Author's Note: I can't thank my beta Ceciilee enough for being such an awesome editor. You're a joy to work with! Your wonderful insights and quick turnaround is greatly appreciated.

As always, I do appreciate all types of feedback, it's the only way I know if you love, hate, or even reading this story :-)

***

Christmas 2005

It's the week before Christmas and Cuddy has been running around shopping for Chrismukkah presents for her family. This holiday season promises to be a very busy one. The twins are celebrating their first birthday and both her parents and House's parents are spending the holiday with them. Unlike last year, Lina will not be available to help Cuddy during Christmas week. The Cuddy-House clan gave Lina a surprise early Chrismukkah present on Thanksgiving Day. They gave her round trip ticket to the Philippines, so she can spend the holiday with her family.

One item that is no longer on Cuddy's list of worries is the basement (a.k.a. The Mancave) – it's finally finished and completely furnished. Jake initially drafted the basement's construction plan two summers ago; he designed the floor plan that specify the location of every electric outlet, in-wall speaker, and even wrote the instructions for the carpenters on how to soundproof the ceiling/wall (use staggered stud plus resilient channel and soundproof drywall). House jokes that Jake definitely put his mom's anal retentiveness to shame with his attention to details. Cuddy knows how important it is for House to have a sanctuary of his own; a place where he can retreat from work and family pressures. Therefore, Cuddy let House and Jake decides on every single aspect of the basement construction. All she contributed was to arrange the work crew schedules and ensure that the boys are within their budget.

Jake comes home a week before Christmas but unlike the previous year, he decides not to work in the hospital. He informs his parents that he needs to recharge his batteries and will instead work on a special project at home. Cuddy knows not to push her son so she supports his decision. House on the other hand is curious about his son's 'special project.' Jake's special project includes setting up all the electronic equipments in the home theater room, networking all the computers in the house and building a Home Theater PC (HTPC). This means his mom can show pictures and videos of the twins on any TV; his dad can also surf the web while watching his favorite TV show, and he can playback any digital audio & video files he has stored on any of the networked computers on the big screen. But the pièce de résistance is the babies' room, it's now equipped with wireless webcams. Jake has heard from his mom that the twins regularly play together when they wake up—she has heard them through the baby monitor but has never really seen them 'in action.' The webcam will now allow his parents to watch the twins anywhere there's a TV monitor or even stream a live video feed of it to his website (that Nana or Oma can watch in real time).

***

Two days before Christmas

To celebrate the twins' birthday, Cuddy and the daycare staff decked the play area with Barney theme decorations—complete with Barney banners on the doors, large purple dinosaur footprints on the floor, balloons, hats and Barney music playing in the background. All of Ethan's and Charlie's daycare pals are treated with purple fruit punch, cupcakes (and the older kids get ice cream too). Big brother Jake takes video and pictures of the festivity. House and Wilson arrive just in time to see little Charlie falling asleep while eating his cupcake. Ethan on the other hand, has made quite a mess on his face. When Ethan spots House, he takes a few wobbly steps towards his dad. House catches Ethan just in time before he falls to the floor. House lifts his son up and Ethan gives his dad a big slobbery kiss (chocolate cupcake and all). And just on cue, Cuddy puts a Barney hat on House's head and Jake takes a picture of the precious moment.
Wilson raises a brow and asks "Barney?"
House replies "don't look at me. I hate that purple dinosaur."
Cuddy gently wipes the chocolate off House's face and replies "the twins simply adore Barney. You know what Charlie's first two word sentence was?"
Wilson guesses "love Barney?"
Cuddy and House shake their heads and House grumbles "god! I would have disowned him if he had said that."
Cuddy tenderly rubs House's back and says "Charlie yelled 'Dada No!' after House changed the channel one morning."
House offers Ethan to Cuddy as the boy tries to wiggle away from his arm.

House asks Wilson "what are your plans for Christmas? Are you spending it with what's her name?
"Her name is Vicky and we haven't made plans yet."
"You mean she hasn't told you her plans yet?"
Wilson rolls his eyes and replies "she's not like all my ex-wives. For one, she's an orphan so I don't have to do those awkward meet the parents stuff."
"Oh yeah? Then why don't you two celebrate Christmas with us. We'll have an overflow of parents, and sure to have lots of awkward moments. But most importantly, you gotta see my new kickass Mancave. Boy genius over there designed it and all."
"Yeah, Lisa mentioned the basement. She said she's glad that your poker buddies can now use the back entrance during poker nights. So, how come you never invite me over to play poker?"
House looks away from Wilson and replies "okay then, we'll see you on Christmas day. Dinner is at seven, be there on time; unless of course, you really want to witness a really awkward moment."

