Next morning House was at a jeweller with his mother. He had called her first thing and asked for her help, which she was happy to give.

"Is it too much?" House asked his mother.

"No, I don't think so. Even from the little you were willing to tell me, she deserves it," Blythe said.

"If she has any gumption she will throw it in my face," House agreed. "This is not a good idea, Mom. I think we should just leave."

"Oh, no, Greg," Blythe absolutely refused to let him leave. "You wanted to do this, and you will do this. Now just be a good boy and make your purchase."

"Mother, I'm not five!" House protested.

"Are you sure?" His mother wondered. "After all it is typical for five year old boys to pull the girls by their braids and things like that."

"Fine, let's get it over with, then." House agreed. "Are you sure she will like it?"

"Yes, I am. It looks just like her," Blythe encouraged her son.

"Ok," House turned to the saleslady, "I'll take that, would you wrap it up for me, and put this inside as well." House took a small white card and wrote something on it, both sides. Before she could give it to the lady his mother took it and read it. "Hey! Some privacy here, please." House demanded, though he did smile.

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't spoil things at the last moment," Blythe defended herself.

"Well did I?" House asked.

"No. That should do the trick just nicely," Blythe smiled.

"If this blows in my face, I will blame you, you know," House told her.

"I know, but it won't. I promise," Blythe reassured him.

--------------------------

House spent most of the day at the clinic. Though he found it mind numbingly boring, he didn't send any patients to Cuddy with complaints. Mostly because he knew that Cuddy had accepted his mother's invitation for Christmas dinner the next day and would certainly rat him to his mother the moment they met.

Before he had gone to the clinic he had stopped at the diagnostics and seen signs of Cameron. She wasn't in when he was there, but her coat was hanging on the stand and her laptop was on the table. House had pondered for a moment how to go about his plan, but in the end he put the small parcel he had for Cameron in the pocket of her coat. He just hoped that he had left the building by the time she found it. True, he would have to face the music, so to speak, next day as Cameron, too was coming to the dinner. According to his mother both Foreman and Chase were coming, too. Foreman was also bringing a girlfriend. House hoped that it wasn't a drug rep again. The man deserved better. Well, almost any man deserved better.

Having finished his clinic duty for the day, House went to see Cuddy, who predictably and naturally was in her office.

"You know, all work and no play make Lisa a very dull girl," House opened the conversation.

"Like you cared," Cuddy huffed.

"Well, it is Christmas," House shrugged. "I'm told one is supposed to care this time of the year."

"Yeah, and you are just brimming with the milk of human kindness!" Cuddy sneered.

"Obviously not as much as you are," House goaded her.

"House, why did you come? Obviously not to wish me merry Christmas or anything," Cuddy asked.

"Well, if you insist I could do that too," House shrugged, "but I really wanted to talk about Soo Park."

"Soo? What about her? Did she do something wrong?" Cuddy was concerned.

"Why would you think she did something wrong?" House wondered.

"Because you want to talk about her," Cuddy explained. "You never have anything nice to say about anyone, so I assumed she must have done something that you want to complain about. Though I have to warn you, I will not believe you."

"Right, just make up your mind even before you hear the facts," House huffed. "What does it matter to you that the medical students pick on the cripple and threaten him with violence."

"What are you talking about?" Cuddy was completely lost.

"Just that Soo took my cane and threatened to beat me with it," House whined.

"What did you do to her?" Cuddy was up in arms immediately. "Did you make a pass at her after all?"

"Right, blame me," House pouted. "It couldn't possibly be that I was completely innocent of any wrongdoing in all that."

"House, cut the crap and just tell me what happened!" Cuddy insisted.

"Ok, fine, if you refuse to be any fun there is nothing I can do," House complained. "I didn't come to talk to you about Soo trying to beat me up, but I might as well tell you. When Soo first came to me about her father, I didn't want to listen, so she took my cane and told me that if I refused to help her father she would beat me with it."

"Seriously?" Cuddy couldn't believe her ears.

"Yep. She has guts that girl, when she is fighting for something that is important to her."

"Wow. There are grown men who wouldn't dare do that," Cuddy admired.

"So do you wonder I decided to have her around for a while," House asked.

"Is that why you took her on?" Cuddy realised. "Damn, did you make her completely miserable?"

"Not completely," House denied. "Just enough."

"I wish I had known. I would have put a stop to it."

