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Open Air
by Laura Smith
Cameron raised her eyebrows, stopping in the middle of the lane causing Chase and Foreman to run into her. "What?"
"That." She pointed, her eyes fixed on the sleek red machine that House was climbing out of, his rumpled clothing looking out of place next to the polished car. "That..."
"Is a thing of beauty," House informed her, walking in their direction with a sly smile on his face.
"You can afford that on a doctor's salary?" Foreman asked.
"No, I jacked it with my homeboys." He fell into step with them, walking slightly ahead. "You should see Wilson in Crips colors. It's a sight to behold."
"You took that car from the mobsters?"
House stopped and sighed, turning to Cameron. "I realize that you feel the need to be my conscience, but I have one already and it has no problem with it." He leaned in, invading her space. "Besides, you wouldn't want to see me walking with cement slippers, would you?"
She clenched her jaw, refusing to pull away. "They wouldn't kill you."
"They wouldn't like me very much." He turned and started walking again. "And, in case you haven't noticed, I have a bad leg. Tough to tread water."
**
"I can't believe you accepted that...that...bribe."
"A bribe implies that I did something I wouldn't or shouldn't have done to receive the car. And I've already gone over this with Wilson. Jiminy Cricket's sung this song in my ear."
"And it, of course, didn't faze you?" She shook her head and exhaled a disgusted huff. "What platitudes did you give him?"
"I offered him a ride."
"Nice. And when it was over, did all the thirteen year olds want their testosterone back?"
He leaned forward on his desk, chin in his hand as his eyes narrowed. "Are you jealous?"
"What?"
He smiled slow and knowing. "What's the matter, Cameron? You want a ride?"
"No." She answered quickly. "No, thank you."
"Always polite, even when you imply an insult." House sighed. "Your loss. It's a sweet ride."
"I'll take your word for it."
He got up and started toward her, his eyes intent as he drew closer, refusing to let her look away. He stopped, standing next to her, and leaned in, his breath warm on her ear. "I guess you'll have to."
**
Cameron cursed under her breath and wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, smearing the grease stain worse than it had been. "Damn it."
The air reverberated with a low purr as House pulled up beside her in the Corvette. "Problems?"
"My car won't start."
"Hmmm." He ran his hands over the steering wheel, stroking it slowly. "I'd offer you a ride, but you're ethically opposed."
"I never said I was..." She clamped her lips together, cutting herself off. "I don't suppose you know anything about cars?"
"I know how to drive, though Wilson will tell you that's questionable." He reached over and unlocked the passenger's door. "Get in. I'll drive you to a garage."
"I can just call someone."
"You could, but it's after midnight, so the chances of someone showing up are low, not to mention the fee for their services might be a bit steep for you. There's also the downside of waiting here at your car in the garage all alone." He patted the seat next to him. "Get in."
"I'd rather not."
"And I'd rather not spend the rest of the night arguing with you...at least not here. So get in the car and I'll drive you home. You can call the tow truck or repairman tomorrow." One of the overhead lights went out with a loud click and House raised an eyebrow. "You going to get in?"
She climbed in, casting a sidelong glance at him. "It's against my better judgment."
"Anything involving me should be. After all, I can barely walk on my leg and you're asking me to use it to control a 2000 pound machine." He laughed manically. "Scared yet?"
"I'm not afraid of you."
His face stilled, his eyes searching. "You probably should be."
"Well, I'm not." She stared out the windshield. "I live on..."
"I know where you live." He revved the engine, watching her as her breath caught and she looked at him. "I make it a point to know things about my employees. So you can feel vindicated in the disastrous state of my ethics and still go for a ride." He reached over her and grabbed the seat belt, the back of his hand glancing across her stomach. She reacted, muscles clenching. "Buckle up."
"It's going to be a bumpy night?"
"Are you criticizing my driving, Dr. Cameron?" He settled back in his seat and put the car in gear. "Because I assure you, I'm an expert behind the wheel."
"You proclaiming yourself an expert?" She scoffed. "I find that hard to believe."
"You're just angry because you know I'm always right."
"You weren't right to take this car."
"Ethics are such questionable things. You say that I'm wrong to take the car. I say that I was right to take it, as it didn't do anything to affect the treatment I gave or the outcome of the situation. I say I was right because if I hadn't taken it, it would have been construed as a slur against Joey and his brother and would have a bad leg and broken kneecaps, not to mention a horse's head in my bed."
