Title: "Addicted"

Author: Jackie W.

Rating: PG-13

Classification: House/Cameron

Season: Season 2

Spoilers: Sex Kills, All In

Summary: House has a new addiction.

He knew he was addicted to Vicoden, and there was a good chance that he was becoming addicted to alcohol as well. While he would miss his daytime soaps, and his IPod, he would hardly call those hobbies addictions. They helped him relax and clear his mind, essentially helping him to solve the complex puzzles his patients often presented. This new hobby was anything but relaxing.

It had all started innocently enough. A bet thrown out in the heat of trying to diagnose their patient that Cameron had been gullible enough to take on had led to House winning. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But the devious woman had waited until they were alone to pay off her debt, and then had practically stopped House from breathing when she pulled up her shirt just enough to reveal creamy white skin and a folded bill tucked saucily into the waistband of her slacks. When she'd handed him the money, still warm with her body heat he'd barely been able to move. It wasn't until after her fingers had finally pulled slowly away and she'd left after softly informing him that 'Ignorance is Bliss' that his body had finally responded to any sort of commands and he'd sunk into his chair with a groan.

Oh yeah, he was addicted. Not with the gambling, or even with winning, but with the payoff. Three subsequent bets since then had led to two more wins on his part. The second time he'd been ready and focused and was able to enjoy each second of Cameron's little seduction. The second time he'd been disappointed to see that on that particular day she was wearing a blouse tucked into her slacks and covered by a vest. But once alone in his office she had slowly reached two fingers into a little pocket in the vest he hadn't noticed. It was really just a small slit pocket, but it sat directly over her left breast. And he just knew what those fingers were brushing up against as they slid into the pocket and then out again.

All the blood in his entire body had rushed south. He was lucky he didn't drool. As it was he had enough endorphins running through him that evening to not need to touch the scotch, and he slept so soundly with such erotic dreams that for once when he rose in the morning there was another body part that needed attention more that his aching leg. He was up for an hour before he reached for the vicoden.

But it was the forth bet, the one Cameron won that made House realize that he had stumbled into an addiction more dangerous than the pills he popped. Because when he handed her the money, the cunning woman looked down at her slim shirt and smooth top as if just realizing that she had no pockets. He fully expected for her to tuck the money into her waistband. Instead she turned just slightly away as if to hide what she was doing and then tucked the money into her bra. Of course the angle she ended up at only served to give House a perfect view of the black lace as it momentarily appeared.

The groan that he involuntarily released sounded a lot like a moan.

Cameron, the devil woman, had simply raised an eyebrow and silently left the room.

Allison's hands were still shaking when she pulled into the parking area of her apartment complex forty-five minutes later. She couldn't believe she had been so brazen. Then she smiled. There was no doubt the strategy was working though. The irony was this whole scenario wasn't something she had planned. During that first payoff, she had slipped the money into her waistband at lunchtime when she'd put her purse back in her locker. Then when she'd been alone with House she'd remembered she had it and simply taken it out. Of course after seeing his reaction she'd definitely been more aware of what she was doing for the subsequent payoffs. She'd expected that after the second bet he would back off, but when he hadn't she'd raised the stakes a bit, and then a bit more.

She guessed she could stop trying to delude herself now. She still wanted the man desperately.

By the time House made it back to his townhouse that evening, he'd made a pledge. No more bets with one pretty immunologist. He needed to nip this particular addiction in the bud. So the next day he was back to his normal snarky self and he avoided Cameron as much as possible without being obvious.

And while no one else may have noticed, Allison did, and she knew exactly what was going on. House was backing off just as she'd expected him to.

The question was what could she possibly do about it?

