Thirteen walked into the lecture hall and found that House hadn't arrived yet. Thirteen sat down in her usual seat and set her coffee down.
"Are you wearing the same clothes you wore last night?" Kutner asked.
Thirteen shrugged, "I don't remember. Someone hit me in the head with a shovel."
"It was an accident," Kutner quickly added.
Thirteen smiled, "I know. I was just kidding."
"Are you okay now?" Kutner asked.
"Just a couple stitches. No big deal," Thirteen replied.
"I told you, you should get that looked at," Amber added from behind them.
Thirteen just rolled her eyes.
Cameron sat behind her desk finishing up her monthly report for Cuddy. She glanced up at the clock and was surprised it was already lunchtime. She always got into her administrative work and lost all kinds of time. It was the only drawback to being the head of the ER.
She decided that skipping breakfast this morning was a bad idea and made her way to the cafeteria. She got in line and picked up a sandwich and a bottle of water. When she got to the register she reached for the money she kept in her front pocket.
"It's already been taken care of," the cashier told her.
"Really?" Cameron asked, "By who?"
The cashier pointed behind her to a table by the window where Thirteen was sitting by herself. She was reading a newspaper, not even paying attention to anything, but the paragraph she was reading.
Cameron smiled and walked over to her, "Thanks for lunch."
Thirteen looked up with a smile, "The way I see it, I owe you so much more than just lunch."
"You don't owe me anything," Cameron replied, "May I sit with you?"
"Of course," Thirteen nodded.
Cameron set her food down and seated herself. "Do you always eat lunch by yourself?"
Thirteen shook her head, "I don't usually sit down to eat lunch."
"I know what you mean," Cameron nodded knowingly, "By the way, how's your head?"
"It's great," Thirteen set down the paper and picked up her apple. "Good as new."
"Good to hear," Cameron said.
Thirteen took a bite of her apple. She looked out the window as she chewed. After she swallowed her reached into the inside pocket of her lab coat, "I almost forgot." She handed an envelope to Cameron, "I don't know if you'll like them."
Cameron raised an eyebrow and opened the envelope. She pulled out two tickets. "The Nets game tonight?" She examined them closer, "These are great seats."
"You like the Nets?" Thirteen asked.
Cameron shook her head, "I had seats right behind these for Def Leppard. But Chase does like the Nets. Are you sure your not going to use these?"
"Nope," Thirteen replied taking a sip of her drink, "I don't think my head is up for twenty thousand screaming fans tonight."
"Chase is gonna love this," Cameron smiled, "Are you really sure?"
Thirteen chuckled, "Yes."
"And Foreman will probably love it too," Cameron added slipping the tickets into her pocket.
"You're not going?" Thirteen asked.
"I wouldn't enjoy it as much as Foreman," Cameron took a bite of her sandwich. "Are you doing anything tonight?"
Thirteen shook her head, "Not unless House needs me to dig up another grave."
Cameron's eyes widened, "That's what you did."
"Oops," Thirteen smirked.
Cameron let out a small smile, "Well if you're not grave robbing tonight do you want to go to a movie or something?"
Thirteen look surprised, but smiled and nodded, "Sure."
"Great," Cameron took a sip of her drink. As she set her drink down her pager went off. She checked it and started to clean up.
Thirteen scribbled something down on a napkin and handed it to Cameron. "Don't worry about the mess. I'll clean it up. Call me when you get off."
Cameron smiled and took the napkin, "Thank you so much."
"No problem," Thirteen smiled.
From her now standing position, Cameron saw Thirteen's eyes twinkle in the sunlight pouring through the window. She paused and held Thirteen's eyes for a moment.
Cameron blinked back to reality. "I'll call you," she waited for a nod from Thirteen before walking to the ER.
Thirteen's phone vibrated in her pocket as she and the other fellows waited for House to come in and tell them who was cut. She pulled it out and saw she had a text message. She opened it and read "I'm running a little late. Sorry. What are you doing? - Cam."
Thirteen replied, "Waiting for House - 13." She sent it and leaned on her desk.
"Who are you texting?" Amber asked.
"Why do you care?" Thirteen asked back.
