I'm not totally happy with this chapter, which I think I can attribute to the fact that I was distracted while writing it. Nevertheless, this is the final product.

And I would like to say a big big big thank you to my four wonderful reviewers, Neviwyn, Ellie 5192, blackend, and heather1021. Your reviews meant the world to me.

Mandy Meyer was at her wits end.

Chase and her sister had broken up five days ago, and Cameron was not taking it well.

She dutifully went to work every morning, and tried to pretend that seeing Chase every day yet not getting to be with him didn't bother her, and at night she'd come home and mope around the apartment. She had adopted the theory that she wasn't worthy of Chase's love, and that she deserved everything she was getting; she just didn't have to like it. Mandy thought she was crazy, and Cameron's stubbornness was really starting to get to her. Mandy didn't see why she couldn't just call Chase up and work it out. Allison was good at that stuff. When they were kids, if Mandy lost her cool and got into an argument with one of the other neighbourhood kids, Cameron was always the one there to mediate, to try and get them to discuss it reasonably. But that Cameron was nowhere in sight; Mandy didn't recognize her sister these days.

After Chase and Cameron left the table, Mandy had had a few choice words for House herself.

"What did you expect me to do?" House had asked her, bewilderment in his voice. "I don't like Chase, I never have, and I'm not just going to turn around and be nice to him just because he's dating Cameron."

"You still didn't have to be that mean!" Mandy argued back. "He and Allie are really trying, and they don't need you to sabotage it."

"Did it ever occur to you, Amanda, that maybe if their relationship really was what you are all saying it is, I wouldn't be able to sabotage it?"

She sighed and brought her eyes right up to House's, locking his gaze. "I just want my sister to be happy. She deserves it, Hell, she puts up with me; she should get some kind of reward."

House cracked a smile at that. Although he wouldn't admit it, he understood what Mandy was saying. He wanted Cameron to be happy too. It was Chase he didn't trust.

"Look, they'll fight, they'll ignore each other for a few days, and then they'll kiss and make up. It'll be like I never said anything."

Back then, when he'd said it, Mandy had been willing to believe it, but now, with each passing day that they didn't talk and her sister moaned, she was starting to lose her hope. And her sanity.

"Okay, get up."

Cameron lifted her head slightly off the back of the couch. "What?"

Mandy stopped in front of her and crossed her arms. "I said, get up."

Cameron, still curled up in a ball, a blank expression on her face, didn't move. "Why?"

"Because, Allie, I've had enough. You're not just going to sit around here and complain about how you're not with Chase anymore. You're going to get up, go out, and patch things up with him."

"Mandy, I told you, I can't do that. Chase broke up with me. If there's any chance of us getting back together, it has to come from him."

Mandy sighed and sat down next to her sister. "You know, you're really underestimating your powers of persuasion, sweetie."

Cameron gave a tiny smile. "Are you suggesting I jump him?"

Mandy dropped her mouth open in a mocking way. "Did I say that?"

Unable to hold in a laugh, Cameron turned away. Maybe Mandy was right. Maybe she needed to do something, instead of just sitting around bitching about how things didn't work out.

Gregory House was lounging in his office chair late that night, mulling over the past days' events. He kept thinking about what Mandy said. Had he purposely destroyed Cameron's relationship with Chase? Is that what he wanted? If it was, then why? Was it because he wanted her to be miserable just like him, or was it something else?

He threw his red and grey ball up in the air for the thirty-sixth consecutive time. He was on a roll, going to set a new record for himself, when something caught his eye and he lost his concentration. The ball landed on the floor and rolled somewhere under his desk, but he wasn't going to pick it up just yet.

Cameron pushed open his office door and marched right up to him. Unlike the last week, she looked well put together, like she had actually looked in the mirror before leaving the house. Her hair was pulled back tightly into a ponytail, her sweater and jeans ensemble smooth and form fitting. House waited for her to initiate the conversation, but she didn't say anything.

"Well, I see we've picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off. You really aren't the prettiest picture when you're moping. It does nothing for your skin."

"You suck."

House jerked his head back slightly. His eyes went a little wider. "Wow, that was such an awesome comeback."

"No, I mean it. You really suck."

House grimaced and tried again. "Okay, would you mind enlightening me on how you came to this newfound perspective?"

For the first time, Cameron's expressionless face changed. She gave a slight smirk. "You think that you can walk all over people. You think that you're bigger than them. The Great Doctor Gregory House, you're untouchable. You're devoid of human emotions, so you have no problem stomping all over other peoples'. It's a viscous cycle, and it's going to leave you all alone." She moved in and carefully enunciated the last two words.

