Slowly but surely House was actually beginning to look forward to the major invasion that was to mark Christmas Eve. Christmas and Hanukkah were co-inciding conveniently this year, so he and Wilson - well, mostly Wilson - had decided to have a bit of a bash and invite all their nearest and dearest for some good old eating, chatting and exchanging of presents. Cuddy was going to come, complete with Rachel and their honorary granddaughter Gina, the Foremans, probably bursting with the latest boasts about their first grandchild, a little boy called Nathan, Stacy, old and creaky but still engaging and loving company, Danny, who was always a joy to talk to with his thoughts from another universe - it was gonna be fun to have them all there, and who knew how long they'd all still be able to get together like that. Wilson was busy in the kitchen preparing a gargantuan spread, and House himself was slouched in his favourite chair by the window taking a breather after he had tidied and polished the piano, and laid it with all the necessary infrastructure for a sumptuous buffet. He eyed it again, just in case. Plates, check, soup bowls, salad bowls, dessert bowls, check, cutlery, check, the good linen napkins, check, glasses for anything anyone might want to drink, check, any amount of coasters and stands lest the hot bowls and plates should harm the antique wood, check again. He had dusted the menorah and given it pride of place in the middle of the buffet, the Christmas tree was standing in the library corner ready to be lit and a mistletoe was hanging from the ceiling near the bedroom door. Now all he had to do is hang around till it was time to change into something more respectable, and keep Henry, their cat, off the piano. For that purpose he had armed himself with a water pistol - or more of a water AK47 really - that was resting across his lap, and Henry better be aware that he was going to use it should the need arise. He took another sip of bourbon and savoured the flavour; it wasn't often he got to enjoy such hepatoxic pleasures now. Wilson, who had just turned his gaze away from the potato grater for a second, was narrowing his eyes. "Hey! It's still my first! And it's Christmas Eve!" "Did I say anything?" "You were going to!" Wilson shrugged and turned his attention to the embryonic latkes again. House rested his gaze on him a little longer and just drank him in; the warm brown eyes, the thick shock of almost white hair hanging into them, the muscular arms in rolled-up shirt sleeves, the air of calm self-assurance of someone who knew precisely what he was doing there and loved it. It was good to see Wilson cooking, at peace with the world and himself. "Don't you even have the decency to feel cold in that shirt?" Wilson shrugged again. "Work yourself warm, you can cut the vegetables for the chowder!" "You'll only complain that I'm not cutting it into the right shapes or something!" He hugged himself and rubbed his arms in a futile effort to generate some warmth. Surely a T-shirt, a shirt AND a fleece, not to mention a blazing fire in the grate, should be enough to stay warm even at his age? "HENRY!" He aimed and hit the big red tom straight in the flank with his water pistol. The response was most satisfying, an affronted meow in mid-jump off the piano and a gallop into the study where he'd be sulking for the next few hours. House blew the smoke off the barrel and grinned to himself, the extra five bucks for the super-soak feature had so been worth it. "Wilson! There's a puddle here!" "Here's a towel to clean it up with, catch!" "What if I slip in it?" House did his best saucer-eyes routine. Wilson rolled his eyes and came to clean it up himself. "And while you're out here anyway..." "Ok..." Wilson hugged him from behind and gave him a nice good rub for warmth. "Better?" "Thanks!" He smiled up at him and pulled him down for a kiss. "I'm bored, will you play with me?" "Not now, little one. Uncle Jimmy has to cook now. But if you're very good the Hanukkah moose will come later carrying lots of presents." They both laughed, and House decided to fight the boredom with a few tunes instead. "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack frost nipping at your nose..." They smiled at each other. That was life was all about, sharing what you were best at with the one you loved most.
They had told people to come about half an hour before sundown, so they could all light the candles together, why not keep with the ritual while you're at it anyway? Sundown, however, was still a long time away and House had just moved on to Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas on the piano, when the first guests arrived. Three generations of Cuddys tumbled into the door and made straight for the kitchen, following the smell of frying sufganiyot like blood hounds on a trail. "Happy Hanukkah, Wilson!" "Happy Hanukkah, everyone!" A group hug followed. "Sorry we're so early", Rachel apologised. "Someone here just wouldn't hear of waiting to see her Grampa any longer." "Is that so?" Wilson lifted Gina up and twirled her around. "Here, have a sufganiyah. Careful, it's fresh from the pan!" "Thank you!" Gina was delighted and smeared herself liberally with the jelly oozing from the fresh pastry, well below her dignity as a seven-year-old. "Hey, why don't I get any?" House felt very neglected, that's what he got for arranging the buffet AND providing the musical entertainment? No sufganiyot? "Because Gina is an adorable little girl whose metabolism can well take all the oil and you're a decrepit old cripple whose TBIL was through the roof last week!" "Whoa, congratulations! When did you qualify?" "Qualify?" "In hepafuckingtology! Now get me a sufganiyah, I'll be good again after Christmas." "What's hepafuckingtology?" Cuddy rolled her eyes at House. "Hepatology is the medical study of the liver and fucking is a very naughty word that Uncle Greg shouldn't use in your presence, sweetie. House! Stop corrupting my granddaughter!" "Just as it was getting to be fun... Do I get my sufganiyah now?" Wilson heaved an abysmal sigh. "Gina, you can bring your great uncle a sufganiyah." He put a ridiculously tiny one on a saucer and handed it to her.
