Notes: Just a little ficlet, written for iheartcameron on LJ. Finally came up with a title for it...
Summary: They're both older and a little wiser and that's not such a bad thing. House/CSI crossover. Cameron/Sara.
COMPARING NOTES
by Ijemanja
She watches as Allison moves the ice in her drink around with her straw.
She seemed surprised on the phone when Sara called her, and she doesn't blame her - it's been years since they've talked. When she first knew she was going to be in town, Sara was mostly focusing on the chance to get away - from work, from her life, from... everything. Now, sitting across from her, Sara can only be glad she looked Allison up.
Allison is very much the same - same beautiful face, big eyes, sweet smile. But she's different, too - it's there in the set of her shoulders, the line of her mouth. And Allison's not the only one, of course. They're both older and a little wiser, and that's not such a bad thing of course, Sara thinks.
'So you work with this Dr House,' Sara says, breaking the silence that has settled over them since they sat down. 'And he's 'eccentric' and 'a genius' - your words, by the way, not mine. And there are two other guys on your team?' She smiles slightly. 'This is starting to sound a little familiar.'
'We don't have to talk about work, do we?' Allison counters in an apologetic tone. 'I mean it's not very interesting. Kind of... boring, really.'
She says it in a way that makes Sara think that 'boring' might actually mean 'complicated'. But if there's anything Sara can relate to, it's that.
So she says: 'We can talk about anything.' And there's a tiny answering flicker of relief in Allison's eyes.
'Well then tell me, how are things with you?' she says.
'Things with me?' Sara echoes.
She looks down at her club soda. The ice is almost melted away, the fizz almost gone. It's basically lemon-flavoured water at this point. She thinks of all the other things it might taste of, and shrugs.
'I don't know,' she says. 'My life is pretty boring, too.'
But she remembers a time when it seemed like the only person in the world who would ever - could ever - understand all the things she didn't say, was this woman sitting beside her now, waiting patiently for her to speak.
And there are things that Sara wants to say to her - that she knows college is further away from them both than merely the distance measured in miles or years. That neither of them are those girls who promised to always tell each other everything, to always keep in touch. To never forget what they were to each other, once. She wants to tell Allison that it shouldn't matter.
But what she says is:
'You know that saying - what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?'
And she reaches out and touches Allison's arm. Apart from the slightly awkward hug they shared in greeting, this is the first time they've touched at all. It's only the tiniest of gestures, really, but Allison's eyes flicker from her arm up to meet Sara's steady gaze. And she knows Allison sees it for what it is.
'But we're in New Jersey,' she replies carefully. 'What happens here is real. It matters.'
'Vegas,' Sara says, leaning in just a little closer, 'Is just a state of mind. It's one of those secrets the locals never tell you.'
'You're telling me,' she points out.
'I'm not a local. I'm a decade and a gambling problem short of being anything other than just passing through.'
'That sounds like something my boss would say.'
Allison looks away when she says it, and Sara can hear a touch of bitterness in her voice. And that's different, too. The Allison she used to know didn't have that in her.
'My boss?' she says then, 'Wouldn't bother telling me the truth like that.'
'Maybe he wants to protect you. Sometimes the truth hurts.'
Sara shakes her head and laughs. 'Something like that wouldn't even occur to him. It wouldn't even appear on his radar screen. A lot of the time I don't even...' she trails off then.
Because it's embarrassing, the emotion she can hear in her own voice, and she's not about to start crying all over Allison, no matter how depressing the conversation gets.
'Pathetic, huh?' she finishes.
She looks up when Allison moves her arm, turns her hand over, twines their fingers together.
'We aren't pathetic,' Allison says with a small smile. 'We just deserve better.'
Sara looks up at her, surprised. Then she smiles back, and brushes her thumb lightly against Allison's.
'Yeah,' she replies. It's all she can manage.
When Allison closes the distance between them, a hand on Sara's cheek bringing their lips together, all Sara can think is:
This. This is better.
end