I know I've been neglecting all of you. I'm sorry I needed a few days to get my mojo going again. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. This chap is dedicated to Deliliah. -Onyx

"What kind of question is that?"

"I didn't ask you to analyze it? I asked a direct question."

"I think I have a right to know."

"You're avoiding the answer which means you are searching for a story. Give in Cameron, this isn't a joke."

"I didn't sleep with Wilson."

"Oh but something happened. Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to fill in the pieces myself? It worked great when we went out on our date."

The anger she felt made her grip her fishing rod so tightly that her hand turned all white.

"After you and I had our date, so to speak, and you dropped me off, I decided to drive back to the hospital. Sometimes when I can't sleep I go down to NICU and sit with the babies. When I got there I noticed Wilson's car was there so I went to see if he was in his office. He wanted to know how our date went. So I told him."

"House is so mean. Not only didn't I get to eat dessert but he wouldn't share his banana either." He said patronizing her.

"Believe it or not I wasn't interested in sleeping with you that night."

"Oh all right Mrs. Cleaver, you got me. I was trying to see you naked. Give it up you were one step away from a Trojan trip around my backseat."

"These fantasies of yours get pretty out of control. At any rate, Wilson and I talked for about two hours. And then I kissed him."

"Sympathetic squishiness trumps cold and damaged? That's one for my record books. So then you let him mount the pony like at K-Mart and neither of you talked to me for three days."

"I didn't sleep with Wilson, House. But yeah I wanted to. Funny thing about your recently released best friend, he actually cares about you. He told me you were a selfish, pathetic, miserable, pain in the ass but that even as bad as you were, he cared too much to make me a one night stand."

Cameron waited five minutes but five years passed in that time. She'd built up her best defense so sure he'd crash right through, instead he sat on the dock watching the sunset.

"Ok." He said simply.

"That's it? No more Judge Judy? No snide remarks? Nothing mean and cruel? You just trust me?"

"Yes." He looked directly into her eyes and she felt those all too familiar butterflies. He stood up from the dock and reached for her hand. She stood up and in a heartbeat he pushed. Falling from the dock into the lake and he turned and began to walk away."

"Bastard!" She yelled at him, still in shock.

He chucked his cane to the bank and ran the short distance off the dock. The pain hit him instantly from both his leg and his side but the smile on her face took all of that away. He wrapped himself around her like she was his life raft. The kiss sent a shockwave and what touched her most was the feel of his rapid heartbeat.

His mouth swiped every curve of her lips. It was like tasting candy for the first time. She took her stance but as he slowly caressed her lower lip with his tongue, she invited him in. She took notice that his hands were underneath her shirt, planted on the soft flesh of her sides. It was amazing how alive every sense was. Her left hand sitting just to the right of his right breast bone. Her right hand on the small of his back just about his waist line.

As if taking away her oxygen he pulled away just a moment to kiss the inner section of her neck. Feeling his stubble against her neck made her gasp like they'd just been kissing under the water. He chuckled.

"I told you I knew where you like to be kissed."

"Two out of four right."

She was going to go back to kissing him when she noticed that same woman watching them from behind a large tree. And again she vanished. This time she'd keep the mystery to herself.

"Oh snap." He said over her shoulder.

He held in his hand the keypad of his cell phone.

"I hear Verizon's going for scuba diver technology. Guess we can report that this phone isn't waterproof, but it does float."

"The fish are going to revolt." She said and retreated back into the adventure land that had now been found in his kiss.

It was late in the afternoon when they finally made it back to his house. Charlie had left a note on the counter that he had to fix Mrs. Carmichael's toilet along with Bruce Carson. Lusha would spend the night at his place.

They had caught three large trout and Cameron refused to help clean them. He lit up the grill on the back deck and after garnishing with lemon, butter and parsley flakes, he wrapped them in aluminum foil and set them on the grill.

"I have a question." She said sitting on the back of the sofa. "Why do you have an old Nintendo? I thought you were a PS3 kinda guy. Or at very least Nintendo DS."

"Come here." He instructed. She followed him to a small back cabinet in back of the TV. He pulled the shelves out."

"There isn't a game I don't have; including the rare T&C Surf Designs and both the grey and gold versions of The Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link."

"Cool. Can we play? I haven't played Battletoads in years."

"Fine but I battle in the cave so you better stay out of my way. Think I'll take a shower first."

