(no subject)
Author: athousandsmiles
Title: Come to My Window 6/6
Rating: mature
Genre: angst, romance, mild smut
Disclaimer: I don't own House or Cameron, or the dialogue I snagged from the episode.
Summary: Maybe House isn't the only one out there. Follows season three's Meaning. A sort of AU continuation of that ep.
A/N: Many thanks to jesmel for beta services. This story is for autumnfairytale, who is awesome in many ways, not least of which is her artistry and generosity. &hearts
previous chapter
While House showered, Cameron made the bed and tidied up the room, feeling strangely at home and domesticated and more relaxed than she had felt in days.
And then House's phone rang.
She froze, a pair of jeans in her hands mid-fold as his answering machine picked up and the voice that filled the room chilled her to the bone.
"I know you're there. You don't think I know? You and Elise, you're both the same. Women like you... you think you can do whatever you want without consequences. You judge others like you're so damn superior." He paused and laughed like a desperate man and she shuddered. "You know what? You're right. There are no consequences for you. It's not fair, Elise. I was the one who took care of you." His voice rose in volume, until he was shouting. "I was there for you and you cheated on me and now you act as if we never existed. You just moved on with another guy. What about us? What about me? I loved you and I got nothing. Nothing."
It was then that it clicked for her; the familiar voice of a man worried for his wife, confused about what might happen to her and what she might have done. She remembered him and she remembered Elise, the wife who contracted African Sleeping Sickness through sex with a man who was not her husband.
Across the room, his voice became a whisper and then a sob as he continued repeating, "What about me? You gave me nothingnothingnothingnothingnothing" and then Cameron heard a clicking sound that she was frightfully familiar with from a day not so long ago in the conference room.
Dropping the jeans, she rushed to the phone and picked up the receiver. "I know who you are," she said. "Please... you don't want to do this."
"What do you know?" he cried. "You judged me when all I wanted was to know she was faithful. And what do I have now? Nothing. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to hurt her so bad. But I couldn't and you want to know why?" He laughed hysterically and said, "Because she's pregnant. That's what we were trying for, you know. And now she's got it with someone else and it's like I never even existed. How could you do that, Elise? How could you? You snuck around like some cheap whore and I'm the one who gets punished? How is that fair? I can't... I can't keep going like this. I can't. What's the point?"
"Please Ed," she pleaded, but she'd barely gotten the words out when the echo of a gunshot reverberated through the room and then a muffled thud. She dropped to her knees and called out his name but there was nothing but silence.
The next thing she was aware of was House pulling her to her feet and guiding her to the bed. He pried the phone from her hand and sat down beside her, turning her face toward his.
"Deep breaths, Cameron, deep breaths."
She did as he said, suddenly aware of the tears on her cheeks. "I know who it is. I think he might have..."
"I heard," he said, looking at his caller ID. "This is your number. He called from your apartment."
Leaping up, she grabbed her shoes and stuffed her feet into them while trying to keep her balance.
"What are you doing?" he asked, grabbing her before she toppled over.
"We have to go. We have to help him."
"Right, we should definitely go charging in to save the lunatic with the gun," he muttered. "Sit down. We'll call the police. Let them do their job for once."
She knew he was right, but there was a big part of her that felt responsible, that wanted to run out the door and race to her apartment. But House was there, grounding her, making her see reason. House was there.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Ed killed himself in her apartment. Blew his brains out and splattered them all over her living room, as House put it. He'd left a note for Elise, more of the same rambling, nonsensical stuff about how he'd loved her and she betrayed him. But all Cameron could think about was that moment three years ago when his wife lay in a coma, possibly dying, how he'd reached out to her and she shut him down.
"Does she know I'm here?" he asked, his fingers stroking Elise's hand.
"She knows you're always there for her."
"Yeah… if she gets better it means she wasn’t always there for me."
"It means she made a mistake," she said, her thoughts caught up in the past, in the idea of a second chance with her husband and what she would give for that.
"I can't help it. Part of me, a big part of me… can't handle that. Doesn’t want her to get better. Does that make me a terrible person?"
