This morning, a certain sleepyhead (me) fell out of bed. And so this story was born. Thoughts are in italics. Some words that aren't thoughts are italicized for emphasis. And for the record, no, it ain't smut. (I can't write smut even if I try.)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. And the show.

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Of Sofas, Broken Ribs, and Slapped Cheeks

Cameron dragged her feet lazily to the doctor's lounge, hoping someone wasn't dying in the ER at that very moment. She would hate it if she had to rush back to the ER when she was just a couple of steps away from the doctor's lounge. She got only a few hours of sleep last night and had been working nonstop today – attending to all her sick patients – that even she herself felt like she was getting sick.

Not caring if someone was in the doctor's lounge, Cameron opened the door without even knocking. Her eyes were feeling heavy, and all she wanted to do at the moment was sleep – even for just a fast 20 minutes. She approached the sofa with her eyes half-closed.

Without thinking, she threw herself at the sofa, but in a split second on mid-air, she suddenly noticed someone was already occupying and sleeping on it. In another split second, Cameron quickly veered herself just in time before she could make a back dive on the person.

Thud!

"Ow!" Cameron cried out as she landed on the floor sharply on her shoulder. Somehow she still managed to feel guilty for making noise. She didn't want the person on the sofa – whoever it was – to wake up, but she silently hoped that it wasn't House and that he wasn't awake, or he would tease her, and she'd never hear the end of it.

But it was too late, because the person on the sofa woke up. The good news though was that it wasn't House. It was only Thirteen. That was still bad news, however, for Thirteen had never seen Cameron do something clumsy before. So… still embarrassing.

Thirteen groaned at the noise and opened one eye drowsily. "Oh my God! Dr. Cameron!" she exclaimed with eyes wide open when she saw the blonde doctor sprawled and in pain on the floor. Thirteen instantly stood up to help Cameron to her feet.

Cameron, however, had other thoughts in mind. "Great. I tried so hard to not wake you up," she said morosely. How she was still able to think of others at that moment despite being in pain herself is way beyond comprehension.

"What?" Thirteen said, supporting Cameron's balance and helping her sit down on the sofa.

"Oh my God, I think I just broke a rib," Cameron cried out as soon as she sat down.

"What??" Thirteen was alarmed, her blue eyes reflecting her worries. "Come, I'll take you to the emergency room. Can you walk? Or do you need a gurney?" She held Cameron's wrist and tried to pull her up gently.

Cameron took back her hand, dreading going back to the ER. "No no no, I was joking," she said, wincing as her shoulder throbbed.

"And apparently, you're very bad at it, cos a broken rib is not a good joke," Thirteen scolded.

"Sorry," Cameron apologized when she saw the other doctor crossing her arms. Thirteen looked so cute when she's all worried.

"How are you feeling? Should I call a doctor?" Thirteen said before realizing the absurdity of what she said for they were doctors themselves. Stupid. Thirteen made a mental note to slap herself later. "Wh…what can I do for you? Where does it hurt?" she quickly corrected herself.

"No, Dr. Hadley, I'm okay. Just give it two minutes," Cameron said, closing her eyes and holding her hand up to signal wait.

Silence. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Two minutes passed.

"It's okay now," Cameron said as her shoulder stopped throbbing.

"Are you sure?" Thirteen asked, incredulous at how someone could possibly recover from a fall as fast as two minutes. She secretly wondered if Cameron was a mutant. Cameron nodded, and Thirteen sighed in relief and sat beside her. She looked at the older doctor. "What happened?"

"I saw you just when I was about to throw myself on the sofa."

Silence. Cameron looked at Thirteen after not getting any response. Thirteen, apparently, was stifling her laughter and quickly pursed her lips when she saw Cameron looking at her.

Too bad Cameron caught her red-handed smiling. "I'm glad that you're amused, but just so you know, I almost broke my shoulder," Cameron said sarcastically.

"Sorry," Thirteen said, still trying to hold back her laughter and thinking that a broken shoulder is just as bad a joke as a broken rib – though she didn't know if Cameron was telling the truth this time. "You mean you'd rather fall on the floor than on me?" she added. Why would anyone want to fall on the floor? Then she gulped nervously as she realized that what she said must have sounded like she wanted Cameron to fall on her.

Thank God Cameron didn't think that. "Give me a break. If I fell on you, I would've woken you up. I didn't wanna wake you up," she said. She couldn't believe how Thirteen could think that Cameron falling on the floor was more stupid than Cameron waking her up by falling on her. But then again, Cameron fell on the floor and woke her up – so either way, she was still a loser.

With eyes closed, Cameron leaned on the back of the sofa, and held her head in her hand. "Are you okay?" Thirteen asked.

"I'm just tired. Had barely four hours of sleep. Chase kept me awake all night."