He left for his bedroom and Cameron walked out onto the now darkened deck. The breeze outside was wonderful. There were a thousand stars. Maybe it was the exhilaration of kissing House or that she felt at home here in this small town. But she felt every one of her cares leave her. Quickly she pulled off all her clothes and in the dark of the night, she laid down in the grass and rolled over and over like a child. The cool grass felt like gentle wisps of heaven on her naked skin. Every now and again she looked over at the window of the bathroom and feeling safe she'd roll again.

The clicking of a gun startled her out of her fun. She could see the tall, broad shoulders of a man but hadn't a clue of who it was.

"Get up nice and slow and walk towards the house please." A deep controlled voice said to her.

Fear for her life made Cameron forget all about her exposure.

"These your clothes?" He said pointing with the rifle

"Ye-ah."

"I suggest you put them on."

Cameron was halfway though her jeans and had just snapped her bra when the back door opened.

"Hey there Greg. I found a trespasser out on your lawn."

"Damnit Dan, why didn't you shoot it? Fine hunter you are."

"Can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Silence, you." House said from the light glow of the kitchen.

"You know her?"

"Oh yeah. She's a stalker. Tried to steal my shorts from my clothes line. She's a nympho, and try tell them no."

"House!" She protested.

"Sorry I was delving into your past again. Dr. Allison Cameron this is Dan Brady. Dan this is Allison, my fiancée."

"You sorry sack of ….why didn't you tell me?"

"Viv says you've been hunting over the weekend."

"Yeah well I caught me a buck and I stopped early. So tell me about this young lady. The last naked woman I found at your door was Carlene Littleton and she was drunker than a fish."

"This is Allison. Allison this is Dan Brady. I let him hunt off my property."

"Well I'm sorry for scaring you but this isn't the first time as you can see. Goodnight Greg, and Allison."

Cameron could only make out the man built as tall as an oak tree, from the large frame.

"Naked in my backyard. If you wanted to get some, why didn't you just come in the shower."

"I wasn't trying to get some. I was just trying to dry off. It was dark, no one saw me."

"Oh definitely not. Still wondering what that tattoo is on your hip. But I guess I will find that out soon enough."

She was grateful for the darkness so he couldn't see her blush. He'd been watching her the entire time.

"Why do you always have to talk about being naked. You're as bad as my friend Michele. She's always talking about some guy getting naked. Can we go inside now?"

"Battletoads was it?"

"Yeah." She said grabbing her shirt off the deck.

"Your friend Michele huh? I guess I should meet her. Two people with the same obsession could click."

"That would give you the same criteria to meet every dog and Scrooge in the world."

"I'm not the one that brought it up."

They sat up playing Nintendo long into the night. First Battletoads, then came Mike Tyson's Punch Out and finally The Legend of Zelda, were the games of choice. At 1am Cameron decided to turn in leaving House fighting skeletons and squishy blobs for more rupies. She lay down on the bed and instantly fell asleep. It was until she heard House scream from his bedroom, that she awoke. Without a moment's thought about consequences she rushed through his door.

"You son of a bitch!" He screamed and instantly came out of the dream swinging.

"House! Hey, what's wrong?"

His face and bare chest were dripping with sweat and he stared at Cameron as if she'd just discovered a new alien species.

"Why do you keep having these dreams?"

"I don't know, Al." He said so gently that it was so easy to mistake the same man that made snide remarks everyday.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"3:30."

He sighed and laid back down. She turned to go.

"I didn't say for you to leave. This is a California king size bed."

The joke was his but the tone was that of a small boy that had just met the boogie man in his nightmare. She slid beneath the covers and he turned to face her.

"Why won't you tell me what you're afraid of, House?"

"Because you can't change the past and by next week you'll be glad I didn't tell you. But, I'm glad you're here."

She smiled at him.

"Cause who else would I throw off the doc?"

"If you wanted to kiss me you didn't have to go that far."

"Oh right and be the object of some lame story about being a romantic slug that makes stars shine through your eyes and magic in the air? I've watched enough General Hospital not to be that hokie."

"Goodnight House."

"He pinned her to the bed. Their mouths merely inches from each other. Her heart beat faster. And somewhere in the audience a little old lady cried." He said like a narrator but his actions were mimicked. His mouth covered her. His bare chest pressed down on her own. His hands pinned her wrists. And all she could feel was the butterflies in her stomach and a questioning fear in her heart.