Thank you for the reviews :-), I'm glad you keep on liking this story, because I like it! I thought I had it all planned when I started, but the characters just want to play their own game, so I end up wondering what they are going to do next almost as much as you do!

And in case you have got confused, this is day seven in the story. The date however is unknown.

----------

The next day House stayed away from his office almost from the moment he got to work. The ladies had taken it over. Cuddy, Cameron, nurses and, not the least, House's mother were busy decorating the place for the party. Blythe's operation had been four days ago and she still got tired easily and had to sit down frequently, but she was a tireless general even when she was sitting in her wheelchair directing the efforts of all others. And that would have included her son, had he been foolish enough to stay around.

House had phoned messages the night before to Wilson informing him about the change in Andie's medication, and to Cuddy about Andie's wishes concerning the party, but other than that he was determined to stay out of it all. Unfortunately pretty much the only place he could escape to was the clinic and with Nurse Brenda having blackmail material on him, he actually had to see patients when he was there. And he couldn't even go out of his way to insult them!

At least most of his patients were kids who often were quite interesting. Pity about their parents, though. You did end up wondering if the eugenics programmes in early 20th century didn't have it right after all, about only the fit being allowed to have children. Surely there ought to be some kind of test before people were allowed to reproduce. But no, no such luck. In a few cases you had to wonder how the people in question had managed to get the deed done at all. Had one of them just rolled over or backed accidentally into the other and the right body parts just ended up meeting? Talk about mystery of life! Nearing one o'clock he badly needed a break from the patients and was almost happy to go and see what had been done for the party.

The conference room had been selected as the main party area. It was decorated mostly in pink, but had other colours like green and silver in it as well. The table was filled with goodies and soft drinks. Coffee, tea and hot chocolate were on offer as well. House's office had been turned into a room for Andie, her bed and all the monitors and paraphernalia she now needed was brought in. She was already there when House arrived. The doors between the rooms were open and some of the goodies were filling House's desk as well. Decorations were mostly pink in here as well. The balcony was as it had been; except someone had rigged strings of pink heart shaped lights all over it like a canopy.

"Everything to your satisfaction?" House asked Andie.

"Yes, I think this is going to be perfect," Andie responded with a satisfied sigh.

"We really want to thank you for everything," Andie's mother said.

"Everything?" House smiled. "I thought you were somewhat unhappy with my actions yesterday."

"I got over it," she stated. For a moment it looked like she was going to say something more, but she changed her mind and just smiled.

The musketeers were the first to arrive for the party, with Blythe and John; and soon Cuddy and Wilson were there, too. Lots of nurses and other people working in the children's cancer ward or who knew Andie for some other reason came and went during the next couple of hours, as did those of the cancer patients who were able to walk or could use a wheel chair. Christmas songs were sung, stories both fairytales and real reminiscences were exchanged. Wilson naturally had quite a few memories about Andie, as he had been with her from the start of her illness.

"Remember that time you made the teacher think you had eaten chalk?" He asked Andie.

"Yeah," Andie smiled broadly. "Though it wasn't just me, Becky was the one who got the candy first and then when we realised it looked like chalk, we made the plans together."

"What are you talking about?" Cuddy asked.

"See, it was during the first round of treatments, Andie and Becky and some other kids that were in-patients at the time were attending school in the mornings. I think the teacher's name then was Susan, and she worked the afternoons in the local primary school. Anyway, the girls got these big, white candy-canes from somebody and realised that if you break off a piece, it looks just like the chalk that Susan was using in the schoolroom," Wilson explained. "So with that inspiration they decided to play a trick on their teacher and the girls put a piece of candy each into their pockets and went to their lessons. Once there, they took the first chance to take a piece of chalk – making sure that Susan saw them do it – exchanged it for the candy in secret and then they just ate it. Poor Susan was frantic, because obviously the chalk was not the most hygienic thing around, and she had no idea anyway what chalk might do to the girls. And quite frankly, I didn't know either. The girls had us franticly trying to figure out what to do about their sudden urge to eat chalk. And while we were running around scared they were having giggling fits!"

"We didn't really fool you," Andie giggled. "I think you were worried when Susan called you, but once you got there you were pretty sure that we had been faking."

Wilson took a deep breath and was about to start a sentence but she looked up first and saw House shake his head slightly. Wilson changed his mind about what he was going to say and he let out some air before saying: "Well, chalk doesn't really taste that good, so it was surprising in itself that you would eat it. I had some time to think on my way to the schoolroom and I just thought that there might be something else going on, especially as it seemed that you had made sure Susan saw you do it."

"We did apologize to her," Andie reassured her mother, who seemed not to have known the story before. "But it was fun."

