Cameron looked up from the book on House's desk. "Pardon?"

Cuddy closed the door behind her and moved over to the desk, sitting opposite Cameron, the shadow of the small lamp glinting off her stockings. "This thing you have for House."

"We went on a date. It went well."

"No it didn't. If it had gone well, no one would have heard anything, because it would mean that you would have realized that you don't talk about House's private life to anyone, even your best friends." She set the file in her hands on her lap. "Not that you have friends, outside this little enclave of yours, but the sentiment is still the same."

"You're interested in House?"

Cuddy laughed softly. "I'm going to tell you a little secret, Cameron. Every female that passes through here has an interest in House. The difference between you and them is that they wise up and move on when they realize the power of love isn't going to heal him."

"You are interested in House."

"Gregory House has been in my employ to one degree or another for the past seven years. During that time, he has attempted to humiliate me, punish me for ever suggesting he be offered this position and, in one rare moment of weakness, he fucked me until I was in more pain than he was. I'm not interested in House. I'm invested in him."

"And you're here to warn me off?"

"No." Cuddy leaned forward, her face coming into the light. "That wouldn't do any good. You think you can fix him, and you're not going to be deterred, no matter what I or anyone else has to say. You've got the idealistic starry eyes that every girl has when she meets her first older man, first damaged man, or first challenge. I can't stop you from making a fool of yourself where House is concerned."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because if you're going to manage to do this, you're going to need a little background information."

"I thought you didn't talk about House's private life."

Cuddy got to her feet and dropped the file onto House's desk. She walked to the door, looking back at Cameron as she stared down at the pale folder. "You coming?"

Cameron shifted nervously on the white leather couch, her eyes straying around the living room. Cuddy sat opposite her on the edge of a sumptuous matching chair and lifted her glass of wine. "To the fall of Gregory House."

"I don't want to topple him."

"Yes, you do." Cuddy took a drink and leaned back, stretching her legs out under the coffee table. "You want to fix him, which is essentially the same thing. You want him to stop being a bitter, medicated ass and start being the kind of doctor you grew up wanting to be. You want him to be the gruff but gentle Marcus Welby so that you can be the woman who saved Gregory House from himself."

"Is that what you tried to do?"

"I suppose." Cuddy smiled and took another drink. "Stacy had left him and he was worse than he'd ever been. His leg was giving him hell and he was bent on self-destruction." Her smile turned into a sharp smirk. "And I threw myself up on the altar for sacrifice."

"Turned out well, did it?"

"Well, in the morning, Stacy was still gone, his leg still hurt, and he had just bed his boss. What do you think?"

Cameron set her wine on the table. "Well, I'm not like you. I'm not looking to ease his pain with some cheap sex."

"No. You'd rather take it away, right? You might want to think about the fact that his pain defines him. His pain is what makes him know and empathize with his patients…"

"Empathize?" Cameron laughed. "Have you met House?"

"You think he doesn't understand about pain?" She got off the chair and moved over to the couch to sit next to Cameron. "You think he doesn't know how excruciating all those tests are? You think he doesn't remember in vivid detail every needle, every scar, every puncture, every biopsy he had to endure? You think, when he orders you do to something, there isn't some part of his body that doesn't twinge in remembered pain?"

Cameron stared at Cuddy for a long moment. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because," Cuddy leaned forward, her fingernails grazing Cameron's knee, "someone has to."

Licking her lips, Cameron watched Cuddy's fingers make slow circles on her dark slacks. "Because if I change him it won't be for the better?"

"Because he needs someone like you in his life to temper him," Cuddy corrected as she slid her fingers slightly higher, both her gaze and Cameron's locked on them. "And if you try and change him, he'll block you out more than he's done even to Chase."

"Why…" Cameron paused as Cuddy's hand reached hers. She turned hers over, offering her palm to Cuddy instinctively, closing her eyes as the cool touch of Cuddy's nails bit into her skin. "Why does he need me?"

"Good cop to his bad cop. The sweet, innocent ingénue to play up to the horny young men, the desperate fathers, the bull dykes that refuse treatment because House is a strong, abrasive asshole. You serve the same capacity as Chase in some respects, though you've got no darkness he can use." She trailed a fingernail down Cameron's palm and smiled as she shivered. "He needs you in the strictest professional sense."

"And nothing else?"

"I don't know," Cuddy admitted. "He might want to fuck you, but that's not what you're looking for, right? You want a relationship with him. You want to make him dinner and tuck him in at night. You want him to look at you with adoring eyes and thank you every day for making him see his way to the unburdened side of life?" She leaned closer, her hand moving from Cameron's up to brush the hair off the younger woman's temple. "You want him to need you."

"And he doesn't need anyone?"

Cuddy's breath was warm on Cameron's lips. "He doesn't need you."

