Soo came back with his Reuben soon after Harrison had left. House sent her back to the cafeteria for her own lunch with Dr. Foreman, who was told to look out for her family in case they were looking for Soo. His job was mostly to give her moral support if needed.

House was reading a medical journal when Cuddy walked into his office.

"Mrs. Park and her son came to see me," Cuddy told him.

"I rather expected they would," House said. "What did they have to say? Did they accuse me of having too much influence on Soo?"

"How did you know?" Cuddy asked.

"Seemed like a reasonable tack for them to take. A young medical student, an older, distinguished head of a department who could possibly influence her studies and career, or an authority figure who might well take advantage of a young girl in order to prove a pet theory or something like that," House explained. "The question however is did you buy their version?"

"Not really," Cuddy said. "At least not entirely; you would not try to influence Soo with any promises of brighter future if she does what you want. But you are an authority figure. You are practically a legend in your field. It is possible that your reputation has influenced her to put her trust in you, even if her mind tells her that this is too dangerous. And it is possible that you have other motives than looking after the best interest of your patient encouraging you to try this treatment."

"You think that my main point in this is to prove that you and Stacy were wrong?" House asked.

"It is possible. Or you could be doing this just to find out if it can be done, to prove that you were right, not so much that we were wrong," Cuddy offered. "Of course the problem is that you could be wrong, in which case Mr. Park will probably end up dead."

"There is one flaw in that thinking, though," House mused. "I did not offer the treatment. I was not the one who brought it up. Soo was the one who said her Father needed to know about it. And even then I did not bring it up until Mr. Park had categorically refused the other two options."

"I know," Cuddy sighed. "You did everything right. It's just that your refusal to comply with his family's wishes does bring to mind the possibility that you are too influenced by your own case."

"I gave him my word," House told Cuddy. "It is true that I do everything in my power, including lying, cheating, misrepresenting facts and what not, to convince a patient that my way is the right way. But once the patient has really made up his mind, when I'm sure he has all the relevant facts to use in his decision, once he has the diagnosis, I respect his wishes. Mr. Park had the facts, this is what he wanted and I will do everything I can to give him what he wanted – including his leg back."

"You don't always respect the patient's wishes like that," Cuddy insisted. "You listened to Stacy when she wanted you to do that test on her husband without his consent."

"First of all, I did not have a confirmed diagnosis then. The test was needed for that," House pointed out. "Secondly, my objectivity was definitely compromised there. I did tell Stacy from the beginning that I wasn't sure I wanted Mark to live. The other thing I wasn't sure of was what it was that I wanted to prove with that test."

"What else could you have proved with that test than your diagnosis?" Cuddy asked, startled that House was suddenly revealing things like this to her, but she wanted to know and she wasn't questioning her luck. Obviously Mr. Park's situation had brought a lot of thing to the surface for House.

"That Stacy was wrong when she said that Mark would forgive her for it," House revealed. "Sure, she was right in the sense that Mark would indeed forgive her for the test, what I doubted he would forgive was for Stacy trusting me over him."

Cuddy didn't know what to say to that. It seemed House had been more unforgiving than Stacy – or her - had realised. She had to wonder how forgiven she herself was.

"Mrs. Park intends to go to court to have the medical proxy revoked," Cuddy said, after a moment.

"Figures," House nodded. "Though I'm pretty sure she will try to get to Soo first."

"Where is she anyway?" Cuddy asked.

"In the cafeteria with Foreman," House answered. "There would be no point in trying to keep her hidden from her family as they do know where she lives. Of course I could take her home with me, but somehow I suspect you might not like it. Would I be correct in my suspicions?"

"Oh yes," Cuddy glared. "There is no way I would approve of you taking young, impressionable medical students home with you to spend the night."

"Yeah, I thought so," House sighed. "Though I really don't see why you are so against it. It's not like they are underage or anything. And some of them are really hot! Have you seen what the young women are wearing these days? I've seen hookers more covered up than them."

"Look, but don't even think of touching!" Cuddy admonished him. "And anyway, Soo is not dressing like that."

"Yeah, that proper Asian upbringing can be a real drag," House agreed.

"Will you tell me what the deal with Soo is?" Cuddy asked again. "Why are you having her trail you? I really don't believe that you are doing it to teach her or for any other altruistic reasons."

"However those are the only ones I have to offer," House widened his eyes into an innocent look.

"Fine," Cuddy gave in. "Keep your secret. But remember that I am keeping an eye on you and if there is even a hint of impropriety in your dealings with Soo, I'm going to make you sorry you were ever born! Is that clear?"

"And what else is new," House sighed under his breath as his leg gave another painful twinge.

"What?" Cuddy was not sure he had said anything, but suspected that whatever it was she really didn't want to hear it. Still she had to ask.

"Yes, it's clear," House said out loud. "And don't worry, you chick is safe, she is far too tender for my tastes. You however, are a different matter."

"Yeah, yeah," Cuddy turned to go. "Just try and behave yourself!"

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

When Soo came back from the cafeteria with Foreman she looked harassed. House didn't ask anything but Foreman volunteered the information that Mrs. Park had found her daughter and had had a long talk – maybe more of a tirade – with her. Soo had, however, held her own. House was still Mr. Park's doctor. Soo, though, was beginning to feel the stress.

