August
Wilson was spending his three weeks of vacation alone. His parents had finally decided to take a long-planned trip to Europe for their fiftieth anniversary, and he was asked to be their house-sitter. He almost laughed at the idea. After all the time he had spent House-sitting, he was certainly an expert.
The vacation was a very pleasant experience. He worked a lot in the garden, gave enough time to running, and even joined the local gym. Having his mother's vegetable garden handy he pushed his healthy diet up a notch. The effect of the last few months were noteworthy. He had bought new trousers and felt very elegant. And the love handles were gone, he felt fifteen years younger.
When August 10th came up, he did something he hadn't done since when he was a child: he watched the shooting stars, and made a wish. The wish that his plan would work, and by December the pain would be gone.
September
Cuddy was totally distracted by the wedding preparation, but House was back to his familiar office and routine. There were big improvements coming; Cuddy had raised enough donor funding to enlarge Diagnostics, so he was going to hire three new fellows and expand his caseload. He smiled inwardly as he recalled that, as a result, she had freed him of clinic duty permanently. The new fellows were more than enough to cover up. Moreover, Foreman had left to head his own Department somewhere on the West Coast, and Chase had become Vice Head in charge of all administrative responsibilities. Life was good.
Wilson had been moved to a new office somewhere near Oncology, and his former office would be used for Diagnostics' secretarial and archival needs. House had barely seen him in the last two months, as Wilson had been attending two Oncology conferences besides having a long vacation.
Since Cuddy was busy, he went to lunch alone. As he stepped into the elevator, he saw Wilson already in it, intent on reading a medical journal. He greeted him enthusiastically. "Hi! Long time no see. Want to join me for lunch?"
"Oh, no thanks. I would love to, but I have a huge paperwork backlog from the vacation. Another time." For a moment House saw Wilson's boyish smile, and vaguely realized he had missed it.
As he waited in line in the cafeteria, House thought briefly of the oncologist. He looked different: at the same time more elegant, younger and more tired. A strange combination. Then he sat down with his food, opened the file and started studying his part in the ceremony. Hebrew was hard: having Wilson nearby would definitely have been of use.