Trust And All That Jazz

by 2tailswaggin

Coffee...he needed coffee. It was all he could focus on at the moment. And where was Cameron anyway? She was never late. Just another annoyingly preppy quality about her...never late, especially when they were in the middle of a particularly puzzling case, so where was she?

House had been up late the night before. Poring over medical journals, hoping that distracting his conscious would free his subconscious enough to put some of the disturbing pieces together. When that hadn't worked, he settled for a ride on his bike. Hoping a long ride in the country in the hot summer evening would do what reading the medical journals hadn't been able to.

Grabbing his leather jacket and helmet, he headed out the front door and climbed onto his bike. He was reminded to thank himself for buying it well over a year ago.

There was a certain freedom and power that he felt when he'd open up the throttle on a long straight of country road. Yes, he was unprotected and it was dangerous but he still felt in control. Leaning into the occasional, gentle curve - controlling the explosive piece of machinery under him with the slightest shift in his body's weight. Feeling in control was something he needed when cases like this came along.

While the puzzle pieces, or rather the lack of them did nothing but float around his mind, House kept riding. What was troubling him was the constant dangerously high fever with absolutely no other symptoms.

Normally a fever wouldn't be so troubling but the patient had been experiencing temps varying from 103 to 105 degrees for 48 hours with no relief. He knew the boy's body couldn't withstand that kind of heat for much longer.

Lost in the search for any kind of clue they hadn't yet uncovered...anything to stand out, House didn't arrive back at his place until 2.15am. Exhausted, he went to bed but woke every other hour looking at the clock. He finally crawled out of bed realizing that trying to sleep was completely useless.

Taking his time on a long shower, he knew he'd be the first one back in the office if he left this early. But he wasn't making progress on his own. He needed his team. Hoping this case would have everyone back in earlier than usual, House decided to arrive early himself.

++++++++

Leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk, patient's file on his lap, eyes closed and iPod turned up too loud for any other morning, House grabbed for the last bit of rest he could find before opening his eyes to look towards the conference room.

Chase and Foreman had arrived but were looking as exhausted as House felt...sitting at their usual places and staring at the results of yesterday's differential on the whiteboard. Nothing was making sense about this case. A case that should have been so routine that it never made it to their team.

Damn Cameron...coffee...now. House glanced at his watch, 9.10am. If he cared he might start to worry. But he was good at telling himself he didn't care...and he was happy to believe it for now. He just needed coffee; that was all that bothered him...and to get started so they could explain the fever.

He decided things were going to get started anyway, with or without Cameron and her damn late but extraordinary coffee.

House grabbed the file and his body ached as he stood up and headed to the conference room. As he swung open the door, Chase and Foreman both glanced in his direction and mumbled their good mornings. House tossed the file on the conference room table and walked towards the whiteboard.

Foreman picked up the file and started looking it over for any new notes that might have been added since he'd left the previous evening.

"Who needs an immunologist anyway...let's start from scratch, boys, since scratch is all we have," House stated.

Studying the whiteboard, he picked up a marker as Cameron walked through the door.

"Nice to see you could join us today, Dr Cameron." House said in an overly exaggerated perky voice, not turning around. "You see we've got this dying kid down the hall and we haven't a clue what's killing him and I just assumed you'd be the one to care enough about him to show up today," he continued with matter-of-fact sarcasm, preparing to add the new symptoms to the whiteboard.

"Sorry...car trouble," Cameron said, frustratedly, as she dropped her things on the conference table.

She sat down, took a deep breath, presumably in an attempt to refocus her thoughts from her ailing car to the ailing patient and joined them in staring at yesterday's theories; all of which had been shot down with the lack of any lab results to back them up.

House turned and shot her a look. She just stared back; perhaps she didn't want to start with him after the morning she'd already had? Too bad. House glared at her, dramatically blinked his eyes and jerked his head as if to say...'c'mon Cameron'. Oh, he could so be a smart ass without even opening his mouth.

Cameron looked back for a moment, evidently puzzled when she realized Chase and Foreman were looking at her as well. When she finally noticed the empty coffee pot by the sink, she pushed her chair back and warned all three of them:

"I swear...how many combined years of medical school do we have in this room and no one can manage to brew a simple pot of coffee?"

Hands on the table, she stood up quickly pushing her chair behind her. She walked over to the sink, over-exaggerating her motions as if to say 'how hard can this be?', and she got the much needed stimulant brewing.

"Looks like we have pain in the left ear to add to our fever," Foreman informed the team, still looking over the file.

"Read a little further and you'll see our kid has started vomiting as well," House added as he listed nausea to the short list of symptoms.

"The fever would still indicate an infection of some sort," Chase threw out.

"We've had him on Cefpodoxime for 24 hours now and it hasn't relieved the fever - and if the pain in his ear is being caused by an infection, the Cefpodoxime should have taken care of that too. I'm guessing we're looking at something other than just an infection," Cameron countered, arranging her things that she'd thrown into the middle of the table. She still sounded a little irritated.

Foreman tapped his pen on the table and added, "The Cefpodoxime could be causing the vomiting. We should switch him to another antibiotic. If it is an infection, the Cefpodoxime isn't touching it,"

House agreed, "Fever wasn't relieved with the Cefpodoxime - let's try something different."

"Dirithromycin?" Chase interjected.

"That's as good as any," House said. He hated sounding defeated so early in the day.

"Chase, stop the Cefpodoxime and start him on the Dirithromycin. Foreman, until we find something that works, figure out a way to get this kid cooled off. Cameron, run a second level of tests on the blood we took yesterday and the LP. Look for anything we might have missed. Something needs to stand out...soon. This kid's brain is gonna poach if we don't figure out what's turning up the heat."