"Right then," House said, "time to hit the clinic and see what fun can be had there today. Come along Soo."

The afternoon was spent in the clinic. Soo did all the work, pretty much. She examined the patients under House's supervision, sometimes she was ridiculed for having missed something obvious – at least in House's opinion – sometimes she got the highest praise obviously to be had from House, which was the word correct. She did the charting, she called the patients in, she escorted them to their tests – if any were to be taken; she arranged for them to be admitted when necessary and generally did everything a doctor did. The only thing House did all by himself was insult the patients. That he did so well that three of them demanded to see Dr. Cuddy. House didn't seem to care, and he absolutely refused to apologise when Cuddy demanded it of him. (He took Soo with him even to Cuddy's office, though it was more than obvious that he was called in there for a total dressing down.)

Later House got a page to Andie's room. He sent Soo to her father's room to spend time with her father – and Foreman who was on duty there. House went to Andie. Cameron had paged him. She was standing by Andie's bed as was Wilson. Andie's mother was holding her daughter in her arms and sobbing. It was clear from the vital signs that Andie's time was about to end. Half an hour later Wilson called it. Andie was gone. House walked to Andie, touched her briefly on the cheek as a farewell, touched silently Andie's mother on the shoulder as a small gesture of support. He turned to walk out of the room but as he passed Wilson he said quietly "You know where to find me," and then he walked out leaving Cameron and Wilson to take care of Andie's mother and what formalities were still needed.

---------

Late that night House was at home listening to Billie Holiday. After Andie had died he had collected Soo from her father's room – checking on Mr. Park at the same time; he seemed to be doing fine. He had taken Soo back to his office where they had once again gone through her father's case in fine detail. He made sure that she understood where they were right then and what was likely to happen next. He also emphasised the risks again for her.

"Are you trying to make me obey my Mother?" Soo had asked.

"No," House stated. "But you need to be informed. If you choose to use your proxy to overrule me, to do what your family wants, then you need facts on your side when you explain to your Father why you did it. On the other hand, if you choose to follow your Father's wishes you still need all the facts when you explain to your Mother why you chose to honour your Father's decisions."

"From what I hear, you don't usually keep the family this well informed," Soo said cautiously. "I thought you usually left the explaining to your fellows."

"True," House acknowledged. "But usually the family members don't grab my cane to get my attention. Though they do sometimes hit me, but even then it isn't to get my attention."

"Hit you!" Soo was startled.

"Yes," House mused. "Apparently it has something to do with my bedside manner."

Before Soo could ask more questions Wilson had come to House's office and House had told Soo that she was free for the rest of the day. Wilson had stayed with House for about an hour. They hadn't spoken much, just sat together in silence. But even that seemed to help Wilson. House had been about to offer Wilson a refuge for the night on his couch when Wilson had been called to another patient. Later, when House had checked with him he had found out that Wilson would in all likelihood stay in the hospital all night.

So here he was, alone listening to Mood Indigo:

You ain't been blue / No, no, no / You ain't been blue / Till you've had that mood indigo / That feelin goes stealin down to my shoes / While I sit and sigh "Go 'long, blues" / Always get that mood indigo / Since my baby said goodbye / In the evenin when lights are low / I'm so lonesome I could cry / 'Cause there's nobody who cares about me / I'm just a soul who's bluer than blue can be / When I get that mood indigo / I could lay me down and die

There was a knock on his door; apparently Wilson had been able to leave the hospital after all.

House limped to his door and opened it to find Andie's mother standing there. She looked cold, and lifeless. Her hair was damp from the snow that had been falling for the last hour or so. She opened her mouth so say something but could not find her voice.

House looked at her in silence. He was pretty sure he knew what would follow if he let her in, but then leaving her out in the cold was really not an option either. He stepped aside and wordlessly invited her in. Then, when she was inside he bolted the door, so that it could not be opened from outside with a key.

She was shivering when she entered and House took her to the couch. He wrapped her in a blanket and got a towel he then used to dry her hair like she was a sleepy child. Only she wasn't sleepy nor a child. Carefully he knelt down, minding his bum leg, and removed her boots. Her feet felt cold to his hands. He indicated that she ought to bring her feet up to the couch and then used another blanket to wrap them warmly.

In all that time neither of them had said a word. House went into his kitchen and came back a moment later with hot coffee. He didn't know how she took hers but that didn't matter. She needed something warm and sweet both for her cold and the shock, so he had added a liberal amount of sugar into her drink. She drank it slowly without any comments.

Once they had emptied their mugs, House put his on the table and leaned over to take hers from her hands. When his hands touched the mug, and also her hands that were curled around it, she looked him straight in the eyes. He stopped, not avoiding her gaze but not inviting it either. His message was clear: all up to her. She nodded and said one word: "Please." House nodded.

He took the mugs in to the kitchen. When he got back she was standing by the couch and he drew her to his side with his left arm and led the way to his bedroom. At the door he stopped for a moment and looked at her one more time with a question in his eyes. She nodded, so he took her inside.