AN: So I finally finished this! I'll probably write a second chapter detailing the date they organize here (ooh spoilers!) but I can't say when it will be finished. Anyway... enjoy! (Also: no spoilers in the reviews please! I'm only on season three, episode seventeen! Late to join the party, I know!)

House's nimble fingers played over the piano keys. A soft music far too gentle for his sharp tongue filled the room. Playing the piano was easy for him. It always had been. As a child, he had picked up the skill quite quickly, and it had stuck with him for his whole life. If only the other aspects of his life were as simple… the aspects of his life that actually mattered.

The past few days treating Stacey's new husband had brought back memories of when he had first lost partial use of his own leg. He had been prepared to die instead of having them amputate his leg, but Stacey had ignored his wishes and made him go in for the surgery. The surgery that was supposed to be a happy medium, a compromise. He still kept his leg, but it had been left permanently damaged. He despised her for making him do it, but of course her intentions had been good. She had thought it would save him. Give him his life back. But the shitty life he was living now... a life of chronic pain, pills, and misguided pity found everywhere he looked... was that really living at all? Nothing good had come out of his life after he'd been crippled, and he would never really walk again. He knew that. Still, he had to see. Just to make sure.

House tossed his cane across the room. It landed on the carpet five feet away with a soft thud. He took a deep breath, bracing himself for the miracle that he didn't want to believe in. It had been years, and his disability hadn't gotten any better. Only a fool would think that after five years, something would change, and he didn't want to be that person. House had always prided himself on his bitter realism. Still, he had to see. Just to make sure. After all, no one would know.

Slowly, he moved his injured right leg. It throbbed, but he bit down on the inside of his lip and kept going. He was too mindlessly determined to stop now. He took one step with his injured leg. It hurt like all hell, but he did it. A small burst of happiness popped up inside of the sullen doctor, but he wasn't going to celebrate yet. Not until he was really walking.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. House ignored it. He took another step- and his leg buckled underneath him. Pain exploded through his crippled leg, and he grabbed a nearby armchair to break his fall. He couldn't stifle the little shout of pain that he made when he hit the ground, and he heard whoever was outside the door gasp.

"House? Are you okay? I'm coming in!"

Shit. It sounded like Cameron.

A few moments later, his doorknob started to jiggle and then the door swung open. Standing in the doorway was Cameron, holding a hair pin and proving his suspicions right. As soon as she saw him on the floor, her blue-grey eyes widened. She started toward him, but House snapped, "Don't touch me." and she stopped in her tracks.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Well, I just thought it would be fun to sit here on the floor." he replied scathingly. He tried to get back on his feet using the armchair, but the surface of the chair was slippery smooth and he couldn't manage it. Embarrassment flooded through him. He didn't want Cameron to see him as any weaker than she had already seen him. Having to walk with the cane was bad enough, and for some strange reason, he cared what she thought of him.

House felt her hands tentatively close around his arms. "Don't touch me!" he shouted again, whipping his head around to glare at her. His eyes were frigid, and she took a step back, looking alarmed.

"I-I'm sorry." stammered Cameron. "I didn't mean anything by it, I… I just don't like seeing you like this."

House turned back around, not wanting to look at her. He felt thoroughly humiliated.

"Please let me help you." she added.

"I don't need your help."

"I won't think any less of you, I promise." Cameron said. "We all need help sometimes. And you're disabled. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Somehow, her words made him feel even worse. They were the truth. House sighed deeply, and then nodded, still not looking at her. "Fine."

He stared down pointedly at the chair as Cameron's hands returned to his arms. She pulled him to his feet, and helped him down into the armchair. Still, he avoided her gaze. Cameron went over and picked up his cane from where he had thrown it. She passed it back to him. "Here. I assume you'll be wanting this."

He took it wordlessly. Cameron looked down at him for a few seconds, and then sighed. "Okay, well, I suppose I'll be seeing you tomorrow at work." With that, she headed back toward the door. Her fingers played around the doorknob, but did not turn it. She was waiting for something. He wasn't sure what, but he did not want her to go either.

"You're leaving?" House asked.

