T: Strong Language

G House/B House/OC

Summary: In which a day of rock climbing turns potentially tragic, and a young Gregory House makes a decision that will change the course of his life.

A/N1: Canonical references:

Son of a Coma Guy S3x07

Clueless S2x15

One Day, One Room S3x12

Birthmarks S5x04

A/N2: Standard Disclaimer. Of course they're not mine. This is just another excuse for me to fill in a few blanks here and there based on the framework provided in canon. I promise to put them all back where I found them when I'm done.

Many thanks go to Doris Egan for writing Son of a Coma Guy. Her monologue that tells the story of the buraku makes for some wonderful visuals to write from, and the episode itself remains one of my favorites almost 10 years later. Thanks also to her and to David Foster for writing Birthmarks. Many thanks as well to Thomas L. Moran, who wrote Clueless - providing the story of a very young Greg searching for mummies in Egypt and more visuals with which to write about. And of course, continuing thanks to David Shore - not just for the exceptional One Day, One Room but for everything. There is a lot of very telling backstory about the character of Gregory House in just these 4 episodes.

A/N3: I remain profoundly grateful to Woo, Visitkarte, and BabalooBlue, who continue to be willing to be my beta readers. They may not always agree with what I write, but they still manage to read everything with an open mind. Many, many thanks as well to BlossomYoung42, who managed to edit this while dealing with her own busy schedule. Comments/criticisms welcomed, and as always all mistakes are my own.