"You are not lopping off my leg!"

"I know this is hard to accept but it's safest option."

Mica panted furiously, her eyes boring in-between the oncologist's eyes in her normal gesture of eye contact. She was terrified but livid. Rage won out.

"I don't care," the teen sat back into the bed, staring down the roof and ignoring the dismayed oncologist. "Find another option."

He rubbed his neck in a familiar gesture of uncertainty and nodded before leaving the room. He didn't have to walk far before he saw his friend sitting nearby.

"She wants another option." House said before Wilson could sit down. Wilson sighed and fell onto the chair beside the cripple. "Yeah. She reminded me a lot of you actually. Said the same thing... 'I like my leg. I've had it for as long as I can remember.'"

House glanced towards his friend "you didn't tell her about the bypass or middle ground?" Rubbing his thigh subconsciously as his friend stuffed his face into the heel of his hands. "I thought telling her about the amputation first would make it easier."

House stalked towards the room.


"Doctor House." She regarded him with an air of formality she didn't normally carry. He cringed internally, this was not the kind of conversation he enjoyed but the diagnostician knew that if they had any chance of changing Mica's mind it had to be by someone she trusted. "You have two options other than amputation but they carry more risk. And they're more stupid. It's a bad choice." She smiled softly, mouthing the word 'stupid' as if it was a joke. "I'd rather keep my leg thanks. What's the alternative?"

"Bypass the clot or remove all the dead muscle," he went on to explain the risks and other info the 18 year old would need to know. "I could.. I could be in pain for the rest of my life?" She shuddered, hugging herself tightly. House watched as an unfamiliar jab of sympathy hit him. "If you don't amputate- yeah."

"Remove the dead muscle."