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Chapter 20

Wilson sighed when he got Cameron's voicemail. He left a brief message. He needed to talk to her before he had House stuck at his side. He walked slowly to his office hoping his phone would ring but no luck.

Cameron was in the shower when Wilson's call for help came in. A few minutes later she walked out of the steam filled bathroom and strolled into her bedroom. She saw her phone lying on the bed with the familiar flashing light. She picked it up thinking it might have been Chase who called. She was surprised to see that the missed call was from Wilson and she immediately checked her message. Without hesitation, she dialed Wilson's number.

Wilson and House were in the elevator when his phone rang. He knew without looking that it was Cameron.

"Hey Allison. What's up?" He knew she was going to be completely confused.

House zoned in when he heard Wilson say Allison and wondered why Cameron would be calling Wilson. He listened intently hoping to figure out what was being said with only hearing one side of the conversation.

Cameron was completely confused with Wilson's strange tone. "You tell me since you are the one who called me." She let out a little laugh.

Wilson knew he couldn't talk to Cameron about what he needed if front of House. "I'm in the elevator and my phone is breaking up. Can I call you back in a few minutes?"

"Sure. Bye." She hung up the phone and wondered what was up with Wilson.

House watched as Wilson stuck his phone back in his pocket. "You're phone has always worked in the elevator before."

Wilson could hear the skepticism in House's voice. "Not all the time. It's probably the weather or something. I'll call her back later."

"Call her back in the lobby or the car. It may be important."

"I will. How did you get here?" He asked changing the subject. "Did you ride your bike?"

"Yeah. It's not too bad out there. I figured I would ride with you to where ever it is you are taking me to lunch at."

Wilson didn't want House to ride with him, knowing that is what he wanted just so he could hear his conversation with Cameron, who had no idea why he was even calling her in the first place. "Okay. Sure." He managed to say nonchalantly and they walked to his car.

"Where do you want to go?" Wilson asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"I don't care. Just somewhere where the food is good. You're money. You choose."

The last thing Wilson wanted right now was to have lunch with House. He had other things on his mind and he didn't want House to pick up on that. He decided on a little café a few streets over. They hadn't been there in a while and the food was good and it was close.

House sat quietly as they drove down the street, waiting for Wilson to pull out his phone and call Cameron. "Aren't you going to call Cameron back?"

"Why are you so anxious for me to call her back?" Wilson tried to misdirect House's curiosity.

"Why are you not calling her back in front of me?" House shot back.

Wilson gave House a 'I don't know what you're talking about look.' "No reason." He said and pulled out his phone, wondering what in the hell he was going to say to Cameron when she answered.

Cameron answered her phone after the second ring. "Talk to me."

Wilson laughed a little. "Hey. Sorry I had to hang up. What's up?"

Cameron laughed. "James, you called me, remember?"

Wilson took a deep breath and hoped Cameron would catch on fast. "Really? Are you okay?"

Cameron pulled her phone from her ear and looked at it as if looking at it would clear up the confusion. "Wilson. What's wrong with you?" She asked again.

Wilson kept playing the charade. "Tonight? I can do that. I don't have anything else going on"

House was looking out the window, not really paying attention to what was outside. He was more interested in the conversation that was going on between Wilson and Cameron.

"You can't talk can you?" Cameron was slowly catching on.

Wilson smiled knowing she probably thought he was crazy. "You got it."

Cameron couldn't help but laugh on her end. "Who's with you? House?"

"You are absolutely right about that. What time tonight?"

"I don't know. You tell me." She said with amusement.

"Six thirty sounds good."

"You better call me later James Wilson and let me know what is going on."

"I will. See you then. Bye Allison."

"Bye James." She ended the call and wondered what kind of predicament Wilson had gotten himself into.

A few minutes later, the two men walked into the café and chose a booth towards the back of the room. They sat and immediately opened up their menus.

Wilson was waiting for House's interrogation to begin any minute.

House eyed Wilson over the top of his menu. It was killing him to know what that phone call was about. He began to tap his fingers lightly on the table.

They both placed their orders and Wilson began to make small talk.

House exaggerated a long sigh interrupting Wilson. "Since you are obviously not going to bring it up first, I will. What's up with Cameron?"

Wilson shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't bring it up because it was a personal phone call." "So. We tell each other everything."

Wilson grimaced at House's comment. "Cameron and Chase had a fight and she's upset. She just wanted to know if I wanted to grab something to eat later so we could talk."

Normally, this would have surprised House but since he recently learned that Cameron and Wilson do get together once in a while to talk, he believed him.

"And that's was too personal to tell me?" House asked in a sarcastic tone.

"It doesn't matter what our conversation was about. It was personal."

"You two have a special place you go to?" House asked ignoring Wilson's comment.

There was no way Wilson was going to give House a specific place because he would show up looking for them. "No. We just go where ever. What did you order?" Wilson was trying to desperately change the subject without House picking up on it.

It didn't work. House knew Wilson didn't want to talk about Cameron for some reason. This only made him more curious. He stared hard at Wilson. What was he up to with Cameron? He wondered.

Wilson could feel the bore of House's stare upon him but refused to look at him.

"You're not telling me everything." House continued to push the issue.

Wilson let out a fake laugh. "Yes I am. Why do you care anyway?"

"I don't. It's just that we usually spend Saturday night together."

Wilson smiled. "Are you hurt because I'm spending the evening with Cameron instead of you?"

"I'm not hurt Jimmy. Annoyed would be a better word."

"Ohhh I understand. You're jealous." Wilson liked how easily the tables had turned.

"Nope. I said annoyed. You could have asked if I had anything planned first." House stated as he dumped three packets of sugars into his iced tea.

"You have got to be kidding me. Since when do you own my Saturday night's?"

"I just find it odd that Cameron would call you because she and Chase had a fight. Doesn't she have a girlfriend she can talk to?" House said in a nipping tone.

"You don't like the fact that Cameron talks to me about her and Chase's relationship, do you? I bet you asked her and she blew you off." Wilson was enjoying this.

House didn't like the smug look on Wilson's face. "I haven't asked her. I could care less about the wombat and Joan of Arc." He lied.

"Right. That's why you're sitting there asking me all those questions."

"I'm a curious guy." House tried to sound like he didn't care.

Wilson stared at him for a minute when it suddenly dawned on him what was really bothering House. "You don't like the fact that Cameron and I have grown closer."

"You're way off base. I just don't want you to forget whose best friend you are." House said seriously.

"Look, Cameron just needs someone to talk to, that's all. It's only dinner. It's not like I'm going to sleep with her."

Wilson saw House's jaw clench and a flicker of something he couldn't identify flash in his eyes when he made the comment about sleeping with Cameron. Was House really afraid that he would sleep with Cameron? He wondered. This intrigued him.

House didn't say anything. The thought of Wilson and Cameron sleeping together didn't set well with him and he wasn't even sure why but he didn't like it.

"You didn't say what the idiot did to upset Cameron."

"She didn't say. I guess I'll find out tonight."

"He's probably still pissed about her working for me again."

"Yeah. He's pretty upset about that."

House's eyes narrowed. The fact that Wilson knew Chase was upset told him that Cameron had talked to him recently. How did I not pick up on this? He wondered.

They were both thankful when the waitress brought their food. It gave them both an excuse to quit talking about the subject at hand. However, Wilson wasn't so naive to believe the conversation was completely over with. House had asked too many questions to just let it end like that. He had to call Cameron as soon as he dropped House off because he wouldn't put it past House to call her himself and he had to let her know what was going on before that happened.