Chapter 19

Once the laughter had subsided, House had ordered the team out of his office so he could think. Foreman picked up House's PSP from atop the bookshelf and tossed it to him, knowing House rarely 'thought' without some type of distraction. He'd never really understood it himself, but he likened it to studying with the radio on. The distraction forced you to focus harder.

The three of them had retreated into the conference room to begin researching cases of recurring bacterial meningitis. Jasper was greatly annoying both Price and Foreman by letting unprompted giggles escape her now and again, but otherwise they worked in silence.

House's fingers were just beginning to cramp when a familiar rumbling announced it was lunch time. Grabbing his cane from the desk, he limped down the hall to Wilson's office only to find it empty. He was probably with Cuddy. House stood outside his office and debated whether to go and find him.

Con: going to Cuddy's office to look meant getting near the clinic.
Pro: finding Wilson meant telling the Price/Foreman story.
Con: Cuddy comes to lunch with them.
Pro: Wilson pays.
Con: going to Cuddy's office means having to see Cameron.
Pro: going to Cuddy's office means getting to see Cameron.
House sighed. Cuddy's office it is.

House found not only Wilson, but Cameron in Cuddy's office as well. The three of them were laughing amiably. House stopped outside the door for a minute to watch his three favorite people together.

"Is this a private party or can anyone barge in?" House said as he barged into the office.

"Would you leave if we said it was a private party?" Cuddy asked snidely.

"Nope," House replied. Cuddy just shook her head, she'd known that answer. "You all look happy. You must be talking about me."

"As a matter of fact we were," Cuddy said. "According to the nursing staff, hell is freezing over as we speak."

House frowned at her and walked to Cameron's outer office. He opened the door and stuck out his head, looking carefully in both directions before returning.

"There's no ice in the clinic. Nurses were wrong," House reported, nudging Wilson with his cane to get him to move over on the couch. Wilson did and House sat down.

"Ha," Cuddy replied. "No. I'm referring to the fact that Dr. House was seen laughing with his fellows today."

"I have an excellent sense of humor," House protested.

"The operative words there were 'laughing with', not 'laughing at'," Wilson replied.

"Buy me lunch, you'll laugh till you choke," House said. Wilson rolled his eyes but stood anyway. He'd be buying House lunch one way or another, might as well get a good chuckle out of it.

"Will you ladies be joining us?" Wilson asked, mostly directed at Cuddy. Cuddy got up reluctantly. She knew Wilson was worried about her and it wouldn't hurt to have lunch in the cafeteria one day. Wilson and Cuddy walked out together, leaving House alone with Cameron.

"You coming?" House asked.

"Sure," Cameron said easily. "I'm starved." She walked over to House and leaned up to give him a kiss. He kissed her back, a little surprised that she seemed so normal.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Cameron?" he asked suspiciously.

"The real Cameron got a reality check," Cameron laughed. "I was a jerk last night. I'm sorry."

"Huh," House said.

"What?" Cameron asked him as they walked out to join Wilson and Cuddy at the elevator.

"Just trying to remember the last time I heard the work jerk when it wasn't preceded by the word you," House mused.

"Shut up."

By the time the four doctors reached the cafeteria, their eyes were streaming with laughter provoked tears as House recounted Price and Foreman's antics. Cuddy couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard. Wilson and Cameron laughed hard too, but both of them felt a little sorry for Price and what was sure to be a very uncomfortable few months.

As they walked through the cafeteria line, Cameron asked House about his patient. House admitted they were stumped. Cuddy and Wilson offered a few suggestions, unfortunately nothing they hadn't already tested for. House ordered a Rueben, dry, no pickles. Cuddy made a face. Although the morning sickness had passed, she was now subject to all sorts of food cravings and aversions. At the moment, lunch meat was one of her aversions. She and Cameron both took pre-made salads and yogurts, Cameron took an apple and Cuddy a nectarine. When they reached the end of the line, the cafeteria worker handed House his Rueben and Wilson a turkey club.

House walked off with his tray to find a seat. Wilson sighed and pulled out his wallet, but Cameron cut him off and paid for their lunches. Wilson smiled at her in thanks, and she told him she guessed she owed him for keeping House fed all these years.

As the three of them took seats at the table House had selected, House opened his sandwich and let out an annoyed grunt. Just exactly what part of no pickles was so difficult to understand?

House took the sandwich from his tray and limped to the end of the cafeteria line, cutting off several other people waiting to pay for their food.

"Hey!" he shouted to the worker who taken his order and then handed him his sandwich. "How hard is not to put the pickles on my sandwich?"

"I didn't put pickles on it," the man replied.

"So you're saying the pickles jumped onto my sandwich?" House asked him rudely.

"Look, I don't know how they got in there, but I didn't put any pickles in your sandwich," the man insisted.

House was no longer paying any attention to the cafeteria worker. His eyes had focused on a spot on the wall. If he had been in a cartoon, you would have seen the wheels turning in his head. He turned suddenly and limped out of the cafeteria, barely pausing to drop his sandwich on the table next to Wilson.

"Guess he figured it out," Cameron remarked.

"Do you think it was the pickles?" Wilson asked, as the three of them stared at his rapidly receding back and wondered for the millionth time how he did that.