What If

Chapter Thirteen - Sleight of Hand

"I agreed to coffee with you to smooth things out so the divorce moves along faster and for you to tell me why you did it. I didn't come here to give you a chance to win back my heart. You don't get another chance. You had enough chances over the four years you were cheating on me."

Cameron was guarded and, although she'd agreed to meet with Andrew in a neutral location (a wannabe-Starbucks place five minutes from the hospital), she wasn't interested in hearing excuses or apologies. She wanted to know why. She deserved that from him, if nothing else.

House had been uncomfortable at the idea of her going out anywhere alone with Andrew. She assured him he wouldn't hurt her or try anything stupid, but House wasn't worried about that. He would never verbalize it, but he was worried that Andrew might just be able to blind her with sweet words and promises and manage to weaken her resolve. He knew she was a lot tougher than he gave her credit for, but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about it all. He didn't want to lose her already.

Andrew shifted, uncomfortable silence settling over them as he stared down at his coffee, untouched.

"I thought you believed in second chances..."

He said quietly, and all he could think of was that House had changed her. She'd been a pushover, never stood up for herself, but now...well, he couldn't say it wasn't a good change, even though it wasn't benefiting him.

"I do believe in second chances. I just don't believe everyone deserves them. If I gave you another chance, Andrew, I'd be giving you an extra bullet for the gun you just shot me with. I'm never gonna trust you again. And without trust...there's nothing left of us."

He didn't have a response for that. He knew he'd hurt her, broken her heart, but having her stamp out every bit of hope that he could win her back made his stomach churn painfully. He knew he didn't deserve a second shot with her; he'd had so many chances to break it off with Abbie before Allison even knew about the affair. But he'd hoped he could appeal to the heart that was bigger than Wisconsin. Apparently not.

"I still want to see our daughter."

"You'll get visitation."

"I want custody."

Cameron was speechless. It took her a few long moments before she managed to splutter out a response.

"You cannot be serious. You cheat on me and then want to take my daughter away?"

"Our daughter. I'm not trying to stop you from seeing her, but...you're a doctor, Ally. You live at that hospital. I'm an architect, I can work from home. I'm around all the time. Are you willing to cut your hours and pay to be a single parent?"

Her mouth opened and closed in disbelief. He was really going to drag her through a custody battle? What terrified her was that she knew he was right. She'd missed her daughter's first steps because she was working. Andrew took her to pre-school most days and Cameron rarely made it home before Elle was already in bed. He'd made it easier for her to keep her career and be a mother, partially because he'd wanted kids more than she did, so they'd compromised.

Cameron frowned, seeing his lips moving and hearing his voice, but not taking in any of his words anymore. All she could think about was him taking their daughter away.

"...and besides, you're what, living in a hotel right now? Do you think that's really the environment a child should-"

"I'm living with...a-a friend."

She cut in, her voice distant, wishing she'd never agreed to go for coffee with him now. She saw his face change, a dawning realisation.

"Oh my God. You're living with House?! I don't want my daughter anywhere near that man. He's the reason our marriage is-"

Cameron stood up suddenly, her chair flying backwards as she glared down at a man she thought she knew so well.

"No! You screwing my sister for the last four years is the reason our marriage is in ruins!"

She realized that her raised voice had drawn the attention of everyone else in the coffee shop, and they were now all watching openly, some staring at Andrew with disgust as he ducked his head in embarrassment. She lowered her voice and grabbed her purse, shrugging on her jacket.

"You can't blame anyone else but yourself for this, so don't even try. My lawyer will be in touch."

With that she left him without a single backward glance, their whole conversation replaying in her head as she fought back tears. She had to find a family lawyer and make sure he couldn't take Elle from her, because until she had that assurance, she knew the pit in her stomach wouldn't be going away.

Walking back to the hospital, hands stuffed into her jacket pockets and chin down to maintain as much warmth as she could from the bitter early winter breeze of Princeton, Cameron became aware of a car curb-crawling beside her. She sped up a little, not glancing sideward, not wanting to see his face again so soon. But as the window rolled down, he called her name and she sighed heavily, her breath misting in front of her.

"Go away. I don't have anything more to say to you."

Was all she could manage, but he wasn't going away. She stopped and turned to face the car, exasperation in both her demeanour and voice.

