A/N: Finally! :) I've been waiting to get to this point! Reviews/ comments would be lovely :).
Waking up with a start, the blonde shivers as a tinny moan echoes to her left.
"Do you mind?"
She hisses, striving to keep the unwitting sense of fear brought on by that artificial shriek from her voice.
"Not especially."
House replies, mashing the keys of his GameBoy to elicit a further chorus of pre-recorded screams, before shutting it off with a sigh.
"Well done. Because you distracted me, three girls are dead."
He mutters, before catching the decidedly chilly reception his griping seems to be earning him and giving up on feigning ignorance as to why.
"Zombies."
He grunts, as though to put Cameron at ease.
"I'm sorry?"
"It's a zombie game. Not even remotely realistic. It's as though the creators have never even seen a small intestine."
"... I reckon that's probably true of most people."
"Hmm. That's strange when you think about it. Although only to us, I suppose."
"I guess."
The blonde nods, unsure what else to say, and she looks down at the bed in a bid to avoid House's gaze as she can feel him staring at her.
"...Well, I've finally done it."
He muses after allowing the silence to draw out between them, and she glances up at him curiously, cocking a brow.
"What?"
"I've finally found an item of clothing you don't look good in. Honestly, with the shade of those things, I've yet to find anyone that doesn't look as though they have the complexion of Swiss cheese."
"Thank you. That's very kind."
"... I still would, though."
He smirks, and when the blonde fixes him with a stony expression, he shrugs and reiterates seriously
"It's true."
"That you're a pig?"
"That too."
House agrees, and Cameron rolls her eyes before lowering her gaze back down to her bedding.
"What time is it?"
She asks, and House pulls a sucker from his jeans pocket and unwraps it while checking his phone.
"Just gone midnight."
"Why are you still here? Do you have a case?"
"Nope. I had a few bits to finish off, but I got done around ten."
"That was two hours ago..."
"Wow, and you said you weren't top of your class?"
"Well, there wasn't much in it."
"Evidently... I decided to come and check that you were still alive, and I got bored of watching you sleep."
House explains, patting his GameBoy pointedly and watching the light blush that colours pale cheeks with a small smirk.
"You should have just woken me up. It's not as though I've had anything else to do the last few days apart from sleep."
Cameron grumbles.
"I know. You're on watch. High security. Cuddy said."
"Am not. I can leave tomorrow morning, she just wanted to keep an eye on me."
"Well, there goes that fantasy."
"House."
"And I was joking, anyway. I wasn't sat here all that long."
"I know."
"Then why did you-"
"-Why did I say what I did? Because, otherwise, I would have had to say something like 'I know you weren't watching me sleep because I can tell when you're around', and you would have said something shitty about it."
"Would it be shitty to call you creepy?"
"You've called me much worse."
"Good, then you can handle it."
House shrugs, before falling moodily silent when he supposes he's set himself up to address some of the things he's said to her lately, but he can't find the words to do so, and so instead he prods at her gently in the hope that she'll continue their back and forth.
"You're fired, by the way. From my team, at least."
"It wasn't your team, it was Foreman's team."
"Ah, well, then you're definitely fired. You are not in his good books."
"That's okay. I quit."
Cameron sighs, closing her eyes, and House takes the opportunity to study the marks colouring her face and fingers before looking swiftly away when she opens them again.
"Chase said you almost got shot."
The blonde muses when it becomes clear that House means for her to take a turn carrying the conversation.
"Almost, but I was too sly. Too cunning. With the looks and skills akin to a gladiator."
"Mm."
"Or maybe I was just lucky."
"Maybe."
"Spoilsport... And, I don't consider myself all that lucky given what happened... I came to talk to you, you know."
"When?"
"After you'd taken off to play rogue agent. I thought maybe you were just giving me the silent treatment. Maybe you'd gone home when the snow picked up and you just weren't in the mood to talk to me. It seemed a little out of character, but I figured I deserved it... And if I picked up on my culpability, I really must have been being an asshole."
"You'd picked up on it already. You told me so when you suggested that whatever was attacking the girls was airborne. Turns out that was a good call, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Most of your hunches bear fruit."
"Just one of the many reasons you're so obsessed with me."
House scoffs, before admitting uncomfortably
"I told you I never meant to damage you and that I wanted to keep you around. That felt huge to me; it's not the sort of thing I'd usually say, but the situation wasn't one I'd usually be in... When the others figured out you'd left on what was a ridiculously foolish errand, all fingers were pointed at me, including my own. I suddenly realised how bad things were between us. That you were so averse to the effects of my teasing that you'd put yourself in danger like that."