Silence.

Cameron looked at Thirteen again after not getting a response. "Oh no no no, it's not what you think!" she said as soon as she saw the look on Thirteen's face that was bordering on either awe or malice. Or both. Thirteen raised her eyebrows, confused.

"I mean, Chase slept over at my house last night. And he can't sleep, which subsequently didn't make me sleep, cos he was watching TV all night in our bedroom," Cameron added, wondering why she had to explain herself to Thirteen. Thirteen never explained herself to anyone, so why should Cameron explain herself to her?

Thirteen nodded, although not sure if she should believe her or not, and shook the thoughts off her head and told herself she had no business with whatever was going on in Cameron's bedroom.

"I don't believe you!" Cameron said, chuckling. "How could you think like that?" she added, amused. She couldn't believe that, for someone so guarded, Thirteen was capable of thinking dirty thoughts. Well, Cameron has yet a lot to believe.

"What? I don't!" Thirteen blushed.

"I'm so not going to argue with you like a five year old. I'm just here to get some sleep," Cameron said, laughing.

Thirteen scooted to the far end of the sofa. "Here," she said, tapping her lap.

"What?" Cameron asked, confused.

"Lie down and put your head here," Thirteen said, tapping her lap again.

Cameron looked at her as if she were crazy. "Are you like okay in the head or something?"

"There's no way I'm moving out of this sofa. So share," Thirteen said, closing her eyes and hugging herself so her hands wouldn't get in the way for Cameron to sleep on her lap.

Cameron couldn't argue. They had to share the sofa. It was just fair since Thirteen got here first. She observed the younger doctor. "Are you… going to sleep like that?"

"I can sleep at any position anytime anywhere. We all have our little talents," Thirteen said, still not moving.

Cameron blushed at the innuendo, which she was sure Thirteen didn't mean to say. "But you got here first. Maybe you should be sleeping on my lap," Cameron said, touched by how generous Thirteen was to actually give up being able to sleep comfortably just so Cameron could sleep… well, comfortably.

"It doesn't matter," Thirteen said, not flinching.

Cameron stared at the brunette and debated with herself if she should do what Thirteen told her to do – that is, to lie down and put her head on her lap, but she couldn't do that without feeling awkward. She would choose to sleep while sitting as well, but she didn't have Thirteen's talent, so there really were only two choices – sleeping on Thirteen's lap or not getting any sleep at all.

After weighing the pros and cons – which was really silly to do as she could find no cons, she finally decided to do it. Thirteen looked pretty harmless anyway. Cameron figured she should just suck it up; nothing is going to stop her from sleeping – on Thirteen's lap or not. "Umm… I'm going to lie down now," Cameron announced.

Silence. Cameron smiled, realizing Thirteen had already fallen asleep. That was fast. This girl really got some talent. Nervous and not sure how she was supposed to lie down, she comfortably positioned herself horizontally on the sofa and slowly put her head on Thirteen's lap so as not to wake her up.

Cameron stared up at Thirteen. Then at the ceiling. Then back at Thirteen. Then back at the ceiling.

She sighed. This is never going to work. There was no way she can sleep at all like this. It felt all too weird – in a good way, of course.

As comfortable as Thirteen's lap was, the situation was just as awkward. The last time Cameron did something like this was ages ago – on Chase's lap. And she could tell that Thirteen's lap was definitely much more cozy. She closed her eyes again and tried to sleep.

She couldn't.

She had spent the last 20 minutes with her head on Thirteen's lap, staring up at the sleeping doctor and was amused at observing her facial features. Thirteen was gorgeous – that much Cameron can say with all confidence – but Cameron had never been this close to her before, and it was only now that she fully noticed how sexy Thirteen's jawline was and how her pouty lips were so… well, kissable.

Cameron quickly erased the thought. Gawd, why did that even cross my mind? She stared at Thirteen's lips. And stared. And stared some more. She secretly wondered if her own eyes were dilating at the moment – it was a fact that pupils dilate when they like what they see. Did she like what she was seeing?

Not understanding what on earth was going on in her own head, Cameron looked away, trying to concentrate on sleeping.

She couldn't.

The first time Cameron ever saw Thirteen during House's search for a new team, Cameron immediately thought she was right for the job. Maybe she thought that, because she saw herself in Thirteen – and House must have thought that as well and might have hired her because she was "extremely pretty" too. Cameron remembered when House approached her in the ER and asked her who she thought he should hire. She wanted to say she wanted Thirteen on his team but knew House would fire whomever she recommended just to annoy her, so she kept her mouth shut instead.

She couldn't help but stare at Thirteen again, and she wondered what it would have been like if they had worked in House's team at the same time. Thirteen being the only female working for House right now and Cameron having been there before, the two women were alike in so many ways – though they didn't know that. It would have been really nice to have Thirteen around 24/7 and to have someone to gossip with behind House's back, but that also meant a possible love triangle with her and Chase too, so Cameron dismissed the thought. And Thirteen wasn't the gossipy type anyway.

