CHAPTER 13:

Wilson was washing dishes at his apartment sink when he heard the distinctive knock of a cane at his door. Rolling his eyes, he walks over to the door to open it. When he does, a nervous looking House limps right passed him.

Already inside his apartment, Wilson makes a mock gesture of extending his arm to welcome House inside and sarcastically says, "Please…come in."

Shaking his head, he then closes the door. House stands before him, dressed very sharply in a royal blue oxford and black dress slacks with a matching black suit coat.

House says to him, "I need a tie to match this shirt. And since you're Mr. GQ, I know you probably have one."

Wilson smiles at him.

House rolls his eyes and remarks, "Oh God, there's that look again."

Laughing Wilson says, "What? I…think…it's great that you're nervous about your date with Cuddy. It's been a long time since I've seen you like this."

Irritated House holds up his cane to him and tells him, "I'm so happy that you're happy….because if you don't find me a tie in about two seconds, the next thing you're gonna see is the curved end of this cane knocking you senseless."

Taking the hint Wilson says, "Okay, okay…hang on."

Wilson opens his hall closet where he has a rack full of ties on the door neatly placed by solid colors, stripes and patterns.

Looking at Wilson's collection with amusement House jokes, "What did you do? Subscribe to the tie of the month club? At least I know where to come if I ever wanna hang myself in style…patterns and all."

As he searches his tie rack, Wilson quips, "I know it's overwhelming for you to see what a real man's closet looks like."

"No, a real man's closet has condoms, sweat-stained t-shirts and a stack of porn magazines."

Wilson reacts, "No…your closet has those things. Contrary to your colorful perspective, real men actually do wear suits and ties and not just t-shirts that say "Badass" on them."

"That's what I call…my way of keeping the idiots away."

"Yes…and I see the line of respectable woman it attracts too." Wilson says drily.

"Hey, I don't see any women knocking down your door right now, so shut up and just give me a damn tie."

Wilson smirks at him. Then, he continues with his search until he comes across a tie that has light blue wide stripes, outlined by medium width light yellow stripes and accented by a trace of black stripes.

"Here…try this one." Wilson says, handing the tie to House.

House puts the tie around his neck, but his nervousness gets the better of him as his fumbling fingers have a hard time with the act of tying it. He gets frustrated, brushes his hand through his hair from top to back and has to stop the task to take a breath and calm himself. Wilson begins to chuckle, finding House's school boy nerves very amusing.

Annoyed, House looks at him and says, "This is not funny."

Wilson, smiling, comments, "Yes….yes it is."

House gives him a look and irritated says, "Come here…..let me tie this around you! Then, we'll see who's laughing."

Wilson rolls his eyes and tells him, "Relax. I think it's great that you're nervous, because it means you actually give a crap about this date. And I know you're scared, because you haven't been this serious about a woman since Stacy. There's a big difference this time. Cuddy already knows you're an ass and wants to date you anyway. That's a point in your favor."

House begins the task of tying his tie again with more success this time.

"You know you should start your own greeting card business….'inspirational words of love from the divorced oncologist.' I think it would be a big hit."

Wilson jokes back, "That must be after your greeting card business of…'love sucks unless I'm paying a hundred dollars an hour for it."

With quick wit House retorts, "No, that costs extra."

After tying the last part of the tie, House proceeds to assess his appearance in the small mirror in Wilson's hall closet and fixes his hair a bit. Looking back at his reflection for a moment, he observes the look of fear on his face as he wonders…'what the hell am I doing.' As Wilson leans on the edge of the closet door, he notices the fear on House's face and attempts to set his friend's mind at ease.

"You're going to be okay, House. She's not expecting some phony cover model tonight. She's expecting the man she's admired and respected for over twenty years."

House looks at him and softly says, "Thank you."

They both walk over to the door. As they do Wilson tells House, "The one good thing about going on this date with Cuddy is that you don't have to be anyone but yourself, because she already loves you for who you are. Right now, you're both just….going through the formalities."

House opens the door, turns to him and says with a subdued anxiousness, "Yeah…well…I can think of about a hundred ways I can screw this up tonight."

Wilson looks at him and with a soft smile says, "Then don't do any of them."

House looks at him, nods and heads off into the night on his journey to Cuddy's

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