The Lesbian Lorax, I Guess

it's night time. the patient is asleep. cameron doesn't think they both need to be here watching him and wants to go home, which suggests it's late, but still early enough she thinks she can go home and get some sleep.

instead, she and chase have sex.

next we see, the patient is awake, and foreman is strolling in with coffee. he was not part of this all-nighter. is it morning?

cameron and chase hurry in when foreman shows up.

how long were they gone???? did they fall asleep after????

but okay. sure. it's a late night; they took a nap. fine.

except later the next day (they're still in the same clothes)… chase tells cameron no more sex at work, to which she immediately suggests they go get some lunch.

next scene: house is in the clinic.

next scene: wilson discovers the patient is deaf.

next: wilson tells house about the patient. house is done with clinic duty for the day. let's assume we saw him with his last patient, but also, he was ordering a CT and labwork for her, so presumably it took a bit. same with wilson: he had to finish up the procedure, test the patient's hearing, etc.

NEXT scene: wilson, foreman, and house in the Looking At X-Rays Room. so foreman was paged and summoned. they're all looking at the images and have been at it a while.

NOW cameron and chase come in, and house asks where they've been. which means it's been long enough he noticed.

chase is supposed to be monitoring the sleep lab test. cameron isn't even supposed to be here. they bail and foreman is the one who finds the symptom

four hour lunch break

chase briefly has a fun radioactive pee theory but doesn't bother testing it, to house's brief annoyance when he decides it's plausible after all

wilson is doing most of the tests and doctor stuff after a certain point. house goes home, leaving the kids in charge. foreman decides to run with chase's uranium idea.

house comes in the next morning. foreman and chase, and presumably cameron somewhere nearby, are napping in the lounge. so still no work is being done. house flirts with cuddy a bit. when he returns to the office, foreman is nowhere to be seen and cameron and chase are hooking up in a closet.

it's night time. the patient is asleep. cameron doesn't think they both need to be here watching him and wants to go home, which suggests it's late, but still early enough she thinks she can go home and get some sleep.

instead, she and chase have sex.

next we see, the patient is awake, and foreman is strolling in with coffee. he was not part of this all-nighter. is it morning?

cameron and chase hurry in when foreman shows up.

how long were they gone???? did they fall asleep after????

but okay. sure. it's a late night; they took a nap. fine.

except later the next day (they're still in the same clothes)… chase tells cameron no more sex at work, to which she immediately suggests they go get some lunch.

next scene: house is in the clinic.

next scene: wilson discovers the patient is deaf.

next: wilson tells house about the patient. house is done with clinic duty for the day. let's assume we saw him with his last patient, but also, he was ordering a CT and labwork for her, so presumably it took a bit. same with wilson: he had to finish up the procedure, test the patient's hearing, etc.

NEXT scene: wilson, foreman, and house in the Looking At X-Rays Room. so foreman was paged and summoned. they're all looking at the images and have been at it a while.

NOW cameron and chase come in, and house asks where they've been. which means it's been long enough he noticed.

again, this doesn't mean you need to ship it. you don't. they literally break up; it's fine.

cameron spends half her time on the show involved with chase: it is a major part of her character. her feelings for house take up much of S1, yes, but even there she and chase have a relationship: they flirt in several early episodes, and he is the only person she ever confides in about emotional matters in s1 and s2; certainly the only one she confides in on her own initiative.

chase is the reason she leaves diagnostics in s3: not because he asked or wanted or expected her to -- he'd actually already apologized for asking her out and said his goodbyes -- but because cameron simply didn't want to work for house if he wasn't there, and then didn't want to be in new jersey if she wasn't with chase.

"oh, she settled for him; oh, it was just a way to pair her off/get her out of the way; she didn't really care; she liked x." cameron chooses chase every time. she fights to be with him when she gives up on every other crush or relationship, whether it be TB guy or house or her dead husband's best friend: she refused to pursue him because it was immoral, but chase murders a guy and her first reaction is to find a way to be okay with it.

cameron in s4/5 is a happier, more cheerful person than she ever was in s1-2, but she's also silly and cheerful in s3... once she's started (in her words) falling for chase. she goes from someone who refused to even tell house she liked him, to someone who risks it all repeatedly to keep chase in her life. he is someone she cares about. enormously. even before they ever sleep together: he is the one who she talks to about house! about TB guy! chase is the only one of the cast she never once has a major feud or argument with (until they break up, and that lasts about a day before she completely melts. each time). there is a reason she keeps going to him, as chase himself points out. in an au where they never dated? she'd still go to him, because she likes him.

i don't think you can be a "chase fan" without caring about or acknowledging cameron/chase. that doesn't mean you need to ship it: you don't. but she is the single most important thing that happens to him. she affects his life and character more than anyone else in the show. house? barely registers. his dad? dead after s1. cameron is the reason chase moves on in s3-4-5, the reason he kills dibala, the reason he is a depressed slutty wreck in s7-8. the reason he falls for moira? cameron. the reason he becomes friends with 13? they bonded about him missing cameron. the reason he sleeps around? cameron.