A/N: I've had a few people ask why I haven't done a longer House fic as I have with my Once stories, so this is the beginning of my attempt at a longer, more involved piece. I didn't think I would ever want to write a post-season 3 story, as I'm much more in favour of the original team, but for some reason, it just seemed to work out that way, so I guess this is also a little bit of an experiment on my part. This won't follow the show's storyline particularly, and works off the premise that Chase and Cameron went their separate ways a little after the 'it's Tuesday, I like you' conversations and are now just friends. Enjoy, and please review! :)

"So?"

House grumbles as he limps after the Dean of Medicine; sure that she stalks the halls at an increased pace simply to irk him. He decides not to let a little touch of what he presumes to be premenstrual irritability deter him and proceeds to bark after her loudly; arguing his case to the dark waves that grace the back of her head. When he reaches the point where he suggests a really rather controversial use of the hospital's most advanced MRI machine, he finally gets her undivided attention, and she whirls around to face him; brow creased and a notepad filled with blue scrawl flapping in her hand.

"House, I'm not even going to bother answering that last question! If you want to do the rest of the tests, fine, get consent- legal consent- and ask one of your team to help you, but quit pestering me, I have far too much that needs doing without having to babysit you-"

As if on cue, she is interrupted by a commotion down the hall. The already hectic scurrying of patients in various states of health- and the doctors watching wearily over them- reaches a new crescendo as the doors to the ER swing open and an accompaniment of crashing and wailing comes into play. Frowning with an exhausted sigh, Cuddy hurries over to find the cause of all the noise, House following along behind her for the simple reason that it will allow him another five minutes away from his current patient who seems hellbent on converting him to the Church of Jehovah.

By the time they reach the fire-doors leading to the ER, hoarse yelling has been replaced by a choked growl as a man in his late thirties lies sprawled on the floor beneath a grey-clad security officer. His rage-reddened face is spattered with a spray of scarlet and his eyes speak of a state long past simple inebriation. A panic-stricken nurse huddles in the corner- her face paper white- standing beside a small blonde who mutters reassuringly in her ear.

Recognising his ex-employee, House makes his way over to find out what's just happened, his brow furrowing apprehensively as his eyes fall to a quick-blooming rose at the young doctor's hip. He is halfway across the room when the distraught nurse also clues in on her colleague's injury and begins hollering for help as green eyes blink at her filled with confusion.

"We need some help over here, we need-"

"-Stop that, go get your hand seen to, your finger's bleeding. Cameron..."

House growls quietly, and the blonde glances up at him in surprise. He feels a familiar twinge of unwanted- but not wholly unpleasant- emotion as her eyes light up with his arrival. He moves to stand between the young nurse- now cradling her hand with shaking fingers- and Cameron; touching the blonde's waist gently, eliciting a small gasp.

Regarding House curiously, it isn't until Cameron follows the direction of his stare that she notices the blood soaking the side of her scrubs. Eyes widening, she simply mutters

"Oh."

The greying doctor returns his attention to cool green with a frown; the blonde's lack of reaction to her injury rather disconcerting.

"You can't feel that?"

"I... I can now, I just... It just happened so quickly, and I..."

At first, he thinks she's simply trailing off- her tone almost mistakable for disinterest- but then he recognises the glassy cast to her gaze easily and tightens his grip at her waist, pulling at her gently so that she leans into him as a precaution.

"Hey, come now, no fainting in the workplace, Doctor. Look alive, please."

She offers him a small grin, her pallor an alarming contrast to her expression, and he looks up to find Cuddy watching him with a worried frown as she nods at something the security guard says. Tilting his head pointedly over to one of the examination rooms to the left, the Dean understands his meaning and calls over

"Page Taub or Hadley, tell them to do the tests requested for your patient."

He nods, ushering Cameron towards the door and taking in the way the young doctor leans into him with each alternate step with mild concern.

Cuddy turns back to the security officer, trying to get a handle on the turn of events, while several nurses scurry around collecting strewn bedpans and implements. She knows full well that one of the ER nurses could easily see to the blonde- and she imagines Cameron is aware of this also- but she knows, too, that it has to be House. She sighs and gives a small shake of her head, forbidding herself to even attempt to strive to understand the peculiar relationship that exists between her friend and his ex-employee.

"Lie down."

House's voice is stern as he offloads the blonde so that she perches on the paper-covered bed, but his expression is pensive rather than hard.

"I'm sure it's just a nick, you know how scalpels can-"

"-Get naked and let's see before we jump to any conclusions, Dr Cameron."

She rolls her eyes- her face a little too pale to pull the gesture off as well as she'd like- but she lies back gingerly, her mind still racing with the events leading up to her current predicament and thus allowing her to escape some of the awkwardness inevitable between them.

Despite his sarcastic request, it is House who plucks the pink material of her scrubs up, his eyes steely as he fixates on damning scarlet staining the white cotton of her top. Pushing ruined fabric out of the way, he focuses his attention completely on the deep slash to the blonde's hip, although he will later tell Wilson that his interest had been primarily in the green flash of lace peeking out above the hem of her scrubs.

Pulling over a stool and perching on it casually, he leans his cane against the hard leather of the bed and reaches for a pair of gloves and a handful of antiseptic wipes. He doesn't bother telling her it will sting- she knows- but he does offer her a warning glance before pressing the first wipe to bloodied flesh, his eyes flashing at the choked hiss she lets out through clenched teeth.

