Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of FOX, Heal and Toe Films, Bad Hat Harry Productions and NBC Universal Television. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes, and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Author's Notes: For those of you waiting for that Stargate story I promised... I AM working on it. But its way out of control and I had this on my computer just waiting for Muse to provide the ending. I think she gave in just so we could finally have something finished!!!!

On a personal note... the Chicago Bears are in the Superbowl! (I'm still in shock) Go Bears!

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Chapter one - The Tableau

Dr. Allison Cameron wasn't really surprised when she woke up on Saturday morning feeling achy and with a low-grade fever. She had probably treated at least two dozen people with the flu in the clinic over the past several days, and before that she hadn't been taking the best care of herself. Between having two tough cases back to back and the anniversary of her husband's death, sleep had been fitful and her appetite non-existent. So she had gone into the flu season run down to start with. Never a good idea. She knew the drill. Plenty of rest, lots of fluids and ibuprofen for the fever and aches. Despite all that on Monday she felt like she'd been run over by a truck, and she was forced to call in sick. She spent the day on the couch watching old movies and was surprised at dinnertime when she got up to make some soup to find that she was feeling dizzy and even worse than she had in the morning. Obviously she'd been unlucky enough to catch one of the more stubborn strains, not the three-day version that the majority of her patients had suffered from.

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Tuesday mornings sucked, and that was his professional opinion, House thought as he walked slowly across the parking garage. Any energy you had managed to store up over the weekend had vanished by the end of the day Monday, and on Tuesday morning you still had to suck it up and drag yourself out of bed with nothing to look forward to but four more days of hell. And this Tuesday there wasn't even any good coffee, which meant another day without Cameron to break up the monotony of the place. Chase verified that she had called in sick again. When Foreman expressed concern, House pointed out that Cameron was a big girl, and unless someone had exposed her to another deadly disease she would probably be just fine.

Foreman had the grace to look suitably guilty, and even offered to go cover Cameron's clinic hours, which House agreed to. Of course he didn't tell Foreman that the clinic hours had originally been his and he had put Cameron's name on when no one was looking.

However when Wednesday rolled around and there was no sign of Cameron even House had to admit to himself a bit of worry. Especially since she hadn't called in. At lunch he lobbied Wilson to stop by on his way home to check on her.

"Why can't you just do it?" Wilson complained.

"Jimmy, have you learned nothing about woman? If I go over she will instantly get the wrong idea, and before I know it she'll be picking out china patterns," House explained.

"But if I go over she won't get the wrong idea about me?" Wilson asked.

"Probably, but then it's your problem," House admitted.

Still, when no one had heard from her by 5:00, James was worried enough that he felt he should stop. His concern grew when there was no response to his knocking. As he stood in the hall wondering what to do next, one of her neighbors arrived. After a brief conversation, he learned that the apartment manager, Mr. Kline, lived down the hall, and he decided to try getting him to open Cameron's door. The man was skeptical at first, but after checking James' id, he agreed on the stipulation that he accompany him in to be sure he didn't steal anything.

A long five minutes later, they were entering the apartment. In the living room there was evidence of a meal left uneaten. The sound of a TV led them into the bedroom where the bed was rumpled but unoccupied. James reached over and turned off the TV, and only then was a muffled moan audible. The two men followed the sound into the bathroom where they found Cameron laying in a heap, barely conscious.

James leapt into doctor mode, checking her pulse and finding it steady if a bit weak. Then he touched her forehead.

"She's burning up. Call 911 and get an ambulance. I'm going to try to bring this fever down before it damages any organs," he told Kline, who nodded and went to the phone.

James meanwhile turned on the shower and waited for the temperature to warm up just a bit. Then he tossed his cell phone to Kline who had just returned.

"Call speed dial #3 and ask for Dr. Cuddy. Tell her I'll be bringing Cameron in shortly," he again ordered even as he scooped up his new patient and stepped into the shower with her.

By the time the EMT's arrived Wilson felt that Cameron had cooled down enough and was glad to have the impersonal help to strip her out of her wet clothes and slip her into a dry robe that had been hanging on a hook next to the shower. By the time they had her on the gurney Wilson had also changed. Luckily he'd had his gym bag in the car, and Klein had gone down and retrieved it for him. Now he jumped into the back of the ambulance. Just as the door was about to close Klein tossed him back his cell phone.

"I programmed in my number. Please call and let me know how she is doing," he yelled as they prepared to drive off and Wilson nodded a quick acknowledgement.

As they drove, he got an update from one of the paramedics on Cameron's vitals. Her fever was still dangerously high, but at least she was getting fluids pumped into her via the IV. Her other readings were all within acceptable levels. She would be ok with care, thank goodness. He actually had to take a deep breath to quell the nausea that rose at the thought of what might have happened if House hadn't badgered him into stopping. Thinking of his friend he signaled to the EMT to see if he could use his cell phone and quickly made a call to House's cell. He caught him on his way home, and told him to turn around and meet him back at PPH. He wasn't surprised to see him already standing there when the ambulance pulled up. He'd probably run every red light to make it back.

Neither of them said a word at first. But their eyes met and Wilson knew he saw fear there before House read Wilson's own eyes, and knew Cameron wasn't in immediate danger. Then House snapped back to action and nodded to the EMT's to start rolling through the vitals. By the time they were making their way into an exam room in the ER Cuddy had shown up and was taking over.

"House, you can stay if you are good, but there is no way you are going to be her primary Doctor. It would be unethical," she stated firmly.

House started to argue but Cuddy cut off any thought of it with one glare. Wilson couldn't help but smile at the thought that it looked like the Dean of Medicine had learned a trick or two from House over the years, and now was using those skills against the man himself. He took pity on his friend though as he caught sight of Cameron's pale features again.

"Come on House. I'll update you out in the hallway while Cuddy takes care of Cameron," he suggested.

Five minutes later James had run through everything that had happened at Cameron's and House was unusually quiet. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what he was thinking. "It's a good thing you nagged me into stopping, House. You probably saved her life," he confirmed.

To his surprise there was no snide comeback. House just looked at him James and shook his head. "Thanks to you James. If you had ignored me like you had every right to, well," he paused as if the other outcome was too difficult to verbalize. "Just thanks."

"I'd say anytime, but we both know you would take shameless advantage of that," James teased.

He got the desired result as the sparkle returned to House's eyes. "I will anyway."

Just then Cuddy came out to give them an update. "She'll be fine. She got dehydrated, and her fever was way too high, but we've got her on an IV and are bringing the fever down. A couple of days of fluids and she should be able to go home. She's going to be pretty weak for a few days though, so I think I'll call her family and see if someone can come stay with her for a bit when she gets out."

House and Wilson nodded, and asked if they could look in on her. Cuddy gave them the room she would be moved into and told them to wait an hour for her to get settled. The two friends by mutual agreement headed to the cafeteria to get something to eat while they waited. Then they went up to Cameron's room and made sure she was set for the night. Although they both claimed to be heading home after that Wilson made a private bet that House would be in the same clothes the next day.

It was a bet he would win easily as House had no intentions of leaving the hospital that night.

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TBC