Dreaming of Dreams

A Glass of Milk

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Couple: House/Cameron

Rating: G/PG or K/K+

House, like most other humans in the world, dreamed.

He dreamed the weird dreams, like playing volleyball with chocolate chip cookies and vicodin or falling off a cliff, only to wake up at the last second to find out he'd really just fallen out of his bed and that his back and his leg both hurt terribly.

However, House also had habit for very straightforward dreams. He heard that this was irregular and it made him feel self-satisfied, that he had dreams that few people did. That he once again was somewhat raised above the 'normal' people. People who could live their lives without exes coming a back, evil corporation bullies pushing you down, and patients reminding you that no matter what you say or do, the only thing in your life is them.

It was in a dream where House found him sitting on a bench in a park with his cane across his lap. He was watching a little girl play with a kitten. She had dark hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a big green bow in her hair. She had blue overalls over a green shirt and couldn't seem to stop laughing as the tabby kitten kept licking her cheek.

"She's something else, isn't she?" Said a man who sat down beside him. House supposed that had this happened in anyplace except in a dream he would've 'shit his pants'. The man who sat beside him was him. However, because this was a dream, it was okay and normal.

"Just another patient who has a penchant for flea balls." House said grudgingly, looking away from the girl. Chase passed in front of them for some reason but neither the Houses nor the girl noticed so it was just a part of the dreamscape and the dream moves on.

"She might not be another patient. She could be the healthiest person in the world. You just don't know it." His twin said, twirling his cane. It was different than real-House's cane. The handle was the same odd-shape but it was all black and under the handle was a vertical silver stripe. Looking closely, there were some bumps and chips taken out of the wood showing it was getting used.

"I've had patients that were supposedly 'perfectly healthy' all their lives. Everyb,"

"Everybody lies. Yes, I know." The twin said. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a bottle. He shook a pill into his palm and split it in half, putting one half into the bottle then handing it to House.

"I'm guessing you want a couple. I probably shouldn't help the habit, but oh well." The twin swallowed his half pill and House grabbed two pills before throwing them into his mouth.

"The pills help me live my life. They let me do my job and they keep me from pain." His twin snorted.

"What pain?" He asked sarcastically. His eyes, the twin's, was watching the little girl closely. House noticed this and filed it away for later. Foreman walked past them and once again, the three people didn't notice and Foreman went away from the dream.

"I don't know anymore. I barely remember why I took Vicodin in the first place…oh, wait, that's right – bum leg! Imagine forgetting about a thing like that." House chewed out. His attention to turned to the girl after a while because there was really nothing else to notice or take in. The kitten had gone and turned into a lion and was still licking the girl's face. Still the girl giggled and laughed and House couldn't help but think that the girl was insane.

"She's not crazy, just young and foolish." His twin informed him. House turned to glare at him.

"Mind staying out of my thoughts?" He asked. The twin rolled his eyes.

"Hard to do considering you created me, made me, and, essentially I am here because of you." House continued to glare at the man as he was told this.

The girl was once again playing with a kitten and now a puppy and a mouse had joined in and House couldn't help but feel a little worried for the girl. Puppies and kittens have claws and mice have teeth and strong wills and the three creatures together could not be a good mix.

"She'll be okay." His twin told him, leaning back on the bench and taking a breath of air. House didn't allow himself to follow his twins example. Wilson came into the dream and waved at the little girl. She smiled and waved back. Wilson waved at them, and once both Houses had waved at him, he nodded and left the dream as fast as he came.

"What's her name?" House asked after a while. The twin shrugged.

"She doesn't have one yet – she isn't born yet."

"Who are her parents?"

"If I told you, that would be telling." The twin replied. House did his best not to glare at himself. He knew that he was a hard person to get along with but he always figured that if he met someone like him, that he'd come out on top.

Apparently going toe to toe with his dream self isn't a good idea.

"I can tell you that you're her father." His twin told him, "The idea of her, her herself, I'm the father of… wait…I'm confusing myself, which means I'm confusing you, and that's making me confused…" The twin quieted for a moment, "Stop having dreams with yourself in them. It's very annoying and very confusing… asshole."

House rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," The twin continued, "I'm here to show you your dreams." House looked at him like he was joking but the twin just shook his head. "It's true. I'm your personal dream man. Bet you always knew you wanted to do yourself, you sexy hunk of man meat!"

"Disgusting. Thank God there's only one of you in real life!" Came the voice of Cuddy as she entered the dream. She kneeled down beside the girl and hugged her before standing and leaving.

The men watched her go before turning back to each other.

"Seriously though, you have a dream, why aren't you going after it? You've had the time, the people, everything to accomplish it. You have a good job, you're well-adjusted…why not move onto the next step?"

"I do not have a dream. Damn…you're making me sound like the anti-Martin Luther King Jr. Don't tell Foreman or I'll have black pride people on my back." His twin laughed.

"You do to…why hide from it?" Before House had a moment to answer, Stacey entered his dream world and sat on his lap. She turned her head towards him and kissed him long and hard before standing up and leaving. She smiled at him, but ignored the two other people before leaving the dream.

"That a good enough answer for you?" House asked sourly, looking away from his twin to check up on the little girl. The animals around her had disappeared and now she was playing with a piece of grass.

"You know, for someone who prides control in their life, you have virtually none over yours." His twin stated, watching House closely. House ignored him and kept watching the girl as she ripped more and more grass from the earth. "Stacey, the pills, and that leg control everything. They shouldn't." At this simple statement, House had the huge urge to punch the man beside him. Instead, he settled for yelling.

"Well, what else is there? I'm a cripple! I'm lucky to have had what I got, I'm never going to get what I had with her again!" House exploded. His twin didn't look surprised at this and House debated whether or not he should hit his dream made up self.

"You deserve more than what you have but to get those things, you sometimes have to look selfish. Be selfish." His twin whispered, somehow magically calming House down.

"Huh?"

His twin smiled. "You have to be selfish to get what you want. You have to not care about your labels that you put on people. You have to just take what you want." House blinked before snorting and answering:

"You can't always get what you want." He quoted his favorite Mick Jagger quote. Somehow, it always was able to make it into one of his days.

"But if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need." His twin quoted without skipping a beat. "You want Stacey. She's a forbidden fruit you got a taste of and was able to hold onto but now that its gone…you don't know what to do, but you're starving yourself, trying to get that one piece of fruit back, not willing to try anything else because it won't taste as good, or even worse…it might taste better. And if it tastes better, what happens if you can't keep your hands on that piece of fruit?" His twin said. House stared at his twin and the twin stared back.

"And I thought that calling people 'fish' was cruel. Demoted to fruit!" He said. His twin shrugged.

"I'm just trying to be politically correct. After all, there are such things as vegetarians." The twin leaned forward again and laid his cane under the bench which confused House for a while but he didn't settle on that thought.

Allison Cameron had entered the dream and was now playing with the little girl, ignoring the men. She stayed there, still playing with the girl, while sometimes stealing glances of the two men behind her.

"You gonna tell me what my dream is, or what?" House asked, after watching and waiting for Allison to leave his dreams like all the others. When she didn't, he turned back to his twin, only to discover that he had disappeared.

"Greg, get over here!" Allison said, laughing. It wasn't until that moment that he realized that Allison had a few streaks of gray in her hair and her eyes had a wrinkle or two around them. He stood up slowly and limped to the two girls. As he got closer, he heard his earlier question repeated loudly in the dreamscape, though he was the only one who could hear it.

"You gonna tell me what my dream is, or what?"

The little girl held up her hand and in it was a tiny little flower. The girl grinned up at him and he plucked the flower from her fingers.

"Do you like it daddy?"

"I love it." He whispered. He looked at Allison who hugged the little girl close to her and smiled at Greg as he maneuvered himself to sit down beside them.

It was about this time a bright light interrupted the dream and woke the doctor up. He groaned and reached for a bottle of Vicodin before looking at his clock and reading that it was 8:34.

What a weird dream.

-fin-