I'M SORRY

Wilson spent a lot of the night in the kitchen, cooking. He and House and purchased some turkey, already cooked. And some salads, potatoes, a bottle of wine as well as some chocolate that House insisted on getting, plus some pudding.

Cuddy had helped out where she could but both she and House knew that Wilson was the best cook out of all of them so she let him do most of the work. House sat in the living room, chowing down on some chocolates, while he watched Christmas specials on tv.

Once the meal was done, Wilson and Cuddy set the table.

"House!" Wilson called out "Get your ass in here if you want to eat."

"What? No dinner in front of the tv?" House asked, not moving from the sofa.

Cuddy walked over to him and looked down.

"I'm not having you getting crumbs all over my new furniture," she told him.

House smirked and stood up. He walked past her and made his way to the table. Wilson was already sitting down. Cuddy smiled and turned off the television before joining House and Wilson at the table. Once they were all sitting down, Wilson turned to House.

"House, pour the wine," Wilson said.

"Why me?" House wined. "You're the chef."

"Yes, and we did everything else, so you can at least pour the wine," said Wilson.

"And do the dishes," Cuddy added.

"What? Oh not fare," House replied. As he said this he was already pouring the wine.

They ate their meal with a light conversation flowing between them. House and Wilson were just glad to see Cuddy smile once more. They were just finishing their desert when Cuddy noticed the bag, still placed on her sofa.

"So, what's in the bag?" She asked.

"Presents," House replied.

Cuddy gave him a funny look.

"They're from Cameron," House said, responding to her expression. "She's playing Santa this year. Everyone got one."

"What did she get?" Cuddy asked.

"Don't know," said Wilson, "We haven't opened them yet."

"Huh, do you think we could open them now?" Cuddy asked.

"What are you five? Open them whenever you want," said House.

Cuddy glared at him as she stood up and went over to the sofa. She sat down and pulled the bag onto her lap. House and Wilson looked at each other before they also stood up and joined Cuddy on the sofa.

Cuddy pulled out the three gifts and handed House and Wilson theirs. Cuddy then slowly opened her gift. It was a small velvet box. Inside were a pair of small, silver earrings. They weren't expensive or fancy but they were beautiful.

"Oh, wow," Cuddy sighed as she took the earrings out, "she didn't have to do this."

"Yeah well, you know Cameron," said House.

"They are nice, Cuddy," Wilson smiled.

"Oh you girl." House muttered, looking over at Wilson.

Wilson didn't know what to say.

Cuddy carefully put on her new earrings.

"How do they look?" She asked.

"Good," said Wilson.

"Stunning," said House, smiling for a moment. Then he frowned and looked at the gift in his hands, "now lets see what she gave me."

He ripped the paper off. Inside was a brown wallet. It looked expensive but House believed Cameron when she said that it wasn't, which meant that it was probably a rip-off brand.

"Oh, hey that's nice," said Wilson.

"Very," added Cuddy.

"Yeah, but..." House said as he opened the wallet. He frowned and shook his head when he saw that there was nothing inside "...You'd think the kid would have the decency to throw in a tenner."

"You're unbelievable," Cuddy said with a slight laugh.

"What? Am I the only one who thinks if you give someone a wallet, that you should at least give them something to put in it?" House asked.

"Ah, yes," said Wilson. "You should be grateful that she bought you anything."

"She worships me," House said with a smirk. "What else would she have done for Christmas?"

"Man, you think a lot about yourself don't you," said Wilson.

"I don't think she worships you, House," said Cuddy.

"Sure she does. All the ducklings do," said House.

"No," Cuddy said, shaking her head. "No, if she did worship you, she would have put something in the wallet."

Cuddy and Wilson shared a laugh.

"Nice," said House. He looked at Wilson, "Well, what did she get you?" he asked.

Wilson opened his gift and saw that it was a watch. Again nothing expensive but it did look nice. Wilson smiled as he put it on his wrist.

"How come you get a watch, and you get earrings and all I get is a wallet?" House asked.

"Because we're nice to her," Cuddy replied.

House scoffed. Wilson and Cuddy both smiled because they knew he was joking.

It was starting to get late and all over town, everyone was enjoying their Christmas Eve. Including Cameron and Chase. They had just tucked Jake into bed, after reading him "The Night Before Christmas". Chase's apartment was decorated to the max with a tree, and mistletoe, tinsel and anything else Jake could find that he thought should be up.

Chase had pulled Cameron under some mistletoe, and the two were now kissing in his kitchen. When they finally pulled apart, Cameron smiled.

"You know, you didn't need to use mistletoe to kiss me," she said.

"Yeah but it was cute to see Jake run under every one to kiss you," Chase replied.

