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Over the next week, Claudia had a few conversations with Greg, but nothing emotionally involved.

It seemed that Casey and Greg talked more and more every day. Their topics ranged the full gamut of music, science, literature, stupid people, sports, pet peeves, and beyond. They had many similarities and common interests.

Dr. Wilson had decided to allow Casey to go home and do chemotherapy on an outpatient basis as long as he continued to eat frequent small amounts and was able to stay hydrated.

They knew he may lose his appetite during chemo, but they needed to keep him hydrated especially considering his recently modified digestive tract. Excess vomiting would also be a cause for hospitalization.

It would still be a while before chemo. Once his stitches were removed and his health held consistently, he would start chemo.

Since there wasn't actually evidence of cancer, there was no urgent rush to start chemo. It was more of a follow-through treatment.

Claudia, Casey, and his doctors were thrilled with his progress, eating, and general mobility.

Greg had a lot more color and was looking better, but he didn't progress nearly as fast as Casey.

The gastroenterologist had told them that Casey's was one of the fastest recoveries he'd seen. Some of it was probably due to his youth.

The nasogastric tube was long gone and Casey was walking the ward daily. He had even been outside a few times.

Claudia noticed Greg's look of sadness every time Casey went walking, but he was stoic and concealed everything well.

Greg had seemed emotionally stable and Claudia hadn't witness any more panicked outbursts.

Once Casey was asleep Claudia and Greg would sit up and talk – often for hours. Well, Claudia would sit up and Greg would be in his awkwardly reclined position. Mathis actually let him sit up at a little bit more of an angle than before. They just took some of the pillows out from underneath his legs. It felt nice.

Greg was well versed on an infinite number of topics and was actually an excellent conversationalist with Claudia.

She never saw him carry out an extended conversation with anyone other than her, Wilson, and Casey.

He always managed to make her laugh. He didn't have a traditional sense of humor. Claudia liked his oddly quirky ideas.

When they talked late at night or in the wee hours of the morning she never even thought about the fact that he was sick. She was immune to the IVs and didn't even think about his brace anymore.

Greg's employees came by for consults many times over the course of the week. Claudia loved to listen to him talk about medical "stuff." Much of it sounded like "gibberish" to her, but the power and energy in his voice was fascinating and stimulating to listen to. It was even interesting to hear him come up with various insults for his "team." He could be so creative. Sometimes he seemed mean, but Claudia loved his sense of humor anyway.

Even though she enjoyed his company, she still told herself that she would not become emotionally attached and she certainly would not become romantically involved. Both of these were difficult goals, but she felt like she was doing well.

House and Casey exchanged email addresses to keep in touch.

Casey was finally approved to go home. Claudia got him all packed up and ready to go. Her and Greg's goodbyes were a nice, quick cut-off.

She wasn't sure if she would ever see him again.

HOUSE M.D.

Greg was a bit disappointed to see Casey go home taking Claudia with him.

He was starting to do better. He wasn't on oxygen anymore and now saw the physical and respiratory therapists every other day on an alternating schedule.

He was turned on his side twice a day and his left hip wasn't near as tender anymore. It was still uncomfortable to lie on his side, but he was dealing with it.

Perhaps the best part was that the GnRH antagonist hormone therapy REALlY helped with his bone pain.

Between the effects of the antagonist and non-narcotic pain relievers, his pain was actually manageable.

There were a couple of nights when he needed a low-dose anesthetic injection in his hip or thigh, but he was okay for most of the week. He wasn't pain-free and probably never would be in his life, but it was definitely tolerable.

HOUSE M.D.

After Claudia left, Wilson and Mathis came in smiling. Great.

"Good news, House." Wilson looked thrilled about something.

"Do tell." House was sarcastic this morning - he couldn't imagine what could be so wonderful.

"You're cancer counts are already responding to the hormone therapy! Your prostate specific antigen levels are down. This isn't a cure by any means, but this is excellent news!

Wilson looked like he was in danger of exploding.