Allison stumbled on the answer to her dilemma quite by chance. She'd gone to the mall to look for new shoes to go with the black cocktail dress she was planning on wearing to the upcoming charity event at the hospital. For once even House would be attending as the event was featuring a poker tournament. She had almost passed the small shop when the red dress in the window caught her eye and immediately her goal changed from looking nice to making House drool. Over the next week she would spend a month's salary on herself, but the time spent at the spa under the professional care of a hairstylist, manicurist and skin expert who provided a facial and body wrap had given her creamy skin a soft glow, and left her hair looking lustrous. The dress fit her like a glove and the shoes made her legs look great. She kept any other adornment simple, only adding a bit of sparkle with a pair of diamond drop earrings.

Now all she had to do was to get House to look up from his poker game.

Twenty-four hours later the dress looked only a bit worse from wear. After all she'd had it on for almost the entire time. Now it hung back on it's hanger on the door of her closet, the shoes tossed haphazardly on the floor in the same general vicinity. Damn her feet were killing her. New shoes and a triple shift just didn't mix well.

But they had a patient that was on the road to recovery, and Cameron would never forget the look on House's face when he'd turned from the white board and gotten his first look at her. She could honestly say that she's caused the great Dr. House to lose all power of speech. And while the rest of the time she'd spent in the dress was stressful when all was said and done, House had given her one last wistful look as she'd prepared to leave and snidely suggested to Chase and Forman that they petition the hospital to make Cameron dress up like that every day.

Yes, Plan B could be called a success.

Meanwhile across town, House sat at his piano, sipped his scotch and bid farewell to Esther's ghost. And as the specter of one of the few patients he couldn't diagnose faded it was replaced by a totally different vision in red.

The following weeks were hectic and confusing. Hectic due to a sting of cases that left them all little time to regroup. Confusing because House was alternately extra snarky, and eerily quiet. Several times when he was in one of his pensive moods Allison caught him staring at her and Allison would find herself suddenly short of breath. Five minutes later it would be like it never happened, and he would be back to the sarcastic, arrogant bastard she was accustomed to, and she would be left to wonder if she'd imagined the moment. The effect was disconcerting at best. After her attempts to leave House off-balance the tables were definitely turned. She felt like she was standing on very unstable ground, and she couldn't figure out anything to do to regain control of the situation.

House for his part hadn't set out to throw Cameron off balance, it was more of just a natural result of his own slightly shaky foundation. He had no romantic feelings for her he told himself. So why was he having so much trouble keeping his mind off her? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the image of her in that red dress out of his head. Worse yet were the images of him slowly removing that red dress. He'd even called on his favorite escort service thinking that a roll in the hay would put his libido back on track. The evening had been far from satisfying. So now whenever he found his mind wandering, his mood would shift to downright disagreeable, and it was happening more frequently. The whole hospital was on House alert due to his mood.

Unfortunately things were going to get worse before they got better, and it would start with their next case, one Sean O'Malley and his family.

Sean O'Malley, age 24 was admitted to the emergency room late on a Thursday afternoon with a fever, vomiting and a high fever. Tests for the most common infections had shown nothing. When he'd begun to appear jaundiced, Cuddy had referred him up to diagnostics. Unfortunately Cameron was the only one still there when the call came through that they had a new patient being admitted. She quickly paged House who had left only ten minutes prior and after putting her things back in her locker and donning her lab coat once again headed down to get a history on Mr. O'Malley.

When she arrived at the room she found their patient was asleep, with an older couple sitting watch over him.

"Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley?" Cameron asked, and gave them a small smile when they nodded.

"I'm Dr. Cameron. I'll be one of the doctor's caring for your son. Could you answer a few questions for me?" she asked politely.

"Certainly," Mrs. O'Malley agreed, "but we were told that Dr. House would be taking the case."

"I'm one of Dr. House's associates. I've paged him to let him know that your son is here, but in the mean time I'd like to get some history and possible begin some tests," Cameron explained.

Twenty minutes later Cameron was finished with her questions and before leaving went over to examine her patient, and draw some blood. She'd only glanced at him occasionally since entering the room; now up close she could appreciate how handsome the young man was. As she bent over him to draw his blood she saw his eyelids flicker. By the time she was done he was looking at her in confusion.

