Cuddy closed the guest bedroom door, watching her husband limp further inside. "You could have told me."

"It's nothing."

"Don't think of me as your wife. Think of me as the Dean of Medicine."

"I," House scoffed. "I just started hallucinating today."

"You started hallucinating in 2008." She nodded, jaw set. "The Haloperidol clearly isn't working on you."

"Clearly."

"So let's make a deal. If I can resolve the issue by Christmas, you come to the party. Dressed up and on your best behavior."

"If you can resolve the issue by Christmas, I'll marry you all over again."

She reached out, waiting for the bottle, and he deposited it onto her palm. "You're officially my patient. I'll get you started on Clozapine. And let me be very clear; I want you to smile, accept your gifts with modesty, and be a human being."

"Huh. So either way, I lose."

"One night, House. I want to include you. And I want you to include me."

House rubbed at his forehead. "No. You don't want me to include you. Some things are better left unsaid."

"Unless the phrase is, I want a divorce, I want you to say it."

House sighed, leaning on his cane as he looked at her. Observing the sadness on his face, she moved closer and put her free hand on his chest. "What did you see?"

Expecting a detailed report of his hallucination, his answer shook her.

"Five lesions in my occipital cortex."

She froze. The light in her eyes went out like a candle. Unaccustomed to comforting someone, he moved his hand to her shoulder with a faltering uncertainty. His voice was a soft stammer. "I'm waiting for test results. Bipolar disorder's on the table. And, you know, best case scenario, they're just...benign cysts."

"All five." Her voice cracked and she tried to laugh. "After sixty years of drug abuse."

"Yeah...that's exactly what Wilson said."

Cuddy turned and moved slowly through the room, back towards the door. It suddenly felt smaller somehow. "As your doctor, I suppose you can't stop me from helping you with further tests."

"As my wife, I suppose you're still against EST."

She turned back, abruptly. "Really? You couldn't wait another week?"

He limped closer. "People live for years not knowing they have cancer. And soon after they find out, they die. These could be benign cysts. They could be tumors."

"EST won't eliminate your brain lesions, House! It'll just eliminate me!"

"It would eliminate the hallucinations. I wouldn't need the Clozapine; and I know you want to reduce my intake of narcotics. And the lesions may be operable. You," he pointed with his cane, "Could make my life suck a million times less. Isn't that your job?"

Cuddy had set her jaw again and was staring at him. "This is your way of saying you want a divorce, isn't it?"

"This is my way of saying that you, as the Dean of Medicine and my doctor, are obligated to help me."

"I can help you, House. But I can't support you."

They stood in silence, staring at each other until a knock startled her. Cuddy looked at him through her tears. "I have a will to go through. And you have a choice to make."

She let herself out of the guest bedroom, shutting the door. Scowling, he turned around and limped to the bookshelf, selecting at random and limping to the bed.

He had gotten to the third page when a pale shadow was cast over the page. He knew it was another hallucination because he hadn't heard anyone come in. "I'm ignoring you," he muttered.

"You're thinking of me," Amber said. "Again."

"Not intentionally. Which is why OCD is another suspect."

"You don't need to deny your feelings for me. It's not like I can bear your children."

"I don't have feelings for you, because I don't feel."

"Your argument is that you've been boycotting the public transit system, because you don't like me?"

"I've been boycotting the public transit system because they're filled with people. And people carry germs."

"I exist in your subconscious, House. You can't lie to me."

House snapped the book shut and started to sit up straight. And at the sight of Thirteen kneeling at the foot of the bed, he found himself unable to move. She smiled and rested her chin on her arm, staring up at him with her ocean storm-colored eyes.

"You, too," House whispered.

"I was lonely."

House lay the book atop his stomach and rubbed at his eyes. He paused when he felt a looming presence at his right side. Then Thirteen whispered in his ear, "You have a choice to make."