This is "Naked Pictures" which happen immediately after Season Three Finale. This is a sweet story, and according to others, one of my best. Now I've got a dilemma. I am planning to post "House 2107: Tape Up the Wombat" which is my comedy/science fiction story in a separate story thread. Should I do that with "Housebusters Trilogy"? Yes, I wrote not one, or two but three crossovers with House and Mythbusters. What do you think, continue to add to this thread or start another thread?
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Naked Pictures
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"Better be naked pictures." House growls to Cameron as she hands over the envelope."I'm resigning, House." You sit there for hours, finally allowing your emotions to show after she had left, when she couldn't see them. The envelope sits on your desk for days, until Cuddy finally confronted you about your missing duckling. You tell Cuddy's chest that the cutest duckling has finally flown out of the nest, stretching her wings, and flying off into the sunset. Cuddy demands the resignation letter, because HR has to have a copy on file to close her employment. So you finally limp over to your desk, to open the envelope that you had been hoping would disappear if you wish it hard enough.
"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!" You scream in astonishment. Inside the envelope are...pictures of Allison Cameron, as naked as the day she was born, sitting on a beach, the sun and the wind making her hair a golden halo. With her in some shots is a beautiful red head, with a spectacular figure, and it is now obvious what Cameron had been doing over summer. The dates on the pictures indicate that your lovely immunologist had been vacationing during the time he had been recuperating over your gunshot, vacationing at a nude beach. Her friend is...very pretty, but you can't keep your eyes off of...Her. Your eyes devour every inch of the reality of the body you've fantasized for so long, and she exceeds even the vision of perfection your mind has conjured. She is so beautiful...
You're interrupted by nosy, annoying Wilson who had come at the scream. You send him along the way, and you return to contemplate her pictures. The only explanation that was possible was that Cameron had accidentally mixed up her resignation letter and her personal photos. The gentlemanly, socially appropriate thing would be to stop shuffling through them, memorizing every detail, and either mail them to her or return them in person. But you're House. So with the beginnings of a cunning plan in your mind, you limp out of the hospital, easily dodging Cuddy with the ease of long practice. You get on your motorcycle and drive toward a destination that you know by heart...
"What is it House?" She looks beautiful, wearing faded and torn overalls, and you can see moving boxes behind her.
"You never officially resigned."
"What the hell game are you playing, House? I gave you my letter of resignation three days ago." You're suddenly consumed by the desire to kiss that lovely crinkle on her forehead, the one that she has whenever you make her mad. You realize how much you've missed it...and her.
"You mean these? The only things I see is that you've resigned from wearing clothes..." You hold out the incriminating photos, and you're rewarded by her scarlet blush. You use your greater height over her ruthlessly, holding the photos beyond her reach, as she makes a sudden (and foreseen) grab for them.
"HOUSE! GIVE THEM BACK!!!"
"Not unless...you go on a date with me." Her vexed and perplexed expression is your favorite one, the one that has always made her look completely adorable. You knew she was expecting something else, something typically House-ian. You delight in her pure astonishment and her complete surprise. You have to win her back, this was your last chance.
(Three hours later.)
It somehow felt right to be back in Café Spiletto, as corny and Cameron-ish as it sounds. You're both practically wearing the same identical outfits as the first time. You wish you had thought to buy another corsage for her, but Cameron, with a smile slipped a rose into the buttonhole of your jacket when you drove to pick her up. Her smile gives you hope, but during the drive she lost that smile, and you can see the fear in her eyes, and rightly so, that this whole evening was part of some master plan to humiliate her. Gradually, the fear turns to anger, and her grey eyes are cold by the time you reach your destination.
After the chitchat, the same as last time, you take the deepest, longest breath of your life, and you tell her the truth.
"I have one chance with you. Just one chance to make you stay. Tell me how you would feel if I asked you to stay, to stay with me. Tell me the truth, Cameron." You can't believe the words that just came out of your mouth, but you know you've instinctively chosen the only words that could break through her shell of ice, and cold fury. To make her forgive him for the years of pushing her away, the years he couldn't believe someone this beautiful and good could possibly want a crippled, drug addicted jerk like himself. For years he had tried to pierce her defenses, to find some hidden agenda, some psychological flaw in her that would make her want him, Gregory House, a box of broken glass. But he never found anything, no matter how much he looked, and he was faced with the realization that he had caused suffering to a genuinely good and caring person, who had once "liked" him. He hoped he hadn't hurt her beyond bearing, hurt her beyond forgiveness. You watch Cameron gather her thoughts, to get past her surprise. And your heart sinks as you realize she is trying to remember words, words she has rehearsed in her mind, never thinking that she would actually have a chance to use them. Words to reject and cut, words to wound and stab, the man sitting in front of her, the man who had rejected, cut, wounded and stabbed her in the heart.
"You live under the delusion that you can't be loved, that you're not perfect for someone. That's why you've pushed me away for so long. What you can't believe, you reject. You believe that you're my charity case, because you can't conceive how anyone could even like you. You can't believe someone half your age, and pretty could possibly have feelings for you. But I do, and while I may be damaged, my 'liking' you comes from you, from the most extraordinary man I've ever known, from who you are, and my feelings for that man."
(Nineteen years later.)
"You both blackmailed each other into your first and second official dates?" Olivia House breaks down into gales of laughter, while her twin Callum tries to suppress his huge grin. But you can tell he's not trying very hard, and truth be told, it was very funny looking back after the fullness of the past two decades...
"Well, your father and I..." began Allison House.
"Are nutty. And we totally had to do things in the hardest way possible." You lean against your wife of eighteen years, and if age hadn't spared her face, she is even more beautiful than the day you had both met for the first time.
"Wait a second. That whole business with the naked pictures, it wasn't a mistake, was it mom?"
"Always the smart one, Olivia. Yep, I gave your father naked pictures of myself deliberately." Allison had a huge grin on her face. They had both laughed about it after the wedding, when Allison finally confessed the truth.
"Who says that pornography doesn't lead to marriage?"
"Greg!!!"
"Ow! Still got the sharp elbows, Allison!"
As the two began arguing companionably, Olivia looked at her crazy parents. She had never known anything besides her slightly nutty home, and the love of two people who were still completely head over heels with each other all her life. Her parents could be so embarrassing at times...
