Saviors
Thirteen was personally glad that House was making Cameron run all the tests herself… They were supposed to go on a vacation, but she said that she owed some guy a favor and she had to take a case for him and bring it to House. She was happy that House was making her do everything… except that it only prevented them from leaving at all… She shook her head from her thoughts as Taub started talking.
"It's just weird. She's brought cases before but he's never made her run the tests."
"Maybe he's looking for someone to mother him after what happened." She rolled her eyes at herself, hoping they didn't pick up on her pissy nature.
"The only kind of mothering House wants involves a bullwhip, leather diapers and a credit card." Foreman laughed.
Taub was chuckling as he looked out the window and sat Cameron walking to House's office, "Mommy's home." He announced as they all stood up and went to his office as well.
After deciding that the guy was in fact actually sick and not faking, thanks to Cameron's shoe change, House looked at all of them, "Do a Holter and a carotid Doppler. See if his heart skips for more than the spotted owl." He watched as all four of them started to leave, "Although I didn't say "we." If I had…"
Cameron crossed her arms, flared her nostrils, turned around to see Foreman looking at her, gave him a look show her frustration, didn't chance a look to Thirteen and left without another word.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Cameron caught House in the hall, "No sight of heart or arterial problems but he's been hiccupping on and off for over a week."
"Nice. I'm hooked. You can get back to your shift at the ER. Except, as far as the ER is concerned, you're on vacation, right?"
"I postponed a trip because I'm concerned about the patient."
"Explains why you ditched Thirty-One and her bikini and came to differentials, not why you ran the tests."
"You told me to."
"Well, I'm not your boss, as you usually take great pleasure in pointing out. Hey, you don't still have the fake hots for me, do you?"
She glared at him, "I care about the patient and I care about the people who work on your team. They've been through a lot lately. I just thought I—"
"Was Florence Nightingale. Yeah. You're gonna nurse us back to spiritual and mental oneness. That would make sense if we were having this conversation a week ago."
"Think what you want. That I'm here to get a job, that I'm here to wrap you in swaddling clothes."
"The problem is, I think neither. Because neither makes sense. The only thing that does… doesn't."
She gave him a smirk of superiority before she walked into the main office, "Pathological hiccups plus inability to balance. Go."
Taub's eyes widened a bit at the blonde then he looked to House, asking him if that was really what just happened. Thirteen kept her eyes on her notes a bit before looking at House as well and Foreman sat back a moment to ponder what just happened.
"What she said." House nodded to Cameron, telling them to start speaking.
Thirteen, with a flourish, ducked her head and looked at Cameron, "Brain would connect the two."
"It could, if Cameron hadn't already CT'd his head. Empty as the calendar of our one and only Thirty-One."
"What does this have to do with Thirteen?" Taub looked at the woman in question, who looked just as curious as he.
"Nothing!" Cameron glared at House.
He smirked and said, "Not sure yet." At the same time.
"Patient is on a Jihad against commercial flowers. He's picketed several nurseries. Organophosphate poisoning can cause both hiccups and—"
"No GI problems. No hyper-salivation." Foreman interrupted her.
"It's possible it's not connected to a protest. MS wouldn't show on the CT and his name's Swenson. Scandinavians have an increased susceptibility to MS." Taub got back on topic.
"Better theory than he's faking it. The clogs have it. Do a lumbar puncture to confirm MS." He glared at Cameron who was glaring back at him… anyone would think they were actually mad at each other, only they knew they weren't.
Thirteen looked in between them, "I guess we'll just continue to twiddle our thumbs." She tried to help her lady out… she felt like she was seeing her less than she normally did and that was just… odd.
House looked down at her and smirked, "God, I hope that's a euphemism."
"How am I supposed to do a lumbar puncture on a patient with intractable hiccups?"
He squinted his eyes, "I'm trying to figure out what that could be a euphemism for." They all collectively sighed, "You'll find a way."
Cameron huffed as she walked out of the room.
~0~0~0~0~0~
As the next DD came to an end, House said, "Start him on IV methyl-prednisolone for systemic sclerosis. Do a full work-up to confirm."
"By myself?" She looked annoyed.
"Without yourself." He looked at the three sitting at the table, "Grab a bat." Then back to Cameron, "Grab some pine. Time to bring in the first string."
Cameron and Foreman gave each other a look as they all left and she turned back to House, "Why?"
"You obviously want to be here. I can't figure out why. I wanna see where you go when you can't be here." They stared at each other a moment longer, before she tossed her file on the table and walked out of the room.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Cameron had been in the ER all of a half hour when Cuddy came up to her, "You know what vacation means, right?"
