DISCLAIMER: I don't own HOUSE MD

Chapter Ten

Two days before Christmas, Cameron and House flew out to Chicago from Princeton. Cameron had officially been living with House for almost a month, and as House put it, "they weren't ready to kill each other yet". It seemed to Cameron as though all relationships were flourishing in New Jersey at the moment.

Zoe and Foreman had been out a few more times, and Chase had just celebrated his six month anniversary with Samantha. Cameron was thrilled to be going home for Christmas, and to finally introduce House to her family; although she knew her father and brother would be wary of him at first. She was slightly concerned about the fact that her family would not be used to his ways as she was, but he had promised to be on his best behaviour, knowing how important this was for her.

Cameron scanned the waiting crowd as they disembarked from the plane in Chicago, standing on her toes to see over heads.

"Damn, I knew I should have worn heels... wait....Mom!" she called out, waving frantically, her eyes lit up in excitement.

"Hi, honey!" Isobel Wheeler beamed as her daughter reached her, and mother and daughter embraced, as House subtly studied Cameron's mother.

His immediate reaction was that Cameron was exactly like her mother. The same dark hair, blue-gray eyes and delicate features. Isobel separated from her daughter, critically examining her as only a mother can, before smiling gently and turning to House.

"Mom, this is Greg. Greg, this is my mom, Isobel."

House smiled politely and offered her his hand to shake. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Isobel shook his hand warmly, glancing at her daughter. "You too, Greg. I'm so glad you could come. We've heard so much from Allie about you over the years, it's nice to finally put a face to the name."

"Is Steve here yet?" Cameron asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Yes, he and Tess got here yesterday with the kids. Which means the house is filled with noise, the TV's on constantly and all my cookie's are gone."

Cameron grinned knowingly. "And you're loving it."

Isobel laughed admittedly. "Every second. I can't remember the last time the whole family was home for the holidays."

Cameron moaned slightly as they headed to baggage claim. "You're not going to make me feel guilty the whole time I'm here, are you?"

"Of course not, sweetheart," Isobel assured her. "I know you've had to work. It's not like that time when Steven was in college and he skipped Thanksgiving to go to his roommate's ski trip in Colorado."

Cameron scoffed. "You're never going to let him off the hook for that, are you?"

"No," Isobel smiled and Cameron giggled.

As they were leaving the airport after getting their bags, following Isobel to the car, Cameron hung back slightly to keep in step with House, slipping her hand within his. House squeezed it gently, but kept his gaze straight ahead. It was only a short drive from the airport to the Wheeler home, and Cameron and Isobel filled the silence with ease, as Cameron filled her mother in on work and her friends; whilst Isobel told her all the news she hadn't mentioned over the phone.

The Wheeler's home was small, yet comfortable in the suburbs of Chicago. House knew that Cameron had, quite literally, been born in the house (Jack Wheeler had been out fishing when Isobel's waters broke and there had been no time to get her to the hospital. Thankfully their next door neighbour, and the twins godfather, was an obstetrician), and the house was filled with memories.

"Nice house," House murmured to Cameron as they stepped out of the car.

Cameron smiled appreciatively and studied her childhood home nostalgically. "I love it here. It's always home, nothing ever changes."

They collected their bags and followed Isobel inside. As House shut the door behind him, there was a pounding of footsteps on the stairs, and then three children sprinted down and threw themselves upon Cameron.

"Auntie Allison!"

"Hey, guys," Cameron greeted them enthusiastically. "Wow, look how much you've grown! What's new?"

"Auntie Allie, you have to come see our puppy," insisted the eldest child and Cameron grinned.

"You got a puppy? Awesome. How did you con your parents into that?"

"We founded him," a little girl replied. "He's a stray, and we put up signs but no-one claimed him, so Mommy said we could keep him."

"Cool. What's his name?"

"Butthead," the smallest answered. "Because Daddy said he's a pain in the butt."

Cameron smiled and turned to House. "Greg, these are my lovely nieces and nephews; Ned, Daisy, and Micah. Kids, this is Greg."

Cameron had filled House in on her brother's family on the plane, and he knew that Ned was eight, Daisy six, and Micah four.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Ned sniggered and Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, he is. But listen, what's this your Dad tells me about some girl named Kassie?"

Ned blushed and said nothing. Cameron smiled knowingly and Isobel delicately shepherded her grandchildren towards the door.

"Ok, why don't you kids go play outside for a bit? Go play with Butthead or something?"