"Am I dead?" he whispered.

"No, Mr. O'Malley, you are very sick though. You're at Princeton/Plainsborough Hospital," Cameron assured him.

Her patient gave her a wan smile. "You mean you're not an angel?" he asked.

Cameron blushed slightly. "No, far from it. I'm Dr. Cameron," she told him.

"Could have fooled me," he commented before slipping back asleep.

Cameron's pager went off as she was leaving Sean O'Malley's room. She quickly made her way to House's office and called him back from there.

"Please tell me this is a case of the flu and I don't need to come back in," he griped as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Definitely not a case of the flu, but I have a couple of clues as to what it might be," she replied.

"Well don't make me beg," House demanded.

She quickly ran down his symptoms. House sighed when she was done. "Well it's definitely an infection of some sort, now we just have to narrow it down from the hundreds of possible types. Anything in his history to give us a clue?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. He went camping and rafting in the Dominican Republic a few weeks ago," Cameron told him with a grin.

"Well, well, what do you know? Useful information from a patient history. I'm impressed. So that leads us to a handful of bacterial diseases," he mulled. "Got a favorite?"

"Leptosirosis," Cameron stated and then held her breath.

"I assume you have a blood sample?" he stated by way of agreement.

"I'm on my way to the lab now," she informed him.

"Call me when you get the results," he said. Then the phone went dead.

Cameron stared at the phone in her hand for just a second before she shook her head and went off to do her job, berating herself for letting House get to her with his bad manners. She hadn't expected a pat on the back, but would it hurt the man to give her some sort of acknowledgement when she was on the right track?

Less than an hour later she called him back to let him know that the lab tests had confirmed her diagnosis.

"Excellent. Before you know it I'll be able to do all my work from home," House prophesized. "Start him on IV Doxycycline and monitor him overnight. I'll see you in the morning," he declared, and once again the phone went instantly dead.

Allison put a quick call in to order the needed antibiotics and then stopped by her locker to check on her overnight supplies. Luckily she had everything she needed including a change of clothes for the next day.

By the time she made it back down to her patients room the Doxycycline was waiting for her to administer. There was also a room full of people waiting anxiously for her to appear. She paused in the doorway taking in the newcomers. Three gorgeous men had joined Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley at Sean's bedside and Allison literally had to catch her breath as they all leapt to their feet and turned towards her.

She was glad when one of then broke the silence. "You must be Sean's angel, Dr. Cameron," he said in a deep melodious voice. "I'm his brother Patrick, and these other two are Jack and Edward, also brothers, although of far less interest," he informed her.

"Hey!" the other two protested simultaneously.

Then a quiet command came from the corner where Mrs. O'Malley sat. "Boys, stop it. Let the doctor speak."

All three had the grace to look guilty and Cameron flashed them a small smile before proceeding.

"We were able to pinpoint the bacterial infection that Sean picked up while in the Dominican Republic. It's treatable with antibiotics, although since his case is so severe we will need to administer them through an IV. The good news is we caught it before it did any serious damage to his liver or kidneys so he should make a full recovery," Cameron explained even as she took the syringe with the drugs and emptied it into Sean's IV.

"Thank the lord," she heard Mrs. O'Malley whisper as her husband pulled her into a relieved hug.

"We will be monitoring him throughout the night, but my guess is we should start to see improvement by morning. He'll need to stay here for at least three days, at which point we will see how he is doing. The infection is not contagious, so none of you are in any danger, but if he went on this trip with friends I would encourage you to get in touch with them so they can be tested. Some people have very mild reactions to the bacteria and they may just have a case of diarrhea, but even so they will get better much faster with treatment," she explained.

Patrick O'Malley stuck out his hand. "Thank you very much Doctor, and thank Dr. House for us too," he said. "You really did turn out to be Sean's angel."