After the party, the family goes home to find Emma and Harry waiting for them. The dotting grandparents immediately play with the twins while Jake plugs in his camera's memory card to his Dad's computer (in the study room) and presto! A slide show of the party pictures display over the family room TV.
Afterward, the twins take their nap, while Cuddy and her mom chat by the kitchen counter.
Emma inquires "so, when are Greg's parent coming?"
"They're driving from Ohio tomorrow."
"You mentioned before that Greg doesn't get along with his dad, what do you think will happen?"
"Hopefully, they'll avoid each other and Blythe will get a chance to bond with her grandchildren. I spoke to her the other day and she's very excited to finally be meeting Jake."
"Oh, she'll love him. They'll both love him. That kid definitely got his charm from our side of the family."
"I hope you're right. John is a bit of a character. He's a stereotypical Marine, I guess."
"Don't worry Lise; I have met my share of jarheads in my career. They're mostly all bark. Did you say he used to be a pilot?"
Cuddy nods and replies "yes, he was a test pilot."
"Good, he and Harry will have something to talk about."
"Why? Was Harry a pilot too?"
"Yes, he did his stint with the RAF before he joined the Foreign Office."
Cuddy teasingly asks her mom "For someone who's supposed to be retired, you two do a lot of traveling. Are you sure you two are not living double lives as secret spies?"
Emma laughs and replies "Yeah, geriatric spies are all the rage now. But seriously, he's been very busy doing security consulting work. All these multinational companies want to make sure all their physical and personnel assets are secured."
Cuddy nods and replies "Well, I'm just glad you two found time to be here. The holidays would not be the same without you both."
"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss my grandsons' first birthday for all gold in the world."

Meanwhile, House and Jake give Harry a tour of the newly finished basement. The furnished basement added almost 5000 sq. ft. of living space to their home. It comprises of five major zones: 1st – the home theater area is equip with Dolby surround sound, custom lighting, digital video and audio. All the home theater equipments are hidden discretely behind a closet and are fully operational with custom programmed remote control. Much of the work on the basement was spent on this area as Jake was very particular about installing structured wiring, a dedicated power line, and soundproofing the room. 2nd – Behind the home theater area is the wet bar section, completely equipped with its own Kegerator (Keg Dispenser). 3rd – the game room is situated on the opposite side of the house near the walk out basement entrance/exit door. This room was personally furnished by House and Jake describes it as his dad's 'ode to the 80's'. House's personal guitars are displayed on the wall, so are a few vintage concert posters and a couple of shelves filled with interesting knick knacks that House has collected throughout the years. The main area consists of a pool table, a vintage jukebox, a retro pinball machine, a fully-restored arcade cabinet (with Ms. Pac-man/Pac-Man/Galaga games) and a poker table. Cuddy loves the fact that House's poker buddies (who aside from Mr. Kim, she has no clue where House met them) can simply use the walk out basement door during their poker nights. There's also a washroom near the game room. 4th – the bedroom area (a.k.a. Jake's room) is very utilitarian. It has a bed, closet and its own bathroom. 5th – the utility/HVAC area which is often forgotten section of the basement didn't escape Jake's eagle eye for detail as he ensured that this area are also properly soundproofed.

Harry is very impressed at how Jake has set-up the babies' room. Jake placed two wireless cameras in the room and configured it to capture videos if it detects motion.
Harry asks if intruders can tap into the signal using digital eavesdropping device.
"The secret is not to use those X-10 cameras that you can buy for cheap. They're easily hackable because they use an unlicensed 2.4GHz band. Although I used a regular webcam, I've encrypted the signal so intruders can't hijack it from the point I'm recording it to where I'm transferring the image to my server."
Harry nods and ask if he can see the camera in action.
"Sure, why don't you watch the camera from the family room, while dad and I can go to the babies' room?"
The trio heads up to main floor, Jake turn-on the TV in the family room and walks over to the babies' room.
Harry quickly explains what's going on to Cuddy and Emma.
House who hasn't seen the webcam work before asks "how long have you had the camera up?"
Jake replies "I installed it a couple of days ago. Why?"
"And its recording videos when it detects any motion in the room?"
Jake rolls his eyes and replies "don't worry Dad; the cameras are pointed only at the crib not anywhere else in the room."
House breathes a sigh of relief and asks "you don't have cameras anywhere else in the house, right?"
Jake shakes his head and replies "nope, just the babies' room."
"Good, I'd hate to see a movie titled 'The Dean and the Diagnostician' on the shelves of my favorite porn shop."
Jake who was leaning by the babies changing table, immediately pulls his hands away and says "Dad, that's just gross!"