Looking up from her book with a quick glance at the clock, Cameron frowns as her buzzer goes off for the third time in as many seconds; that fly-wing static impatient and demanding and thus lending her some clue as to who has dropped by on her unannounced.
Pushing herself up from the sofa with a wince, she pads over to the door and speaks into the intercom.
"Hello?"
"Allie?"
The voice echoing through the grille demands, and even with the tinny quality of cheap electronics, she can read the sarcasm in that tone perfectly.
"Come on up, Greg."
She sighs, injecting her own note of satire and unlocking the door. Pushing it open a little so that he'll know to let himself in, she disappears into her room to find a bra to pull on under her sweater.
"Don't do that, it's weird."
House greets as he lets himself in a moment later; looking around the blonde's empty living room with a frown.
"Don't call you by your name, or don't put on underwear?"
Cameron asks as she exits her bedroom pulling thick wool back down over her t-shirt.
"Definitely the former."
House replies seriously, and Cameron raises a brow as she catches his attention wandering south of her face and scoffs
"Quit it. There's nothing to see."
"So why is it not okay when I say that?"
"Because you say it in front of patients."
She sighs.
"It's not as though I'm telling them anything they can't deduce for themselves, Cameron."
House growls, and the blonde offers him a steely glower, before reminding him silkily
"You seemed pretty in favour of what you saw if memory serves me correctly."
"I never said that."
"You're right. You didn't."
She agrees bluntly, taking a seat at her kitchen table and looking up into blue eyes coolly.
"Fine. Then, as ex-boss to ex-employee, you have a passable rack."
"I have a great rack for my frame, but yeah, let's stop with that now. It is weird."
Cameron grimaces, hiding a smile as her response earns her a smirk. Watching as House takes a seat opposite her, she waits curiously for an explanation for why he's come to see her.
"Foreman said you sickeningly sweet best buddies got a little wild last night."
"I doubt that's how he worded it."
"He said Chase ended the evening hugging the bowl."
"Hm. Again, I doubt that's how he worded it, but it is Chase, and yeah, he got pretty drunk. If you have a problem with it, you should be over at his place, waiting for him to put his bra on."
"No problem with it, just curious... Although I have a terrible suspicion you're now going to tell me you didn't get wasted and naked."
"Correct. Sorry."
"You should be. Although, I guess two out of three isn't bad."
"Two out of-?... Oh. I get it. Ha ha."
Cameron rolls her eyes but nods when House asks her if it had been an otherwise pleasant evening; albeit clothed.
"It was. I was worried they'd want to talk about what happened, which they did, but once that was out of the way, it was nice... Is asking me about my night really why you came to see me?"
She frowns, finding this to be highly unlikely, and House shrugs as he looks up at her clock and asks casually
"Have you had dinner?"
"Not yet."
The blonde replies cagily, waiting for him to comment on the fact that it's getting on for nine, but House merely nods and pushes himself up to snoop inside her fridge.
"Is there anything in here that can be thrown together, or should we order something?"
"I-... There are some salmon fillets in the freezer and some rice in the cupboard. I should have some chilli paste, and-"
"-Order something it is."
House interrupts before she can complicate things further, and the blonde watches as he scrolls through the options available in the area on his phone.
"... Why are you doing this?"
She asks finally.
"Chase says he's offered to help you clean. Foreman said he's offered to help with laundry - although maybe he just wants a peek at your delicates - so, I'm here to help you cook. Is this Chinese place any good?"
House asks, showing Cameron his phone.
"I have no idea... You don't have to do this, you know."
"Neither do they."
He replies simply, and he wants to laugh at the tangible wariness coming off of the blonde in waves as she studies him uncertainly, but an uncharacteristic knot of guilt gets in the way.
"They're helping you out because they care about you."
He reminds her, saying nothing more than that and allowing silence to fall between them as the implication rings loud.
"... I haven't tried the Chinese you're looking at, but there's a Thai place - Siam Kitchen - that's pretty good."
"This one?"
"Yeah."
She nods, giving him her order and watching his brow furrow in a way that feels all too familiar from the hundreds of hours she has spent sitting across from him reading case files as he puts their food request through.
"... If I'd known you were coming, I'd have gotten something to drink in."
She speaks up finally.
"I came over because you're supposed to be taking it easy, not running around playing hostess. And that's fine, we'll just have to go straight to the strong stuff."
House teases, helping himself to a poke around her liquor cabinet and retrieving a bottle of gin. Considering his selection for a moment, he clenches his jaw as he remembers its bitter promise painting the blonde's tongue with a sense of glum wistfulness that he knows is completely backwards in their usual tentative dance around one another. Still, it's the only option that's mostly full, and he doesn't want to risk leaving them dry when he has no clue where the evening will take them.
Wistful indeed!
"Thanks."
Cameron murmurs when he passes her a glass filled with ice; helping herself to a generous measure and sipping slowly as she watches House pour out his own. Unsure what to say to fill the silence that follows, she nibbles uncertainly at her lip out of habit and hisses as the area remains tender.
"Idiot."
House muses.
"Thank you."