Cameron blushed once more at the moniker. Thank goodness none of her team were here or she would never hear the end of it. Little did she know that by the next morning they would be very aware of the fact that the O'Malley brothers had put her on a pedestal.

Cameron checked on her patient several times during the night. Around 4:00am his fever began to go down. His parents had left late in the evening, along with two of the brothers, Patrick and Jack. Edward had taken up residence in the family room, andCameron updated him at midnight when she checked on Sean. When she went to find him at 4:00 to let him know Sean was improving Jack had replaced him. At 7:00am after having showered and changed she once again checked on Sean and headed to the family room. Mr. and Mrs. O'Malley were there along with Edward and Jack was preparing to leave. By this point she pretty much had the whole family's history. The elder O'Malley, Patrick Sr. had been a police officer. None of his sons had followed in his footsteps, although Jack was a fireman. Edward was a school principal, Patrick Jr. owned his own real estate firm and Sean was clerking at a law firm hoping to be hired on as an attorney once he passed the bar exam.

Sean was the baby at 24, and Patrick the eldest was 32. None of the four were married which totally mystified her. Four good-looking successful men, and none had been snatched up yet? Were all the women in New Jersey deaf, dumb, and blind?

An hour later the O'Malley men were already being relegated to the back of her mind as she started her daily routine. Coffee was started, and the mail was being sorted as first Foreman and then Chase came strolling in. She tossed them Sean's file to read as she took two case referrals into House's office for him to review when he decided to grace them with his presence.

It was a perfectly normal beginning to a day that would end up being anything but normal for her.

House arrived at 9:15. The first batch of flowers for Cameron arrived at 9:25. Chase had gone down to check on Sean and arrived back just in time to hear Forman reading the card aloud while holding it out of reach of the petite immunologist.

"Do Angels go on dates with mere mortals? Please consider making an exception for me!" Jack O'Malley

"Seems our fair Cameron has made a conquest," Foreman teased.

"More than one," Chase reported. "Sean O'Malley is awake and demanding to see the 'Doctor Angel'," he informed them.

By now House had come out of his office and was raising an eyebrow at her. "Angel? That explains so many things," House commented.

Cameron rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. This was a nightmare. "I'm due in the clinic at 10:00. I'll stop and see Sean on my way," was her only comment as she moved past the three men and out into the hallway.

She kept her visit with Sean brief and professional, brushing off his attempts to thank her. Then she went down and buried herself in the clinic. Although she was only due to work two hours, the place was busy and no one complained when she stayed until 4:00, only stopping to get a quick sandwich. Even so, she wasn't immune from the gossip. A lot of the nurses who normally avoided the Diagnostic department like the plague had made excuses to go up and get a glimpse of the handsome brothers, and more than one curious look was tossed her way each time she came out of the exam rooms to get a new chart.

She finally headed back upstairs late enough that she hoped everyone would be gone. The plan was to make sure all of her notes from last night were included in the charting and then hopefully leave a bit early. However it was not to be. When she entered the conference room the flowers there overwhelmed her. Four large bouquets now graced the table and House had obviously been waiting to pounce.

"It would seem someone has mistaken our humble home away from home for a florist shop," he complained. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Cameron ignored him and plucked the cards off the three new arrivals, one each from Edward, Patrick, and Sean O'Malley. Each card contained a request for a date.

"So now you are setting one brother against another? How very Cain and Able of you," House sniped. "Better watch it though, stunts like that could lose you your wings."

Cameron was all ready to protest her innocence when she suddenly realized House was jealous. She took a second to let that fact sink in.

House was jealous.

After mentally doing a little dance of joy her quick brain tried to find a way to use that fact. If she called him on it he would just become defensive. Better to use the knowledge to keep him off balance.

"Don't be ridiculous House. I'm not going to date all four of them," she informed him. Then she paused for just a second and actually saw a look of relief flit across his face before she continued. "Sean is too young for me, and he's a patient. I can only date three of them," she stated with a smile before taking the cards and heading out the door leaving House to stare after her in confusion.

