When We Were Young

Chapter 9: Capital Gain


Saturday morning came all too early for House as he groaned into his pillow when he heard the incessant knocking coming from his front door that seemed to only get louder the longer it went on.

"Go away" he managed to mumble before grabbing the pillow and slinging it over top of his head in an attempt to cover his ears. It was the weekend, his parents were away, House would be damned if he'd be getting out of bed before it was absolutely necessary.

The knocking continued. Harder. Louder.

"Noooo" House whined into the pillow; but the knocking continued.

"Alright fine, I'm up!" he practically shouted as he regrettably dragged himself out of the warm bed and made his way down the stairs and to the front door.

"This better be good" he grumbled as he swung the door open quickly; not entirely surprised to see Wilson standing on the other side.

"Hey" Wilson simply nodded as he pushed past House and stepped inside.

"Hey yourself" House sneered back before closing the door. "What the hell are you doing here? It's 7a.m. on a Saturday" he said sleepily while rubbing one eye with his palm.

"Well bonus points for getting the day of the week right House but it's actually 1:00 in the afternoon" Wilson returned and House simply raised a tired eyebrow at his friend as he collected the information.

"Yeah well all the same to me, it's still Saturday. So what are you doing here?"

"Well, just as I suspected…" Wilson began as he slowly made his way through the front hallway and into the main part of the house. "One night on your own and this place already looks like a warzone"

"Gee mom, I thought you weren't coming home until Sunday" House moaned before flopping himself down on the nearby sofa.

"You can't have people over when your house looks like this" Wilson reminded him but House just shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Why's it matter? It's gonna look a hell of a lot worse than this by the time they're through with it" he mumbled as he flipped onto his side so he was now facing the back of the couch in an attempt to go back to sleep.

"And what about food?" Wilson decided to continue; not particularly caring if House was listening or not. "You can't have people drinking here all night and not have any food or they'll be throwing up all over the place"

"If I go buy some food will you shut up and leave me alone?" House asked hopefully.

"I'll tell ya what" Wilson began as he continued peering around the room. "You go to the store and get some food and I'll start cleaning up while you're gone. It'll be much easier with you not here so I won't have to follow you around with a garbage bag"

"A what bag?" House smirked as he rolled over to face his friend.

"They're this new thing; people put their trash in them, you know, rather than on the floor"

"Hmmm" House mused; tapping his index finger to his chin. "Well, ya learn something new every day huh Wilson?"

"Get your ass off the couch and go to the store" Wilson groaned as he peeled a piece of pizza crust off the floor. "God you're disgusting" he sighed.

House regrettably rolled himself off the sofa and slowly made his way up the stairs and back to his bedroom to get dressed. Once inside he thoroughly considered just locking the door and collapsing back into his bed but after quick consideration he realized he'd never be able to block out the noise Wilson would intentionally be making on the other side of it. So with a loud sigh he headed to his dresser and grabbed for some fresh clothes.

A few minutes later clad in his usual dark blue jeans and faded white t-shirt House made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where he found Wilson leaning over the sink; elbow high in dishwater.

"You're gonna make some lucky guy one hell of a wife one day Wilson" House teased as he entered the room. Wilson chose not to respond; just shook his head and carried on with his task.

"Well?" House spoke again and Wilson rolled his eyes before turning to face him.

"What?" He asked sharply.

House said nothing but simply held out his hand and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you serious?" Wilson groaned.

"You're the one that's making me feed these people. Where do you expect me to get the money from?"

Wilson simply sighed then dug into his back pocket for his wallet and handed House a couple of twenties.

"Thanks sweetheart" House teased as he turned and walked out of the kitchen and headed towards the front door.

"And I want change!" Wilson yelled after him; only to hear a door slam in return.


A few short minutes later House parked his motorcycle in a familiar driveway and a sly smile crept up on his lips as he dismounted the bike and headed up towards the doorway and rang the bell.

"House!" a surprised Cameron answered as she swung the door open. "What are you doing here?"

"What, a guy can't stop by to see his favourite girl?" House smirked and Cameron tried to hide the shy smile that was begging to come out. Luckily for her House had already taken it upon himself to let himself in and had just brushed past her as the small crack of a smile finally escaped her lips. She quickly masked it and cleared her throat as she turned around to follow him inside.

"So…" she began nervously as she watched House begin looking around.

"Where's Mommy and Daddy?" House questioned; eyes still peering around the large open space of Cameron's home.

"Visiting my Uncle Jack. He just had a baby" she finished with a sweet smile.

"Geez that musta hurt" House scrunched up his face and Cameron giggled slightly before slapping him on the shoulder.

"His wife" she clarified. "Just had a baby. A little girl" she smiled again.

"Mozeltov" House muttered; clearly not very interested in any more details as he intentionally made his way into the kitchen and began scrounging through the cupboards.

"Did you want me to make you something to eat?" Cameron asked warily.

"No, not hungry" he shrugged as he grabbed for random boxes and bags and started setting them on the counter.

"I can see that…" she replied hesitantly.

"Don't you have anything besides healthy food? I can't very well serve my party guests wheat thins and cereal bars" House groaned as he continued rummaging through the cupboards.