Cameron snapped back to reality when she felt Thirteen's hand tremble. She reached for it and held it between her own hands. Thirteen held on tightly. Cameron looked up at her and saw Thirteen's face contort with eyebrows crossed and eyes still closed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Cameron whispered, still not sitting up. She rather liked sleeping – well, not sleeping – on Thirteen's lap. "Hey. Dr. Hadley," Cameron whispered to the younger doctor again as she reached up to touch her cheek gently to wake her up. She got lost for a while there as she absentmindedly traced her fingers on Thirteen's jawline. The feel of Thirteen's cheek sent shivers on Cameron's spine. Thirteen was still frowning, her eyes still closed.

Wapack!

"Ow!" Thirteen instantly grabbed ahold of her cheek. "What on earth was that??" She glared at Cameron who finally sat up to take a good look at her.

"It's called a hand," Cameron said sarcastically, holding up her hand.

"You slapped me??"

"No. I just patted your cheek. With extra effort," Cameron joked. Thirteen looked like she had a nightmare while she was asleep, and she wouldn't wake up. That left Cameron with no choice but to slap her. "Apparently, sleeping in a sitting position can cause nightmares. Your special talent has consequences," she joked again. "Are you okay though?" she asked, worried when Thirteen didn't even smile.

Thirteen rubbed her pained cheek. "Apparently not," she said sarcastically. Surely there are other ways to wake me up that don't involve a handprint tattooed on my face.

Cameron felt guilty as she watched Thirteen rubbing her cheek. Looked like her pat had too much extra effort. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"Here, let me have a look," Cameron scooted nearer to Thirteen and grabbed her face with both hands to have a look at her cheek.

"I'm okay," Thirteen insisted, feeling butterflies in her stomach as she was given a doze of Cameron's infamous TLC. Cameron was the kindest doctor – or even person – that Thirteen had ever met. Sometimes she wished she would get to know the beautiful blonde doctor more, maybe because Cameron was so motherly, and Thirteen had never experienced having a mother that was… well, motherly. But Cameron was only a few years older than her, and her being so near right now – not to mention her hands cupping Thirteen's face – didn't exactly feel like a motherly moment.

Awk. Ward.

Thirteen blushed and held her breath as she realized that Cameron wasn't attending to her cheek anymore but was now staring at her lips. Couldn't be helped. What is she doing??

Cameron's hand suddenly dropped as if it were a sign – like when a coin is tossed and two cowboys turn around and shoot each other.

The distance between them closed. Still couldn't be helped.

Smack.

Their lips met. That still couldn't be helped either.

The kiss was soft and lasted for only three seconds, but the sensation lingered on their lips. The kiss wasn't forced or horny or whatever. It wasn't anything. It was just one of those moments that can't be helped. The two women then spent the next minute staring at each other, realizing the horror of what just happened. The same thought echoed through their minds: Oh my God, what have I done?? Cameron – for initiating the kiss; Thirteen – for giving in to the kiss.

Cameron wanted to die on the spot. I came here to sleep! She hated herself for forgetting what she really went to the doctor's lounge for and for ending up kissing someone instead – not to mention that that someone was a girl. It felt so weird kissing a girl. Cameron had never done it before, but somehow in some strange way, kissing Thirteen felt better than kissing Chase.

On the other hand, Thirteen herself was surprised too. She never saw this coming for she never imagined that Cameron could do such a thing. She actually felt bad that it happened – it seemed like an accident. But most of all, she felt bad for Cameron for Cameron looked like she felt bad it happened. Yes, it was just a short and probably meaningless kiss – but still a kiss nonetheless.

But what bothered both women was how they weren't sure what they really felt bad for – for kissing each other or for actually liking the kiss. They searched each other's eyes, trying to read what the other was thinking.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

What happened threw away every ounce of Cameron's sanity (not so much with Thirteen's though, since kissing girls really wasn't new to her) as it dawned on her that she was deniably attracted to the younger doctor.

"Uhh… I should go," Cameron said, quickly standing up. Suddenly she couldn't wait to go back to the ER.

"Yeah, I… I think you should. Umm… I mean, someone's probably, uhh… dying right now," Thirteen stammered.

"Okay. Thanks for, uhh… sharing the sofa. And, uhh… your lap."

"Sure."

The door shut.

Cameron walked away with her hand on her lips, swearing to herself never to go to the doctor's lounge to sleep. Ever again. She was certain she was not going to be able to sleep peacefully later tonight.

Back in the doctor's lounge, Thirteen's thoughts echoed around the four walls. Awk. Ward.

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