Cameron swallowed hard and closed her eyes, her breath escaping her lips and feathering over Cuddy's skin. "I'm not…I don't…"

"I think you are," Cuddy assured her softly, her hands tracing lines over Cameron's cheek. "I think you do."

"No. I'm interested in men."

"You're interested in power," Cuddy informed her as she tilted her head and licked the corner of Cameron's mouth. "House is raw power and you want to control it."

"I thought you said I wanted him because I was needy." Cameron turned her head to follow Cuddy's voice, her wine scented breath. "I thought…"

"Don't think. It's not your strong suit." Cuddy ran her thumb over the curve of Cameron's cheek then dropped it down to her lower lip. "You think by making him need you, you can control him. You're wrong."

Cameron licked her lips, her tongue brushing Cuddy's thumb. "Because he doesn't need anyone?"

"No," Cuddy whispered as she leaned in, her mouth feathering over Cameron's, her lips curving into a smile as the younger woman leaned in as she pulled away. "Because you can't control yourself."

The kiss was electric as Cuddy's tongue slid into Cameron's open mouth, delving inside and devouring her. Cameron moaned quietly, her hands clutching at air as Cuddy pulled away, licking her lips as Cameron opened her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

Cuddy got off the couch and sat on the edge of the coffee table across from Cameron. "Doing what?"

"Warning me off."

"I'm not. You're like a moth, determined to singe your wings. You're bent on self-destruction at his hands."

Cameron swallowed. "So what's this about?"

Cuddy stood and reached back for her wine, Cameron's eyes following the curve of her body. She glanced back. "I told you. Background."

"Telling me that he's not interested in what I have to offer is background? Telling me that I can't change him is background?"

"Forewarned is forearmed." Cuddy unbuttoned the first button of her shirt and trailed her finger between her breasts. "You're free to leave whenever you want."

"I want to know what you want."

"You know what I want, Allison." Cuddy's lips curved into a slow smile as she turned and headed for the kitchen. "And you know where the door is."

Cameron licked her lips and rubbed her hands on her thighs, swallowing hard as she stepped into the light framed by the kitchen door. Cuddy didn't turn from the counter, the soft sound of wine slipping into her half-full glass the only one in the room other than the ragged rasp of Cameron's breath. "You really slept with him?"

The corner of Cuddy's mouth curled up. "Yes."

"What was it like?"

"The sex was amazing. The aftermath required protective gear." She set the wine bottle down and turned around, leaning back against the counter. Her shirt was completely unbuttoned, the soft pink hint of her bra barely visible in the fall of fabric. "I thought you were leaving."

"What else can you tell me?"

"I can tell you that you made your biggest mistake when you set the conditions of your employment. He takes his job seriously. He went to you as a colleague and you treated him like a man."

"He came to my apartment."

"Was he fucking you when he asked?"

"You know he wasn't."

"Well then, I don't see how you managed to misunderstand." Cuddy took a sip of wine. "Come here, Allison."

She licked her lips. "No."

"Then I think you should go home." She took another sip. "Weave yourself a nice little dream where House is a cookie-cutter doctor, healed by the power of your love. Put your hand between your legs and moan his name as if he actually resembles the man you actually know."

"You don't know anything about it." Cameron took an angry step forward. "Just because you fucked him…"

"I fucked House, Allison. The real Greg House who isn't anything like the fantasy figure you've built him into. You've got this man in your head and he's not real. Even if you could give House back his leg, he'd be nothing like you want him to be, you need him to be."

"You don't know anything about what I need."

Cuddy set her wine down and moved closer, edging Cameron against the wall. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as Cuddy's gaze swept down to it then back up to her eyes. "I know what you need and what you want. You do too otherwise you'd have left a long time ago."

Cameron licked her lips. "Because I want power?"

"You want a taste of it," Cuddy allowed with a grin. She leaned in and nipped Cameron's earlobe. "How badly do you want a taste of it?"

Cameron's knees weakened and she trembled. She held Cuddy's eyes for a moment, then looked away, looked down at the pale flesh between the fabric of Cuddy's shirt, her fingers reaching for the material and pulling it apart. Cuddy's low voice hummed through the air. "It's heady, Allison. Like making the definitive diagnosis. Like curing the patient. Like finding the cure for cancer. Power tastes like all of that. Power tastes like House on your tongue."

Her breath hitched and she eased the shirt off Cuddy's shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. "Tell me?"

"You want the details?" Cuddy's voice was low and throaty as Cameron unhooked the front clasp of her bra and worked it off her shoulders. "You want to know everything?"

Cameron nodded and trailed her fingers down Cuddy's arms before reaching out to cup her breasts. Her thumbs swept over the hard tips, catching them between thumb and forefinger and rolling them gently. "Everything."

