House huffed as he sat at the conference table; his arms were folded in front of him with his chin resting on them as if he were a child who had just gotten into trouble at school. Glancing over at the doorway was where Cuddy stood with her arms folded over her chest as she watched him like a hawk. Honestly, she was surprised that she managed to get House in the meeting room at all, with how stubborn he's been lately. That outburst he had at Vogler's party, while not technically a work-related discipline, still needed to be addressed. Honestly, it wasn't far since he was practically forced into going to the stupid party. No matter how much he tried digging his heels into staying home, Cuddy wouldn't allow him to skip out on it. Of course, they didn't see that point of view and only assumed that there was something else going on with him and needed to figure it out before it progressed. Were they wrong in thinking that way? Of course not. The way he's been acting since the dinner party has slowly begun to affect his work performance that Cuddy, Wilson, and even House's own team could notice. He was becoming more and more disconnected from everyone, almost pushing people away, which was in itself worrisome. Though Cuddy would admit she was being self-centred that, she was more concerned at how House seemed to be avoiding her more than anybody since the party; not pulling any stupid pranks or purposely interrupting her meetings to embarrass her, it was very unlike him.

"Anything you want to tell me before Vogler gets here?" Cuddy asked House gently, even though she was beyond irritated by his behaviour. He was pushing people away. It was always his first step before he got into one of his moods, which could lead to an isolation episode; with House being so stubborn, it always felt impossible to pull him out of it. "You know you can talk to me, Greg-"

"Don't call me that," he mumbled, still staring at the table in front of him, not even offering her a glance.

"-House… you can talk to me about anything. I don't want you to shut yourself out again. Last time-"

"I know what happened last time," he grumbled, somehow keeping himself from blowing up at her. House didn't want to think about that again; it was a dark time, and he wanted to move past it, even though Cuddy and Wilson seemed to be quick to bring it up again. "I don't need to tell you anything, just like you don't tell me anything."

"What are you talking about?"

House scoffed as he rolled his eyes at her response. Why was she playing dumb? Vogler had already told him that he needed to fire someone from his team, and apparently, it was Cuddy's idea. On the other hand, what if Stacy was right? Having that moment with Stacy in her office was almost an eye-opening experience. His mind trailed off, thinking about how gentle her touch was against his face and how soft her lips were when they kissed. House's face turned a light shade of pink as he went back to that scene in his head.

Opening up to Stacy and showing her the real House when he didn't even plan on doing that just showed how comfortable he felt with her in such a short amount of time. In a way, it was the same sort of comfort that Wilson brought him; yeah, House made it clear that he had a thing for Wilson and made his jokes with him, but with Stacy, it was different. House was nervous about making any of the same jokes towards her as he did with Wilson, although it was probably because she was the hospital's lawyer. The way that House was craving to be touched by her again sent a shiver down his spine; how he wanted to hold her and be held even though that wasn't typically something he was into. How Stacy wasn't put off by House's meltdown or being told something that he tried to keep hidden to himself was something special and something he wouldn't forget about.

"…House…. House!" Cuddy raised her voice slightly as she nudged his shoulder to bring him back from his thoughts. "Are you listening to me?"

"Uh… what? About what?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"You're acting like a child-"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the conference room door opened slowly to reveal Vogler, who almost looked proud to finally have this conversation between the three of them. House tried to hide his scowl as he sat up, though he felt a small pinch in his right leg. He placed his foot onto the floor instead of keeping it tucked under his leg in the chair, stretching his leg out until the pinched feeling faded. Vogler wasn't even at the hospital long and was already making changes that House couldn't handle as fast as they were being made. Why did it feel like he was always the target? Yet, why couldn't he just behave and keep his head down so none of this would happen?

"How are we doing, House?" Vogler asked as he closed the door behind him with a fake smile.

"Well, it was going great until I remembered you existed." Cuddy lightly smacked his shoulder. "I'm fine."

"Sorry that we ran out on your performance review earlier," Vogler continued, ignoring House's childish comment; he sat at the head of the conference table. "Board meeting."

"Right…."

"So… have you made a decision?"

Cuddy furrowed her brows.

"A decision?" She questioned, "for what?"

It took everything in House to not snap at Cuddy since it was apparently her idea, but Stacy's words had gotten to him. He kept his mouth shut, giving her the benefit of the doubt; Vogler was someone who easily lied through his teeth.

"House had a choice to make in order to cut costs in the department."

Cuddy froze, her eyes wide as she pieced together what Vogler was on about.

"You… what?"

"No," House said firmly, "I'm not firing anyone."

"House…." Cuddy moved to look at him again. "Why would you have to make that choice…?"

"I gave House, originally, a month to pick someone from the department to fire. If he misbehaved at the dinner party, he'd only get a week."

"It hasn't been a week-"

"But you've gotten too many more complaints, so I need you to choose now. So, who's it going to be?"

"No, that's…." Cuddy sighed, rubbing her forehead. What else was Vogler doing behind her back? While House was somehow keeping himself composed, she could still feel the anger radiating from him, and she wanted to attempt to comfort him as her maternity instinct was kicking in. "No, hun- House, you're not firing anyone."

"You're right, he's not," Vogler agreed, sitting back in his chair. "I assumed you haven't told him?"

