Following the events of the previous session, Nolan was confident in his plan for this week. Asking House about his favorite things had been a way in, along with the music. Though the conversation had been superficial for the most part, it had allowed House an easy way to be honest. Nolan only hoped the trend would continue today when a more serious matter needed to be discussed.

House, on the other hand, was hoping for the exact opposite. Though his memories of the session were mostly an (admittedly pleasant) haze, he vividly remembered the end of the session.

"That can't happen again." House stated with absolute certainty, before even fully entering Nolan's office.

"House, please. Sit and down and we can discuss…."

"There's nothing to discuss. I said I'd give this age regression thing a shot and I did. An honest one too, considering I could have given up after the disaster that was the first attempt, but no. I gave it a second chance and I still managed to screw it up." House growled, finally sitting down with a harsh thump.

"Screwed it up?" Nolan questioned incredulously, "House, you did not screw anything about last week up. Not even close. In fact, I was going to suggest that we continue talking about favorite things today. You seemed to like it and I liked learning more about you. I was kind of wondering who some of your favorite people were, actually."

House paused at that, not having expected the question. He answered immediately anyway, but where his tone had been open and excited last week, it was now guarded with suspicion. "Wilson….why?"

"No particular reason." Nolan began carefully. "I just figured if we were going to continue this treatment…"

House abruptly cut Nolan off, now having realized where this line of questioning was headed. "No. I am not regressing again. Even if I wanted to, I would not drag Wilson into it. He puts up with enough of my crap already."

"What crap?" House gives Nolan an unimpressed look. "Okay, bad question. Yes, Wilson has helped you through plenty of issues in the past, but I don't see why you're so resistant to letting him help with this. It would be good for you to have the chance to regress outside of our time together and to have someone you trust keep you safe while doing so."

"Would it really?" House retorted. "Look, I'll admit turning my brain off like that was kind of nice, but, as evidenced by last week, it's only a matter of time before I ruin it."

"Okay, let's pretend for a second that I even believe there is something to 'ruin'. How do you suppose you would do that?" Nolan shot back.

"By being a whiny, overdramatic brat, that's how. I was never a good kid; that hasn't changed. I barely know how to do this regression thing right and I'm not putting that on Wilson."

Nolan only stares back at his client for a moment, at a complete loss for where to even begin unpacking that statement. Once he'd composed himself, he took a shot at it anyway. "Okay first of all, you are not now, nor have you ever been, whiny. You're one of the most stoic people I know. Over dramatic I might give you, but only because you have a tendency to push everything until it breaks, including yourself. If this is still about last week specifically, though, you were neither of those things. You were in pain and you reacted appropriately. Any child would have been upset and you were in a child's head space at the time. That isn't something you would be putting on Wilson; I'm quite sure based on how he's acted in your adult life, he'd be more than willing to help you through similar situations when they come again. More than that, though, I'm certain he'd love to spend time helping you feel the same happiness you felt at the beginning of last week, whatever that may end up looking like. Regression isn't something you can do "right." It's a tool that you have to use in a way that works for you. It's not a test, House."

"Everything is a damn test." House mumbled, a bitter bite to his words. "I may as well have been graded on my whole childhood, only there was no rubric because anything less than perfect was unacceptable." House paused, seeming to make a decision. "Do you know why I became a doctor?"

At Nolan's questioning look, House squared his shoulders and continued. "When I was fourteen, my father was stationed in Japan. He had more or less given up on me by that point. I knew he wasn't my real father and he knew I had no plans to join the military despite his attempting to force me into it, so he had no use for me. He no longer cared what I did outside of his house. Anyway, I went rock-climbing with this kid from school. He fell, got injured and I had to bring him to the hospital. We came in through the wrong entrance, passed this guy in the hall. It was a janitor. My friend came down with an infection and doctors didn't know what to do. So they brought in the janitor. He was a doctor and a buraku; one of Japan's untouchables. And this guy knew that he wasn't accepted by the staff, so he didn't even try to get them to like him. The people around that place didn't think that he had anything they wanted, except when they needed him. He did know what to do to save my friend, which meant that nothing else mattered. they had to listen to him - because he was right."

"So, you decided you were going to do the same?" Nolan extrapolated.

"More or less, yeah. If my thoughts weren't going to be valued at home, I was going to find some place where they would be. And if that was worth doing, it was worth doing well; I threw myself into anything and everything I could learn about medicine, went to Hopkins, graduated top of my class, " here House made a dismissive motion with his hand, "blah, blah, blah. You know the rest."

"I do," Nolan conceded, "but that doesn't mean all of those accomplishments should be breezed by like they're nothing. You've worked hard to get where you are and should be incredibly proud of everything you've done."

"That's the thing, though. I have the best reputation at Princeton Plainsbourough - at least where medicine is concerned - I can cure diseases no one else can even diagnose, but that means absolutely nothing to the ones I don't save. Remember the crane collapse victim who's leg got had to be amputated? I did everything right and she died anyway. Who I've become meant absolutely nothing in that moment. I didn't even feel like a doctor; I was just some idiot who couldn't save someone else."

A look of comprehension finally dawned on Nolan's face. "You're afraid the same thing will happen with regression. One 'wrong' move will undo any progress you've made."

"And make Wilson hate me…" House finished, dejectedly.

"I highly doubt that, but I also know any attempts to convince you he wouldn't are futile at best." Nolan stated frankly, House offering no argument. "There's really only one way to find out for sure."

House knew when he was beat, heaving a defeated sigh. "Fine, but you're making the phone call."