Cameron quietly stirred her coffee as she sat at her kitchen table with Thirteen. Thirteen noticed this and let the newspaper in her hand fall limp, "What's wrong?"
"Hmm?" Cameron looked up from her coffee.
"What's up?" Thirteen put the paper down, "You've been quiet all morning."
"Sorry," Cameron took the spoon out of her coffee and wrapped her hands around the mug, "I've just been thinking."
"About?" Thirteen prodded.
"About our future," Cameron stated.
Thirteen smiled, "Really?"
"Yeah," Cameron nodded. Her eyes intently focused on Thirteen, "Have you ever thought about getting tested?"
"What?" Thirteen asked, slightly offended.
"Never mind," Cameron murmured, sipping her coffee.
Thirteen studied Cameron for a moment before adding, "Yeah I have."
Cameron took a deep breath and brought her eyes to Thirteen's. Cameron waited for Thirteen to continue.
Thirteen sensed this and played with the corner of the newspaper, "I don't know if I want to know."
Cameron bit her lip, tracing the grain of the wooden table. "I'm sorry." Her voice was barely a whisper.
"What are you sorry about?" Thirteen asked, looking up from the paper to the blonde across the table.
"Bringing it up," Cameron caught Thirteen's eyes.
"You don't have to be sorry," Thirteen shook her head. She stood and took Cameron's hands, pulling her to her feet. Thirteen wrapped her arms around Cameron. There was a long pause as they held each other.
Thirteen finally took a deep breath and then gulped, "Do you want me to?"
Cameron shook her head against Thirteen's shoulder, "It doesn't matter."
"It does to me," Thirteen added quietly.
"It doesn't matter," Cameron repeated, "I don't want to waste any time with you. As it is, life is too short without diseases and bus crashes and everything. I love you Remy."
Thirteen smiled against Cameron's hair. "I love you too."
A couple hours later, Thirteen was in the lab with Kutner. She was bending over a microscope and he was standing behind her waiting to see what the results were.
Thirteen stood up straight and nodded, "It's Lyme Disease."
Kutner put his hands in his pockets, "Okay. I'll go tell House."
"I'll clean up in here," Thirteen looked down at the small mess she made.
Kutner walked out and Thirteen got to cleaning up. She put the test tubes in the container to go to sterilization, then rinsed off her slides.
As she disposed of her latex gloves, Thirteen's eyes drifted to the small gray machine in the corner. The automatic centrifugal hematology system. The machine that could tell her in minutes if she has Huntington's.
Thirteen glanced at the door then back at the machine. She swallowed hard, then glanced back at the door.
Cameron floated into her apartment after work. It wasn't a particularly good day, she was just in a particularly good mood. She dropped her light jacket on the couch. She heard the distinct sound of paper crumpling under it. Cameron picked up her jacket again and saw a note on the back of her couch. She smiled when she saw Thirteen's handwriting.
The message was short, but Cameron beamed as she read it. A, How about a picnic in the park? You and me? 5:30 - R
Cameron glanced at her watch. She only had enough time to quickly change before walking to the park down the street.
It was a beautiful day out. It was only slightly chilly and there were no clouds in the light blue sky. The sun shone down on the small pond at the end of the park and made it sparkle. Cameron smiled as she walked. It seemed like the perfect day.
When she got there, she looked around and spotted Thirteen, laying on a blanket, staring at the sky. Cameron smiled and walked over to her. Thirteen seemed lost in thought so Cameron quietly laid down next to her. She turned on her side so she could watch Thirteen. She could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
Thirteen slowly turned her head toward Cameron and smiled softly. "Hey."
"Hey," Cameron smiled back.
Thirteen turned on her side and rested a hand on Cameron's waist. She carefully pressed her lips against Cameron's. It wasn't long before Cameron felt Thirteen's deepen the kiss.
After a few minutes of an impromptu make out session, Thirteen finally pulled away. Cameron smiled and kissed Thirteen one last time.
"What's all this about?" Cameron asked, playing with Thirteen's hair.
Thirteen took a deep breath, "I just thought it would be nice."
Cameron finally noticed the basket on the other side of Thirteen. "Ooh, food. I missed lunch."
"I know," Thirteen smiled and sat up. She took out two wine glasses and a bottle of sherry. Then a small container of tapas.
Cameron watched Thirteen pour the wine and open the tapas. She took her wine glass from Thirteen and smiled in a thank you.
They sat and ate for a few minutes before they cleaned up the mess and lay side by side on the blanket. Cameron took Thirteen's hand and threaded their fingers together. She brought Thirteen's hand to her lips and softly kissed the back of Thirteen's hand.
Thirteen looked over at Cameron and smiled softly. She kissed Cameron then rested her forehead on Cameron's. Thirteen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her smile fading.
Cameron furrowed her eyebrows, "What's wrong?"
After another breath, Thirteen opened her eyes, "There's actually a reason I brought you out here."
Cameron carefully watched Thirteen, knowing that whatever it was, it couldn't be good. "What's wrong?"
Thirteen reached in the basket and pulled out an envelope. Cameron immediately recognized it as the kind of envelopes the lab used for results. It even had the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital emblem on the top. It took a second for Cameron's mind to connect the dots. Then she glanced down at Thirteen's arm. She slowly pushed up Thirteen's left sleeve and saw the needle mark on her arm.
Thirteen was watching Cameron, waiting to gauge her reaction. Finally Cameron look from her arm to her eyes. "You did?"
Thirteen slowly nodded.
"Do you know?" Cameron breathed.
Thirteen shook her head, "If I'm going to find out, I want to find out with you."
"If?" Cameron asked.
"It's not too late to throw this in the trash and walk away," Thirteen stated, "If you don't want to know, that's okay. And if you do, then that's okay too."
Cameron took a deep breath and thought through the options. After a brief pause Cameron swallowed hard and asked, "Do you want to know?"
Thirteen just shrugged, trying to be indifferent. She set the envelope between them when she noticed her hand start to shake.
"I'm not going to look unless you want to know," Cameron stated.
Thirteen looked from the envelope to Cameron, then back again. Thirteen slowly picked up the envelope and sat up. Cameron sat up and leaned over her shoulder.
Thirteen ran her finger under the flip, ripping it open. She pulled out the singular paper and carefully unfolded it
Tears sprang to Cameron's eyes. Thirteen just stared at the paper, then she folded it back up and put it back in the envelope.
That was it. She had. She had Huntington's.
Thirteen took a deep breath before looking over at Cameron who had silent tears running down her face. Thirteen wrapped her arms around Cameron and held her as she quietly cried on her shoulder.
"You wanna go home?" Thirteen quietly asked, trying to sooth Cameron.
Cameron wiped her eyes and nodded.
After Thirteen folded up the blanket and grabbed the basket, she took Cameron's hand and led her back to her apartment.
Once inside the door, Thirteen dropped the basket and the blanket on the couch and pulled Cameron into the bedroom, where she laid Cameron on the bed. Thirteen sat next to Cameron and stroked her hair.
Cameron looked up at Thirteen through glassy eyes, "Are you okay?"
Thirteen softly smiled and nodded, "My whole life has been building up to this. It's kind of a relief now to know."
"Lay with me?" Cameron asked.
"Of course," Thirteen lay next to Cameron and started to kiss away Cameron's tears.
It wasn't long before Cameron was asleep and Thirteen lay awake, watching her. Thirteen carefully slid out of bed and covered Cameron with a blanket before stepping into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror for a bit before turning on the shower. She stepped in the shower and as soon as the cold water hit her face it mixed with tears.