She was kidding, wasn't she?

Damn the woman!

He should be relaxing and enjoying the soaps he'd taped earlier in the day and his bottle of scotch. Instead he kept hearing Cameron's last statement as she'd walked out the door. He knew she wasn't serious, dating more than one man at a time would definitely be against the Cameron code of ethics. So if he was so sure that she wasn't going to carry through with it why couldn't he take his mind off the subject?

He'd heard the nurses twittering all day over the handsome brothers. He told himself that it was because of all the gossip that he was irritated.

Yeah, even he wasn't buying that one.

No he was aggravated because not one, but four handsome eligible men had zeroed in on Allison Cameron. And he couldn't blame them. He could hate them for it, but he definitely understood where they were coming from. After all, her fresh scrubbed beauty was one of the reasons he'd hired her. After which he'd spent many a day ruing the temporary weakness.

Ok so the day she wore the red dress had been an exception. He wouldn't have missed that day for anything.

Damn the woman.

When he arrived at the diagnostics department the next morning he was in a foul mood. Some of the grump was taken out of his sails by the absence of yesterday's floral explosion. However one look at Cameron and he was seething again. She was wearing the same outfit that had caused his libido to dance a jig all those weeks ago when they had played out the last bet they had made, and that little slit pocket in the vest was taunting him.

Which meant he couldn't resist getting a jibe in as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "So how is bachelor number 4 doing this morning?"

Cameron was reading through the mail and didn't even lift her head. "Improving nicely," she commented.

House just grunted and went into his office.

James Wilson had pretty much given up on giving his friend any advice that would be listened to or taken seriously. But that didn't mean that he hadn't been watching the current dance that House and Cameron were engaged in. And he better than anyone was in a position to see that Cameron was slowly wearing House down. As much as he was rooting for Cameron, he knew that should she succeed, there would be one major obstacle to overcome. At lunch, he watched House watch Cameron and he came to a decision.

Lisa Cuddy had been having a shitty day. No other way to describe it. Budget planning for the coming year was not going smoothly, and to top it off the assistant department head of cardiology had announced his intentions to retire in two months. That brought the total to three of the top staff that she would be losing in the coming months. So when James Wilson asked for a few moments of her time she could only hope that there wasn't another crisis looming. Five minutes into their conversation she was staring at him in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"That he's going to crack? No this is House we are talking about. But he's definitely leaning that direction, and I think it's a good thing," he commented.

"He's her boss. It can only lead to disaster," Cuddy predicted.

"Unless of course she was to transfer somewhere else, say to Immunology where you are losing Jenkins," Wilson suggested.

Cuddy mulled the suggestion. "She's not experienced enough to be a department head, but Spencer is ready to move up and that would leave the assistance department head position open," she mused out loud.

"And you know she already does all the paperwork for Diagnostics, so she could handle the workload," Wilson encouraged.

"Immunology has been short staffed for six months. They could really use someone of her caliber," Cuddy agreed. "And House could get along fine with just Chase and Foreman for a while as long as he had Cameron to consult. Wouldn't House be upset with her for jumping ship though? It could defeat the whole purpose."

"Not if it came from you and wasn't something she asked for. He wouldn't expect her to pass up a promotion like that," Wilson advised.

Cuddy was silent for a moment then smiled at Wilson. "Are you starting a pool? Because I want in."

Allison left Lisa Cuddy's office in shock. She'd been offered a wonderful promotion out of the blue. Even more shocking had been the veiled suggestion that said promotion would allow her to pursue "a certain personal relationship" without professional concerns getting in the way.

She'd said yes of course. Even ignoring the whole "being attracted to House" issue she knew this was an important step forward in her career. And one way or another it was time to get out from under House's authority. Either she was making progress chiseling away at his armor, in which case it would be beneficial to their relationship, or she was fooling herself and she would be best away from the day-to-day torture.