"That was a great speech there, Cameron, but I gotta say, I'm missing the point. We all know I'm a jerk. Are you just deciding to announce it all to me now because the Wombat dumped you?"

She clamped her hand onto his desk and tried to force out a smile. "You're not going to get a rise out of me, House. I'm past all your antics. It doesn't matter to me what you say."

"It matters to Chase. Or at least, it looked that way."

She turned her head to the left and caught her reflection in the glass door. She looked calm, cool, and collected. There was no evidence on her facial features of the freak out she was having on the inside. She wanted to yell at House. She wanted it more than she'd ever wanted anything in a long time. To yell. To just get it all out there. But no. She was going to have a civilized conversation with him. Because that was the only way he would take her seriously. The only way to settle this once and for all.

"Here's how this is going to work. You are going to butt out of Chase and mine's business. Unless it somehow starts affecting our ability to work together, which it won't, but if it does, that is the only time you will have any right to intervene. If you wish to mock us you will do so with Wilson behind closed doors." She turned back to him. "Is that clear?"

House sat there staring at her for a minute. Who was this girl? The Cameron he knew did not stick up for herself like this.

There were a million things he could have said. A million things he could have done. He settled for the simplest.

"Okay."

Cameron nodded in recognition and made a swift exit from the room. Unlike all the other times she'd had private conversations with House, when she left, she wasn't thinking about what he was thinking. She was instead focused on one last stop she had to make tonight.

Robert Chase marched around his apartment looking for an empty box. His face was laden with great determination, and he was not going to let anything distract him from his task at hand. He'd found a picture of himself and Cameron, holding each other and grinning from ear to ear, and he couldn't stand to look at it. So he'd decided to get a box and throw everything that reminded him of her from their very short relationship away.

He opened the front hall closet door and found just what he was looking for. He reached down and lifted up the large brown box, when that distraction he wasn't looking for popped up.

The deep ring of the doorbell filled the apartment. Chase really was not in the mood to see people right now, and he couldn't fathom who it could be, but he decided to answer it anyway; it was the fastest way to get rid of the caller.

He stalked across the room and begrudgingly threw the door open.

"What?"

He froze when he saw the person on his doorstep. Allison Cameron was standing off to the right, as far away from the door as she could manage without falling down the steps, with her arms wrapped tightly around her body. She avoided his gaze, and instead took an interest in her shoes.

"Ca-Cameron, what are you doing here?" Chase stammered out.

She brought her head up slightly, but still avoided his eyes. "I thought we could talk." She said it so quietly she wasn't sure he could hear her.

"There's nothing to talk about," he said in a biting tone.

For a minute she clenched again, and looked back at her shoes, but then, something in her seemed to snap, and she looked up, this time grabbing his gaze and holding it. "Yes, there is." She spoke with a sharp certainty that startled Chase. "Just let me in, please?"

He sighed. This wouldn't go well. He knew it. He knew she knew it. But he'd be lying if he said he hadn't wanted to talk to her too; if nothing else, to find some closure.

He stepped aside and she cautiously made her way into his living room. As she glanced around she noted that it looked pretty much the same. Granted, it hadn't been all that long, but she figured it might be a little bit different. She hadn't been expecting him to go totally feung-shui to get rid of all the negative energy their relationship and break up were sure to provoke, but she thought that in her absence, it might have changed. Just a little.

"So," Chase said, pulling her from her thoughts. "Talk."

She took a deep breath before beginning and thought back to her sister's words. It's now or never, Allie. "I understand that you have concerns about my feelings for House."

"So you admit there are feelings?" Chase pounced immediately.

She struggled to maintain her composure. Getting into another screaming match would not be the most productive way to reconcile. "I admit that I once cared for him very deeply, yes."

Chase bit his lip and hesitated before speaking again. "And what about now?"

"There was a time when I couldn't see what everyone else saw in House. I only saw the good. But I'm not that naïve anymore. I get it. And I'm over it."

So they were back to where they were a week ago. "How am I supposed to know that?"

At this Cameron stepped forward, once again taking hold of his eyes with hers. "I went to him tonight. If it wasn't clear before then it's clear to him now where I stand. House means nothing, and I can show you that. You just have to let me."

She took another step closer, and as she did so she felt him stiffen. She chose not to acknowledge it, and kept going. She leaned in, brushed her left hand up against his right, their bodies touched. With total control, total investment, she went in, she kissed him. Long and hard, not letting him break free. At first he fought her, but then, all at once, he let himself go.

The box dropped to the floor.

So, how was that?