seven letter word for liar 11/19
“How did you find me?” House asked, voice muffled from chewing. He sat lazily in Wilson’s chair, legs propped up onto his desk.
“Oh you’re easy to find,” Cameron insisted. “You leave a scent behind...smells incredibly like guilt and arrogance.”
“Really? Because I was going for tortured yet irresistible,” House mocked. “I’ll have to return that bottle of AXE in the morning.” house, md. part 11.
xxx
“Aren’t you supposed to be real big on this whole love thing?” Thirteen asked, looking agitated and weary as she interrupted Cameron’s break in the doctor’s lounge.
“Depends on who you ask,” Cameron insisted, eyes still stuck in a book.
“Yeah, like there’s one person in this hospital who hates you,” Thirteen muttered.
Cameron reluctantly closed her book and looked up. “Seems like there may be one person,” she replied accusingly. She raised an eyebrow.
Thirteen crossed her arms, determined to remain collected, as always. “Why did you tell me to break up with Foreman?”
“To save you from a lot of bickering, annoyances, and most of all, from House’s interference in your relationship.”
Thirteen nodded. “Well, great. We broke up.”
Cameron laughed. “Yeah, sure you did.”
“We did,” Thirteen insisted.
Cameron rolled her eyes. “I know love, right?” she repeated. “This is one of the worst fake breakups I’ve ever seen.”
Thirteen caved. “Taub and Kutner bought it.”
“Taub’s an emotional idiot and it’s doubtful that Kutner cares either way,” Cameron remarked. “Big deal.”
“So you don’t think that House...”
“Not a chance,” Cameron replied. “But he’s obviously not going to do anything about your relationship, so I think you’re fine.”
Thirteen nodded. “But you still think our relationship is a mistake?” she asked slowly.
Cameron wasn’t sure what to make of Thirteen’s question. Thirteen didn’t usually care for the advice of others. She was rarely emotional, so for her to be so worked up and open told Cameron that she must care about Foreman enough to not worry about making a fool out of herself.
“Yes,” Cameron said at last.
Thirteen looked ready to strangle her.
“It’s not personal,” Cameron tried to explain. “In fact, if you two didn’t work side by side, I’d say it was fine. But I’ve been there and...”
“And look at you now,” Thirteen remarked.
Cameron sighed. Hadn’t they already had this argument?
“Chase and I didn’t technically get together until after he was fired,” Cameron clarified. “I’m not worried about Foreman...and he’s a good guy...it’s just that it’s hard to be in a relationship with someone you work with. Your work will suffer, your relationship will suffer, and the people around you will...”
“I’m professional,” Thirteen insisted.
Cameron pursed her lips. She wasn’t understanding any of this. “Look, if you have a bad day, Foreman’s bound to make it worse. If you two have a fight at home, you will bring it to work, whether or not you agree not to. He’ll be around you all the time. Your work life and your private life will no longer be separate.” She paused. “It may not sound like a problem, but it will be...at some point.”
Thirteen unclenched her arms. “It’s a problem for you.”
It wasn’t a question.
Cameron shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“But I...”
“Look, this isn’t about me,” Cameron interjected. “You asked for my advice the other day, so I gave it to you. My stance hasn’t changed, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not hoping it will work out for you. Like I said, it’s not personal.”
Thirteen nodded, finally grasping Cameron’s standpoint. “Thanks,” she said lightly, leaving without so much as a goodbye.
Cameron sank back into her book, rereading the same sentence three times over before realizing she was too anxious to relax again.
xxx
“Why didn’t you go?” Cameron asked, as House bit heartily into his sandwich.
“How did you find me?” House asked, voice muffled from chewing. He sat lazily in Wilson’s chair, legs propped up onto his desk.
“Oh you’re easy to find,” Cameron insisted. “You leave a scent behind...smells incredibly like guilt and arrogance.”
“Really? Because I was going for tortured yet irresistible,” House mocked. “I’ll have to return that bottle of AXE in the morning.”
“Still didn’t answer my question,” Cameron noted, sitting down across from him.
“I don’t remember it,” House lied.
“Cuddy’s ceremony,” Cameron replied. “For Rachel.”
“Rachel?” House sneered. “Is that what they’re calling it?”
Cameron crossed her arms. “It meant a lot to Cuddy.”
“And since when do you care about Cuddy?”
“I care about everybody remember,” Cameron taunted, then sunk back into seriousness. “Apparently, I’m fluid in the language of love.”
“Sounds vaguely like karma sutra,” House jabbed, smirking.
“Deflecting,” Cameron remarked in a sing song voice.
House polished off the rest of his sandwich, swinging his legs back down to the ground. “I had plans.”
“With a hooker?”
“Legitimate excuse.”
“That’s a load of crap.”
