Authors Note: This next chapter might seem a little strange when you first start off reading it but I do promise that by the end of the chapter it will all make sense. It may seem as if you missed a chapter, but I assure you, you didn't miss anything. I'm writing it this way because I wasn't quite sure how else to integrate this semi-important part in the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own House or any of the characters, unless I made them up.

Chapter Thirteen

She jolted awake from a pain in her stomach and when she did, she didn't recognize her surroundings. The hotel she had been staying in for the past few days had ugly yellow walls and the room she was now in had white walls. Her eyesight was blurry and she started breathing heavy. She heard an insistent beeping to her left and the door flew open. Wilson ran in and sat on her bedside putting his hands on either side of her face.

"Cameron! Cam, you're alright! You're okay!" he tried to soothe her, "you're in the hospital. Cam, you need to calm down you're gonna give yourself a heart attack!" Her breathing slowed a little and Wilson held her hand and moved her hair out of her face.

"Hospital?" she asked slowly, "how did I end up in the hospital?"

He looked at her with sad eyes. He hesitated. He wasn't completely sure how to word what he was about to say without her having another panic attack. The last thing he needed was for her to rip out her stitches or have a heart attack.

"You don't remember anything?" Wilson scrunched his eyebrows and sighed.

"No, I don't. What happened?"

"After House tried to force feed you, you waited until he and I left and then you went back to your apartment-" he started saying and as he spoke, she began to remember as she had a flashback as he narrated it for her.

Cameron had gone back to her apartment because she was tired of being a burden on her friends. She barely made it through the door when Christopher grabbed her by the shirt collar, pulling her inside the apartment and threw her to the ground.

"Where the hell have you been you stupid slut?!" he wrapped his hand around her neck. "Were you off with another guy? You're disgusting!"

"Chris-!" she tried to choke out to no avail, he tightened his grip around her neck. "Please!"

He threw her to the ground again, kicking her back side. She cried out in pain. She crawled to the kitchen as he got something out of his pocket and she barely made it against the cupboards when he came up to her with something shiny in his hand. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a blow against her cheek and she nearly went unconscious when she felt something pierce her skin. He had stabbed her. She clutched her wound and curled up. She closed her eyes.

"He took out a knife and-" she could hear Wilson saying.

"Stabbed me," she finished his sentence.

"You remember?" he asked concerned.

"Sort of. I remember him stabbing me and then it all went black."

"You don't know what happened after that?"

"Something else happened?" She swallowed hard.

He hesitated again, unsure of how to explain, "Chris had a gun. After you went unconscious, he had pulled it out and was about to pull the trigger when House showed up and hit him pretty hard, Chris hit the ground. House started to hit him with his cane to the point he broke it. He went to go help you and saw that you had been stabbed-"

"Oh god," she said under her breath.

"Chris woke up and House used your pepper spray on him. It didn't do much damage to him, he backed off for a minute or so but then he hit House and he went down," Wilson looked away for minute and then back up at Cameron. "Chris got a hold of his gun again and pointed it at you. House-," Wilson stopped for a minute. "House threw himself in front of you. House said something to the affect of 'shoot me, not her'-"

A tear slid down her cheek, "No," she gasped. "Is he-?" She choked out.

"Chris did shoot House. In the abdomen. Because he had been pepper sprayed his aim was a little off and the bullet nicked his abdomen. He has a pretty big gash on his side, but other than that he's fine. He was in the hospital for a day before he got released," he smiled reassuringly.

"The bullet didn't go through? It just hit his side? It didn't hit any organs or anything?" She was trying to fully understand what had occurred.

"No. I'm sure if House tells you the story he'll make the shooting much more dramatic than it actually was. But no, it didn't hit anything. If it was a quarter of an inch to the right it would've missed him completely. If it had gone through, it would've hit you too. It just landed in his side, barely in him. I'm sure it hurts nonetheless."

She smiled and chuckled through her tears, "He's alright though. What happened to Christopher?"

"When we came back to your hotel room, you were gone. We didn't know where you'd gone, but House knew where to check. When he got to your apartment door he heard you crying and called the cops who showed up right after he had gotten shot. He's going to prison for attempted murder, Cam. It's all over."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "it's over?"

Wilson and Cameron talked for a little longer about the events of the last few days before he said goodbye so she could get some sleep. She'd been unconscious for two days and weirdly all she wanted was more sleep. Wilson made his way to the diagnostics department where he was sure to find his brooding friend. Sure enough, sitting in the dark with a glass of scotch and his feet up on his desk. Wilson walked in silently and sat on the chair opposite House.

"She's awake," House said as more of a statement than anything else.

"How'd you know?"

"I went down there and I saw you two talking through the window," he said honestly much to Wilson's surprise.

"Why didn't you come in?"

He downed his scotch and poured another glass offering Wilson some and he declined, "I don't know."

"You can't avoid her."

"I know."

"She's going to want to see you when she's discharged."

"So I take it you told her what I did," House said in a way that made it sound like a bad thing.

"Anyone else would be proud of themselves for their self-sacrificing act. You punish yourself for it."

"I'm going home," he said standing up, leaving his glass of scotch and the bottle on the table.

Wilson watched as his friend picked up his coat and his backpack and walked out of the room silently. He couldn't understand why House was mad about what he did. House took the long way out of the building, making sure to travel past the ICU where Cameron was staying. He stood at a distance, where he'd stood earlier when Wilson was in with her. He could see her sleeping peacefully. He thought about walking in so he could sit with her. He thought about waking her up to look into her eyes and try to understand what she was thinking. He thought about it. And then he left. He got onto his motorcycle and went home. This time, he was the one calling himself a coward.