Looking out the window House added, talking more to himself than anyone else, "How many years of medical school in this room and we can't cure a simple fever?"

++++++++

The morning turned quickly into the afternoon. Cameron was in the lab finalizing the second batch of blood tests when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello ma'am? This is Blagoi's Auto Shop," the caller said in a young drawn out voice with a touch of southern accent.

"Yes...what have you found out?"

"Well, I'm sorry but we ran into a little trouble down here this morning and I wanted to call and let you know we just pulled your car into the bay to look at it. It'll be a few more hours before we'll know anything."

This was not good news, but Cameron decided it wasn't worth it to take it out on this kid who was just doing what his boss told him to do, "Okay...well, please call me when you know something."

"Yes ma'am. Sorry about the delay."

"It's all right," Cameron said as she closed her eyes, wondering why today.

It was the 3rd of July and since folks with normal jobs would be off work tomorrow, friends had invited her to a cook out at their house this evening. It was a big event they hosted every year and Cameron always looked forward to it. It would be full of people she rarely saw, sometimes only on this annual occasion, and she'd planned to spend the evening catching up with everyone.

Wilson stepped into the lab, hands in the pockets of his lab coat, careful not to startle Cameron since he knew she'd not seen him open the door. "Everything okay? How's the kid?"

Cameron laid her phone down and looked at him, "We're still stuck. Lab results all come back negative but this fever is gonna kill this kid or at least leave him permanently damaged if we don't find the cause soon. How are you doing?"

"Okay." Wilson paused. "Slow. People don't often care to schedule appointments with their oncologist around the holidays. They'd rather think about other things," he continued, walking towards Cameron so he could lean on the lab table.

"I can understand that," Cameron answered smiling.

"You have plans for any celebrating?"

"Well, I did. But this case and now my car has decided otherwise. You?" she said as she returned to her test results.

"Julie's family has invited me to their place and then the fireworks tonight. Goodwill offering to ease the tension and bury any hard feelings, I suppose."

That was the funny thing about Wilson; no one could hate him for very long.

"Are you going to go?" she asked, looking back up at him, curious about his answer.

Wilson thought for a second, "Probably. I haven't quite decided."

"Well, if you do...good luck and have a nice time. If nothing else, Princeton puts on a killer display of fireworks," she said, focusing once again on the results, then removing her glasses and peering into the microscope.

He looked at the floor, probably distracted by the inevitably uncomfortable events of the upcoming evening, nodded and agreed, "Yes...they do."

++++++++

"Dr House is an excellent doctor, Mr and Mrs Patterson, and I assure you we're doing all we can to figure out the cause of your son's fever," Chase said, trying to ease the concern of the patient's parents.

Foreman checked the charts. The fever was still hanging around 104 even with the cooling treatments.

"Hey there, kiddo. We'll find something soon...hang in there," Foreman told the boy with a reassuring expression.

The boy looked up at Foreman with weary eyes and tried his best to show he was being brave.

Foreman checked the kid's ice packs, desperately wanting something to happen; any kind of clue. While checking the packs the nurses had laid under his neck, he noticed some discoloration around the boy's left ear.

Foreman looked over at Chase suggesting he take a look.

"Left ear. Isn't that where the pain was presenting?" Foreman asked quietly.

"Yeah...what is this?" Chase responded.

"Definitely something more than an ear infection, that's for sure," Foreman said, still keeping his voice low.

"Didn't you check his ear this morning after we learned he was having pain?" he asked Chase.

"Yeah, I did. There was nothing there," Chase answered, and added, in the same low voice, "We need a sample. Hopefully Cameron can make some sense out of it."

Chase collected the new evidence while Foreman paged Cameron - 'In the lab, stat.' Next he paged House - 'New symptom, kid's room - stat.'

++++++++

"What do we have?" House asked as he limped past the glass door into the patient's room.

"Check out the left ear," Foreman answered, sounding relieved to see House arrive.

Taking the penlight from Foreman's lab coat, House started looking around his ear.

"You're gonna want to look deeper than that. Something's eating this kid's ear," Foreman said still keeping his voice low.

House swapped the penlight for an otoscope to see what Foreman was talking about.

"Oh yeah! We have necrosis. This should definitely tell us something. Does Cameron have a sample of this yet?" House said, excitedly. Necrosis was nasty, all right - but this was a break in the case, any kind of break would do at the moment.

"Yeah, Chase is meeting her in the lab right now."

"Good...let's hope this is what we've been looking for."

House could tell by the heat radiating from the kid that the Dirithromycin hadn't touched the fever yet either.

Still looking at the discolored ear, he added, "I'm not sure this kid will be around long enough for us to try yet another antibiotic on him."

House straightened up, immediately catching the frightened looks of the boy's parents, then turned towards Foreman.

"Let's start getting him into some ice baths to buy us as much time as possible. Getting results from these tissue samples is going to take a while," House said as he left the room.

++++++++

Afternoon turned into evening and Cameron was busy in the lab working with the sample Chase had given to her earlier.

She'd heard back from the auto shop. The car needed a new water pump but they didn't have the part in stock and they'd need to keep it overnight. Cameron was hoping someone, well not just 'someone', would still be around to take her home otherwise she figured she'd just call a cab. Or she could stay overnight in the lounge, this would allow her to keep a close eye on their patient. It wouldn't be the first time, and probably wouldn't be the last.