House wasn't sure how to react. He certainly wasn't well by any means and his cancer was definitely still here, but this was improvement.

"That's good." House's reply was weak. He was experiencing more emotions than he could possibly process.

He desperately wanted to get well – he felt strongly attracted to Claudia and wanted a shot at a relationship with her. If he could get himself healthy and work really hard at it, he felt like he could make her happy. Just thinking about her smile made his belly feel warm…

…and Wilson was looking at him like he was crazy.

"House, did you hear me?" Wilson looked concerned.

"What?"

"I said that with this much and this quick a reaction to the first injections, the hormone therapy alone could make a substantial difference for you."

"Oh, yeah."

"You still need chemotherapy and most likely radiation." Mathis chimed in.

"Is the chemo next?"

"Yes, Dr. House. Provided you don't have any respiratory problems, your pain stays under control, and you show no sign of infection, we may be able to start as soon as couple days from now."

"Are you sure that's not too soon. He still has the stitches in from surgery and is at risk for infection there in addition to-" Wilson was already questioning Mathis.

"There hasn't been any puss or blood from his thigh for days now. His hip and pelvic incisions have looked good and shown no sign of infection all along. There really was never a true infection in the thigh area anyway. That was just some normal oozing – particularly because of the stiches though his scar tissue. We'll continue to monitor it, but I am not concerned about that as a factor in starting chemo." Mathis was confident.

"Just a couple days ago he needed oxygen." Wilson already had another point ready.

"His saturation has been stable and the respiratory therapist and I are both confident that those problems stemmed from the combined effect of anesthesia and the panic episodes. If we encounter problems during chemo, there is no reason we can't put him back on oxygen. Since he is inpatient, we can closely monitor everything and deal with any crises as soon as they occur. Before you ask, I am not concerned about weakness from blood transfusions either. He isn't in perfect shape by any means, but he is doing worlds better than he was even a few days ago. His eating has been pretty good all along. His urination and bowel movements are fine. He hasn't needed anesthetic injections for a couple of days and is doing great with the time spent on his side. The Degarelix has been a big help with the pain. He is weak, but that is a default condition he will need to get used to for a while given his situation. The physical therapist is pleased with his efforts as well."

Mathis was great at predicting Wilson's concerns.

House normally hated physical therapy and took little stock in it, but he wanted to give everything a shot because he HAD to get better.

Also, Claudia was often in the room during his PT. He wanted her to see how well he was doing – whether he was doing well or not.

He wasn't sure how she felt about his current condition, but he wanted to show improvement for her sake. He really wanted and perhaps even needed her to stick around. He knew she wouldn't be around much now that Casey was out. He sincerely hoped she would come see him once Casey was doing better and was more independent, though.

He wasn't sure he could think of a time where he felt like he truly wantedand needed someone.

He was sure that she was still interested – she wouldn't have spent so much time talking and laughing with him if she wasn't interested. Right?

The little touches and kisses here and there – she had to be interested still. He knew he was pretty good at reading people.

Many people didn't appreciate his peculiar brand of humor, but she seemed to always get him.

Wilson was his best friend and he would never admit how much Wilson meant to him, but even Wilson didn't truly GET him a lot of the time.

His parents certainly never really got him.

Cuddy got him fairly often.

Stacey got him VERY OFTEN, but they just wouldn't have ever worked out together. He could never be what she needed or wanted. He loved her, but he didn't feel such as strong attachment. He didn't feel the need to stay healthy for her or anything like that. Claudia made him want to be better – just by being there.

He had wanted women over the years, but needed them? Not definitely.

"In a perfect world we would wait around and give him more time to recover from surgery, but we know this cancer is aggressive. We don't have any time to waste. If he's going to beat this we need to hit it hard full bore."

House had zoned out a bit, but Mathis had apparently just summarized all her ideas.

"His response to the antagonist could definitely buy time for him to get stronger." Wilson still was not convinced.

