A/N: Here's some, anyway, setting the scene. Various critter complications ending up in vet bills have taken over time aside from work the last few days, so I didn't have a chance for more, but I will get the remainder up ASAP. The next chapter will be the confrontation. There is a chapter after that, but it's wrap-up.

(H/C)

Brenda held her phone and took one last look at House, steeling herself, before she dialed. The others watched her tensely. They were at Brenda's apartment now, figuring that her dating back the full ten years and being known to be familiar with the case would help in setting this meeting up. Tritter had actually interviewed her back then briefly after House disappeared, as he had interviewed all the other hospital staff who had had regular contact at work with House. She had lied that day and had pulled it off, not suspecting him at that point but just hoping to buy time for House while the investigation proceeded. She hoped that her luck would hold today.

"Detective Tritter, please." She waited a moment. "Detective Tritter? This is Brenda Previn. You probably don't remember me, but I work at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I've worked there as a nurse for over ten years, and I was there when one of our residents, Dr. Gregory House, disappeared after his landlord was murdered. Oh, you remember Dr. House? Good."

She took a deep breath. When she continued, she kept the nervous tone and soft speech she had had since the beginning of the call. "Well, I can't believe this. He - House turned up this morning. Yes, here. At my apartment. After ten years! He wanted to know if the police were still looking for him. I - I didn't know what to say. Are you still looking for him? You are? He looked absolutely awful, and he wanted me to feed him, too. So I - well, I was scared, you know. I mean, if he's killed somebody already, I didn't - I was afraid to upset him. So I cooked him breakfast, and then I told him he could lie down on my couch and get some rest. I told him I'd find out what was going on today, if you wanted him. But he looked so tired. He went right to sleep. So he's there now. Yes, right now. He's sound asleep on my couch. I got out safely once I could; I was afraid to stay there with him. But he's there if you still want him."

She gave the address. "I locked the door when I left, but I hid the key under the mat. I'll - I didn't know what else to do. You will? Great. I'll just stay away for several hours. I'll feel safer just letting the police deal with it. Okay. You're welcome. Just doing my public duty, and besides, the way he looked this morning, he really did scare me. I think he's dangerous. He needs to be caught before he hurts anybody else. All right. Will you let me know when it's safe for me to come back home? Thank you."

She punched the button, ending the call. House started applauding slowly and dramatically. "Oscar-caliber. The shaky tone was just right."

"He said he'd come immediately. Now let's hope you're right."

"We'll know the minute he arrives. If he wasn't involved in the crime, if he really is just after me as a suspect, nothing personal beyond that, he'll bring backup. They'll surround the building and move in together. If he's guilty - but only if he's guilty - he'll come alone and won't mention to anybody else on the force that I've turned up."

Wilson nodded admiringly. "That makes sense."

"We'd better hide," Cuddy said. House was already on the couch, stretched out, and she walked over to him, bent, and kissed him quickly, to his astonishment. "Good luck, Maestro."

Brenda gave one last check of the wireless camera eye that was hidden in the edge of a bookcase shelf. It was at an odd angle, and Tritter would have to look completely away from House to spot it. House was gambling that Tritter wouldn't do that, would be focused fully on the man in front of him. Brenda then picked up her gun. "That will help balance the standoff at the end until honest cops get here," House said. He had remembered she had a gun from his brief stay in her apartment ten years ago. "Sure you don't want me to have it hidden here on the couch?"

She shook her head. "He might search you at first. I won't use it unless I absolutely have to, but it should get his attention nicely when we come out. Besides, if he is innocent, you having a gun would make things a whole lot worse for you." She checked that it was loaded.

It definitely had Wilson's attention. "Mental note for the future," he said respectfully. "Be kind to nurses."

"Always," Brenda replied with a slight smile. "We're more powerful than you doctors think we are."

"If you have to use it to get him to stop, take a knee shot," House said. "Very painful, very crippling, but not fatal."

Brenda nodded. "Don't think I'll have to, but yes, I know." She retreated into the kitchen and hid out of sight from the living room. Wilson took the bathroom and Cuddy the bedroom. And they waited.

House, on the couch, was already feigning sleep, but every fiber in him was alert. Not tense, to his surprise, but alert. It seemed like forever since he had committed wholeheartedly to a course of action, defying the risks, defying the odds, challenging the hidden enemy. This was how he had been known for practicing medicine, even already as a resident. This - this was life. He felt oddly like he had come home, and however this turned out, he was grateful for this moment, glad that those ten years were irrevocably over. Win, lose, or draw against Tritter, he could never go back after this coming encounter.

Above all, he was grateful to Cuddy for somehow - even he wasn't yet sure quite how - waking him up from his long nightmare. "This is my life," he whispered to his father. "It's not yours, not any longer. I have the right to live it for myself."

As if in answer, the key rattled in the door. House slowed and evened out his breathing, listening intently. The door opened, and footsteps marched in a few feet and then stopped as the newcomer surveyed the scene with a soft hiss of satisfaction. One set of footsteps, no voices, no conversation.

Tritter had come alone.