seven letter word for liar 12/19
She stood stunned, this time her mouth remaining firmly shut, but her eyes widening reluctantly. They’d been here before, she tried to tell herself. He said this before. He said this and then he took advantage of her shock in order to swab her mouth for her HIV test. This had to be another trick. house, md. part 11.
xxx
Wilson was an idiot. That was the only rational explanation that Cameron could make out of all of this. She tapped her foot incessantly as she waited outside of that familiar door that held nothing but controversial memories for her. She knocked again, for the fifth time.
“House!” she yelled. “I know you can hear me!”
She heard faint shuffling sounds and concluded that he must have walked to the door, but was still hesitant to open.
“If it helps, Cuddy doesn’t know I’m here,” she offered.
Apparently, it didn’t.
“Cuddy must have told you about the methadone, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. And you’re not as naive as you used to be Cameron. If Cuddy told you, it’s because she knew you would come here. So now that you know you’re a pawn in her evil plan, why don’t you go on home to...”
“Cuddy didn’t tell me,” Cameron insisted, jiggling the handle. “House you’re twice my size, I promise you can take me,” she teased. “Now open up.”
Her humor seemed to take the edge off of his defensiveness. “Wilson,” he said knowingly as he let Cameron inside. “He told you, knowing full well you’d come marching over here, all pouting and whiny and annoy me into agreeing to give up the drugs.”
Cameron’s eyes narrowed, making sure he knew she wasn’t amused by his antics. She eyed his leg. “No cane?” she asked.
“Wilson didn’t tell you that?” House asked in an exaggerated tone. “You two are getting to be regular pen pals now.”
Cameron ignored him. “The only reason I’m here is because Wilson asked me to come by and talk to you,” she said bluntly.
“Meaning you really don’t want to be here,” House nodded. “Well, you came, we talked, now hurry back to your room full of four year old boys with marbles up their noses.”
“He doesn’t want you to leave,” Cameron remarked. “In fact, he’s even okay with the drug. He just doesn’t want you to...”
“Take it up with Cuddy,” House replied, clearly annoyed. “This is all in her hands.”
“Hmm,” Cameron began, studying House’s face slowly. “You don’t seem any nicer.”
House rolled his eyes. “Oh wait a minute. Did Thirteen tell you I was acting differently, and you rushed over here to see if it was true?”
Cameron laughed. “No, I’d never believe it was true,” she added. “Although it is interesting that you haven’t done anything about Foreman and Thirteen pretending to break up.”
House frowned. “I don’t have time to play matchmaker,” he scowled. “If they want to ruin their own lives, let them. Besides, when Thirteen’s happy, she wears considerably less clothing.”
“You okayed an MRI to appease the boy’s parents?” Cameron questioned. “You agreed to wasting time in order to...”
“Oh, what do you have my whole team on speed dial?” House grumbled, walking into the kitchen.
“They’re concerned,” Cameron insisted, following him. “They’re worried that...”
“Foreman’s a good doctor, you know that,” House insisted. “He’ll run the diagnostic team and I’ll go somewhere else. I already told you that it’s out of my hands.”
Cameron nodded. “Are you really not in pain?” she asked curiously.
House shook his head. “Care to dance?” he joked.
Cameron mused this discovery. “It’s just very out of character for you to...” she stopped, deciding to end it there. She crossed her arms. “Well, okay...if you need a letter of recommendation or anything...” she remarked, heading back towards the front door.
“Wait a second,” House began, this time following her. “What do you mean, out of character?”
Cameron grinned, her back to House. She knew that that would work. She composed her face and turned around solemnly. “It’s great that you’re out of pain,” she nodded. “It’s all anyone with your condition could ever hope for.”
“But?” House prompted her.
“But,” Cameron began. “You’re not like most people...”
House snickered. “Is this going to be a speech about how everyone is special in their own precious way?”
“Most people would be satisfied with the lack of pain and decide that nothing was more important than that feeling,” Cameron went on, not budging. “But, most people aren’t brilliant doctors who’ve spent their whole lives building up their reputation.”
“Go on, I’m intrigued,” House replied, yawning dramatically.