She replies, before freezing up when House leans across the table and touches abused flesh with his thumb; dragging her lip down to inspect the other side.
"Is that just bruising or did you bite through?"
He asks, and the blonde swallows, sitting back slowly to create a little more space between them as she wipes his taste from her mouth.
"Just bruising. I think I cut the inside a bit from pressing over my lips too hard, but there's no holes... See?"
She takes a sip of gin and purses her lips to prove that none can escape, and House chuckles, fully aware that she's just trying to break some of the tension between them and surprised that he doesn't mind one bit, nor feels the need to call her out on it in a bid to watch her squirm.
"Very impressive."
Is all that he says, and she chokes as she swallows her mouthful; surprised that he'd leave it at that.
"And so graceful."
House continues with a more familiar touch of teasing, and she grins as she wipes again at her mouth before resting her chin in her palm as she considers him silently. In turn, he suffers a moment's discomfort under the bright glitter of her gaze, before he notes that she keeps her other arm close to her side - visibly stiff - and he finds something to say to fill the space.
"Wilson said the dislocation was bad... Didn't they give you a sling?"
"Didn't they give you one?"
She counters, glancing pointedly at his hand still strapped in its navy brace.
"They did, but it was unnecessary, which I told them at the time."
"My thoughts exactly."
"If that's true, you really are an idiot. You know, in your case, a sling would be wise."
"Then I'm an idiot... Maybe I was just worried we'd get to the bar and match, and I'm not sure we're really there yet."
Cameron muses, unable to hide a hint of a blush as she keeps her tone dry and snide, and House nods as he agrees
"A good call, then. I, too, considered leaving the top three buttons of my shirt undone. Add that to wearing matching slings, and it would have been very embarrassing, you're right."
"Pretty sure it was only two buttons."
The blonde argues, and she flushes helplessly when House corrects her
"It was three. Believe me, I was paying attention."
"Oh."
"What can I say? I'm detail-orientated."
House reasons sarcastically, and Cameron shakes her head as she gestures toward her bedroom
"The sling they gave me is on the dresser, but you know better than anyone that us medical lot are the worst at taking our own advice."
"You always have been."
House nods, staring the blonde down, and she stiffens momentarily beneath his gaze, not in the mood to get into their old arguments about what and when she eats and her reluctance to give herself a break, but when he merely smirks at her knowingly, she sighs and bites back simply
"You're awful opinionated for an addict."
"Ouch!... And I said nothing, Dr Cameron. You merely inferred negative connotations from my remarkably vague statement. Take from that what you will."
He smirks, raising a hand when the blonde opens her mouth to argue back and pointing out swiftly
"That will be our food."
As the sound of an engine idles outside the building. A moment later and the intercom buzzes with the voice of the driver, proving him right, and he disappears to fetch their dinner with a grin at the nonplussed look she throws him.
A grin that turns into an irritable scowl when he reenters her apartment with their order to find Cameron reaching for the plates as she attempts to lay the table.
"What part of people coming over to help you don't you understand?"
House grumbles, taking hold of her arm to steer her back to her seat while trying to ignore the feeling of her warmth beneath his palm.
"What part of I'm an adult and perfectly capable of looking after myself don't you lot understand?"
The blonde counters, reclaiming her seat with a sigh, and House turns to her with a mouthful of Pad Thai and scoffs
"The part where you spent the night sleeping on top of a set of lockers in the dark?"
"I-"
"-Can't you be one of those women that takes advantage of others offering to wait on them hand and foot? Can't you get just a little kinky with it?"
"Not really my thing."
Cameron mutters as House hands her a plate piled high with food, and he raises a brow as he tucks into his similarly gargantuan feast opposite her.
"No? You sway the other way? Rather than barking orders, you'd prefer to receive them?"
Shovelling several forkfuls of rice into his mouth as he keeps his attention locked in on the blonde's, House chews loudly as she merely returns his gaze expressionlessly. Taking her silence as an invitation to continue teasing her, he muses hopefully
"You know, I reckon I would be surprised. I have a sneaking suspicion that you actually-"
"-What? What do you suspect?"
Cameron challenges sharply. Grinning, House swallows and scolds her amiably
"I was about to tell you, and you interrupted."
"No. You were about to keep talking crap in an attempt to make me blush."
"No attempting necessary. You are."
"Fine. You're deflecting."
The blonde shrugs, watching as House's smirk slowly dies on his lips as she studies him calmly.
"Go on then. What do you suspect?"
She asks again, and when House shakes his head and mutters that it doesn't matter with his attention firmly lowered to his plate, she simply waits; watching him.
"It does matter. It matters to me."
She shrugs.
"It matters to you what I fantasise about you being into?"
"No. But it matters to me what you actually presume about me. It shouldn't, but I've heard you make a-thousand-and-one comments over the time we've known each other concerning what you think I might like or be into, and most of them have been pretty unflattering and inaccurate."
"Most of them? So some of them were correct?"
"I mean, if you shoot a hoop that many times, the ball's bound to go in once or twice..."
"Huh! And you always say you hate sports metaphors."
