☤ eighty-seven

[as_damaged]

[ ACTION ]

[After nearly four years in the City, one becomes adept at ignoring all sorts of unpleasant circumstances. It's a point of pride that Cameron rarely cancels her plans due to curse interference; doing so always feels like letting the City win, and she can't abide that.

Today, apart from work, she has a few errands to run; lunch at a café, a quick stop by the bakery. She's doing her best to avoid the scattered bunches of mistletoe, but no one can miss all of them...]

Comments

Audio

[hulkbusted]

[That's Bruce calling. Hello?]

Are we still on for tonight?

Audio

[as_damaged]

[Hello, Bruce.]

I'm up for it if you are. I don't like to let the City ruin my plans.

Audio

[hulkbusted]

Will you tell me mistletoe stories when you get here? So far my apartment seems clear. [So far.]

Audio

[as_damaged]

[She laughs softly.]

That's good to know. I'll tell you any that aren't too mortifying-- so far, I've been fairly lucky, though.

Audio

[hulkbusted]

I'm avoiding the world. [Meaning if anyone gets his mistletoe kisses, they'll have to come to him. Hm...]

But I'll unbolt my door for you.

[action]

[vicodincrutch]

[Trying? You're trying Cameron? House isn't. Not any more. Besides, what's some lip action. At least he's popping mints like vicodin. They work together. And it isn't like he's putting the mistletoe in front of her face.

This time.]

Audio

[as_damaged]

Good, I'd hate to miss out on dinner.

[Which is what they'd planned. Anything unplanned, well, that doesn't have to be addressed.]

I'll see you then. Anything I should bring, other than dessert?

[action]

[as_damaged]

[If there's anywhere you should be trying to avoid it, it's the hospital-- for some reason it tends to attract a lot of sick people. Coworkers are marginally less of a danger, at least, and it's not as if it's the first time this has happened.

The mistletoe blooms above them as she's walking past him, and she stops in mid-stride to grab him by the arm, turning to face him.]

action;

[universaltranslator]

[Uhura's sitting at the cafe, chewing on a breadstick as she examines a pair of heels she just bought. She'd fallen in love with them in the store, but now she has to ask herself: where would she wear them?

That's the problem with retail therapy.]

action;

[as_damaged]

[The coast is clear when she crosses the street towards the restaurant-- it's part of why she chooses that one-- but lo and behold, mistletoe is a sneaky little parasite, and by the time she's passing Uhura's table there's an inconvenient sprig overhead.

She leans in to grasp the other woman's shoulder, and manages before moving in for the kiss to say,]

Sorry--

[intheblanks]

[At work, and Chase was called in during the early hours to keep House's current patient from crashing. It's taken a trip to surgery and the patient is now hooked up to a dialysis machine, but for a House case, it's been relatively successful. Chase may not have been on the team in an official capacity for a while, but he knows the pattern of getting worse before they get better. It's just a shame it's his sleep it's cost him.

Around the time regular office hours are scheduled to begin, he's requisitioned a couch in the lounge and has drifted off in front of some version of America's Funniest Home Movies.

(It's not his America. One of these clips has a kid falling off a hoverboard.]

[as_damaged]

[She's a little bit early-- a glance out the window had been enough to tip her off as to the nature of today's curse, but the extra time she budgeted to walk had proved unnecessary. So she's taking a few moments to nurse her coffee, and slips into the lounge to do so more comfortably.

She doesn't even notice who's inhabiting the couch next to her, glancing up at the screen as someone's flying dog crashes into them in pursuit of a Frisbee, ruining a zero-G picnic.]

[intheblanks]

[Her fellow couch inhabitant, half smothered by couch cushions, sighs softly in not-quite-sleep and shifts to face her, a hand reaching for her shoulder to establish her presence as something solid. Though, being half in dreamstate could be an excuse for the way he leans across as if it's completely casual, natural, to greet her with a kiss.]

Morning.

