"Cameron." House mumbled as he shifted in his hospital bed. It was midnight and she had been there every night for the past three days; ever since he had been shot. He had tried to get rid of her, and during the days she would do as he said and work her shift as normal, but every night around 9pm she would sidle into his room, and settle down in the chair beside him. Sometime she did paperwork, others she read. Today she was sat with her knees tucked under her, reading a medical journal. Her reading glasses kept slipping down her nose, but she was too absorbed in the article to notice. She jumped at the sound of his voice; he hadn't been talking too much over the past few days.
"What?"
"I need you to do something for me." Cameron returned her attention to the article.
"I already took care of your mail. Go to sleep."
"Not that. I need you to go to my apartment and check my emails. There's...someone who might be worried." Cameron looked at him. He was trying to avoid her gaze but he knew what she was thinking. Thing was, it was nothing like how she thought. "Please." Seeing House looking so vulnerable made Cameron's heart ache.
"Ok. I'll go first thing in the morning" She muttered, returning to the article.
"No, now." House said, returning to his usual tone of voice.
"Who is she?" Cameron set the magazine down on the cabinet beside House and confronted him.
"Cameron. Please, just go and check. It's too hard to explain right now but I need you to do this. Please." Try as she might, Cameron had never been good at saying no to him. She grabbed her magazine and stuffed it into her purse.
"Fine. Door key?" House pointed at the dresser unit opposit the bed. His jacket was lying across the top of it.
"Inside pocket." Cameron reached inside the jacket and found the keys.
"You owe me." she fumed as she left the room.
Cameron sighed as she let herself into House's apartment. The clock on the wall opposite her read "2.13". She had felt her eyelids dropping as she was driving over, and had decided to go via her own apartment first. She had showered and changed, and grabbed a cereal bar before getting back into her car.
She stared around the apartment. It was strange being here, without House. She felt like an intruder, even though she had used a key. It was a tidy apartment, with the piano stood gleaming in it's corner. She dropped her bag on the floor by the door and made her way through the rooms, noting the absence of dirty dishes in the sink, and the fact that Steve the rat had a full bowl of food. 'Wilson must have been here' she thought absently. Remembering what she had been asked to do she went into House's study; a small room with bookshelves lining the walls. His computer sat in the corner, on a retro-style desk. Papers and medical journals were strewn all over the desktop; she had to move them to even access the keyboard. 'Typical House' she thought, pressing the on switch and settling into the office chair while the computer loaded.
"PLEASE ENTER PASSWORD" read the screen. Sighing Cameron's fingers hovered over the keyboard. 'Princeton' she typed. "INCORRECT" Suddenly a phone started ringing, it's shrill noise breaking the peaceful silence of the room. Cameron jumped and stared at it. "WORK", stated the Caller ID. Hesitantly, Cameron picked it up.
"Dr. House's apartment."
"About time. I've been ringing every 15 minutes." House's voice came down the line. Cameron sighed.
"You didn't tell me your password."
"You left before I got a chance. It's Steve." Cameron felt the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile.
"Typical." She answered, trying to sound disdainful. "Goodbye House." She put the phone down on it's cradle, and after a second thought, pressed the "Ringer off" button. She entered "Steve" into the password box and the screen jumped into life. Resisting the urge to search through his private files, Cameron connected to the internet, automatically signing into MSN messenger at the same time.
"24 messages." flashed the screen alert. Cameron sighed, clicking on the link to open the email window. It was going to be a long night.
"You missed it." read the first email.
"Where are you? I called you. You MISSED it." said the second.
"Greg? What's going on."
"If you don't start emailing me I'll never speak to you again."
"Greg. I hate you."
"Please please please just return ONE email."
"I'm worried."
"I called you today. Where are you?"
And on and on it went, 24 messages from the same one person; "Amy". None of them were more than a few lines; mostly asking where House was, and what was going on. The final one, dated just an hour ago, read "Greg. I'm serious. I'm really worried and I know I'm not supposed to call you at work but if you don't contact me, I swear I will. And then where will you be. Please call me. I'm not even mad at you anymore, I just want to know you're ok. Amy." Cameron stared at the messages, her heart beating thunderously. Who was this Amy person? House's girlfriend that no-one knew about? She was contemplating sending a reply to this person; letting her know what had happened. She clicked the "New message" button, but before she could begin typing the messenger alert popped up.
"Amy" has just signed on". A few seconds later the messenger window appeared on the screen.
"Where the HELL have you been?!" flashed up. Cameron blinked. 'What am I supposed to do now?' she thought to herself.
"Greg? I asked you a question, where have you been?" Cameron flexed her fingers.
"This isn't Greg." she typed.
"What?" came the reply.
"I work with Greg, he asked me to check his messages."
"Dr Cameron?" Cameron's jaw dropped and she slid the chair away from the desk. What was going on here? How did this Amy person know who she was?
"Hello? Dr. Cameron? Did something happen to Greg?" Cameron stared at the screen, not knowing what to do. Her eyes were drawn to the corner of the screen, to "Amy's" display picture. She blinked when she realised who was in it. It was House, and a dark-haired teenager, stood together underneath a huge umbrella while sheets of rain poured around them. They were both grinning and he had his arms wrapped around her.
"Who are you?" Cameron typed slowly, pausing before she pressed 'send'.
"My name is Amy House. I'm Greg's daughter."
"Excuse me?" Cameron typed rapidly.
"I'm his daughter. Where is he, did something happen? Where's my dad?" came the quick reply. A thousand thoughts rushed through Cameron's mind. And suddenly one rushed to the forefront; House had specifically asked her to check his emails - he must have known that his daughter, 'his daughter!' would be worrying about him.
"Something happened. He's ok, but he's in the hospital." Cameron worded her answer as carefully as possible, even though she knew anything she said would upset the girl on the other end.
"What do you mean something? Did he come off that stupid bike?"
"He was shot. But he's OK, he's in the hospital and he's doing fine."
"I'll be there tomorrow." Came the answer, and then the alert box signalled that Amy had signed off. Before Cameron had a chance to think the phone rang, startling her so much she nearly fell off the chair. She peered at the caller ID - WORK. She lifted the receiver, sighing.
"Is she ok?" came House's voice. His tone was different to usual; softer, almost kinder and if she wasn't mistaken, slightly apologetic.
"She'll be here tomorrow." she answered, putting the phone back on its hook. Seconds later it rang again, the ID insisting that House was calling. She turned off the computer and left the apartment, the phone ringing loudly behind her as she shut the door.
So there it is - chapter one. Let me know what you think??? Please???