Cameron giggled quietly as the kids obediently left and her mother rolled her eyes at her.

"I can't believe your brother let them call the poor dog Butthead."

"I always said you should have called Steven 'Butthead'," Cameron quipped and House chuckled.

Isobel didn't reply, just turned and headed into the kitchen. "I'll make you some lunch whilst you get settled. You must be hungry."

Cameron nodded and picked up their bags, leading House up the stairs and down the hall. House gazed around in interest as he entered her room, dumping his bags at his feet and popping a Vicodin, his leg aching slightly after having to climb the stairs. It was clear Cameron had not lived in this room for years, so the room remained as an echo of the teenaged- Allison Cameron, then a Wheeler, he had to remind himself.

Behind the door there was a large map of the world, various countries coloured in and marked. There were posters of Whitney Houston; Greenday; Bryan Adams; George Clooney; the Broadway show of Rent; Titanic; Beauty and the Beast; Aladdin; the Little Mermaid; and the Lion King.

"Nice posters," he smirked, looking at them.

Cameron grinned. "Shut up."

"I mean, seriously, Allison- The Little Mermaid?" he demanded.

Cameron shrugged and sat down on her bed, sighing slightly. "They were my comfort movies. Whenever I was so stressed out by schoolwork, or my family or whatever was going on, I'd just watch one of those movies. The classic Disney films.... I worried a lot, especially in high school. I had lots of older friends, who were already in their twenties, and that meant they were growing up. Getting married, getting jobs, having kids.... sometimes it freaked me out a little. These movies, they never changed, they were familiar."

"They're also mostly based on fairytales and unrealistic," House retorted, not willing to accept that he was touched by what she had said.

Cameron laughed. "But that's not why kids love them. Why I loved them. Even though I wasn't a little kid when they came out. They have great songs, a real message to them, and there's this fantastic love story. Some of the greatest love stories of all time."

"Of all time?" House repeated, his tone doubtful.

"Beauty and the Beast, the curse can only be broken when he learns to love and be loved in return; The Little Mermaid, she gives up her voice to have a chance at love; Aladdin, he completely changes himself to get Jasmine to love him; Cinderella, the Prince searches the whole kingdom to find her after one night. How is that not the type of love that every girl dreams about?" she demanded.

House paused, before sitting next to her and taking her hand. "You know you're a hopeless romantic, right?" he asked her lightly.

Cameron grinned. "I know. That's why I waited three years for you to come around."

House nodded, acknowledging her statement and studied the posters. "What's with the decorated map?"

Cameron giggled. "I coloured in all the places in the world I wanted to go one day."

"Have you been anywhere yet?"

"New York," she grinned.

House rolled his eyes. "You need to get a life. Let's see, I've been to Egypt, Japan-"

"Ok, Ok, I'm sorry my father wasn't in the Marines," Cameron interrupted, knowing it would be a long list.

He shrugged innocently and she rose, tugging him up with her. "Just for that, we're going downstairs now, and you're going to meet Steve and my dad."

House grimaced. "Crap."

She merely giggled and led him out of her room and down the stairs, towards the kitchen; until she was almost dragging House down the hall, as he became more reluctant with every step.

"Wow, I never thought Greg House would be afraid to meet his girlfriend's family," she teased in a whisper, pulling him into the room before he could retort.

"About time!"

House entered the room to see a tall man, with the same eyes as Cameron, standing in front of the fridge his arms full of food.

Cameron's eyes narrowed and she glared at him, hands on hips. "Hi, Steven. It's great to see you too. The flight was fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" she asked, and Steve shrugged sheepishly.

"Sorry. Hi Al, want some lunch?"

At first glance, House could see bologna, Swiss cheese, salami, dill pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and sprouts.

Cameron grimaced. "Haven't you realised yet that you don't have to use everything in the fridge on one sandwich?"

Steve grinned. "What can I say? I'm a growing boy."

She snorted. "Only outwards."

A man, House assumed to be Jack Wheeler, looked up from his newspaper and checked his watch.

"Wow, I think that's a new record, Izzy. Only took thirty seconds for them to insult one another."

Both twins' faces relaxed into grins, and Steve rolled his eyes, placing all his sandwich makings on the bench and moving towards Cameron.

He tightly embraced his sister, smiling at her gently. "How's my little sister doing?"

Cameron grimaced at the 'little sister' comment, but didn't respond. "Fine. You?"

"Good."

Cameron smiled and turned around to face House. "Greg, this is my brother, Steve. Steve, this is Greg."

