After the Fourth Wedding, Epilogue

[deelaundry]

Posted to housefic

Title: After the Fourth Wedding, Epilogue
Author: Dee Laundry
Rating: PG
Summary: Eight linked drabbles (800 words exactly)

Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four


The new immunology attending, Paul, is bright and funny and kind. Cameron stays away from him entirely, until they have to work together on a grant.

House chooses that month to be the worst possible version of himself, with a nastiness not seen since that detective and forced detox years ago. Even Wilson stays away – it’s only around his daughter that House remembers how to be human.

After he shreds Cameron in front of her first-year residents, she wants a drink, settles for a latte, and finds herself confiding in Paul.

She leaves House on a Thursday, her conscience clear.

---

House is angry, sarcastic, horrible to Cameron during the divorce proceedings (Paul is furious; Cameron shrugs it off), but he’s remarkably decent about custody. They agree on school years with Cameron, summers with House, and he doesn’t fight the move.

By Elizabeth’s ninth birthday, they are settled in Atlanta. Cameron loves Emory; Paul is happy at the CDC; Elizabeth has friends and hobbies, and her Dad emails every night.

House comes uninvited to their wedding, and of course brings Wilson. Elizabeth hangs on her father and dances with Uncle Jimmy, and they all laugh together before the evening is through.

---

As Cameron walks in the door, Liz is hanging up the phone. “Who was that?”

“Dad,” Liz replies, with the studied weariness of the almost-teen. “He wants you to call him.”

“Why?”

“He’s moving to Tampa.”

Cameron’s shocked; she can’t imagine House anywhere but Princeton. “Why?”

“Because Leah’s mom is moving.”

“Who’s Leah?”

“My little sister.”

“Your what?”

“Well, stepsister.”

“Wait. Your father’s married?”

“Yeah. Sort of. Guess they won’t be after they move.”

“You lost me, Liz. Back up to where your father married Leah’s mom.”

“He didn’t.”

“You said he did!”

“He married Leah’s dad.”

“What?”

“Uncle Jimmy.”

---

Shifting nervously, Cameron rings the doorbell. Liz is almost bouncing in anticipation – at the thought of seeing her father or the rumored pool, Cameron’s not sure.

Wilson opens the door, a smile on his face and a preschooler on his hip. “Liz! Cameron! Come on in; we’ll get your bags later.” The girl is staring hopefully at Liz, who bounds in, forgetting to play it cool.

Setting his daughter down, Wilson says, “Go show Liz the cookies we made.”

“Great idea,” replies Liz; Leah smiles bashfully. They walk off hand-in-hand, and Cameron almost sighs at the sisterly image that evokes.

---

“What do you want to know?” Wilson asks jovially. The warm weather seems to agree with him; she’s never seen him this loose and open.

It strengthens her resolve; she grabs her courage and dives in. “I heard you tell House once, just before Liz was born, that he was happy and so you had won. What did you mean?”

“Wow.” Wilson takes a step back, his hand going to his neck. “I thought I’d get, ‘Why Tampa?’ or even ‘How long?’ first.”

“Those answers would be good, too, but this I have to know.”

“Why don’t we sit down?”

---

This is the key, Cameron’s decided, to everything: yesterday and today, and if she can understand this, she can understand her place in House’s life. She’d like to be certain.

“House didn’t think he could be happy,” Wilson says, his eyes distant, seeing back over the years. “I swore he could. I dropped back by getting engaged to Allison, put a few things in motion, nudged here and there, and you did the rest. Et voila, happy Greg House. I won.”

Her heart drops. Everything engineered by Wilson. “It was just a game to you?”

Wilson is shocked, open-mouthed. “Never.”

---

“It was all about you,” Cameron says, resigned. “Not about me.”

Wilson laughs lightly. “Did you listen at all? I set it up, but you made it happen. He really loved you.”

At Cameron’s headshake, Wilson leans in closer and continues. “Look, he’d kill me for telling you this, but the night we kissed for the first time, he was upset, missing you and Elizabeth so much he was crying. Actual tears, swear to God. And I melted and wanted to comfort him… That was our first kiss. Because of you. So… thanks.”

She’s surprised at how relieved she feels.

---

House grabs Wilson before he can move.

“I wasn't crying. I was cranky and snappy and you kissed me to shut me the hell up. Your screwy version of the story is lame.”