“Never mind,” Cameron began, shaking her head.
House groaned. “I’m obviously interested in whatever crazy notion you have in that pretty little head of yours,” he admitted reluctantly.
Cameron smirked. “You’re giving up the most important thing in the world to you in order to live peacefully?” she questioned. She shrugged. “Most people, well, I’d understand them doing so, but you? I guess, I just don’t get it.”
House looked slightly shocked by her words, but he quickly regained his usual lackluster expression. “That’s it?” he asked, pretending to be unimpressed. “You wasted fifteen minutes of my time to tell me that? How thoroughly disappointing.”
“Goodbye House,” Cameron remarked, opening the door. “Oh, and in case you’re at all interested, the patient’s dying. There’s nothing we can do.” She made a point to emphasize the “we”. If he thought she believed he could figure out a way to say the little boy’s life, he’d be forced to look for a solution. She knew how his mind worked.
She shut the door quietly behind her, walking back out to her car. She stared blankly at his apartment for several minutes before shifting the car into drive. She didn’t know if she’d done what she set out to do, but she hoped she’d at least conjured a bit of doubt in House’s faith in his methadone. She wasn’t sure that a hospital without House was one she wanted to work in.
xXx
Cameron pulled open her front door, expecting Chase. He was a little early for their date, but that wasn’t entirely unlike him. He tried to sneak out of work as quickly as possible, and recently he’d been spending more time at her apartment.
“Come on,” House grinned, reveling in her look of surprise. “Admit it, it’s fun.”
“What’s fun?” she asked, genuinely baffled.
“Being right,” he nodded, letting himself into her living room. She started to protest, knowing Chase would be there any minute, but in the confusion of the unexpected visit, she merely shut the door.
She shot him a perplexed look.
“Oh,” he muttered, faking a wounded look. “Don’t play Bambi with me. Come on, say it. You knew that I wouldn’t be able to risk my fantastic reputation in order to get rid of a little bit of pain.”
She grinned. “You’re not leaving?”
“Don’t hug me,” he ordered, thrashing his cane in between them to stop her in case she made any sudden movements.
Cameron eyed him comically. “Now you need protection from me?”
He nodded. “Knowledge is a terrible power,” he snarked.
Cameron watched him anxiously. “Why did you come here?” she said at last. She never questioned him when he came to see her, but now, she felt the urge to know the reason behind his excursion. House didn’t just show up without a purpose. And he certainly didn’t show up to tell anyone that they were right about anything.
“Great bar down the street,” he remarked. “Bartender flagged me, so I figured...”
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Cameron rolled her eyes. “I didn’t really expect you to anyway.”
House’s eyes lit up in delight, a sure sign that she’d regret pushing his buttons. “Cameron,” he began softly, walking up to her. She froze, paralyzed. What the hell was he doing? His eyes bore into hers suddenly and she felt her lungs struggling to draw oxygen into her system. She clenched her fists to keep herself from trembling.
“House, what are you...” she began quietly, eyes rimmed with confusion. She felt unstable and shaky, but she made no move to pull away.
“Cameron,” he began again, gently. “I’m in love with you.”
She stood stunned, this time her mouth remaining firmly shut, but her eyes widening reluctantly. They’d been here before, she tried to tell herself. He said this before. He said this and then he took advantage of her shock in order to swab her mouth for her HIV test. This had to be another trick.
But, he wasn’t faltering.
She felt her lips attempt to part to say something, but she couldn’t recall what she had meant to say. She couldn’t seem to put any of her thoughts into words. She couldn’t even figure out if what she was experiencing was a good or bad feeling. Nothing made sense, least of all, House hovering over her, looking at her like a wounded puppy. In the distance she thought she heard her phone ringing, and the sound seemed to have made its way into House’s ears as well.
And then, he laughed. It started out as a chuckle then grew into a ferocious cackle. Her cheeks flushed with anger. He was definitely back all right.
He muted his laughter into a grin, eyes taunting her. “Is that what you wanted to hear?” he asked curiously. He always had to have the power. She felt sick.