"His response to the antagonist also makes this an excellent time to hit him with another treatment. Considering Dr. House is in the room, why don't we consult with him, Dr. Wilson?" Mathis was hilarious at times. It wasn't sarcastic or anything – she was totally matter-of-fact.

"Dr. House?"

"I think I need to start chemotherapy as soon as possible. I don't want to waste any more time or give this cancer more time to grow."

"Well put, Dr. House." Mathis was now ignoring Wilson!

"Dr. House, if you agree to it, I think we could probably get you started on treatments in a couple days as long as you stay consistent in the areas mentioned above. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." House felt better knowing there was a plan and a timetable here.

"If you think of any questions or concerns, feel free to have a nurse page me." Mathis was on her way out the door.

…and Wilson was not following.

Great. Here it comes!

"House, I don't want you to take on more than you can handle. If you are totally knocked out or get an infection after one round of chemo because you're not strong enough, that will have serious ramifications on further treatments."

"Wilson, I'm familiar with the risks VS benefits concept. I understand cause and effect. My body, my decisions."

He felt like dismissing this whole conversation and taking a nap.

"House. Are you sure that you are feeling strong?"

That was more than House could handle – he was ready to blow.

"Of course I'm NOT FEELING STRONG! I'm in a freakin' hospital bed! Of course I'm sore. Of course I'm weak. Of course I'm tired. If I felt perfect I wouldn't be here, you idiot! I'm not wasting any of MY time because I have every intention of beating this! If you don't like it, you can just, just, just…whatever!"

If House could emphatically turn over in bed and ignore Wilson, he would. Unfortunately, he would just settle for closing his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, and ignoring Wilson.

Well, even the crossing his arms over his chest wasn't overly effective since he got tangled in his IV and winced when he unintentionally banging them against his brace.

It's the concept that counted, right? Actually, he probably looked pitiful. That was beside the point, though.

"House." Wilson was quieter now. "Look at your heart rate."

Wilson saw the nurse hovering in the hall probably trying to decide if she should come in and check on him.

House didn't need to look to know his heart rate was all over the map. Wilson was ticking him off! He was concentrating on breathing slowly to get himself calmed down.

Wilson had thought House was gaining emotional stability, but perhaps not. He had been fairly calm – until he just snapped!

Wilson knew the antagonist and rapid decrease in testosterone could affect emotions and moods. House had never been particularly even keeled, but this was like House on speed on a rollercoaster going at the speed of light.

Time to back off.

"House, try to get some sleep. I'll see you later."

Cuddy had been standing in the hall through all of this. She was terrified for House, but for some reason she had been avoiding him ever since he was hospitalized. She hadn't even visited him.

She felt ashamed of herself. They certainly weren't romantically involved, but they had always had this weird…friendship, sparring "thing."

Wilson left without even noticing her and headed off down the hall.

Cuddy approached the glass and knocked lightly.

"What?" House yelled without even looking at the door.

"It's me."

"Yes, I consulted with my team. No, I don't think I'm ready to work full time right now."

He didn't even open his eyes.

"I don't care about that. Consult all you want – or don't. Your choice."

"Huh. You never gave me that option when I napped in the coma ward. Is this some sort of illness discrimination?"

"House!"

Cuddy gave him a light swat on his shoulder and he opened his eyes to look at her.

"I've kinda missed your boobs. Do you think you could lean over a bit?"

"No."

"Patty and Selma look a bit confined. They might need some air."

Cuddy pretended to contemplate this and looked down her own top.

"I think they're good."

House sighed and assumed a serious expression.

"Talk to Wilson for me – or slip him a sedative. I don't care which. Or even just keep him out of my room for a while. Any of the above would work."

"Hmmm. I think I'll try the talking first. If that's a no go, I'll get out the tranq darts and see how that works out."

"Thanks." House knew she would talk to Wilson, but her response made him snort out a laugh.

"See you later, House."

(NOTE: There will be no Huddy romance – maybe a little friendship. Most of the friendship stuff will be between House and Wilson and some between House and Casey. Cuddy just might crop up periodically.)