"Well I'm glad you found it funny," said Cameron, "I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, well he can be a handful sometimes. But you still haven't told me what you got me for Christmas," said Chase. "All you said was that I couldn't open it in front of Jake."

"Yeah, it's a . . . um, something that Jake won't get. Or appreciate until he's older."

Chase grinned.

"Oh, I have so many things running through my head right now," he said.

"Well you can guess but you're not opening it until Jake leaves."

"Is it...something you have to wear that'll make me happy?" Chase asked.

Cameron grinned and walked away. Chase smiled as he ran after her, into the bedroom.

Back at Cuddy's, she, House and Wilson were sitting in her living room. They were drinking the rest of the wine and were watching the end of some tv program.

"Hey guys," Cuddy said, looking down into her glass.

"Yeah?" Wilson asked, as he turned off the tv.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry," Cuddy replied softly.

"For what?" asked Wilson.

"For everything," said Cuddy, as she looked up, "for dragging you into this...mess. If it wasn't for me and my problems, you wouldn't be getting those letters and emails."

"It's not you fault, Leese," said House.

"Don't say that. Whose fault is it if it isn't mine?" she asked.

"Its this guy's. Whoever he may be. It's his fault. He's the deranged human being who's put you through so much this year," said House.

"Yeah, Lisa you cant blame yourself for the actions of someone else," said Wilson.

"Yeah I can. I'm so worried about what's going to happen to me. And I'm even more worried about what could happen to the people around me," said Cuddy.

"Look, for the last time Cuddy, we don't give a rat's ass about those stupid letters," said House. "They mean nothing and they aren't going to stop us from seeing if you're okay."

"Besides, you know that you're are closet friend, right?" Wilson asked. "And I know that the three of us sometimes don't get along. Especially you and House here, but..."

"Hey!" said House.

"But you have to know that you've always been important to us," Wilson finished.

"To both of us," said House. "Now can you stop trying to push us away?" he asked.

"Yeah," Cuddy replied slowly, nodding her head. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that," said House, "its not your fault."

"Yeah," said Wilson.

"Thank you," said Cuddy.

Wilson patted her shoulder and gave her a smile. House also smiled slightly.

By 11:50pm Wilson had crashed out on the sofa. He was snoring lightly and House and Cuddy both decided to let him be. Cuddy retrieved a blanket and pillow from her linen closet. She placed the pillow under Wilson's snoring head and threw the blanket over him. Then she joined House in the kitchen.

House was making them both some coffee.

"Well, he's completely out for the night," she informed House.

"Probably shouldn't have given him so much to drink," said House. "The guy just can't hold his liquor during the festive season," he joked.

Cuddy laughed and took one of the mugs of coffee.

"Did you two plan on staying the night?" She asked.

"Not really. We only planned as far as getting past your front door," House replied.

They drank their coffee together. Once they finished, Cuddy moved over to the sink and placed her mug down.

"So, look, since you are here you can have the bed," said Cuddy.

"I'm not going to kick you out of your own bed," he replied.

He didn't want to say that he would love to share the bed with her, because their relationship wasn't strong enough yet for him to even joke about it.

"Are you sure? I mean with your leg," Cuddy began.

"My leg is fine," he said, "besides, I'll probably be up for a while anyway. You know me. I never sleep."

"You should see someone about that."

"I'll get right on it. But are we agreed. Your having the bed?" He asked.

"Yeah. We're agreed. We wouldn't want to start a fight and wake up James," she said with a smile.

"Good," said House.

Cuddy looked over House's shoulder to her clock on her kitchen wall. She noticed that it was one minute past midnight. Making it Christmas day.

"It's Christmas," she pointed out, gesturing to the clock on the wall.

House turned around and saw that she was right. He nodded his head and looked back around at her.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" He asked.

"I don't know, just for making this Christmas worth... something."

"Anytime, Cuddy. Anytime."

"Merry Christmas, Greg," Cuddy said softly.

She reached forward and kissed his cheek lightly. House smiled at her as she pulled back.

"Merry Christmas, Lisa."

House slowly lowered his head towards hers. He brushed his own lips against hers. It was soft and gentle and felt like a whisper against her skin. Her eyes fluttered closed as she enjoyed the feel of House, being so close to her. After a moment, House pulled back and offered her a very rare Gregory House smile.

"Um," Cuddy said, as she licked her lips, "what . . . what was that for?" she asked.

House shrugged.

"Mistletoe," he replied, before walking out of the room.

Cuddy smiled to herself. Then she suddenly frowned.

'Wait' She thought 'I don't have any mistletoe'.

TBC

Next chapter - KNOCK DOWN WILSON