A/N: Well, it's not as long as I thought, but it was a good place to end. Next chapter, House arrives in LA, and Angela starts therapy. New chapter may be up this weekend, next Tuesday at the latest.

Ch. 9 Confrontations or Why Lily Potter is Evil

London, England

It was early in the morning when Sirius crept through the ICU of the hospital. Looking around to make sure there was no sign of Lily or James, he snuck to Angela's room and slowly opened the door. Angela was still awake and reading a book on potions. Hearing the door open, she looked up.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?" Angela asked in a hiss. Sirius quickly looked back into the hallway, and then closed the door silently behind him.

"I just wanted to see you."

"Well you saw me. Now get out of here before Lily sees you here and kills you." Sirius cocked his head in a very dog-like way.

"I thought whitelighters were pacifists."

"Well, that won't hold her back much, I'd wager. What are you doing here, Sirius?" Sirius sat down in the chair next to Angela's bed. "Look, I know I've not always been the best person to date…"

"There's an understatement."

"But I do still love you," Sirius took Angela's hand, not noticing the engagement ring on her finger. "And if you give me a chance, I can be the kind of man you deserve." Angela jerked her hand away.

"Sirius, how dense are you? I'm over you, okay? I don't love you. I want a man who needs me, not one who thought about me as a trophy." Sirius looked shocked.

"Angela, I never thought-"

"How happy were you, Sirius, when I started dating you? You had the third most beautiful girl in Gryffindor Tower."

"Third? Angela, you-" Angela saw the argument forming in Sirius's mind and she cut off that train of thought quickly.

"Silver Agentus was much prettier than me. Her eyes, and the hair."

"Well, her grandmother was part veela."

"Then there was Lily. Her eyes were a much more attractive shade of green then mine." Sirius just sat there. Angela did have a point. But he couldn't back down. He had to make Angela understand. Trying another tack, he said, "Well, Remus is a werewolf. So him dating Silver was… well, appropriate in a morbid way. And James, well… He was in love with Lily from the start."

"So that just left me?" Angela asked, her eyes starting to harden. Sirius quickly backpedaled.

"That wasn't what I meant." Angela sighed and threw her book onto the bedside table. "Sirius Riley Black, that's exactly what you meant. You are absolutely… well, I'm upset and I can't think of a mean word right now, but that's what you are. Now get-"

"SIRIUS BLACK, get out of this room right now!" Angela saw Lily standing in the doorway, looking livid. Her red hair seemed almost on fire, and her green eyes were ablaze. She stepped up to Sirius and started poking him in the chest.

"What did I say about you coming in here and bothering Angela? Huh? I told you to stay out! It's not that hard a concept!" Sirius put his hands up in surrender.

"I was just visiting!" Lily glared at him.

"I don't care! Get. Out!" Sirius sighed. "Okay, okay. I'm going." He left the room and closed the door. Lily snorted at the door, then turned her glare to Angela. "Now as for you, missy…"

Angela looked flabbergasted. "What did I do?" She gestured at the door, and said, "He was the one who came barging in here. It's not like I let him in." Lily sat down, her pointed gaze still fixed on Angela.

"Dr. House told me last night about your plans to leave the hospital."

Angela leaned back. "Oh, God. Not you too. Lily, it's my decis-"

"Not another word. Angela, Immortal or not, you just lost a leg. That's going to take some getting used to."

"'Some getting used to'? Of COURSE it'll take getting used to! I've literally been attached to that leg for 250 years! But I'm not going to sit and dwell on it. I'm going to get back on my feet… well, foot, anyway- and I'm going to be fine." Lily's sharp gaze softened somewhat, but she knew there was something else going on. Angela's eyes were weary, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

"Angela… how long has it been since you had a good night's sleep?" Lily knew as soon as Angela's face took on a trapped look.

"You haven't been taking potions, have you? Which means you either haven't been sleeping well or at all. That's why you're awake this early in the morning." Angela said nothing. It was true; she hadn't had a sleeping potion since the flight from New Jersey. But Lily didn't need to know why. Didn't need to know the reasoning. That was her business.

Lily leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms and legs. "You haven't talked to Dr. House about this, have you?" It was a question, but Angela knew it was really a statement. Lily noted her friend's silence and chose to go on. "You don't want to talk to him about your problem, because he might suggest you get help. And I bet that you don't talk to him about his addiction for roughly the same reason. The only difference is that Dr. House has faced his problems. You just bury yours. That's why the sleeping potions. That's why the staying up late. You're delaying your nightmares by not sleeping until you're so tired that you can at least try to ignore them." She stopped, waiting for Angela to say something. But Angela was still silent. Lily took Angela's hand and smiled, her eyes growing soft. "You're not alone, Angela. You have friends. You…"

Angela started crying. She flung herself at Lily, hugging her. Lily was surprised for a minute before hugging Angela back.

"I'm sorry," Angela sobbed into Lily's hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Shhh. It's okay. It wasn't your fault. James and I were the ones who should be sorry. We didn't listen to you. I guess… we didn't want to think that… Pettigrew was actually the traitor. We tried to pretend that you were wrong. It's our fault, Angela. I'm sorry we didn't listen."

"I'm sorry, too, Angela," said Sirius's voice from the doorway. Angela looked up. Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry that I never treated you the way you deserved. And I'm sorry that my actions caused so much grief." He gave her one last look, then said, "I'm going to go… talk to Dumbledore. I'll see you around, Angela." He left the room, and Angela pulled back, laying back down. Lily watched her. "Get some rest, Angela. I'll see you later."