"I don't," Amber replied, "Unless it's in the interest of self-preservation."
"Of course," Thirteen felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She checked the message. "You get used to that. Call me when you get out. I'll be drowning in paperwork until then."
Thirteen smiled and was about to text back when House walked in with a handful of pink flowers. She pocketed her phone and leaned back in her chair.
Cameron looked up when there was a knock on her office door. "C'min," she called.
The door opened and Thirteen stepped in. "Hey."
"Hey," Cameron smiled.
"I was going to call, but I was just a couple floors away," Thirteen stated with a small smile.
"What's the flower for?" Cameron asked, standing up and grabbing her jacket.
Thirteen smiled, "It means I get to stay for another round of cuts."
"Congratulations," Cameron slid her jacket on. Thirteen stepped into the hallway to Cameron could close the door behind them and lock it.
"What's the plan?" Thirteen asked as they walked down the hallway.
"Uh…I'm not sure," Cameron shrugged.
Thirteen looked at her watch, "It's eight fifteen right now, so food?"
"Sounds great," Cameron said, "Can we go somewhere I don't have to change?"
Thirteen smiled, "I have just the place." She pulled her keys out of her pocket, "Do you want to ride with me or follow me?"
"I'll follow you," Cameron stated and pulled her jacket tighter around herself.
Thirteen pulled out her phone and made a call. "Hey Charlie…yeah…double…thank you, bye." She hung up. "Do you like Thai?"
Cameron nodded.
"Good," Thirteen smiled.
They both got into their cars and she pulled out of the hospital parking lot. Soon they were at, what Cameron assumed to be, Thirteen's apartment building. They went in, up the stairs, and to Thirteen's apartment. Thirteen opened the door and stepped in, flipping on lights.
Cameron followed her, seeing that it was small and comfortably decorated. The living room was inviting and everything was tidy.
Thirteen helped Cameron with her coat and hung it on the rack in the corner. "Um, do you want something to drink? I have…" she stepped into the small kitchen that was only separated from the living room by a counter and opened the refrigerator, "Water, milk, beer, tea, wine, and tequila."
"Beer," Cameron answered.
Thirteen raised an eyebrow and grabbed two bottles of beer, "I'd have never guessed you drink beer."
Cameron smirked and took a bottle from Thirteen, "See what happens when you make assumptions."
They migrated onto the couch. Thirteen was cradled at one end of the couch and Cameron sat on the edge of the middle cushion.
Thirteen stood up and walked to a large DVD rack, "I have a bunch of DVDs if you want to pick one."
Cameron walked over to the DVD rack and started scanning. The doorbell rang and Thirteen ran off to get it. As she was scanning the DVDs, Cameron saw a photo album sitting on the bookcase next to the DVD rack. She moved to get a better look of the picture on the front. She guessed it was a much younger Thirteen and her mother.
"Find one?" Thirteen asked from right behind Cameron, who jumped at the voice. Thirteen chuckled, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's fine," Cameron put some stray hair behind her ear.
Thirteen leaned over to see what Cameron was looking at. "That's me and my mom. I was three in that picture."
"You look a lot like her," Cameron commented.
Thirteen flipped it open to the first page and pointed to another picture of her and her mother, "Here I was four. I think we look more alike in that one."
Cameron leaned in closer brushing arms with Thirteen. "Yeah." She looked at the adjoining page and pointed, "Who's that?"
Thirteen smiled, "That's my best friend from first grade. Jimmy."
Cameron's eyes moved to a more recent picture of Thirteen with a guy standing in front of a beautiful mountain, "Where is that? That mountain looks familiar."
"It's Kilimanjaro," Thirteen smiled. She moved to the couch and grabbed one of the white cardboard boxes off of the coffee table where she set them.
Cameron picked up the album, "No way."
Thirteen grabbed some chopsticks, "It was insane. When I got home, I slept for two days straight."
They went through the album, picture by picture. Cameron sat genuinely entertained by Thirteen's stories behind every picture while eating and examining each one.
Thirteen stood up after the last picture was explained, "Do you need another beer?"
"Yeah," Cameron said. She looked down at the pictures over the white carton in her hand, "Where'd you learn to surf?"
