Starting from the ground up, House begins the slow journey of admiring Cameron's choice of wardrobe for the night. Her feet are adorned with a pair of cream colored sandals with a strap that ties just above her ankles. Move on to the legs… House thinks to himself, disappointed when he sees that they begin to be covered about halfway up to her knees. He quickly moves up the dress taking note of the color and pattern - cream colored under layer, with a sheer layer over top that has very pale colored roses printed on it. The top of the dress starts a couple of inches below her collarbone, allowing House just enough glimpse of flesh to feel a bit warmer. Her neck is adorned by a length of ribbon that is a creamy pink color with no added decoration, and her hair flows loosely over her shoulders, the top half pulled up into a loose bun, with the bottom half partly curled.

House takes a few deep breath, swallowing several times in an attempt to clear his throat and calm his racing heart.

"Wow." He finally manages to get out.

Cameron stands by patiently with a clear smirk on her face. "That's it? That's the best that you've got? Man," she turns to Elliot, "major disappointment." She further stumps House by reaching up to unnecessarily straighten his tie. "It's crooked."

"Must shoot Wilson. He did it for me. Something about silk ties being harder to tie correctly."

"Right. And how stumped was he when you asked him to tie a silk tie?"

"Very. The last time that he saw me in a tie - not including any hospital benefit - was-" House abruptly stops when he realizes that the last time that he was seen in a tie was on his date with Cameron. "Let's go. You're already going to turn heads, we don't want to make it worse by showing up late." He offers his left arm to Cameron, ignoring Elliot. The younger doctor merely smiles indulgently and follows her uncle and Cameron to the elevator, thinking back to the time in the locker room.

"Are you just about ready, Cameron?" Elliot calls to the other doctor while putting the finishing touches on her make-up. She turns when she hears the footsteps behind her, mouth dropping open as she takes in how the immunologist looks. "You do know that it's considered bad form to look better than the bride, right?"

"You really think so?" Cameron nervously smoothes her hands over the front of the dress.

"Doesn't matter if I think so or not…I guarantee you that Greg will make some comment of the sort."

Cameron blushes as she bends down to pick up and put on her shoes. "Thanks, but despite what you said last night, I still don't think that House would feel that way."

"Twenty bucks says that he will. Cameron," Elliot sits down beside her, "remember what I said…Greg knows that you're worth it, but he's a man of science, not faith. You need to prove it to him that any thing between to two of you will be worth it."

"You are so not what I first thought that you'd be like."

"You mean from the day you called me in at five AM?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, well, remember…I only had about two hours of sleep that night. And I knew that I'd be getting crap from Greg. I wasn't in the best of moods."

"Right. Well, we'd better get going. I guarantee you that House will be making some sort of crack about him being ready before us." The two women share a laugh that is silenced when they hear Foreman and Chase's voices outside the door. Elliot knows that Cameron didn't tell Chase who she was going to the dinner with, so she moves to go first.

"Give me five minutes." She grabs her shoes on the way out, but stops at the door, turning with a grin on her face. "Ready to WOW him?"

Exiting the hospital, House leads Cameron to his Vette, while Elliot heads into the parking garage, calling back to them

"I have to pick up Jake, I'll see you guys at the house." The two older doctors don't seem to pay much attention to her as House opens the passenger door to his car to allow Cameron to get in. Once she's settled and House has gotten in, she turns to House with a question.

"Elliot said she'd meet us at the house, not church."

"Yup." House starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot into traffic before continuing. "Claire and Chase are getting married at his parents' house."

"Oh. Nice place?"

"It's been featured in more than a few home decorating magazines, and it sits on close to six acres of land, so his parents just set up a bunch of tents and it's going to be an outdoor wedding."

"And what if it-"

"DON'T say it, Cameron. Sheesh, do you want to be responsible for ruining the entire wedding?"

"Of course not…that's your job." House looks over at her and the two share a smile. Cameron's only grows wider as she realizes that his is a true smile, one that she's never seen before. They are startled out of the moment by a horn sounding behind them. Greg looks back and up to see that the light they were sitting at has turned green. They ride in silence for a moment before Cameron speaks up again. "Who's Jake? Elliot said that she had to pick him up."

"Her brother. He's a senior at Princeton."

"Oh. How big is Elliot's family?"

"Claire, Jake and two other younger brothers, Patrick and Matthew, they're 15."

"How many people from the military will be there?"

"Tonight? Groom, mother and father of the groom, three sisters, four brothers of the groom, best man, three groomsmen, and two bridesmaids…so that would make…16."

