You want me to Date You?

Chapter Twenty Three

AN: I know that this chapter is short, but I wanted to give you guys something to read. Happy Reading everyone

After Calvin had been stabilized, House got his team together along with Wilson and they all sat in the diagnostic room, trying to figure out how they were going to help the poor guy.

"A CT confirmed that there is a mass in Calvin's heart and several smaller ones in his lungs." Wilson said as he sat down in the nearest open chair.

Chase nodded, "That's why his heart is enlarged then, it's not the AZT."

House looked through the paperwork and sighed, "Masses in the heart and lungs, what kind of cancer are we looking at?" he questioned.

"They may not be cancerous, we haven't checked." Cameron interjected.

Wilson shook his head at Cameron, "No, this is classic Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma; HIV positive patient with a primary heart mass. . . I've seen it before."

Cameron furrowed her brow as she thought through options in her head. "It could be sarcoidosis."

"His lung tissue was negative." Foreman replied.

Cameron sat back in her seat and sighed, "Lymphoma's a death sentence, and sarcoidosis is treatable."

House rolled his eyes, "So's an ear infection, but since he didn't test positive for that either. . ."

Cameron narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "I wanna do the Kveim-Siltzbach test."

House scoffed and sputtered. "Do you have any idea how much paperwork Cuddy is going to need signed?" he complained. He watched as Cameron looked at him sternly, not budging on her decision, causing him to nod. "Do it."

He watched as the team quickly gathered their belongings and left the room, although Cameron stood and took her time to grab the things that she would need. He stood slowly and heavily leaned on his cane for a moment before he took the few strides that it would take to reach her side.

"So, how is the patient father?" House questioned.

Cameron looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "What're you talking about?"

"'Tell my dad I'm sorry?' You might as well wave the red flag at a bull."

Cameron nodded as she tapped her papers on the table top to straighten them. "He's not coming to visit him."

"Well it's not a tragedy, the dad doesn't want to see him, and he doesn't want to see the dad. You're the only one who wants them together." House rebutted and watched as Cameron glared at him.

"He asked!" she quickly countered, becoming defensive.

House sighed and moved to sit on the table and gently pulled Cameron into his arms. "He thought he was dying, Cameron. Dying people lie too. They wish they'd work less, they'd been nicer, or opened orphanages for kittens." He let Cameron lean her head against his chest and he gently rested his head atop hers. "If you really want to do something, you do it; you don't save it for sound bite."

Cameron took a long deep breath as she thought about his words. "What did you say when you thought you were dying?" she asked softly. She felt House tense beneath her and his heartrate elevate slightly.

Shit, I crossed a line, she thought to herself as she let out a breath of air.

She tilted back, making House move from his position, so she could see his face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that." She said quietly.

House took a deep breath and tightened his hold on Cameron for a moment before he slowly let her go and decided to change the subject, "On the other hand, his dad did toss him out, and so I wonder what he's so sorry for," Cameron backed out of his grasp, but he held onto her hands, "Hey," he started, his voice soft, "It's... hard to speak about, so don't take it harshly okay?" he asked.

Cameron nodded, "I won't."

Later in the afternoon, In Calvin's room Cameron leaned over him, doing a test, "If the growths in your lungs and heart are sarcoid, your body will recognize this material and we'll see a reaction on your arm." Cameron explained as she gave him an injection, "Did you really want to see your dad?" she suddenly asked.

"Did you call him?" Calvin questioned. Cameron shook her head, "Thanks. He would have come, try to straighten me out." Cameron stepped back and disposed of the syringe before Calvin decided to speak again, "What did you do with my drugs?" he asked.

"The lab disposes of it after analysis," she quickly answered.

"That's too bad; they could have done you some good."

Cameron shook her head, "No thank you, I'm not into that kind of thing." Calvin shrugged at her.

That night, House sat on his couch, nursing a tumbler of scotch on the rocks. He had let Cameron have a night alone from him since his mind was running with all of the memories of the past. Stacy had dealt a low blow when it had all gone down five years ago, and House was having trouble getting everything off his mind. The initial pain, the exams, the x-rays and MRI's were taxing to go through, not to mention Stacy and Cuddy breathing down his neck the entire time, while all he wanted was relief. When they finally found the problem, he knew that it wasn't good.

I wanted them to remove it, I begged them to remove my leg before I was put in a coma, he thought to himself as he took another drink of his scotch and sighed loudly.

He looked up at the black screen of his tv while he propped his legs up on his coffee table and rolled the ice around in his tumbler. The longer he sat there, the heavier his eyes became, and soon he was finding that he was dozing off.

Just as House fell asleep, he was quickly woken up by a knock on his apartment door. Growling to himself, he roughly stood, then stumbled, having propped up his leg for too long. "Damn it." He huffed as he leaned against his couch for a moment before he limped to the door, unlocked it and opened it.

The sight he saw in front of him, wasn't one he was expecting, "Cameron?"