mind_the_muse :: February :: 5 Days...
Five days you never had and one day you did.
five dates Allison Cameron never had. & one date she actually had.
1. They know this isn’t going work. In fact, she’s not really sure what this is about, but she’s got a feeling it has everything to do with professional power-plays. She wondered what kind of sex could kill you, which turned Chase from cocky to clumsy. He asked her out; she said no, because she’d already said yes to Foreman. She doesn’t want anything more than a professional relationship, and once Foreman gets back to being honest with himself, he’ll come back to that side of things. The only difference today is that they noticed she was a female who has an interest in sex. They’ll never be anything more than colleagues except perhaps friends - they’ll never be Eric and Allison, only Foreman and Cameron. This is just dinner, nothing more.
2. Sebastian Charles asked her to Africa and to dinner. She isn’t going to Africa, but dinner isn’t an ocean away. His plane leaves tomorrow, and he thinks he can persuade her to change her mind. She’s on her second glass of wine, and he’s telling her stories of patients - he knows them by name, cares for them. He’s devoted his life to fight TB, so vested that he even has the disease and is willing to forgo treatment in order to make a statement. She thinks she ought to fall in love with him, but Chase’s words are ringing in her ears - he’s not House. She wants glass number three to prove Chase wrong, but she knows - oh, she knows - it won’t.
3. This is a show of sympathy. He’s been giving her funny looks ever since she broke down over a cancer patient, after she told him about her husband. But now he knows the whole story - the part about Joe that she keeps as her own little secret, tucked away in photo albums and memories that make tears sting the corners of her eyes. It’s late when he calls - he says he had to work late, but she believes he’s lying. He agrees to pick her up; she’s already had two glasses of wine to drown the memories. They’re going to get coffee, perhaps dessert. That’s all this will be. She can’t actually date Wilson. House would never drop it once he found out. Besides, this isn’t really a date - it’s coffee, one cream, two sugars, with sympathy on the side.
4. It’s out of order. Dinner should come before sex. It would’ve if she hadn’t been high when she called him, but then, dinner was never the plan when she called. She’s come down from the meth, taken her anger out on the patient, and crossed out another day with a neatly drawn red X on her calendar. He calls her, to make sure she’s alright. She isn’t alright because she might have HIV, but then that’s what led to getting high and sleeping with Chase in the first place. She meets him for a late dinner, to smooth things over, to make sure that it won’t happen again - that they can go back to being just friends, colleagues. She knows it would’ve been alright without dinner, but she doesn’t feel up to being alone tonight. Chase knows it too, but he’s smart enough to leave it unspoken.
5. He asked her out to prove a point - to prove she’s only interested when there’s something to nurture back to health. She said no, and he smiled so smugly because he thought he won. He claimed to be healthy, but she knows better - they all know better. She says yes, almost as an after-thought. He makes a show of carrying both of their drinks from the bar to the table, even gestures as if to say look, no cane! He takes a sip of scotch and looks pleased with himself. She rolls her eyes, sipping her own drink, not certain what she thinks of herself. This almost feels normal, decidedly less awkward than that one date they went on. She decides she can’t be healthy either if this, if going out for drinks with House, feels normal. He offers to walk her home, and she thinks it’s the first time she’s ever seen him smile and mean it.
+
1. She isn’t sure now which was worse - the date, or the harassment from everyone else. They all acted as if she was crazy, like she was going out with Jack the Ripper. She only agreed to come back if House would take her out on a date. He agreed to dinner, nothing more but nothing less. He gave her a corsage, which she thought was lovely - and, really, an oddly kind gesture because she doubted he would actually put any sort of effort into this. But, he made reservations at Café Spiletto. He compliments her earrings - her mother’s, so naturally she’s touched. He attempts to compliment her shoes, and she sees where it’s going, down the awkward path of small talk. She knows she has one shot at this, so she tells him so. It sort of works out as planned - and by sort of, he doesn’t tell her how he feels about her, but rather the reasons why he assumes she wants to pursue him. He orders the puttanesca; she orders the ravioli. They go back to exchanging small talk over wine. She doesn’t think this will happen again and tries to just enjoy whatever sort of thing this is.
five dates Allison Cameron never had. & one date she actually had.
