A/N: Sorry this is a bit shorter than some of my other chapters. A few interesting things happen here, but I'm not sure I'm happy with it. Thanks to all my readers! Remember, reviews are love!

Him, Too

"Jeremy," Thirteen uttered. "What the hell are you doing here?" She stood in complete shock, staring.

"I heard about Brock," the man answered. "I want to help." Jeremy walked over and hugged her tightly. She wasn't sure how to react. On any other day, at any other time, she just might have been even a little happy to see her childhood friend, but now he only brought with him more bad memories. After the incident with Brock, things between Thirteen and Jeremy had been strained. He had seen her when she was most vulnerable, and was uncomfortable with that. He had seen a side that she had never revealed, and never intended to reveal. She decided that she couldn't see him, knowing what he knew. They had drifted apart and never spanned the gap. She didn't want to be thought of as afraid, she knew she wasn't. He reminded her, however, of a time that she was, and she didn't want to face that. After all that time, she was surprised to see him.

The real shock came though, when Jeremy bent his head and placed a soft, tender kiss on her lips. Thirteen twisted away. "I already have someone to do that. Someone to help me through difficult times, someone to support me, someone to hold me, and someone to love me," she said, an air of defiance about her voice.

Jeremy noticed the quick glance that passed between Foreman and Thirteen and nodded his head in the other man's direction. "Is it him?"

"Yes, it is."

"I don't think he's good enough."

"You're right. Foreman's more than good enough."

"He's not right for you. No one's right for you or will ever be right for you because you push everyone away so that you don't have to deal with them when they watch you die. But if there was someone that was even close to right for you, you know it would be me."

"No," Thirteen sniped. "It wouldn't. I've gotten over all of that. You don't want to know what I was doing before I came to terms with everything, but I will tell you that it wasn't exactly in my own best interests." She cringed remembering the alcohol and drugs, the one-night stands, and almost allowing a gunman to take her life. "Guess who helped me through it? Guess who cared even before they knew I loved them back? Guess who gave a damn even though I was acting like a contemptuous bitch? I'll give you a hint. It wasn't you. It never was you."

"Who took care of you after Brock?" Jeremy retorted. "I spent that entire night, by your bedside, stroking your hair, holding your cold, naked body! You think I don't care as much as anyone else in your life?"

"That's the thing. You're not part of my life, at least not anymore." The pair hadn't realized that their voices elevated in volume with every sentence, loud enough to attract a crowd gathering around Diagnostics, eager to see who could so upset the usually cool and enigmatic female doctor. The other fellows just stared at them in silence, taken aback by Jeremy's sudden action.

"Thirteen, who's your friend?" House boomed cynically as he entered the office. "Foreman, she's cheating on you!"

Foreman rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter," Thirteen said, "because my 'friend' is leaving now."

"No, I'm not," Jeremy stated through clinched teeth. "You need someone who was actually there to support you. By the way," he turned to House, "I'm Jeremy Brennan, a friend of Remy's."

"Whose?" House asked. Jeremy appeared confused, ignorant of Remy's nickname and of the fact that House refused to refer to her as anything else.

"Thirteen," Foreman supplemented.

"Great!" Thirteen said sarcastically. "Introduction's over, now leave!"

"We need someone who's actually competent to analyze the lung tissue," House told her. "Fourteen, go!" They both obliged heading for the lab. She didn't get it. Was House being nice again? He had gotten her away first from Brock and now from Jeremy. He was allowing her to spend more time with Foreman, too. This is un-Houseian.

"Why did he have to come?" she wondered, irritated, as her boyfriend caught up with her.

"He's obviously worried. It's what any good friend would do."

"If you haven't noticed, he seems to want to go beyond friends."

Foreman furrowed his eyebrows, thinking about what Jeremy did indeed want. "I think that he thought you'd be open to it."

"I know," she said, walking into the lab. Thirteen found the tissue sample where Kutner or Taub had carelessly left it in a petri dish, and after staining it, stuck it under the microscope. She put her eye to the lens, pulled back, and adjusted the magnification. She looked through the lens again, and after studying the specimen for a few seconds, stepped away and gasped. "Tell me that what I'm seeing is real," Thirteen all but commented. Foreman took his turn with the microscope and looked at her, just as shocked.

"Smooth muscle cells," he breathed. "He has LAM."

"He's dying."

Suddenly the doors to the lab sprung open and Jeremy came to stand in the entrance. "You're not aloud here," she told him, as if willing him out would work.

"Why do you want me to go?"

"Because I don't need you here. Not now. Not ever." Foreman slipped his hand into hers for support as Jeremy shot them a questioning glance. "You've seen too much," Thirteen continued. "You've seen me as this vulnerable little girl who was never supposed to come out. "I have enough going on in my life without you reminding me of that."

"You can't be here!" House bellowed as he limped into the room. Again, he was saving her. Jeremy didn't move. "Seriously, get out!" Reluctantly, he left. "So, what did the biopsy show?"

"LAM," Foreman said, as Thirteen was still in the preliminary stages of shock. She watched House pause, speechless for the first time since she had met him. She thought about how the diagnosis might change things. They were both dying, meaning that she could potentially sympathize with him. God, I must be really messed up if I feel bad for him.

"I'll have Taub tell the patient," their boss stated.

"No," Thirteen blurted out. "I'll do it."

A/N2: I've regrettably got some writer's block. I know it took longer to get this chapter up, but I have other projects I'm working on. Anyway, It ma be awhile before the next chapter's up.