Cameron couldn't deny the feelings she still had for House. In the past months, while she tried her best to hate him and his arrogant insight into her flaws, she still felt her insides twist up in knots every time he'd get close to her or look over her shoulder to check a lab result.

She had questioned whether or not House had been right about her. She came to realize he had; she had wanted to fix him. But all she'd wanted was to see him happy, open up again, maybe allow some trust back into his life. But the words 'charity case' had stung like nothing else had in a long time. It was then that she decided to let the miserable bastard just be miserable.

But things were different now; her perspective had changed. House had, on a few brief occasions, been sincere and open with her and let her into those guarded parts of himself. His rare outbursts of sincerity caught her off guard. At those times, his true feelings had come to the surface, and Cameron could see there were more of them lying somewhere deeper below his hardened exterior.

But maybe those times when he'd opened up were nothing more than tests to see how she would react. She had more than clearly made her feelings known and House hadn't reciprocated, so Cameron had decided that any next step would have to be his.

She was looking into the microscope when House walked into the lab. Over time, she'd developed a strange sixth sense that always told her when he was around. And sometimes she felt self-conscious being alone with him. This was one of those occasions.

She kept her eyes focused on the samples under her microscope lens until he decided to make some attempt to let her know he was there.

House stood watching her for several seconds before he finally made his presence known, "Find anything yet?"

Cameron didn't look up while she answered, "Not yet. The samples haven't had enough time."

"Planning on being late again tomorrow? If you are, I need to know. I'll stop by Wilson's office for my coffee," House said fishing for answers.

"Not planning on it, no," she answered looking up from her microscope with narrowed eyes, preparing to start sparring with him. It certainly didn't seem the time to ask for a ride.

"Good," he answered, catching her stare. When she realized that reaming her about her tardiness wasn't why he had come to the lab, she softened her look and asked, "How's our patient holding up?"

"Foreman checked on him on his way out and called to say he didn't seem to be getting any worse," he answered, "He did mention while checking his ear again, there was a small white blister forming near his ear drum. Nothing big enough to get a sample of."

"Thought I'd stick around to see if it changed in the next hour and to see what you found out up here," he added.

"Well, nothing here so far. Maybe a couple hours yet," she said, knowing their patient might not have much more than a few hours.

"A blister, huh?" Cameron broke into the silence.

"What if we're headed down the wrong road on this one? What if this isn't an infection at all? Necrosis can present with a venomous bite, and now with the blister forming..." her voice trailed off. She was grabbing at anything that could trigger anymore clues.

"In his ear? And that deep in his ear?" House responded.

"Yeah, I don't know. What are the chances of that, huh?" Cameron said tired and dismissing the idea.

"What can you find in New Jersey that's venomous and small enough to bite a kid near his ear drum?" House said, latching onto her idea. It was fresh and apart from the infection theory that seemed to be going nowhere, it was the only other theory they had.

"Spider?" Cameron responded.

House thought for a moment, "Brown Recluse," he said with a confidence he hadn't showed yet during this particular case. "Small enough and surely venomous enough. Non-specific lab results, presenting with fever, vomiting, and...necrosis. It all fits."

Saying nothing more, House turned and left the lab. Cameron left her tests and followed after him. Once she had almost caught up, which wasn't an easy thing to do, House was definitely the fastest person she knew considering he only had half of a thigh muscle, she asked, "Brown Recluse? In New Jersey?"

"Why not in New Jersey?" House countered, keeping a good two to three paces ahead of her.

"They're not indigenous here. Brown Recluse is highly unlikely and we need the spider to diagnose anything for certain," she said as he hit the down button on the elevator.

Seconds later, they both stepped into the elevator and turned around to face out. Cameron hit the button requesting the second floor and the doors closed.

"Just because they're not indigenous doesn't mean they can't live here. All it takes is for mom to bring home a bag of lettuce from Whole Foods and you start sharing your home with all kinds of unwanted houseguests," House continued. "Come to think of it, not unlike Wilson a few months back."

Cameron snickered lightly and turned to look at House, but he continued to look straight ahead.

The elevator arrived at its destination and they both quickly made their way to the patient's room.

"Have you traveled to the Midwest recently or noticed any small annoying spiders in your house?" House asked the parents as he walked into the room heading straight for the boy and his IV bag.

"No, we haven't traveled recently. We answered that question a couple days ago," the father answered as he stood up from his chair to join House and Cameron by his son's bed. "About the spiders...no, not that I've noticed...Jill?" looking towards his wife who was now sitting on the edge of her chair hoping this excitement was good news and not bad.

"No, I haven't noticed any spiders," she answered, getting up and joining them by the bed.

"Are you thinking he's been bitten by something dangerous?" the dad said, looking at House.

Cameron intervened and answered, as calmly and confidently as possible, "Your son is showing the signs of a possible Brown Recluse spider bite."

"He's been spending a lot of time playing in the basement lately. We recently dug out Stephen's old train set from when he was a boy and Nathan has been playing with it non-stop," the mom explained, as she looked over at her husband, then over at Cameron.

House disconnected the IV dripping the Dirithromycin and replaced it with Dapsone.

"This should take care of it. Have the nurses page me when his fever breaks," House announced as he left the room.

Looking a little stunned, Stephen put his arm around his wife and pulled her close to him. They both looked at Cameron with questioning looks on their faces.

"This is a very likely cause for your son's fever, Mr and Mrs Patterson, and for the discoloration in his ear. We can't fully diagnose a Brown Recluse bite without the spider, but we should know in about an hour," Cameron, said, smiling to reassure them, and watching as the worry on their faces disappeared into hope.

