Chapter Fourteen

After dinner that night, while House slept soundly in the next bed, Cameron stared up at the shifting shadows on the ceiling. The things he told her rolled around in her mind like sharp edged pebbles. Was she really only attracted to House because he was damaged? She thought back over the time she spent with him. He took care of her when she was sick. No one did that before. She was always the caretaker. He took her in when she had nowhere else to go. He encouraged her to think and look at things differently. She knew he liked her and she did love him. She never loved a man as much as she loved House. However, he didn't say that he loved her. Was she just a project that he would grow tired of and send her away? She overheard Wilson telling House that she was House's hobby. It hurt her that people might see her that way.

A pillow landed on her face.

"I can hear you thinking all the way over here," House teased. "Now close your damn eyes and go to sleep."

Cameron threw the pillow back toward him and sighed. Rolling on her side, she curled up and went to sleep.


Cameron's "funeral" was at the end of the week. Since her body was "burned beyond recognition", the casket remained closed. She was surprised to see a lot of people from the hospital crowding the funeral home. Lucy looked particularly upset. She kept wiping tears from her eyes. Cameron felt guilty for making her friend believe she was dead. It was for a very good reason, but she still felt guilty.

"People like you," House grunted from his seat beside her in the FBI surveillance van. He slurped from a red straw in a large plastic cup.

"Do you like me?" she asked archly. She turned to face him and folded her arms over her chest.

He shrugged and continued to sip his root beer noisily,

Cameron shook her head and returned her attention to the video screens. Ever since their kiss and talk, he'd been withdrawn and it was making her crazy. He knew how she felt about him but he refused to talk about it or their kiss. She'd never met anyone she wanted so much and who infuriated her so much.

"Is that Steve Keener?" Austin asked, snapping Cameron's attention back.

Leaning forward, Cameron looked at the man who exited the back of a black sedan.

"That's him," she said with a nod.

"Suspect is in sight. Move in. Await my command," Austin spoke into her walkie-talkie to the agents outside and inside the building. When she finished, her phone rang. She answered, listened for a moment, asked some questions, and then hung up.

"They just found Joe Franklin's body," she told them. "It was in a Dumpster. He'd been shot in the head at point blank range."

Cameron suddenly felt light headed and her vision began to darken. A large, warm hand rested against her neck and gently pushed her head down to her knees. House's hand remained on the back of her neck and his fingers stroked her skin. He was saying something to Austin but she couldn't understand him over the clanging noise in her head. Joe was dead. She knew Steve killed him and then had him thrown away like garbage. It could have been her or House. The thought of House, shot between the eyes and then thrown away like garbage was too much. Everything went black.

Something pungent made her cough and try to sit up. House gently pushed her back down.

"You fainted," he told her. "Didn't think you cared about old Joey so much."

"You're an ass," she whispered. "I was thinking it could have just as easily been you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me," he said.

"You don't know that," she snapped as she sat up and moved back to her seat. "I'm sure Joe thought the same thing until he was shot."

"Boy, you sure are grouchy when you're on a stake-out," he grumbled as he sat back in his seat.

Cameron ignored him and watched as Steve sat in the front row book-ended by two muscle-bound men. Her eyes widened in surprise when he got up and walked toward the casket. He started to speak but there was no audio feed only visual. He finished speaking and sat down again. A few more people got up and spoke. Then the chaplain spoke for several minutes before the mourners got up and began to leave. Soon only Steve and his men were in the chapel with the casket. Steve stood up and walked toward it.

"Go!" Austin shouted into her walkie-talkie.

Just as Steve was about to lift the lid of the casket, the SWAT team swarmed into the building. Steve's body guards pulled their guns and were immediately shot. Steve put his hands over his head and an agent rushed forward to arrest him. He was marched out of the building and Austin opened the back door of the van and motioned for Cameron and House to emerge. They stepped onto the pavement as Steve was brought up to them.

"Is this Steve Keener?" Austin asked Cameron again.

"Yes," Cameron said in a clear controlled voice.

"You stupid bitch!" Steve yelled as he was pulled away. "I should have killed you when I had the chance! You and that damn cripple you're shacked up with!"

"Well that was rude," House commented. He turned to Austin. "We free to go now?"

"For now," she told him. "We'll still keep you both under close surveillance until the trial."


Cameron lived with House until the trial was over and then she moved in with Lucy. Xander Collins, Steve, and all their men were sent to jail. A judge awarded Cameron all the money she paid to Steve. Most of it she gave to House in the form of a cashier's check. When she moved, he called a lawyer and had the money put into a trust in her name.

Shortly after Christmas, Jenkins left the team. Cameron completed all the requirements to have her medical license reinstated and House hired her as the co-department head. Cuddy also allowed them to hire another team member and since House couldn't be bothered to interview anyone, Cameron hired an interventional radiologist named Amber Volakis. House took an immediate dislike to her and referred to her as Cut-Throat Bitch. He tried to fire her several times and each time Cameron hired her back. Finally, he gave up and their snark sessions became legendary around the hospital.

With Cameron's help, the Diagnostics department ran smoothly and for the first time ever actually made money for the hospital that didn't come from donors. House was secretly proud of all she accomplished but refused to tell her. Since the whole fiasco with the mobsters and their one kiss, she withdrew from him. House knew it was because he withdrew first so he simply stared at her and made a point to be as close to her as possible. He knew it irritated her but he didn't know what else to do. He wanted her but he was afraid she simply wanted him because he was damaged. She was no longer the timid, ill woman he first met. Now she was confident and stood up to him when necessary. She ran the department like a well-oiled machine and the team liked her. Everyone liked her. He had fallen in love with her and had no idea what to do about it.