Chapter 7

"Good morning, starshine," House said cheerfully as he entered the conference room the next day, greeting his fellows. The new trio sat impatiently at the long, conference table, files scattered across the desks.

"New patient," Thirteen said promptly, barely giving House the opportunity to walk over to the kitchenette and prepare coffee.

"Not interested."

"I don't care," Thirteen's answers were becoming progressively wittier.

"You should – I have a patient already."

"Yes, the one whose file I'm holding."

"No," House said, pulling out his red mug from the cabinets, "Amber."

Thirteen's eyes widened and Kutner rearranged his seating position so that his entire back rested against the chairback. He folded his hands on the desk as he slid upwards, showing a sudden interest in House's words.

"What's wrong with Amber?" Taub asked, his tone clearly attempting to be entirely professional.

"She's lonely," a female voice said from the doorway. House spun on his heels, tearing his attention away from the dripping coffee to see the hauntingly familiar figure of Amber terrorizing the conference room doorway. As she dramatically entered the room, the glass doors closing behind her, House could not help but remember the last time that woman had entered this same room. That time, she had had tears in her eyes as she begged for a job. Now, he sensed danger in her presence – this woman had drastically changed over time and not for the better.

"'Lonely'?" Thirteen said, entirely in disbelief.

"If you want a job, get the hell out of my office," House snapped.

"Didn't you say she's our patient?" Kutner asked in his typical, curious manner.

"I'm not here for a job," Amber said, directing her response at House while blatantly ignoring the presence of his fellows. She moved deliberately towards House with a twisted grace of an animal attempting to track down its prey. House forced himself to return her eagle-like stare, flashing his blue eyes dangerously.

"What do you want?"

A slight shifting and scratching could be heard from the table where the fellows sat, as they moved uncomfortably in their seats. They may be have been ignorant, but the tension in the room had mounted tenfold, making it nearly tangible.

"I want to talk about you and Wilson," Amber began. House felt his body turn cold, as if all of the blood had suddenly left his body. His feet felt as heavy as stone, forcing him to remain immobile. He could feel his fellows' gazes piercing his body, as their eyes widened in confusion.

"What's she talking about, House?" Kutner asked.

Amber flashed a look at Kutner's horrorstruck face, then scanned Thirteen's face – it was clear that her mind was whirring as she attempted to process the information at a mile a minute. Taub remained stony faced and appeared to be uninterested, although his knuckles were white as they gripped the crevice of his elbows as his arms remained folded.

"Oh, you haven't told them?" she said, feigning surprise as she placed a hand over her gaping mouth. She returned her stare to House, whose knuckles were past chalk-white as his hand gripped his cane. Upon seeing the anger building within House, she let out a small, clearly evil chuckle, flashing her white teeth.

"Told us what? House?" Thirteen's voice was almost frantic. House refused to look up, and although he tried to open his mouth, he felt as though his mouth and throat were comprised of sandpaper.

"I suppose you found it irrelevant to tell them they're working for a gay man."

WHAM.

House had raised his cane and slapped it viciously on the floor in his fury, splitting it into pieces which scattered along the carpeted floor with hollow thuds. He dropped the useless handle from his hand, attempting to maintain his balance without his typical source of support. He fell slightly sideways in order to lean against the countertop of the kitchenette. His eyes were blazing with sheer anger, giving him a slightly crazed look.

Thirteen rose out of her seat, slamming her hand on the table as she prepared to verbally attack Amber.

"You have no right to be here – get out," Thirteen said, her voice trembling slightly.

"Aw, did I upset you?" Amber said in her cruelly sweet tone.

Thirteen swallowed hard, biting back words which otherwise would've hurled at Amber at an astounding rate.

"You wouldn't be this offended if you were straight," Amber's bullet wound struck home. Thirteen's pale face wrinkled as she contorted her face into expressions of utter disbelief, hurt and complete fury. She trembled as her hands slowly clenched into fists on the table. A slight tug at her left side told her that Kutner was warning her to let it go, but she refused to let Amber go without a struggle. She tugged at her labcoat, nonverbally warning Kutner, Leave me alone.

"I'm calling security," Kutner stuttered to no one in particular as he pulled out his cell phone.

"You can drag me into that spotlight all you want, Amber," House finally spoke through gritted teeth, "but you have no right to reveal information that we want to keep to ourselves." House was panting slightly from his emotions, and he felt himself hobbling towards Amber, his fists clenched so tightly his finger nails were digging into his palms.

