Five Stages 3/5

Sep 25, 2007 16:41

5 Stages

Ch 3/5

Summary: Post Half-Wit... A hospital fundraiser forces House to deal with his feelings for Cameron.

Chapter 3

Chase sat sullenly next to Foreman watching Lizette from across the room. She was talking animatedly to another nurse and kept looking back over in his direction and laughing. Rolling his eyes he turned his attention to Foreman. He watched a flicker of anger flash in Foreman’s eyes and looked to follow his gaze. Seeing Wendy walk in and head over towards Lizette he sighed. He was about to speak to Foreman when Cameron breezed past him and sat down next to Foreman, frustration written all over her face. "What’s wrong?" he asked.

Cameron looked at him for a minute before answering. "Sebastian offered me a job, and House is a jerk," she said plainly as if it saying it was an every day occurrence.

Chase nodded. "My modeling partner hates me," he said in the same tone.

Foreman shrugged when they both turn their eyes on him. "Wendy thinks that putting on a wedding dress will make me take her back."

All three of them sighed. As if a gift from above a server walked by with champagne flutes and offered them each one. They all took the glasses and downed the champagne immediately, all three in silent recognition that the night was going to be horrible and it was only just getting started.

xxxxxx

The show had only just started and House was already bored. It appeared that they couldn’t just get on with it, but they had to talk about Sebastian Charles for twenty minutes beforehand. House rolled his eyes again as he barely listened to Charles talk about his TB patients in Africa. He looked over in the direction of the bar and saw Wilson walking towards him. He groaned in annoyance, but smirked in appreciation when Wilson sat another scotch down in front of him.

"You know you really shouldn’t be this intoxicated already," Wilson chided.

House shrugged and gestured to the scotch. "Well you’re enabling me."

Wilson sighed. "Cuddy wants me to remind you that you are to be on your best behavior."

House nodded and took a large drink of his scotch. "Yes, Daddy."

"House..."

"Oh stop it. I’m not going to do anything but sit here and watch my fellows pretend to be models. Maybe I’ll get lucky and one of them will fall off," he said his eyes twinkling with delight as he finished off his scotch.

Wilson scoffed. "What did you do, House?"

House shook his head. "I didn’t do anything," he said before standing up and walking off.

Wilson bit his lip in exasperation. "Where are you going?" he called out quietly. He watched House simply shrug before ducking behind a large group of people, and when the people moved House was gone.

"Damn."

xxxxxx

"Do you remember what we discussed?" House asked quietly.

"Of course." a female voice said.

"Good."

"Fifty now..."

"And fifty later. Right," he nodded. "Now go."

xxxxxx

Chase looked at Lizette’s angry expression in confusion. "I don’t understand why you hate me. I’ve never done anything to you Lizette. I don’t even know you." Chase tried to reason.

Lizette shrugged and adjusted the strap on her Escada dress. "You’re not as charming as you think you are."

"But I haven’t tried to charm you..."

"It’s repulsive how many of the nurses you’ve tried seducing," she replied smoothing the purple layers of her gown. "Even more repulsive is how many you’ve actually managed to seduce."

Chase opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by another nurse who was working backstage. "Dr. Chase, Lizette, you two are up," she said cheerfully.

Chase smiled. "You ready?" he asked gallantly offering his arm.

Lizette rolled her eyes. "Let’s just get this over with," she snapped taking his offered arm.

"You look beautiful tonight by the way," Chase said after they moved into position.

Lizette groaned. "Seriously, I am not interested," she snapped before the walked out on the runway.

xxxxxx

House had successfully managed to tune out the last ten minutes of the Sebastian Charles show and continue to evade Wilson. He was grateful to the bartender who had clearly not taken Wilson’s instructions to stop serving him seriously. But even through his semi-drunken haze he clearly heard the announcer say,

“Dr. Robert Chase.”

He immediately sat down at a table that was off to the side but still in front of the runway, ready to absorb anything and everything that could later be used as mocking material against the fair-haired wombat. He had known he wouldn’t get anything off of the wardrobe, since it wasn’t the first time he has seen Chase in formal wear and also because they were pretty much wearing the same thing.

He glanced over at Lizette and nodded appreciatively. She looked fine. Not overly sexy, or so beautiful he couldn’t help but look at her, but fine. He sighed boredly, waiting desperately for the moment Chase would do something embarrassing and then he saw it. Lizette bumped into him causing him to stumble.

