Still lucky?
"Home sweet home," Nyx sighed as she settled next to House on his bed.
"Well, it was," House responded dryly.
"I'm not welcome?" Nyx wondered.
"Do you care?" House asked.
"Good point," Nyx agreed. "But you didn't seem to mind me in the prison."
"In prison you were my only peep," House pointed out.
"That was partly your own choice," Nyx reminded him. "Your mother would have visited had you allowed it."
"Yeah, that part was my choice," House agreed. "But it wasn't my choice that nobody else even tried."
"Until Foreman," Nyx stated.
"But that was cream pot love," House reminded her. "I had something he needed and he came to get it. It was quid pro quo."
"And he certainly had the perfect patient for you," Nyx mused. "Even better than the one who got you 8 months added to your sentence."
"But I was right, he was treated and it was worth the consequences," House insisted.
"Yeah, but a bit of a bummer," Nyx observed. "You were just about to get out on parole and then you end up with 8 months more added to your time. Surely that hurt."
"No more than life in general," House shrugged. "Besides, it's a bit of a moot point now. I'm out anyway."
"But Foreman owns you," Nyx sighed.
"Only if you assume that I fear going back in," House stated.
"And if you think it's worth it, you don't care," Nyx concluded.
"Also Foreman stuck his neck out too, to get me, so he isn't going to send me in easily," House concluded.
"So you think you'll be free of the monitor soon enough?" Nyx asked.
"Probably," House nodded. "Though I suppose it is up to a judge. But I did do what was expected of me. And nobody else was able to do it."
"And how do you like your new team?" Nyx queried.
"Team?" House repeated with irony.
"Yea, I suppose that like there is no 'I' in a team there is no 'one' either," Nyx observed. "So how do you like her?"
"I wonder if Foreman was smart enough to assign her to me because I could push her into staying, or if he just chose her because she was available," House pondered. "I fear it was the latter."
"So how do you think her hearing will go?" Nyx asked.
"If Foreman has any balls he'll sack the attending," House insisted.
"Foreman?" Nyx raised an eyebrow.
"I have been away a whole year," House stated. "He may have grown a pair!"
"Foreman?" The eyebrow was joined by the other one.
"You have a point," House agreed. "However, he did sometimes surprise me even before. But no matter how the hearing goes, I'll still have my peep."
"But you still haven't told me how you like her?" Nyx insisted.
"I think I kinda do like her," House pondered. "She has that Asian work ethics…"
"Which is a good thing as you have none," Nyx inserted.
"But though she is raised to be respectful of authority she can say no," House went on as if there had been no interruption. "And she snapped at me. She has potential. I just need to figure out a way to multiply her."
"Well, you figured out a way to get Wilson back, so you'll think of something," Nyx observed.
"But I didn't figure out how to get Wilson back," House stated. "He just returned of his own volition."
"Yes, his own volition," Nyx didn't sound convinced. "Like a compass points to the north of its own volition. You knew that as long as you kept the exposure steady he couldn't help himself."
"He does like to please people," House nodded.
"And he likes it that with you he actually doesn't need to," Nyx pointed out. "You don't only push him to be a better doctor you also push him to be himself. Yes, that means him giving in to his baser instincts as well, and being less of a nice person than he likes to present himself to the world but it also means that you keep him grounded. With you he knows who he is while with others he tends to drown in their expectations."
"And it tends to tear him apart, too," House sighed.
"So you think you two are now ok?" Nyx asked.
"Well, he punched me and we had dinner, so yeah, we're ok," House nodded.
"Though he never visited you in prison?" Nyx demanded. "Though he said that you are no longer friends when you came back? Though he hasn't apologized for anything he has done over the years or his part in pushing you too far a year ago?"
"That's nothing," House denied. "He has always found it difficult to deal with losing people and he had no way of knowing I would survive prison. He always does that. Besides, he lost Cuddy, too, so it has been hard for him."
"And he punished himself by turning vegetarian," Nyx laughed. "Not quite the same as prison."
"But still dull," House noted. "I'm fairly sure he didn't get drunk either, even once."
"No wonder it took him only one day to forgive you," Nyx said. "Having you back must have been like going to see the Wizard of Oz. All is black and white until you hit the yellow brick road and all colours just burst out. He must have felt alive today for the first time in over a year."
"I think you're being a bit dramatic," House declared. "Though, probably not all wrong. We do have fun together."
"Plus he can supply you with food and drink now that you can't go to a bar on your own," Nyx concluded. "Convenient."
"Not bad," House admitted. "Though mostly it's just nice to be able to choose your company and then close the door on them yourself when they leave."
"Do you think you will adjust to life outside?" Nyx worried.
"Do fish adjust to water?" House laughed. "I wasn't away that long."
"But things have changed much more than you expected," Nyx pointed out.
"True," House nodded. "But I never expected to be back here at all. So it is less of an adjustment than I expected."
"Except that sometimes it is easier to adjust to something completely new than to something old that has changed," Nyx asserted.
"I'll just need to change back what I can," House insisted. "And turn the rest to my liking."
"So it's your environment that has to adjust to you," Nyx commented. "And not the other way around."
"You do know that people don't change, right?" House asked her.
"So the circumstances must," Nyx concluded. "But what if that doesn't work? What if you can't change things back to the way they were?"
"The you go for plan B," House shrugged.
"And that is?" Nyx queried.
"Go with plan A anyway," House laughed. "Just work harder at it."
"In other words people really, really don't change," Nyx sighed. "You will be in so much trouble."
"Nah, most of it will land on Foreman's desk," House declared. "And good luck to him."
"He will need it," Nyx sighed.