A/N: My first fic for House. Basically, it's pointless (but fun!) tension between House and Cameron. Set in the Cam/Chase/Foreman team days, obviously.

Let me apologize in advance for how ridiculously long that elevator took. ^_^;

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Elevators

Gregory House sat at his desk in his office, playing on his precious Gameboy Advance. As usual, he was purposely ignoring his clinic duties, which had begun five minutes ago. He knew it was only a matter of time before a certain Dean of Medicine came prancing along, cheerily asking him to fulfill said clinic duties.

After loosing a life, he casually looked up from the gaming device and saw none other than Allison Cameron passing by through the glass walls of his office. She wasn't particularly hurried or with the sense of purpose she usually displayed when busy, he observed. On a whim, he decided that harassing his female duckling was a much better way of avoiding the clinic (and Cuddy) that trying to hide in his office.

Popping a few Vicodin into his mouth, he used his cane to get out of his chair and limp to the door. He looked in the direction she went, and saw her unmistakable back still fairly near. Seeing that she was headed for the elevators, he followed her without much thought.

Doctors and nurses on this floor mulled around, chatting to each other. House was uninterested in the conversation, but couldn't really help overhearing what others were saying. "She was so sure it was only the flu." "It was more bleeding than normal, but we stitched him up pretty well." "Those elevators need to be fixed! They're jerky and very slow, took about five hours, look I spilled tea on myself…"

Ignoring everyone, as was his custom, he followed Cameron with his eyes. He caught himself admiring how closely her pristinely white lab coat fit her slender form, the contrast between her dark hair (which was in a pony tail) and the light garment. He assumed she wore her bangs on either sides of her exceptionally pretty face.

House briefly congratulated himself on his excellent choice of employee.

"Cameron!" he barked to her. She stopped and turned around, already knowing who called to her; the voice—especially the tone of voice—was unmistakable.

She waited for him to thump over to where she stood, wondering what he wanted to say to her. There wasn't any recent case they were working on.

"Good morning, Doctor House," Cameron greeted him politely.

He waved the greeting away, but confirmed his earlier assumption regarding her hair. "Are you doing anything important right now?" he asked gruffly.

"Well, I was going to deliver a message to Doctor Cuddy—"

"Didn't you hear me?" he snapped, interrupting her. "I said important. Or don't you catch adverbs?"

"Adjective," she corrected.

House looked at her condescendingly. "I don't care. I'm a doctor, not an English teacher. Anyway, your job isn't to run around playing messenger."

"I wasn't doing anything else," she explained, looking up at his face.

"You are now. And it doesn't include relaying messages. Especially not to Cuddy."

"Speaking of Doctor Cuddy..." she said suspiciously, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in the clinic?"

"I'm flattered that you care so much to memorize my schedule," he said sarcastically.

"It's not my job to help you ignore your clinic hours," Cameron replied, turning his words against him.

"And do you have a problem with that?" House challenged, staring the younger doctor down.

She bravely stared back for a while, but soon realized that it would seem like they were looking into each other's eyes for far too long. Blushing, she caved in and looked down.

"What are we doing?" she asked, resigned. She decided to deliver the message when Cuddy unavoidably cornered him.

He almost smiled, enjoying his victory. Not that he expected otherwise.

"Now, there's a reasonable question," he answered seriously. Cameron rolled her eyes as he thought.

"Let's go," House said finally. Weaving between the various others on the floor, he continued his way to the elevator.

She matched her pace to his. "Where?"

"Cafeteria," he replied briskly. "I'm hungry."

Cameron decided to ignore the fact that her lunch break was in another hour. If he didn't care about his schedule, he certainly didn't give a damn about hers. It's just the way things were.

As they waited for an elevator, she heard the familiar rattle as he retrieved his bottle of Vicodin from his pocket, swallowing two of the pills dry. She looked away, wondering for the thousandth time how much pain he was going though, knowing to hide her instinctive empathy.

