Dearest Readers,

~ "Nobody likes you."
- "I like me."

Read on, Cherubs.

Over and out.

Meeting the Future

Cameron sighed heavily once again, making Foreman even more irritated. House was always late on Monday mornings, but this was ridiculous! Foreman tried to focus on the journal he was reading, but Cameron's constant sighing prevented him from doing so.

"Is something bothering you, Cameron?" He asked sarcastically, just as House walked into the room, Chase grumpily following behind him.

"What's wrong, Chase?" Cameron asked as he flopped into his chair.

"Ask The Great Destroyer over there." He said grumpily, pointing his head towards House who was trying to look innocent.

"What did you do?" She asked sharply, knowing that House had to do something outrageous to get Chase to be grumpy.

"I merely scratched 'Move it, Bucko' on someone's car that was parked in our spot." He said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

"House! That's not right." Cameron said, just as Cuddy walked in.

"What did he do this time?" She asked, looking at Cameron.

"He scratched 'Move it, Bucko' on someone's car just because they were in his and Chase's parking spot." Cameron said exasperatedly as Cuddy turned angrily at House. Chase decided that he didn't want to be stuck right between an angry Cuddy and overly feisty House, so he got up and went to make the coffee

"You're paying for the damage." Cuddy said shortly causing House to scoff.

"Yeah right."

"I mean it, House."

"So do I." He countered, looking innocently at her. Wilson walked into the conference room, his eyes first landing on House and then turned towards Cuddy.

"What's wrong?" Cuddy asked as Wilson glanced behind him.

"Dr. Forest is fuming. Someone scratched 'Move it, Bucko' in the side of his car."

"That was me!" House cried childishly as he raised his hand.

"Of course."

"He shouldn't have been in our spot."

"That doesn't mean you can vandalize his car!"

"In House's defense, his car has a lot of scratches on it...a few more wouldn't hurt." Chase said, leaning against the counter with his coffee mug in his hands.

Something caught Wilson's eye and he turned to look at it, his heart stopping as he stared at the wedding ring on Chase's slim ring finger. He felt a smile creep to his lips as he looked at House, making eye contact. House raised an eyebrow at him. Wilson darted his eyes towards Chase, silently telling him that he saw the ring. The corners of House's lips curled up slightly and briefly, then he turned back to Cuddy.

"You must be very proud of yourself." She huffed, hands on her hips.

"You bet I am." He replied, smiling.

"You need to grow up."

"House? Grow up? Impossible." Chase said, smiling as he took a sip from his mug. Cuddy looked quizzically at the blonde. "What?" Chase asked, feeling confused as to why Cuddy was looking at him like that.

"What's that?" She nodded at his hands.

"Oh this?" He held his mug on display. "It's a wonderful creation. It's called a coffee mug and-"

"Not that!" She cut in exasperatedly, "That!" She pointed at his left hand. Chase smiled, twirling the ring on his finger.

"I win." He said turning towards House who was already pulling money out of his wallet.

"What?" Cuddy asked, confused.

"We made a bet on how long it would take someone to notice. I said sometime this week and House said next week." Chase said, smiling widely as he slipped the money in his pocket.

"Notice what?"

"The nice piece of bling on his finger." House said, sighing dramatically.

"Bling?" She asked and her eyes went wide when she saw the wedding ring on his finger. She smiled widely. "That's wonderful! I guess I can procrastinate on making House pay for the damage he caused to Dr. Forest's car." House huffed.

"What?" Foreman and Cameron asked at the same time, causing Chase to turn towards them.

"Cuddy asked what was on my hand. It's this." He showed her the wedding ring and she smiled widely.

"That's great!" Cameron said excitedly.

"What did Aura say?" Foreman asked with a light smile, surprised that a surprised expression covered Chase's face.

"Crap. I haven't even told her."

"You better hurry up and tell her otherwise she's going to freak out." House said as Chase pulled out his cell phone and sat down. He dialed her number and smiled as he put her on speaker-phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Aura."

"Robbie! How you doing? Are you saving lives today?"

"I don't know, maybe. Are you sitting down?" He said, making his voice sound somber. They laughed quietly, knowing that he wanted to make Aura worried before he told her about getting married.

"Why what's wrong?" She asked quickly as he heard her sit down. He sighed deeply.

"Aura...I don't know how to tell you this."

"Robbie, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" Chase smiled, still keeping his voice somber. He sighed deeply again.

"Aura...I...I'm engaged."

"Robert Rowan Chase!" She shouted from the other end of the line, making them wince and laugh. "You had me worried sick! Don't you ever do that again! You hear me? But I'm super duper excited! Is Greg there?"

"I'm here." He said, still smiling.

"Master, you better treat him right otherwise I'm going to kick your ass."

"Aura!"

"I'll take those words close to heart, Aura." House said as Aura laughed.

"Robbie, I'm going to go tell Ma. She'll be so happy!"

"Thanks for doing that, Aura." Chase said, smiling. "Tell her to give me her contact information so I can actually talk to her."

"Will do! I'm happy for you guys! I'll call you later, Robbie."

"Alright, bye." He ended the call and slipped his phone back in his pocket, shaking his head.

"Have you guys made any plans yet?" Cuddy asked, still smiling from the phone call.

"Nope." House said, bluntly as Chase nodded in agreement.

Wilson looked at the ring and smiled as he remembered the first time he saw it in the bar with House so many months ago. House had been nervous then and he probably was when he proposed. But he knew that Chase wouldn't say no. House had waited so long for the right time to pop the question and that time came.

He looked at his friend and saw that he seemed even brighter than before proposing. This was the best thing to ever happen to House and both of them knew it.

HouseXChase

Alright Gang,

As always, patience and reviews/PMs are appreciated!

When-Rabbit-Howls