House

Scarlett breathed heavily. Her knuckles were white. I pulled her over by her waist and made her look up at me, "You are going to go talk to him."

"You want me to what?" Scarlett whined.

"Yes, because it will be very interesting to watch," I smiled.

She pouted, "That's not funny, so you're coming with me."

I felt her clammy hand grab mine. "Fine, fine," I gave in to her.

Scarlett groaned and glared at me quickly.

"Scarlett! Is that you?" the man in the Twins cap stepped forward.

My girlfriend smiled mechanically, "Ohmigod! Aaron!"

He came closer with his tan girlfriend, two feet away because of my strange aura. "How have you been?"

"I've been great. Yourself?" she reached back for my arm.

"Good, good… I see you've changed your hair," he touched a lock of her red hair that made me growl a little inside.

Scarlett pushed away his hand, "Yep, how's Meagan?"

"I wouldn't know," he shook his head. "She's living in Peru looking for new species of bugs."
There was a quick silence before Aaron filled it, "This is Danielle, my fiancé."

"Oooo… fiancé," Scarlett had a hint of anger behind her voice. "How long of you been together?"

"About six months, but I knew he was the one," Danielle smothered and sugar coated their relationship.

Wilson's niece laughed quietly, "Taking it fast, I suppose."

"What?" Danielle frowned.

"Well, it's just Aaron and I were together for two years before we even contemplated moving in with each other, but whatever," Scarlett planned out a whole scheme to kill the relationship as quick as possible. But something made me think that she was trying to hard. "By the way, this is my boyfriend, Greg House."

Aaron swallowed slowly and held out his hand to me, "You're the doctor in that documentary, right?"

"Yes, and I, since I'm a doctor, don't shake hands," I held my hands up. "Germs."

The man pulled back, "Right…"

"It was nice seeing you Aaron, and best of luck with your little lady," Scarlett put her hand on my chest. "Is he still unemployed?"

We walked away to the elevators and began to here the birth of an argument between the 'happy couple'. "That was fun," Scarlett pressed the button to go up.

"Yes, it was, because you're the prettiest bitch I've ever seen," I ushered her into the small transportation system.

"Thank you, that's so flattering. Best compliment I have ever gotten!" Scarlett's mouth tightened as I pressed the button to the 23rd floor.

I slid my arms around her waist and let her head nod onto my shoulder. "You smell really good," I sniffed her hair. It smelled of lavender and vanilla.

"You smell dirty," she pulled back as the door opened.

*************

After retrieving House's clothes, they drove back to the apartment. Scarlett put it all away while House changed.

"Babe, I'm taking you to the Art Institute," Scarlett sorted through receipts in her purse.

"Why can't we just stay here and have sex?" House whined and fell back on the bed.

She laughed, "No, let's go. C'mon. We'll take the bus."

"Ugh…" he got up and followed her out of the room. "But mommmmmmmm!"

Scarlett turned and pulled House toward her. Then, she kissed him. "If you want more of that you need to come to the Art Institute."

She walked out of the room as House nodded, "You're a good negotiator."

They were able to make the bus and sat down all the way in the back. The once lively bus quieted down. Everyone turned to look at the two.

House leaned to Scarlett's ear and whispered, "What the Hell's going on?"

"We're famous, can you help it if people want to stare?" Scarlett took a magazine out of her bag to read.

"Well, it's annoying," he glanced once more around the bus of averting eyes.

His girlfriend pushed back some of his hair, "You get used to it. If you don't entertain there gaze, they'll pretty much ignore the fact that you're in the media."

House looked over at the magazine, "Ooooo… the smoky eye. That's sexy."

Scarlett leaned over, closed the magazine, and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm so tired," she ran her hand down his leg. Some of the people in the bus gasped a little. "Have you ever wondered how much Wilson would hate us if he saw this?"

"You said you didn't care," House growled. He felt awful about going behind his friend's back, but he did love Scarlett.

She bit her lip, "Baby, I'm sorry." Scarlett looked up, "This is our stop. C'mon, it will be fun."

******************

Scarlett

I looked up at the large painting of almost identical clouds that went on forever. It was quite beautiful that someone could make something so normal seem so perfect.

"That's not realistic," Greg twisted his face.

"Maybe that's the point," I motioned to the painting. "Maybe O'Keefe wanted us to realize that nothing is the same. That everything is different."

He raised his eyebrows, "Sure, let's go with that."

As we continued through the museum, Greg continued to criticize the paintings and the colors and the technique and all this other crap I wouldn't put up with. Finally, I stopped him, "Look, if you're going to ruin my time at the art museum, which by the way is very interesting to me, why don't you go down to the gift shop and hang around. I just want to take a lap around and then I'll be done."

He smiled a little and kissed me on the lips, "You're good. I'll see you later."

As he limped off, I rolled my eyes. The colors drained my eyes until I came to Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.

So peaceful… so calm… so not normal, I wished my life could be as quiet as the diner containing four people. Then I came to Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The pointillism masterpiece was also calm, but a busy calm.

"This paintings a masterpiece, isn't it?" a man said from beside me.

I nodded, "Most definitely."

"Much as your work is," he chuckled a little and raised his eyebrows.

I smiled and grinned, "Thank you very much, sir."

**************

Wilson

I fingered through the file on my desk. A knock at my door ruined my concentration, "It's open."

Cameron walked into room, "Have you seen House? His team's working on a case, but I haven't seen him at all."

"He's in Chicago, apparently, but don't tell Cuddy," I smiled a little.

She returned the emotion and walked closer, "Do you know what he's doing?"

"Chicago… hotel room… hooker, say no more," I replied.

Cameron tried to laugh, but couldn't, "Have you talked to Scarlett?"

I froze and looked up from my work. "No."

"You should."

"Have you?"

"No."

"Then I rest my case."

"You're going to forgive your friend, but not your own flesh and blood?"

"It's not that simple."

Cameron rolled her eyes, "Of course not. She was the one who actually was carrying a baby, so House had nothing to do with it, right?"

"What the Hell made you get into this again?" her attitude caught me off guard.

"She's one of my best friends, but she doesn't pick up when I call. I don't know, maybe she'd pick up if you did."

I shook my head, "I'm not going to call her, so you can leave."