She excused herself and followed after House, "I assume you're staying around to see what happens?" she called after him.

"Yeah, and you?" he answered, not looking back and not slowing down.

"Actually, I don't have much of a choice...car's in the shop and I'm going to have to get a ride," Cameron said, lowering her voice as she caught up with him.

House didn't turn around and simply said, "Pity."

Cameron rolled her eyes and finally managed to catch stride with him.

House looked at his watch and hit the button calling for an up elevator. Seconds later, the doors opened and they entered the elevator once again. Both turning around to face the quiet hallway as the doors closed.

This was one of those routines that someone could do countless times throughout the day and which seemed to have its own protocol depending on who you were in the elevator with.

Chase always hit the button as soon as he entered the doors, oftentimes causing them to close while the remaining passengers tried to board. Cameron always ended up apologizing and glaring at him.

Foreman let her manage the panel while he held the door for anyone else wishing to get on.

House just entered. No helping of patients, and no pushing of buttons. He just waited on her, much like waiting on his coffee in the mornings.

She reached to light the third floor button, assuming they were heading back to the office. But before she could press it, House leaned towards her and pressed the button calling for the fourth floor; which had access to the roof.

"Four?" she questioned, looking at him and lowering her hand to put it in the pocket of her lab coat.

House remained quiet, looking at the closed doors in front of him. Cameron looked at her watch - it was 10.15 - and tried to hide the smile that wanted to stretch across her face.

++++++++

The bell sounded and they stepped off the elevator and walked down the hall. House pulled open the door leading to the roof while Cameron went outside and he followed.

The fireworks were already underway, and they walked to the far side of the roof so they could have a better view. Not that any view would have been bad. The air was dry, unusual for July in New Jersey, and the fireworks were nice and high this year.

They stood in silence, watching the colors light the sky, hearing the pops and cracks, smelling the uniquely 4th-of-July smell of the smoke, and feeling the occasional boom that vibrated off the buildings that surrounded them.

Princeton was beautiful from above. Cameron could see why House retreated up here so often. And now with the colors lighting the sky every few seconds, the sight was just that much more breathtaking.

Watching the sky, House said, "That kid was lucky to have you on his side. Spider bite...unbelievable."

Cameron turned to face him and smiled. She was getting better at reading between his lines these days and figured the compliment ran a little deeper than that, but she left it alone. She didn't need more. There might have been a time when she did, but not anymore.

Her eyes lingered a bit longer, admiring the contours and the strength of his face while the frequent bursts of light cast shadows on him. He was leaning on his cane and his free hand was shoved into the pocket of his jeans.

House continued looking straight ahead. Cameron turned back to watch the fireworks and they stood in silence for a while longer. This too was something that wouldn't have worked so well only months ago, but that would have been her fault. She was learning to appreciate his quiet moments.

++++++++

House looked at his watch, 10.40. It had been 30 minutes since they'd started the Dapsone and he was hoping to get a page soon. If this wasn't the answer, he wasn't sure which direction to go next. Could be a different kind of spider, or possibly a tick or mite. Maybe even the flesh-eating form of streptococcus although he was sure Cameron would have tested for that.

He decided to let it go and wait the rest of the hour out hoping they'd found the answer. Anyway, he was watching Princeton's fireworks alone with Allison Cameron on the roof of the hospital. He could list a dozen other guys who would pay to trade with him right now.

He turned to look at her. She was beautiful even when she was tired, maybe even more so in the sense that she was a little more natural...a little more real. He turned back towards the sky before she could catch him watching her. The smile looked good on her, and he hoped the fireworks would last a good while longer.

Moments later, they were exploding three and four at a time cueing the big finale. Then Princeton fell quiet and you could hear muffled sounds of small pockets of neighborhood gatherings hooting and hollering. Applauding the display.

Cameron looked at him and said, "We should definitely remember this for next year. That was beautiful from up here."

Distracted, House agreed while he looked at his watch, 11.05, then down at his pager. Not that he expected to see anything there but he was starting to get impatient for news. Just as he was clipping it back onto his belt, it began to sound. The amber glow of the display lit the words '214 - fever broke'.

"Nathan?" Cameron quickly asked moving towards him and straining to read the display.

"Yep, he's one lucky kid", he said as he smiled and looked at her as they walked back towards the elevator.

++++++++

Cameron paged Foreman and Chase to tell them the details of Nathan's condition; he'd likely be discharged by morning. It was good news not only for Nathan but it meant they wouldn't need to come into the hospital tomorrow - being a holiday and all.

House used his elbow to push open the door to the conference room where she was sitting and leaned inside. He was more than ready to go; leather jacket on, backpack slung over one shoulder, helmet in one hand and his cane in the other.

"Need a lift?" he asked.

House had been looking for an excuse to get Cameron back on his bike for a while now. The bike already looked hot as it was. He hadn't been disappointed in his choice. Even the nice road rash down the side added to its level of coolness. But he knew that getting a girl on the back of it would raise his status to uber cool.

He'd been thinking about it throughout the day in those times when his mind wandered from solving the kid's fever. Of course he told himself it had nothing to do with it being Cameron. Any hot girl would do.

As he waited for her to answer, for a brief instant he felt like a teenager. He vividly remembered the one ride she'd taken on his bike a few months ago. She'd half-heartedly tried to argue with him about taking the bike in the winter, but she was obviously just trying to hide the fact that she'd been hoping for a ride as soon as she'd seen he'd bought it.

Cameron was having difficulty keeping the excitement out of her voice when she looked up from her pager and answered, "Yeah, I was afraid you were going to just leave me here."

