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Cameron had always disliked Halloween. She just didn’t see the point of it. Sure, it was nice to get candy and haunted houses could be fun; she even enjoyed dressing up and pretending she was something, or someone, else for a day. But she could just as easily do without it. Still she went along with the family traditions and each year on Columbus Day she found herself picking pumpkins, and almost enjoying it. A few weeks later she would help carve Jack-O’-Lanterns. When the 31st came she’d either take her younger siblings trick-or-treating, or she’d stay home and hand out candy, complimenting the kids on their costumes.
Now that she was older and living on her own, she no longer went pumpkin picking. It just wasn’t as much fun by herself. She didn’t carve Jack-O’-Lanterns either; living in an apartment she had no stoop to put them on anyway. She was rarely home on the 31st to hand out candy, nor did she have the time to decorate. Still, she smiled and remembered her own childhood whenever she saw children dressed up as pirates, princesses, witches, and superheroes.
As Cameron was walking in to the conference room that morning Chase rapped his hand on the table and a fake spider dropped down from the doorframe and dangled right in front of her face.
“Aah!” she shrieked, “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Happy Halloween!” Chase grinned.
“You’re into Halloween?”
“Yeah, it’s my favorite American holiday. You guys have much more fun with it here than we do in Australia.”
She shrugged.
“What? You’re not into it?” he asked, surprised.
“Not really.”
“Happy Halloween kiddies,” House said as he entered the room. “My costume this year is a cynical, cranky cripple. I’ll do my best to stay in character all day.”
Chase smirked and Cameron rolled her eyes.
“What did I miss?” Foreman asked when he walked in.
“Cameron hates Halloween and House’s ‘costume’ is himself.”
“Not myself,” House called from his office as he walked towards them, “I’m a doctor. My character is a computer technician.”
Foreman laughed and then turned to Cameron. “You hate Halloween? Why? Did you get teased for a bad costume or something when you were younger?”
“No.” She felt her cheeks turning pink. “I don’t hate it; it’s just not my favorite holiday.”
“She prefers Christmas, with miracles and love and cookies and caroling,” House interjected.
“Can we just get started on the case please? If you’re done discussing your favorite holidays, I think our patient would like to live to see his next holiday.”
“Well, you heard the lady, let’s get to work!” House grabbed his iPod and limped off towards his office.
A few hours later Chase walked in to the lab.
“Hey, Cameron?”
“Uh-huh?” she answered, not even looking up from her microscope.
“I know I said I’d see you tonight, but I promised Cuddy that I’d help out at the Halloween party for the Pediatric Cancer Care Unit.”
“Okay, another time then.”
“Unless you wanna help too, and then we can go for a drink afterwards.”
She shrugged. “Halloween’s not really my thing.”
“I know, but making kids smile is your thing.”
“Fine, you got me there.”
“Great. Page me when you’re taking lunch and we can walk down the block to the party store and get you a costume.” He turned and left.
“A costume? Chase, you didn’t say anything about costumes!” she called after him, and sighed when she realized he was already gone and didn’t hear her.
Chase’s pager went off nearly an hour later and he hurried to meet Cameron by the hospital entrance.
“Come on, let’s get this over with,” she said when she saw him.
He grabbed a cane off the shelf and began to limp around. “Hey, Cameron, who am I?”
“A tap dancer?” she smirked. “And not a very good one!”
“Ha ha,” he replied dryly. “I knew that was a dancer’s cane.”
“Sure you did.” She glanced at a few costume photos on the wall. “Why can’t I just wear some scrubs, throw on a lab coat, and be a doctor?”
“These kids see enough doctors every day. They want to see someone in a fun costume today.”
He picked up a pirate hat and placed it on her head, then pointed to a costume on the wall. “How about being a dirty pirate hooker?” He winked.
“Aye, not a chance matey!”
A witch’s hat caught his eye. “How about a witch? And you can carry candy in this cauldron.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” she mused aloud.
“Hey, look at this hat!” She picked up a hat with purple hair attached.
“Face paint!” she exclaimed as she continued browsing the shelves. “I have to get this!”
On the walk back Chase spoke up. “So, Halloween’s ‘not your thing,’ eh?”
She smiled. “Well, I do like planning the costumes.”
As soon as their patient was on the correct medicine, they got ready for the party.
Cameron filled her cauldron with some candy while Chase finished his vampire makeup.
“Very scary,” she complimented him.
“You too. With that green face and those red lips, I’d totally believe you were the Wicked Witch of the West.
She put her hands on her hips. “We live in New Jersey, therefore I am the Wicked Witch of the East, thank you very much.”