“And you wonder why I don’t miss you?” she replied, pushing him towards the door. “Now leave. Chase will be here soon and you’ll only irritate him.” She was trying her best to return her breathing to a normal pace.
“Just by being here?” he asked innocently.
“Your presence is more than enough to cause people to want to hurt you,” she insisted, still fuming. “Now go and tell Wilson I’m through being his errand boy.”
“Role playing now?” House teased. “Because if you’re going to be the errand boy, then I want to be...”
“House!” she snapped, pure venom in her voice, still unsettled by his cruel behavior just minutes ago. The icy tone of her words even startled her, but she didn’t dare let that show. She just kept eye contact.
He’d flinched. Perhaps her tone surprised him or maybe knowing that he had hurt her finally registered in his brain. Either way, he looked oddly apologetic for a moment, but as always, the weakness passed, replaced by a look of nonchalance.
“Wilson never asked you to come see me.” His sentence hung in between them, her secret revealed.
“I can’t just be worried about you?” she said simply, feeling a bit exposed now that he knew she’d sought him out simply because she had wanted to.
“You’ve never had a problem voicing your concerns in the past,” House told her.
Cameron’s eyes darted away from him. Her phone rang again from the distance of her bedroom. She looked back up at him. “You need to leave.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
She wasn’t sure what he was getting at with his question, but she didn’t have the time to find out. “I need you to leave,” she insisted.
“Well, congratulations again on your victory,” House remarked. “You not only fooled me into thinking Wilson sent you, but you got me back to work, and you’re just keeping me off of drugs left and right.”
He sounded normal. He looked normal. But something in the jerk of his mouth as he spoke the words wasn’t normal. Something she had said or done had changed him. She just couldn’t figure out what.
“I like you better without the methadone,” Cameron said, eyeing her bedroom, the phone still ringing, hoping this short answer would suffice and encourage him to leave.
He shot her a half smile. “Right, because at least this way, I’m still damaged,” he teased. Cameron shot him daggers. He grinned. “So, if you’re ever interested....” he went on.
She hated herself for smiling. But she did, as he knew she would. It was as close as he would ever come to apologizing. It was also as close as he would ever come to thanking her, at least, for the moment.
Inexplicably, it was more than enough.
xxx
Wilson was an idiot. That was the only rational explanation that Cameron could make out of all of this. She tapped her foot incessantly as she waited outside of that familiar door that held nothing but controversial memories for her. She knocked again, for the fifth time.
“House!” she yelled. “I know you can hear me!”
She heard faint shuffling sounds and concluded that he must have walked to the door, but was still hesitant to open.
“If it helps, Cuddy doesn’t know I’m here,” she offered.
Apparently, it didn’t.
“Cuddy must have told you about the methadone, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. And you’re not as naive as you used to be Cameron. If Cuddy told you, it’s because she knew you would come here. So now that you know you’re a pawn in her evil plan, why don’t you go on home to...”
“Cuddy didn’t tell me,” Cameron insisted, jiggling the handle. “House you’re twice my size, I promise you can take me,” she teased. “Now open up.”
Her humor seemed to take the edge off of his defensiveness. “Wilson,” he said knowingly as he let Cameron inside. “He told you, knowing full well you’d come marching over here, all pouting and whiny and annoy me into agreeing to give up the drugs.”
Cameron’s eyes narrowed, making sure he knew she wasn’t amused by his antics. She eyed his leg. “No cane?” she asked.
“Wilson didn’t tell you that?” House asked in an exaggerated tone. “You two are getting to be regular pen pals now.”
Cameron ignored him. “The only reason I’m here is because Wilson asked me to come by and talk to you,” she said bluntly.
“Meaning you really don’t want to be here,” House nodded. “Well, you came, we talked, now hurry back to your room full of four year old boys with marbles up their noses.”
“He doesn’t want you to leave,” Cameron remarked. “In fact, he’s even okay with the drug. He just doesn’t want you to...”
“Take it up with Cuddy,” House replied, clearly annoyed. “This is all in her hands.”
“Hmm,” Cameron began, studying House’s face slowly. “You don’t seem any nicer.”