"I didn't know how things were going to play out."
"No, but you knew it had the potential to go south. You'd seen the state of the girls we'd been dealing with and you would have considered the risk, even if you'd figured it to be a one-in-a-million chance... You chose to do something monumentally stupid over putting up with a few snide words from me."
"I-"
"-Because it hadn't been just a few snide words the last few times we'd spoken... I suddenly realised that. I realised I needed to speak to you properly in case you did something that would actually end up causing you harm... I went over to your place to try and make peace, and you weren't there. I'd left it too long, and you'd ended up in a situation I hadn't even considered. A situation that turned out alright - in as much as it wasn't fatal, which isn't saying much - but it might not have turned out that way. If the crap polluting the air down there had worked faster, or if you'd been caught down in that room, or-... You might have not been okay. And it would have been my fault."
"Only partially. I am sentient."
"It would have been my fault... I'm sorry. I said so before, but I need you to know that I mean it. I'm sorry."
"Alright."
Cameron nods, and House frowns as he studies her; thrown by the contemplation she seems to be offering his apology.
"You believe otherwise?"
"No. I believe you. I believe that you're sorry."
"Then-"
"-It's just, you're sorry because of what happened. If I hadn't gone off on my own, if I hadn't gotten stuck, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Well-"
"-And, if I hadn't gone, if I'd waited for one of the boys to come with me and you'd come in to find me doing so and I'd explained why, you would have behaved in exactly the way you're suggesting yourself. It's only because I could have died that you're saying any of this."
"I-"
"-Don't worry. That's normal. It's how apologies work. It's just weird when you think about it."
Cameron muses, and House rubs at his scruff uncomfortably as he accuses her
"... I've always hated that."
"Hmm?"
"Your logic thing."
"You like logic."
"I like my logic... Yours is hard to answer to."
"Oh."
"Then again, you are perplexing."
House walks the knife's edge, but he takes solace rather than guilt from the way Cameron's expression hardens to let him know she's on the same page as he is. Taking the opportunity to express what he wishes he'd just said that night in her apartment, he informs her honestly
"You do realise that's why I like you so much, don't you? Of all traits, intrigue and abnormality are some of my favourites, and you have both in spades. I never meant for it to sound the way it sounded. It was a compliment, I just... I'm not good with those."
"Agreed."
"I've never been able to figure you out, and that sounds like an accusation, and sometimes it drives me mad, but it's why I like being around you. I've teased you for being boring, for being dull and predictable, and I don't entirely take those assertions back, but that's why I find them so amusing; not because saying those things hurts your feelings, but because they're both right and wrong when it comes to you. You're so set in your ways, so familiar to me, but then you do or say something and I'm completely thrown, and it's why I keep you around. One of the reasons. It's just I've never figured out how to tell you that part. Only the part where I make the comment, and the part where I can see you've taken it as a barb and I push it in to see if I can make it bleed."
"... You told me now?"
Cameron reasons, and she meets House's frown with a small smile as she sighs
"That's all you have to do, House, I just wish you'd get that. You make it seem as though it's so hard, but all you have to do is fill in the blanks around some of the comments you make... Well, for a start. If you could refrain from calling me weak, spineless, and a sexual deviant in front of your team, that would be nice, too."
"I can't really call you weak or spineless anymore. Not if I don't want to sound stupid."
"No one wants that."
"The sexual deviant thing, though... I haven't given up hope."
"Mm."
"It's a compliment!"
"Sure. That's exactly what it sounds like."
"What if I just agree not to postulate over the possibility in the workplace?"
"I would appreciate that."
"Deal."
"Good... Wow, I should go AWOL and catch hypothermia more often. See what else I can get you to agree to."
"Mild hypothermia."
House points out gruffly, looking away when the blonde grins at him wickedly as he suddenly feels unusually warm.
"You should get more rest. You look like crap... Fill in the blanks as you will."
"... Thanks for coming to see me."
"Stop that. You're doing it again. You're making it weird."
"Is it getting you hot?"
"I'm leaving."
House grunts with a shake of his head, pushing himself up out of his seat and heading for the door. Looking back over his shoulder, he asks off-handedly
"Can you walk?"
"Last time I checked."
"Comfortably?"
"No less than you."
"Good... I owe you a drink."
"Or seven."
"Dr Cameron, what did we just say about comments like that in the workplace?!"
House scolds, hoping for a flush of colour to pale cheeks, but the blonde simply regards him coolly.
"Meet me at the Tipping Cup tomorrow evening around nine... Don't wear that."