There were a few days of making plans. House knew what he wanted. He'd always known, but a lot of dominoes needed to fall for him to get it.
Two weeks later he put on sunglasses and a baseball hat and slunk into PPTH to see Foreman… A week after that he puked into a trash can outside the police station before turning himself in… A month after that he stared obediently into a court room and half-listened to Foreman verify his twisted story, asking for leniency… Eight months after that he walked out of prison a free man… He gave himself a week off, but after seven days he swallowed four Vicodin before walking up the steps to Mayfield…
[H] [H] [H]
"You won't see patients," Dr. Nolan pointed out after House told him about the research position Foreman had offered him when he came to visit, since he'd never get his license back.
"I hate patients," House countered.
"But you like puzzles."
"There are bigger puzzles. Research is more my style – reclusive, analytical, haughty."
Nolan nodded. "Why do you think you didn't do it sooner?"
House gave him a knowing look. "Life just didn't go that way," he deflected, refusing to play his head-shrinking game.
Nolan nodded again. "So it just happened that you spent a decade working somewhere you didn't really want to be."
"I wanted to be there."
"I know," Nolan say, smiling slyly.
"Oh, you," House waved his finger at him sarcastically. "Get outta my head, Doctor."
"What do you really want, House?" he asked.
"I want Wilson's thirty," he answered. "I want to reach the end of my life and want more of it."
"Why do you think Wilson cared about dying and you don't?" Nolan asked. House laughed quietly. "What's funny?"
"The thing about clichés," he explained, "Is they exist because we're cliché. We all end up wanting the same fucking thing."
"What do you want?" he asked again.
House met his eyes and gave him a hard stare. "Don't make me say it, Nolan."
He chuckled. "It's good practice. You're never gonna get it if you don't learn to say it."
"I will. When it matters."
"I hope so, House."
[H] [H] [H]
…Ninety-seven days later, he walked out, a free man with a singular purpose.