Cuddy wasn't going to inform House until Monday, which gave Allison a bit of a reprieve. As it turned out the timing would be perfect.

Saturday night and Allison was sitting at home watching an old movie, eating a dinner of popcorn and Ben and Jerry's ice cream dressed in an old baseball jersey and sweats.

Pathetic.

Maybe she should have taken up one of the O'Malley brothers on their invitations, but besides not wanting to use one of them just to make House jealous, it had seemed like playing with fire to pick one over the others. Maybe she should have just made a date with each of them.

Her pager going off saved her from her sugar-induced flight of fancy. They had a new patient and she was needed at the hospital. She looked over at the clock. It was 7:14pm. Suddenly she had a brainstorm. She didn't actually have to have a date to make House jealous. She just needed to look like she was dressed for a date.

Five minutes later a very different looking Allison got into the taxi she had called to take her to the hospital. With no car, she would just have to beg a ride home when the time came.

House was waiting for them when they arrived, Foreman and Chase within minutes of each other, both dressed to kill and mumbling about having their dates interrupted. House, in his normal jeans and t-shirt suddenly felt underdressed. But it was the appearance of Cameron that really made him wish he had at least changed into a clean shirt.

The skirt was short and leather. The top was sparkly and red with a halter style neckline. And just in case he hadn't been knocked out by those alone the entire expanse of creamy skin down her back to just above the hips was bare and begging to be touched. He barely contained a groan. The woman just didn't play fair.

"Was there a party I wasn't invited to?" he quipped as they grabbed coffee and settled around the conference table.

Cameron held her breath. If no one else responded she wouldn't have to say anything. She didn't want to lie to House. But if he assumed she was on a date that was just fine.

Without really waiting, House launched into the specifics of their case. For the next ten hours they all did what they did best, and at the end of that time they transferred their patient upstairs for surgery. For once Foreman had been right when he guessed that the problem was neurological. He would be assisting Dr. Klein later in the day to remove a small mass in the hypothalamus that had been originally hidden by some swelling. As Forman left to find a spare room to get some sleep, and Chase vanished as if he needed to be home before the sun rose, Cameron approached House.

"House, I hate to impose, but could I get a ride home? I used a taxi to get here last night," she explained.

"Can't your boyfriend come and rescue you?" he asked.

Cameron simply sighed in exasperation. "That's not the issue. Can I get a ride? I'd call another taxi but it's not even 5:00am on a Sunday morning. I'll have to wait forever."

"Oh alright, as long as you're begging. Just be glad I didn't ride the bike in last night," he commented.

Secretly he was thinking that in the Corvette that little black skirt was going to ride up nicely. This was shaping up to be a pretty good weekend.

House wasn't disappointed. When Cameron swung into the low seat of the car she had to struggle to keep her skirt at anywhere near a decent level. Of course House didn't know that she'd planned it, and she wasn't about to admit that whole get up was strictly for his benefit. They spent the drive to her apartment mostly in silence, although Cameron didn't miss the glances House kept throwing her way. As they pulled into a parking spot in front of her building she unfastened her seatbelt and turned slightly to face House.

"Like what you see?" she challenged.

"Really Cameron, what would I have to pay you to dress like that everyday to work?" House quipped.

"I don't think it would be good for our patients' blood pressure," Cameron pointed out. "But all you have to do to see me dressed like this is to ask me out House," Cameron paused only slightly before leaning in and kissing House gently on the lips. "Think about it," she whispered, and then she left him to sit in shocked silence and watch her as she walked away.

He could still smell her perfume hours later.

House entered the hospital Monday morning with one purpose in mind. He was going to set Cameron straight one last time. He was not interested in a relationship. At least that is what he was determined to tell her. During the last twenty-four hours he'd come to the conclusion that had things been different he could quite easily fall hard and fast for the woman. After all, she was smart and sexy and nice. And she put up with him.If only he wasn't her boss, he was ten years younger and he wasn't a cripple with a drug addiction.

