A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. You guys are awesome and I'm glad you're still enjoying this story. I'm not sure where it's headed yet but my Muse is driving so anything's possible at this rate haha. Ye be warned ;)

Chapter Ten

House slowly opened his eyes and saw his best friend standing there. But he wasn't alone. Cameron was also there, looking concerned.

"Am I dead? Is this my funeral?"

"You'd be lucky to get this big a turnout," Wilson smirked.

"Nice," House grumbled as he struggled to sit up. "What day is this?"

"It's Christmas Eve."

"Uh-huh. So...which one of you gets stuck with me?"

Cameron and Wilson exchanged glances before she spoke up. "You can come stay at my place. Both of you. I have room. And I grabbed a small turkey to cook for tomorrow."

House sniffed. "Figures. I'm in."

Wilson nodded. "Are you sure? I'd understand if you and House wanted some alone time..."

"It's fine," she assured him. "I have more than enough room for you to have your own space. You won't be in the way."

"Where's the warden so I can get the hell out of here?" House inquired as he pushed the sheets back.

"You're good to go. She signed your release forms this morning and she brought all your stuff from her house. Gladly, may I add," Wilson grinned.

"Good riddance," House yawned as he got up and went to the bathroom to shower and get changed. While he was gone, Wilson turned to Cameron. "I have a hotel, and...Dr. Jackson's friend Cathy offered to take me out for dinner. You and House need some alone time. I'll be fine."

She narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion. "Seriously? Or are you just saying that so I don't feel guilty about wanting to be alone with House?"

"Seriously. She asked me out this morning when I got here. And it's Christmas. I don't like being a third wheel." And before she could object, he smiled at her. "It's fine. Really. You two need to be alone. And I want to be alone with Cathy, if you get my drift," he said with a wicked grin.

Cameron laughed and shook her head. "You and House are like two peas in a pod. As long as you're sure..."

"I'm positive."

"Well, my invitation for dinner tomorrow night is still open. Cathy's welcome too, of course. And if she wants to extend that invitation to Dr. Jackson, I'm okay with that."

Wilson looked surprised. "Are you...thinking what I think you're thinking?"

She sighed and closed her eyes, looking defeated. "I think...House needs to more than what I can give him. I also think Dr. Jackson is what he needs, even if he won't admit it. But you didn't hear that from me."

"Wow. Okay. So in other words, you want us to help you play matchmaker."

Cameron laughed again but she didn't deny it. "Draw your own conclusions, but if you mention any of this to House, I'm coming after you," she said, teasingly, but he knew she was probably at least a bit serious. "Get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

X X X

"So what's your impression of House?" Wilson asked Sam as they sipped their wine in the lounge of the restaurant where they'd just had dinner. There was a piano bar and the atmosphere was very mellow, the wine they drank only made it more so.

"I really don't know. I haven't been around him long enough to really get to know him."

"What does Dr. Jackson think of him?"

Cathy narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Where are you going with this?"

He shrugged. "I'm just curious. When he was without his memories he was like Mr. Hyde, as opposed to his usual Dr. Jekyll personality. It was quite amusing. I think your friend was starting to take a fresh notion to him, despite what she already knew of him."

"I'll go along with that. I think she idolizes him. She told me she applied as one of his fellows years ago. She's followed his career quite closely over the years. But it doesn't really matter now, does it? Neither of them will give the other the time of day. And besides, he's with Dr. Cameron."

"Maybe," Wilson said as he took a sip, his eyes were bright with amusement.

"What's that look about?"

"Do you think House and Sam could end up together?"

Cathy's eyes widened. "I'd pay to see that action."

Wilson cocked his head to one side and flashed her a smile. "I might just have a trick up my sleeve."

X X X

House dropped his bag at the door upon entering Cameron's place and laughed at the sparse decor, or lack thereof. "What? No Christmas tree? No decorations?"

"I wasn't going to be home for Christmas, remember? So I didn't bother to decorate."

"Just as well. I hate that crap anyway."

"Says Ebenezer Scrooge," she laughed as she went to the kitchen with the bags of groceries they picked up on the way home from the hospital.

