DISCLAIMER: House belongs to Fox, not me.

AN. Hope you enjoy this, feel free to read and review, but praise and constructive criticism only please! House may be OOC, but the story needs it otherwise it's not any good.

Chapter 7: Meet the Parents

"Does this look ok?" Cameron asked nervously, coming out of her bedroom and twirling around for her boyfriend's inspection.

House whistled in admiration as he took her in. "Ok, I vote we stay here!" he replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Ok, honestly I don't know why I bother."

"What? I said you look good!" he protested.

"No," she grinned at him. "You were suggesting we stay here and have sex. You'd want to do that no matter what I was wearing."

House smiled as he took her in his arms and kissed her. "Allison, you look perfect. Relax!"

Cameron sighed nervously and pulled away, unnecessarily straightening her white sundress. "I can't," she fretted. "I haven't had to meet anyone's parents in ten years!"

"And my parents have already met you, remember?"

Cameron laughed and returned to his arms. "I'd forgotten that. Even if I wasn't their son's girlfriend then. Ok, grab the present and let's go. We've got a long drive."

House followed her out of the apartment as she grabbed her shoulder bag and sunglasses, smiling fondly at her. They reached her car, House got in the driver's seat and turned on the stereo and pulled away as Cameron pulled out a book.

The two were driving down to Lexington, North Carolina to celebrate Blythe and John House's golden wedding anniversary. Blythe had insisted her son bring Cameron, so the family could finally meet her, and Cameron had been stressing over it for a week. It was a beautiful August weekend, and House enjoyed the warmth and comfortable silence of the car as he drove. The two were going to be spending the weekend in Lexington, which Cameron had had to convince House to agree to but they had got there in the end.

Cameron was re-reading Stephanie Meyers' Twilight in an attempt to settle her nerves, but she quickly found within an hour that she just couldn't concentrate. As she let out a frustrated sigh and closed the book, House reached out and lay his hand comfortingly on her thigh.

"Allie, relax. I promise you, they will love you."

Cameron said nothing, but moved her hand to rest on his and he understood. Eventually, they reached Lexington and pulled into the driveway of a gorgeous house in the suburbs, that left Cameron breathless as House pulled the car to a stop and grabbed their luggage out of the trunk.

"Greg, this is incredible!" she said softly.

House frowned up at the house and shrugged. "Oh, I guess. Come on."

He gripped her hand tightly as he led her up the porch and through the front door, carefully depositing their bags at the foot of the stairs.

"Hello?" he called as he entered the kitchen, and Cameron balked slightly as all five women crowded into the kitchen turned to look at her.

"Hey, Mom Happy Anniversary," House smiled tightly as Blythe came over to embrace her son, and he quickly pulled Cameron's hand forward.

"Mom, this is Allison. Allison, my mom who you've met."

Blythe could tell her son's girlfriend was nervous and greeted her warmly. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Allison. Properly, I mean. Now that Greg's finally come to his senses."

Cameron blushed shyly. "Thank you, it was really nice of you to invite me. Your house is beautiful."

"Oh thank you, dear. And it was no trouble at all to invite you. At least it gets Greg here, otherwise I'm sure he would have had a sudden work-related emergency this weekend."

Cameron laughed knowingly, and Blythe pulled her away from House and into the kitchen. "Allison, this is my sister Janine, her daughter Felicity and daughter-in-law Nicola and Felicity's daughter Taylor. Girls, this is Allison- Greg's girlfriend."

Taylor, who didn't seem that much older than Cameron herself shook her hand warmly. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," Cameron replied.

Felicity, who, Cameron quickly figured out was House's cousin, shook her hand also and turned to her cousin. "It's about damn time we met your girl, Greg. Otherwise I would have thought it was like when you were ten and tried to convince me and Derek you were dating an Arabian princess."

Cameron whirled around to face her boyfriend, grinning. "Really? An Arabian princess, huh? How'd you score her?"

House shrugged modestly. "My charm, really."

Cameron, Taylor and Felicity all scoffed in unison and House pretended to glare at them. "I'll have you know, if it wasn't a matter of Arabian law, we would have eloped."

"Yeah, but gosh darn it, if only Aladdin and his wretched magic carpet hadn't gotten there first," Cameron teased and Taylor grinned at her.

