okay but seriously. i know people hate this but: i don't think, sincerely, you can be a "fan of cameron," a "lover of cameron," without appreciating chase.
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.
chase is a major part of cameron's life and, yes, character. and you don't have to ship it -- they do literally break up, it's fine, it's so easy -- but pretending he doesn't exist, doesn't motivate her, isn't almost the only person to consistently have her back? come on. he matters to her. he has a huge impact on her life. she is a happier, stronger, less afraid person because of him. if you like cameron, you kind of have to give it up for chase.























