Title: Thirteenth Step

Author: Alice J. Foster (a.k.a. shipperfey)

Summary: House can't even do one self-sacrificing act right.

Category: Romance, Angst

Spoilers: Que Será, Será (3x06) – No real spoilers, but anything up to that episode is fair game.

Pairing(s): House/Cameron

Rating: M

Warnings: sex, graphic sex, angst.

Started: 11/11/06

Finished: 12/10/06

Archiving: If you want it, take it. Archived at my website http://obsessionscorner. This story is made of 12 chapters (plus prologue and epilogue). Each chapter corresponds to one song by "A Perfect Circle," from their album Thirteenth Step.

Thanks to: lizwaller, who asked me to write a House WIP when she reviewed my other story Kaleidoscope Eyes (and promised me some gratification). Lilferret who provided moral support even though she doesn't even watch House. My S.O. for suggesting some of the ideas for this story (without knowing he was giving me ideas for this story) and for buying the House DVDs and getting me into this show.

Prologue

Dr. Allison Cameron strode towards the clinic as her pager went off…

… again…

…for the third time in the past 3 minutes.

She knew, of course, exactly who was paging her. What she did not know was why. She had a few ideas (some involved a locked exam room and stirrups, again) but three pages – make that four now- in under five minutes pointed to a real medical emergency.

And if he was making her break a sweat running down to the clinic for no reason, she was definitely going to have to hurt him.

He smiled when he saw her – that was not a good sign. That was a very bad sign, especially considering he was clutching an actual patient file in his hand… which meant whatever this case was about, was making him happy – or temporarily delirious. He did not customarily smile until he was actually done with the case – sometimes he would smirk or grin, but this was definitely different.

"What's the emergency?" She asked as she tried to get the file out of his hands, but he wasn't letting her. She also noticed the convenient lack of the rest of the crew…

"It's a surprise, Dr. Cameron." He looked too damn pleased with himself.

Convinced he wasn't going to let her see the file, she reached for the door - only to have him move in front of her. "House!" She admonished him and realized that they were getting interested glances from the peanut gallery (a.k.a. the nurses' station). "Either show me the file or let me see what is so important you pulled me out of the lab for."

"It is important. It's our next case." He argued, still smiling.

She was considering kicking him in the balls just to make the smile go away, but she wasn't about to make things worse for herself. "We already have a case, or did you forget about the guy in a coma upstairs? Or did you decided to break your rule of only one case-at-a-time?"

"No, I'm not breaking the rule. The guy in a coma has been in a coma for three weeks; he's not getting any better or worse – he'll keep."

"Keep?!?" She asked, mortified. Even if he was right, she shouldn't let him get away with it.

"Yes, keep. Anyway, I want you to close your eyes."

She rolled her eyes and lowered her voice, "If you have a stripper in there with some mysterious disease that's gonna turn out to be syphilis or gonorrhea, I swear I'm gonna kill you."

He pouted. "So what you're saying, Dr. Cameron, is that strippers are excluded from your Hippocratic oath? They have feelings too, you know… anyways, close your eyes."

She sighed but indulged him anyway. The sound of the door opening was followed by a slight push of his cane against her butt, and she moved forward a few feet. When the cane dropped, she heard him close the door behind her as well.

"Dr. Cameron – meet our newest patient." He added with a bit of flair, just enough for her to know he'd been practicing this in his head.

She opened her eyes to see a young woman looking down; what she could see of the woman's face, the fair skin was framed by curly auburn hair, but what stood out was the full habit outfit.

The woman finally seemed to react, looking up (but not at) any of the doctors. "A.J.?"

Cameron gasped. "Mackie?" Then she also realized something else – not only was her childhood best friend in the same room as her, she was her newest patient – and she was blind.