Blythe had seen the exchange between House and Wilson and once she had nudged her son to the other room she said: "You were the one to figure it out, weren't you?"

"I just asked Wilson a couple of pertinent questions," House shrugged. "After all, it was just the sort of thing I would have done."

"Did you put them up to it?" John House asked with some disapproval.

"No," House answered shortly. "I didn't even meet Andie till a year ago and I never saw Becky."

"Oh, I see," John muttered. He looked around to find something else to say and saw someone in the corridor who caught his attention. "Greg, I think that nun is looking for someone in here."

House looked up. "That's Sister Augustine," he beckoned her inside. "Come in Sister."

"Hi, Dr. House," Sister Augustine smiled. "I don't want to intrude."

"It's ok," House said. "This is very informal. These are my parents Blythe and John House. This is Sister Augustine, a former patient of mine."

Greetings were exchanged and then House's parents went to get something to drink leaving the Sister with House: "I brought you your Christmas tea."

"Good," House exclaimed. "I was wondering when you would have time to bring it."

"You will drink it judiciously?" Sister Augustine reminded him before handing the tin over.

"As opposed to drinking it religiously?" House asked archly. "Don't worry I will be careful not to give myself a heart attack."

"I'm glad to hear that," the Sister smiled. "I'm sure there are plenty of people who need your skills like I did."

"Possibly," House shrugged. "Which remind me, how's the skunk?"

"Thriving," Sister Augustine replied with a twinkle in her eye. "And how are the miracles?"

"About as scarce as IUDs in a nun," House answered ruefully, "You never find one when you need it." He indicated to the other room and Andie with his head.

"That's Andie!" the Sister recognised her. "Is this her party?"

"Yes," House told her. "She is saying goodbye to her friends. I had forgotten that you must know her, too, since you visit the cancer ward sometimes. Do you want to see her?"

"I would like to, very much," Sister Augustine agreed. "She told me that you gave her an extra year."

"She is still dieing," House replied.

"Yes, but you still gave her a year," she repeated. "Your problem could be that your definition of a miracle is a little too narrow. Sometimes the miracles are very little; they just have a mighty wallop in them – a bit like an IUD in a nun."

"Maybe," House wasn't convinced. "But if you talk to Andie, there is something I think I might need to mention."

"What?"

"As you are a nun, there is a chance that she will ask you about ... you know, afterlife," House was turning slightly red.

"That is a possibility," Sister Augustine agreed intrigued.

"Well, you know my views on that, but Andie was awake last night when I checked in on her, and she wanted to know my opinion on ... you know, that thing," House was fumbling with his words a little. "I ... I lied to her. ... Not so much as outright lied to her, but there was omission and misdirection. If you talk with her..."

"I will be careful," the Sister smiled. "I will do my best not to say anything that might make her suspect your veracity."

"Thank you," House sighed relieved. "I got the feeling that what I said reassured her, made her feel safe. Given the situation, I would not want that to change just because somebody accidentally made her doubt my words."

"Don't worry, I will be careful," Sister Augustine reassured him. "Besides it's quite possible that she won't seek a second opinion when she has yours."

"Why not?" House asked. "You did."

"And God told me to trust yours," the Sister said before going to the other room to greet Andie.

"Have you ever thought, that you might just be hearing voices," House called softly after her, but still loud enough for her to hear. "You know, like a schizophrenic." Sister Augustine just laughed at him.

----------

Andie thoroughly enjoyed her party. She did rest on the balcony a couple of times, but other than that she was present the whole time. After two and a half hours they wrapped it up and Andie was wheeled back into her room. Just before they left, Andie's mother stopped by House and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek whispering "Thank you" into his ear at the same time and she was gone before House could do more than blink.

"What? ... What the hell was that?" House was puzzled. "I ... Why? I didn't do anything!"

"She probably just wanted to thank you for letting us have this party here," Cuddy tried to guess. "And you have been very patient with all this today."

"Yeah, well," House was embarrassed. "It's not like we have a case right now so the space was free."

"As you still don't have a case, or so I presume," Blythe House intervened. "Do you mind if we just sit here for a little longer and rest from our efforts?"

"Mother, you know you can talk me almost into anything, so by all means, let yourself and your troops get to your well earned rest before you start cleaning up all this," House agreed. "There is still plenty of food and drinks left so why not just go on with the party for now. Tomorrow is soon enough to clean."

"Nice try House," Wilson inserted. "You just want the food to stay here longer so that you can stash some of it away for your own use."

"Wilson, you wound me!" House put his hand on his heart. "Would I do something like that?"

"Yes!" said Wilson, Cuddy, Cameron, Chase and Foreman all in unison.