A/N: I love all you guys who review, you rock! Just wanted to tell you that!

Chapter 24

Convinced by the lack of response that House wasn't home, Wilson stood indecisively outside the door. He wasn't going back home; he knew that. He also was not going to Cameron's, where House undoubtedly was. The only thing left was to use his key and spend the night at House's place or drive to the hospital and sleep on the couch in his office. Wilson rubbed the back of his neck just thinking about sleeping on the couch. He reluctantly withdrew his key and unlocked the door. Maybe, if he was really careful, House would never know he was there.

Wilson closed the door behind him and went straight to the kitchen. He'd been so busy trying to get Cuddy to lay down that he'd never eaten dinner and he was starving. A quick peek made Wilson wonder why he even bothered; House never had any food in the fridge and Wilson had eaten enough peanut butter sandwiches after his last divorce to last him a lifetime.

Wilson rifled through the menu drawer and was trying to decide between pizza or a grinder when he noticed the apartment was unusually quiet. Wilson checked his watch; it was surely time for him to be up and about, wasn't it? Dropping the menus back in the drawer, Wilson walked slowly to the living room and around the piano. There, on a small end table beside the TV was the cage. Peering inside, Wilson could see Steve lying on his side.

"Crap," Wilson muttered. He considered leaving, but even if he was just a rat Wilson couldn't do that. Sighing heavily, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and hit speed dial. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. There were going to be lots of questions and probably some poking involved.

"Busy right now," House answered the phone.

"House, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Wilson told him, wracking his brains for any reason he would be at House's apartment besides the truth. "Steve McQueen is dead."

"Yes, and the Berlin Wall came down," House quipped. "If you want to tell me old news … wait, my Steve McQueen?"

"Yeah. Your Steve McQueen," Wilson said.

"So Cuddy threw you out," House said with beautiful unconcern.

"She didn't throw me out," Wilson argued. "I … I left."

"That's different," House commented.

"House, please. I'm really not in the mood for your speech about my inability to sustain a relationship. Are you coming home?" Wilson asked.

"Why?"

"Your rat is dead," Wilson said.

"And your tie is ugly," House replied.

"You can't even see my tie," Wilson protested. "Stop changing the subject. What do you want me to do with him?"

"Take him out dancing," House said. "Wrap him up and throw him out."

"And you're okay with that," Wilson said.

"Wilson, he's a rat," House said. He hung up the phone as Cameron entered the bedroom. She climbed into bed next to him and snuggled into his chest.

"Was that Jimmy?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, he and Cuddy had a fight. He's at my place," House said, rubbing his cell phone on his chin. Cameron noticed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Steve McQueen died," House told her.

"Oh," Cameron said. She shifted a little away from him and House frowned. He didn't really think Cameron liked Steve all that much; it seemed odd to him that she would be upset by his death. He nudged her with his knee to encourage her to talk. "You'll think I'm terrible," Cameron said in response, and turned over on her side to face him. He waited. "You shouldn't wish death on anything, not even a rat, but I'm kind of glad he's gone." House registered surprise. "I figured you kept him because he reminded you of Stacey."

"I did," House said. "At first. But then he grew on me. And what was I going to do, kill him? I only kill puppies," House joked and placed a kiss on the top of Cameron's head. "Hey, does that count as my confession for this week?"

"You wish," Cameron answered.

When a week had passed and Wilson was still sleeping on his couch House began to get frustrated. He'd gotten better about staying at Cameron's, but at heart he was a creature of habit and he liked his apartment. Cameron would stay the night, but she refused to 'entertain' him while Wilson was sleeping down the hall. And beyond his physical frustrations, this was different. Try as he might to convince himself otherwise, House cared if Wilson and Cuddy split up and not just because it meant he was inconvenienced. They were good for each other; they were just too blind to themselves to see it.

Wilson, for his part, absolutely refused to talk about it. He said he'd already heard all of House's opinions and advice, ad nauseam, and he didn't need a repeat. He did rather caustically suggest that House might use his special brand of persuasion to point out a few truths to Cuddy, at which House snorted. House as relationship counselor?

Cameron tried her best to talk to Cuddy. Although they had gotten closer over the past year, their relationship wasn't quite at that place where Cameron could tell her boss she was being an idiot and should just apologize. She had, however, told Jimmy that very thing. It did not get the reception she had hoped.

House and Cameron briefly considered simply locking the two of them in a room and forcing them to work it out. Well, House considered it but in the end he decided that would take too much effort on his part, especially as Cameron refused to help him.

Making matters worse, news of their split had somehow leaked to the grapevine and was currently the talk of the hospital. In light of Cuddy's ever more obvious pregnancy and Wilson's admittedly dodgy reputation as a playboy, popular opinion of Dr. James Wilson, Boy Wonder Oncologist, was at an all time low. Wilson claimed to both House and Cameron that he didn't really care, and House actually believed him. Cuddy also claimed not to care, but neither Cameron nor House could believe that. She cared, as was evidenced by her sharp rebukes to any nurses she overheard talking about Wilson, good or bad.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Chase and Jasper were so good together it was almost nauseating. Chase had made it a habit to stop into the conference room every morning to give Jasper a kiss before work and after a week of listening to Wilson snoring on his couch without saying anything, House's sarcasm muscle was twitching.