"What do you want? Why are you following me, Andrew?!"

"I want Elle this weekend. Please. It's my mom's birthday and-"

"Fine. I'm not the one being unreasonable out of the two of us."

She liked his mom and Elle was her only grandchild, so she doted on the little girl whenever she visited. Cameron wasn't going to be spiteful by keeping Elle from her father or grandmother, because she knew how that could look in court too. Best to keep both sides appeased for now. Because when Andrew's mother found out what he'd done, she wouldn't be helping her son get full custody, that was for sure.

"I'll pick her up at 6pm on Friday. What's the address?"

Cameron narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Was this his way of finding out where House lived? She wouldn't be surprised if that was his ulterior motive here.

"I'll bring her to the lake house. And you can bring her to the hospital on Monday. I don't want you anywhere near Greg or where we're living right now."

She saw the frustration cross his face and knew she'd caught him out.

"You've never called him Greg before. You're sleeping with him, aren't you?"

She looked at him incredulously and shook her head in disbelief. He was actually asking her that, after all he'd put her through? She turned and began to walk again. This time, he didn't follow her and she watched as he sped off down the street.

"He wants custody of Elle."

Cameron overlooked a greeting as she walking into House's office. He was sat on his lounging chair, absently rubbing circles on his thigh. As she entered, his gaze lifted to greet her and his familiar frown quickly appeared.

"He's a moron. No court will take his side in this."

He didn't sound even the slightest bit apprehensive and, usually, that would have eased her nerves, but in this case it did nothing to dissipate the ball of anxiety that had set up camp in the pit of her stomach. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed wearily.

"I'm scared, House. I'm scared he'll talk his way around it and take my child away from me..."

He heard the catch in her voice and shook his head, pushing himself up with much effort and moving to stand in front of her. Somewhat awkwardly, he squeezed her arms and she folded against him almost instantly. He gently stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. The simplicity of the gesture flooded her with a comfort she'd never even known he was capable of giving.

"Unless you're moonlighting as a hooker at the weekends and using the sprog as a cocaine mule, I'm pretty sure they'll rule in your favor. He won't take anything more from you, Allison."

She couldn't help but smile ruefully into his chest. Trust him to lighten this situation with dark humor. But oddly, his dry wit was just what she needed to hear.

Cameron pulled up at the lake house. Just ten minutes away from the hospital, set right on Carnegie Lake, it felt as though it could have been a million miles away from civilisation. They'd bought the house (mansion, really) when they'd first moved to Princeton from Chicago. Cameron had worked at Princeton General for a couple years prior to getting the job with House, and she'd had actual weekends back then. She worked her hours, a little extra time here and there, but they'd spent most of their weekends at their lake house. It was a little piece of paradise, and they'd originally planned to sell their apartment downtown and move into the lake house properly when Elle arrived. But they'd simply never got round to it.

She shut off the engine and looked up toward the house sadly. It was beautiful and they'd made many happy memories there over the years. Her family had visited every Christmas since they'd left Chicago, his family joining them every other year, and she couldn't help but wonder if Andrew and Abbie had made their own memories there over those years. She closed her eyes, not wanting to taint her fondness for the house with such images.

Glancing back at Elle, she saw the little girl was fast asleep and sighed. She was glad Elle was too young to understand what was going on between her parents, but she didn't want the child to grow up with all the memories of her childhood being of her parents at odds with each other.

Andrew tapped on the window and startled her, bringing her sharply out of her own thoughts and she quickly got out of the car. As soon as she closed her door, the questions started.

"Have you found a place yet? Or are you still shacked up with him?"

"She's got that cold again, so I've put Tylenol in her bag. I gave her some before we left so don't give her anymore tonight. She's already had the highest dose."

She chose to ignore his questioning, moving to the trunk of the car and putting space between them. She retrieved the Peppa Pig overnight bag from the trunk and handed it Andrew but he grabbed her wrist and forced her to face him.

"Don't sidestep the question, Allison."

He was angry and the snarl of his words scared her a little. She tried to tug her arm out of his grasp but he wasn't letting go. She glared back at him, not wanting him to see that he was getting to her.

"It's none of your business anymore, Andrew."