The light above one of the elevator doors announced its approach.

"About time," House muttered to himself.

The doors opened, and Chase was revealed to be behind them, wearing a slightly jostled expression.

"House," he said, nodding in his boss's direction. He turned to Cameron. "Doctor Cameron, I wanted to—"

"Cameron's busy," House cut the blond, Australian doctor off. "If you don't mind, we need to catch the elevator." He paused. "Actually, even if you do mind. Move."

Chase rolled his eyes at House's usual lack of manners. "I'll speak with you later, then," he told Cameron. He emptied the elevator, holding the doors for House and Cameron to walk inside.

She leaned against the far (though still quite near) side of the small space while House pressed the button for the main floor.

"By the way," said Chase as the doors began to close. "This particular elevator is a bit jerky. And slow as hell."

Cameron nodded; House ignored him.

When the doors closed fully, House turned to face his pretty duckling, resting his weight on his cane.

Suddenly the elevator went into motion. As they found out, it was more than 'a bit jerky,' as Chase had told them (and House hadn't been paying attention to him, anyway.) It caught House off guard, causing loss of balance. Which in turn caused him to stumble forward.

Fortunately, Cameron was close enough to catch him before he fell. Unfortunately, this left her pinned between the wall and House, though she didn't immediately process it—that instinctive empathy kicked in before anything else had a chance to.

"House, are you alright?" she asked him, looking at his face with concern.

He didn't answer immediately, head up and eyes closed, obviously dealing with the unavoidable pain in his leg.

"Fine," he said at last. "Damn elevator," he added.

House looked down at Cameron's face, noticing their position. He grinned wickedly.

She looked right back at him, also realizing how very pressed they are. She didn't, however, break the eye contact this time.

"Well, this certainly bumps the sexual tension level up a few notches," he noted candidly.

Cameron still stared at him stubbornly, but didn't comment on his open observation.

"What, does my charm render you speechless?" he says, exercising his strong sarcasm muscle.

"Are you sure you're fine?" she asks calmly, returning to their previous conversation.

House, of course, caught the intentional change of subject. "Yep, just fine," he responded. "But you, Doctor Cameron, are avoiding the situation at hand," he told her gleefully. He was right—playing with Cameron was much more amusing that playing with his Gameboy.

His hands—which rested on her shoulders—moved down her arms, which were still outstretched to hold him.

"House," she warned, not really sure of what else to say.

"Yes, Cameron?" he replied, smirking. He continued to feel his way down her arms, tracing the downward slope between her arm and body.

Cameron's heart was pumping so hard that she was sure it would leave a bruise on her chest. Blood pounded in her eardrums, adrenaline coursed through her veins like fire. The hottest areas were the paths his hands had taken down her arms, even though they never touched her skin through her lab coat.

House registered his subordinate's accelerated breathing with great satisfaction. He ran his hands down the curve of her waist, and decided finally that her white coat really was getting in the way. He slipped his hands under the flaps of her open coat, and then slightly under the thin material of her blouse. Her skin was warm. There he finally rested his hands.

Cameron gasped out loud, causing House grin at her again. He leaned his face closer, and for a heart-stopping moment she thought that he was going to kiss her. Instead, he put his lips to her ear, saying, "I know this elevator is phenomenally slow, but it's going to stop eventually, you know."

He withdrew his hands reluctantly to take her wrists, which were still clinging to his arms. He put her arms back down to her sides, and stepped away from her.

Just then, the elevator announced it's arrival with a ding and another jolt, but House was prepared for it this time. He didn't fall again. Winking at the still-flushed Cameron, he turned around, preparing for the doors to open.

Open they did, revealing none other than Doctor Cuddy.

"Of all the luck!" complained House.

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A/N: A bajillion thanks to Nikki (firexatxwill) for not only staying up just to read (and on-the-go beta) this once I finished, but for introducing me to House in the first place. I now understand her obsession. Much love to her.

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