"Can't have you hanging around here with nothing to do. You might get bored and reorganize my office or something else destructive," he answered.

Cameron smirked at him and said, "Give me five seconds to get my things together and I'll be ready to go."

One, two, three, four, five House counted under his breath. "Time's up." he said as he let go of the door and started down the hallway.

Cameron started to laugh, jammed her car keys, pager and laptop in her bag and ran off to catch up with him.

"You really can be a pain in the ass, ya know?" she said, trying to sound annoyed. "Hey, I'm doing this for my office's sake and saving you cab fare. Don't push it," he said, looking straight ahead walking down the hall and handing her his helmet.

++++++++

When they arrived at House's bike, he climbed on first, clipped his cane to the side and started up the engine. Normally, he would have strapped his backpack over both shoulders but he hadn't thought how difficult that was going to make it for a passenger.

Sliding his pack off his arm, he took his sunglasses out of the front pocket, and handed the bag to Cameron. "Any way you can...?" he said, his voice rising over the engine.

She took the pack, opened it up and shoved her own bag inside, then put it over both her shoulders. She fastened the helmet and lowered the visor then climbed on behind him while he put on his sunglasses.

Cameron pressed into him and wrapped both arms tight around his waist. Something about that put a smile on his face.

The extra weight made handling the bike a little different but he quickly adjusted. He liked the feel of her against his back as he made his way through the streets of Princeton. Feeling her tighten her hold when he'd speed up and relaxing a little when they'd stop for traffic. He noticed how she instinctively leaned into the turns and he wondered how many times she'd done this before. Then he immediately wondered with whom.

When they arrived at Cameron's place, House pulled up to her door and turned off the engine. On any other day, living close to the hospital would have been a good thing.

She climbed off, removed the helmet and ran a quick hand through her hair. Handing it to House, he placed it on the tank between his legs. After removing her bag from his backpack she handed it back to him as well and he pulled it over his shoulders while he sat back on the seat.

"Thanks for the lift."

House just nodded, while he slid his sunglasses to the top of his head and looked at her. Cameron was getting a self-conscious expression on her face and looked like she was about to say goodnight when House spoke up, "You like jazz, don't you?" he said, nervously tapping his thumbs on his helmet.

"Yeah."

"There's a great jazz and rib festival going on up at Rutgers tomorrow. Thought I might check it out."

"Yeah?"

"And since having a hot babe on the back of my bike was completely wasted in the dark tonight..." he offered, in an over exaggerating way so she would know he was only being partially serious.

Cameron placed both hands on her hips and shot him a look, "So now I'm not just wall art...I'm bike art, too?" she said, in a tone of mock offence.

"Well, I figured without your car tomorrow you'd just be stuck here."

"I do have friends, you know."

"Yet you didn't call any of them when you needed a ride this evening," House shot back.

He never knew why she got into these little dances with him. She never won, so there was no sense trying. And there was no way she was likely to admit she'd hoped for a ride home on his bike.

"Jazz...sounds fun," she said, catching him by surprise," What time?"

"Noon?"

"Noon it is," Cameron said as she started up the walk to her front door.

"Don't eat. You won't want to miss out on the great ribs and junk food." House called after her while he started the engine.

Not wanting to yell over the noise, Cameron just waved and nodded. She unlocked the door to her apartment and closed it behind her.

House removed the sunglasses from his head and strapped on his helmet as he watched her disappear.

He waited till she'd closed the door before he let a big grin plaster itself to his face.

++++++++

House thought about her on his way home. How maybe there was a little more significance to Allison Cameron being on the back of his bike than he wanted to realize.

He had taken her for a ride once when they had to check out a patient's house. That was all business then, full of tension, both trying to prove each other wrong. This felt more...relaxed.

He wondered about how things would be under different circumstances but he reminded himself that the current situation wasn't changing any time soon. Sometimes he winced at his decision to be so harsh with her when she asked him how he felt about her, but he knew the last thing he needed or wanted was her pity. He needed her to know that. He didn't need a woman treating him like a wounded puppy.

But then he thought about how he'd seen her change during her fellowship with him. In the last year she had even shown signs of standing up to him which had, in a strange way, made her more appealing. Cameron was still the compassionate one on their team; there was no doubt about that. She rivaled the likes of Wilson in that category, but it seemed she'd laid down her nave quest to save the world. Maybe she'd also laid down her desire to save him.

++++++++

Cameron wasn't ready but it was still a few minutes before noon. A friend that she'd missed catching up with at the party last night had called her and it had put her a little behind.

She was comfortably dressed in a pair of worn blue jeans and a faded yellow scoop-necked t-shirt neatly tucked into her belt. She'd pulled her hair back into a ponytail and decided on a delicate but plain gold necklace. She'd debated over wearing her fashionable boots but decided on a comfortable pair of sneakers instead.

She'd just put her toothbrush loaded with toothpaste into her mouth when she heard banging at her door. Wood on wood; that knock was pretty easy to identify.

She made a quicker job of brushing her teeth than she normally would have and stepped quickly to open the door.

"You're early," she said in place of a more formal greeting.

"I'm hungry," he replied with urgency in his voice; cane in one hand, sunglasses in the other. He was dressed in faded black Levis, one of his newer red t-shirts, and his Chucks.

Cameron smiled, grabbed her bag and left her apartment locking the door behind her.

She was glad to see House's backpack sitting on the bike seat next to his helmet. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to manage her purse on the ride up to Rutgers. Wedging it between them was the only option she could think of and she was really hoping for another alternative.

Since her ride home last night, she'd often closed her eyes trying to remember every detail. How safe she'd felt holding onto him. How she could smell the scent of him when they'd stop.

"So who are you wanting to see at the festival?" Cameron asked as she shrugged on his backpack and climbed on behind him.

"Wynton Marsalis plays at four on the main stage," he answered and started the engine.

It was about a 30 minute ride up to Rutgers University. Cameron supposed, besides the fact she was decorating the back of his bike, it also helped him to avoid meaningless and potentially awkward conversation in a car. They'd both had enough of that to last a lifetime the last time they'd been out together. But that was a date, and this was someone to hang with at the jazz festival. He was probably telling himself this was different.

Cameron finished securing her helmet and the visor, found the foot pegs with her feet, reached around his waist once again and settled into him.

House squeezed the clutch, tapped the bike into first gear and gently opened up the throttle as he let go of the clutch. Dragging his feet on the pavement then lifting them to their proper positions after he could steady the bike with their momentum alone.

++++++++

Rural New Jersey was so beautiful, Cameron thought. They passed wildly overgrown bridges and overpasses and passed through a number of small, quaint towns as they headed up Route One. She was glad House had opted for the back roads rather than the highway.

She felt the heat of the July sun against her back, but the air was still dry and it cooled them as House opened it up on the straight sections of the road.

Cameron wasn't sure if he was trying to scare her or impress her, but she was enjoying it just the same.

Growing up, Cameron had an uncle that rode a Ducati. He was one of those fun uncles that never got married, never really grew up, and always treated Cameron like his cool younger sister. She always wanted him to give her rides, but her parents had raised her with enough manners to know she shouldn't always be asking. But he knew this, and he always went out of his way to take her out on it whenever he could.

She smiled when she recalled that as a kid she'd never thought it could get any better but it certainly had.

++++++++

Once they arrived on campus, House took no time heading towards the food vendors. They weren't hard to find. You could see the smoke and smell the roasting meat from the pits from hundreds of feet away. Some of the best BBQ houses in the state, even in the country, showed up at these festivals.

House always thought winners were overrated so he never stopped at the first, second, or third place booths. He settled on Micky's BBQ Pit, proudly displaying an 'honorable mention' ribbon, and ordered up a half rack of pork ribs. Cameron did the same. House laid down a twenty and Cameron grabbed as many napkins as she could stuff in her pocket and both plates of ribs while House waited for his change.

Looking for a place to sit, they passed a lemon shake-up stand and he made a mental note to send Cameron back to get them a couple drinks once they found a place to put their food down.

They found a shady park bench within earshot of some local talent that was playing on one of the side stages. House sat down and Cameron placed the ribs on the seat next to him.

"You like lemonade?" she asked as she unloaded the crumpled napkins from her pocket and handed them to him.

"What kind of question is that? Does a bear shit in the woods?" he answered, immediately feeling stupid for using such an 80s phrase on her. But he grinned, trying to let her know he was only being the pain in the ass that she so affectionately called him.

Cameron first grinned and then smirked at his unnecessary rudeness as she turned to walk away towards the shake-up stand. House watched her retreat and gave himself a mental pep-talk because seeing her from a distance, where he could take all of her in, made him begin to feel unworthy of being seen with such a young and beautiful woman.

He suddenly became conscious of his cane so he propped it against the side of the bench as he placed a plate of ribs in his lap. House sunk his teeth into the first row of rib meat; smearing BBQ sauce on his chin.

Cameron soon returned with a big yellow cup in each hand. She gave one to House as she picked up her plate of ribs and sat down beside him.

"Thanks...", he mumbled into his drink with his mouth still full, before taking his first big slurp.

A little surprised at his feeble attempt at some manners, she smiled and answered, "You're welcome...thanks for the ribs."

House just nodded at her as he continued eating.

"You've got a little BBQ sauce on your..." said Cameron, pointing out the smeared sauce on House's chin. She handed him a napkin.

House wiped the sticky sauce off his chin. "Better?"

"You got it," she said, smiling.

They sat there together enjoying the cool sweet lemonade, some ribs that House thought were definitely worthy of first prize, and the young musician screaming away on his soprano saxophone. House had to admit to himself that he was glad he'd invited her. ++++++++

It was only around 2pm, and it would be another two hours before Wynton Marsalis would take the stage. So they decided to walk for a bit and check out more of the other acts that were playing.

They could hear a band that was featuring a piano playing off in the distance so they headed in its direction when Cameron heard someone calling her name.

House and Cameron both stopped and turned to look. There was a girl dressed in cut-off shorts and a white tank top with short, spiked, sculpted, bottle-blonde hair walking towards them with a tall, attractive guy following her.

"Liz!" Cameron said with a pleased and surprised look on her face.

"Hey...how are you?" the girl asked enthusiastically.

"Great...you? How long has it been...? Cameron returned.

"No idea! Don't wanna think about it!" the girl laughed in response.

The guy that had been following her offered his hand to Cameron and introduced himself.

"Hi. I'm Bradley"

"Oh...I'm sorry. Allison...this is Bradley, my fiance."

Cameron took his hand, shook it firmly, and smiled, "Nice to meet you."

She thought for a moment. She obviously had to introduce House now, and she was struggling. Did she call him Greg, or House? She wasn't sure, but she never called him Greg. She wondered if Dr House was appropriate or way too formal. She finally settled on House, but to her surprise he ended the dilemma for her; probably as much for his sake as hers.

"Greg," he said, scowling slightly at Cameron as he shifted his cane to his left hand and offered his right one to Liz. Liz accepted the offer then House repeated the gesture for Bradley.

