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Chapter 8

Cameron was fifteen minutes late getting to the hospital due to the icy and snow packed streets. When she walked into the ER, she was hit in the face with complete chaos. There had been a twenty car pile up on the Interstate and most of the injured had been brought into Plainsboro. She rushed to the locker room and quickly changed into her scrubs and briefly thought about House riding his bike in today. Surely he wouldn't be so stupid? She thought knowing how stubborn he could be. She immediately pushed thoughts of House out of her head and made her way out into the busy ER and went straight to work. It was almost eleven before she and everyone else finally had a chance to slow down.

She stood in the hall and stretched her arms above her head, then reached around and rubbed the already tired muscles in her neck. What I need is a cup of coffee and to talk to Chase, she decided. She wasn't looking forward to telling Chase that House had offered her a job and that she was actually considering accepting his offer. She knew he had an early morning surgery and should be out by now. She walked over to the counter where Dr. Mark Brice, the new attending in the ER, was standing.

"Hey, do you mind if I disappear for half an hour? I need to take care of something." She asked in a tired voice.

"What you're really going to do is sneak off to the coffee bar on the second floor and get a latte."

Cameron smiled. "Is that your subtle way of saying if I bribe you with a latte you won't mind covering for me?"

Dr. Brice didn't look up from the file he was holding. "I like how you think Dr. Cameron. A latte with an extra shot would be wonderful."

Cameron laughed. "I shall return with latte in hand."

"Don't forget the double shot." He called out.

"Yeah, yeah." She said waving her hand above her head as she walked away.

She briskly took the stairs to sixth floor and first stuck her head into the doctor's lounge to see if Chase was by chance in there, not seeing him, she assumed he would be in his office and headed in that direction.

A few steps from his door, Cameron could hear someone talking in a low voice. She peaked around the door to find Chase leaning against the front of his desk talking on his cell phone. She saw that she startled him when she walked in and instantly noticed how his demeanor changed. He quickly hung up causing her to wonder who he had been talking to.

"Hey." He said a little uneasy.

"Hey yourself. Who was that?" She curiously asked.

Chase glanced at the phone he was holding in his hand. "Oh, that was Danny Larson. He just wanted to know if I wanted to meet him for a beer later."

"Oh." She said, not sure she believed him.

Chase hoped his answer was convincing. "So, this is a surprise, you popping in." He put a forced smile on his face.

"Well, since we didn't see one another last night, I thought I would stop by to see how your morning is going." She said as she walked towards him and was about to place her arms around his neck when he suddenly moved away from her.

"Want a cup of coffee? It's fresh." He said ignoring the startled look on her face.

"Sure." She said stunned. She eyed him for a minute before continuing. "How did your surgery go?""Uhhh, it was rescheduled for this afternoon." He said hesitantly."Oh. When did you get in?" She asked surprised.

"About an hour ago." He said, hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions. He handed her a cup of coffee… black.

Cameron looked at her cup and didn't say anything. It annoyed her that after all the time they had been together, he never remembered how she took her coffee or didn't care. She sat her cup down and added a little cream to the black coffee inside it.

Chase sat down in the chair behind his small desk. "So, heard the ER was a mad house this morning."

"Yes it was." She said softly and moved towards him again. She couldn't shake the weird feeling that had come over her since she had walked into the room. She sat her coffee down on his desk and proceeded to lean over and give him a kiss. She barely had her mouth to his when he turned his head away. Again she was taken back with his actions.

"I told you Allison, not here." He said more harshly than he meant to.

"Okay. Sorry." She said, clearly offended and stepped back.

He saw the hurt look on her face and tried to soften his actions by reaching out and taking her hand. "I just never know who is going to walk in."

"I'm sure getting caught kissing or hugging your girlfriend wouldn't be grounds for dismissal."

He gave her a smirk and let go of her hand. "So, how was your dinner last night?" He asked, changing the subject.

"It was good. Definitely interesting." She began to chew on her bottom lip and moved around to the front of his desk so she could look at him straight in the face. "That's the other reason I stopped by." She wasn't so sure telling him about House now was a good idea.

Chase stared at her with a blank stare. "Okay." He shrugged slightly.

Cameron took a deep breath. "I had dinner with House last night." She blurted out and instantly saw the anger that clouded his eyes. Before he could say anything, she continued. "And it would seem he has offered me my job back. Well, not the same job but a job, nevertheless." She watched him carefully, waiting for him to say something.

Chase let the words sink in for a minute before responding. "This is absolutely amazing." He said sarcastically. "Why didn't you tell me you were meeting House?" He managed to ask in a calm voice.

"Because I didn't want a confrontation with you." She said honestly.

"Really. And you expect me to believe that?" He said coldly in his arrogant Aussie accent.