"So, what happened?"

"I don't even know, really... He was brought in to us about an hour ago with a head injury. As you probably saw, he wasn't exactly in the most coherent state, so it was the usual, you know, big talk, crass words, mild insults, and the promise of a good, uh, seeing to-"

"-A good seeing to?"

House raises an eyebrow and the blonde blushes awkwardly.

"Don't make me spell it out for you, House. Anyway, none of this is anything new, I mean, it gets to about ten o'clock and most of the drop-offs we get are the same-"

"-And you claim you don't miss working for me."

"I don't miss you."

"Not what I said..."

"Yeah... Well... If you recall, while working for you I was still almost strangled, not to mention I was pulled through a pane of glass and-"

"-Ah but that was entirely your fault! I recall your little stunt, Dr Cameron, just as I recall the reason Shamu found himself pulling the young princess through a sheet of glass had an awful lot to do with the fact she'd deemed it a brilliant idea to drug him."

"You get my point."

"Okay, so, crazypants in there was busy sweet-talking you into a quickie in the janitor's closet, then what?"

"I don't know... Nancy got upset and told him to stop it-"

"-Nancy's Miss I'm-a-nurse-but-I-can't-stand-the-sight-of-blood?"

"She's a good nurse, she's probably just not used to some guy jumping up and trying to wrestle her onto a bed."

"Whereas you-"

"-Whereas I worked for you for three years– nothing will surprise me!... I'd been trying to get some pieces of broken glass out of a wound above his eyebrow, so I'd pulled over the trolley... I kept telling him to pipe down, and he was just being an asshole; laughing because he kept goosing me-"

The blonde rolls her eyes, and House smirks as he imagines she's inwardly muttering 'men...'

"-So, I put the scalpel down because he was moving around so much, and... I don't know... I turned around for just a second, and he was up. He grabbed Nancy, so I tried to pull him off... He must've grabbed the scalpel, I guess, it was all really quick... I pulled him off her, and we both ended up on the floor. I saw that there was blood, and I felt something sharp in my side, but then everyone was yelling, and Nancy was screaming, and then Dick pulled him off me and... Never a dull moment around here, I guess."

House nods, taking in everything the blonde says but never averting his attention from the cut to her side. The incision is deep- deeper than she realises he imagines, although he supposes it would be typical of Cameron to brush off her own pain despite being overly sympathetic when faced with another's- and he applies a small amount of pressure to the laceration; ugly and dark now that he has cleaned up the surrounding flesh.

"Well, I don't think he's nicked anything vital to your survival, but stay put while I thread up a needle."

"It's okay, I can patch it up. You should be getting back to-"

"-If you so much as think about sitting up, I will push you right back down again, Cameron...Don't make me force you into bed."

"House, it's fine-"

"-You see, this is why I don't like training doctors; they complete their fellowship and they think they know better than everyone else-"

"-I never said-"

"-Just trust me, Cameron."

"...I do."

Nodding, House reaches for a syringe and proceeds to prepare a local anaesthetic, but the young doctor shakes her head, looking up at him from the table, her long hair fanning out beneath her.

"Don't use that; I'm still on the clock for the next three hours and I can't work if I can't-"

She yelps as House raises an eyebrow and proceeds to hone in on taut flesh despite her request not to, and sighs as the greying doctor depresses the plunger.

"-walk..."

"Oh well. "

"House..."

Shrugging, he gives her a wry smile as he removes a suture needle from its plastic packaging, cool blue regarding irritable green intensely. He gives the broken flesh just above her hipbone one final swipe with the antiseptic before leaning over her and going to work.

She is surprised at how long he takes to complete his task; years of standing by and watching him perform the same duty providing her with the knowledge that he is more than capable of getting the job done in half the time. Lifting her head in an attempt to peer down at the area of concern, she sighs as he immediately tells her to lie still without so much as glancing up at her.

"Patience... Just enjoy the fact that I'm working so close to the area that makes you scream-"

"- I do not-"

"-Moan then, I wouldn't know, we never got that far."

"Oh, shut up."

House grins, Cameron's grumbling pleasantly familiar, and the pull to her mouth as he works the needle not quite so painful to watch out of the corner of his eye as she engages in their old back and forth. He snips the surgical thread deftly once sure he's finished and rolls his eyes when the blonde mutters 'finally'.

She sits up to inspect the damage and raises an eyebrow in surprise but remains silent. They both know that she's pondering the time he has taken to finish his task and that the reason behind it is the meticulous care taken with each suture; his stitching complex, but reducing the amount of potential scarring.

"...Thank you"

"Don't mention it."

Cameron smiles at him and House offers her a grunt.

"Did you drive?"

"Huh?"

"To work- sit down, I'm not helping you back up if you fall- did you drive?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't think it's the best plan to have you driving back... I'll take you home when I get off the clock. You'll just have to leave your car here-"

"-You don't have to-"

"-I know that, and don't be getting any ideas either. I just don't want to be on the road at the same time as a woman with no feeling in one leg."

"Well... Thanks... Do you think you could grab me my file of paperwork if I'm going to be stuck here a while? I'll just get some of that done-"

"-Absolutely not. You have a chance to relax, and I would consider myself a terrible role model should you be unable to take it!"

Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out his Gameboy and thrusts it onto her lap.

"Beat my best score and I'll buy you dinner."