"Remember the first year you worked for me? And the candy canes?"

She blushed as she continued to put food away. "I think you just enjoyed messing with me."

House came up behind her and put his hands on her hips, sliding them around her waist as he pulled her up against him. "I miss messing with you."

"I...missed you too."

There was silence for awhile until he spoke. "But..."

"But what?"

"I sensed a 'but' in there. What's up?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough." When she didn't say anything, he let go of her and leaned back against the fridge. "What happened between then and now?"

"You...were different."

"Different how?"

"Well...you were nice. You didn't remember me. It was scary the way you were looking at me. Like a total stranger. Then something set you off and you basically told me to go away. So I did."

"Just like that?"

"Yep. It was clear you didn't want me around you and I was going to see my family anyway so..."

"Huh," he shrugged and then opened the fridge to find a couple bottles of beer, one of which he handed to her.

"You don't like Dr. Jackson very much, do you?" she asked sometime later as she checked on dinner in the oven.

"I don't know her well enough to make that kind of testimony. Do you like her?"

"When I first met her, she insulted me."

House chuckled. "She jabbed me with a shot of Ativan less than ten minutes after I started remembering things. She's not exactly in my good books either. What I want to know is why you're asking."

She shrugged. "She's very...uh...well, she's a lot like you. Not afraid to say what she thinks, and doesn't care what other people think of her."

"I like her already," he said with a roll of his eyes. "But," he said as he pulled her back into his arms again, "I like you more."

They exchanged a few kisses until the oven timer went off and Cameron extracted herself from his embrace to serve dinner. They ate in the living room and watched an old Christmas movie. As it got late, Cameron began nodding off and House nudged her awake. "Come on, you need to get some sleep if you're gonna be doing a turkey tomorrow."

She allowed him to lead her to the bedroom, where they each got ready for bed and then climbed in. It seemed very routine and a little odd to them, but neither said anything, and surprisingly, House was asleep within five minutes, with her soon to follow.

X X X

House woke up early to his thigh letting him know it was time to change his Fentanyl patch. He stretched and yawned loudly which woke Cameron who had been sleeping peacefully next to him.

"Morning," she smiled at him. "Merry Christmas."

"Bahh, humbug! Tell that to my bum leg."

"Awww nobody likes a Scrooge."

"Go stuff a turkey," he snapped, but it wasn't malicious. "And get the coffee going. I'm gonna take a bath."

"Alright. Breakfast will be ready soon."

House padded into the kitchen after his bath and immediately went to get himself some coffee. "Something smells good."

"Bacon and eggs are ready. Go sit down."

They sat down and tucked into their meals when the phone rang and she answered it. House was barely paying attention until the words "Dr. Jackson" made his head look up. Cameron was smiling back at him, said goodbye to the caller and ended the call.

"We have one more for dinner."

"Lemme guess. Dr. Jackson?"

"Wow, good guess!" she grinned, and then laughed when he made a face. "It won't be that bad. It's just dinner."

"Bullshit," he grumbled.

"What?"

"You just want to play matchmaker. You and Wilson. I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were. House," she said as she covered his hand with hers, "we both know it's not going to work out. You won't move here and I'm not going back to Princeton. I don't want a long distance relationship either. It's not fair."

"So, what? You're gonna pawn me off on Dr. Jackson, right? She hates me."

"I highly doubt that."

"Don't be too sure."

"She let you stay with her, didn't she?" Cameron pointed out.

"She had no choice."

"Yes she did. She could've put you in a hotel and deserted you but she didn't. She was well aware of what you're really like but she helped you out anyway."

"Then why didn't she let me stay there?"

"She thought you wanted me."

"She's not wrong," he said softly. "But you're right. It wouldn't work. I think, and this purely my opinion, that you were an itch I needed to scratch, and vice versa. We danced around each other for years and when I came here, it just made sense for us to hook up."

Cameron stopped eating and glared at him. "So that's all I was to you? A booty call?"

