*************

Chapter 17

The day had passed by quickly in the ER. Cameron glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it was almost one thirty. She looked at her phone, hoping to find a message from Chase but her phone showed no missed calls or messages. She decided she had had enough of him avoiding her and set off to find him, hoping to make him talk to her face to face. She walked up to his office and peeked inside only to find it empty. So, she wondered around the floor for a minute to see if she could find him on her own without having him paged. As she was walking past a room, she heard his voice. He was in with a patient. She stood outside the room and waited for him to come out. Five minutes later, he walked out. He was looking at a chart and walked right past her, not realizing that she was standing there.

"Chase." She called out to him.

He turned to look at her. "Allison." He said a little surprised. "What brings you up here?" He slowed down so she could catch up with him.

She quickly caught up. "I was hoping we could talk for a minute?"

"I really don't have much time. I have surgery in an hour and I still have one more patient to see."

Cameron was walking fast to keep up with his long stride. "Please, just for a minute." She hated the fact that she had to practically beg him to talk to her.

Chase sighed and stepped into an empty room. Cameron followed and closed the door.

"Why haven't you returned any of my calls? I've been trying to reach you since last night."

Chase gave her a hard stare. "Truth?"

"Of course."

"I haven't wanted to talk to you."

Cameron flinched at his bluntness.

Chase continued. "Did you go out with House?" He didn't care that he sounded harsh.

Cameron hesitated. "Yes, with him and Wilson. But only because you had made other plans."

Chase looked away from her. "Right."

"What is this all about Chase? Surely you aren't avoiding me just because I accepted the job with House?"

"Don't you think that's enough?" He spat, his Australian accent becoming stronger with his anger. "I really don't like the idea of you working for House again. Why can't you understand that?"

Cameron stared at him. "You were avoiding me before House came into the picture. What's really going on?" She asked in a demanding tone.

Chase looked at her. "Don't twist this around. This is about House." He tried to step around her but she wouldn't let him. "I need to get back to work Allison."

She reached out and touched his arm. "Chase, we can't keep avoiding this and I can't understand why you would want to."

"You made up your mind about this before ever talking to me about it. When you resigned, you came to me that night and told me you wanted to be with me, that you wanted to try. I was ready to leave with you Allison, to make a fresh start somewhere else. Then Cuddy calls and offers you a job in the ER and without considering what I wanted, you accepted her offer and I don't think it was just because you didn't want to move. I think you stayed because he's here. I think you have been lying to yourself and to me and I'm tired of waiting for you. For you to accept this job with House pretty much says it all, doesn't it? I don't know if I can do this any more with you.

Cameron sighed. "I did what I thought was best for my future and I thought you would support that. I didn't know it was going to upset you this much."

Chase looked at her. "What did you expect?" He let out a fake laugh. "If you really are concerned about us, tell House you have changed your mind and don't want the position."

Cameron looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I can't do that Chase. I can't explain it but this is the right decision for me. Can't you trust me on this? Don't you think I can work with House and not have feelings for him?"

"No, I don't and I think you are fooling yourself if you think you can." He moved towards the door. Cameron didn't try to stop him this time.

"So, what now?" She asked softly.

Chase had his hand on the door. "I don't know. I can't win against House and I'm tired of competing." He glanced at his watch. "I really have to go."

She nodded her head at him as he walked out of the room, again, leaving her alone for the second time this week. She suddenly felt very tired.