Angela said nothing, and Lily decided just to leave. She wanted to go see Harry, but her conversation with Angela made her realize that she needed to talk to House. Walking around the hospital, she finally found him lying on a couch in one of waiting room lounges. Upon closer inspection, she saw that while he looked asleep, he was just resting his eyes. "I need to talk to you about Angela," Lily said without preamble. House sat up slowly, and Lily sat next to him. "I need to ask if… you've talked to Angela about her sleeping potion dependence." House looked away. He hadn't asked, because he was afraid Angela would ask him about his own addiction.

Lily sighed. "Let me guess. You don't want to bug Angela because you're afraid she'll bug you." House looked back at her. "Angela said roughly the same thing," Lily replied, simply. "The two of you really are a pair, you know?"

"I thought you were happy we're together," House said, curtly. Lily nodded.

"I am. But the two of you are open about your addictions, except with each other. Why is that? Because your dependence is now on each other?"

"Something like that," House said, quietly. Actually, it was exactly like that, House realized. Lily wasn't about to leave well alone, so she went on.

"The two of you haven't been apart very often. And I think you should."

"Are you trying to drive the two of us crazy?" House asked, his voice raising slightly. Why was she doing this?

"No, I'm trying to help you. Dr. House, you need help. And I think that you overcoming your own problems while Angela is in therapy would be beneficial for both of you."

"You're not going to back down on this issue are you?" Lily gave him a piercing look.

"No, I'm not. You have two choices. You do this, and I stop bugging you, or you don't and suffer the consequences." House sighed. If Wilson—or, God forbid, Cuddy—ever found out that Lily Potter had managed to achieve what the two of them hadn't… But deep down, he knew Lily was right. "Fine. I'll stay away. Where do you want me to go?"

"Angel's friend, Cordelia is going back to California day after tomorrow. Sirius is going with her. And so are you." Forced rehab was one thing, but House found it particularly annoying that Lily would make him stay with Sirius Black. After all, he was the one who had gotten Angela hurt in the first place. Lily, though, was smiling. "Now, I'm sure you have reservations as far as rooming temporarily with Sirius, but I'll make sure he promises to be on his best behavior." House was rapidly searching his mind to think how his situation could possibly get worse when Lily threw in the clincher.

"And I'll get your friend Dr. Wilson to go with you. Just in case something happens." 'That's it,' House thought furiously. 'This woman is insane. There's nothing she can say to make me-'

"And of course if you don't comply I'll be more than happy to tell Sirius that he can have Angela back." Evil. That's what she was. Pure evil. House searched Lily's face for some sign that she was kidding. But there was nothing.

"You drive a hard bargain, mister," House said, grumbling. He stood up and headed off to Angela's room.

Wilson just stared at Lily. How in the world had she managed to get House to do this? "Okay, you do realize that you've just achieved the impossible. I-I-I mean… even I couldn't talk sense into House. How did you do it?" Lily grinned. Part of her didn't want to divulge her Machiavellian side, but she could always swear the doctor to secrecy.

"I told him it was either doing what I say or I let Sirius have another shot at Angela." He couldn't believe it. That was a low blow. Yet, at the same time, it was a fiendishly clever idea. And it just might work.

"Is there a- a clinic there or…?" Lily shook her head. "No, I just want the two of them to have some time apart. Dr. Tonks gave me the name of a pain management center, if you can get Dr. House over there at some point. They work with… alternative methods, to coin a term. Modern and magical medicine. It could help."

"Okay, House may have been a bit more lenient in believing the whole witchcraft thing, but I'm still trying to get my head around it."

"The people who run the center are muggle-born. They're magical, but they have normal parents." Wilson still looked perplexed, but decided to go along with it. If House, Mr. 'I don't trust anything I can't see or read', believed all this… well, then, it must be true. "Day after tomorrow, Sirius, Miss Cordelia Chase, and House are shipping off. I want you to go with them."

"No problem," Wilson said quickly. He would have volunteered to go anyway. House was one of his oldest friends. It was the least he could do.

"Okay, Lily's done what?" Angela was irate. House just sat next to the bed, his eyes soft. He had told Angela about her friend's plan, and apparently Angela was about as happy with the idea as House was. "What the hell is she doing this for?" Angela shouted, her eyes blazing with exasperation.

"I believe she said that it would be best for both of us. But it's not like we have any choice in the matter. If we don't do this, I lose you. And there's no way in Hell I'm letting that happen."

"But… WHY? I mean… Well, so what if we have a dependence on each other? Better than a chemical dependence, right?" House sighed. While it was a good argument, there was no way Lily would go for it.

"I think your friend Lily wants us to be together for the purposes of love and affection… rather than physical or psychological addiction. And as much as I hate to say it… I think she's right." Angela looked at him. Okay, he was going to explain that, right? He wasn't just going to agree for the sake of agreement. "We need to be together because we want to, not just because we need to. It should be an emotional need. Not an addictive one."

"Yeah," Angela said slowly. "You're right. I'm going to miss you, though."

"Well, I haven't left yet."

Lily was Evil. She had to be. There was no other explanation. Sirius couldn't believe how many levels of betrayal he was feeling. Lily was making him go to California with Cordelia, the woman who he so wanted to sleep with. (Ever since he'd accepted that Angela didn't love him, he'd been horny as hell.) Then there was the fact that Dr. House was coming along as well. What, did Lily have a list? How Many Ways Can I Screw Sirius Over? This so could not be happening. But it was. Well, there were two ways to deal with this. He could either be mature and go graciously… or beat his head against a wall until he lost consciousness. Gracious. That was the way to go.

"Sirius?" Cordelia asked, walking up to him. Her hair was curled and a pale blue sundress hugging the curves of her svelte body. "Sirius, are you okay?"

Unconscious. That was better. Much better.