disclaimer: i don't own house and/or any of the other characters on the show.

chapter six

he couldn't sit still. even general hospital couldn't keep his attention today. he couldn't help but think of the night previous where he'd been lying in cameron's bed with her and how it felt undeniably right. house didn't want those thoughts in his head. he didn't want his feelings, whatever they were, to cloud his judgment in helping her get better. so he distracted himself. he played golf with his stress balls and cane, he set up dominos in the form of his thick medical books he'd never opened, sent a fake love letter from wilson to cuddy and then made his way to the cafeteria to steal food when no one was working. as he cased the selections the cafeteria was offering, he noticed across the room a certain blonde, well for that matter, two of them. cameron and chase, sitting, drinking coffee and laughing with one another. he was about to walk away when he saw chase's hand touch cameron's and that was enough to have him turn around and head towards them.

"...you know if you ever need anything, that i'd be there for you in a heartbeat," he could hear chase saying as he limped closer.

"i know you are, you always have been," she smiled gently.

"well if it isn't the homecoming king and queen. and chase, you do make a lovely queen, with every stand of hair in its own rightful place!" house announced as he sat down next to chase, picking off at his fries as chase rolled his eyes.

before either one of them could ask what house wanted, chase's pager went off. he was needed in surgery. he said goodbye to cameron and smiled reassuringly and told her to call him. he mumbled something that sounded like goodbye to house and ran off to the or. house studied cameron for a moment before she looked up and caught his gaze.

"another consult?" she asked

"no just pure noseyness this time. so what were you two talking about?" he asked in his 'i have to know' voice.

she just smiled at him and slowly rose, "i'll see you later, house".

later, in the locker room, cameron pulled her cellphone out of her coat pocket and saw a missed call and a voicemail. she dialed her voicemail and punched in her password. she opened the message.

"hey allie. it's christopher. just wanted to check in, make sure you're doing alright. well, i wanna hear from you, so call me. i miss you, bye".

she sighed for a minute and dialed his number. she didn't really want to call him but not calling would be much worse for her later. she put on her sweetest voice, as if she were reassuring a child patient that they'd be alright.

"christopher, hi, i just got your message. i'm doing well. i hope you and your friends are having a good time in atlantic city. i miss you too, see you soon".

she hung up quickly and threw the phone in her purse and grabbed her stuff to go home for the day. as much as she wanted to be alone with house again, seeing him wasn't worth the pain of eating. she tried to think of ways to blow off meeting him later, but he'd know she was lying. it was then she realized, she'd worked under house for three years. she was going to do to him what he did to cuddy, and that was hide. she thought of hiding out in coma guy's room but that was his sancutary. the clinic and er were both off limits too because he knew she actually liked working there. finally, she thought of the perfect place. in the children's oncology ward, she found an empty room and laid down on the bed behind the curtain. she held the pillow close to her chest and she could hear her raspy breath. she fell asleep pretty quickly, it'd be a trying few days and all she wanted was for people not to notice her. it wasn't long before she felt a little tug on her foot.

"cameron?" she heard a soothing voice ask. "cameron?"

her eyes opened very slowly and she was too exhausted to even lift her head up to look at the person. using her peripherial vision she made out who it was.

"wilson? what are you doing here?" she asked almost in a whisper.
"hey you're in my corner of the hospital!" he joked, sitting on the edge of the bed in front of her. "you okay?"

"avoiding house," she said simply.

"good place to avoid," he said reassuringly. "i ran into him a few minutes ago he was looking for you".

"ugh," was all she managed.

"look, cameron. you know house. it will be worse if you avoid him. you're a strong woman. you can handle him." he said gently.

"i'm just too tired to right now, jimmy,"

for the first time, wilson got a good look at cameron. he noticed she was trembling a little, she had goosebumps. he thought house was crazy for noticing her blue tinted nails and her whispy hair, but when he looked at her, he noticed it too. he realized house was trying to do a good thing for once and help cameron, he didn't know why but he wanted to help house help cameron.

"i'll give you a b6 energy shot if you promise to go find house," wilson bartered.

she pondered for a moment. as of that moment, she didn't even have enough strength to get off the hospital bed, let alone make it home. she told wilson he had a deal and he went and got his supplies. he gave her the shot and waited a few minutes until she felt a little more awake.

"come on," wilson signaled. "i'll walk you to his office, i'm sure he's there".

feeling a little bit better, she and wilson made small talk as they made their way to his office. sure enough he was sitting in the dark by his little lamp throwing his stress ball in the air. wilson and cameron walked in.

"hey, house," wilson said simply.

at this point house would've made some rude comment about cameron turning sideways and being so skinny she was basically invisible which is why no one could find her but he bit his tongue. he got up at a suprising speed for a cripple whose known for his laziness.

"come with me," was all he said as he passed by cameron, leaving her in the chill of his wake.

house brought his motorcycle to work that day so he convinced cameron to let him drive hers, since he complained her driving sucked. the car ride was mostly silent, with the exception of his road rage. he pulled into a parking spot and she looked up at the sign.

"macdonald's?" she said disgusted.