House rolled his eyes. “Oh wait a minute. Did Thirteen tell you I was acting differently, and you rushed over here to see if it was true?”
Cameron laughed. “No, I’d never believe it was true,” she added. “Although it is interesting that you haven’t done anything about Foreman and Thirteen pretending to break up.”
House frowned. “I don’t have time to play matchmaker,” he scowled. “If they want to ruin their own lives, let them. Besides, when Thirteen’s happy, she wears considerably less clothing.”
“You okayed an MRI to appease the boy’s parents?” Cameron questioned. “You agreed to wasting time in order to...”
“Oh, what do you have my whole team on speed dial?” House grumbled, walking into the kitchen.
“They’re concerned,” Cameron insisted, following him. “They’re worried that...”
“Foreman’s a good doctor, you know that,” House insisted. “He’ll run the diagnostic team and I’ll go somewhere else. I already told you that it’s out of my hands.”
Cameron nodded. “Are you really not in pain?” she asked curiously.
House shook his head. “Care to dance?” he joked.
Cameron mused this discovery. “It’s just very out of character for you to...” she stopped, deciding to end it there. She crossed her arms. “Well, okay...if you need a letter of recommendation or anything...” she remarked, heading back towards the front door.
“Wait a second,” House began, this time following her. “What do you mean, out of character?”
Cameron grinned, her back to House. She knew that that would work. She composed her face and turned around solemnly. “It’s great that you’re out of pain,” she nodded. “It’s all anyone with your condition could ever hope for.”
“But?” House prompted her.
“But,” Cameron began. “You’re not like most people...”
House snickered. “Is this going to be a speech about how everyone is special in their own precious way?”
“Most people would be satisfied with the lack of pain and decide that nothing was more important than that feeling,” Cameron went on, not budging. “But, most people aren’t brilliant doctors who’ve spent their whole lives building up their reputation.”
“Go on, I’m intrigued,” House replied, yawning dramatically.
“Never mind,” Cameron began, shaking her head.
House groaned. “I’m obviously interested in whatever crazy notion you have in that pretty little head of yours,” he admitted reluctantly.
Cameron smirked. “You’re giving up the most important thing in the world to you in order to live peacefully?” she questioned. She shrugged. “Most people, well, I’d understand them doing so, but you? I guess, I just don’t get it.”
House looked slightly shocked by her words, but he quickly regained his usual lackluster expression. “That’s it?” he asked, pretending to be unimpressed. “You wasted fifteen minutes of my time to tell me that? How thoroughly disappointing.”
“Goodbye House,” Cameron remarked, opening the door. “Oh, and in case you’re at all interested, the patient’s dying. There’s nothing we can do.” She made a point to emphasize the “we”. If he thought she believed he could figure out a way to say the little boy’s life, he’d be forced to look for a solution. She knew how his mind worked.
She shut the door quietly behind her, walking back out to her car. She stared blankly at his apartment for several minutes before shifting the car into drive. She didn’t know if she’d done what she set out to do, but she hoped she’d at least conjured a bit of doubt in House’s faith in his methadone. She wasn’t sure that a hospital without House was one she wanted to work in.
xXx
Cameron pulled open her front door, expecting Chase. He was a little early for their date, but that wasn’t entirely unlike him. He tried to sneak out of work as quickly as possible, and recently he’d been spending more time at her apartment.
“Come on,” House grinned, reveling in her look of surprise. “Admit it, it’s fun.”
“What’s fun?” she asked, genuinely baffled.
“Being right,” he nodded, letting himself into her living room. She started to protest, knowing Chase would be there any minute, but in the confusion of the unexpected visit, she merely shut the door.
She shot him a perplexed look.
“Oh,” he muttered, faking a wounded look. “Don’t play Bambi with me. Come on, say it. You knew that I wouldn’t be able to risk my fantastic reputation in order to get rid of a little bit of pain.”
She grinned. “You’re not leaving?”
“Don’t hug me,” he ordered, thrashing his cane in between them to stop her in case she made any sudden movements.
Cameron eyed him comically. “Now you need protection from me?”