"You're here because of House, Thirteen or overtime issues." She turned back to her chart.
"Well, she's very concerned…" Cuddy said, "And that's just from a conversation I've overheard, not asking directly."
"Well, if it's all right with you, I'd rather communicate with Thirteen by communicating with Thirteen…"
"Are you in love with House?" Cuddy asked after a minute of staring at her.
Cameron's eyes widened but not enough for Cuddy to notice. She took in the older woman before she spoke, "You… are not concerned about me. You're marking your territory." She paused a second, "But for the record… Never been in love with House, never gonna be in love with House… always gonna be in love with my girlfriend…"
~0~0~0~0~0~
House walked into the ER a while later and saw his friend marking off charts, "Still enjoying your day off, I see."
"Why are you prepping him for chemo?" She asked him.
"The more interesting question is why do you care?"
"You're not even sure that it's—"
"What I mean is, why do you care from here? You can monitor the patient from home. What's the difference between here and home?"
Cameron pouted her lip, "You're not at my home." She said with a huge pile of faux sincerity, then sobered, "This has nothing to do with—"
"Any other differences? Hmm… there's less medical equipment, more training bras… Actually, technically, right now, Thirteen is here. But it's irrelevant to my point. Which is… You and Thirteen are over… again."
Cameron shook her head as if saying, 'That's all you could come up with?' She looked at him a moment more before, "You are wrong."
"Then what is it?!" He obviously couldn't figure it out and couldn't handle it anymore… he needed this one solved.
She didn't answer for a good chunk of time, She's gonna ask me to marry her…" She looked up at him, "I was looking for some thick socks. Found the ring."
"And you want to say no. So I circle right back to it's over—"
"I don't want to say anything." She looked at him, "I don't want her to ask. Not now. Kutner… We're all a little freaked out. We go home, we just wanna hug someone. We just wanna know everything's gonna be okay. I don't want him to propose just 'cause she's finally scared." She looked off to the side, "I mean… Chase and Karen are getting married in two weeks… Two weeks! And they haven't even been dating—"
"Just because they haven't been together for a decade doesn't mean that some good can't come out of it... It's not the end of life you're talking about here… It's spending the rest of her life with her… what's so wrong with that, Cameron?"
Cameron knit her brows and looked at him, "Did you… Did you just act like a human being with a heart?"
He knit his brows and stood up, "Oh." He looked at her confused, "Lesbians make the world spin round. It's only right I do my part to make sure that they stay together." He chuckled as he limped away.
She thought about what House said and what it would mean if it were anyone else… and then she decided to head home for a bit to grab a few things.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Allison walked into the locker room and found Remy changing her clothes, "I should never have postponed our vacation…"
Remy didn't look at her as she started to snap the buttons of her shirt up, "I should never have planned it." She shrugged.
Allison stared at her a moment then stilled her hands halfway up, "I found the ring in your sock… I didn't want you to propose out of some sort of knee-jerk reaction to what happened to Kutner…"
Remy chuckled a bit as she sat down.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I've had that damn ring for over a year… I had it before we learned about the Huntington's…" She looked at her, "I got it after that case with the mom that had breast cancer behind her knee…" Cameron knit her brows and leaned against the open locker, "You remember me telling you about how they made me think that that could be you and your kid and you got all madder than hellfire because I said 'yours' and not 'ours'? I went out that evening to cool off and I found myself in that jewelry store on Bryant…
"I knew that I was going to ask you sometime… I've always told myself that I was going to ask you sometime… I just… didn't know how to… and with everything that's happened lately… The Huntington's, the crazy dude that took me and House hostage, the tumor from meds that are supposed to help Huntington's, Kutner…" She looked up at the blonde, "I knew that I wanted to marry you sooner rather than later… Maybe it is a knee-jerk reaction for Chase, but it's not for me… You don't need to worry about it being out of anything but love…" Remy reach up and took her hand.
Allison looked down at her, "I'm not. I… I don't care how it happens. I just want it to happen."
Thirteen knit her brows, "Are… Are you proposing to me?"
"Yes." Allison smiled as she took Remy's hand. She reached into her pocket and took out the ring the Remy bought for her. She started to put it on, but Remy stopped her and slipped it on. Then she reached in her pocket again, "I got this the day after you got yours… You had made me so mad that night and I was determined to make you see that any kids I had would be ours… I don't know why I thought a ring was going to do it, but I did…" She looked at Remy as she knelt down on her knee. She shook Remy's left hand a bit and the both grinned at each other. She didn't need to ask her with actual words…
Remy grinned happily and nodded, "Yes." She choked out as Allison slipped the ring on her finger and hugged her.