4

An elegant blond woman sat on a cane deck chair behind the fourth door wearing a tennis outfit, her hair caught up at the back in a clip. Two large dogs were beside her – she had her arm thrown around one and it cuddled next to her eagerly. The other sat to attention next to her as if guarding her from some unseen foe.

"Hello?" House asked nervously. He'd never been comfortable around dogs.

She smiled and House's nerves evaporated.

"Hello!" she said warmly. "Welcome!" She stood and gestured around her. "Let's take a walk."

Now this was more like it. A beautiful lake stretched out into the distance and she led him to path that wound along the shore. Sunlight sparkled from the surface of the water and the dogs trotted obediently behind them.

"Nice," House said.

"Why thank you." She had a faint southern twang in her accent.

They walked in silence for a while and House was grateful. He'd been given a lot to think about, and that last door had been pretty intense.

"Do you know what I like best about dogs?" she asked as they passed a large, shady tree.

House shrugged.

"Their loyalty. And loyalty is repaid."

"Um, okay," he said hesitantly. He had no idea where this was going.

"Sometimes things start off and you wonder what on earth is going on, but if you hang in there, if you're loyal, sometimes you get repaid in the nicest ways."

"What by slobbering and dog farts?"

She gave him the kind of look that mothers had been using to pull teenage boys into line for centuries. It worked.

"Sorry," House muttered.

"Remember the engineer who helped Cate in Antarctica?"

House cast his mind back. His memories of that time were surrounded by a little bubble of hurt and he didn't like to prod them. They were yet more remembrances that were best left in the past.

She continued, seeing the acknowledgment in his silence. "He did everything he could for Cate in his loyalty to her. Some unpleasant things at times. And he won her heart."

"Yeah, but I did everything I could too," House pointed out. He didn't like the way he sounded so whiny, but couldn't help it.

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "I know you did. We all know you did. And, like you, we wish that had turned out differently."

"She was on the other side of the world," House muttered, kicking a stone on the path in front of him.

"Yes, and perhaps it's for the best. There are other things that might not have happened if things with Cate had moved forward."

"Like what?"

"Like Amber."

House felt a thud in his stomach as he did every time he heard that name. Even innocently, channel surfing, a TV shopping channel advertising amber jewellery. It still had the same effect.

"Yeah, cause that was peachy," he sneered, hoping to cover his deep distress. "Besides, what's that got to do with loyalty?"

"I'm not really talking about your loyalty. I'm talking about ours."

"Yours?"

"Yes. It was tested. Change tested it. But it was repaid by your head and Wilson's heart."

"Huh?"

She smiled and shook her head. They'd reached a picnic table by the side of the lake and she led them over to it and they both took a seat.

She perched her chin on her hand and gave him an assessing look. "I know you don't understand and that's okay. You don't need to understand this part of it to solve the puzzle."

"Good. So how do I solve the puzzle?"

"You've got to visit the other doors." One of the dogs ambled up to the woman's side and nuzzled against her. She dropped her hand to scratch its ears. The dog – House could have sworn – smiled.

"Yeah. Okay." House took a deep breath and let it out. What had he discovered so far? He wished his team were here so he could bounce his ideas off them. The woman would have to do. "So, recap. Door one – something from the past is important for the future – for falling in love in the future. Something to do with Sherlock Holmes. Right?"

She smiled enigmatically and House knew she wasn't going to give him any further answers. But he continued, determined to see if he could discover the pattern.

"And plot – I have to remember plot to move the story forward. Then, suffering. Or sorrow. Or drama. Or something." That door still felt a little hazy. "And loyalty. Repay loyalty."

Her blond hair bobbed in its clip as she nodded. "You're halfway there."

"It feels like I have a handful of puzzle pieces and no idea how they fit together," House complained.

"Kind of like a diagnostic session, huh?"

He sighed. It was a lot like that, only with no patient at the end, their life hanging in the balance. It was infuriating; intensely irritating. But he wanted to get to the next door.

He looked around at the beautiful scenery. "So how do I get back? Where's the door?" He had no idea how far they'd walked.

"Right here." She waved her hand and the door appeared right beside them.

"Thanks for saving me the walk," House said.

"You're welcome." She smiled again. "Good luck."