He sat up straighter in his chair as he saw Chase stumble into Lizette. His smile grew wider when Lizette stumbled back into Chase, causing Chase to completely lose his balance. He suppressed a loud laugh when Chase teetered on the edge grabbing for Lizette before toppling over and taking her down with him.

As several doctors ran towards the fallen pair he heard Lizette’s angry voice. "Get off of me you jerk!"

Chase looked at her incredulously. "You bumped into me."

"Slightly," she snapped "You aren’t coordinated enough to gather your balance?"

"It’s not my fault that the damn runway was slippery."

"It’s your fault for yanking me off of it!"

"If you wouldn’t have pushed me..."

"You pulled me off the damn runway!"

House laughed loudly earning several angry glares, including ones from Chase and Lizette. He scoffed and headed back to the bar for a refill.

xxxxxx

"The runway is a bit slippery. Dr. Cuddy asked me to tell everyone to walk carefully. Dr. Chase and Nurse Dumont have fallen off already."

Foreman sighed aggravated. He hadn’t been able to get out of playing groom and now there was a chance he could fall off the runway all together. The only bright spot was that now he could make fun of Chase for falling off . His happiness dwindled when he saw Wendy walking towards him, in full bridal attire. He casually overlooked the fact that she was beautiful, in favor of the fact that she was trying to emotionally blackball him into a relationship. Unfortunately, it appeared that his underlying desire not to be with her always seemed to be won over by his attraction to her. He then looked out at the runway and realized that he and Wendy were next.

"We’re next." Wendy said excitedly.

Foreman nodded. "Yeah, thank God." He held out his hand and waited for her take it. When he had her attention he spoke again. "After tonight, I want you to leave me alone."

"Eric..."

"I mean it. Stop calling. Stop emailing me. Stop showing up in the Diagnostics Department. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to be with you. I don’t want to be cruel you, but if I have to be cruel to get my point across then so be it. We’re done, Wendy."

Wendy released his hand momentarily and looked at him closely. She could tell that he really meant what he had said and she couldn’t stop the tears from brimming in her eyes. She followed after Foreman onto the runway tears streaming down her face.

xxxxxx

House had just sat back down with his refill when Foreman and Wendy stepped onto the runway. The look on Foreman’s face told House he was just as unhappy with being there as House was. He mentally nodded, thinking that maybe he and Foreman were more alike that he had realized.

Foreman was walking slowly, careful not to have the same fate as Chase. He turned and looked at Wendy who was standing a few feet behind Foreman crying. Her makeup was running down her face, and her steps were unsteady. It was obvious that Foreman had finally gotten through to her and House couldn’t help but feel a sting of regret for helping turn Foreman into the stone man he was becoming.

He watched Wendy finally break down when she caught up with Foreman. Her small silent tears became large loud ones, and she immediately started stepping backwards away from him ignoring the look of anger on Cuddy’s face, before completely turning around and leaving the runway altogether. He looked over at Foreman and laughed slightly at his awkward positioning all alone on the runway. He knew that Foreman felt bad for causing her pain. There was enough guilt on Foreman’s face to prove to House that Foreman was nothing like him after all.

xxxxxx

Cameron had watched Chase topple off and Wendy break down, and she knew without a doubt that taking a step onto that runway could be a potentially dangerous mistake. She had been working hard since she had put the dress on to push down the anxiety she felt because of House and Sebastian.

When she heard that she was next, she made a split-second decision to remove her shoes and stepped into place.

"Dr. Cameron, you need shoes."

Cameron looked at the nurse with a strange look. "If you seriously think I’m going out there in those stilettos only to topple over the side of the runway, you’re crazy." Cameron sniped before breezing past her and out onto the runway.

House’s laughter at Chase and Foreman’s miserable runway attempts died in his throat the second Cameron stepped onto the runway. He knew the announcer was describing the dress but he couldn’t hear a word. He found his brain had simply shut down, and he could only stare at the vision in red standing before his eyes. He looked around noticing that there wasn’t a single man in the room who wasn’t looking at her like they wanted to tear her dress off, and he knew without a doubt that given the opportunity Sebastian Charles would try.

Quelling his anger and jealousy he turned his eyes back to Cameron. She was gliding gracefully down the runway, slowly so not to slip and fall. House thought his heart had stopped when he caught sight of her bare feet. His gaze swooped over each and every one of her perfect toes painted to match her dress perfectly.