"I didn't think you'd want my company." replied Cameron honestly. She turned the doorknob, and was halfway out the door when House suddenly called out to her.

"Cameron, wait."

His colleague stopped and turned around. "Yes? What is it?"

House took a deep breath, holding her gaze. He wanted to tell her not to leave, that he was going to be lonely without her, but the words seemed foolish and uncharacteristic of his tendency to push people away. She stared at him, her head slightly tilted. She knew the words that were on his tongue even if he couldn't say them. "I can stay if you want me to." she offered.

Looking away again, he gave her a nod. A small smile formed on her lips, and she came back toward him. She picked up the stool next to his piano and brought it over to where he was sitting in the armchair. "So, what happened?" asked Cameron, sitting down. "Did you just fall? You're usually steadier than that. Are you feeling dizzy?"

House couldn't tell her that he had been trying to walk. She would only give him that pitying smile and tell him what countless doctors had already told him, what he already knew himself. Everybody lies, he thought. "No, I'm not dizzy. I just tripped." he told her.

"Over what?"

"The carpet."

"Why was your cane all the way over there, then?"

"I threw it when I fell."

"Oh, come on, House. We both know that's a lie." Cameron said, raising one eyebrow.

"You think I'm lying to you?" he asked testily.

"Everybody lies." she recited. "That's what you always say. Who's to say you don't live by it yourself?"

House smirked. She had basically read his mind for the second time that night. "Clever girl."

"I know I am. Now, tell me what really happened."

"Fine. You've earned it." He crossed his arms, and looked up into her face. "I was trying to walk."

"You can walk." she replied readily.

"Not well. You know what I mean. Without the cane, without the limp. Really walk."

Cameron nodded, and sighed. "Right, I get it. Um… I suppose it didn't go well?"

"If it had gone well, I'd be running away from this conversation by now." House snapped, and then caught himself. "…Sorry."

"That's okay." Cameron smiled. "You know, no one thinks any less of you because you walk with a cane. They think less of you because you're such an ass all the time."

House paused for a second. Did she really think he cared about what people thought of him? "Thanks, but I don't care what people think of me." he reminded her scathingly. "I care about the pain."

"Right. Well, your leg will always hurt you." Cameron said. "It doesn't matter if you can walk without the cane, it's always going to hurt. And using the cane helps you walk, so that's a good thing, right?"

"Yeah."

Still smiling, Cameron placed her hand on top of his. Her touch was gentle, soft, and warm, but he tensed up. Real human contact was foreign to him now. She seemed to notice this, and her smile faltered slightly. "If you want me to leave now, I'll go. I wouldn't be insulted at all." she offered.

It had been years since anyone had touched him like that, and he was not ready to give away his heart so easily. Still, her smile made his icy walls melt a little bit. He definitely felt something for Cameron, but he wasn't sure how to deal with those feelings. Still, he shook his head. "No, you can stay."

"Okay." Cameron said, and just like that, her smile was back, bigger and brighter than before. House was glad that he was sitting down. Her smile made his chest ache, and he thought he would fall down again.

"So… why were you at my door, anyway?" he asked. "You just had a feeling I'd fall, or maybe you're from the future and you knew it was going to happen?"

She laughed softly. "No, I just wanted to come and see you. You know… after those things I said about you being too screwed up to love anyone… as soon as I walked away, I realized how horrible that sounded."

"I thought you said I wasn't too screwed up to love anyone, I just couldn't love you."

"That's right." She fidgeted a bit, her fingers tracing patterns on his hand. "Either way, I'm sorry. It was still mean."

He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do you still love me, Cameron?"

"No."

Her answer was too quick, too forceful. Everybody lies. Or at least she just had. The crippled doctor laughed harshly. "You are the worst liar I have ever seen in my entire life, did you know that?"

Cameron flinched. "Okay, okay. Well… you know I love you, House. I have no idea why I do, but I do."

Something inside of House stirred, but he ignored it, letting the walls he held around him rise just a little bit higher, protect him a little bit more. "Love works in strange ways sometimes, doesn't it?" he said.

"No, love works in screwed-up ways." Cameron corrected him angrily. "I don't know why I still love you. You're awful. And we already proved that we were not going to work out. Not in that way, at least."