"The first time I was on vacation with my dad in Hawaii," Thirteen replied from the kitchen, "Then when we got home I surfed on the Jersey shore."
Thirteen returned to the couch and handed Cameron another beer. Cameron opened her beer and asked, "When's the next exciting thing your doing?"
Thirteen smiled, "I haven't planned anything exciting yet, but I'm going rock climbing this weekend."
"Really?" Cameron asked, "Where?"
"It's just a rock gym in New York," Thirteen shrugged, "You can come if you want?"
Cameron weighted it out in her head and come up with a quick answer, "I'd love to. I've never been rock climbing before."
"Cool," Thirteen smiled, "So are you ready for the movie?"
"Yeah," Cameron leaned back on the couch with her pad Thai.
"What do you want to watch?" Thirteen walked over to the stack of DVDs.
"What do you have?" Cameron asked kicking off her shoes and pulling her feet under herself.
Thirteen scanned, "I have action movies, chick flicks, comedies, romantic comedies, and dramas."
"Romantic comedy," Cameron stated, "And you pick the movie."
Thirteen picked up a movie and looked at Cameron, "This is my favorite movie of all time."
A smile graced Cameron's lips, "What is it?"
Thirteen popped the DVD into the played and sat down next to Cameron. "The Wedding Singer."
"I love this movie," Cameron smiled.
A few more bottle of beer and a Billy Idol cameo later, Cameron was pretty buzzed. Thankfully she was pretty much laying down.
She looked over at the woman next to her. She was watching the movie not really paying attention to Cameron. Which Cameron figured was a good thing since she was staring at her new friend. It was weird how she felt so drawn to the young doctor.
Suddenly a horrible feeling came over her. It started in her stomach and started toward her throat. "Oh god," she muttered, "Where's the bathroom?"
Thirteen looked at her and pointed down the only hallway out of the living room. Cameron tore off toward the bathroom and was heaving the toilet before she knew it.
Thirteen appeared in the open doorway and surveyed the situation. She walked behind Cameron and gently gathered Cameron's hair out of her face.
After a few minutes, Cameron slumped against the wall, "I'm so sorry."
Thirteen grabbed a cloth off of a towel rack and ran it under some cool water. She smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry about it." She took the wet rag over to Cameron and knelt next to her, "Was it the food or the beer?"
"The beer," Cameron replied taking the cloth from Thirteen.
Thirteen chuckled, "You only had three."
"It's been a while," Cameron smiled back tiredly.
Thirteen stood and offered her hands to Cameron, "Why don't you go lay down for a while?"
Cameron nodded and took Thirteen's hands. Thirteen easily pulled Cameron up, then put an arm around Cameron's waist to balance her. They walked to Thirteen's room which was the only room left in the apartment. It was clean, but the bed wasn't made. She had a brown headboard and matching night stand. The sheets were a cream color and the blankets were brown.
"I like your room," Cameron offered as Thirteen helped her sit down.
"Thanks," Thirteen smiled sweetly, "Do you want something else to wear?"
Cameron nodded and soon she was in some of Thirteen's sweatpants and a tank top.
Once Cameron was laying down and covered up, Thirteen said, "I'll be right back."
The older doctor nodded into a pillow, "Thanks."
Thirteen disappeared and returned with a bottle of water and some pain killers. She smiled when she saw Cameron was already asleep. She left again this time picking up Cameron's phone that was on the coffee table. She picked it up and scanned through the contact list finally finding what she was looking for.
"Hello?" a man with an Australian accent answered.
"Chase," Thirteen said, "This is Thirteen. Um…Cameron had a little much to drink and she's already asleep so I figured she could stay here tonight."
Chase replied with a lighthearted tone, "She's always been a lightweight."
"Are you still at the game?" Thirteen asked curiously, "It's really quiet on your end."
"I'm getting some drinks," Chase stated, "Thanks for the tickets by the way. This game is great."
"No problem," Thirteen replied, "Have fun."
"I am. Thanks again. Bye," Chase said.
Thirteen hung up. She put the phone down and went to check on Cameron one last time before settling on her couch for the night.