a loser when it comes to computer stuff, I just give you the link here:

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/8783/collidedoneoa2.png