If only pigs could fly.

Fortunately for him, although he cursed his luck at the time, Cuddy caught him before he'd made it to the elevator.

"House, I need to talk to you," she demanded.

"No I won't sleep with you. I thought we'd already established that fact," House countered.

"My office, now!" Cuddy ordered.

He argued until he was blue in the face, but the end result was that he was losing Cameron to Immunology. As he left Cuddy's office he couldn't help but think back to the arguments he was preparing just a short hour ago.

Ok... if only he was ten years younger, and he wasn't a cripple with a drug addiction.

Damn he was losing ground fast.

When he entered the Diagnostics conference room there was no sign of Cameron, although the coffee was made and the mail appeared to have been sorted. Chase and Foreman were both at the table working on paperwork.

House wasn't in the mood to play games so he simply blurted out "Where's Cameron?"

Both men looked up in confusion, but it was Foreman that finally spoke. "Immunology needed to borrow her. She's probably still in the lab," he replied with a small frown.

The frown only deepened when House turned and left.

"That was odd," he mumbled.

"It's House," Chase replied and the two went back to the charts they were working on.

She knew he was coming before the door was flung open. Some small part of her had been listening for his distinctive footsteps in the hallway. She also knew that he had already talked to Cuddy as theDean of Medicinehad been kind enough to page her as soon as House left her office. And she could guess where this conversation was headed. Or at least where House thought it was headed.

"I'm not going to ask you out," he stated bluntly.

She looked up from the microscope and studied him for a minute. "Alright," she replied and leaned back over her equipment.

"What no argument?" he asked suddenly feeling deprived. You couldn't win an argument against someone who didn't fight back.

She looked up at him again with a measured stare. "I assume you have spent time debating the issue, and that you have come to this decision after careful consideration. If that's the way you feel then there is nothing I can do to change your mind."

"I have, and you can't. In a few weeks you will be out of here and you will forget all about this," he promised.

"If you say so," she calmly replied.

House studied her for a moment. He was sure she was up to something, but he wasn't sure what it was.

Over the next two weeks he would ponder the puzzle that was Cameron many times. The news would be broken first to Foreman and Chase, then to the rest of the staff. Her new peers in Immunology took her to lunch as a welcome to their department, Chase and Foreman took her out to dinner as a farewell. And all the while House tried to figure out what she was up to. Several time she caught him staring at her, and she always just gave a little smile as if she knew a secret he didn't.

And with each passing hour he realized more and more how much he would miss seeing her every day. How truly dependent he had gotten on having her around. How much he really wanted to ask her out so that even if he wouldn't be seeing her during the day he would have an evening together to look forward to. But he refused to back down. By the time Cameron's last day came and went he was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. Both Foreman and Chase had gone to Cameron to practically beg her to change her mind.

It really hit home during Cameron's first week on her new job. He spotted her a few times in the cafeteria, but she was always just grabbing a sandwich or salad on the run. He heard through the grapevine (aka Wilson) that she was swamped. He could only wish that he was as well. They hadn't had a patient in ten days and between being bored and missing Cameron he was truly turning into the terror of PPH. The only upside was the Cuddy didn't bug him to do clinic duty all week because the nurses down there had threatened to quit after his last shift.

Then on Friday as he was packing it in for the week, everything changed.

James Wilson sighed as he headed for House's office to see if he wanted to go grab some dinner. It had been a long week. Besides the increasingly short temper of his best friend he'd had the nightmare job of trying to keep the pool participants from doing anything that would affect the outcome of things. Just this morning he had uncovered a plot to have a new doctor in Radiology ask Cameron out in the hopes of keeping her away from House. Turns out the entire department had a sizable bet on House and Cameron never getting together. Then to top things off, the pretty lab tech he'd had a date with had cancelled at the last minute.