"Where my daughter is living is my business."

He pushed her, hard, against the side of the car and her eyes widened. He'd never scared her before, but her heart was starting to race and she looked down at where he was gripping her arm.

"Y-you're hurting me. Let go of my arm."

His eyes were cold as he glared at her and for a moment neither of them moved. She pulled against his grip again.

"You're scaring me, Andrew. I don't want to leave Elle with you if-"

He let go of her and shook his head, his eyes still cold.

"I would never hurt her, I can't believe that would even cross your mind."

"I never thought you'd hurt me, but you did."

She rubbed her wrist but she wasn't just referring to the bruises he'd no doubt left her with now. Her wrist would soon look like how her heart felt.

Andrew stepped back, his gaze shifting from her to the little girl who'd just woken up in the back seat. His face softened and she beamed at Elle as she waved sleepily at her father, blissfully unaware of what had just taken place between her parents. He opened the door and unfastened her, taking her into his arms and kissing and cuddling her warmly. Cameron gave Elle a kiss and Andrew a warning glance before getting back into the car without another word.

As she drove away, she looked in the rearview mirror as they waved her off and her heart broke a little more. She didn't want to leave Elle with him after their altercation, but she couldn't very well keep her away from Andrew indefinitely.

Cameron parked up outside House's apartment. They'd started simply referring to it as "home" now, rather than "his place", and she couldn't really pinpoint when that had happened. It had just seamlessly become their place now. Maybe it was because everyone - or, rather, Foreman and Chase - knew about it and they'd started to regularly turn up together each morning, which Cuddy was very appreciative of, seeing as that meant House was turning up hours earlier than he would if he came in alone.

It was no longer a big secret, though of course there were still various rumors and explanations of their situation circulating. Her personal favorite was one she'd heard two medical students discussing in the cafeteria; House was actually the father of Cameron's daughter and he'd blackmailed her into separating from her husband and living with him. In all of the rumors she'd heard, House was always the bad guy. She'd long since stopped caring what everyone else thought and now the rumors just amused her.

She sat alone in the car for a few long minutes, looking up at the apartment. The soft glow from the light of the living room told her House was home already, but that didn't surprise her. He rarely stayed at the hospital after 3pm, never mind dinner time. She knew he was expecting her back about 7pm and it was now ten after. But he wasn't one to watch the clock.

Glancing down at her wrists, she grimaced when she saw the purple bruises coming out, stark against her pale skin. How was she going to explain that to House? She couldn't exactly say she'd walked into a door, when the marks from his fingernails had made clear crescents and drawn blood. And if House saw what he'd done to her...well, she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop him from doing something stupid.

Pulling her jacket sleeves down as far as she could to cover the evidence, she locked up the car and headed inside. As she let herself in, she heard soft notes from the piano and he glanced up to greet her. She gave him a forced smile and he stopped playing, his fingers hovering over the keys a moment before settling on his lap.

"You look like shit, what happened?"

He stated, not bothering to dress up his words. He never had before, why start now? After all, she was accustomed to his bluntness...and she still liked him. He never would fully understand that.

"Gee, thanks. Nothing happened. I'm just...tired. It's been a long week."

She knew he wasn't buying it, and she still hadn't taken off her coat. She headed toward the bathroom and called back to him that she was gonna run herself a hot bath to unwind. He murmured a reply but she didn't quite catch it before she closed the door behind herself. She turned on the taps and then sank down to the floor, her back against the porcelain, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. She knew she had to tell him the truth, but she was biding her time. For a few minutes, she simply sat there, staring blankly into space and listening to the water, wondering how her life had done a 360 in just one month. Little over four weeks before, she'd curled into Andrew's warmth each night as she climbed into bed. She'd loved him. She'd never known any different. Until now.

Finally, Cameron pushed herself up and took off her coat. She didn't even want to look at the marks on her wrists, but she couldn't help it. Seeing the mottled bruises and fingernail marks brought tears to her eyes. Wiping them away firmly, she took off her clothes and folded them, turned off the taps and slipped into the comfort of the hot water waiting for her.

A knock on the door, wood-on-wood. She hadn't locked it and she paused a moment before calling him to come on in. She sank her hands down to her sides, keeping her wrists well out of his sight. As the door opened, she looked up at him and couldn't help but smile as he stood there, stark naked, cane in hand.

