Title : A Gregory House Christmas
Beta: Thank so much GabbyAbby
for being wonderful as always!
Genre: House/Cameron. It's pretty
heavy on the fluff factor.
My Secret Santa 07: Written for
smutqueen over at the housecameron for the secret santa. Happy
Holidays!
My Challenge 07 : I had to include a snowstorm, Wilson,
and broken furniture.
It was going to be their first official Christmas together. He still had to work on saying that without cringing. Gregory House was not a Christmas person, his girlfriend, Allison Cameron, however was. He was looking forward to a nice quite Christmas; just him, Chinese food, and the TV, since Cameron was going home for the holidays. Then the blizzard hit. It wasn't quite The Day After Tomorrow, but it was enough to close down all the airports, effectively canceling Cameron's merry plans.
She was trying her best to hide her disappointment when she told him, but those eyes told him everything he needed to know. The words came out of his mouth, before his brain could censor them: we could always do Christmas here. Deck the halls and all that jazz. (Shoot him now.) But she no longer looked like he shot her puppy, and that meant that there was a pretty good chance that he would get laid that. So he (blackmailed) asked Wilson nicely for help with the whole Christmas thing. All he had to do was cross his fingers. It couldn't be that bad, could it?
On the first day of Christmas, the clock read a little after six when Cameron wakes him up. She's perkier than usual (this did not spell good things for his day.) She smiles and explains that she needs to finish her shopping and will be back later tonight. He's torn between a slight annoyance over being blown off and the relief that he doesn't have to do anything, but only for a moment. The relief quickly wins out. He doesn't know why it takes her so long to go shopping. He and Wilson had got her present in a half an hour (and no, it wasn't from the hospital's gift shop). She comes back well after dinner, loaded down with bags and packages. It takes two trips for her to get all the stuff in and she won't tell him what she got him. The presents are all hidden by the time they go to bed, and he vows to wake up early to find them all. He can't stand no knowing.
On the second day of Christmas, Cameron spends the afternoon writing out Christmas cards. The kitchen is littered with them. She even sent one to his mother (it should really worry him how well the two of them get along), including a picture of the two of them. He still can't figure out where she got a picture of him smiling. He must have been standing there watching her, for a bit too long because she managed to coral him into bringing all of the letters and packages to the post office for her, while she makes dinner. Make sure to get them expressed, so they get there by Christmas. This is how I know I love this woman he thinks. Only crazy people are at the post office this close to Christmas.
The third day of Christmas starts innocently enough; he almost manages to get through the day without the clinic patients being too much of a hassle and decides that this was something to celebrate. The snowball seems to come out of nowhere when it hits her back and she fires one of her own back at him. This is war. They are soaking wet and still laughing when they finally come in for the night. Later, he tells her of the winter he spent in Colorado when he was five, and how he use to sneak out to go sledding in his backyard every change he got. She's laughing, so he doesn't tell her of the trouble he got into when his father found out. It was still a good memory.
On the fourth day of Christmas, Wilson suggests caroling. Cameron gets this dreamy look on her face and the two of them start swapping stories of how they use to do it as children. Lucky for him, Wilson gets called away for a patient and Cameron knows him to well to ask. There was no way he is going caroling. No amount of her hot chocolate and kisses could convince him otherwise. His concession was a holiday CD, as he reminds her how much fun the two of them could have without leaving the house.
On the fifth day of Christmas, House decides to have a little bit of fun on his own. So he sneaks into the hospital bright and early to hangs a sprig of mistletoe right outside of Cuddy's office door. He doesn't have to wait long before being rewarded for his efforts; by lunchtime, the rumors were already spreading rampant around the hospital. It seems that Boy-Wonder and the Dragon Lady had quite the mistletoe-induced moment. After a bit of investigation on his part, he congratulates himself on a job well done. The broken chair in Cuddy's office and the blush on Wilson's face were evidence enough that his diabolical plan worked. Except now, he can't get the image of the broken chair out of his head. He wonders if Cameron would be up to toping that.
On the sixth day of Christmas, the three of them pile into Wilson's sedan (there was no way they were getting sap on his Corvette) to go hunt down a tree. He grumbles the whole time, as his two other companions, who should probably be considered insane for caring this much about a Christmas tree, debate the merits of every single one. Some are too tall, some not tall enough; some are too skinny, some too fat. In the end, House buys the tree closest to the car and pays a worker to tie it up, before Wilson and Cameron even notice. They look at him in shock when he tells them he's got it taken care of, but get into the car anyways. One point – House.
On the seventh day of Christmas, House only slightly grumbles at the prospect of Cameron decorating their apartment (he has to live there too, after all). But If she wants to make it look like Santa's workshop exploded, well then, he might as well take the path of least resistance (just this once) and let her do it. But he doesn't understand why she has to do it while he is watching the O.C. All that bending and reaching was really distracting. But, oh well. The O.C. is a rerun anyways.
On the eight day of Christmas, Cameron decides they just had to watch The Grinch Stole Who Christmas. She makes hot chocolate, and puts extra marshmallows in his, so he figures he might as well humor her. It's getting harder all the time for him to deny how much he enjoys just hanging out with her and he puts his arm around her when she snuggles closer (this would later be denied). Cameron ends up laughing through the entire thing at his insistence that there was absolutely no resemblance between him and the silly green cartoon character. There is another silly Christmas special on after that, but neither one of them remember which one it was. This time, he is the one distracting her.
On the ninth day of Christmas, House comes home to Cameron and Wilson making gingerbread houses. They're for the pediatrics ward's holiday party tomorrow. House joins in, but just for the variety of sugary concoctions laid out on the table. How can he pass up the opportunity to make a mess and eat sweets at the same time?
On the tenth day of Christmas, he somehow gets stuck in playing the role as Santa for all the dying kids. He's not sure what Cameron ended up promising him to get him to do this. Just sit there, hand out presents, and try not to make anyone cry. For anyone else it would have been simple and really, it was just that one kid, and she looked a little leaky even before Cameron handed her to him. Wilson starts a sing-along on the piano (it seems like he was still upset over not being able to go caroling) and Cameron helps him pass out presents, dressed in a cute little elf outfit they would definitely have to borrow for later. She did owe him after all.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, they went to midnight mass (and by 'they', he means Cameron and Wilson). House drew the line at church. Cameron insists that she has to go; her mother would know if she didn't. And since this made him a tad bit nervous about Mrs. Cameron, he dropped it. Cameron isn't even religious, after all. And isn't Wilson Jewish? There are just some things that he will never understand.
The twelfth day of Christmas almost made the whole thing worth it. There are presents, even though he already knew what she got him ahead of time. It'll be a while before he forgets that awed expression on her face when she opens her own gift. Their living room is littered with wrapping paper, but neither of them cares. Cameron and Wilson cook dinner and he doesn't even have to help. When Wilson goes home, they cuddle on the couch with only the lights from the tree casting shadows on her skin. He tries to fight back this giddy feeling. It isn't him alone with Chinese food and reruns, but it was a pretty damn good day.