A/N : Thanks for all the great reviews! Limaccia: I total agree House needs to respond so I changed it a bit. (Also changed "Allison" to Cameron as the sudden change in name felt wrong) Hope you like it.

Chapter 5-Awake

It was very quiet. There was a constant rhythmic beeping from beside her. She felt tired, her whole body felt odd. Her legs felt like they were cased in lead. Her head throbbed, her chest felt heavy. She opened her eyes slowly, very slowly. The harsh light made the white walls seem brighter. She wasn't in her own bed. She was at work, why was she sleeping at work?

"Oh God, the crash." She tried to sit up, there were wires everywhere. She only got as far as lifting her shoulders off the crisp pale blue sheets when she had to give up; she was too weak. Cameron groaned a little as her head hit the pillow again and she closed her eyes. She heard movement from the corner of the room. She felt warm hands fuss around her chest moving wires. They moved away and she heard a series of beeps as someone altered the medication that was being pumped into her. She opened her eyes and this time just turned her head to see who was attending to her. It was House. She grinned, his back was toward her and as he turned, she could see he looked slightly more warn around the edges than normal. Like he hadn't slept all night and he'd run out of vicodin.

"You're pathetic" she whispered.

"I just needed somewhere to hide from Cuddy and you were the hottest coma patient in the hospital," He smiled gently. He so rarely smiled, but when he did she could see the cheekiness there and the kindness that was hidden just beneath the pain and hurt.

For what felt like minutes House just stood there watching her. She looked back at him trying to figure out whether what he had said was his normal sarcastic manner or something else. He was watching her breathe. His brain was purely focused on the medicine, Cameron thought as she watched him hobble to her side. He took a penlight out of his pocket and shone it into her eyes then ordered her to sleep. Those few moments of conscious had worn her out.

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"But Doctor, is there no hope? Is she really going to die?" a woman said from somewhere in the room. Cameron felt groggy and kept her eyes closed for a moment and hoped the woman wasn't talking about her. She wasn't sure. Maybe she was going to die. "I'm not going to die," she thought and opened her eyes as if in defiance of the woman's statement.

"I'm sorry" a man said, "There's nothing more we can do but send her home so she can die in peace."

Cameron pushed herself into a sitting position. She moaned as a pain ran deep into her left side. She looked up and saw the voices had been coming from the TV, which was tuned into General Hospital. "Ahh," a voice said "You're awake". She turned to see House sat in a chair with his lunch laid out across his lap. He picked up his lunch and set it on the table behind him and stood up.

House started pressing buttons on the monitors beside her. She didn't say anything just watched him. When she had first started working for him she would watch him a lot. It was something House hadn't failed to notice. He noticed everything about Cameron. Ever since he interviewed her for the job he knew she was something special, not that he would ever admit it.

"What happened to me?" Cameron asked gently prodding at herself. He left leg was in plaster, no wonder it felt heavy she thought.

House perched on the side of the bed. "Two broken ribs, a punctured lung, a ruptured spleen."

"Did they remove it?" Cameron said looking concerned.

"I hadn't finished the list," House said sounding hurt that she had interrupted. "Fractured femur, deep head wound and multiple cuts and bruises. Now you may ask questions."

"So they removed my spleen?" she asked again.

"Yes, You'll be fine" he replied and as he said it he placed his hand on her arm and squeezed gently. Cameron looked at him not sure if she was imagining things. Their eyes met for a few seconds and there was that electricity that always seemed to spark between again. Cameron felt it every time and wondered if House felt the same tingling feeling she was.

House blew air into his cheeks making them puff out and without his eyes leaving hers or his hand leaving her arms he pushed the air into each cheek one at a time. It was like he was thinking of something to say thought Cameron but he couldn't. He let the air out of his mouth, then got up and limped out.