He nodded. “Knowledge is a terrible power,” he snarked.
Cameron watched him anxiously. “Why did you come here?” she said at last. She never questioned him when he came to see her, but now, she felt the urge to know the reason behind his excursion. House didn’t just show up without a purpose. And he certainly didn’t show up to tell anyone that they were right about anything.
“Great bar down the street,” he remarked. “Bartender flagged me, so I figured...”
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Cameron rolled her eyes. “I didn’t really expect you to anyway.”
House’s eyes lit up in delight, a sure sign that she’d regret pushing his buttons. “Cameron,” he began softly, walking up to her. She froze, paralyzed. What the hell was he doing? His eyes bore into hers suddenly and she felt her lungs struggling to draw oxygen into her system. She clenched her fists to keep herself from trembling.
“House, what are you...” she began quietly, eyes rimmed with confusion. She felt unstable and shaky, but she made no move to pull away.
“Cameron,” he began again, gently. “I’m in love with you.”
She stood stunned, this time her mouth remaining firmly shut, but her eyes widening reluctantly. They’d been here before, she tried to tell herself. He said this before. He said this and then he took advantage of her shock in order to swab her mouth for her HIV test. This had to be another trick.
But, he wasn’t faltering.
She felt her lips attempt to part to say something, but she couldn’t recall what she had meant to say. She couldn’t seem to put any of her thoughts into words. She couldn’t even figure out if what she was experiencing was a good or bad feeling. Nothing made sense, least of all, House hovering over her, looking at her like a wounded puppy. In the distance she thought she heard her phone ringing, and the sound seemed to have made its way into House’s ears as well.
And then, he laughed. It started out as a chuckle then grew into a ferocious cackle. Her cheeks flushed with anger. He was definitely back all right.
He muted his laughter into a grin, eyes taunting her. “Is that what you wanted to hear?” he asked curiously. He always had to have the power. She felt sick.
“And you wonder why I don’t miss you?” she replied, pushing him towards the door. “Now leave. Chase will be here soon and you’ll only irritate him.” She was trying her best to return her breathing to a normal pace.
“Just by being here?” he asked innocently.
“Your presence is more than enough to cause people to want to hurt you,” she insisted, still fuming. “Now go and tell Wilson I’m through being his errand boy.”
“Role playing now?” House teased. “Because if you’re going to be the errand boy, then I want to be...”
“House!” she snapped, pure venom in her voice, still unsettled by his cruel behavior just minutes ago. The icy tone of her words even startled her, but she didn’t dare let that show. She just kept eye contact.
He’d flinched. Perhaps her tone surprised him or maybe knowing that he had hurt her finally registered in his brain. Either way, he looked oddly apologetic for a moment, but as always, the weakness passed, replaced by a look of nonchalance.
“Wilson never asked you to come see me.” His sentence hung in between them, her secret revealed.
“I can’t just be worried about you?” she said simply, feeling a bit exposed now that he knew she’d sought him out simply because she had wanted to.
“You’ve never had a problem voicing your concerns in the past,” House told her.
Cameron’s eyes darted away from him. Her phone rang again from the distance of her bedroom. She looked back up at him. “You need to leave.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
She wasn’t sure what he was getting at with his question, but she didn’t have the time to find out. “I need you to leave,” she insisted.
“Well, congratulations again on your victory,” House remarked. “You not only fooled me into thinking Wilson sent you, but you got me back to work, and you’re just keeping me off of drugs left and right.”
He sounded normal. He looked normal. But something in the jerk of his mouth as he spoke the words wasn’t normal. Something she had said or done had changed him. She just couldn’t figure out what.
“I like you better without the methadone,” Cameron said, eyeing her bedroom, the phone still ringing, hoping this short answer would suffice and encourage him to leave.
He shot her a half smile. “Right, because at least this way, I’m still damaged,” he teased. Cameron shot him daggers. He grinned. “So, if you’re ever interested....” he went on.
She hated herself for smiling. But she did, as he knew she would. It was as close as he would ever come to apologizing. It was also as close as he would ever come to thanking her, at least, for the moment.
Inexplicably, it was more than enough.