Soo followed House into her Father's room. Her mother and brother were there, too but Mr. Park asked them to leave him alone with Soo for a moment. House stayed.

"Dr. House tells me that you understand the procedure I am about to undergo," Mr. Park said.

"Yes, I understand it, Father," Soo agreed. "Are you sure this is the one you want? Amputation is much safer and after therapy you ought to be able to live your life practically normally."

"I know. Not only did Dr. House strongly recommend it but so did Dr. Cuddy. They really have thoroughly explained this to me, including the risk of brain damage. I'm sorry Soo. I cannot let them cut my leg off. I just cannot. And the other safe option is no better. It's not that I want to die, I will do my very best not to do that, but I'm not afraid of death either. Forgive me, Soo, but this is my choice."

"Well, it is your leg, so I guess that's it then. How did Mother take your decision?" Soo sighed with resignation.

"Not very well. She would much rather have me agree to an amputation, but we have been married for thirty years, she knows me by now. She has accepted that this is my decision. If the worst happens your brother will look after her," Mr. Park told her. "The reason I wanted to see you alone, is because I need to ask something of you, Soo. And it is not going to be easy."

"Anything," Soo responded immediately. "You know that I will do anything I can for you."

"I know, but this is something harder than doing your best at school, not taking drugs or any of the normal things parents ask of their children. I need you to be my medical proxy. I need you to be the one who makes the decisions when I'm in coma." Mr. Park was looking gravely at his daughter.

"I don't understand? Wouldn't mother automatically be in position to make those decisions?" Soo was puzzled. "She knows what you want as does Dr. House. They would not do anything you didn't want."

"Dr. House had an infarction that resulted in muscle death in his leg," Mr. Park revealed. Soo's head snapped up and she looked at House who was leaning on the near wall looking down. He didn't meet Soo's startled eyes. Soo realised for the first time that the golfer had been House himself. Now that she knew she couldn't believe that it had taken so long – but who would have expected him to present his own case to the students? Especially the way he did it! All these thoughts went through Soo's mind in a second, so her father did not notice anything but just went on with his request. "When he flatlined after his surgery, it proved to be too much for his family. His Lady could not watch him die, so she used her position to overrule his decision. In Dr. House's experience – with other cases as well, once the possibility of death becomes real and concrete to the family, they often want to change for a safer option. I don't want to wake up and find out that my wishes have been overruled and I have been made into a cripple. I know that I may end up as one even after this treatment, but I want to fight to the end against it. Also, I need someone who will decide when it is time not to resuscitate me anymore."

"Father!" Soo was appalled, the idea that she would be in charge of her father's treatment was startling enough, but to literally choose between life and death for him, was almost too much to contemplate.

"I don't really expect you to make the decision, Dr. House will do that. I trust him completely. But you need to be the one who formally accepts his recommendation. I know this will be hard for you. It is even possible that you will have to hold your own against both your Mother and brother."

"But they know what you want, and they cannot make Dr. House do something against your will," Soo didn't know what to do.

"They can request for a different doctor," House inserted from the sidelines. "And I'm pretty sure any other doctor in this hospital would be only too happy to do either one of the safer operations."

"Please, Soo," Mr. Park asked. "Will you do this for me? Or at least try? If in the course of this all you find that you cannot go against your Mother and brother, if it comes to that, I will understand. I will not blame you."

"If this is what you want, I will do everything I can to help," Soo agreed.

House limped to the door and gestured Cuddy and the hospital lawyer to join them. The papers were drawn and signed. The deed was done. Once they left Mr. Park's room House told Soo to follow him again. When they were out of earshot from her family House said.

"Now we will see if you are just words and hot air, or if you can stand by your convictions." House sounded flippant, but there was a very serious undertone to his words. "And if you fail, don't think for even a moment he won't blame you, because he will. For the longest of times he will. But probably not even half as much as you will blame yourself. Every time you hear the thump of his cane, every time you hear the rattle of his pills, you will blame yourself. When you see his marriage deteriorate in front of your eyes, when you see your mother cry at his cruelty and when you see him isolate himself more and more from all he used to hold dear, you will blame yourself. And the fun part is, even if you don't fail, if you fulfil his wish, you will probably still blame yourself unless he gains the full use of his leg."

Suddenly Soo understood that the hell House had put her through in his office had been part of a test. He had all along tried to find out if she could act as medical proxy for her Father. Of course, part of it all – and part of what was going to happen, because she was sure House was not through with her yet – was the fact that she had forced him to take a case so closely resembling his own. And then there was the fact that she had touched his cane! She better not forget that.

------

Soo was stuck with House for the rest of the day. He did give her a few breaks to talk with her mother and brother – though not telling them about the medical proxy deal – and to visit with her father before the surgery. She knew the main reason she got these breaks was because House himself visited with his parents and didn't want her to tag along for that. But other than that, she was on House like red on rice, as he had expressed it - to Soo's puzzlement as rice is not red. She deemed it best not to question it, though. Her mouth had got her into enough trouble as it was.

Most of the time was spent charting. He told her to get all his unfinished patient files from Brenda and bring them to his office where she read the files out loud; House did his best to remember the patient, the diagnosis and the possible prescription. When told to get the files, Soo had mistakenly thought it would be a fairly easy task, but she hadn't realised that House obviously hated charting, and therefore was behind with it well over a month! She was sure she would not survive this task. However it turned out that House had made some vague notes on each file and he amazed her by actually remembering each case – though he kept pointing out that each one of them had been either ridiculously simple or mind bogglingly boring. Or both. But they were all real patients to her and she found that she liked charting, reading what had been the reasons for previous visits and noting down what was wrong this time. She got so absorbed that she forgot her own worries and was quite startled when House told her it was time to go and see her Father's operation.

"You mean I can observe the actual procedure?" Soo asked.

"You are a medical student; there is no reason why I cannot take you with me." House said.

"But this is my Father," Soo was a bit uncertain about the whole thing. She had always got the impression that surgeons preferred not to have family members observing.

"Are you going to faint, scream, throw a fit or behave in any other unseemly way?" House asked her.

"No! Of course not," Soo denied. "And I would very much like to see the operation if it's ok."

"It is," House confirmed. "Come along. Though I have to warn you there really is not that much to see. The drama will come after the procedure and that will be much harder to watch."

--------------

House had been right, the surgery was very mundane. Hardly any blood, a small incision on the thigh was all that was needed. Most of the procedure would have been out of sight if not for the monitors that showed the inside picture of what was going on. Nevertheless, Soo was sitting on pins and needles. She knew enough to know that things could go wrong even with the simplest of surgeries. Nothing did go wrong, though, so in no time Mr. Park was wheeled to recovery and House allowed her to go and sit by him with the rest of her family till he woke up.

----------

Once Soo's Father was awake, House checked that all was proceeding as expected and that Mr. Park was still adamant about refusing amputation or removal of the dead muscle tissue. He left Foreman in charge for the time being and took Soo with him to finish the charting. Once that was done, it was fairly late and it was time for Andie to be put into coma. House told Soo to take the files back to Brenda and then wait for him outside Andie's room.

When House got to Andie, Wilson was already there. He was holding Andie's hand – her mother was holding the other one – and he was saying his goodbyes. House stood by the door, not wanting to interrupt.

"It really has been great knowing you, Andie," Wilson said. "I'm sorry I didn't find a cure for you."

"That's ok," Andie responded. "You did your best."

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Wilson asked. "Any questions, anything."

"I'm ok," Andie said. "I've had time to deal with this, and I have asked a lot of questions already. I'm right out of them by now. I'm ok."

"Good then," Wilson tried to remove his hand from Andie's, but she didn't let go. "Was there something still?"

"No, not really," Andie responded.

"You need to let go of my hand so that I can give you the drugs," Wilson pointed out.

"No she doesn't," House intervened. "I can give her the drugs. I think she needs you to hold her hand during this more than anything else."

"Hi, Dr. House," Andie smiled. "I'm glad you are here. I was hoping you'd come."

House came over and gave Andie a small kiss on her forehead: "I think that we can drop the formalities by now. You can call me Greg," House told her.

Andie chuckled a little but dutifully called him "Greg."

"So, do you want me to give you the drugs?" House asked her.

"Yes, please," Andie said. "Dr. Jimmy was there when all this begun, I'd like him to be with me to the last, too."

"I will be," Wilson said. "I will be. If you want to hold my hand, I'm right here."

"Thank you. Thank you for having been there for me through all this," Andie smiled at Wilson. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Wilson said.

"Mum, don't cry too much. I'll be fine," Andie turned to her mother. "I want you to be happy, for me and for yourself."

"I'll try," Andie's mother said. "But it will be hard because I'll miss you so much."

"I'll always be with you," Andie reassured her. "Always. I love you, Mum."

"I love you, too, honey."

"Ready, Andie?" House asked.

"Yes. And thank you Greg, for everything."

"Happy to have been of service," House said. "Goodbye and bon voyage."

Andie smiled at him and turned to Wilson "Goodbye Dr. Jimmy" and then to her mother: "Goodbye mother, we will see again."

"Goodbye Andie," both her mother and Wilson replied. House had pushed the drugs into her system and she closed her eyes and drifted into a coma. House touched her cheek briefly and then walked out of the room leaving Wilson and Andie's mother alone with Andie.

Outside the door Soo Park was waiting for him. She looked at him gravely like she was assessing him in her mind, but she didn't say anything.

"Right then," House said. "Your Father is next. Only hopefully his coma won't end in death." House expected Soo to give him a disapproving look, but there was no change in her expression. Darn, she wasn't learning to read him was she?