"I like you even more," she laughed and Cameron laughed too.

"Even if you do have no concept of time. Aladdin came out when I was... crap, twenty-eight!" House seemed horrified at his calculations

"I was fourteen," Cameron mused thoughtfully. "I saw it at the movies three times."

House rolled his eyes. "Regressive childhood, much?"

She made a face at him. "Disney is for any age. That's why they call it a 'family' movie. Besides, that didn't stop you from watching Meet the Robinsons DVD twice last night. Regressive childhood, much?" she repeated his own words to him.

House grimaced sheepishly as his mother and cousin raised their eyebrows at him. "It's culturally sophisticated with cool animations... come on, Allie. I'll introduce you to everyone else."

He took her hand and pulled her through the house to the backyard, where a group of men were standing around the barbeque, another group of women sat on lawn chairs at the back of the yard, and a group of small children were running around in the sunshine.

"Hey, Dad," House greeted John as they approached and his father turned from the barbeque to greet them.

"Greg! Good drive?"

"Yeah, fine. Dad, this is Allison Cameron. Allison, you remember my dad?"

Cameron smiled and shook the hand he offered. "Yes, it's nice to see you again."

John nodded warmly. "You too, young lady. Well, Greg don't just stand there. Get the girl a beer and introduce her!" he said to his son.

House suppressed a sigh and went to fetch two beers from the cooler near the door and John winked at Cameron.

"I'm afraid chivalry is on its last legs this day and age, huh?"

Cameron smiled. "The last leg's still holding though."

House returned and handed her a drink, then greeted the other men. "Allison, this is Janine's husband Frank, Felicity's husband Sam, her brother Derek and Taylor's husband Pete. Guys, Allison Cameron."

"Hello," she greeted them all, and then Taylor appeared at her elbow. "Ok, now introductions are out of the way, I'm borrowing your girlfriend, Uncle Greg."

Before House could protest, Taylor led Cameron over to the other side of the yard where there were two women sitting on lawn chairs in the shade watching the children play. "Allison, these are my sisters Riley and Charlie. This is Allison, Uncle Greg's girlfriend."

"Charlie?" Cameron inquired.

Charlie grinned. "Short for Charlotte. I'm not really a fan. It's very... literature-based for someone who doesn't like to read."

"Bronte or Charlotte's Web?" Cameron asked and Riley laughed.

"She's never been sure. Any stack of paper with words with a cover scares her. You could say it's her only phobia."

Cameron nodded thoughtfully. "Of course. Bookphobia. Very serious," she replied straight-faced and the girls laughed.

"I knew you'd have to be fun to put up with Greg all the time," Charlie giggled.

Cameron smiled and relaxed into her chair. "So, what do you all do?"

"I'm a police officer," Charlie spoke up. "It's the first career I could think of that didn't involve college or piles of reading."

Riley giggled at her sister's career explanation and shrugged. "I'm still at college, but I graduate next summer. I'm training to be a math teacher."

Cameron was impressed. "Nice. I could never understand math. So, I stuck to reading," she laughed.

"Well, Riley's got the right smarts to understand formulas," Taylor added. "She was Bolton High's Einsteinette."

"Bolton?" Cameron repeated.

"Suburb in Richmond, Virginia," Riley explained. "Where we grew up."

"Where are you from?" Charlie asked her.

"Native Chicago girl," Cameron smiled.

Taylor was impressed. "Nice. Oprah. As for me, I'm just a little old housewife," she shrugged and Charlie snorted.

"Yeah, at the ripe old age of thirty-two!"

Cameron grinned at the three sister's obvious close relationship. "So, is there a big age difference between you all?"

"Taylor's three years older than me, I'm six years older than Riley," Charlie replied. "Do you have any siblings?"

Cameron laughed, confusing the others. "Oh, my family history is... unique. In the short answer, I have an older gay step-brother and his twin sister, two younger half-brothers and a younger half-sister. Then, of course there's my parents and step parents."

Riley was wide-eyed. "Wow! Do they all live in Chicago?"

"Uh, my step-brother is in New Jersey and my step-sister and her husband and kids live in Connecticut. Apart from that, all in Chicago."

Taylor shook her head. "I don't think I could live that far away from my family. It must be hard."