"And what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? I'd say that 16 won't be in uniform. Think you'll be able to handle it?"

"I can deal with you, can't I?"

"Good to know that you think so, because here we are." Cameron hadn't noticed that they had pulled up to a house just outside of Princeton - or that the city skyline was still visible just behind the trees.

"My God." Cameron gets out of the car and slowly does a 360, taking in everything around her. The house that they pulled up in front of was a large two-story, modern style, brick home, and at least two acres of land was neatly cut behind the house, the rest of the land was covered in trees and woods.

They slowly make their way around the dozen cars that are already parked in front of the house and up the front steps, House knocking on the door while Cameron continues to take in every detail of the place. A young man in Marine blue dress Charlie's answers the door and warmly greets House, though there is still a measure of regard in his voice - as if he's been told that he can act natural, but he still knows that House's father is a Colonel.

"Dr. House, it's good to see you again." the young man steps aside and allows the couple to enter. He takes Cameron's wrap and purse, placing them in the closet just next to the front door. "And you would be, Allison, correct?"

"Yes. Allison Cameron," she offers her hand to greet the man, "Nice to meet you Captain Marson."

The young man doesn't hide his shock at Cameron's statement, merely holds onto her hand a bit longer than House is comfortable with. "Care to explain how you managed to land a psychic, House?"

"Not psychic," Cameron answers for him, "Just common sense. You've got a set of double silver bars on your collar - denoting rank - and the name tag on your right breast tells me your name. The statement 'Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential' must be true in your case, Captain." Cameron wriggles her hand out of his and wraps her arm back around House's, who isn't bothering to hide his grin at the expression on Marson's face.

"Michael is fine, Ms Cameron."

"Allison." Before more can be said, the doorbell sounds again and House pulls Cameron further into the house while Michael answers the door.

"That was brilliant." House whispers in her ear. Cameron turns to face him with a sweet, innocent, smile on her face…just as they enter the living room. Giving everyone there whatever impression they want to. Though the smiles tell what everyone is thinking.

Greg has FINALLY found someone!!!

They look into the room and immediately straighten up, everyone in the room is already smiling at the two people behind the pair of doctors. They turn to see Elliot being escorted in by a young man with typical All-American Boy looks - blonde hair, blue eyes, linebacker build, the works. Elliot smiles indulgently at her uncle and coworker, having seen their interaction, though not knowing what it was about.

"I see that everyone has had the chance to meet your girlfriend, Greg." House and Cameron both shoot death glares at Elliot, which she merely smiles innocently in response to and moves around them to hug her younger sister, who shares similar looks to her brother - minus the linebacker build - before moving on to the groom, while House introduces Cameron to everyone. Cameron and Elliot both notice that he doesn't bother to negate the 'girlfriend' comment.

Several hours later, everyone is sitting around the living room with glasses of wine relaxing. The rehearsal went off without a hitch, but Claire is still freaking out because the alter hasn't arrived yet. Everyone has attempted to relax her by telling various stories. Most were new to Cameron, based on the bride and groom's childhood (they grew up two houses down from each other) or how Claire reacted when he chose the Marines instead of the Navy after graduation (he attended the Naval Academy). Finally the talk shifted over to the new 'couple' at the party. The groom was the one that started it, having never heard much about his fiancée's uncle.

"What about the two of you?" Chase directs at House and Cameron "How did the two of you, meet?"

"At work." Cameron simply states, not yet wanting to reveal in front of House's entire family that she knows how he truly feels about her.

"Care to elaborate?" One of the groomsmen requests.

"There's nothing to elaborate on. I work at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. That's where we met."

"Have you two ever worked on any interesting cases? I've heard enough about Greg to know that he gets some fun ones."

"How bout this…" Cameron starts off with a humorous tone, "Greg - in true 'House' fashion - in his attempt to avoid work, hides out in the OB lounge watching TV. Two doctors come in discussing one case, and Greg here immediately takes off, remembering something he heard about another baby. In his attempt to avoid work, he stumbles on an epidemic in the Maternity ward. Echovirus 11, it's a virus that lodges in the intestinal tract. In infants it's deadly."

"And why does that case stick out in you mind?" The groom's mother questions Cameron.

"That case made me realize just how much I hated Greg." Everyone looks stunned. Elliot - who knows why Cameron hated House after that case - speaks up next.

"So what case made you realize that you loved him?"

"It was recently. We had a case that just reminded me why I hated him and at the same time, made me realize that everything that I had been hating him for, was precisely why I loved him so much."

