Chapter 17

"Is Doctor Cameron around?"

A young woman at the nurse's station looked up from her computer monitor and instantly smirked at the sight of the familiar brunette.

"Hi Doctor Hadley. I think she's finishing up with a couple of patients... She won't be too long. Don't worry." She said it with such heavy implication that Remy found it hard not to roll her eyes.

Yes, things about her and Cameron have gone around the hospital in less than a day, and it was no secret that the entire ER staff already knew about their relationship. What was funny was that every time Thirteen came around, she'd receive looks and teasing smiles from every other nurse she passed by. She was almost certain that Allison had been receiving this kind of attention as well. But what's important was that they didn't gossip about them in a negative way. Surprisingly, they gushed about them behind their backs. It turned out that the nurses just couldn't stop talking about how cute Doctors Hadley and Cameron were together – how they found the two women absolutely adorable as a couple.

Thirteen waited at the nurse's station and scanned the area nonchalantly as she attempted not to notice most of the ER staff watching her like hawks. Instead of feeling daunted by their attention, she just found them ridiculously silly. At the back of her mind, she wondered vaguely whether Cameron ever gave them crap about not minding their own business. As the head of the ER, she could probably get away with that.

"You know...people usually aren't supposed to loiter around in the ER."

The familiar, teasing voice caught her ear immediately, and Remy looked up to meet smiling blue eyes.

"I'm not loitering," the brunette simply answered. "I'm waiting."

"Well...if that's the case, I think there might be a couple of patients that just came in, if you're interested..." Allison pointed over to a random direction. But Remy smiled and reached out for her arm. She knew the blonde was playing with her, as she always seemed to be doing.

"They're not the ones I'm interested in at the moment...Doctor Cameron."

Allison looked up to gaze into Remy's smoldering eyes, and for a second, she couldn't remember how to speak. With the other woman standing so close... a hand gently grasping onto her arm... and the distinct smell of her perfume in the air... Allison almost lost control and leaned in.

Almost.

Until she remembered where they were and the ambient noise of the ER filled her ears once again. She inched back and gave Remy a playful, scolding look.

"So are you on break yet?" Thirteen keenly asked.

Allison cleared her throat and found her voice again. "I should be. But I'll have to check if there's anything I need to take care of here..." She turned around to face the counter and swiftly noticed that the nurse on duty was smirking slyly at her.

"No, no, Doctor Cameron. Everything is under control right now," the young woman answered eagerly. "I'll page you if something comes up."

Allison rolled her eyes dramatically at her conspicuous behavior, while Remy only grinned even wider. She was quick to take her girlfriend by the arm and drag her away from the ER. "Lunch time."

"So how's your day so far?"

Thirteen poked at her food a little as she pondered for an answer. "Hmmm, not too bad. Ran a couple of blood tests and took some scans for the patient." They ate quietly for a moment. When Remy looked up once more, she noticed a lock of blonde hair out of place. Reaching across the table, she gently tucked it behind Allison's ear. The gesture caused her girlfriend to blush intensely. To be honest, she had yet to get used to these forms of PDA. It wasn't as if she didn't like such intimate attention though – it was quite the opposite. Rather, having a relationship with another woman was just so new to her, and being with Remy made her feel all sorts of funny things in her stomach that sometimes, she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. So she simply sat there all red-faced while the brunette smiled fondly in return.

"Uhm... Thanks..." she murmured shyly.

That only made Remy smile even wider.

"You're too cute, you know that?"

Oh god. Why does she always have to do this to me...? As if Allison's face couldn't get any redder.

They locked eyes for a brief moment – the blonde recovering from her embarrassment and the brunette staring back with a certain fondness she didn't even try to hide.

"Well what do we have here?"

The two doctors broke their gaze and snapped their eyes up in surprise to see a familiar face.

"Mr. Martin! It's so nice to see you again!"

"How have you two been?" he asked, the broad smile never leaving his face.

Allison and Remy turned to each other instantly and shared a look that communicated a thousand things. The younger woman boldly reached a hand across the table to interlace their fingers together. "We've been great," she answered, beaming.

Allison smirked subtly. "And yourself?" she asked. "What are you doing at the hospital?"

"I'm good, I'm good," he replied. "There was a meeting held by a couple of donors that I was interested in attending. No need to worry now." His eyes then rested on their joined hands. "You know, I'm hosting another conference this weekend at the Marriott. We'd love to have you if you 're interested," he hinted.

Cameron gave her girlfriend's hand a squeeze. "We'd love to come!"

"When is it?" Thirteen asked.

"Sunday night, at eight. We have a couple of speakers coming in. I think it'll be good," he answered with an enthusiastic nod.

"I'm sure it will be." "You can count us in."

"Great!" He clasped his hands together with excitement. "I'll be looking forward to seeing you two wonderful ladies then." He gave Thirteen a wink before he turned around to leave. But before he could take another step, he was stopped.

"Wait, Mr. Martin!" He turned back around and looked at the two women curiously.

"Thank you," they both said, in the most grateful way.