"Ah so that's why you're here" Cameron nodded and House gave her a look that said she should've known better.

"Well I certainly didn't stop by for a tea party" came his quick retort.

Cameron shook her head. She really should have guessed. "Just stop messing up the cupboards" she finally huffed. "You won't find anything you're looking for in there, come on" she told him then grabbed his hand and began leading him to the basement.

"God please tell me you have a torture chamber down here" House commented; wiggling his eyebrows at her as she continued dragging him down the stairs.

"If I did I'd be chaining you up and leaving you for dead so don't get any ideas" she fairly warned and surprisingly it was enough to shut him up. For now.

"My parents keep all the junk food in the cellar" Cameron continued as she made her way through the basement with House following closely behind. "They usually have a stash kept in here for when they throw parties" she explained and House nodded. She stopped in front of a large wooden door and swung it open. The lighting was dim but with just enough light coming from the rest of the basement House was able to see well enough to find what he was looking for. He first went straight for the wine rack but Cameron was quick to swat his hand away.

"You can't take any of that" she sharply warned him.

"Buzzkill" House groaned in response. "Fine" he eventually sighed; turning slightly to reach a different shelf and grabbing for a few bags of potato chips and pretzels.

"These will do" House told her and Cameron nodded and led him out of the cellar.

"So" House began again as they made their way back up the stairs. "What are you drinking tonight if not your parents wine stash?"

"Oh I'm not drinking" Cameron quickly waved the notion off.

"Seriously?" House whined. "What do you mean you're not drinking? Why go to a party if you're not going to have any fun?"

Cameron rolled her eyes at that but the more she thought about it the more she realized she really didn't like being the sober one all the time and having to babysit everyone; breaking up fights that Foreman provokes, helping Wilson search for his pants at three in the morning because a drunk Wilson seems to have a problem with wearing them, and keeping House from attempting to pull off crazy stunts like last year when he wanted to jump off Wilson's roof and into the pool.

"Screw it" she finally sighed. "Get me something fruity and girly"

"What flavour?" House asked; slightly surprised that she caved so easily; but happy nonetheless.

"Um… peach?" Cameron's voice perked up slightly.

"Sure" He nodded. "Give me ten bucks" he shrugged.

"Aren't the men supposed to buy the girl's drinks?" she giggled as she walked towards the hall closet to retrieve her purse.

"Only when we want to get into their pants. Wilson's been getting it backwards all this time" House smirked and Cameron let out a hearty laugh.

"I only have a twenty" Cameron sighed as she sifted through her wallet and House's eyes lit up slightly.

"Twenty, perfect" he grinned as he held out his hand.

"Ugh fine" she huffed before handing the bill over.

"Always a pleasure doing business with you" House nodded as he shoved the twenty into his pocket and the snacks into his backpack before heading to the front door and swinging it open.

"See ya tonight" he told her and she nodded.

"See ya" she smiled.

House headed down the driveway and pulled out his cell phone to send a quick text.

'Foreman, tell Chase that I need some peach coolers' he quickly typed before hitting the send button.

'Yeah OK' the response came a few moments later and House smirked as he took the twenty dollar bill Cameron gave him out of his pocket and added it to the other forty that Wilson had given him for food.

"Booyah" he smirked as he climbed onto the bike and closed his helmet face shield. Being sixty dollars richer than when he started out his day this morning he decided that all this conniving deserved him some lunch so he rode off to the nearest pizza parlour and enjoyed a slice and a soda; courtesy of Wilson and Cameron.


"Peach coolers too?" Chase huffed as he lightly tossed his cell phone onto his bed beside him. He had grown more and more nervous about his task he was given as the time of the party drew nearer. So far he had absolutely nothing. His father had a liquor cabinet, sure, but he wasn't certain that these party guests would be able to appreciate 15 year old scotch the way his father did and would probably be more satisfied with watered down beer that they could siphon through a hose and a funnel.

He sat there pondering a plan for a few more minutes when suddenly he heard his phone buzzing from the bed. He reached for it to read the incoming text:

'Still freaking out? I may have a solution, but it'll cost you. –Foreman"

Chase's face lit up slightly. "Whatever it takes" he quickly responded then waited anxiously for another message from Foreman.

"Ran into a friend of my brother's today. Said he'd hook us up, at a price. You give him a list, the cash, and thirty bucks for his trouble and it's a done deal"

"Thirty bucks?" Chase groaned out loud. He pushed his chair across the floor and rolled up to his computer desk; quickly logging in to his online banking to see what his current financial situation was. Quickly adding up in his head how much all the drinks plus the extra thirty would cost him he figured he could swing it, it just meant dipping into his savings a little more than he'd like to. He sat there for a moment, then logged off of his bank website and his internet homepage popped up; his facebook page; and a smirk came across his lips as he read the latest posting.

'Allie Cameron updated her status: Who's ready to partyyyyyyy?'

He sighed before reaching for his phone one last time. 'Set it up. I'm in'


A/N: Thanks for reading! Up next, the party gets underway! Hope you'll leave a review before you go :)