(no subject)

[scruffyduck.livejournal.com]

Title: Due Care And Attention
Author: rolleson
Fandom: House
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing: House/Cameron
Spoilers: Up to House's Head
Warnings: Sexual remarks.
Summery: Cameron does a little stitching.
Notes: Part Nine. 1215 words. I've known where I'm going with this for ages, I think we're finally getting there.
i.You Can Never Be Too Careful
ii.Treading Water
iii.Illogical Maybes
iv.Irrelevant Changes
v.The Symptomatology Of Things
vi.The Eye Of The Beholder
vii.The Inhibition Of Enzymes (and other things)
viii.Not Entirely Anything



Cameron came and found him in his office, and he'd stayed there once he'd left Cuddy because he knew she'd come looking for him to deal with what had happened over the last few days. And she knew him, knew he wouldn't go looking for her. She couldn't leave things the way there were, Cameron was too nice not to make nice. So he waited for her, because he wanted to make things up with her, sort the fucking mess out because he enjoyed being her friend, spending time with her, and she was good to look at, even if she was pathetically nice. He waited, even though it meant avoiding a patient with unexplainable heart problems.

Cool, unexplainable heart problems.

The ice pack was warming on his desk when she walked in, face pale, hair tied back. She was dressed for a day in the office, hiding away behind a stack of paperwork. His and hers. All the signing and charting hadn't been much of a distraction though, from the hangover or Chase and definitely not House.

"Hey," he said without looking up from his medical journal.

"H-what happened?"

"Walked into a door," he said, "twice, wasn't using it properly."

"Supposed to go through it, not into it," she said and he smirked. She came closer to him, and when she saw his lip pulled the medical journal away. "House, this needs stitches."

"I did try and tell Cuddy that."

"Let me fix you up."

"I'll be fine," he said waving her off. She leaned forward and ran her thumb across his bottom lip, making him hiss in pain. She smiled softly at him, and he hated the look of pity on her face, but loved the attention.

"Wait there," she said. She disappeared from view and came back with some supplies, dumping them onto his desk. She leaned back on it, and with her thumb on his chin, her fingers brushing his throat, she tipped his head back slightly. "This might sting," she whispered, suddenly aware of how close their faces were, she was thinking about their kiss, he knew because he was too and all she had too do was lean forward. They'd been in this position too many times over the past few months.

He was silent as she wiped an antiseptic wipe over his cut lip, not reacting whether he felt pain or not. She wiped the blood that had dripped from the cut down his neck, making sure she got every spot with firm swipes of the antiseptic, both getting lost in the attention.

"I think I'm clean Cameron," he said. She looked up, blushing a little.

"Can never be too careful," she mumbled. He smiled and watched her prepare a needle and medical thread, breathing in her perfume. She cupped his face, then took hold of his chin. "Hold still," she said. He stayed silent as she stitched up his lip, the tug of the thread at his skin a minor annoyance considering he could see down her cream top, and the lace edges of her black bra were enticing and fascinating, the way the black stood out against her pale skin and seemed so thin but strong enough to hold her breasts in place.

"You're looking down my top aren't you?" she asked, tugging another suture tight. He looked up at her to find her smiling over him, still blushing.

"It's a good view, you have a nice rack."

"Thank you," she said, "not sure I appreciate my breasts being referred to as a nice rack, but thank you anyway."

"Better than what I call Cuddy's,"

"True." She pulled the last stitch through then cut the thread, checking her work with a swipe of her thumb over his lips. She sat back and smiled.

"Slight improvement. Who did you upset?"

"You ex-boyfriend. I called him simple." He left out the rest, he knew Cameron would talk to Chase about this, yell at him for this. There was no need to make it worse on the boy by making Cameron furious.

No need but plenty of want. He wasn't sure why he wasn't making this worse for him. Maybe because he wasn't a threat anymore. To his friendship or thing with Cameron, or to his lip. Maybe because Cameron's niceness was rubbing off. That, and he had already starting spreading rumours that he'd hit House because of some gay love triangle. He didn't care what people thought of him, but it was fun to mess up Chase'sfuture potential love life.

"Then you probably deserved this."

"But you already knew that," she nodded, "and stitched me up anyway."

"Just because you're an asshole House, doesn't mean you don't deserve a little care."

"I want to be friends again," he said, blurting the words out in a quiet voice. "It was fun before..."

"Before I kissed you." She blushed bright red again and House wanted more, so much more, like what was hiding under the lace but not right on the heels of Chase.

"So friends?"

"We could go bowling"

"Can you bowl?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"I can bowl," she said, with a grin.

"Tomorrow, if you don't mind sharing me with my other friend. Though I can flip Wilson off if it's a problem. Your rack trumps his ass any day of the week."

"No it's fine," she said trying not to laugh.

"Okay."

"Have you eaten anything today? I know I haven't."

"Wilson's yogurt."

"Yogurt?" She raised an eyebrow.

"He's gotten better at hiding his lunch from me," House said, "hides different items in different places. The yogurt was all I could fine." She laughed, the colour from her blushes staying on her cheeks and chasing the hangover away. "It's not funny, I'm wasting away from the lack of food."

"Let's go and get some lunch," she said shifting from her place on the edge of his desk.

"Okay, but then I need to do some work. I have a guy with a cool heart problem," he said, "oh don't worry, he's survived this long, I think he'll make it through a late lunch."

In the cafeteria they sat opposite each other like that had done a number of times before, and House had to ask. The curiosity was eating at him.

"Why did you dump Chase?"

"He," she paused, "he wasn't the one I wanted to be with," she said.

"You weren't happy?"

"I knew I could be happier."

"With someone else?"

"Yes," she nodded, smiling, shy now.

"Anyone in mind?" he asked, "one of your male nurses, maybe the new doctor in NICU, the blonde?"

"No." She laughed.

"Or maybe you've finally gone to the dark side, literally, and fallen for Foreman."

"No."

"Maybe you're sworn off men? Oh please say you've sworn off men, Thirteen's bisexual you know."

"Thirteen has a name you know," she said, "and no, I haven't sworn off men."

"Neither have I," he said, making her choke on her coffee.

"You are evil."

"It's one of my better qualities." She didn't reply to that, and he was glad for it. He knew who she'd be happier with, but she wasn't going to admit it, and he wasn't going to suggest it.

They were probably better off this way.