House frowned and scratched his forehead with his thumb in frustration. "No...that's not it. All I'm saying is that we've always had an attraction to each other since the beginning. That won't change. It's like Bogart said, 'We'll always have Chicago."

Cameron nodded. She knew he was right, even though it didn't make things any easier.

They spent the morning decorating the small tree she had, cleaned up a little, got the small turkey in the oven and he even helped her with the stuffing. Around three in the afternoon, Wilson, Cathy and Sam arrived bearing food. Cathy had made some kind of jello salad and Sam brought mincemeat tarts, shortbread cookies and a couple of bottles of wine.

House sat by the fire, feet up, beer in hand. "You'll forgive me if I don't get up."

"Lazy ass," Sam muttered under her breath.

"Your point?"

"Just stating the obvious," she said and then handed him a large gift wrapped box. "Merry Christmas, House."

"Is this a peace offering?" he asked as he took it from her.

"Take it however you want," she shrugged with indifference and took a seat across from him. "Open it while we're young."

He chuckled and tore into a wrapping like a kid on Christmas and Sam couldn't help but shake her head in wonder. He was like a little kid most of the time. How Wilson or Cameron put up with him was anyone's guess.

"Wow...this is nice," he said as he held up the leather motorcycle jacket to admire it. Cathy's eyes widened when she saw it and Sam shot her a look that told her to keep her mouth shut.

"It has a removable liner for summer. You wore it when I took you for a ride on my bike and it fit you so I thought you might want it. I have no use for it."

"I'll say," Cathy muttered under her breath before taking a long sip of her drink.

"You have a bike?" House asked Sam, looking surprised. "What kind?"

"Harley."

"Nice, even if it is impractical."

"What do you ride then?"

"Honda Repsol. I got it cheap off some guy who laid it down."

Sam nodded. "You do strike me as the crotch rocket type."

"Damn right," he grinned.

"Don't look now, but I think they're...bonding," Wilson whispered to Cameron as he helped her with the dinner preparations.

She nodded and managed a smile for Wilson's benefit but he knew she was hiding her emotions. "It's not too late you know," he said. "You and House..."

"Aren't going to happen. We talked about this."

Wilson looked surprised. "You did?"

"Yes. He's not going to move here and I'm not going back to Princeton. We didn't see the point in trying to pursue something long distance. It would be too hard."

Wilson nodded and they glanced over at House and Sam who were no longer talking to each other, but Cathy taken her place.

"You can call everyone to dinner now," Cameron told him as she started carrying dishes out to the dining room. Wilson did as she asked and carried in a few more things until the table was full of people and enough food to feed a small army.

"Are you sure you made enough?" Sam chuckled as she poured some wine for everyone.

"I hope so. Although with House here, it'll be touch and go," Cameron grinned at House, who merely stuck out his tongue at her. "The man has a bottomless pit for a stomach."

"You're not kidding. When we went out for dinner the other night, you should've seen the size of the bowl his pasta came in. And he completely emptied it, as well as finishing off nearly a basket of garlic bread himself."

House's head came up and he took a break from stuffing his face. "We went out for dinner?"

Sam's smile turned smug and she took a sip of her wine as she nodded. "It was a date. You even paid."

There were a few giggles, especially from Cameron.

House's eyes widened. "Get out!"

Wilson started laughing and it was sometime before he was able to stop. "That's not the worst thing he did."

"Oh God...there's more?"

"House...you ate pickles." And as House looked like he was going to be sick, Wilson threw gasoline on the fire by saying, "willingly."

House grabbed the nearest bottle of wine, poured more into his glass, took a long drink and began swishing it around in his mouth before he gargled loudly and then swallowed. "Pickles are the unnatural preservation of a cucumber. And that's just gross. Why didn't you stop me?"

"Geesh, it's just a pickle," Sam muttered.

"Bite your tongue, woman," he glared at her.

"Oh, grow up, Greg," Sam said with an air of dismissal which both amused and infuriated him. Then she turned to Wilson and asked "how on earth do you put up with this lunatic?"

"I ask myself that every day," he said, to which the rest of the table laughed, while House merely rolled his eyes as he took another drink of his wine. It was going to be a long night.