"Yes."
Just like that she'd made herself judge and jury to a man who was hurting, and now he was dead.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Sneaking out after clinic duty, she grabbed a cab because her car was still parked at her apartment building, abandoned when House dragged her to his apartment to protect her from Ed. She still couldn't bring herself to go back there, and wasn't sure what to do about her living situation. House had never said he wanted her to stay indefinitely, and she could never live in her apartment again.... but that was a problem to think about later.
The funeral parlor was quiet; even her footsteps muted by the tasteful carpet seemed loud in her ears. The somber sounds of an organ drifted toward her from an open room and she followed the music until she found her destination. Elise was there, her belly rounded with child. Beside her stood a tall, husky man with his arm draped over her shoulder protectively. A simple coffin stood at the front of the room, with one large floral arrangement laying across the top of its gleaming surface. There was no one else in the room.
She walked down the aisle that parted the rows of wooden chairs and made her way to Elise, who turned and smiled a greeting.
"Dr. Cameron, it was so nice of you to come. This is my husband, Gary."
Cameron smiled and nodded a greeting, distracted by her guilt and all the words she wanted to say.
"I'm really sorry," she replied, her voice choked with tears.
"You don't need to be," Elise said, reaching out to touch her arm in a gesture of comfort. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"But I judged him. Told him he was a jerk because..."
"I know." Taking a deep breath, Elise waved toward the front row of chairs and said, "Let's sit."
When they were seated, Elise turned to face Cameron and continued. "When I met Ed... I knew he was very intense. Maybe even then I knew something was a little off. But I loved him and so I shrugged it off. And eventually, I turned to someone else because sometimes Ed was just a little too much to deal with and I just wanted a distraction, I guess. What I did was wrong, and I will always regret it. But I didn't cause this and neither did you."
Tears were flowing freely down Cameron's cheeks, and she reached up and swiped at them with her fingers. "I just feel like there was something I could've said or done..."
"There wasn't. He was unstable. The police told me he'd been calling you, watching you sometimes. He was doing the same to me. I tried to talk sense into him, but he wasn't hearing anything beyond his own grief and anger. And when I got pregnant... well, I think that was just too much for him. I feel bad for cheating on him, but I'm not responsible for his death. I'm not, and neither are you."
Cameron nodded, somehow managing to smile a little when Elise surprised her by wrapping her in an embrace.
"You were very kind to me when I was sick and frightened. I'll never forget that. And I know you wanted to help Ed. You tried, and that's all that matters."
"Thank you," Cameron said through her sniffles, pulling back to wipe the tears from her face again.
They said their goodbyes, and she left the room, Elise's words rolling around her mind.
"She's right, you know?" House said from just outside the entrance of the room where he leaned casually against the wall.
"House," she said with a deep sigh, "how did you know I was here?"
"Please," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Any idiot would've figured out you were coming, even if you weren't wearing your finest funeral attire at work. I have to say though, attending the funeral of your stalker is... well let's just say your pathetic-ness has reached new levels."
She stood studying the carpet, feeling a little foolish until he tilted her chin up to look into her eyes and she saw he was smiling. Confused, all she could do was put her arms around him as he pulled her close.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing," he murmured to the top of her head. "You wouldn't be nearly so interesting if you weren't a little bit predictable with the caring too much and the over inflated sense of guilt."
He pulled back and pressed some keys into her hand. "I got your car back, by the way. C'mon, you can drive us home."
Surprised, she examined the ring of keys, one shiny and new, hanging from a keychain that she didn't recognize: a little heart. Not the Cupid type of heart that you'd find on a Valentine's card, but the actual shape of the organ that pumped blood through the body, a little metal heart complete with valves.
"That's slightly softer than the actual thing," he said, tapping himself on the chest. "But it's yours."
"You're giving me your heart," she said with a happy smile. "I'll take good care of it, I promise."
"I know you will," he said, tugging her back into his arms. "I know you will."
