(no subject)
Title: Change
Fandom: House, M.D
Characters/Pairings: House/Cameron, Wilson, Cuddy, Chase
Prompt: Alternate ending for Distraction
Summary: "Cameron is worried about you."
It is so rare that Gregory House meets someone who knows him and still genuinely cares about him except for Cuddy and Wilson and maybe even Stacy, nobody bothered to check on him. He's been alienating people since he was three. His smartass comments would always land him into deep trouble, like nurses quitting and other doctors whining to Cuddy.
"Bear in mind Cameron’s probably the only female that can tolerate you."
He couldn't stop thinking about what Cuddy said. Why would a girl like Cameron tolerate him? She took his crap at work because he is her boss but why did she want to date him in the first place? Not that she was forewarned of the what could happen. She's seen him be sarcastic and cutting to everyone. Why take the risk?
"Cameron is worried about you."
Cameron is always worried about something but why worry about him? She said she hated him, hates him, and then she goes to Cuddy because she's worried about him taking something.
When he hired Cameron, he liked the puzzle that she presented to him. Unlike Foreman or Chase , she's not the best of the best and she didn't have the right family connections. She stood out among hundreds of applicants mainly because of her early widowhood and the way she carried herself during her interview. She was neither too tensed nor too egotistical. She reminds him of her father yet she remind him of the goodness of that side of character. He sees so much possibility in her but her greatness is always obscured by her inability to control her emotions. He'd seen her fight for her patient with passion even if she knew that she had already lost to cancer. He'd seen her pretending to be calm even when there was a chance of her getting HIV. She's an enigma to him, like a rubic cube with several missing colors.
___________
"Dr. House!"
House rolls his eyes and slowly turned to face Cuddy.
"Good morning Dr. Cuddy!"
Cuddy rolls her eyes in return. "You are 30 mins late for your clinic duty today. Should I remind you that YOU get PAID to do clinic hours?"
"How much for a clinic free day?" He tries to fish out his wallet.
"What you're going to pay me? Wilson will have fits if he finds out you've been smooching his lunch to pay for clinic duties. Now go to exam room 1, the line is getting longer already."
Chase enters the room. "Chase, you can be me today. Go to exam room 1 and be Dr. House for a few hours." House snarked.
"I am on clinic duties in 15 mins, exam room 2. Foreman is currently occupying exam room 3. Cameron volunteered in the maternity ward."
"What??!! I hired the three of you to do diagnostics and you're all out checking the latest snots?" House contorted his face and pouted at Cuddy. "You turned them into sissy."
"HOUSE! Exam room 1 NOW!" Cuddy almost yelling. House got out of his chair and hobbled towards the door. Before he went out he turned to Cuddy and stuck his tongue out like a three year old kid.
The rest of the day was spent with out patients who either have rotting crotches or hovering moms with sick babies. Wilson dropped by to invite him to dinner.
"Hey! Want to grab some Chinese?" Wilson stuck his head in exam room 1. House was already in foul mood having to spend the day in clinic.
"No, I want to drown myself already. Cuddy made me do clinic the whole day."
"Clinic is not so bad..."
"Yeah, well... doing clinic duties reinforces to me the idea that people are STUPID."
"SHHH!!! You don't want another patient complaining about you again. Your funds for emotional damages have already reached it's quota already."
"Yeah, that's Cuddy's fault not mine. If she didn't insist on this little game of ours I wouldn't be here hurling insults to these so called human beings!"
"Okay... shut up already. How about the chinese?"
"Okay... but you're paying."
"Duh! I'm always paying. See you in 10 mins. at the lobby. Walk faster so Cuddy won't catch you" Wilson snickered.
_______
3 Hours Later.
"I'm drunk"
"Yeah House, you are drunk. What did you expect to happen after downing 4 Vicodin with 1 bottle of Tequila?"
"At least my leg don't hurt"
"Huh! Tomorrow your head will hurt more than your leg." Wilson smiled.
"Why are you smiling?" House turned his head to see what Wilson's smiling all about. "Damn!" House muttered.
