A/N – I'm not a legal expert of any kind. I watch a lot of reality TV shows about jails which is where I got most of my information. If I got the legal terminology or procedures a little bit wrong, I apologize. I try to be accurate about everything.

House had nothing to do in these close confines, locked down 23 hours a day, but dwell on his current situation. There was nothing positive about any of this. Nothing at all. He'd said he didn't want to go back to medicine and now he was one hundred percent sure about that. He'd already been about 99% sure he didn't want to go back to medicine before he even met Nick (Lupus Boy). A profession in which a practitioner would rather let a guy get sicker and possibly die than perform a somewhat risky procedure to diagnose the guy wasn't a profession he wanted to go back to anymore.

That comment about teaching physics at the University of Fiji was no joke.

He was able to call Wilson and he was able, of course, to call his attorney, Sam Bell. Sam confirmed that a period of solitary confinement had been added to House's sentence. House hadn't broken any laws, but he had violated a prison regulation which stipulated that patients' medical records were confidential and could not be accessed by other inmates. Idiot Clinic Director Doctor Sykes filed the complaint. Apparently it didn't matter that House made no attempt to get the medical record; it was handed to him by a prison official; another doctor, no less.

Sam said he would have to confirm with the judge whether bail conditions had changed or not. Sam said if bail conditions hadn't changed, House could still post his original bail. That might involve another hearing or perhaps Sam could simply file a motion with the court to have his bail staid. Sam said he would file the motion today; if the judge agreed, they'd find out within a day or so and House could bail out immediately pending the judge's decision. If the judge denied the motion, Sam would get another hearing to determine his new bail conditions. Sam felt fairly sure the judge would stay his bail, so he could post the original bail amount and be out within a few days. House actually felt a little encouraged by his call with Sam.

The phone call with Wilson was a whole different ballgame. Wilson tried the tough love approach again. After angrily reminding Wilson that they only had a few minutes on the phone, House said, "Look, this isn't accomplishing anything. I kind of wish I hadn't called you. I just didn't want you running over here with my money today when I probably won't get out today. You're right. We do need to talk. But I can't hear any more lectures. We can't do this on the phone. If you still wanna come in today you can. I don't wanna be rude or anything but they're gonna cut this call off. Are you still coming?"

"Yeah," Wilson said with a sigh that could be heard for miles. House could just imagine that Wilson was probably ready to give up on him again. House, however, was growing tired of tip-toeing around Wilson. Friends help friends in need. Lovers do even more. House had almost given up his life, by undergoing the deep brain stimulation, for his friend. If Wilson wasn't willing to do what friends (and especially lovers) do, then maybe Wilson wasn't the kind of guy he needed.

Maybe he really was better off alone.

But he needed Wilson. He also needed to get his own life in order.

House had thought for some time that maybe his issue with Wilson might have something to do with Wilson personalizing everything. It seemed to House that every time he did something risky or stupid, Wilson took it as a personal insult. Wilson seemed to take House's controversial, contentious, sometimes litigious behavior as a slap in the face, some kind of personal evidence that House didn't value their friendship or whatever else he might want their relationship to evolve into.

Alone in his solitary cell, House had nothing to do BUT dwell on all of this. He couldn't just switch his mind off.

Then there was Cuddy.

He had mixed feelings about what he'd done to her house. Objectively, of course he knew what he did was wrong. Subjectively, he wasn't so sure about how he felt. Was he remorseful? Yes and no.

There had been a lot of deceitful, downright rotten behavior from both of them during their brief and tumultuous sexual relationship. There were some good times, too. There were times when he actually dared to hope that this romance could last. One of those times was when he got involved with Rachel trying to get her into Waldenwood's pre-school. At the end of the play date, when Cuddy asked her daughter if she'd played with the toys before, Rachel looked at House and lied like a pro. House actually felt proud; like he and the little girl had finally struck up a relationship. Like he might be a good father for Rachel.

The deceitful behavior had been going on for years, long before he and Cuddy hooked up sexually. The problem was, it was just flirting and harmless fun for all those years. After they took the next step, the same behavior that had been flirty and fun wasn't fun anymore. Now it was serious. The little harmless lies suddenly weren't harmless anymore. Neither party was innocent.

House always said he didn't want to play the blame game; that their relationship was doomed from the start and the fact that it lasted as long as it did was actually pretty amazing. Deep down, though, he held on to a lot of blame. He blamed her. He blamed her for telling him she didn't want him to change, but in the end she told him that he would never change, that he would always pick himself over everyone else. She did want him to change. She broke up with him because she thought he hadn't changed and couldn't change. Oh, he could go on and on. He blamed her for getting him into trouble with her mother when he told her from the very beginning that neither he nor she should be involved with her mother's health care. She played him, convincing him to do something he knew he should steer clear of, and when the shit hit the walls, she let him take the fall for it. He blamed her immensely. He blamed her for not seeing the damage she did by breaking up with him. He blamed her for being able to move on when he himself could not do that.

And he knew that he was to blame for some of the problems too. That hurt almost as much as the things she had said and done.

So here House was, alone, literally and figuratively.

What was the price to pay for saving a guy's life and breaking a prison rule in the process? Loneliness. Was the deed worth the punishment? Yes, and he'd do it again and again and again.

What was the price to pay for testing every interpersonal relationship he'd ever had? Loneliness. When things got too serious, he had to test the waters. He remembered the time he told Wilson he borrowed ever increasing amounts of money from him just to test the strength of their friendship.

Was the deed worth the punishment? No. Whatever he'd done, whatever his part in the breakup was, it wasn't worth what he was going through now. He hoped Cuddy was going through at least a fraction of the kind of mental anguish he was suffering now.