Steve still had one arm around Cameron's shoulder as he offered the other one to House to shake.

"Hey, how's it going?" he asked him. "It was good of you to come."

House nodded politely, taking the offered hand. "Thanks."

Cameron twisted out of her brother's grasp and turned to greet Jack as he rose from the table.

"Hey, Dad. Dad, this is Greg- Greg, my Dad Jack."

The two men shook hands, and then House and Cameron joined them at the table.

"Where's Tess, Steve?" she asked her twin, looking around.

Steve had just taken a huge bite of his sandwich and made his sister wait as he desperately tried to swallow.

"Shopping," he finally mumbled and Cameron nodded.

The five chatted for awhile, before Cameron was dragged outside by her niece and nephews to meet Butthead. She had only just returned to the kitchen, slightly wary about leaving House alone with her family for too long, when a woman about Cameron's height with curly honey blonde hair entered the room with an armful of shopping bags.

"Allie!" she exclaimed, laying eyes upon Cameron and Cameron smiled in genuine excitement, standing up to embrace her.

"Hey, Tess. How are you? Have fun shopping?"

Tess laughed, pulling away and dropping the bags to the floor. "Any shopping trip without the kids is fun. How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!"

Cameron laughed. "Yeah, well my boss is kind of a slave driver. He's not big on vacation time," she said teasingly, glancing at House.

House shrugged innocently. "Hey, if you wanted to go on vacation and let patients die, you should've said something."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Tess, this is Greg House. Greg, this is Steve's wife, Tess."

House shook her hand, but noticed that she had been introduced as 'Steve's wife' not 'my friend'.

The days before Christmas flew by, and House had to admit, (not to Cameron's face, of course) that he was actually having fun on the holidays. Steve, in particular, got along well with him, and House loved observing his and Cameron's relationship. It was full of teasing, and snide remarks, but he could also be extremely protective of his twin.

House's highlight was the first morning they were there, as they were in the kitchen having breakfast, and Isobel proposed a day out. Cameron immediately agreed, and downed her coffee, standing to her feet.

"Great. Ok, then, I'm going to go shower."

"Yeah, because we all know you need half an hour to make yourself beautiful," Steve teased her.

Cameron smiled sweetly at him. "Well, at least its only half an hour. I'm surprised you leave the house more than once a year."

House and Tess snorted, and Steve merely looked bemused as Cameron left the room dignified.

"Was that supposed to be an insult?" he asked Tess, who laughed.

"Hon, it was an insult. She was implying you need an entire year to make yourself beautiful."

Steve frowned, then his eyes widened in realisation. "Not funny Allison!" he yelled upstairs, and they all heard Cameron laugh from upstairs.

She laughed even harder, when on Christmas morning, she opened her gift from Steve. Jack, who was playing "Santa" and doling out the presents had handed a big box to Cameron, reading the tag aloud.

"To Allie, from your big brother, Steve."

She glared at her twin as she accepted the box. "Six minutes, Steve!"

"Six minutes, is six minutes," Steve grinned.

She rolled her eyes and unwrapped the box, before opening it and looking inside. At her sudden laughter, her parents, Tess and House all stared at her in bewilderment. Grinning, she reached in and pulled out,

"A pony!" she giggled, revealing a large stuffed pink pony that had been squashed into the box.

Steve grinned at her. "See, now my IOU is fulfilled."

"Yes, it only took you twenty-two years," Isobel smiled at her son, and Cameron beamed.

"I love it. Thanks, Steve."

Even House had gotten gifts from the family; a box of chocolates from Isobel and Jack, a box set of The OC from Steve and Tess, and a handsome watch from Cameron. His gift to Cameron, which Wilson had helped him pick out, was beautiful diamond pendant, which she loved.

The couple had been intending to stay in Chicago for ten days, but only a week after their arrival, they had been awoken early in the morning by the buzzing of Cameron's cell phone. Sleepily, she fumbled for it, and saw through half-opened eyes that it was Foreman calling.

"Foreman?" she mumbled in confusion.

"Hey, Cameron. Sorry to call so early," he began apologetically and she sat up yawning, as House reluctantly opened his eyes.

"No worries. What's up? Did you have a good Christmas?"

"Yeah, I did, thanks. And thanks for the scarf, it's great."

Cameron smiled slightly. "Thought you'd like it."

"Listen, I know you guys are still on vacation, but Cuddy called Chase and I in last night for a case. We thought we could deal without you guys, but it's bad."