"Nice to meet you," he offered politely, acting like he was distracted elsewhere, leaning on his cane which was now placed directly in front of him, both hands resting on the handle.

Cameron finally spoke up again and said, "We work together," while she shot House a nervous and apologetic grin only to find him looking at anything but her or her friends.

"Liz and I roomed together for a while in college," she continued.

House returned his attention, smiled slightly and nodded at Liz, "Ah.." he said, sounding like he could care less.

'Damn', Cameron scolded herself; not smooth, she decided.

Liz could feel the obvious awkwardness of whatever was going on so she offered, "Well, it was great seeing you again Allison. And nice to meet you, Greg."

"Yeah. Great seeing you too Liz, and congratulations," Cameron offered politely, glancing back towards Bradley and smiling.

"Thanks. You two take care." Liz answered as she and Bradley continued on their way.

When Cameron's friends were safely out of range, House said sarcastically, "I'm surprised you didn't just lie and tell them I was your dad," and he headed in the direction of the piano music.

Cameron looked at him and reached out and instinctively grabbed his arm as he walked away, deciding she'd lose him in the crowd if she didn't. He stopped, paused for a moment, looked at her hand...and then at her. She let go, letting her thumb drag across the width of his forearm; folded her arms across her chest then looked away.

She drew a quick breath to gather herself, and then returned his stare, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans.

"Listen," she said calmly, "I'm just really enjoying myself today and I'm so glad you invited me. Having to introduce you just caught me off guard. I'm sorry."

She paused and quickly looked away, then back at him again. "I just hadn't thought for a second what this was or was not, and I like it that way."

House's expression started to look slightly more relieved.

"What were you supposed to do? Tell your friends you were on a date with your boss?" he said looking at her quickly, then away again.

Cameron started to walk towards the piano music and House joined her.

She playfully poked his arm with her elbow and said, "My dad doesn't like jazz. And there's no way they'd have believed he was so good looking."

She smiled at him and he quickly turned to look at her. Both feeling a little embarrassed now, they looked ahead and started walking.

They sat and listened to the piano for a while. Nothing much was said except for House convincing Cameron that she absolutely must try the deep-fried Twinkies.

He'd left and returned with two of them so she felt obligated to at least eat most of hers. She told House she couldn't understand why anyone would inflict such an unhealthy thing on their body. House just laughed and licked his fingers then took the remaining half of hers and polished it off with a smile.

++++++++

Marsalis didn't disappoint. Midway through his first set while he was playing Dead Man Blues, Cameron leaned towards him and said, "I'll be right back," into his ear just loud enough to be heard over the music. Then she got up and walked off towards the food vendors.

House wondered where she was headed and watched her walk off but then returned his attention to Marsalis and his trumpet. He stretched his right arm across the back of the chair where Cameron had been sitting. All the walking they'd done today was making his shoulder a little stiff and sore not to mention his leg. He thought about the bottle of Vicodin in the right pocket of his jeans. It was only the first set and they still had the bike ride back to Princeton.

Several minutes later, Cameron returned with a bottle of water and looking a little pale. House removed his arm and reached for his pills as she sat back down beside him and tried to concentrate on the music. House downed the pill dry.

A couple more songs and she suddenly left again. House gave her enough time to get wherever she was going then turned around wondering where that might be. But he lost her amongst the people. He began to wonder what was going on.

As Marsalis announced the end of his first set, Cameron returned and sat back down, not looking well at all.

House looked at her, nudged her with his arm and decided to return it to the back of her chair, "You okay?" he asked.

"My stomach's just a little upset," she said, as she watched Marsalis and his piano player leave the stage.

"I think it was that Twinkie you made me eat," she added jokingly while she smiled at him.

House rolled his eyes. "Made you eat? Um, I don't think there was any compulsion involved, at least I don't think I remember strapping you down and force feeding it to you."

People started to get up and roam around while they waited for the music to begin again.

"Do you want to leave?" House asked seriously, looking at her.

"No. No, I'm okay...really," she smiled at him but he could tell she wasn't feeling well. The pale color of her face was giving her away no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

The music started again and Marsalis was into his second song when Cameron got up to leave again. House gave her a few seconds then got up and followed her to the back of the venue, past about a dozen food vendors, and to a vacated port-a-john.

He stood a fair distance, giving her some privacy, and waited on her. When she emerged she saw him there and immediately felt bad for causing him to leave the performance.

"Let's go," he said to her in a kind and unexpected tone of sympathy.

"I don't want you to miss the second set." She paused. "But, I feel terrible," she said holding her stomach and looking completely miserable

"It's okay. I'll buy the CD," he said trying to let her know it wasn't a big deal.

"Let's go," he continued as he walked up to her and they headed off in the direction of the parking lot.

"I'm sorry," Cameron said again looking at him.

"It's okay...really," he answered, leaning down to catch her eyes as he looked at her, trying to make her believe it really was all right.

++++++++

They found the bike and they both climbed on. House put on his sunglasses as Cameron put on his helmet and lowered the visor.

House turned and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "No retching in my helmet, please..." as he drew out the last word and closed his eyes for dramatic effect.

Cameron chuckled and said, "You stop when I need you to and that won't be a problem."

"Deal," he said with a single nod and the bike started moving forward.

Cameron thought to herself, 'This is not going to be easy,' as she hoped he would show some mercy and drive more slowly on the ride home. And he did. She expected the last thing he wanted was regurgitated pork ribs and deep-fried Twinkie all over the inside of his helmet or worse yet, down his back.

