Title: Houses in White

Relationships: Friendship, no slash

Rating: G (I'm still not used to this new rating scale)

Warning: None

Spoilers: Season 1…sort of

Disclaimer: I am not making any profit from this fan fiction, all recognizable characters belong to FOX and the song belongs to America. The song is "Houses in White".

A/N: I'm in a depressed sort of mood right now and I'm listening to America. I thought this would be the perfect song to use for House. I thought it worked well for House and Stacy. Also note that this isn't part of my other fic. It's just a one-shot.

One full circle, round, round, round
One more calendar coming down
Late editions scandalize
Every headline full of lies

House sat in his office as the America song began and decided that it was probably something that would go with his mood. He was mad at Stacy for catching him off guard with her comment about how he was the one for her. He hated her, yet he still loved her. The best thing for him, he thought, would be for her to get out of his life and not come back. She was married now, and her husband was around. He couldn't get away from her when he wanted to and he couldn't be near her without remembering.

'One full circle,' House thought. 'That perfectly describes how I feel about this.'

Houses in white
Oh how they take me back
There was a time
When I lived inside
But now I think twice
I walk quickly by houses in white

Being around Stacy was starting to get to him. She'd been around for a few weeks now and it was starting to take a toll on him. He was more sarcastic (if that was possible), he chewed Wilson out whenever Wilson tried to cheer him up, there were twice the amount of patient complaints, and yet, House still couldn't get rid of the anger and annoyance that bubbled inside of him whenever he was close to Stacy. Even the thought of her made him shrink back and seethe.

He and Stacy had been happy once. They'd lived together and House hadn't been happier, but now that he saw Stacy with Mark, he just felt depressed and angry. She had made a decision for him that he hadn't wanted and that had ended their relationship. Stacy had ruined his life and he just wanted to get away from her.

'Houses in white,' he thought. 'That could be me and Stacy in an ironic way. White is innocence and there's nothing innocent about us.'

He heard his door open and looked up to see Wilson standing in the doorway with food.

Once I saw it all so clear
Miles and miles away from here
The bridge of trust was burned back there
And we all have ashes in our hair

"This has got to be the most depressing song," Wilson said as he plopped himself down in a chair.

House nodded but barely heard his friend. He was lost in thought about Stacy.

He could remember how much he trusted her and how when he was put into the coma to deal with the pain, he had smiled at her and told her he loved her. He thought she had respected his choice, instead, she had apologized beforehand for something she knew he would hate, and when he had woken, he had had his life drastically changed.

Stacy had told him she still loved him, but that she couldn't be with him.

'That's true, I guess,' House thought, 'I can't be with someone I can't trust.'

Houses in white
Oh how they take me back
There was a time
When I lived inside
But now I think twice
I walk quickly by houses in white

"You want one of these?" Wilson asked, offering House a cookie from the cafeteria.

House took the cookie Wilson offered and was transported back to a time when Stacy had made cookies for his birthday. It had been a fun day. They'd gone to a movie and she'd sent him out for milk while she secretly made him his favorite cookies. She'd had them ready for him when he'd gotten home and it had made him laugh to see her with flour in her hair and a plate of cookies in her hands.

"You look like a housewife," he'd told her, "not a lawyer."

She'd rolled her eyes and threatened to hit him with her broom.

Those had been good times.

"You want it?" Wilson asked.

House took a bite of it. "It's mine, you can't have it."

Wilson sniggered and took a sip of his coffee.

Pilot, pilot, fly me home
And let me sleep with clouds below
'Cause mixed emotions, they overflow
And now's the time to be alone

"You coming to my place?" House asked.

Wilson shrugged. "Sure. Nothing waiting for me at home. Julie's pissed about something."

House snorted, grabbed his cane, and pushed himself to his feet. "I'll meet you at the elevator."

Wilson nodded and walked out of the office, depositing his remaining food in the garbage.

'Alone,' House thought ironically as he turned off the song. 'I've been alone for way too long.'

"You'll be alone, Greg," Stacy had snapped at him.

"I'd rather be alone than be with you. I can't trust you, Stacy," he had said angrily.

That had been the day Stacy had walked out of his life. Yes, he still loved her, but he hated her as well.

Houses in white
Oh how they take me back
There was a time
When I lived inside
But now I think twice
I walk quickly by houses in white

As Wilson and House walked out of the elevator, Stacy walked in to it. House sped up, not wanting to have to greet her. She called out to him and Wilson anyway, and Wilson quickly returned her hello.

House just glowered and raised a hand. He didn't want to think of her at the last few lyrics of the song played through his head. He wanted to banish all thoughts of her and the life he no longer led.

"You could have said hello," Wilson said quietly and in a soft voice.

"I could have let her husband die as well," House snapped.

Wilson had no response for this so the walk to the parking garage was a quiet one.

Houses in white
Oh how they take me back
There was a time
When I lived inside
But now I think twice
And I hurry by houses in white

The last bit of the America song played through House's head as he pulled out of the garage with Wilson following him in his own car.

His thoughts turned back to Stacy and how much he wanted her gone. She was his 'house in white' and he just wanted to hurry by.

He knew now that the white didn't represent the innocence, it represented what he had lost - his happiest world. The world which included Stacy. Stacy was his 'house' and she was what he had lost. She was what had made him happy but she was also what turned him into the bitter person he now was.

'Maybe that wasn't Stacy,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe I did that to myself.'

That was something he didn't want to think about, so he turned his thoughts away from the song, and away from what it now stood for to him.

A/N: Please review my first songfic! I hope you all enjoyed!