The dress fell a few inches above her calves, and House could feel his hands itching to brush themselves up her long legs, and disappear beneath her gown. He looked up from her legs in time to notice she was standing at the end of the runway perfectly still having her picture taken. When she turned her head towards his side of the room, she locked eyes with him. His heart raced at the intensity of her gaze. He felt his palms grow sweaty and his breath catch in his throat. Unable to stand it any longer, he broke the connection first and let his eyes trail downward.

The strapless crimson dress fit tightly around her chest and he could feel his pulse speeding quicker and quicker. She looked like a goddess, and the desire to feel her lips against his again grew to be more than he could stand. He knew he had to get away from her--that he had to get her out of his sight. She turned around and began to walk back to where she had come from. House watched as her ass swayed a little more than necessary. Trying to push down the lump in his throat, the he stood up to leave his table. Right before she left the runway she turned around again and locked eyes with him. But as quick as it happened, it ended and she was backstage again.

xxxxxx

The fashion show portion of the evening was over and Wilson was finding it harder and harder to keep track of House. But, he did know that every time he saw him---his glass of scotch had been refreshed---despite the fact that he’d told the bartender to quit serving him over and hour ago. Sighing in displeasure, he began looking for him again

He smiled politely as several doctors approached him and tried to nonchalantly rush through the conversations they’d initiated. And he did so while discretely trying to keep tabs on House. Finally, he spotted House hiding in a dark alcove and excused himself.
House saw Wilson head towards him and tried to make a break for it, but the bottle of scotch he’d consumed gave his reflexes a lethargic "sloshing" feeling. He groaned in realization that he’d be forced to talk to Wilson and then again when he saw the annoyed look on his face. "What’s up James?" he asked casually.

Wilson shot him a look cold enough to freeze ice. "What do you mean what’s up? Stop disappearing on me House!"

House clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy... How many times do I have to tell you? This is not a date." House joked, "Besides, I’m not two. You don’t have to chase me around."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Maybe if you’d quit acting like a two-year old I wouldn’t feel the need to babysit you!" Wilson snapped ignoring the gay joke House had made.

"I wasn’t aware that I needed a babysitter. I promise Dad, I’ve been on my best behavior."

Wilson scoffed. "Please you don’t just need a babysitter, you need a full time nanny." He watched House nod and sway slightly as he did so. "You have more scotch in you than the whole damn bar. You need to go home and sleep it off, House."

House shook his head. "No, James. Cuddy would have my head on a platter if I left..."

"If you ruin this evening for her what do you think she would do?"

"I’m not going to ruin the event. I mean, after all, TB is a very serious disease, and we should be working harder to prevent it..."

Wilson laughed. "You don’t give a damn about TB."

House nodded. "You’re right. It’s a very boring disease."

"You just think you’re going to somehow be able to make Sebastian Charles squirm. It’s not going to happen House. Go home."

House rolled his eyes bored already. He brought his glass up to his mouth and drank the remaining liquid then looked at the empty glass sadly. He then scanned the room, his eyes settling on Cameron slow dancing in Charles’ arms.

Wilson noticed a frown on House’s face and sighed. "What are you looking at?" he asked curiously.

House shook his head. "Nothing."

Wilson nodded. "Yeah right. Are Cuddy’s breasts popping out of her dress again or something?" Wilson quipped. When House didn’t comment on his quip, he followed House’s gaze. "Oh that’s what you’re looking at." he stated merrily after seeing Cameron. He turned back around expecting to see House scowling; but instead, all he saw was a deeper frown. Wilson sighed sadly. "You know, if you would just stop denying her, she’d be dancing with you instead of him."

"I don’t want to dance with her," House snapped angrily.

"But you don’t want her to dance with him..."

"I could care less who she dances with," House interrupted.

"I know you could care less House, that’s the problem. You care more."

House scowled into his empty glass. "You don’t know what you’re talking about Wilson."

"She’s the only one still not speaking to you. It’s driving you crazy isn’t it?" Wilson inquired.

House shot Wilson a look that clearly said ‘Leave me the hell alone’ and walked off. Wilson sighed again and headed after him.

Read More:

http://bex81385.livejournal.com/16813.html

fic: 5 stages, pairing: house/cameron, house md

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