Cameron frowned, poking House on the shoulder as he closed his eyes, preparing to go back to sleep.

"How bad?"

"Twenty-four year old female presented with fever, fatigue and joint pain. When we admitted her we found a rash, and she went into respiratory distress this morning. We thought auto-immune, but all the tests have come back negative. And now her roommate's showing symptoms."

Cameron was wide awake now, and swung herself out of bed, still talking. "Ok, we'll catch the next flight home."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Cameron nodded. "I'll let you know when we'll be there."

"Ok, thanks, Cameron."

She smiled. "Forget it. See you soon."

She hung up and turned to face House. "Greg, get up."

"We're on vacation!" he moaned, burying his head under the pillows. "Can't Chase and Foreman handle it?"

"They tried, the patient went into respiratory distress. The boys were thinking auto-immune, but she's testing negative, and now her roommate's showing symptoms."

House paused, then sat up. "My favourite kind. Ok, what do you want me to do?"

"I'll call the airline and pack for us. Can you just get dressed, and then go tell my parents what's happening, please?" she asked him, already dialling.

House heaved a sigh, then got dressed. When he got downstairs, Isobel was already there cooking breakfast and Jack was reading his morning paper.

"You're up early!" Isobel greeted him with a smile.

House grimaced. "Yeah. Not by choice, I can tell you that much. Listen, we just got a call from the hospital, we've got a patient in critical condition. We're going to have to leave. Allison's talking to the airline now."

Isobel was obviously disappointed, but nodded. "Of course. Well, I suppose it's only three days earlier. I should wake Steve and Tess then, they'll want to say goodbye."

House nodded, but stopped her from leaving the room. "Uh, actually... before you leave and Allison comes down... I'd like to talk to you both."

Jack slowly put down his paper, as though he already knew what House was about to say; whilst Isobel merely watched him expectantly.

House sighed, tapping his cane on the ground awkwardly. "I was hoping I had another three days to do this...." he murmured, then took a deep breath.

"I love your daughter, I hope you know that. And I know... in the beginning, when she started working for me, I didn't give her the respect she deserved, especially after I knew what she's been through. But once I got over myself... I can't imagine my life without her. Which I kind of already knew, I mean, I don't just ask anyone who quits working for me to come back...."

House was rambling, and knew he was rambling, but couldn't stop the words. "The point is, I love her. And with your blessing... I'd like to ask her to marry me."

Isobel gaped slightly at him, and Jack studied him carefully. "You want to marry my daughter."

"Yes."

"You're her boss, and sixteen years older than her, but you want to marry her."

"Yes," House repeated, not sure where this was going.

Jack paused, the longest moment of House's life, and then stood up. He was the same height as House, but he seemed to tower over him now.

"What happens if I say no?"

House hesitated a moment and then cleared his throat. "I'd ask her anyway," he admitted.

Jack nodded thoughtfully and then extended his hand to House. "Well, then you can have our blessing."

House let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and shook his hand warmly.

"Thank you," he said sincerely and Jack nodded, smiling slightly.

"I can tell she loves you too. There's a light in her eyes I haven't seen since Will. And we've missed that light."

House smiled and Isobel beamed at him. "Thank you for asking us, Greg. That means a lot to us. She may be thirty, but she's still our little girl. Do you know when you're going to ask her?"

House truthfully shook his head. "No, I didn't want to get ahead of myself," he replied and Isobel nodded, dabbing at her eyes.

"I should go wake Steve and Tess," she murmured, heading upstairs.

"Yeah, I should go help Allison pack," House nodded, preparing to follow, but Jack stopped him.

"Take care of her," he said solemnly.

"I will," House promised softly and followed Isobel.

Steve offered to take the two to the airport, and he and Cameron had a long goodbye at the gate.

"I love you sis," he murmured in her ear and she smiled.

"I love you too, big brother," she answered and then boarded the plane.

It was always hardest to say goodbye to Steve, her other half, so she was quiet as they prepared for takeoff.

"It was weird," she said suddenly, once they were in the air.

"What was?" House asked, glancing at her.

She frowned. "When Mom said goodbye to me.... it's like she was never going to see me again."

House suppressed a smile, knowing Isobel had been emotional at the knowledge her daughter was on the verge of being engaged.

"Well, she may not," he replied finally. "After all, your boss is a stone-cold monster who doesn't believe in vacation time, remember?"

Cameron grinned and leaned her head upon his shoulder. "He's not that bad," she said softly and House kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes.