On December 25th, 2032 at 3:30 PM, Chase and Adams began receiving their guests. By 4:17, it appeared House and Cuddy were delayed in traffic; but finally there came that long-awaited knock. Chase was grinning as he went to the front door and pulled it open. "Hey, gang's all here."
"Not quite." She stepped inside and began removing her coat.
"Where's House?"
She struggled with the correct response. "He, uh—well, I couldn't convince him to come. He said it was blasphemous to his atheism."
Thankfully Chase laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like him."
Good, she thought. She followed him into the heart of the festivities, where her daughter sat amongst her employees.
"Where's House?" Cameron asked.
"He's not coming."
"Good," Rachel said simply.
Cuddy meandered through the labyrinth of gifts and joined everybody on the floor. "Sorry I'm so late. I really tried to get him to join us."
"Too bad. I really wanted to get called an idiot on Christmas," Taub remarked.
"Well, he...finds it blasphemous to his atheism. To him, this is just Monday."
"The man never sacrifices his pride," Foreman commented. "He should have sucked it up and come with you."
"Yeah, Cameron's not religious; usually she's the hostess of these things," Chase announced.
"Well, I like seeing my friends. That's the difference between me and House."
"He should still be here," Foreman muttered. "What kind of narcissistic ass—"
"Foreman," Cuddy interrupted.
"Hey, I'm sorry, but it's the truth. So he's got problems, we all do."
Cuddy looked among their faces as she straightened her shirt. "Alright, well, House would be mad if he found out that I told you, but I guess he'll treat you poorly even if I don't." She shrugged and twiddled her fingers. "House is still hallucinating. He MRI'd himself and found five lesions in his brain."
An awkward silence filled the room.
"How is he?" Chase finally asked.
"He's...going to choose between stronger meds and electroshock therapy."
"Is there something I can do?" Cameron asked quietly.
Cuddy looked at her and smiled. "No. You've been doing it all along."
Cameron didn't look satisfied with her answer. She reached over and picked up a small present with his name on it. "I'll be back. Can't feel my ass anyway," she added, as she stood up.
All bundled up, House was shoveling the driveway when he saw movement in his peripheral vision, a flash of yellow. He looked up and stilled. Walking by the house, Kutner made eye contact as he kept walking. House watched him carry on his way, dutifully continuing past the home and turning onto Nassau.
Slowly, he resumed shoveling. "That's fine," he muttered.