As he approached the Diagnostics department he saw Cameron in the doorway. She had obviously just arrived there and was setting down her briefcase. He slowed and looked for a good vantage point. As he slid into an open doorway down the hall he saw her remove the outer jacket that she had on and fold it, slowly bending down to place it with the briefcase. God he couldn't believe House was holding out against her. She looked fantastic.

Meanwhile House was in his office putting on his jacket and rummaging for his keys when he heard a noise out in the conference room. Figuring it was Wilson he turned with a pithy remark on the tip of his tongue. Instead he was startled to see Cameron leaning casually against the doorframe. He usually had a second sense of when she was near. He must be slipping. He tried not to notice how the white top she was wearing clung to her curves, but the damn thing wasn't hiding much. He hoped she hadn't been prancing around in it all day, and was relieved to see a black blazer folded over on her briefcase that sat at her feet. He spoke before the silence became uncomfortable.

"Dr. Cameron. What a nice surprise. What can I do for you?" he asked coldly, not wanting to give her the impression he was at all glad to see her.

"You can let me buy you dinner," she replied.

Well that was about the last thing he'd been expecting.

"Cameron, I told you..." he began only to be interrupted.

"I know you're not going to ask me out, House. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to ask you," she said with an amused twinkle in her eye. "I was thinking Conte's for pizza and beer. Nothing fancy."

His mind raced for an excuse. He could always claim a prior commitment with Wilson.

"I checked with Wilson earlier. He said he has a date with a lab tech from Ortho tonight," she commented taking a step into the room.

Or not.

"You are no longer my boss," she added taking another step.

He opened his mouth as if to respond.

"I don't care about the age difference, I pretty much am only attracted to men older than me anyway," she continued cutting off his objections. "And I don't want to fix you." She sucked up her courage and blatantly eyed him up and down. "That's so not what I have in mind," she told him in a husky voice taking one more step. "But that will have to wait. I don't put out on the first date."

"Of course you don't. You're Saint Allison. Of course technically it wouldn't be our first date," he pointed out.

"I'm wiping the slate clean. Starting over if you will," she told him. "So there is only one excuse left House," she stated stepping right in front of him. "Tell me you are not attracted to me."

He tried, he really did. Everyone lies and he usually had no problem at all being included in that group. But he could smell that damn perfume and feel the heat coming off her body, and he had missed her like crazy in the last week, like an addict trying to go cold turkey.

Almost without his consent his hands reached out to grab her hips and pull her against him so she could feel just how attracted he was.

"Not a chance in hell," he confessed, and bent down to kiss her.

It was several minutes before they parted, and by the time they did House knew that he was down for the count. Could another person be considered a drug?

Cameron for her part was feeling equal parts of lust and relief. She'd taken a huge risk, and it just as easily could have ended up with her having to face up to the fact that there was no hope of anything between them. Joy started to bubble up as she realized that she'd rolled the dice and won.

"So Conte's?" she confirmed. "Please tell me you brought your bike today."

House nodded and grinned. Too bad there was no short skirt to enjoy he thought as Cameron took his hand and led him to the door.

As she reached down for her briefcase and jacket she frowned.

"I'll need to leave the briefcase here," she commented.

House walked over to his desk and opened a drawer for her to drop it into. As she turned back to take his hand again she smiled. "What are your plans for tomorrow night?" she queried.

"No plans, why?" he asked.

"I was thinking of asking you out for a second date," she told him. "Maybe I'll wear the red dress."

House groaned. "Please do."

As they turned out the lights and headed off together she smiled. "You know I don't have any hard and fast rules about putting out on the second date."

A minute later, James Wilson left his hiding spot with a huge grin on his face. If House could find someone to love maybe there was hope for him yet. Making a sudden decision he headed down to Cuddy's office. After all she needed to be informed of this momentous turn of events. And maybe she was free for dinner.

The End