House glared at him, not sure what he was supposed to believe. Vogler clearly was saying things that would purposely make him angry, and he wanted to believe that Cuddy's confusion was real. Things were bouncing around in his mind; everything was confusing him, and he didn't know who to believe; he was even beginning to believe that maybe Stacy was in on all of this and was saying things to throw him off. No… that was stupid… she wouldn't do that to him. Would she? Whoever he could or couldn't believe, he didn't want to hear anything coming out of Vogler's mouth.

"Told me what?" House asked, looking at Cuddy for an answer, but he immediately could see the sadness in her eyes. "What?"

"House… it was a Board decision… that…." Cuddy paused as she wasn't able to bring herself to say it.

Vogler rolled his eyes. He wasn't afraid to rip the bandaid off, and deep down, he wanted to be the one to tell House the news.

"You have a choice here, House," Vogler started, grabbing his attention. "You can either step down as Head of Diagnostic Medicine or be terminated."

House stared at him with a blank expression, as if his brain malfunctioned and he couldn't process what Vogler was saying to him. Terminated? What bullshit was that? House felt confused about what his emotions were as they flooded through him so suddenly and intensely. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what he was feeling; there was an uncomfortable ball in his chest, his body felt hot and heavy, and he sure as hell wanted to punch Vogler in the face.

"They…" House started, trying to find his voice so he didn't go nonverbal. He didn't want to appear weak in front of Vogler. "They made the position for me," he stated, glaring at him again as he was able to force the words out.

"Yes… but the Board agreed that you're not ready."

"Not ready?!" House snapped, standing up from his chair and resting his hands on the table.

"House…." Cuddy tried so this wouldn't look worse for him.

"What do you mean I'm not ready?! I've held that position for almost two years!"

"Look how you're acting, House! You're not ready for leadership," Vogler stated.

House was silent for a moment before he couldn't help himself as he chuckled, standing up straight as he rubbed his face in frustration.

"That's what this is about."

"That little outburst at the dinner party? Remember that? Or were you too drunk to remember that? What's your choice?"

The small, pinched feeling was back in House's right leg as he tightly gripped his right thigh to help ease up the pain.

"Fuck you, Vogler, I quit!"

"Hey! Hey…." Cuddy said quickly, grabbing House's shoulders. "Look at me…"

"I expect an official and professional answer before you leave tonight," Vogler stated before leaving the conference room. For the first time since he started here, he made a good choice and left the room so Cuddy could deal with House.

"That's what that stupid Board meeting was about?!" House snapped, moving away from Cuddy's grasp.

"Stop," she said in a firm yet gentle tone so as not to trigger his anger even more, but she needed to show him that she was still in control of the situation. "Breathe…."

"No, fuck you!"

"House. Stop. Listen."

"No!"

"I know you don't want to, but I need to you. Please?"

He huffed, trying to calm himself down, but he couldn't. His body was trembling, and his vision was becoming bouncy.

"Listen to me…." She said it in a low voice in case anybody was listening to them. "Wilson and I were the only ones who voted against it. Do you understand?"

"But you're-"

"The Board has rights. They have a say in what's going on around here." Cuddy sighed. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you. Wilson and I did make… a sort of workaround if you stepped down…."

"What?" He snapped.

"Wilson's going to merge the two departments until- hey!" Cuddy tried grabbing House's arm as he began to move around her to leave the office, but he was still too quick for her and was already out the door. She sighed, hoping he wouldn't do anything too stupid. As much as she wanted to go after him, it was unpredictable how he would act.

Wilson couldn't help but jump as his office door swung open; he scrambled to his feet as soon as he saw the furious House standing in the doorway.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Wilson said loudly as House slammed the door shut. "I had no part in that!"

"But you knew?!"

"I-"

House rubbed his eyes with the butt of his palms, telling Wilson that he was trying so hard not to have a meltdown right now. He let out a frustrated groan as he moved his hands to the back of his neck.

"House… I was-"

"They said I need more life and work experience…." He repeated their words as he began to pace back and forth. "They including you, apparently."

"No! If you just let me-"

"This is… stupid!" He yelled. The way he hesitated told Wilson that he only had a couple of more tries to get him to calm down, but he pushed himself over the edge. The last thing Wilson wanted was for Vogler to prove that he was right on the choice.

"Let me explain-"

"No!" He yelled as he began to pace. His anxiety was clearly rising. His anger was manifested by the fact that he felt rejected. Removing him from the department that was created specifically for him wasn't fair.

"I didn't have a choice…" Wilson whispered. "I'm doing you a favour-"

"You're already head of… whatever this is!" He motioned towards the room, feeling so upset that he was losing grasp of words. "You had to take my position, too?"

"Just! Listen to me-"

House continued to pace, but it wasn't until Wilson had to move from around his desk and grab him by the shoulders that he forced him to sit down so he'd calm down.

"Listen!" Wilson said loudly. "Listen… I was the only one who didn't vote for you to lose the department. The reason I volunteered to take it over was so you could still have it."

"What-"

"It'd be under my name. You'd be… working for me, but… just do what you would normally."

"No."

"No?"

"I don't work for anybody."

"You work for Cuddy."

"Different. I don't work for anybody that I was once equal to."

"That's your pride talking."

"I don't care. I want my department."

"Vogler thinks you're too young-"

"He doesn't even work here!"

"House! Just act like nothing happened, okay? You get to keep your office. You're welcome, by the way."