She came over carrying the saucer like the host at a communion service. "Happy Christmas, uncle Greg!" He smiled and put the sufganiyah on the piano so he could embrace her properly. "Happy Hanukkah, Gina! Wanna play with me?" "Oh yeah!" She climbed onto his lap, careful to avoid the injury like she'd been taught since before she could even climb anything. House encouraged her. "Sit right down and make yourself comfortable, my owee is ok today." "Sure?" "Fure! Hardly hurtf at all", he munched through about a pound of sugar, jelly and crumbs. Cuddy and Rachel came over. "Happy Christmas, House!" More hugs and reciprocal happy Hanukkahs. "Uncle Greg?" "Yeah?" "Why do you wish me happy Hanukkah and I wish you happy Christmas?" "Because you're Jewish and I'm not." "Why aren't you?" "Because my Mom wasn't." "And why wasn't she?" "Because her Mom wasn't. See, you're Jewish because Rachel is, and she's Jewish because Cuddy is, and she's Jewish because her Mom was, and so on, all the way back to some 5000 years ago in the Middle East." "So what do you go back to?" "I go back to a whole lot of Dutch people, and so I was baptised into the Christian faith and celebrate Christmas. You go back to all these moms and grandmas and greatgrandmas and so on, and so you're Jewish and celebrate Hanukkah. It's all about your cultural heritage. Make sense?" Gina nodded. "Makes sense. Can we play now?" "Course we can, any requests?" "The Twelve Nights of Christmas! Please?" Oh dear... House hated that carol with a passion. Ah well... He helped her position her hands on the keyboard. "Ok, your thumb goes here, and here you put your index, and the middle finger there... Yeah, good!" Together they hammered out the basic tune. Gina giggled. "It sounds better when you play it on your own." "Well, I'm 75 years older than you, so you still have a lot of time to learn, ok?" And learn she would, he and Wilson were getting her a course of piano lessons for Hanukkah and would chip in together on a piano if they went well.
The next to arrive were Stacy and Danny. They had taken the train over from New York together because he was very reluctant to travel alone. Most of the time his schizophrenia was well-controlled now, but you never knew, and it was better not to be on his own if he did freak out, he had learned that lesson the hard way. Stacy strolled over to House first and they exchanged Christmas wishes, while Danny headed straight for the kitchen to pronounce his judgement about his brother's cookery skills. He ate nearly an entire sufganiyah with one bite. "They're not as good as Aunt Zelda's!" "Well, it's her recipe..." "Can't be, hers were gooey-er." "Gooey-er? Is that even a word?" "Dunno, but making up neologisms comes with schizophrenia, so I guess I'm covered." Wilson's face was a sight to behold. There was practically a thought bubble coming out of his head. "Oh great, here I am celebrating Hanukkah with TWO nutcases instead of one. How the hell did I get myself into that one?" it said. "Anyway, happy Hanukkah, Jimmy!" "Happy Hanukkah, Danny!" The hug they gave each other was somewhat perfunctory, and then Danny and Stacy changed places.
The apartment filled up gradually, and House filled glasses and encouraged merriment all around while Wilson finished the cooking and got changed. They all arranged the food on the piano together, a huge bowl of chowder, enough latkes to feed an army, the pitifully few sufganiyot that were left after everyone had had a good try in the kitchen already, a sumptuous cheese board, a stuffed turkey with all the trimmings, winter vegetables of all kinds, a big fruit cake, plates of cookies - no one was going to starve tonight. House then made his excuses to change into something more suitable. He had even ironed a shirt for the occasion and was now eyeing the contents of his closet-half quite critically. Hmmmm... Ok, the good pink shirt that he had decided on last night, the tailored grey suit. Tie or no tie? Wilson was wearing one, but then he usually did. No tie, a cravat instead. With that mission accomplished he dragged a brush through the leftovers on his scalp and sat down on the bed to put on his good black suede shoes and think for a moment. Finally he got up and took his old dress cane from the far corner of the closet. The silver on the handle was a little tarnished, but otherwise it still looked good. The evening just seemed to merit something more stylish than his walker, and he could always ask someone to get it for him should the need arise. He took a few experimental steps. Yep, the cane gave him just about enough support as long as he took it slowly.
Cuddy and Stacy were standing near the bedroom door chatting when he came out in his finery and applauded. "Mistletoe!" He found himself being kissed in stereo and enjoyed it immensely. "I wouldn't mind going further down that road…", Stacy stage whispered when they were both done. "Straight across the coffee table…" Cuddy agreed. "Sorry it didn't work out for you, ladies!" Wilson looked very smug as he put his arm around House and helped him to the sofa. Right now, everyone was beginning to gather around Foreman and his wife Jada as they were showing around pictures of Nathan, their first grandchild. "He's gorgeous", Gina squeaked. "I want lots of babies when I grow up!" "Now now, that's not something you should decide impulsively", Rachel told her with a wink – not really being the one to talk as Gina had been an accident after her college graduation party. "Foreman, is he Luther's or Michelle's?" "Luther's, Michelle has just split up with a potential Dad." She nodded. "Ah yeah, I heard, now you come to mention it." The apartment was filled with happy chatter while they were all waiting for the sun to set and the celebration proper to begin.