"It is," Cameron admitted. "My mom... is my best friend. So, it's hard sometimes. But I mean, you just-"

"Make your own family," House finished and they all jumped and turned to see him hand Cameron a plate of food and then sit down on the grass beside her with his own plate. "Did you not hear the call dinner was ready like five minutes ago?" he demanded of them.

"Obviously not otherwise we would have beaten you to the food," Cameron replied and he poked her thigh with his fork.

"Don't take our seats, Uncle Greg," Charlie warned as the three girls left to hurriedly grab some food.

"Uncle Greg, huh?" Cameron smiled at him and he frowned.

"Don't go spreading it around. Besides, Felicity started it... some stupid idea that because I'm an only child I need small children looking up to me to stabilise me," he rolled his eyes through a mouthful of food and Cameron giggled as the others returned, three men behind them.

"Allie, this is Charlie's fiancée Ethan and Riley's boyfriend Tom," Taylor introduced them as they and Pete joined House on the grass.

They began to eat in silence until Riley spoke up. "So, Greg... what did you mean by 'you make your own family'?"

Greg swallowed his mouthful before answering. "I like to think the Diagnostic's department has formed our own family, it helps with getting the kiddies to follow the rules."

Cameron raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Kiddies?"

"Not you," House assured her, as though that was her worry. "Chase and Foreman."

"So, what am I?" she replied.

House looked at her as though it should be obvious. "You're the mommy! And I'm the daddy. And then there's weird Uncle Jimmy to amuse and entertain us on a daily basis."

Cameron rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "So, where does Cuddy fit into this?"

"She's the social worker," House replied seriously and Cameron couldn't help but laugh.

"Wait, why does Allison become the mother instead of one of the kiddies?" Riley asked.

"Because the daddy has to be with the mommy, or that's just wrong," House informed her.

Throughout this explanation, the rest of the adults had joined the group and Derek couldn't resist teasing his cousin.

"So, when are Mommy and Daddy going to have kiddies of their own?"

Cameron froze and reddened simultaneously. She and House had never discussed the issue, actually, Cameron hadn't allowed herself to think of the possibility of having kids at all. So she was stunned when House casually replied with no hesitation.

"Well, that depends. If you keep nagging us, we'll probably leave it for five or so years."

Felicity snorted. "Right, we drop the subject and the next time we ask, you'll have a brand new excuse all ready to go."

"That's the plan!" House replied cheerfully, and Blythe tactfully changed the subject.

It was dark before the couple found themselves in their room preparing for bed, Blythe and John closing up the house and the excess family relatives gone to their hotel.

"Your family's a lot more fun," House told her tiredly as they climbed into bed and Cameron giggled.

"I know. I love the girls though, they're great."

House snorted. "They're insane. Thank god they're my second cousins... I can pretty much ignore them whenever I want to. Of course, that was before you made friends with them all. Now I'll never get rid of them. They'll be expecting Christmas presents now!" he told her indigently.

Cameron laughed. "Oh, please. When was the last time you bought a gift for anyone?"

"You, the first year you worked for me," House replied automatically, not even needing to think about it.

Cameron was touched. "I was the last?"

"Yeah... you must have liked it. I've seen the same type of perfume in your bedroom."

She smiled softly. "It's... it's not the same type. It's the same bottle," she admitted. "I've hardly used it."

House raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?"

"No. I could probably tell you every occasion I've worn it since you gave it to me."

House looked at her expectantly. "Ok, go for it."

Cameron rolled her eyes but sighed and began to tick off on her hands. "Well, there was... our date, the poker benefit, my birthday, and the night of the benefit you came back. Oh, and our first official date after that."

House was surprised. "That's it?"

She shrugged. "I save it for special occasions. You seem surprised."

"I am, a little," he admitted. Then he kissed her softly. "I love you."

"I love you," she replied and curled up against him to go to sleep. House began tracing circles on her back, lulling her to sleep.

"Hey, Greg?" she murmured sleepily.

"Yeah?" he returned, his eyes closed.

"What you said earlier... about the kids. Did you mean it?"

There was a pause so long Cameron thought he'd fallen asleep. She sighed and moved closer to him, so that she almost missed it when he replied softly,

"Yeah."