House sat at the piano, brows furrowed. What a miserable day. His stomach was aching. Hunger. The only thing he had to eat was… well nothing. The level on the bottle of scotch that sat on the mantle was slowly going down.

As his fingers graced the keyboard, the though occurred to him that at times like these the house seemed too big. It was another one of the many contradictions in his life. He wanted solitude, but at the same time he felt lonely. Christ, was this how Stacy had felt?

Stacy. He closed his eyes, and rested his forehead on the piano. "Of all the hospitals in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. Jesus, that's horrible." He smiled ruefully. He was no Rick, and Stacy was no Ilsa. He looked at the keys again, and started to play "As Time Goes By" and thought of Cameron.

"I thought you were to screwed up to love anyone… I was wrong… you just couldn't love me. Its good, I'm happy for you."

He cringed slightly at the memory. When it happened, he was so caught off guard he had no response. Not that anything he could have said at the time was an appropriate.

In the middle of his reverie, there was a knock at the door. Arching his eyebrow, he looked at the clock. 8:45 pm. It was either Wilson or an ambitious Jehovah's Witness. Either way he wasn't going to answer the door. The phone rang. He let the machine answer.

"House, I'm out front with some food and a movie. Open the door." More knocking. Wilson hung up the phone.

House smiled. Good old Wilson. The one constant in his life. The knocking got louder.

"I know you're home. The car's here. Open the door." Wilson's voice, exasperated and slightly muffled, trailed off. There was the sound of a key sliding into the hole, and mumbled curses.

He smiled again, and started to play the piano. The door swung open. House didn't look up.

"Thanks. Thanks a lot. I think I got peanut sauce on my jacket." Wilson tossed a few DVD's on the couch and put a paper bag on the coffee table.

House didn't answer. He continued playing the piano. "That sounds familiar. What is it?"

Without looking over at his friend, House started to sing quietly. "Look what you've done, you've made a fool of everyone one. A fool of everyone."

Wilson sat down on the couch. "Right, that band, the one that sounds like The Beatles." He snapped his fingers.

House sighed and looked over. "Jet. Look What You've Done. I can't get one part right."

"Where's the music?" Wilson asked.

"Up here." He tapped his temple. "They play it on the radio every five minutes."

Wilson clapped. "You never cease to amaze me…"

"Right," House interjected. "Why are you here?"

Wilson looked slightly deflated. House rolled his eyes inwardly. James was the master of the puppy dog look. And damned if it didn't work every time.

"Well, Julie is out of town. And I was… lonely." Wilson looked slightly embarrassed.

"The dog didn't need company?"

"The dog has been farting lately. I think she's feeding him people food on purpose." Wilson opened the paper bag. "I got pineapple fried rice, tom kha, beef saytay…"

"Thai food?" House raised both eyebrows.

"You like Thai food. And I paid for it. So no complaining." Wilson unpacked the bag, setting the take out boxes on top of magazines spread out on the coffee table.

"I already ate." House mumbled.

"Liar," Wilson surveyed the table. "Damn, be right back, I left something in the car."

"A stripper?" House said hopefully.

"Ha ha. Find us some paper plates or something." He got up and walked outside.

House got up from the piano bench slowly. His leg was throbbing. He had an earlier lapse in sanity and attempted to take a few steps without his cane. Stupid mistake. He limped over to the couch and sat down. The box of pineapple fried rice was closest to him, so he opened it up. The aroma was heavenly. A wave of hunger washed over him cramping his stomach.

He picked up plastic fork, and was about to take a bite when Wilson walked back inside, carrying a case of beer.

"Dammit. I told you to get plates." He set the beer on the floor next to the couch.

" Fine Mom. On top of the fridge, there's a package of chinette dishes." House muttered. He took a bite of the rice. "This it too hot to eat anyhow."

Wilson came back with a few plates, two bowls for the soup, and silverware. He set the plates down on the table, and poured half of the soup into a bowl and put it in front of House. "Hand me a beer."

House reached down and pulled a bottle out of the case. "Dos Equis? What the hell is this?"

"It's pretty good. Julie got some on sale somewhere. Your soup is getting cold." Wilson used the end of his tie to twist off the cap and took a long draught of beer.

House sniffed the soup. "Is this that coconut one?"

Wilson nodded. "Yeah, it was good last time, so I ordered. What movies do you want to watch?"

House looked over at the DVD's between them. "Are we having a slumber party? You gonna do my nails next? I could sure use a pedicure."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you could. Moving on, I got a few DVD's."

"You didn't bring over 'Legally Blonde' again did you?" He smirked, bringing a spoonful of soup to his mouth.

"Screw you. I've already explained that was Julie's movie and I grabbed it by mistake." Wilson grinned good-naturedly. "Tonight, I've decided to continue the Asian theme with complementary cinema."

"Kung-fu movies?" House said, finishing off the soup and piling his plate high with rice and saytay.

"For the most part." He flipped a DVD over. "Kung-fu Hustle"

"Ah, this was supposed to be funny." House picked it up. "Fine. Put it in the player." He tossed the DVD back to Wilson.

Wilson cocked his head to the side. "You feeling…."

"Fine. Dammit. Can't I be lazy without having you question me every five minutes?" He ate a mouthful of rice. "Besides, you walk faster."

Wilson acquiesced, and put the DVD into House's Playstation 2. He settled back and the movie began.