"I spoke to your friend Kelly today."
House wasn't surprised. He knew that Dr. Nolan had been contacting anyone he thought provide an insight that might help with House's treatment, help to get through to him.
Now, of course, House has resigned himself to cooperate, genuinely. So he was surprised that Nolan had resorted to more external fact finding this late in the game. He was also surprised that this particular contact had taken him so long.
When he expressed the latter thought, Nolan shrugged. "We've spoken before, just after you came here. But she was insistent that she wouldn't talk to me until YOU and not just Dr. Wilson had talked about HER."
Interesting. "You could have lied."
"Yes. But she was clear she would demand proof when the time came, and that she would warn Wilson to not to share anything he might know."
House couldn't help but smile. "So what proof did you offer?"
"The mix tape."
House nodded. "Good choice."
He'd been asked by Nolan to share about the last time he could identify as being truly happy, and so of course he had spoken of Christmas with the Campbells, with Kelly. Which had led him to speak about their summer together, and everything that had happened in between.
It took a long time, but apparently Nolan found the story compelling enough to have supper brought to his office for them so that he could continue well past the allotted hour. It was a good story, after all.
When it didn't seem like Nolan was going to offer any more, House eventually broke the silence. "So... what did she say?"
What Nolan hadn't learned from House, what they hadn't gotten to, was that House and Kelly hadn't really spoken in awhile, hadn't seen each other since Christmas, with one notable exception. What Nolan would likely NEVER have learned from House was how deeply he had felt that loss, or would have if he'd allowed himself to step outside the haze of pain and drugs long enough to feel that deeply.
"She said many things. Though I imagine the most important thing you need to hear is that she's happy."
House knew this; they hadn't been completely out of touch. They weren't mad, after all. They'd just done what they knew was best, each for the other. And trying to pretend that they were anything other than they were would have been too hard, and would have found them unable to stop from attempting the impossible: to be together, REALLY together.
So for awhile it had been cold turkey. And then it had been a text here or there, an email, a "like" on Facebook. Casual. And then Kutner was dead, and Wilson had called her to intervene. So the evening of the funeral she'd shown up at his door and they'd barely spoken, saying nothing at all of consequence, knowing that to rekindle their emotional intimacy was not the goal and would only make things worse. She was merely PRESENT, holding him, stroking his hair, wiping the sparse tears that finally came late in the night when sleep wouldn't. They'd made love without kissing; release, not reconnection. Separating the physical from the rest, which is something she'd once vowed she could never, WOULD never do. But for him, she would have done anything. Which is why when he finally did doze off for a fitful hour, she'd returned to the airport and returned home without saying goodbye.
"Still with me?"
"Huh?" House had lost track of his surroundings and had been quiet for some time.
"Does it bother you, that she's happy?"
"Happy without me, you mean."
"I suppose."
"Of course not. I want her to be happy." And he did. He truly did.
"I believe you," Nolan said seriously without a hint of pandering. A pause. "So why do you think that she succeeded where you failed?"
"I'm not unhappy because I'm not with her."
Nolan simply looked at him, waiting.
"I miss her. Of course I miss her."
"And you miss the way you felt when you were with her."
House leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs loosely while adopting a posture of openness with his upper body. "I won't let you tell me that she was just another drug, that I was using her for the high." And then he actually smiled. "If you think that, then what I told you obviously didn't do her justice."
"Then why aren't you together now?"
House's smile faded, and he glanced at the clock on the wall behind Nolan. Time was up. "I think that's a story for another day."