As they were slowing down to pass through one of the small towns, Cameron started feeling ill again. She spotted a sign reading The Pizza Cottage along the side of the road. While the idea of pizza just added urgency to her nausea, she tapped House on the stomach and pointed to the establishment, trying to tell him that she needed to stop.

House pulled off the side of the road, and Cameron removed the helmet before the bike had stopped. She reached around the front of him and shoved it into his stomach, hopped off the bike, dropped his backpack on the ground and made her way for the front door, past the outdoor tables, chairs and Budweiser umbrellas. I Love Rock And Roll was playing while patrons sat and either finished or started their pizza and beer.

Cameron made her way to the ladies' room. She was thankful that it was clearly marked so she didn't have to take the time to talk to anyone and that she was alone when she got there. She entered a stall and began to release the toxin that had appeared in the form of a deep-fried Twinkie into the toilet; although there wasn't much Twinkie left she figured.

When her stomach was relieved she washed her face off with some cool water and tidied herself up in the mirror. She still looked like hell but her color was starting to return at least.

Cameron heard The Little River Band start up on the jukebox. She took a deep breath and was starting to feel much better.

She walked out of the ladies' room and through the restaurant.

...You're not like the rest You're there when I need you You're there when I need I'm gonna need you...

This was one of those songs that took Cameron back to some of her first memories as a kid. She thought about how interesting the human brain is that it associates things like music to memories so vividly, while she made her way back towards the front door.

++++++++

House was beginning to wonder about Cameron while he watched the waitresses come and go; flirting with some and being professional with others.

...A long time ago I had a lady to love She made me think of things I never thought of Now she's gone and I'm on my own...

The words to the song broke into House's consciousness and made him wince slightly. He was enjoying himself too much to let that particular flavor of hate...pain...regret...whatever it was that he was never quite able to identify ruin it. His thoughts moved intentionally back to Cameron, wondering if she was all right

He thought about how it really had been okay that they'd left the concert early. Cameron wasn't feeling well, that was pretty obvious. And he thought if Wilson ever found out he did that for her, his friend would swear that he was turning soft, or that Cameron was getting to him again. But at this moment, House couldn't really see anything wrong with her getting to him just a little.

Cameron finally walked out of the restaurant looking like a little bit of her life had returned.

"Thanks," she offered, looking at him, "A little more and I'd have been buying you a new helmet". She smiled; she was starting to look much better.

He looked back at her and smiled a little. He was still thinking. Her eyes froze on his and suddenly everything stood still and the only sound was the music still coming from the patio. He wasn't looking away...and neither was she. It was one of those moments when the stare goes deeper than just eye contact. It almost felt like a dare but there wasn't anything hostile about it, quite the opposite.

...Don't be thinkin' that I don't want you 'Cause maybe I do...

An uncomfortable and vulnerable feeling rushed over House. It was as if someone had just spoken his words to her without his permission. He put on his sunglasses hoping in some way to hide from her. It was an instinctive reaction, really. This moment had definitely caught him off-guard.

Cameron lingered a little longer even though she could no longer see his eyes. She reached for his helmet and finally looked away. She shrugged on his backpack and helmet once again and climbed on behind him.

A tight but warm sensation moved through him as she lowered the visor and took her time sliding her arms around him. He suddenly wished they didn't need the bike for an excuse, but this would do for now. He knew, later, he'd be debating whether or not this outing had been a good idea. Feelings were making themselves known more quickly than he could control them.

House closed his eyes behind his sunglasses and released his breath, feeling the weight of what had just happened, then started them back down the road.

++++++++

When House arrived in the office the next day, he could smell the coffee as soon as he opened the door. He quickly looked towards Cameron's desk and she was there reading her email, playing Suduko, or whatever it was that she did while she waited for everyone to trickle in.

She glanced up from her monitor just as he looked away and headed towards his desk. Cameron watched him as he dropped his backpack and his jacket on a chair and sat down. It was then that he noticed something on his desk in front of him.

It was a CD with a post-it note stuck to it. It simply said 'Thanks' in Cameron's handwriting. He lifted the note and removed it and saw that it was a Wynton Marsalis CD titled All Rise. Cameron saw just a glimpse of a smile come across his face as he flipped the CD over to read the track listing.

He didn't look up to acknowledge her. He just laid the CD aside and started sorting through the stack of mail she had also laid on his desk, dropping at least half of them into the trash can unopened.

Cameron sighed, shook her head indulgently and returned her attention to her computer screen.

This was a huge deal for House, she knew that. He lost a big part of his capacity for it when Stacy left him, she had figured out as much. If he was going to open up to her about anything...about himself...let things happen a little, he had to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could trust her. And it would have to be earned. There was no other way around it.

Later, when she was passing his office on her way back from lunch she could hear jazz escaping underneath the door. Cameron smiled. The lights were off and the blinds were drawn, and she could see through the door that House was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on his desk. His hands were folded behind his head and his eyes were closed. There was a cafeteria takeaway box lying open on his desk with the contents half eaten.

She knew this wasn't going to be easy. She knew he would test her constantly, maybe even try pushing her away, and she didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time. She wasn't going to share things with other people that should probably stay between the two of them. She knew that on one level she was just someone for him to hang out with at the festival and she didn't want to over-think it. But that moment when they were looking at each other before they got back on his bike...that was something that would keep her going for a long time.

And as she paused in the corridor, listening to the plaintive notes of Marsalis's trumpet mingling with the hustle and bustle of the hospital corridor, she couldn't help but feel a little hopeful.

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Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of NBC/Universal, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

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Trust And All That Jazz