"The Wombat cometh," House intoned from his place in front of the coffee machine. This daily ritual was annoying him, although he wasn't sure why exactly. It might have something to do with his worrying about Cuddy and Wilson. Or it might be the fact that his first confession with Cameron was tonight. Getting to watch live tongue action couldn't possibly be the problem. Maybe he just didn't like Chase.

"Morning sweetie," Chase said as he entered the conference room. Jasper smiled and her face lit up. Foreman and Price had the decency to look away while he and Jasper kissed, but House kept watching.

"You say that as if you didn't wake up all tangled together," House snarked. That was pure jealousy; he hadn't woken up tangled with anyone. "Honestly Chase, you're here more reliably now than when you worked for me."

"Wilson's still on the couch?" Chase muttered to Foreman. Foreman nodded. Chase understood.

"We didn't wake up together, not that it's any of your business. Oh, no, everything is your business," Jasper retorted. House had gotten snippier and snippier as the week progressed and she'd really had just about enough.

"You two should just move in together," House said off-hand. "Then you get your morning smooches in at home and spare me regurgitating my breakfast." That said he limped into his office and sat down with his Ipod.

Foreman and Price just shook their heads at House's mini-tantrum, but Chase and Jasper stared at each other intently. Neither of them knew how he did that, but he'd hit on something they'd both wanted to talk about but been afraid to say.

"Do you want to …" Chase began.

"It's not the worst idea …" Jasper commented. They spoke simultaneously and stopped when they realized what the other was saying.

"Does that mean yes?" Chase asked. Jasper nodded and Chase grabbed her and pulled her in for a Hollywood style kiss.

"Get a room!" House shouted from his office. Before he could shout anything else, his pager vibrated against his hip. Annoyed, he ripped it off his belt to see who had decided to annoy him now. The change in his facial expression when he realized it was Cameron would have been startling, had anyone been watching. He left his Ipod on the desk and made his way downstairs.

"You rang?" House bellowed as he entered Cameron's office. Cameron looked up from her computer screen and smiled. It wasn't quite the flash of joy that had graced Jasper's countenance upstairs, but there was no mistaking her happiness to see him.

"We have a problem," Cameron said, shooting a glance in the direction of Cuddy's office.

"Mommy having a bad day?" House asked sarcastically.

"She asked me to be her Lamaze coach," Cameron said.

"Okay," House said.

"If she's asking me, then she's not asking Jimmy."

"Right," House said.

"She should ask Jimmy," Cameron told him.

"And what does this have to do with me?" House asked.

"Go talk to her," Cameron said. House leveled his gaze at her. Cameron rolled her eyes. "The sooner she and Jimmy get back together, the sooner he'll be off your couch and the sooner I'll be back in your bed."

"I do like that," House said. He took a deep breath and looked at Cameron. "Do I get a last request before I face the firing squad?"

"I'm not having sex with you on my desk," Cameron replied dryly.

"If I get them back together, can we talk about sex on your desk?" House asked hopefully.

"Fine," Cameron said. Once House had entered Cuddy's office she smirked. "We can talk about it all you'd like."

"What do you want House?" Cuddy asked as he walked in. She'd been watching him talk to Cameron and although she couldn't tell what they were saying, she had a pretty good idea of what was coming.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" House said, settling himself on her couch for what he was sure would be either a very short and painful or very long and painful conversation.

"You're just old," Cuddy fired back. House smirked at her.

"Make up with Wilson," he said. He wasn't going to sweet talk her; he wouldn't know how even if he'd wanted to. Blunt and overbearing were his trademarks, and it was always best to go with your strengths.

"House," Cuddy started.

"You're good for each other. Wilson needs to be needed. There's nothing wrong with that. Usually, he picks a really needy woman. That's where the problem comes in. This time he picked you. You don't need anything. You two could never speak to each other again, and you'd be okay," House said. Cuddy stared at him. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life being okay?" He paused and while she tried to come up with an answer he continued. "You're the right kind of needy. All you need is someone to love you."

Cuddy waited a long time before responding. "What about what he needs?"

"You're what he needs. Everybody needs something. It's not wrong; it doesn't make you weak. And if what you need is also what you want …" House let his voice trail off, lifting his head and looking at Cuddy. She nodded at him. House stood up to leave; he'd done all he could. "Me, I need Wilson off my couch. I also want Wilson off my couch. Imagine how happy I could be if I got both those things." He paused for a minute and then shivered. "Scary."

Okay, no flames from any Steve lovers. I loved him too, but two years is a long time for him to stick around