“My piano and I...”
“Oh please...”
“My tivo had...”
“If you mention your bottle of scotch next, I’m dropping your cane off the balcony,” Cameron warned him.
House snatched his cane quickly from the top of the desk. “You know, you never used to be so malicious,” he told her, grinning slightly. “I like it.”
Cameron ignored him, holding his stare.
House sighed. “Cuddy didn’t want me there.”
“She did want you there,” Cameron insisted. “She came to me and...”
“Oh fine, I’m a jerk,” House muttered. “Surprised?”
“Kind of,” Cameron remarked.
“Now that’s the Cameron I know...the one who is repeatedly horrified and shocked when people act human,” House remarked.
“You like her,” Cameron concluded.
“Are you my therapist?” House asked. “Because I’ll pay you to go away.”
“You do, don’t you?”
“I don’t like Cuddy,” House said solemnly, and for a minute Cameron almost believed him. “And before you get all sentimental on me, I don’t like you either.”
Cameron rolled her eyes. “That’s been clear since day one,” she replied tiredly. “I just came here to suggest that you apologize to Cuddy. Just tell her that you didn’t think...”
“Why are you so interested in this?”
Cameron shrugged, slightly caught off guard by House’s question. “I’m not. I just...”
“Interesting,” House interrupted with a slight grin.
“What?” Cameron asked, bracing for the worst.
“It’s just funny how eager you are to play matchmaker with me and Cuddy when just last week you were trying to tear Foreman and Thirteen apart...”
“How did you...”
“Oh. I know everything,” House remarked.
“I was just warning them,” Cameron insisted. “And I’m not playing matchmaker,” she remarked, as if the very idea disgusted her.
“So you don’t want me to jump her bones?”
“No!” Cameron remarked, appalled. “I mean...I want you to jump her bones if you want to jump her bones, but not because I wanted you to jump her...” She stopped, embarrassed. “How do you always manage to turn a simple discussion into a ridiculous argument?”
“I bet Wilson fifty bucks that I could make you say jump her bones,” House replied simply.
“I don’t doubt it,” Cameron muttered.
“Are you going to tell me where this sudden interest in Cuddy’s well being came from?”
“Are you going to apologize?”
“I have nothing to apologize for.”
Cameron rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in defeat. “Fine. Be impossible,” she remarked, marching out of his office.
She knew how House’s neglect could sting, so she knew how Cuddy must be feeling. She turned back, catching one last glimpse of a sullen looking House before she disappeared around the corner. Hopefully Cuddy had tougher skin than she once did.
xxx
“I trust you,” Cameron said, pushing through the door to Chase’s apartment.
Chase shut the refrigerator door, bottle of beer in his hand. “Um, and I trust you?” he said, not understanding whatever game they were playing.
Cameron smiled. “I just thought you should know,” Cameron replied, walking into the kitchen. She folded her arms across her chest delicately.
“Any particular reason you felt the need to rush in here and say those three words?” Chase questioned, still waiting for the shoe to drop.
Cameron shrugged. “You said it,” she replied quickly. “I just realized that we hadn’t said those three words before and I wanted to be the first to say them.” Her eyebrow remained poised, feeling out his expression before she opened the fridge and grabbed a beer for herself.
“Oh,” Chase said quietly, but not quite sadly grasping her meaning.
Cameron leaned against the fridge, eyes searching him. “It’s a good thing,” she insisted.
“But Cameron, I already know that I...”
“Stop,” she insisted, shaking her head. Don’t say you love me, she warned him. “I want to be the one to say it,” she remarked. “First. I want to say it first.”
Chase furrowed his brow.
Cameron sighed. “It’s not that I don’t,” she began, in a rushed attempt to explain her reasoning. “I just can’t say it...yet. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t. I just...I’m not ready.”
Chase nodded. “I never pressured you to...”
“I know,” Cameron said, nodding slowly. “But I just thought you should know that one day, I will be ready to say it, but until then...”
“I can’t say it.”
Cameron nodded. “I know. It’s really unfair of me.”
Chase stepped closer to her. “It’s not so unfair,” he insisted, although she knew he was lying. “At least, you’re talking to me about it.”
Cameron nodded. Her eyes flicked upward to his. “I also wanted you to know that I never cheated on you with House,” she began slowly. “That’s what you were getting at when you asked if I slept with him...right?”
Her words hung heavily in the air. Chase already knew Cameron had never cheated on him. Cameron could never cheat on anyone. And Cameron knew he wanted to know if she had ever slept with House. She knew his question meant, did she ever sleep with House before they were together.
“Right,” he said softly, kissing her firmly. He pulled back, checking her expression. Perhaps he’d never know all of her mysteries, but at least now, he knew she was trying.
Baby steps, she told herself.