"I'm all for saving water, so I decided to join you."

Part of her was already getting turned on, but the other part was panicking. He'd see the bruises. But turning him down would be too suspicious, he'd know something was wrong. And she really didn't want to do that anyway. So instead she simply smiled.

"Come on in. You haven't kissed me yet today."

He moved toward the bath, quickly rectifying that by planting a searing kiss on her lips. A promise of what he had planned for them that night. Hooking his cane over the rail beside the bath, he made quick work of joining her, sinking down into the hot water with a sigh. Nothing was said between them for long moments and he just sat back, looking at her and wondering, not for the first time, how he'd been lucky enough to have her end up in his arms. Though the circumstances were far from fairytale, he had to admit...she made him happy. He'd never tell her, but he'd watched her sleeping beside him a few nights before and had realised...he was completely in love with her.

Turning awkwardly in the bath, Cameron leaned back into House and his arms immediately enveloped her. She closed her eyes and let her anxiety wash away. The ease with which they enjoyed simple silence was refreshing to her. Andrew had always needed to fill silence with small talk, and over a decade that became tiresome.

"House...Greg. If I show you something, do you promise not to...just, promise me you'll stay?"

He frowned a little and all the witty, clever, risqué responses he'd usually have been so quick to offer completely evaded him. So, he simply agreed and tried not to let his imagination conjure too many horrible scenarios based on the nervousness in her voice. His eyes dropped to her wrists as she lifted them out of the water and his eyes darkened. The purple finger marks punctuated with little red crescents left little to the imagination. Andrew had hurt her. Again.

"I hope to hell you're gonna press charges. That's assault, Cameron, and you know it as well as I do."

Cameron felt the tiny hairs on her arms stand up upon hearing the darkness in his voice. She couldn't see his face in the position they were currently in, but that was a small mercy she was grateful for, because she didn't want him to see the tears stinging her eyes.

"H-he...didn't mean to. It's not like he hit me or anything, he just-"

"Spoken like a true beaten wife. Don't make excuses for him. I thought that spell was well and truly broken by now. How many times does a man have to hurt you before you hate him?"

She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold in the hot water.

"I do hate him. I feel sick every time he says my name...and I want to cry every time Elle asks for him. But he's never gonna be out of my life, at least not until Elle's eighteen, and probably not even then. I just want to make that as easy to handle as I can."

Silence. He didn't respond straight away and she could practically hear him processing it all in that big brain of his. When he did reply, his voice was softer than before and he gently took hold of her wrists, delicately running his fingers over the marks on her otherwise-perfect skin.

"What happened? You were dropping Elle off to him, did he drag you out of the car?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I wouldn't answer him when he demanded to know if I was sleeping with you. I told him it was none of his business. He got mad. He's had a possessive streak for as long as I've known him, and it was never really an issue before. That was something I kind of liked about him. He made me feel...protected. Safe. But I guess I got the other end of that possessive side. He didn't even seem to care when he drew blood...he's...he's never scared me before today."

They were interrupted by the sound of Cameron's cell phone. They both looked toward her jacket, folded neatly by the door of the bathroom and Cameron quickly climbed out of the bathtub, wrapping a towel around herself and quickly retrieving the phone from her jacket. A frown set on her face when she saw the caller ID and she looked up at House.

"It's Andrew."

House rolled his eyes and expertly removed himself from the tub as she answered the call. By the time he'd wrapped a towel around his waist and moved his gaze back to Cameron, the frown on her face had been replaced with panic.

"Don't do anything. We'll be there in 10."

Se quickly hung up and now it was House's turn to frown.

"We'll be where in ten?"

He asked suspiciously, grabbed his cane and leaning heavily onto it. He couldn't help but glance again at her wrists and he was gad she'd said "we" because he sure as hell wasn't letting her go near Andrew on her own again. Cameron already had most of her clothes back on and was halfway out the bathroom. She turned to look at him, the panic clearly written all over her face, desperation and fear in her voice.

"He's given Elle an overdose. I told him not to give her anymore Tylenol tonight but he didn't listen, he was too busy questioning me about you. And now she's unresponsive and seizing. We need to go now."