“Heh, heh, heh, I’ll get you my pretties!” she cackled. The kids shrieked with delight.
“Say it again Dr. Cameron!” one of the younger boys called out.
“Again?” She laughed.
Just then, Chase came over with his fake fangs in. He spoke with an accent, “I vant to suck your blood!”
“Eee!” the kids screamed and started laughing when they realized who he was.
“Blood? Are you sure you don’t want some candy instead?” Cameron asked.
“Candy sounds good.” He looked at the kids. “Okay, you’re all safe…for now!”
“Can we have some candy too?” asked one girl.
“Of course.” Cameron smiled. “Come take some.” She held out the cauldron so they could each choose what they wanted.
“That was fun,” Cameron commented, once they were both back in their regular clothes and had taken their makeup off.
“See, maybe you do like Halloween.”
“No. I like parties and making kids happy,” she countered.
“Wanna go have a little party of our own?” He winked suggestively.
“Chase!” She lightly punched his arm.
“I’m kidding! But we could go grab a drink.”
“Hm…” She pretended to think about it. “I guess that’s okay.”
After they each had a drink or two, Chase suggested that they go to a haunted house since it was still early enough.
“I’m sure it could be cool, but I don’t really like all that scary stuff,” she lied.
“Come on, it’ll be fun.”
She looked unsure.
“I’ll keep you safe from the living dead,” he added.
She laughed. “Alright,” she agreed, hesitantly.
The sound of Chase and Cameron exiting the haunted house was a mixture of screams and laughter.
Cameron smiled and looked at him. “This was fun, I’ll give you that much.”
“Good. Are you up for a scary movie marathon then?”
“Chase, we have work tomorrow.”
“Okay, just one movie then? You can crash at my place if you want, so you don’t have to drive home.”
“You got me to the haunted house, don’t push your luck,” she teased.
“Come on, it’s Halloween. Give up being such a goody-goody for one night. Going to bed a little late won’t hurt you.”
Her whole demeanor changed almost instantly.
“No. I said no,” she stated firmly, crossing her arms and walking faster. “I told you before that Halloween wasn’t my thing.”
“Hey, hey,” Chase called as he caught up with her. “I was just kidding about the goody-goody thing.”
“I know,” she replied shortly.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you acting this way?”
“It’s just this whole stupid day.”
“That’s ridiculous, you can’t blame it on a day!”
She sighed. “Just take me home.”
They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, but instead of starting the motor when they got in, Chase looked down and then turned his head to face her.
Cameron looked at him quizzically.
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on,” he said, answering her unspoken question.
She set her jaw. “Just drive.”
“You always evade the point of the question to avoid confrontation. You can’t keep doing that. You’re just pushing people away.”
She softened a bit. “I don’t push people away. That’s House’s thing.”
“Well, you might not push people away but you don’t let us in either.”
“I know. It’s more exciting to be mysterious than damaged,” she admitted quietly, before biting her bottom lip.
“Hey, I don’t think you’re damaged. Maybe a little, but nothing that can’t be fixed with some stitches. There’ll still be a scar, but it’s better than an open wound.” He paused. “Maybe I should leave the metaphors to House!” he joked.
She smiled weakly.
“Tell me why you don’t like Halloween? What happened on this day?”
Pools of tears formed in her eyes. “The last Halloween my husband was alive for, he was in the hospital. Halloween was never really my thing. House was right, I’ve always been more of a Christmas person. But he loved Halloween, so I brought some tapes and we had a scary movie marathon in his room. We spent most of the day eating candy and laughing. He said it could be ‘our holiday’ and we’d start fun traditions. I pretended to like it as much as he did, for his sake. I wanted him to be happy. That was two weeks before we got engaged. And a month before we got married. By the next Halloween he was too sick to enjoy it. I haven’t celebrated since then. That’s why I lied about not liking haunted houses. I almost feel guilty celebrating without him.”
Chase exhaled. “I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bugged you about it all day.”
She shrugged. “You didn’t know. It’s fine.” A few tears slipped down her cheeks.
Chase leaned over and gently wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs. “Do you want me to take you home now?”
She shook her head. “Maybe we could still go to your place and watch a movie?”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
They settled on watching Hocus Pocus because it was a Halloween movie, but not scary unless you’re under the age of ten. They microwaved some popcorn and decided it’d be interesting to toss some candy corn in the bowl too.
Once the movie ended they headed to bed. Chase offered to share his bed, but Cameron opted for the couch.
“Good night,” he said before leaving the room.
“Chase?” Cameron called softly.
He stopped walking and turned around. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for the best Halloween I’ve ever had.”