"And it's now 2355." The best man interrupts, standing, while pulling Chase to his feet. The two men pause just long enough for Chase to give Claire a brief kiss before he is once again dragged away. The rest of the groomsmen stand and follow, throwing 'good-nights' at everyone. Once they're out, Elliot stands and drags Claire to her feet as well, turning to address the rest of the group.

"We'd better get to sleep as well. See everyone tomorrow."

As House and Cameron exit the front door, Cameron turns to House, "What was that about?"

"It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."

"Isn't the ceremony at 3 PM?"

"Yup, which means that they have to stay away from each other for the next 15 hours."

"How long do you think it will be before they break down and try to call each other?"

"I'll be generous and say five hours. Michael has already confiscated Chase's cell-phone."

Cameron laughs a bit before raising her hand to her mouth to cover a yawn. She goes to enter the car, when she notices something in the backyard that wasn't there when the rehearsal ended four hours ago.

"What's that?" She asks House. He follows her gaze, and then her, as she heads toward the structure in front of the chairs set up for the ceremony.

"This would be the altar, it was delivered about three hours ago."

"Oh." Cameron falls silent as she steps up under it, going to examine the carvings on the poles. She reaches out a single finger and traces along the roses carved into wood, allowing her finger to dip into a depression in the center of one. She notices that many of the roses have similar depressions in their centers.

"Roses are Claire's favorite. They live in Northern California, and there are a lot of hummingbirds there. Those depressions collect water in the rain and become little watering holes for them."

"This is incredible." Cameron finally turns to face House, going to stand in front of him.

"So," House breaks the silence. "What case was it that made you realize that you loved me?"

"I have a confession," Cameron looks down in embarrassment, "I couldn't think of one… because I realized…I realized recently that I never really stopped loving you. I've been telling myself for the past two years that I was over you, but I never was." She turns back and begins tracing the outline of the roses again before continuing. "Elliot told me-" Cameron stops before trying again. "I haven't worn any perfume with a lavender scent in six years. Why did you remember the scent of lavender when I left your office the day of my interview?"

"I don't know. You were wearing a light purple tank top that day under your blazer. I guess I just associated a lavender scent with the color of that top. What else did Elliot tell you?"

"Why did you drop Pediatrics?"

"You often have to visit kids in order to diagnose them. When you visit patients, you get attached, when you get attached, it hurts that much more when they…" House trails off, leaving Cameron to fill in the blanks. She returns to him, looking into his eyes.

"Your secret is safe with me." She reaches down and takes his hand in hers. House jumps slightly when he feels the current rush between them, but overcomes it and intertwines his fingers with hers. "It's worth the risk, Greg. Anything between us… it's worth the risk. You just have to take the chance."

House slowly releases his fingers from hers and reaches up to cup her face in his palm. "Promise?" His voice is barely above a whisper.

"Promise." When she sees his face slowly come closer to hers, she stretches up to meet him halfway. Their lips meet in an oh-so tender moment, before House reluctantly pulls away.

"Come on," he sighs regretfully. "We have to be back here in 7 hours, and though I doubt you would ever need it, I definitely need my beauty sleep."

Cameron smiles to herself as she tucks herself under his arm as they walk back to his car, unaware that they were watched the whole time.

From the kitchen window, Elliot and Jack release the curtains and step back, smiling to each other before they head upstairs to their own bedrooms.

Here it is!! Finally! This is actually how my day off from work was spent. But judging from the reviews and requests I got, hopefully y'all will agree that is was worth it. I was recently made aware of some mistakes in a previous chapter: CH-46 is actually a transport chopper, not a Cobra attack chopper (that's an AH-1), but the story will be altered to say that it's still a CH-46 that Elliot's husband flies. The case where Cameron says that she realized she was in love with Greg...I couldn't think of one, so that's how I came with that. If anyone thinks that I should elaborate on that to House's family coming up, then I'll need some help: What's a good episode where Cameron realizes that she's still in love with House (let's say up to and including Insensitive). The dress Cameron wears...it's based on one of mine. I used it in this story because it's the one that I was wearing on my fiance and mine's first date...he definatly loved it.(hehehe). Anyways...I think there will only be one or two more chapters to this story, but don't worry, there will be a sequel. I have to follow through on the Karaoke fundraiser, don't I?

Oh yeah, Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential...if you take the first letter of each word, it spells out MARINE. Someone from the Army told me that one, so I thought it would be appropriate coming from Cameron.

And the house is real, it's based off of my dad's cousins' home and they DO live outside of Princeton, and it really was featured in a home decorating magazine.

Let me know what y'all think!!!