"you know me," he said as they got out. "i'm cheap".

he ordered for the both of them. for himself a big mac meal in addition to the chicken selects and large coke. for her, two double cheeseburgers, a small fry and a large diet coke. he paid. they sat across from each other in the booth and he watched carefully to see how she was eating.

"greasy food, yum," she sarcastically said to outloud but to herself as she attempted to take a bite of her cheeseburger.

he could see the pain in her eyes as her whole body stiffed when the food made contact with her mouth.

"greasy yet delicious," he corrected her taking a huge bite from his burger. "so where were you?"

"when?" she asked confused, taking this time to stall from eating and taking large sips of her diet coke.

"where did wilson find you?" he asked waiting for her response as he impatiently tapped.

"i was talking to chase in the observation room, why?" she said not making eye contact.

he knew she was lying, but didn't let on, "you two seem a very friendly these days".

"we were always friendly, house. we worked together, we date and lived together and now we're friends. it's not uncommon for someone to befriend their ex," she said as she thought of him and stacy.

stacy and house could never be friends. they were either lovers or nothing. there was no middle ground for them. maybe that's why house had such a hard time believe that she and chase could remain on friendly terms.

"when someone befriends their ex it means one of two things: you're either still in love, or you never were," he said in a matter of factly way. "so which is it. do you still love him or did you ever?"

"house-" she started

"no, scratch that. are you in love with that sad excuse of a guy you call your boyfriend?" house very badly wanted an answar to this question.

as if pretending he had never asked her that question, she changed the subject. "i didn't realize how fast i drank that diet coke went through me. i'll be right back".

before he could protest her going into the bathroom so soon after eating, she was already in there. she ran into a stall with a plastic straw she'd grabbed and wasted no time sticking it as deeply down her throat as she could. she gagged a few times before her stomach was expelled. she knew the more she drank and the fast she did so, the easier it would be on the way up. she quickly cleaned herself up and threw a mentos in her mouth and returned to the booth. house studied her.

"i was almost proud of you for taking two full bites of your burger, but obviously that didn't stay down too long," he commented. "now do you see why i'm being cheap here? why spend alot of money on a meal you don't want and won't keep down?"

"house, i had to pee. sorry for not wanting to get a urinary tract infection!" she barked back.

as house drove silently back to the hospital to his bike, he thought of their date together, all those years ago. how awkward and uncomfortable it was for the both of them. he thought of how beautiful she had looked and how he was so nervous. how he had talked himself into making an effort to be kind and polite but ending up just being his asshole self. cameron sat there, staring out the window wondering where the house that had held her so securely the night before had gone. she wondered to herself why she would open up to him of all people. they got back to the hospital and house got out without so much as saying goodbye. she slide over to the driver's side and sped off towards her house. if house was trying to help her, he wasn't doing a very good job.

turning the key in her lock, all the lights were on and sitting in front of the television, was her boyfriend. she swallowed hard and walked in to greet him.

"hi, sweetie. how was atlantic city," she asked kissing him on the cheek.

"it was good. it was fun, but i'm sure it was nothing compared to the fun you had while i was gone," he voiced turned to anger.

"what are you talking about?" she said worridly.

"you come strolling in at 11 at night, while i've been sitting here for five hours, waiting for you to make me dinner!"

"i'm sorry christopher, i didn't know you were coming home. you didn't say you were when you left that message".

"yah, well maybe i thought you were cheating on me and came home early to catch you in the act. i mean, hell, i've cheated on you!" he said proudly.

a wave of shock and hurtness moved through her body, "what?!"

"did you just raise your voice to me?" he said getting up and walking over to her. "i said, did you just raise your voice to me?"

she knew what was coming no matter what answar she had gave and she chose to not lie, "yes. you cheated on me? after everything i do for you and give to you, you cheated?!"

she barely got out her words before he punched her. by this time her b6 shot was wearing off and her energy level was already fading but after the force from the blow she could barely move. she had put her final energy into throwing up her food she had nothing left in her. she laid on the ground, defeated. he kicked her twice before walking into the bedroom and locking the door. cameron slept on the floor that night. she wasn't really sure whether she lost conciousness or just fell asleep, but she woke up to the sun burning through her close eye lids. she noticed a note next to her hand and strained to reach it, even though it was really close.

"a real woman could handle physcial love. that was nothing compared to what i could do..."

she bursted into tears, which quickly dried after feeling the pain in her ribs returning with every intense sob. she couldn't cry, it hurt to much. after twenty minutes of crawling, she made it to her bathroom and got into the tub, filling it with steaming hot water. as the basin fill, she felt like such a hassle. she'd become a charity case to the point even house felt bad for her, which was hard to do. she didn't want the attention she was getting from chase and house and wilson. in her mind, she started hatching plans and thinking of different ways to fool everyone and maybe even herself into thinking she was okay.

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a/n: so sorry for the really long wait! i promised myself that once a week i would update and well that didn't work out because i got really busy. i thought i'd give you an extra long chapter today, but it turns out it's just about as long as the other ones =( chapters 7 and 8 are almost finished though and i do PROMISE for them to be up within the next few days.