“I told you a long time ago, Cameron likes lame. Now she’s happy.” He pokes House in the side and gestures toward the other room, where their daughters are admiring Cameron’s earrings. “Everybody’s happy, so you can give up a tiny bit of your rep.”

House smirks and bumps a hip against Wilson. “You’re lucky you make me so happy.”

Smiling, Wilson bumps back. “Yes, I am.”

Comments

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Thought my H/W friends would like this.

[daisylily.livejournal.com]

I was getting a little bit worried, there, given that this contains House/Camness, but it all worked out OK in the end. *is relieved*

But only Cameron would believe that House was actually crying over her and Liz except that I did because I was so engrossed in the story and I thought he was actually crying over Liz, not Cameron.

Anyway. Proper ending, House and Wilson together, hooray XD

(And is the reason they're not married any more because Florida doesn't allow same-sex unions? I thought if you got married somewhere it was still legally binding elsewhere. I's confused.)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope I closed out the House/Cam well, in the sense that that could be where it stops. But my H/W heart just had to go on a little bit more...

Right now (and I desperately hope this will change, but it may not be in my lifetime), the federal goverment makes no recognition of same-sex partnerships, and in fact explicitly says that states do not have to recognize civil unions/partnerships etc. from other states. So a New Jersey couple in a civil union who moves to Florida will not be granted the same rights and privileges there. : ( They'll have to draw up separate contracts for things like joint ownership of items, medical directives, etc.

[roga.livejournal.com]

BEST. EPILOGUE. EVER.

OMG, everybody happy? House's pre-teen daughter and Wilson's toddler daughter? There must be more fics in this universe! If you're not planning on a sequel, then please, allow me to retrospectively add this request to the timestamp meme: the girls, ten years later.

Love you :-)

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Had to write that epilogue just for my H/W peeps. : )

I wish I could describe how the girls look in my mind - they are gorgeous, so cute. I'm not sure you want me to write ten years later, though... that'd make House coming up on his mid-70s and we know what happens to House in his mid-70s in fic... XD

Thanks!

[roga.livejournal.com]

we know what happens to House in his mid-70s in fic

You could always be brave and break the pattern! I'll settle for four or five years, though. From the girls' POV. 'Twould be awesome.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

By the way, forgot to mention that Wilson looks just like your icon (except a bit older) when he opens the door in Tampa. Ha!

[roga.livejournal.com]

Appropriately enough, it even fits your Cameron/House/Wilson theme - this is the "honestly, you're such a sweet dork" expression Wilson gives House when he sees he bought Cameron a corsage.

[toolazytowork.livejournal.com]

That pretty much rocked. Even the Ham wasn't too hard to swallow. Icky, just because, but believable. Not that I'm surprised-but two female spawn without the world causing spontaneous bleeding from the eyes! Never thought that would happen.
Good times. Good times.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Tried to make the House/Cam believable, but not sure I succeeded - at least one H/Cam'er has told me I didn't : (

But yeah, two girl-spawn at once, hee, hee!

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Hah! Ok, so it wasn't quite House and Wilson murder their wives and raise their daughters on an Argentine ranch, but I loved it. I liked that you made House believably happy, and with Cameron, of all people! And I'm very glad you put in this epilogue on--now the universe is as it should be. :)

And now I know you can write anything.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Dead wives, happy ex-wives; Argentine ranch, house in Tampa: same thing. XD One benefit of Tampa: Most of the houses are one-level so House & Wilson had their pick! Also LOTS of accomodations for people with mobility problems in public buildings, although House sometimes has a harder time finding a free handicapped space. (House is an independent consultant (no Clinic ever!) and Wilson's working at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, just in case you were wondering.)

I'm hoping more House/Cam fans will weigh in...

Thanks!

[warmdarkwoman.livejournal.com]

I like this ending better!

I was thinking maybe you were going for some kind of Hitchcockian Gaslight thing, what with Wilson's wife's name also being Allison, Wilson finding them the house with the garage apartment, the wedding date decision, etc., etc. Or maybe a bet like in the movie Trading Places when Wilson told House "I win." I guess I just thought that everyone's motivations in this would be more selfish, mean-spirited, and ugly, but ultimately, they really weren't.

I dunno. I liked it because it was different from what I usually read, and even though it was Ham I wanted to know what happened at the end, and I spent a lot of time refreshing my friends list to get to the last part. And the epilogue is what I wanted. Yay!

I'm going to stop now because I feel incoherency creeping in.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I wasn't quite sure even as I was writing it, but it turned out all the motivations were about being happy. (OK, originally House asked Cameron out because he was pissed at Wilson for marrying again, but as their relationship progressed he really did love her.)

