So, last chapter:

Epilogue

It was the day before Christmas, and the last day of work of the year for the Diagnostics team. Cuddy had somehow managed to persuade them to meet up and finish their charting before going on Christmas leave.

It was five past one that Cameron closed the last file and began clearing off the table. After that, they split up pretty quickly; Chase threw a jacket on, grabbed his duffle bag and headed for the airport in a taxi. He was flying to see old friends down under. Foreman was also in a hurry, he had a long ride ahead of him to get home to his family.

Cameron and House were also eager to go home, but they both stayed behind a bit longer, Cameron so that she could clean the four empty coffee mugs, House so that he could finish the ink tattoo on his wrist that he had been working on throughout the day.

"So, I hear they sent Joanna home yesterday…" Cameron attempted to begin a conversation as she turned on the sink. "She must have been happy to go home with Wilma.""Mhm…" House was done with the tattoo, so he put the cap back on the marker and got up from the chair. He grabbed his coat from the table and had just put it on when Cameron came over to him.

"I just…I have this little thing." She picked her purse up from the table and fished a small wrapped present out of it, which she handed to him. "It's just a little something for Wilma, a bear. I saw it in a shop and I…well."

House gave a grunt which she chose to interpret as a "thank you" as he put the gift in his leather bag. As she went back to the sink, he got some papers out of the bag and looked through them.

"What's that?" Cameron asked. It seemed unbelievable that House would actually bring work home for the holidays.

House lingered for a bit, then he handed her the papers. "Consider showing you these my Christmas gift to you," he said in a sarcastic tone. Cameron skimmed through the papers, and then she looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"You're applying for shared custody of Wilma?" she asked.

"Not exactly." House took the papers back and put them in the bag. "One day a week and to weekends pr month. It's something, though, isn't it?"

"It really is." Cameron grinned as handed him back the papers.

"I'm getting Joanna to sign them tonight," House told her, without really knowing why. "I'm going over there now.""To celebrate Christmas?" Cameron was shocked.

"No, Easter." House flung the bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. "See you next year. And all this crap…" he pointed at a miniature Santa in the middle of the table, "…had better be gone before I come back to work."

"Merry Christmas to you too," Cameron mumbled with a grin as the door slammed behind him.

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Christmas can be spent in many ways.

Some sleep through it on an airplane.

Some eat Christmas dinner with parents and brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and the whole package in front of a burning fireplace by a gigantic Christmas three.

Some go to their parent's house, being the only child who's there this year, as the others spend this Christmas with their in-laws.

Some sit quietly together in a flawless home eating a perfect dinner, but having nothing to talk about with those around them, wishing their best friend hadn't cancelled on them.

Some stay at work.

Some eat Chinese take-away and, after an tongue-tied, awkward beginning of the evening, decide to play their very own invention, the "Ask me a personal question"-game, where the questions get more and more crude as the night goes by, and the laughter raises until it wakes up the baby in the next room.

And…some sleep through most of the evening, but then wakes up from laughter in the next room, and, stubborn and determined as she is, (she's got that from her father), decides to keep screaming until she gets to hear some good music again.

So, that was it. As you can see I chose to end it on a happy note, I wasn't really sure if I was going to do that, but in the end all my other ideas just got too sad, so I chose this solution.

I am thinking about writing a sequel, so the stuff that weren't resolved in this chapter might be resolved there.

Thanks for reading this story!