"How dare you think that you have any power to ruin people's lives. How dare you come strolling in here and vomiting up everyone's secrets in order to see fireworks. How dare you insult me, and how dare you," his voice rose in intensity and volume as he took each step closer to Amber, "think that this would ruin what Wilson and I have. Get the hell out of my office!"

Amber let out another malicious chuckle, conveying the impression that she felt she was entirely in control of the situation. "I'm not here to ruin what you and Wilson have. No..." she said quietly, "that would be mean. I'm here to make you as alone and betrayed as I am now."

"YOU JUST DON'T CHANGE, DO YOU? THAT'S ALWAYS WHAT IT'S ABOUT, ISN'T IT?" House roared. He had reached his boiling point, and the fellows knew that the situation had finally become very dangerous: House could take a swing at Amber at any moment, which could only cause more of a disaster...

Kutner leapt out of his seat, running around the desk to House in order to restrain him from Amber's reach.

"As a matter of fact, I don't" Amber said as House continued to struggle and roar in fury before her. "Usually, my environment adapts to me."

"Amber. Leave. Now," Kutner demanded between pants as he continued to fight against House, holding his arms behind him.

"What are you restraining me for?!" House yelled to Kutner, "push her out of this goddamned room!"

Kutner sighed, letting go of House as he then approached Amber, gently pushing her shoulders in an attempt to guide her out of the conference room. At Kutner's slightly forceful touch, Amber showed no resistance as she merely smiled and began to walk backwards out of the room, enjoying the fit of rage which she had caused House to be launched into. Kutner pushed her into the glass door, which swung outwards at the combined weight of Amber and Kutner. Once Kutner had succeeded in getting her outside the room, he retreated from Amber as though avoiding a poisonous substance. Amber stood at the doorway of the conference room for a moment as the doors swung shut. She then turned abruptly and vanished down the hall.

House let out a roar of frustration as he stumbled towards the conference table and drew a chair. He collapsed into the metal seat, placing a hand at his nose bridge and massaging it furiously, sighing repeatedly as he attempted to calm himself. It wasn't the fact that Amber had "outed" him which upset him the most – it was the fact that Amber had so cruelly attempted to ruin everything which he had ever wanted. It was the sole fact that Amber knew where to hit him the worst, and to shake the emotional core of his being which he often attempted to deny he possessed. Her cruelty had reached a point beyond any human could believe, and House shook despite himself as he thought about Wilson... if Wilson had been the victim of this instead of him, House was sure that Wilson would've been moved to tears.

His beloved partner was much more sensitive about this newfound area of his life than he was, and in comparison to the emotions which rocked his core, he knew that Wilson's would've been worse by tenfold. It wasn't that Wilson was more insecure about his sexuality, it was that Wilson was much more sensitive, and cruel, hateful actions directed at someone's heart such as Amber's attack would've been completely overwhelming.

House let out a dreary sigh as he realized he longed for Wilson's arms. He needed to know that Wilson would be willing to comfort him now more than ever before, even if it meant dragging his own sexuality out into the open. He needed to know that Wilson was willing to choose House over his personal comfort, because that was the only true thing which could keep the demonic Amber at bay.

Perhaps what stung the worst, out of everything that had just happened, was the fact that House had made a crucial discovery: Amber's attack also hurt his ego as well. Despite his self-assurance that he was comfortable and accepting of his sexuality, Amber had forced him now to realize quite the opposite. It wasn't that he was insecure, but that he had come to believe he could stow the fact in the back of his mind, undisturbed by the rest of society and even by himself. He had wished he could see his relationship with Wilson as simply, a relationship as opposed to a "gay" one.

But the truth remained: his sexuality was not only a significant part of who he was, but that it stung to have his privacy violated. He had assumed that he was immune to this struggle that Wilson had openly been going through. Yet now, House knew had had clearly been proven wrong; Wilson would understand, because suddenly Wilson's struggles and his own had become the same. That nerve which Amber had touched on wasn't as insensitive as House had brought himself to believe...

He raised his head from his hands to look at Kutner, Thirteen and Taub, who had all returned to their normal seats in a line along the opposite side of the conference table. Taub remained completely stony faced as before. Kutner's eyes were wide in shock as he continued to process the events which had just unfolded, and Thirteen's eyes were brimming slightly with tears.

Although House knew Thirteen, above all others, would want to talk about what had just happened, he forced himself to remain silent, thinking only of Wilson's familiar, comforting face. He imagined Wilson's trembling fingers caressing his face in sympathetic understanding, creating a bond which would unify them through more than just mutual attraction. The world could come crashing down around him and everything would still be fine as long as Wilson continued to be that crucial source of comfort in his life.