[Or it could be the plant growing from the light fitting above.]

[as_damaged]

[Really, do we have to choose? She starts a bit at the hand, almost relaxes when she catches sight of his face, then tenses again as he leans over. But a curse is a curse, and as soon as their lips brush she leans into it, a bit embarrassed but not honestly surprised.]

Morning, [she echoes, with a glance up and a wry half-smile.] I should have known.

[She hasn't pulled back, though that might simply be because there's nowhere to pull back to. At least she hasn't dumped him on the floor.]

[intheblanks]

[As a way to wake up properly, being dumped on the floor would suck. Leaning his head back on the couch cushion as he gradually parses where and when he is, and that she kissed him back, Chase lets his focus flick upwards.

It is at least a partial explanation. And if she's not freaking out, then he doesn't immediately find a reason to pull away any further, either. he watches her face, instead.]

What's so predictable?

[as_damaged]

The mistletoe? It was safe when I sat down.

[The fact that she has to explain that is a little bit worrisome. As her future ex-husband she's slightly less unwilling to kiss him than she is most people in the City, but they're certainly not at a place where that would be normal.

Would it?]

[intheblanks]

[Perhaps it wouldn't, but Chase at least has the memory of when it was. He won't deny it's nice to reminisce. And so he acts as if normal is exactly the case. No freak outs. No apologies.]

Right. [he rubs a hand over his face.] I remember the sneak attacks last year.

[The years before that, not so much.]

Are you here early?

[as_damaged]

[They have history enough that it seems ridiculous to protest too much, even if she's come to think they can't have any future, here or anywhere else. Pretending you don't like someone at all doesn't work too well when they remember your wedding. Even if you don't.]

A little,

[she says, taking a sip of her coffee. This probably ought to feel more awkward than it does, which in and of itself is an uncomfortable fact.]

I thought I'd have more delays getting in.

[intheblanks]

[He nods and yawns, hand going to cover his mouth.]

I thought I was late for my shift.

[There may be a slight shift of focus between her face and her coffee. If it helps, it just means both are appealing.]

[as_damaged]

Not quite yet. Have you been here all night?

[She stifles a sympathetic yawn of her own and shifts her weight, fair warning that she's about to stand and he ought to move as well if he wants to keep his balance.]

If you ask nicely maybe I'll put on a pot for you.

[intheblanks]

Since three.

[He groans as he moves out of her way, pushing his arms over his head to stretch a little couch-cramp from his spine.]

How about if I say please and tell you your patient's no longer hypotensive. He's in renal failure, but the blood pressure issue cleared right up.

[as_damaged]

[She does wince a bit at the thought as she stands, leaving him the whole sofa to crack his joints upon. When he breaks that news, she turns to look at him, eyes wide.]

Have you told House?

[That's probably worth a cup of hideously sweet coffee fixed and ready to go beside the rest of the full pot, at least.]

[action]

[vicodincrutch]

[The question forming on his tongue was about whether or not that is supposed to be a P or a B on the prescription that she wrote to a patient that just came back.

And then something like an attack happens. So he didn't have to try so hard. Excellent effort, Cameron for trying to avoid it. Face to face.]

Your writing is terrible.

[He said in full confidence to her doe like eyes.]

[action]

[as_damaged]

[She might have expected worse than that. Still, much as she'd like to answer his question on the scrip, right now their priorities aren't theirs to choose. She only manages to roll her eyes at the mild insult before moving her hand to the front of his shirt, tugging him towards her as she leans up to press their mouths together.

It's not the polite kind of kiss at all. Merry Christmas, House.]

[action]

[vicodincrutch]

[It's always the quiet ones. Cameron is notorious for her fluffy perspective, kind heart and the slap of reality that Chase and Foreman inject like hot pokers. At least she's easy on the eyes.

Merry Christmas, Cameron. You get lips and tongue with a sturdy one handed hold. Somehow he has perfected the art of a passionate kiss and keeping balance on a cane.]