1. They know this isn’t going work. In fact, she’s not really sure what this is about, but she’s got a feeling it has everything to do with professional power-plays. She wondered what kind of sex could kill you, which turned Chase from cocky to clumsy. He asked her out; she said no, because she’d already said yes to Foreman. She doesn’t want anything more than a professional relationship, and once Foreman gets back to being honest with himself, he’ll come back to that side of things. The only difference today is that they noticed she was a female who has an interest in sex. They’ll never be anything more than colleagues except perhaps friends - they’ll never be Eric and Allison, only Foreman and Cameron. This is just dinner, nothing more.
2. Sebastian Charles asked her to Africa and to dinner. She isn’t going to Africa, but dinner isn’t an ocean away. His plane leaves tomorrow, and he thinks he can persuade her to change her mind. She’s on her second glass of wine, and he’s telling her stories of patients - he knows them by name, cares for them. He’s devoted his life to fight TB, so vested that he even has the disease and is willing to forgo treatment in order to make a statement. She thinks she ought to fall in love with him, but Chase’s words are ringing in her ears - he’s not House. She wants glass number three to prove Chase wrong, but she knows - oh, she knows - it won’t.
3. This is a show of sympathy. He’s been giving her funny looks ever since she broke down over a cancer patient, after she told him about her husband. But now he knows the whole story - the part about Joe that she keeps as her own little secret, tucked away in photo albums and memories that make tears sting the corners of her eyes. It’s late when he calls - he says he had to work late, but she believes he’s lying. He agrees to pick her up; she’s already had two glasses of wine to drown the memories. They’re going to get coffee, perhaps dessert. That’s all this will be. She can’t actually date Wilson. House would never drop it once he found out. Besides, this isn’t really a date - it’s coffee, one cream, two sugars, with sympathy on the side.
4. It’s out of order. Dinner should come before sex. It would’ve if she hadn’t been high when she called him, but then, dinner was never the plan when she called. She’s come down from the meth, taken her anger out on the patient, and crossed out another day with a neatly drawn red X on her calendar. He calls her, to make sure she’s alright. She isn’t alright because she might have HIV, but then that’s what led to getting high and sleeping with Chase in the first place. She meets him for a late dinner, to smooth things over, to make sure that it won’t happen again - that they can go back to being just friends, colleagues. She knows it would’ve been alright without dinner, but she doesn’t feel up to being alone tonight. Chase knows it too, but he’s smart enough to leave it unspoken.
5. He asked her out to prove a point - to prove she’s only interested when there’s something to nurture back to health. She said no, and he smiled so smugly because he thought he won. He claimed to be healthy, but she knows better - they all know better. She says yes, almost as an after-thought. He makes a show of carrying both of their drinks from the bar to the table, even gestures as if to say look, no cane! He takes a sip of scotch and looks pleased with himself. She rolls her eyes, sipping her own drink, not certain what she thinks of herself. This almost feels normal, decidedly less awkward than that one date they went on. She decides she can’t be healthy either if this, if going out for drinks with House, feels normal. He offers to walk her home, and she thinks it’s the first time she’s ever seen him smile and mean it.
+
1. She isn’t sure now which was worse - the date, or the harassment from everyone else. They all acted as if she was crazy, like she was going out with Jack the Ripper. She only agreed to come back if House would take her out on a date. He agreed to dinner, nothing more but nothing less. He gave her a corsage, which she thought was lovely - and, really, an oddly kind gesture because she doubted he would actually put any sort of effort into this. But, he made reservations at Café Spiletto. He compliments her earrings - her mother’s, so naturally she’s touched. He attempts to compliment her shoes, and she sees where it’s going, down the awkward path of small talk. She knows she has one shot at this, so she tells him so. It sort of works out as planned - and by sort of, he doesn’t tell her how he feels about her, but rather the reasons why he assumes she wants to pursue him. He orders the puttanesca; she orders the ravioli. They go back to exchanging small talk over wine. She doesn’t think this will happen again and tries to just enjoy whatever sort of thing this is.