Spoilers for 5.20 "Simple Explanation"

…

House continued his vigil on the white board, quietly tapping his cane on the harshly carpeted floor of his office. He simply didn't know what to think. Answers were not forthcoming.

But then, a lot of things hadn't been forthcoming, Kutner the main one.

Kutner…

House didn't even want to think about the young man who had not so long ago been happily laughing and nearly shocking himself to oblivion on a daily basis. Kutner, the man who was intelligent, friendly, proud, and handsome, if a bit on the geeky side. House didn't want to think about what Kutner had done… so he wasn't going to.

Because Kutner hadn't killed himself, really, he couldn't have. That left only one explanation; murder. And House intended to prove it.

Now if only he could figure out the reason behind such a murder.

He leaned back roughly in his chair, exhaling a loud sigh. He had to concentrate. He couldn't let himself think of what Kutner might have done, might have needed. He had a killer to catch.

The door to his office swung open and he jumped in mild shock as Taub slid in.

"She's dead," Taub said without preamble.

"Okay," House nodded and went back to his white board watching.

If only he could figure it out… it had to be one of those reasons. Money? Kutner didn't make good money, but he certainly didn't seem to be in debt. Jealously? Who would be jealous of Kutner? He had a job with zero chance for promotion and a sad Star Trek-crazed apartment. No one could possibly be jealous of that.

"You should go home."

House hadn't even noticed that Taub still stood there.

"Make me," he snarled.

Taub looked momentarily pained, but quickly hid it by looking longingly at the white board.

"House, go home."

He stepped forward and picked up the dry eraser, intent on erasing the words written on the board.

"Stop," House said quickly, poking Taub in the back with his cane. "Erase that and you're fired." House didn't really know why, but somehow he felt as though erasing those words would erase the last bit of Kutner as well.

Taub set the eraser down and sighed, bowing his head. "House, please, just… just stop this."

"Why do you care? You don't even like him. You skipped his funeral."

Angrily Taub turned to glare at House. "Fine."

He whipped back around and grabbed the black marker, tearing off the top and writing four letters in huge block characters. He slammed the cap back on the marker and threw the marker onto the board. It bounced off and fell to the ground.

Taub didn't notice; he was already out the door.

House rose from his seat slowly, his cane falling to the ground. He reached a hand out and brushed his fingers lightly against the word that Taub had written. Some of the marker wiped off, but he couldn't be bothered to notice. This was something he had never considered, yet somehow he knew it to be truer than any of his other hypotheses.

There, on that white board in the darkened office, Taub had written one simple word.

"Love"