"Right." House looked away. Sometimes he regretted what had happened on their date. Maybe he would have liked to be in a relationship with her. After all, he still got a funny feeling in his chest every time he saw her smile.

"Of course, we could always try again." continued Cameron. "I mean, if you do have feelings for me…"

"I do have feelings for you, Cameron, but I don't know how to deal with them." admitted House. "You know I'm not good at… well, emotions."

She looked up at him, her face slightly flushed. "Well, I can help you sort things out then. Maybe we could try another date?"

He flashed her one of his rare smiles. "Okay."

Her eyes widened slightly; obviously she was not expecting him to say that. "What… really?"

"I said yes, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Cameron nodded. The smile flew back onto her face. "When should we go, then? I have something on Friday night, but other than that, I'm free. What about you?"

The notion that he had any sort of personal life to work around was laughable. His only plans were to pop Vicodin and drink scotch until he was dragged under by their influence, and going out with Cameron outshone this option any day. "I'm pretty much always free, Cameron. Wednesday night?" he suggested.

"That works for me." she said, and smiled. "I'm glad we're going to try this again, House."

House had to stop and force the words from his mouth that his instincts were begging for him to take back. "Me too."

"I really liked the corsage you got me last time. That was really sweet." continued the dark-haired doctor.

"Really? You didn't think it was idiotic?" For someone who had drank away his sense of shame, even House had felt a bit stupid because of that one.

"Oh, no. It was lovely. And very romantic." she added. "I still have it."

"You do?" He was surprised. Their first date had gone miraculously bad, but she had still kept a reminder of it. Cameron was truly a puzzle he would never solve.

"Part of me didn't want to let go." confessed Cameron.

He stared at her, taking in the pinkness of her cheeks, the way she was looking down at her hands in her lap, the sentimental frown tugging at the corners of her lips. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore." Before he could stop himself, House took both of her hands in his own.

"Oh." breathed Cameron, looking faint.

Then he took it a step further. He leaned in. She looked up, and he caught the momentary flash of shock on her face before his lips met hers.

Moments passed. It seemed like everything around them had been frozen, like a paused film. For just that second House forgot all about the pain in his leg, about Stacey, about the bottle of Vicodin stashed in his pocket. No, the only thing that mattered to him was Cameron. Her soft lips, the feel of her hands in his, the stray lock of dark hair that was brushing against his unshaven cheek. When he finally pulled away, she looked just as shocked as she had before he had kissed her.

"I wasn't expecting that." Cameron said.

"Neither was I, really."

"Then why did you do it?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows, trying to mask the shadow of hurt that he felt. "I'm sorry, I thought you would have liked that."

"I did!" she reassured him quickly. "Don't worry. It's okay. I just… wasn't expecting that. So soon, I mean."

"What can I say? I'm a rule-breaking kind of guy."

Cameron smiled, and gave a soft little laugh. "I like that about you." She stood up, and dusted off her pants. "You should clean this place up a bit, House."

"Maybe. Where are you going?"

"It's getting late." she reminded him.

He looked down at his watch. The time read 11:36. "Shit. I didn't notice."

"So I should go." she continued. "I'll see you tomorrow at work, then. And… Wednesday night, of course."

He had gone miles with her, he had kissed her, but somehow it didn't feel like enough. "Who says you have to leave?"

Cameron's face reddened slightly. "House, I'm not staying the night. Not after the first kiss."

"It's not like we've just met. And it's not like I'll call you a whore."

"Someone else will. Chase or Foreman." replied Cameron tersely. "What will they think of me, going after you again?"

House got to his feet unsteadily and limped the few feet that separated them. "They'll understand." he murmured, wrapping his arms around her. Cameron looked up at him, her mouth opening slightly. "I'm quite the irresistible bastard, you know."

She laughed again, and gave a slight nod. "You make a good argument." she said, putting her arms around his waist.

"So you'll stay?"

"Just for tonight." she told him.
"Good." he said. The last thing House remembered was how her stormy blue-grey eyes seemed to smile twice as much as her mouth did, before she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. After that, everything was a blur.