"Why would that matter? You've already got a horse's ass there."
"Ouch." He gave her an approving smile and waggled his eyebrows. "Been saving that one?"
She fought her smile. "For a while."
"Very nice."
She blushed and turned her head to hide the smile she could no longer fight. "Just drive."
**
House pulled the car to a stop and set the parking break, propping one arm on the edge of the door and letting his wrist rest on top of the steering wheel. Cameron looked over at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you doing?"
"Getting some air."
"It's a convertible."
House ignored her. "So, Foreman informs me that you're over your crush on me."
Her jaw dropped slightly before she snapped her mouth shut, her arms tightening around her. "He what?"
"Chase seconded the notion. It's very sweet to see them ganging up on the cripple to stick up for you. I was suitably cowed." He turned his head to look at her. "And relieved."
"Relieved?"
"Ah," he pressed his lips together and nodded. "A lie then."
"What?"
He shrugged and let his head fall back against the headrest. "If it wasn't a lie, you'd have been angry that they said anything. As it is, you're upset that I'm relieved." He turned his head and looked at her. "Which means that you either lied to them to save face or they're lying for you to save the big bad doctor from hurting your feelings."
"You don't hurt my feelings."
"I hurt everyone's feelings." He smiled. "Pride myself on it actually."
"No wonder you're always at the top of everyone's pick for Physician of the Year." She unhooked her seatbelt and put her hand on the door handle. "I'm just going to walk."
He reached across her again without looking at her, his quick movements surprising her as his hand closed around hers, refusing to let her open the door. "Don't."
"Don't what? Don't walk? Don't sit here and be insulted? Don't listen to you belittle me for making the colossal mistake of actually having feelings for you?"
He turned his head and met her angry gaze. "Don't go."
Cameron stilled for a moment, slowly relaxing back against the seat. She pursed her lips together, small frown lines forming just between her eyebrows. "Why am I here?"
"Is this some existential thing? I'm not good at those."
"Wait a minute, did you just admit there's something you're not good at?"
House shrugged. "There are lots of things I'm not good at. Football. Soccer. Climbing. Humility." He held out a hand, palm up. "Discovering the divine purpose of life on earth."
"Well, definitely not humility."
He smiled up at the sky. "Admit it. You like the car."
"The car is..."
"Amazing? Incredible? Sweet?"
"An obvious sign of a midlife crisis."
"Funny, that's what Wilson said about you." Cameron turned sharply and looked at him, his head back, his smile almost a grimace. "Damn. I really wasn't supposed to say that last part."
"Is that what I am?"
"Personally, I like to think of you as an exercise in restraint. I restrain from doing anything untoward. You restrain from straddling me on my desk chair..."
"You want me to straddle you?"
His mouth curled into an honest smile. "You don't have to sound quite so horrified."
"I'm not. I mean..." She turned in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "You said you didn't like me."
"And you believed me, which means you either wanted to believe me or you didn't really believe me and are just waiting for the chance to call my bluff. Either way it's bound to be messy."
"Messy?"
"I don't," he paused and pressed his mouth closed, breathing out slowly, "I don't date people I work with."
"We went out..."
"That wasn't a date. A date doesn't involve monster trucks unless you're two guys seriously repressing homosexuality...and I'll thank you not to bring up the fact that I was originally going with Wilson, because that wasn't a date either. But I don't. Date. At all, really, but people I work with in general. It's bad for morale. Not mine, mind you, since I'm usually less of a bastard if I'm getting laid on a regular basis, but the rest of the team tends to get annoyed and see preferential treatment where there's really just mutual sexual harassment."
"Are you asking me out?"
He laughed and turned to look at her, his eyes dark. "Is that what it sounds like?"
"Coming from you? Yes."
"Maybe I am."
"But you don't date people you work with."
"No."
"And we work together."
"Right." He tapped the steering wheel with his thumbs. "Quite the conundrum, huh?"
"Should I quit?"
"That really would be ideal. I mean..." He didn't stop talking as she leaned in and kissed him, the words moving against her lips as she licked at his mouth, sliding her tongue inside.
She pulled back and looked at him, eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and arousal. "Shut up, House."
"You only get to say that because I want a chance to feel your tits."
