Author: jlneveloff

Title: Whatever It Takes

Chapter: Prologue & Chapter 1/?

Rating: PG 13 for now... possibly changing later on

Pairings: House/Cameron… with a possibility of Wilson/Cuddy later on :)

Spoilers: Starting from 'Sports Medicine' and going from there…

Summary: "Do you like monster trucks?" That was how it all started. A 'what if' story that looks into how things might have been if there was a relationship between House and Cameron during the course of the show. More detailed summary inside

Disclaimer: Um…nope…don't own. If I did, would I be writing fan fiction? Nope…I'd be on set fixing whatever the writers screwed up J David Shore and company own…

DETAILED SUMMARY: Hm…well this idea came to me and wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't help wondering how things in the show would have gone if House and Cameron got together early in it's run. So basically, I'm taking the canon of the show and screwing it up :) Some events from the show will be changed to fit and the time line will be screwed up, particularly in the 'season two arc.' While I'm following canon to a point, I'm not so much focusing on what happened in the episodes to where I'm just repeating the episodes with a little shippy twist, but rather focusing on the scenes that aren't in the show, more like off screen moments. I don't plan on writing the differentials and all that medical stuff (got the show for that). I just want to focus on a relationship between House and Cameron that's as real as I can make it. They'll experience difficulties and all the ups and downs of a relationship as it fits in with what was written in the show….

Also, my House might seem a little different from other fanfic writers… I have this feeling that House is a closet romantic and that once you succeed in bringing down his walls he can be (somewhat) open (at least when the mood suits him ;))…and I don't think he would have a problem with the four letter "L" word, once he works himself into saying it the first time. I'm just basing this off what we know about him and Stacy (I could be wrong, but it's my story and I'm not ;))… he didn't seem to have a problem telling her loved her in 3 Stories….that and the corsage he gave Cameron just screamed "Romantic!" to me J Also this story starts before the whole Stacy thing…and the Ketamine thing…

I do hope that makes sense and that I can pull this off… It's been forever since I've written anything but research papers. And not just any research papers, art history papers, which are an entirely different animal than others.

This is my first House story... so hopefully it won't be too out of character :)

Whatever It Takes

I'll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what's at stake
I know that I've let you down
And if you give me a chance
Believe that I can change
I'll keep us together
Whatever it takes

"Whatever It Takes" Lifehouse

Prologue

"Do you like monster trucks?"

That was how it all started.

A simple question followed by an awkward impromptu invitation. An invitation that never would have happened had his best friend not turn it down. If his friend did not have an oncology lecture to give, which really was just a cover for having dinner with his ex-girlfriend, he never would have asked her. Never would have thought about it.

But the turn of events had led Gregory House to stand there trying to draw up the courage to ask Allison Cameron to go with him. He was out of practice when it came to that sort of thing. Blame it on his sparkling personality.

She remembers her shock at the question, or rather the statement. He never actually asked to her go with him. Instead, she asked him if he was asking her to go with him. He had somehow turned the conversation around to where it seemed as though she was asking him to go with her.

House had quickly answered in the affirmative that, yes, he was asking her to go with him. Was it a date? Yes, a date, but without the date part, whatever that was supposed to mean.

All the while Cameron had stood there, mouth gaping open, in shock. She wasn't quite sure what to do or what to say. He had taken that as a rejection, and left the room. She eventually found her voice and followed him, a burning question on her mind.

"What do I wear?"

It was, dare she think it, fun. Who would have thought that her curmudgeonly boss was capable of having and being fun. They had actually enjoyed each other's company. She saw him laugh and joke around without the need to be insulting.

That was how it started.

After that night, House and Cameron began to see each other after work. Just to hang out, enjoying the company, two or three times a week. They had both been alone for far too long. They would either meet at one of their apartments and watch old movies and order take out or they would go out someplace. It didn't really matter what they did, as long as it was together.

Cameron found herself falling in love with him.

She tried to stop herself from feeling these emotions, but she was like a moth to a flame. It might not be a good thing, but the pull was far to great to ignore. She was allowed to see sides of him that never surfaced at work. And she loved it. She loved him. She tried her best to hide her feelings, and she succeeded, at least to her knowledge. It was possible that once or twice something leaked through but House never said anything about it. She knew he cared about her, but she wasn't going to pressure him into doing anything he wasn't comfortable with.

House never gave her the impression that he saw her more than a friend. Cameron knew from her conversations with Wilson that House never opened up to people, especially women who could break his heart. She knew of the past heartache he had experienced and although she did not know all the details, she knew it had impacted him enormously. House wasn't someone who loved easily.

So, imagine her surprise when he made the first move.