The epilogue was just for my H/W friends, because I love them. And H/W.

[katakombs.livejournal.com]

I deleted my other comment because I didn't want to leave it up, it was just for you.

I'll just say that if you were going to put House and Wilson together, I wish you had had House say at the end of the last section that yes, he did want to leave Cameron so he could be with Wilson, and leave them both with that much dignity.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Damn it, I failed. I'm very grumpy with myself right now for not communicating properly.

At the end of part Four, House is well and truly in love Cameron and wants to stay with her. Wilson is his best friend, but not more, on either his or Wilson's part. "Stubborn" and "mystifying" (and even "irritating") are huge compliments - House loves a puzzle and a challenge.

At the beginning of the Epilogue, House gets horrible and starts taking it out on Cameron, and Cameron has grown enough to realize she has better options. And yes, his downturn is a plot contrivance, sorry, but it's supposed to show her strength, in knowing when it's better to move on. She does it with a clear conscience - i.e., without cheating on him. Her romance with Paul comes after.

House and Wilson's romance also doesn't come until much later - not too long before the call to Liz that Cameron missed.

Wilson's lie to Cameron at the end is a small one (House was upset about Liz & Cameron being gone, he just didn't cry) in service of making her believe the larger truth - that he'd worked to get House & Cam together because he knew it would make House happy.

Sorry for failing you and the story! : (

[petrichor-fizz.livejournal.com]

Everybody is happy. (Thank you).

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Now I'm happy, too.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Oh, Dee, this is just so lovely.

I really feel like it's been so long that I've read a House/Wilson fic that has a HAPPY ending that feels real. There's so much syrup and schmoopiness out there, and this completely avoids that and gives the boys some sweetness and a real life at the end.

Now I really need to find a H/W icon.

*hugs for such a lovely, affirming story*

[jdr1184.livejournal.com]

It's so nice that you spoil us, Dee. You managed to give us a happy ending and a Cameron I almost like. Bravo.

[asynca.livejournal.com]

Why didn't I see this link earlier?!

Okay, I'm happy now that I've found the epilogue. I feel sated.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

First of all major kudos for the whole project. I think you did wonderful things with all the characters, maintained tension throughout and definitely gave us a more believable, well-rounded, Cameron than TPTB have been able to. As to which version, I prefer. I'll be honestly, even though I'm a H/W shipper, I'm also (as I think I've proven rather definitively today) a hard-core angst bunny. I believe in H/W love/lust/need/angst but NOT happiness. A H/Cam marriage with H/W tension always in the background seems far more likely and dramatically interesting. In fact, I'm not one those H/W shippers who has not threatened homocide or suicide in the face of possible H/Cam canon, simply because I see it completely in terms of H/W angst.

[kirili.livejournal.com]

But what if Wilson does something that doesn't make him happy? It's really interesting, but a sad ending too... because he obviously didn't love Cameron enough to fight for her; who says that kind of a person would love Wilson enough if he screwed up? Cheated, for example...

I dunno. Anyway, thought-provoking and lovely. Thank you.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

That's interesting; I never thought of it that way.

I think what happened around the time of the divorce is that House got like he got at the end of the Tritter arc: really bitchy and ungrateful. Whatever initially caused his horrible mood, when Cameron decided not to put up with it and leave him, he became incredibly angry with her in that "fine, fine! it's your fault!" way.

But you're right, he could've fought harder (calmed down, tried seeing it from her point of view) for Cameron and it's sad that he didn't.

[photoash.livejournal.com]

I really liked this series. I liked botht he previous ending and this ending :) I think you wrote House/Cameron believably enough (and maybe more so with this ending than the previous)

I am so sad now I've read all of your fic :(

Thanks for having so many great stories :) it was really a godsend as I"ve been battling insomnia the past 4 weeks and this was nice to keep me company during a couple of those!

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

So sorry for taking a month to reply! I really appreciate your thoughtful comments on my fics and have enjoyed discussing them with you. Thanks!

[in-a-crater.livejournal.com]

Gosh, this was written exactly two years ago. This is the first House/Cam fic I've read since... grade 11? I'm really impressed with it. Drabbles are an art in themselves, since you only have a small number of words to say just what you need.
Lovely, lovely.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. This was a very interesting exercise for me. I haven't written any House/Cameron since, although I did write a House-Cameron friendship fic.