The man watched them with a little confusion. For some reason, he felt that they meant something more than simply inviting them to the talk. But because he had an appointment to get to, he decided to shrug it off for the moment. "You're most welcome ladies," he answered, despite not feeling very certain of what they were thanking him for. Without thinking too much about it, he made his way to leave the hospital to get to the next agenda on his busy schedule.

Just as he was walking through the hospital lobby, a hand suddenly came down on his shoulder, and he was stopped in his tracks once again. He looked up, and this time, was surprised to see that the person responsible was the head of Diagnostics. "Doctor House..." he greeted with mixed feelings. He wondered vaguely what he wanted and secretly hoped that the renowned madman wasn't going to cause him too much trouble.

It turned out that he wasn't.

"Thank you," was all he said, with wide eyes and an unexpectedly serious tone.

Mr. Martin stared at him with bewilderment as the doctor said nothing more and casually limped away. Blinking a couple of times, the gay man stood rooted on the spot with confusion written all over his face.

"Hm..."

He turned around and finally left the hospital, feeling the most puzzled he had ever felt in a while.

It was Saturday evening and Allison was over at Remy's apartment, as usual. That was pretty much how they spent most of their weekends nowadays. If it wasn't at Thirteen's place, it was anywhere else together.

The brunette was lazily stretched out on the couch with a book in her hands, while the other woman sat close by on the floor, typing away at her laptop on the coffee table. Like any other week, work at the hospital always managed to drain them dry, both mentally and physically. So both doctors were more than content to spend a day indoors, making some time for themselves, without thinking about the rest of a world for just a while.

Taking a break from her laptop, Allison leaned against the couch and tilted her head back to rest it against Thirteen's abdomen. She looked up to the side to observe the brunette. Her gaze trailed from Remy's furrowed brows, lingered on her sharp grey eyes, and eventually settled onto a pair of pink lips. Particularly inviting lips too.

"What..." The younger woman muttered, obviously aware that she was being stared at.

"What are you reading?" Allison asked, sounding like a small child. It was only around Remy did she act like that.

"Jules Verne. Around the World in Eighty Days," she answered.

"Hmm... Great book."

"Yep."

Allison continued observing her girlfriend, watching her eyes dart from left to right, up and down the pages of the book she was clutching. The blonde then looked back to her laptop for a moment, and then looked back at Thirteen again.

"Rem?"

A brief pause before she got a reply. "Hm...?" With her head still on the brunette's stomach, she felt the low rumble from the vibration of her voice. Allison stared up at the ceiling.

"Do you want to make pancakes for breakfast tomorrow?"

It took another few seconds for her to receive some semblance of a response.

"Uhm... Yeah. Sure, babe..."

Allison frowned. Was she not paying any attention to her at all? She understood that it was nice to have alone-time while they were still together, but it didn't mean that she wanted a book to be prioritized over her. Those short, terse replies she got were quite upsetting. They hadn't been able to spend much time together during the week due to work. But now that they were, Thirteen didn't even bother to make an effort to talk.

But maybe... maybe she was just tired. Maybe she had a really tough week and all she wanted was to spend some of the limited free time she had relaxing with a book. Allison understood that a person like Remy needed a little space from time to time. It was her nature, and sometimes, everyone needs to be alone for a while. Her tiny spark of anger subsided for a moment, though she was still somewhat upset. The ER attending continued to think about their relationship and work, letting her eyes wander all around the ceiling of Thirteen's apartment.

That was until a sudden thought hit her.

"Hey Rem," she called out alertly.

The brunette looked up from her book as she felt like something was coming up, judging by her girlfriend's tone. "Yeah?"

"You know..." Allison began.

"We never used our 10-day vacation that Cuddy promised."

Thirteen widened her eyes a little, then eventually settled back onto the page she left off. "Oh yeah. Completely forgot about that."

Cameron sat still for a moment. The way she said it, her entire reaction, was so nonchalant, as if she didn't seem to care too much about the matter. Allison huffed and turned to face her unresponsive girlfriend. "Aren't you the least bit excited about it?" she asked, no longer able to hide her irritation.

She watched as Remy slowly shrugged, and drew her eyes away from the book. The moment they locked gazes though, Allison felt something come over her – a wave of emotion that mixed relief and an ever-present fondness with a slight bit of annoyance. There was something mischievous in Thirteen's eyes, and Allison was quite familiar with this look... this look that she always sported when she was playing a game with her, or when she had some sort of secret surprise planned out. Almost instantly, the older doctor broke out into a grin – a grin that gradually got Thirteen smiling too.

Allison got up from the floor plopped herself down on Remy's lap unceremoniously, making her drop the book she was holding in the process. But the brunette didn't seem to care too much. Her hands were now eagerly wrapped around her girlfriend's waist, pulling her close. Allison slid her arms around the younger woman's neck and didn't hesitate to lean into her personal space, instantly locking their lips together in a long and slow kiss. Hums of delight were exchanged as they grew lost in their passionately sweet lip-lock. When they finally parted, Allison nuzzled against Remy's neck with a content sigh as they settled into a warm embrace.

"So when are you taking me on vacation?"

- end -

And that's it! Thanks you guys, for patiently enduring this crazy rollercoaster with me. I really appreciate all of your reviews. :)
I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I have writing. Cheers. (And good luck with finals. lol)