"He was in his office. He was screaming at someone on the phone - probably one of his doctors." Cuddy stroked Cameron's hair away from her face as she lowered her head, letting her tongue flicker over one of Cuddy's nipples as her fingers continued to work them to tighter and tighter tips. "He threw the phone and it crashed into the wall about five inches from me."

"Oh," Cameron gasped, closing her mouth around Cuddy's nipple and sucking on it in earnest. Cuddy's fingers threaded into her hair, tangling in the silky strands.

"He told me to get out," Cuddy went on, her voice shaking slightly, hitching with every few breaths. "Came after me, hobbling on his cane. I told him I wasn't leaving."

Cameron sank to her knees, her mouth moving over Cuddy's flat stomach, her hands exploring along Cuddy's thighs, up under her skirt to the top of her thigh high stockings. She moaned against Cuddy's stomach, her hand fumbling for the zipper of Cuddy's skirt as she slid her other hand down between her legs, pressing against the fabric, rubbing it over her clit.

"He slammed his cane into the wall, even closer. I could feel the wind whip through my hair. He told me to get out or next time he wouldn't miss. I told him to get the fuck over himself." Cuddy swallowed hard against her dry throat as Cameron pulled her skirt down over her hips. Her thong was wet, and the scent of her arousal was heavy in the room. Cameron undid her own slacks and slipped one hand inside them as her other hand slowly edged up Cuddy's thigh.

"He grabbed me and shoved me against the wall, his cane between my legs. He rubbed it hard and fast against my clit until I was shaking, moaning. He groaned and jerked away from me, stumbling toward his desk. I grabbed him," she caught her breath Cameron's finger hooked the fabric of her thong and tugged it down. She moved her hips, letting the fabric fall. "He asked me if I wanted more."

Cameron's low cry choked free of her throat as she pulled her hand free of her slacks and brought it up to part the slick flesh at the apex of Cuddy's thighs. Her tongue lashed out, tasting the heavy liquid that painted Cuddy's skin. Cameron whimpered against Cuddy's flesh, her thumbs framing the hard nub of Cuddy's clit for her tongue. "More," Cameron begged softly, licking and sucking hungrily.

"I forced him onto the floor. Straddled him as he cried out. Dug my knee into his leg as I unbuttoned his jeans and freed his cock." Cuddy swallowed again, panting roughly between words. She leaned back, catching the kitchen island with her hands as she sprawled her legs wider for Cameron's thrusting tongue. "He shoved my skirt up my thighs and I slid down on his cock until he was buried so deep inside me it hurt."

"Yes," Cameron slid two fingers into Cuddy's opening, thrusting them up inside her. Cuddy's fingers tightened around the butcher block counter top as Cameron's hand kept moving, adding another finger as her tongue lapped at the moisture that coated her pushing fingers.

"I rode him until he passed out, both of us coming, thrusting, begging. He wouldn't let me come for the longest time, pinching my nipples until they hurt, fingering my clit until it ached. His cock penetrated me again and again, his hips pounding against mine. I cried out, begged him, swore at him. He called me a cunt and I called him a fucking bastard and we were both sweaty and…" she stopped, fighting to breathe as Cameron's fourth finger penetrated her. She swore softly, lifting up onto her toes.

Cameron pulled away, breathing hard and heavy as Cuddy sank down to her knees. "He told me not to stop until he couldn't feel anything but me." She caught Cameron by the nape of the neck and jerked her forward, her tongue thrusting hard and fasting into her mouth. Cameron sucked at it, pressing her body against Cuddy's, guiding her to the floor. Cuddy's fingers worked their way beneath Cameron's slacks and panties and against her wet flesh, her hard clit.

Cameron cried out almost immediately, jerking against Cuddy's fingers. Cuddy swallowed the sound then broke the kiss, and pushed Cameron onto her back and straddled her. She caught Cameron's hand and eased it between her legs. "Like this," Cuddy whispered. "I fucked him like this, Allison."

"Yes," Cameron nodded, her hair wet and clinging to her skin. "Yes."

"I fucked him until he came so deep inside me I could taste him. Taste that sweet, hot power. And then he kissed me, thrusting his tongue and his cock inside me, biting at my skin until I collapsed around him. Then he sucked on my breasts until I couldn't stop shaking and begged him for mercy." Cuddy stilled, her body quivering above Cameron's as her orgasm rocked through her. Cameron gasped and shuddered again, closing her eyes and letting her hand fall to the floor.

Cuddy got to her feet slowly, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "It hurt to walk for the next week. House thought it was funny. Even offered me a vicodin."

"Oh."

"Power's got a bitter aftertaste." Cuddy walked over to her glass of wine and took a long drink, walking toward the living room, leaving Cameron on the floor. "Just like House."