Chapter 11

In the early hours of the morning, Cameron's vitals had made improvement. Just as the sun came up, her fever started to drop for the first time in over two days. When Chase woke up, the first thing he noticed was the vital monitor that had been guarding his wife ever since she had been admitted: all of her vitals had improved, but her fever was still pretty high. All of a sudden, he felt his hand being squeezed, and very quickly glanced down before looking back up just in time to see Cameron take a deep breath and then release it, on her own. Chase then leaned closer to her, and squeezed her hand back.

"Mmh," moaned Cameron softly. Almost immediately, she opened her eyes slowly, blinking them as her vision was still blurred. "Robert?" she weakly called out as her vision slowly returned to normal.

"I'm here Allison. I'm right here," Chase quietly responded, as to not startle her. He then gently stroked her still feverish forehead, to which she responded by turning her head to him. Letting go of her hand, he rubbed the knuckles of his other hand along her right cheek, and she leaned into it, a signal Chase knew that the worst was over. When Cameron finally looked at him through glassy eyes, he was all smiles, and she weakly smiled back.

"Robert…"

"Shh. Don't try to talk, just rest."

"How long have I been here?" she rasped.

"Almost two days. You've been very sick honey."

"What was it? What did I have?" she asked again, her still raspy voice beginning to get louder, almost on the brink of panic.

"Shh. I don't want you to worry abut that right now," Chase said, slowly rubbing his thumb across her cheek to try to calm her down, but didn't seem to be working. The fever's causing this; she's talking out of her head. "You've had a very high fever the past few days. Good news is that it's lower than last night. But we've still got a ways to go before I can take you home."

"How did I get it?" Chase hesitated for a moment.

"Don't worry about it right now sweetheart. I just want you to rest." Cameron was now struggling to sit up, but Chase held her back. "Whoa, I don't want you moving around right now, as you're still very weak. Do you want some water?" She started to cough but nodded as Chase poured the water into a cup, then lifted her head gently so that she could have a drink. "Sip slowly Alli," he told her. Once she was done, Chase carefully placed her head back on the pillow, and went back to stroking her head. He then bent down and kissed her forehead gently and slowly, before resting his own against hers. "I'll be right back." She closed her eyes as he stepped out into the hallway to call Foreman, but only got his voicemail.

"Hey Foreman, it's Chase. Allison's woken up, but her fever's still a little high though. Get down here ASAP!"

When Chase walked back into the room, he noticed that Cameron was still asleep, but had moved over in the bed a little. Using this as a signal, he quietly walked back over to her side, crawled onto the bed beside her, and gently slipped his arms around her, careful to not disturb the I.V. lines and stitches. Since her head was still turned to him, he gently kissed her on the lips.

"I love you, so much," he whispered before falling asleep again. Thank-you for bringing her back to me.

Foreman had practically rushed to the hospital after he had gotten Chase's message before he called Cuddy, Wilson, and House to tell them the news. Running up the stairs, he walked the rest of the way to Cameron's room. Once there, he looked through the door: Cameron was sleeping, and Chase was lying next to her, holding her in his arms. When Foreman walked into the room, Chase snapped awake and pressed a finger to his lips then pointed at his wife's still sleeping form.

"How's she doing?" Foreman asked as Chase got up, carefully to not wake her.

"Sleeping obviously, but seems to be doing a lot better. She was talking out of her head earlier since her fever's still really high. I think just seeing her awake and alert's the best possible sign."

"Sure is. We've got the disease under control. Now we can concentrate on the fever."

"Speaking of which, she did ask about it, but I held back on it. Figured it would be better to wait than tell her right off the bat."

"Good call. Okay, if her fever stays where it's at, we'll probably have to do an ice bath or something since it's being really stubborn. We should also keep her lying in a near-flat position to make sure she doesn't have any more complications." Chase nodded, going back into family mode for a minute.

"Hey, any change yet?" House asked as he, Wilson, and Cuddy walked into the room.

"She woke up a little bit ago, but is still very feverish," Chase told them.

"Foreman already told us. But at least we know the worst is over with. Now we just have to get that fever under control," said Wilson.

"I suggest an ice bath," put in Foreman.

"No, too harsh. We should start off with ice packs. It's tolerable, and much easier to do," argued Cuddy, and House nodded. Right before an argument was going to start, there was a raspy moan. Chase immediately moved back to Cameron's side, and felt her forehead.

"Her fever's broken," he announced, just as she was waking up. The first person she looked at was her husband, who was smiling at her.

"Robert," she called out, and very weakly raised her hand to touch his face, but he grabbed it before she could, and he kissed it, knowing that it was all over.

"Hey beautiful. How do you feel?" Chase asked as he kissed her forehead before he went back to stroking her forehead again.

"Tired. A little sore too. I'm so weak I can barely move."

"You've been really sick, so that would probably explain it. Your fever just broke, so you should feel a lot more comfortable later on." She tried to sit up again, but was once again held back down.

"Easy there. No moving around, doctor's orders," said Foreman.

"I just want to sit up," complained Cameron.

"Maybe later but not right now. Just want to be sure you don't have a relapse, okay?" She nodded, feeling sleepy again.

"Alright, let's give these two some alone time. We'll be back later," Cuddy said as she and the other doctors left to go to work.

Soon, it was just husband and wife alone, for the first time in over two days, laying together, and holding each others hands. Within moments, Cameron had fallen into a fever-less sleep, Chase following a moment later.

"I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you," he whispered as he rested his forehead against her now cool one, before being succumbed by sleep once again.

A/N: Once again, I owe you all an apology for the long wait. I know what two weeks of not posting an update can do to you. It's finals right now, but I'll try to make up for that by week's end with another update. Enjoy and R/R!