"Which is why I didn't tell you," House pointed out. "But she came through with pretty much flying colours. And that is what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What do you mean," Cuddy asked.

"I just wanted to tell you to keep an eye on her. She will be just the sort of doctor you want to lure back here when the time is ripe." House answered.

"What do you mean lure back," Cuddy wondered. "She is already here."

"Sure she is, but she needs experience from other hospitals first, before she will be an asset here," House reminded Cuddy. "In fact you could help her with that, you have the connections. You could mentor her career."

"Why me? Why not you?" Cuddy wanted to know.

"My attention span is too short," House dismissed. "Besides, for me to recommend someone without somebody dragging the recommendation out of me with torture would be so unheard of that it would hinder her more than help."

"You are probably right," Cuddy had to concede. "It would cause a lot of questions and people would start to wonder why you are so interested in her career. Ok, I think I will keep an eye on her. If she seems to fulfil what you promise I will certainly be happy to help her with her future."

"Good," House nodded. "See you tomorrow then."

"Barring an epidemic of plague or something," Cuddy agreed.

"It there is an epidemic of plague you will definitely see me tomorrow," House reminded her on his way out.

----------------------

Cameron had worked all day. Not very hard but nearly without any breaks. She did love Christmas, but she didn't really want to spend it with her family or even friends except in small doses. She felt at home in the hospital. It was easy to explain to her parents that she wanted to make sure that those doctors who had children could spend Christmas with them and therefore her volunteering for Christmas duty was acceptable. She had faithfully promised that once she had a family, she would try to get time off during Christmas when at all possible. She didn't tell them that as time went by she saw less and less chance of having a family of her own. She sure wasn't going to get one as long as she was hopelessly in love with House.

She was going to see him the next day. She knew that nothing she did was going to make him see her as a potential date – let alone a mate – but she knew that she found her beautiful, so she was going to go all out and make herself look as stunning as she could. She would never forget his reaction to her red dress at the last charity event in the hospital. He had even forgotten the patient for a second. Sure, this was a Christmas dinner, so she couldn't quite pull the same look this time, but she was sure she could come up with something.

She wasn't sure she was going to enjoy the dinner even so. She knew that she didn't need to feat House showing up with another woman – Pam was moving to Washington State, after all – but she also knew that John House would be wondering when House would finally settle down with some woman. And he could very well do it in her presence as he thought she was way too young to be interested in his son. If only he knew! Blythe, of course, knew exactly how Cameron felt about House. In fact, Cameron rather thought she had Blythe's approval. If only that was all that was needed.

Well, that was for the next day. Today she still had to get to home, select the dress for tomorrow and see that it was ready to wear, and check if there was something else she needed to do tonight. Cameron got her things together and was ready to go; she put her coat on and tried her pocket with some puzzlement. She was sure she hadn't left anything in her pockets when she got to work, but now there was definitely something in one of them. She fished a small parcel out of the pocket. It looked like a Christmas present.

Cameron frowned. Who had put it there? She hadn't seen anyone today. At least not in the diagnostics. Of course it could be almost anyone from the hospital, it was not like the doors had been locked or anything. She took her coat off again and sat down at the table. She stared at the parcel. It looked like it had been wrapped at the store, which almost definitely meant it was from a man. Hey, brilliant deduction, girl! All your co-workers were men. Chase or Foreman? She couldn't see either of them as the givers of this gift. Maybe she had a secret admirer? House was out of the question in any case. Especially as this parcel looked like it might have come from a jeweller.

Well, the only way to find out was to open it. Hopefully there was a card inside, as there was none outside. Cameron unwrapped carefully the paper and revealed the box. She still stared at it for a few minutes before she dared to open it. Finally she had gathered enough courage to open the box. Inside she found a gold and enamel pendant in the shape of a swan. It wasn't very big but it was exquisite. She wasn't sure, but it looked like it might be antique from the early 20th century, Art Noveau or Art Deco. It hung on a gold chain. When she put it on her neck it nestled safely between her breasts. She could hide it under her blouse if she wanted to wear it unseen. Cameron couldn't believe her eyes! It was so beautiful! Who would give her something like it? She took the card that had been resting under the pendant and read it.

There are things that even I apologize for... stood on one side of the card. She turned it.

... just don't go all mushy on me! ... was written on the other side.

Cameron smiled but she also had to wipe tears from her eyes. As apologies went, this was the best she had ever had, because she knew he really meant it. Gregory House did not go to this much trouble over an apology he didn't mean.