I realize the last chapter was a bit confusing, but hopefully this one will sort it out a bit. If it doesn't, then the next one definitely will.

Since the emails from this site were messed up this week, I didn't get all the review alerts till yesterday. Normally I would send each of you a reply, but this week, I can't, so I must thank:

Bec0512, SG-Fan, bumble.bee.220, blackend, dorfinmat47, and draconiandevil5.

Thanks guys!

The next morning, or I guess you could say later that same morning, Chase was sitting in the diagnostics office, trying not to fall asleep. Foreman came in and threw a crossword at him.

"Yo, Chase, what are you doin' man? Didn't you sleep at home?"

Why does everyone insist on throwing things at my head today? "No," Chase responded, rather harshly.

"Oh no," Foreman said. "You and Cameron again? Honestly dude, this can't end well."

"I thought you didn't care."

"I don't, but like I said, this is going to end up affecting you at work, which is going to affect me, which is going to affect our ability to work together, which is going to affect our patients."

"Cameron and I know what we're doing," the Aussie responded.

"Do you? Because from where I'm sitting, it doesn't look that way." After a few moments of silence, he said quietly, "Was it really that good?"

Chase looked up, alarmed. "My god Foreman."

"Hey, I didn't mean it that way," the neurologist said, throwing his hands up defensively. "I'm just saying, you're really tired this morning."

"Yeah, well, that's actually because Cameron woke me up in the middle of the night to go down to the police station to pick up her sister."

"What?"

"Yeah, I didn't even know she had a sister. They don't look anything alike either. Anyway, I had to drive because her car's in the shop."

"So what's she like? The sister?"

"She's the polar opposite of Cameron. Blonde, carefree, very short skirt," Chase stopped when he saw Cameron and House come into the room.

"Blood work's back. Guess what? It's not lupus! Who wants to try again?" House berated them all. Chase and Foreman abruptly dropped their conversation and directed their attention back to the current case.

HMDHMDHMD

Mandy Meyer wandered around her sister's living room, studying all the little trinkets as she went. It had been a while since she'd been here. Mandy's life revolved around one simple rule; don't find a place to call home.

Mandy was a party girl, as pure as they come. She went out clubbing practically every night, had unprotected sex with men she hardly knew, and it wasn't too uncommon for her to wake up in a different place than where she'd been the night before, with no recollection of how she got there.

Her lifestyle drove her big sister crazy, but she was 25, she could make her own decisions. As different as they were and as much as they disagreed about the way each other had chosen to live, Mandy and Allison loved each other very much. Mandy always knew she could trust her big sis and she would come and help her out whenever she was in trouble. With their parents, Mandy had never felt that she could totally trust them like that, and that they'd always be by her side. She'd never doubted her sister's loyalty to her.

Amanda and Allison Meyer had a system. Mandy would call in the middle of the night, from jail or some other place Allison hated to think of her sister being, every couple months, begging for her sister to come pick her up. Allison would jump out of bed and rush to the rescue. The sisters would head home to Allison's place, and for a day or two, they would act as if nothing happened, and as if Allison condoned what her sister was up to. Then, without warning, they would get into it, screaming at each other loud enough to wake the dead. They would fight about how irresponsible Amanda was, and how Allison wasn't always going to be there to clean up her messes; that one day, she was going to have to smarten up. One of them would storm out, usually Mandy, and they wouldn't speak for another day or two. After this time, they would make up and Mandy would continue to crash at her sister's for a little while. Then she would head back to New York City and resume her crazy lifestyle, and the cycle would start over again.

It was weird, but it worked for them.

This time, however, the presence of Robert Chase in her sister's life made the situation a bit more complicated. Sure, Cameron had had boyfriends in the past, but with Chase, she was closer to acting just like her sister than ever before. This realization made Cameron a bit more uncomfortable and things became a bit more tense than usual. She was supposed to be the responsible one who chastised Amanda for her behaviour. If Mandy knew about her and Chase, she would have every right in the world to call Cameron a hypocrite.

So as Cameron saw it, the only logical solution was to keep Mandy and Chase from having any interaction. It would be like they never existed to each other. The only problem with that was that they'd already met. Cameron knew Mandy was a very perceptive girl. She didn't have to tell her about Chase, she knew she'd given it away last night in the car.

"So, how long are we gonna tip-toe around this?" Mandy asked her sister as she entered the room, carrying two cups of hot cocoa.

"Tip-toe around what?" Cameron asked innocently.