The End
Title: Come to My Window 6/6
Rating: mature
Genre: angst, romance, mild smut
Disclaimer: I don't own House or Cameron, or the dialogue I snagged from the episode.
Summary: Maybe House isn't the only one out there. Follows season three's Meaning. A sort of AU continuation of that ep.
A/N: Many thanks to jesmel for beta services. This story is for autumnfairytale, who is awesome in many ways, not least of which is her artistry and generosity. &hearts
previous chapter
While House showered, Cameron made the bed and tidied up the room, feeling strangely at home and domesticated and more relaxed than she had felt in days.
And then House's phone rang.
She froze, a pair of jeans in her hands mid-fold as his answering machine picked up and the voice that filled the room chilled her to the bone.
"I know you're there. You don't think I know? You and Elise, you're both the same. Women like you... you think you can do whatever you want without consequences. You judge others like you're so damn superior." He paused and laughed like a desperate man and she shuddered. "You know what? You're right. There are no consequences for you. It's not fair, Elise. I was the one who took care of you." His voice rose in volume, until he was shouting. "I was there for you and you cheated on me and now you act as if we never existed. You just moved on with another guy. What about us? What about me? I loved you and I got nothing. Nothing."
It was then that it clicked for her; the familiar voice of a man worried for his wife, confused about what might happen to her and what she might have done. She remembered him and she remembered Elise, the wife who contracted African Sleeping Sickness through sex with a man who was not her husband.
Across the room, his voice became a whisper and then a sob as he continued repeating, "What about me? You gave me nothingnothingnothingnothingnothing" and then Cameron heard a clicking sound that she was frightfully familiar with from a day not so long ago in the conference room.
Dropping the jeans, she rushed to the phone and picked up the receiver. "I know who you are," she said. "Please... you don't want to do this."
"What do you know?" he cried. "You judged me when all I wanted was to know she was faithful. And what do I have now? Nothing. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to hurt her so bad. But I couldn't and you want to know why?" He laughed hysterically and said, "Because she's pregnant. That's what we were trying for, you know. And now she's got it with someone else and it's like I never even existed. How could you do that, Elise? How could you? You snuck around like some cheap whore and I'm the one who gets punished? How is that fair? I can't... I can't keep going like this. I can't. What's the point?"
"Please Ed," she pleaded, but she'd barely gotten the words out when the echo of a gunshot reverberated through the room and then a muffled thud. She dropped to her knees and called out his name but there was nothing but silence.
The next thing she was aware of was House pulling her to her feet and guiding her to the bed. He pried the phone from her hand and sat down beside her, turning her face toward his.
"Deep breaths, Cameron, deep breaths."
She did as he said, suddenly aware of the tears on her cheeks. "I know who it is. I think he might have..."
"I heard," he said, looking at his caller ID. "This is your number. He called from your apartment."
Leaping up, she grabbed her shoes and stuffed her feet into them while trying to keep her balance.
"What are you doing?" he asked, grabbing her before she toppled over.
"We have to go. We have to help him."
"Right, we should definitely go charging in to save the lunatic with the gun," he muttered. "Sit down. We'll call the police. Let them do their job for once."
She knew he was right, but there was a big part of her that felt responsible, that wanted to run out the door and race to her apartment. But House was there, grounding her, making her see reason. House was there.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Ed killed himself in her apartment. Blew his brains out and splattered them all over her living room, as House put it. He'd left a note for Elise, more of the same rambling, nonsensical stuff about how he'd loved her and she betrayed him. But all Cameron could think about was that moment three years ago when his wife lay in a coma, possibly dying, how he'd reached out to her and she shut him down.
"Does she know I'm here?" he asked, his fingers stroking Elise's hand.
"She knows you're always there for her."
"Yeah… if she gets better it means she wasn’t always there for me."
"It means she made a mistake," she said, her thoughts caught up in the past, in the idea of a second chance with her husband and what she would give for that.
"I can't help it. Part of me, a big part of me… can't handle that. Doesn’t want her to get better. Does that make me a terrible person?"
"Yes."