Cameron narrowed her eyes at him. "Yes. What other reason would I have?"

"Oh, I don't know. I can think of a couple." He said in a cocky tone.

Cameron chose to ignore the accusation. "House came to me yesterday afternoon in the ER and said he had a proposition he wanted to run by me and the proposition was to offer me a job." Her tone dared him to question her motives again.

He recognized the tone but he didn't care. He took a sip of his coffee. "And why would he, out of the blue, be offering you a job Allison?"

"He's having some problems with the new team and he thinks I can help." She stood in a defensive stance and glared at him.

Chase rolled his eyes. "And you believe him?"

"Yes. Is it hard to believe that he would want my help?" She again spoke in a defensive tone.

"What I think is it's typical of man who still wants to have control over you."

"House has never had control over me Chase." She said in a stern voice.

Chase watched her for a minute and knew that look she had in her eyes. It was a look of determination. "You can't seriously be considering this?"

Cameron swallowed the lump that had developed in her throat. She was nervous but held her ground. "Yes I am but I wasn't just going to say yes without talking to you first."

"Like what I thought would matter?" He snapped.

"Of course what you think matters." She said trying to convince him of her sincerity.

Chase stood not hiding his anger. "Give me a break Allison. When it comes to House nothing else matters to you."

"Don't start this Chase. You know House and I have never been anything but colleagues and perhaps friends."

"I know that is what you want me to believe. However, the air between you two has always indicated otherwise, even now and I'm not the only one who has noticed that."

"I have always been truthful with you Chase."

"I'm just wondering if you have always told me the whole truth." He continued to talk to her in a cold manner.

Cameron walked towards him hoping he would calm down and be reasonable about the situation. "Why are you doing this? You and I have been together almost a year now. I thought we had put all this stuff with House behind us? Why bring it all up again?" She asked seriously.

He looked away from her intent stare. "Just because I haven't talked about it doesn't mean it's not in my head. You were in love with him Allison. Maybe you still are."

"I wasn't in love with him." She said not so convincing.

Chase gave her a hard smirk.

Silence filled the room for a very long minute. He looked at her and saw that she was looking out the window with her serious green eyes. The same green eyes he had fallen head over hills for the first time he met her. She was as beautiful now as she was then.

Cameron saw that he was watching her and took the opportunity to move closer. When he didn't move, she placed her arms around his waist. She laid her head on his chest, something she had done many times. "Please don't be angry about House." She said softly. "You know I have been unsettled in the ER and we both knew that when I accepted the job it was only going to be until something else presented itself."

Hearing her say this only brought his anger to the surface again as he listened to her try and explain why she was considering House's offer. He pulled away from her.

Cameron closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. This definitely wasn't going the way she had hoped.

"Nothing you say is going to make me feel good about you working for House, Allison. He has always been a problem for us."

Cameron was becoming angry. "No, Chase. He's a problem for you because you have it in your head that there was… is something between House and me and you can't let it go. Yes, I had feelings for him but he never had feelings for me. When I resigned that night, I made the decision to completely let everything I felt for him, go. I thought I made that clear when I came to you that night."

"Exactly. You only came to me that night because you finally realized you would never have House not because you wanted me."

"I didn't go to you that night because House didn't want me. I came to you because I didn't want him any more. I wanted you. I wanted to try and make things work with you. Haven't I proven that over the past eight months?" She looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I just find it hard to accept Allison when I see how you look at him still or how he watches you walk down the hall or how he is all of sudden hanging out in the ER. I wasn't born yesterday."

"This is ridiculous! '..House. When are you going to get that through your thick Australian skull?" She turned away from him and let out a loud sigh. She didn't want him to see the tears that were building up in her eyes.

Chase stared at the floor. "I don't want you to work for him again Allison." He said in a stern voice.

"Are you asking or telling me?" She asked quietly.

"Neither but you know where I stand on this issue. I have to get ready for surgery." He said and moved past her and walked towards the door.

"Can we talk about this later?" She asked as a tear slid down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

Chase stopped and slowly turned around. "Why? I think we both know what you're decision is going to be. I have to go." It was all he said as he left her standing in his office… alone.

She watched him walk out the door and suddenly felt very empty. When she came up here to talk to him, all she wanted to do was to be near him, for him to hold her and tell him about her news. It was good news or so she thought and she wanted him to be happy for her. She didn't expect him to be so upset. She closed her eyes and held back the emotion she felt rising in her throat. Now was not the time to cry. She sat her cup down on the counter, not taking a sip of the coffee that filled it. She took a couple of deep breaths and managed to put a smile on her face that hid so much, a trait she was getting good at and headed to the coffee bar on the second floor to retrieve the latte she promised.