2007

House stood at the butcher block island in his kitchen making a peanut butter sandwich and listening to blues when someone knocked on his door. He licked peanut butter off the edge of his palm and limped to the door. He unlocked it and looked at Wilson standing in the hallway with two suitcases.

"Julie is cheating on me," Wilson sighed. "I was hoping I could stay with you for awhile."

House nodded and stepped back to allow Wilson to enter.

Over the next few weeks, House realized he liked having a roommate again despite Wilson's inclination to rise early and spend hours in the bathroom. He played pranks on Wilson just like he did when he lived with Dylan Crandall. Wilson, however, didn't retaliate immediately. When he did, he sawed House's cane nearly in half and caused House to fall. House never felt so proud of Wilson as he did then.

"I hate these things," House complained as he tied his bow tie.

"It's for charity and you are getting a week off clinic duty for attending," Wilson called out from the bathroom. He walked into House's bedroom and pushed his hands away. Then he expertly tied the bow tie.

"Let's go," Wilson told him. "I have a good feeling about tonight. I feel like I might win."

"You suck at poker," House told him.

"How would you know?" Wilson asked as they exited the apartment. "You won't let me join your game."

House ignored him and got into Wilson's car.

As they sat at a table with Cuddy playing poker, an emergency room doctor approached her and told her about a patient of hers who just checked in. House listened attentively and then got up and walked away. He made his way down to the ER and talked to the parents of the patient. He did a cursory exam and then went in search of Kutner. Once he found him, House told him to round up the others and meet him in the Diagnostics conference room. He went up to his office and pulled an old file out of his bottom desk drawer. Taking it into the conference room, he used a marker to divide it the whiteboard in half. On one side he wrote the name Esther and on the other side he wrote Sick Kid. Then he began to list the symptoms.

"What's up?" Kutner asked.

"This file is twelve years old," Cameron commented.

House turned around and his breath left him at the sight of Cameron in a strapless, body hugging red dress. He shook his head and she smiled.

"What were we talking about?" he asked.

"Two different patients with some symptoms in common," Volakis told him. She wore a royal blue dress with a scooped neckline and her blonde hair hung like a silken curtain to her shoulders. She picked up the other file and looked through it. "The boy, Ian, is Doctor Cuddy's patient. She diagnosed him with gastroenteritis. Why did she refer him to you? Does she think it's something more serious?"

"Yes, I think he has Erdheim-Chester," House told her. "While you three were frolicking in college, I was treating a seventy-three year old woman who went through this progression of symptoms." He bent down and wrote DEATH on the bottom of the board. "In case you missed that class in medical school, there is no treatment or cure for that one."

"What's going on?" Reilly asked as she entered the room. She wore a floor length sleeveless black dress with a boat neck. Tiny pearls gleamed in her ears and her hair was pulled smoothly back from her face and twisted at the base of her neck in a red and gold streaked bun. Her brows drew together as she looked at the board. "We've got two patients and one of them is dead?" She looked at House.

"I'll fill you in later," he told her. He turned to Kutner. "Go do a colonoscopy and when you see some purple papules, grab me a slice."

"Erdheim-Chester?" Reilly questioned still frowning. "You think Esther died of it and now the boy has it? Fill me in now."

"Go," House told the others.

They looked at both of them and then filed out. Reilly folded her arms.

"Twelve years ago I had a patient with these symptoms," House began indicating the whiteboard. "She went downhill fast and after she died, her family wouldn't let me do an autopsy to confirm."

"So, you want to use a child to confirm a twelve year old case."

"Well, when you say it like that…"

"Isn't that what you're doing? Subjecting that baby to a battery of pretty painful tests to prove that you were right about Esther?" she asked.

"I know he has it. The colonoscopy will show that he has it."

She shook her head.

The colonoscopy didn't show that Ian had Erdheim-Chester. Over the course of the night, they ran numerous tests on him including getting a sample of his heart. Cuddy found out when Ian's parents went to her and complained. She forbade House to go near Ian. Finally, in the darkest part of the night just before dawn, House was standing out on the balcony outside his office staring out across the hospital parking lot. Wilson came out of his own office looking smug and self-satisfied.

"I won the poker tournament. I totally played this guy Burman from Business Affairs. I got great cards, but I don't bet. Just call, no raises. Burman pairs his king on the flop, I keep calling, the river turns, I check. He can't stand it. He goes all in, he's sure he's won. I call. I flip 'em. Oh!" he crowed.

"Pocket aces," House said.

"I nailed his ass!" Wilson cried in delight raising both hands in victory.

"They were hiding all the time," House murmured and went back into his office and through to the conference room. The team looked up as he came in.

"Test the kid for Erdheim-Chester," he told them.

"Uh, we did that already," Kutner reminded him. "He doesn't have it."

Reilly looked at House closely. "Let's go run the test again," she told them.

They all rose wearily and followed her down to the lab. She put the tiny sliver of heart muscle they had on a slide and put it under the microscope. The image showed up on the larger screen.

"Looks like macrophages," Cameron told House as he walked in and leaned against the wall.

Reilly applied the reagent to the tumor. It slowly began to turn red.

"Take your time and say it loud," House told them.

"CD sixty-eight positive," Volakis replied.

House pounded his fist against the wall and sank down onto a chair. "Start treatment."

Reilly nodded to them and the three of them left.

"You diagnosed them both and saved Ian," she told him.

"Are you going to say The Prayer Of The Dead for Esther?" he asked.

She looked at him in surprise. "No. Why would I?"

"You always did for all those corpses in the morgue."

"I can't hide anything from you," she laughed ruefully.

Bright sunlight flooded the lobby of the hospital. The janitorial staff was hard at work breaking down the tables from the charity event. Wilson leaned against the main desk and tugged his bowtie off. Reilly walked past him carrying her shoes.

"You seen House?" he asked her as he fell into step beside her.

"Uh, not for awhile. I think he went home."

"He's my ride," he told her.

"I'll drive you," she told him as they walked out to the parking lot. "Well, there's his car." She put her hand over her eyes and looked around. "But Cameron's is not here."

They continued walking to her car.

"Think they'll get back together?" he asked.

"Not for long," she smiled.

Cameron lay spread eagle on her bed as House kissed his way up the inside of her leg. She gasped when his teeth sank into the firm skin of her inner thigh. Then he moved over her and plunged into her. He bore all his weight on his arms as he pumped into her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her hands over his back. Their moans of pleasure mingled and echoed off the walls of her bedroom. She arched up against him and cried out his name. A moment later, he threw his head back and moaned loudly. Then he collapsed on her and they gasped for air. He rolled over to lie beside her.

She turned her head and looked at him. "This doesn't mean we're back together."

"Right. This was just a way to work off the tension from the night," he agreed.

"So, we could do this whenever we need to work off some tension," she replied.

He rolled on to his side and placed his hand on her stomach. "Why, Doctor Cameron, are you suggesting we have a purely sexual relationship?"

She shrugged and pushed her sweat dampened hair off her face. "Only if you think you can handle it."

He laughed. "Oh, I can definitely handle it." He lay back and put his arm around her as she snuggled close to him.