Just like that she'd made herself judge and jury to a man who was hurting, and now he was dead.
MDMDMDMDMDMD
Sneaking out after clinic duty, she grabbed a cab because her car was still parked at her apartment building, abandoned when House dragged her to his apartment to protect her from Ed. She still couldn't bring herself to go back there, and wasn't sure what to do about her living situation. House had never said he wanted her to stay indefinitely, and she could never live in her apartment again.... but that was a problem to think about later.
The funeral parlor was quiet; even her footsteps muted by the tasteful carpet seemed loud in her ears. The somber sounds of an organ drifted toward her from an open room and she followed the music until she found her destination. Elise was there, her belly rounded with child. Beside her stood a tall, husky man with his arm draped over her shoulder protectively. A simple coffin stood at the front of the room, with one large floral arrangement laying across the top of its gleaming surface. There was no one else in the room.
She walked down the aisle that parted the rows of wooden chairs and made her way to Elise, who turned and smiled a greeting.
"Dr. Cameron, it was so nice of you to come. This is my husband, Gary."
Cameron smiled and nodded a greeting, distracted by her guilt and all the words she wanted to say.
"I'm really sorry," she replied, her voice choked with tears.
"You don't need to be," Elise said, reaching out to touch her arm in a gesture of comfort. "You didn't do anything wrong."
"But I judged him. Told him he was a jerk because..."
"I know." Taking a deep breath, Elise waved toward the front row of chairs and said, "Let's sit."
When they were seated, Elise turned to face Cameron and continued. "When I met Ed... I knew he was very intense. Maybe even then I knew something was a little off. But I loved him and so I shrugged it off. And eventually, I turned to someone else because sometimes Ed was just a little too much to deal with and I just wanted a distraction, I guess. What I did was wrong, and I will always regret it. But I didn't cause this and neither did you."
Tears were flowing freely down Cameron's cheeks, and she reached up and swiped at them with her fingers. "I just feel like there was something I could've said or done..."
"There wasn't. He was unstable. The police told me he'd been calling you, watching you sometimes. He was doing the same to me. I tried to talk sense into him, but he wasn't hearing anything beyond his own grief and anger. And when I got pregnant... well, I think that was just too much for him. I feel bad for cheating on him, but I'm not responsible for his death. I'm not, and neither are you."
Cameron nodded, somehow managing to smile a little when Elise surprised her by wrapping her in an embrace.
"You were very kind to me when I was sick and frightened. I'll never forget that. And I know you wanted to help Ed. You tried, and that's all that matters."
"Thank you," Cameron said through her sniffles, pulling back to wipe the tears from her face again.
They said their goodbyes, and she left the room, Elise's words rolling around her mind.
"She's right, you know?" House said from just outside the entrance of the room where he leaned casually against the wall.
"House," she said with a deep sigh, "how did you know I was here?"
"Please," he replied with a roll of his eyes. "Any idiot would've figured out you were coming, even if you weren't wearing your finest funeral attire at work. I have to say though, attending the funeral of your stalker is... well let's just say your pathetic-ness has reached new levels."
She stood studying the carpet, feeling a little foolish until he tilted her chin up to look into her eyes and she saw he was smiling. Confused, all she could do was put her arms around him as he pulled her close.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing," he murmured to the top of her head. "You wouldn't be nearly so interesting if you weren't a little bit predictable with the caring too much and the over inflated sense of guilt."
He pulled back and pressed some keys into her hand. "I got your car back, by the way. C'mon, you can drive us home."
Surprised, she examined the ring of keys, one shiny and new, hanging from a keychain that she didn't recognize: a little heart. Not the Cupid type of heart that you'd find on a Valentine's card, but the actual shape of the organ that pumped blood through the body, a little metal heart complete with valves.
"That's slightly softer than the actual thing," he said, tapping himself on the chest. "But it's yours."
"You're giving me your heart," she said with a happy smile. "I'll take good care of it, I promise."
"I know you will," he said, tugging her back into his arms. "I know you will."
The End