"If you shut up," she kissed him again softly, reaching down to unfasten his seatbelt as well, "you might get the chance."
"You really think I have the capacity to shut up when essentially you're going to do something deliciously naughty to me?" He tangled his hand in her hair and pulled her closer, inhaling her soft breath. "Because that's not going to happen. Tits or no tits."
She smiled and kissed him again, angling closer as her hand dropped to his shirt and began undoing the buttons.
"Besides, if I shut up, you're likely to forget who you're with. And I wouldn't want that."
"You think I could mistake you for someone else?" She leaned to the left and licked his earlobe. "You think I might suddenly realize the person I'm doing...what did you call it? Deliciously naughty things to some misanthrope and not the nice young doctor I thought I was hijacked by?"
"It's possible."
She bit his earlobe and then licked it, blowing a sliver of air against his ear. "Not likely."
"Because I'm one of a kind?"
"Because," she finished with his shirt and leaned over, licking the slight rise of his nipple through his dark blue t-shirt, "I plan on watching you when I straddle you."
"Well," House swallowed hard and fought to keep his eyes open, watching her. "Mark that as my favorite position then."
She planted kisses on his stomach as she leaned further forward, reaching for the side of his seat and pulling the small lever and sending his seat reclining. He made a soft sound as she pulled his t-shirt free of his jeans, running the palms of her hands over the tangle of hair on his abdomen.
"You know, a little of this aggression wouldn't hurt in our group discussions."
She looked up with a smile. "You want me to do this to you in front of Chase and Foreman?"
House groaned. "That wasn't quite what I meant."
She unfastened his belt. "You're talking shop while I'm doing this then?" His zipper slid down. "That might be construed as offensive, you know."
"Not how it was meant."
She tugged at his jeans and boxer briefs and he braced his feet on the floor of the car and angled his hips up enough for her to slide them down. "How did you mean it then?" She didn't give him time to respond as she wrapped her hand around his erection. "If you didn't want me to put on a show for the boys and you didn't mean to talk about work, what exactly, Dr. House, did you mean?"
He watched her as she released him and reached beneath her skirt, easing out of an iridescent slip of fabric. His voice, when he spoke, was rough. "You've just turned into the veritable kitten with a whip, haven't you?"
"I think our first time is a little soon for the whip," she informed him as she straddled him, skirt hiked up around her thighs. "Don't you?"
"Who are you, and what have you done with Cameron?" He groaned as she slid down around him; hot, wet flesh alive and pulsing against his cock. "Because you didn't learn this in a self-help book."
"You expected me to be a mouse?" She asked him as she began moving, her hands on his shoulders as she rolled his hips. "Shy and retiring Cameron lying there on her back like sex is a duty?"
"I just didn't expect to open the Barbie box and get Dominatrix Cameron. Not, mind you," he tangled his fingers in the fabric of her skirt, "that I'm complaining."
Her knees dug against his thighs as they rocked together, the pressure heightening his pain and pleasure in turn. "When I want something, I get it."
"So I see." He groaned as her muscles constricted. "And feel."
"I wanted to be a doctor, and I got it. I wanted to work with you, and I got it." Her breathing shortened and her body tightened. "I wanted you." She came hard and fast, her hips still rolling and moving in time with his. "I got you."
House nodded silently, his eyes closed as he leaned into her, his head against her chest as his climax rocked through him. His nails dug into his palms through the fabric of her skirt and he gasped several breaths as his stubble rasped against her silk shirt. He froze for a long moment against her then fell back against the seat, eyes still closed, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Cameron watched him with a small, satisfied smile quirking his lips, though her eyes narrowed as he raised his hands. She loosed a small shriek as he grasped her breasts, squeezing them both gently but firmly. "Yeah, but you said I couldn't grab your tits unless I shut up, but I did."
"I was being nice."
"No," he shook his head as she eased off of him carefully. "You're just hoping I'll be distracted by your...bounty, that I won't realize that you took the distributor cap off your engine so that you'd be stranded and need a ride."
"How did you..." She shook her head. "Never mind."
He arched his hips once more and pulled his jeans up. "You still need a ride home?"
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You could come up."
"I don't date people I work with."
"I don't want to date you tonight."
"You will in the morning."
"That would depend on how good the sex was."
House smiled and chuckled softly as he started the car. "I'll drop you at home."
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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 Fox Television, 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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