Chapter Four

Showed up, like a good girl

I fell for your fable

But I'm no Cinderella

I don't care, I'd let you take it

A week went by and House didn't show up for work or answer his phone. Cuddy went to his apartment and banged on the door to no avail. At the end of the second week, she called Cameron into her office.

"I need a favor," she said as Cameron stood in front of her desk. "House is over a year behind on his paperwork. We've got an audit coming up next month. I need you to get him caught up. I'm willing to pay you triple your salary to do it."

"What about the ER?"

"The last time I checked the ER, you had the best-kept charts in the building. The last time I checked the fourth floor janitor's closet, I found House's charts. He hasn't filed anything since you left. Now, House may not care whether this hospital's accreditation gets downgraded, but the people who sign my paychecks do.," Cuddy told her. She leaned forward. "Please. We have to pass this audit."

Cameron sighed and nodded.

"Will you go to his apartment and tell him?" Cuddy asked. "He's ignoring me."

"Fine."

That night, Cameron stood outside House's apartment door balancing two pizza boxes and a six pack of beer. She kicked the door three times.

"It's me," she called out. "I have pizza and beer."

The door opened a crack and she could see one bright blue eye. "Cuddy out there?" he asked.

She laughed slightly. "No but the pizza is getting cold and the beer is getting warm."

The door swung open and he leaned out, looking up and down the hallway. Finally, he stepped back to allow her in. Blues music played softly and the scent of a cigar hung in the air. She carried everything into the kitchen with House on her heels. She put it all down on the butcher block island and he flipped open the top pizza box. Pulling out a slice, he devoured it before belching and grabbing another.

"Bring the beer and the pizza," he told her as he limped back into the living room.

She did as he asked and stood looking down at him.

"I know the paperwork annoys you, but patient records are important," she told him. "You can't let them sit there."

He smiled slyly. "You miss me," he commented as he opened a bottle of beer. "Say the word and I'll fire CB."

"Cuddy is paying me a shitload of money to get you caught up before the audit," she informed him. She started to walk to the door. "I'll be in your office at eight in the morning." She stopped with her hand on the doorknob. "I don't miss you," she said and then she was gone.

House leaned back and sipped his beer. The pizza sat like a stone in his stomach. Why did he care so much about her opinion? Why was it always so important to him? Why did she, over everyone else, manage to get to him the way she did? She said she didn't miss him but she would be in his office until all the paperwork was completed. Cuddy was paying her to do it so she didn't volunteer so she could spend more time with him. He drained his beer and reached for another. When all the beer was gone, he drank half a bottle of scotch before passing out on the couch.

The next day, he slowly made his way up to his office. Slinging his backpack behind his desk, he closed all the blinds before collapsing in his Eames lounger. He was on the verge of sleep when someone touched his arm. He lifted his sunglasses and squinted at Cameron. She wore a dark purple vest, as scoop neck lavender top with puffy sleeves and snug jeans, her hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail. She held a stack of charts in her hands.

"You need to sign these," she told him as she put them in his lap.

He shoved them onto the floor and pulled his sunglasses back down. A moment later the files landed in his lap again. He groaned and tried to sit up.

"Put them on my desk so I can sign the damn things," he told her.

Her hand brushed against the crotch of his jeans as she picked up the files. Tossing his sunglasses to one side, he waited for his slight erection to go down. Then he got up and sat at his desk. She pulled a file from the top of the stack, opened it, and handed him a pen. He scrawled his signature and glanced down her top as she opened another one. She had a mole on the inner swell of her right breast and he found it hard to look away from it. Forcing himself to focus on the paperwork, they slowly made their way through the pile.

"That it?" he asked as he leaned back.

She looked at him with her head tilted and a bored expression. He knew that look.

"That's the first half of the first box. There are fifteen more boxes. Get comfortable."

She turned and walked back into the conference room. House put his head on his desk and groaned.

Two weeks later, he sat in front of the white board. Three days earlier he appropriated his favorite soap star. Currently, the man was down the hall in a coma. House was missing something but he wasn't sure what it was.

He turned his head when a loud thud came from his office. Shrugging, he turned back to the whiteboard with its long lists of symptoms. Cameron must have dropped a box. A moment later, a letter filled his field of vision. He swatted it away but Cameron thrust it back in front of him. Her hand shook and when he looked up at her, rage contorted her normally beautiful face. He sighed and leaned back.

"You wrote a letter of recommendation for Robert?" she asked between clenched teeth.

He briefly toyed with the idea of asking her who Robert was but thought better of it. She was angry enough.

"Yep."

She looked at the letter. "Doctor Chase was an exemplary member of my team," she read her voice shaking and her face getting redder. "He excels at leadership and out of the box thinking. His diagnostic skills are above average. Any hospital would benefit having him on staff."

Looking up, he saw her eyes were dilated and her breath came in short gasps.

"Breathe," he told her softly.

She pulled another sheet of paper from the front pocket of her jeans. Tears gathered in her eyes and she brushed them away.

"Doctor Cameron possesses average diagnostic skills. She lacks any discernible leadership qualities. She becomes too emotionally attached to her patients and coworkers," she read. "She is better suited to research or teaching."

House folded his arms and looked at her. "You told me you liked me, coerced a date out of me and then slept with Chase. There are too many examples of your attachment to our patients for me to point out."

"You FIRED Chase!" she cried disregarding what he said. "Yet you wrote him a glowing recommendation." She shook the letter he wrote about her. "This is why I had such a hard time getting a job."

"That and I reiterated it all when they called," he told her. "About both of you."

Her brows drew together and her lips parted. She stared at him. Slowly she dropped the letters and they fluttered to the floor.

"Why?" she whispered.

He shrugged. "I wanted to make sure Chase stayed away and that you would have to come back."

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. "You had the chance to keep me here. When I left, all you had to do was ask me to stay. You didn't."

Slowly, she left and House went back to staring at the whiteboard.

"Evan Greer's allergic to the quinine in the tonic water he drinks onscreen," Cameron said from the doorway. "Pump him full of steroids and he should be fine."

House looked over his shoulder at her. She stared stonily at him.

"But then, my diagnostic skills are just average. What would I know?" she said with a shrug before turning and walking toward the elevators.

Song Lyrics: I Don't Wanna Break - Christina Perri