Hello!

cameron goes to house, trying to act like house. she's pretending. she has excuses. she wants to seem cold and heartless to hide that she's hurting to kiss him, she wants to take blood, she offers no emotional honesty, no vulnerability. this seems to throw house a little: he clearly understands she's up to something, but his first reaction is to try and engage with her, to call her bluff. she says she thought he'd find the act appealing, but he doesn't!

cameron offers house nothing: the closest thing to a statement on her feelings is the very interesting if you're not here, there's not much point in staying, interesting because she will be the one to leave very soon, and never shows the slightest interest in returning, but house will continue to take her at her word and assume she is itching to be with him for the next... well, he's still imagining it in the series finale.

does she mean it? is she lying? did she mean it in the moment? was the kiss an excuse to take his blood, or was his blood an excuse to kiss house? (remember, too, that she has been sleeping with chase about a month by this point, and canonically is developing feelings for him: is this a factor? is it not?) we don't know. cameron might not even know: this isn't that different from how she approached her and house's date, demanding he address his feelings and never once giving her own.

house ends up coming off as more open: he engages with her instead of dismissing her; he tries to provoke her into acting more like herself, he approaches her instead of dismissing her. he kisses back, and unlike cameron, he doesn't have three layers of excuses for why.

-

foreman is next, and foreman gets two tries at this.

the first time, he tries directness and honesty: he tells house he wants to talk, which allows house to run away. but the thing is, house doesn't do this with anyone else! he's dismissive of wilson's possessive attitude towards his "cancer," he immediately tries to draw out cameron; he takes advantage of cuddy's open door and... we'll get to chase. foreman is the only one house immediately tries to avoid, which is interesting because it isn't at all like house doesn't care about the guy: i mean, in a few weeks, house will literally be put on anti depressants because he's so upset foreman is leaving.

the next time foreman corners house, he's blunter: house isn't getting what he wants until foreman does. foreman then attempts to make a little speech about how he likes and respects house despite house being an annoying jerk: house once again cuts him off. there's something about this that reminds me of forever, and about the resignation arc to follow: house likes foreman when foreman reminds him of himself (cold, unattached, manipulative), and is quick to try and reenforce this. you don't like me, he tells foreman here: in just a couple of months, this idea will be endlessly distressing to house! but this isn't wishy-washy writing or bad characterization. foreman is a good guy, but he isn't the emotional sap he pretends to be or tries to make himself at times. house hates insincerity... and wants foreman to be like him. interestingly, foreman is basically the only other person besides house who works on the case this episode: it's a collaboration between the two of them. house doesn't dismiss or avoid foreman in these moments: only when foreman is trying to change their relationship and dynamic, to be someone house doesn't want him to be.

-

finally, there's chase. and i love this scene, because -- while i don't think it's quite as Serious as some people in fandom make it (house is not chase's father), it's also very, very good, because it does illustrate one thing that chase is almost uniquely good at: forcing honesty from house.

not literally, of course. when chase appears, house is immediately dismissive of him and his motives, as he's been with everyone else. except... chase calls him out for deflecting, something no one else has done so far. house deflects again, and chase utterly undercuts him by announcing he's going to hug him: house's deflections just... don't work, because chase isn't playing the game. cameron plays: she's often deflecting just as hard as house. foreman tries not to play, but he's pretty easily provoked. chase, fascinatingly and consistently, tends to be pretty good at cutting through house's bullshit simply by being his usual blunt and sincere self: see him doing the same thing in a few episode's time in the jerk, or him refusing to help house in house divided and the social contract without getting caught up in excuses, or even in the (awful) blowing the whistle, how chase alone sees through the scheme and "wins" by not engaging.

by the way

he says it twice. chase very, very rarely uses australian-isms! i can only think of four examples in the entire show, which i'm going to list here because i think it's relevant for how rarely he uses slang and the context in which he does.

poison, s1: while his patient is seizing, chase tries to hold him down and get him drugs with a "stay cool, mate." the subtitles actually say stay calm, but i've Asked An Australian and this seems to be a bit of ad-libbed dialogue. in context, it makes sense: chase is a bit harried/rushed, he's not thinking about his words.

cursed, s1: chase gives a very autralian "you'll be right" to gabe as reassurance. this one is an extremely common australian/new zealandism, but i never see it in fic -- and wasn't aware of it myself until i Asked An Australian (as the phrasing was so specific). context again: he likes gabe, he's speaking to him as a pal, not a "doctor." he's being a bit less professional and casual.

hunting, s2: when kalvin is flirting with him and asking chase to check out of femoral artery (groin), chase replies with a lightly sarcastic "sorry, mate; hand's full." again, context! he's joking a bit. he's not going to check out kalvin's groin, but he's not being rude or weird about it: he's joking in the face of flirting.

private lives, s6: chase talking to thirteen, says he acted like a "tosser" during speed dating. again: he's being informal, he's talking with a friend. he's a bit frustrated/upset, and his tone matches.

but at the end of the episode, while thirteen is standing alone at the funeral, foreman is there for her. he takes her hand, and they mourn together.

and this is very sweet, and i do not want to take away from this.

but in the same scene, let's take a look at cameron and chase —

cameron is physically leaning away, her arms crossed: chase couldn't hold her hand if he wanted to. she is completely withdrawn on herself, completely isolated.

“oh, but she led him on…” when? chase is the one who told her after hunting they shouldn’t have sex again. she was very clear about the fwb situation. when he (correctly) called her out for having feelings and being scared, she immediately dropped her just-got-dumped hostility and started being nice to him again, then quit her job to be with him.

name one time she was unkind or led him on. the itch? chase is the one with a problem. he didn’t tell her. she can’t fix what she doesn’t know about, and as soon as she does know, she rushes to fix it. the sperm? she is so up front with chase. she tells him she loves him and wants to spend her life with him. when he is still upset, she decides to destroy the sperm to save their relationship. what did she do wrong? dibala? cameron spends weeks telling him she’s here for him and wants to help him and is worried sick about chase. she only leaves when he tells her he isn’t going to leave with her; this is on chase too.

the only time i can think of where cameron really did kind of treat chase badly was in her panic spiral in saviors, and she knows it too! that’s the point! she screwed up! he also knows it; that’s why he dumps her! and even then, that isn’t cameron “taking advantage of” or using chase: he very clearly has boundaries and enforces them.

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.