"You and that hottie," Mandy smiled.

"Who? Chase? There's nothing to tip-toe around. There's nothing between us."

"Uh, yeah, right. Come on Allie, you can't hide this from me. I know what I saw last night."

Cameron sat back on the couch and sighed. "Here's the deal, I don't have a thing for him, he doesn't have a thing for me. It's nothing serious; we're just having fun. He's not going to turn into anything major, and hell, it might end soon anyway. It's nothing for you to read into."

"Hmm," Mandy said. "So what you're saying is you're having casual sex with a guy. Not just any guy, but a guy you work with and will have to continue to work with even if things turn sour."

Cameron knew this was coming. She slowly nodded.

"Allison Cameron I am impressed with you!" Mandy exclaimed.

Cameron's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh come on, admit it. You're loosening up, living a little."

"No, no, that is not what I'm doing. I'm not you Mandy."

She looked hurt. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Here it comes, the fighting part. Except this time it would be harder for Cameron to win.

"I just…nothing," Cameron averted her eyes as she set down her coffee cup.

"No, say it."

Cameron sighed and looked at her sister. "Okay, you want honesty? I can't keep doing this, Mandy. You're old enough to start taking care of yourself. I have to get on with my own life. I can't just be your wrangler."

"My wrangler?" Mandy spat out. Okay, that wasn't a part of their system.

"I've got my own life now. I've got…work and friends and…"

"Chase?"

Cameron paused. "He has nothing to do with this."

"Oh really? Well, I seem to recall you having work and friends all the other times you've helped me out. The only difference now is Chase. You're saying all of this because of him. Look, if you're worried that I'm going to cramp your style, don't. I can be subtle."

Cameron was angry now. "MANDY! THIS IS NOT ABOUT CHASE!"

"Then why are your eyes about to bulge out of your head?"

"BECAUSE I'M ANGRY WITH YOU! FOR BRINGING IT UP! AS IF YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO TRY AND HAVE A RELATIONSHIP ANYWAY!"

"WHAT?!" The other sister was equally as angry now. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY RELATIONSHIPS? YOU DON'T PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY LOVE LIFE!"

"EXCUSE YOU? I'M THE ONLY PERSON IN OUR ENTIRE FAMILY THAT PAYS ATTENTION. I PAY MORE ATTENTION THAN YOU DESERVE. MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE JUST FOLLOWED MOM AND DAD'S LEAD AND DISOWNED YOU."

Mandy couldn't take this anymore. She had to get out of there. "FINE! IF THAT'S HOW YOU FEEL, DO IT, I DON'T CARE. HAVE A NICE LIFE, SIS."

And with that she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Cameron was stunned. She sat down on the couch and tried to catch her breath. That had to go down in the record books as one of their worst fights ever. And instead of fighting about Mandy's irresponsibility, they had fought about…Chase?

Had Cameron actually let Chase cause that huge blow up between her and her little sister? Had she actually let Mandy's innocent little comments about their relationship send her into hysterics? Why? Chase didn't matter to her. Why couldn't she have just shrugged it off?

So on top of those questions, she had to worry about her sister too. It never failed, no matter how bad their argument was, when Mandy stormed off, Cameron always worried. She thought she might be programmed that way. No matter how angry she was at her, the big sister in her had to worry.

She knew that, despite what she had said, Mandy could take care of herself. At least when she was alone and on the streets. That's not really what Cameron had in mind when she wished for her sister to become independent, but at this particular moment in time, she was grateful for it.

Now she had calmed down and was thinking about going to take a nice long bubble bath when the phone rang. Oh no, what if a neighbour had heard the arguing and was going to call the cops? She debated not answering it, but in the end, she gave in and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Cameron, it's me."

At the sound of Robert Chase's voice she stopped. She didn't need this right now, but she couldn't deny that there was a part of her that was happy that he'd called.

It was only a small part though.

"Chase, not tonight."

The Aussie paused. "You okay?"

"Yes! I'm fine! Just because I don't want to have sex with you tonight doesn't mean there's anything wrong!"

"That's not what I meant!" Chase squeaked, trying to do damage control. "It's just…you sound a little tense."

"All the more reason for you to let me go. I'll see you tomorrow." And without even a goodbye, Cameron hung up the phone. She trudged back into the apartment and started to run that bubble bath, she needed some serious relaxation right now. She needed to forget about Mandy, about Chase, about the whole damn world. She just needed to find an oasis and stay there.