"HEY CAMERON! OVER HERE!" Wilson called out across the room.
Cameron walked towards Wilson and she tensed upon seeing House slouched beside Wilson.
"Hey Wilson." She smiled then she turned to House and said politely "Dr. House."
"What no sweet smile for me Allison?" House slurred.
"Don't mind him, he's drunk already." Wilson tried to cover the awkwardness already starting to envelope the three of them. "So you're here with...?"
"Oh, I came with Foreman and Chase but they ditched me for some fine chicks they met a while ago."
"Always the one left behind..." House chanted in Cameron's ears. Cameron rolled her eyes and looked at Wilson. Wilson mouthed "SORRY" to her and she shrugged. Wilson's phone rang and he excused himself.
"So Ms. Niceness Allison, would you mind giving a crippled bastard like me a kiss?" House slurred again. "Am I damaged enough for you?"
But before Cameron could answer Wilson was back already and he look flustered.
"Something wrong Dr. Wilson?" Cameron inquired.
"I need to go... a patient of mine..." He looked at House and said to Cameron "Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure..."
"Good, take him home." Looking at wasted House. "I don't want him passed out in some pavement."
"Hum... o-okay. Sure." Cameron stuttered. Wilson took a few steps and turned to Cameron.
"Please make sure he sleeps in bed, if he sleeps on the couch his leg will kill him tomorrow."
"Sure Wilson. I'll make sure he's in bed tonight." Cameron blushed.
A few minutes later, Cameron was helping House into a Taxi.
"Come on House, just a few more steps and see there's the Taxi." Cameron almost hauling House out of the bar. "See almost there."
Finally after a lot of struggling and cursing from House, they were riding towards his apartment. A few more minutes and they were inside his apartment already. House almost collapsed at the couch when Cameron tugged him with all her might.
"Come on, a few more steps won't kill you. To bed you go..."
"Evil witch!" House muttered.
"You'll thank me for this tomorrow morning when your leg is not stiff and aching." Cameron said in hiss. "God! You're heavy!"
"Are you comparing me to God again?" House mocked her.
"SHHHH!! Shut up will you!?" Cameron tugged him one more time then they both collapsed in his bed. She was pinned underneath him.
"Uhm... House, I can't breathe..." Cameron gasping for air. House managed to haul half of his body up and he kept staring at her face.
"House, stop..." She put her hands on his chest with the intent of pushing him away. But she stopped struggling in what she saw in his eyes.
"You care too much Cameron. You shouldn't care too much about me." Then he pulled himself off her and laid on his back beside her. One arm covering his face the other sprawled on the bed. "I don't want to hurt you... if you continue to do this... you will end up hurt and I can't... bear to see you hurt." House whispered.
"I'm not a child..."
House cut her off "You're not a child yet you insist that the world is fair and that people live happily ever after. There is no happily ever after... never was, never will be. People pretend to be happy, pretend that their life is filled with joy, pretend that their career is enough, pretend that they love their family, pretend that what they have is enough. That's all there is... just pretending. "
"But you won't pretend? You won't even try to pretend? Why? Because you think that if you stop believing or even hoping that there is a happily ever after that you are better off than most of us? Because you like to be miserable so you have to disillusion everyone to be like you?" Cameron raised her head to see his face.
"No, I hold no illusion of a happily ever after therefore I will never be disillusioned. People always leave, they leave when they realize their partner can't change. They leave because death takes them away, they leave because we push them away but always someone always gets left behind. You should know that by now... I won't change Allison. I didn't change for Stacy, I won't change for you." House said in a defeated tone, still not meeting her eyes.
"I didn't ask you to change... I never will." Cameron leaned down to see a better view of his face.
"You say that now, but months from now or years from now... you will resent me for being me. You will resent that I will never be able to dance with you or jog with you. Sooner or later you will hate me for the life that I will impose on you." House finally removed his arms from his face and is now staring at her.
"Is this the reason why...???" Cameron almost couldn't say her name. "Stacy. Is that why you sent Stacy away?"
"Yes." Then he closed his eyes.
House fell asleep.