Chapter 6

Both of his hands sprang off of her and she scrambled to her feet. Cameron tugged on the hem of her dress and straightened her coat before reaching her hand down to help House up. He grabbed it and was on his feet seconds later, brushing debris off of his jacket. Cameron went behind him and brushed off his back.

"Any injuries?"

"Does my pride count? And why did you throw yourself in front of me like that? You probably did more damage than if I had just stumbled a little on the curb."

"I know, I'm so sorry. I wasn't thinking."

House glared at her and Cameron felt herself blush. She blushed even more when she recalled where his hands had been. House's glare turned into gawking and she frowned.

"What?"

"I just didn't think you could still blush. I thought I'd beaten that out of you long ago."

"I'm not blushing, it's the adrenaline and exertion from-"

"It wasn't an insult. It's actually refreshing. Nice to see you're still as high-strung as ever, though."

Cameron's glare barely pierced him, she could tell by his smirk. The insufferable man made her want to smack him and kiss him at the same time and it was royally pissing her off. Abruptly, she turned and began stalking back to Wilson's, a feat which was slightly hindered by both the tightness and brevity of her dress and the height of her heels. House watched, amused for a moment, before striding as quickly as he could after her. Even if she was being childish and they were in a relatively nice area of town, Cameron had no business walking around alone in that getup.

"Now what seems to be the problem? We had a little tumble and you're all set to go home? You wuss."

Cameron rigidly pulled herself to a stop. Her shoulders jerking with her breathing she clenched her jaw and felt close to tears. Her plan was falling apart, and in a moment of clarity, she knew she had to abandon the pursuit. House, noticing that she made neither a move forward nor to turn around became slightly concerned. She was either going to slug him or burst into tears. He felt horribly ill-equipped for both situations.

"I'm going back to Wilson's. Maybe we can catch up some other time."

Resuming her steps to Wilson's condo, the tears began gathering in her eyes as House made no attempt to stop her. Years of berating herself for her feelings began crowding in on her thoughts. What in the world was her mental defect? Apparently she had been born with some abnormal chromosome that, when in contact with a Gregory House, caused her to act like a crazy hormonal teenage idiot. Wonderful. Being lost in her thoughts of her own psychosis, Allison didn't notice House following her.

"You know, I liked it better when you were being nice and walking next to me, even though the view of your ass in that dress is better than it is in low-rise jeans. And here I am, being a gentleman and walking you home, even though you didn't buy me any drinks like you promised."

Cameron's heart stuttered as she realized he had probably been staring at her ass for five minutes, apparently appreciating the view, while she was busy trying to…what? They had had a little accident, a human error in the plans, and she was suddenly a little girl who'd had her tea party upset and wanted to run home and cry. Unfortunately, at the thought of crying, Cameron did a very Cameron-like thing and burst into tears. She whirled around and poked a finger hard into House's chest.

"I wanted to help and feel like I was doing something so I came back and no one needed me, and my life is crap, but not because I don't make enough money or have enough friends. I don't even know why I hate it so much except that it's supposed to make me happy and it doesn't. I'm so angry and I don't know what to do with it, or what I'm supposed to do with my life, but I really don't need you being the unfeeling, pompous ASS that you always are in these situations. I just wanted to be a pretty girl with her friends tonight and you were the only one who showed up and you couldn't even go two minutes without being crude. I lied earlier. Taub and his wife didn't want to come out, and Thirteen is in Rome and Foreman has always disliked me, so I knew that if you didn't come with me I'd be alone. And right now, House, I really don't want to be alone."

House looked at her like a man lost and without any sort of map. This was twice in one day he'd made Allison Cameron cry and for him it was a new record. He didn't like it one bit. It twisted his heart painfully when she cried. He'd done it on purpose before, sometimes as an experiment to see if his heart wrenched every time, sometimes accidentally when he was being particularly obtuse about "feelings" and sometimes because he wanted to see how far he could push her before he pushed her away. This was one of those accidental times and, as if the time apart had never happened, his heart took a big stumbling lurch in his chest. Swallowing, House did the only thing he could think to do, the only thing that seemed right. Reaching out, he took her small hand in his and gently held it until she looked at him. A small look of disbelief passed over her face as she glanced at their hands. He tugged her closer and she looked at him, misery clearly written in her eyes.

"Let's just get you home."

And just like that a small shudder worked through her and she didn't feel like she was suffocating anymore. House began to whistle as they walked and she darted a quick look at his face when she realized what tune it was. As they got nearer to Wilson's she began humming along, and feeling inexplicably happy, she sang the last bit aloud.

"I wanna hold your hand. I wanna hold your hand."