"You're not going to make me watch one of your silly soaps, are you?" I asked wearily from the sofa as Greg fetched himself a beer. All I wanted to do was relax for a while. Watching one of those corny overblown sap-fests might make me snap and go on a tri-state killing spree.

"If I wanted you out of the room, I'd put on General Hospital," he said, limping over and sinking into the cushion. "Seeing as your short-term memory is on the fritz again, let me remind you that I wanted you to keep me company for a while."

He clicked on the television and a documentary detailing the hunt for John List flashed across the screen. We'd seen it a million times, but Greg decided to make it a million and one, setting the remote on the table next to The Alienist. "Here." He tossed the book into my lap, no worse for the wear. The magazine subscription card stuck out of the back cover.

"Thanks." I couldn't remember what page I had been on and would probably have to start over. "Did you like it?"

"It was all right." The Greg House equivalent of a five star review.

I put my arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer."Since when did you ever want company,
Greg?"

"Since a certain switch-hitting oncologist decided to try an alternative lifestyle in the presence of my company. Besides, Jimmy, if I didn't like having you around I would have spent the last dozen years ignoring you."

"You certainly have a way with words," I said with a slight chuckle.

"That's one thing you've always loved about me." His smirk broke only when he sipping his beer.

"Yeah, you're a painter with words."

"A picture is worth a thousand words," Greg replied. "Any idiot can slap paint on a canvas and call it art. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The pen is mightier than the sword. My words have cut you to the bone, but you still want to be by my side."

"It'll take more than a few choice words to scare me away," I began. "Out of everyone–wives, girlfriends, friends, lovers–you're the only one who has never left my side. Sounds like we were made for each other."

"Yeah," Greg agreed, surprising me a bit. "You search the hardest for the one thing that's right there in front of you. It's funny how these things work out."


"Dr. Wilson?" Foreman, Chase and Cameron were trailing behind me. I suddenly felt like a mother duck trying to find a river.

"Are you all on loan to oncology today?" I said, unlocking the door to my office. I didn't even have my coat off and they were swarming me, staring in strange fascination, like Amish people catching their first glimpse of a fax machine.

"Yesterday...," Cameron asked cautiously, the look on her face had 'I Woke Up Screaming From The Nightmares' written all over it, "was that for real or just for show?"

"For real and for show," I answered, taking a certain smug satisfaction in watching them squirm in their blinding white doctor coats. "I'm a little busy for a curtain call right now. Maybe if you ask House nicely, he'll set one up."

"No thanks," Chase said.

"You and House are a regular Odd Couple," Foreman spoke up.

"That's one way to put it." I had to agree. "Oil and water, but somehow we mix."

"That's...interesting," Cameron said in the same cautious tone.

"Do you have something to say, Dr. Cameron?" I knew she was dying to tell me something. I hoped it wasn't some pathetic anti-gay spiel since I had too much to do and didn't need the distraction. Cameron didn't seem the type, but then again, I really didn't know her that well. The warm and caring exterior she projected could be a brilliant disguise. She could be evil incarnate and I would never guess.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you."

"You're thanking me?" I puzzled. "Thanking me for what?"

"For making our lives easier," Foreman smirked.

"How? I don't have any kind of influence over your jobs."

Chase smiled. "Sure, you do. You've made House happy, therefore, our jobs are a hell of a lot better. We came to say thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, trying to choke back the laughter. I could still see the looks on Cameron and Chase's faces from the day before. Priceless. "I'm glad I could help, even if I didn't realize I was."

"Whether House is on a high or a low, it's nice that he has someone there for him." Foreman said. "He'll probably go back to being a slave-driver in a few weeks, but maybe it won't be so bad."

"Dare to dream," I smiled. "Look, I've got an obscene amount of work to catch up on..."

"Sure," Chase smiled back. "We're not foolish enough to believe that you're a magic bullet for House and his moods, but you still deserve a thanks for our brief moment of paradise."

"Paradise? That's a compliment if I ever heard one." I chuckled as I watched them file out to the corridor.

After I picked myself off the floor, I was still distracted for the rest of the day, but it was a nice distraction. Very nice. But I had to wonder what Greg would think about it. Only one way to find out.