"I do... See? You listen. You pretend you don't but you do. So, go on."
"Dr Cameron, I'm eating."
House hisses, pulling an overly appaled expression.
"And the last time I was present when you performed a prostate exam, you suggested to your nonagenarian patient that I might be jealous and would like you to stick your finger somewhere similar... You're fine."
The blonde counters, taking a sip from her gin before adopting a frown and tagging on bluntly
"That was a miss, by the way. By a long shot."
"Good to know..."
House swallows, thrown as she holds him in her crosshairs, and he knows full well why she's doing it - that he deserves it - and he's not sure whether he's impressed or mortified.
"... I don't know."
He admits finally, and he shakes his head when the blonde rolls her eyes and elaborates
"I make those comments because I know they embarrass you, and it's fun to think about. The wilder the comment, the more fun it is to throw it your way, because-... Well, because you're the last person I truly think that sort of thing about."
"So you're saying I have zero sex appeal in any conceivable context? Because, let's be honest, you have covered most of them..."
Cameron muses, and House frowns and corrects her
"No. I'm saying I would be as ridiculous as I could with my suggestions to take any further thought out of it on my end... Not because the thought would be unappealing, quite the opposite. The more I got to know you, the more adamantly I wanted to push those thoughts away when they popped up."
"You could have just not made comments about my fantasies and perversions. That was an option."
The blonde points out, and House shrugs as he counters
"And you could have just not messed with my head the way that you do."
"I never tried to-"
"-I know. And I'm relieved that you didn't try to do more than you managed without any effort. It's not your fault I've always had a bit of a thing for you."
"... I'm sorry, what was that?"
Cameron demands, but her cheeks burn scarlet, and House simply shakes his head to indicate that he has no intention of repeating himself.
Looking down at her plate, the blonde smiles sheepishly before opening up a little in return for this unexpected slip of the tongue.
"... Most of your comments were pretty ludicrous, not to mention gross... Some of them would definitely have been illegal... But, sometimes they'd be a little more subtle or, you know, not utterly depraved, and now and then... I guess if your intention was to steer away further thought about certain scenarios, your teasing didn't have that effect on me."
She clears her throat awkwardly, and when House looks up at her with a brow cocked, she shrugs and reminds him uneasily
"Don't forget, I've always had a thing for you, too."
"You have. I was rather more cool and subtle about it, though."
"You were an ass about it."
"Chicks dig a bad boy."
House offers the blonde a burlesque wink, hoping for a giggle or a flustered rebuttal, but she simply offers him that same calm expression he can't quite read, and he consents to her superior position in their unlikely parlay and asks curiously
"Do you?"
"Do you think of yourself that way?"
She asks, ignoring the question, and for a brief moment, her grin grates on him, before he lets it slide and admits gruffly
"I probably would have wanted to be perceived that way when I was younger."
"Just when you were younger?"
"Alright. And now."
"Mm. Being a grouch and riding a bike doesn't exactly make you a bad boy - shit, I was hoping not to have to actually say those words - it just makes you a grouch with a bike."
Cameron shrugs.
"But what about when you throw in the leather jacket?"
House counters, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"I have a leather jacket. Does that make me a bad girl?"
The blonde asks sarcastically, cringing at the term, and House laughs at the very idea, before admitting pointedly
"I don't know. I'm still waiting for you to tell me."
"I'm not telling you anything."
Cameron chuckles, but when she catches a hint of irritation flicker across her companion's brow, she continues swiftly before he can accuse her of starting something she's reluctant to finish.
"You'll just have to find out for yourself."
"... I think I'm beginning to get an idea."
House growls, not bothering to hide the appreciative surprise from his expression at the blonde's response, yet sensing a hint of lingering tension beneath her ploy to play him at his own game. Addressing it silently, he shocks himself as well as Cameron when he reasons in a falsely casual tone
"You asked me in the bar if I'd invited you out for a drink because I thought it would lead somewhere... I came over tonight to make sure you would have something decent to eat and to see if you needed anything. I didn't come here expecting anything, and I don't want you to think otherwise. I do want an answer to what's now a very poignant question, but don't take my invitation as an expectation."
"Your invitation?"
Cameron frowns.
"Sure. Of the many weird and wonderful things I remain absolutely adamant get you soaking wet, an invitation to your guilty obsession's humble abode is one I suspect would leave you dripping... And, I did ask you about Wednesday."
House grins, and the blonde nods.
"I can do Wednesday. Although, if you ever use that term again, I'm going to have to lie and tell you I've recently joined a nunnery."
"Which bit?"
"I mean... All of it?"
She winces, and House smirks as he agrees
"I did regret it the moment it came out of my mouth..."
"Well, maybe-... Okay no, I'm not going to stoop to your level!"
Cameron laughs huskily, cheeks incriminatingly pink as she clutches her side, and House raises a brow as he contemplates several guesses at what she might have been about to say with mounting anticipation. Topping up her gin, he meets her cautious study of the act with a smile and assures her
"Relax. Believe it or not, I'm having a good time... And Chase said something about a box of eclairs."