Title: They've Taken Away Your Name

Author: lawnmowerelf

Control sighed as he got off of the plane and made his way into the airport. If someone had asked him, which no one had, why he had decided to leave England and come to America when he had finally retired from the Secret Service he wouldn't have been able to give them a concrete answer. Part of it was the simple fact that there was nothing keeping him in England: Mrs. Control had long ago moved in with her sister, he was no longer needed as the Head of British Intelligence, and the one man he had truly been able to call friend had completely vanished not long after Control had been forced to terminate his employment.

He had hated having to fire Tony Murchison, and that was certainly no fib. But even more he hated the fact that he hadn't seen Tony since the other man had walked out of his office for the last time. It wasn't for lack of trying, as Control had put his not-inconsiderable resources into trying to locate him, concerned that perhaps Tony had been kidnapped by enemy agents or that something else unpleasant had happened to him. Unfortunately, there had been absolutely no sign of Tony at all, not a single hint as to what had happened to the other man.

It was almost as if he had never even existed in the first place, which Control certainly knew wasn't true as there was simply no logical way for Control to have enjoyed so much of Tony's coffee if the other man hadn't existed at all. But there was no concrete evidence of his existence, and no way for Control to find him, no matter how hard he looked.

He pulled himself out of his increasingly depressing thoughts and headed to get his luggage, nodding politely at the doctor that had been sitting next to him on the plane as he passed. Dr. Wilson had been a very nice conversationalist, and had shared several amusing stories about the antics of one of his fellow doctors, a Gregory House. It had made the long flight from London much more bearable.

Control sighed as he reached for his bags, then froze when he heard a somewhat familiar voice coming from somewhere behind him. He slowly turned his head, eyes going wide when he saw a man who looked just like an older version of Tony. The hair was a bit thinner and going slightly gray, and he had certainly never seen Tony walking with a cane, but other than that and the rather appalling American accent he could have sworn that he was looking at Tony.

When he noticed that the Tony look-alike was speaking with Dr. Wilson he realized that the other man was more than likely the Dr. House that James had mentioned to him. Control closed his eyes in pain when Dr. House suddenly grinned, the expression making him look even more like Tony than he had before.

After a few minutes Control opened his eyes to find that the two men were gone. He tried to push the whole incident out of his mind as he retrieved his luggage and then took a taxi to his hotel, but he was singularly unable to do so. His thoughts kept circling back around to Dr. House and his uncanny resemblance to Tony. Eventually Control sighed and just gave up. He would stop by the hospital that Dr. Wilson had said that he worked at, and try to meet Dr. House. And whether he was actually Tony, or perhaps a relative, or simply an almost identical stranger, at least then Control would know.

The next morning Control set out for Princeton-Plainsboro, determined to find out once and for all whether the man he had seen at the airport with Dr. Wilson had any connection to the missing Tony Murchison. He hadn't slept well at all, with all sorts of questions and theories whirling around in his head until he was almost dizzy. It was all terribly confusing, and he could only hope that by the end of the day he would have at least some answers, though he rather thought that he would simply end up with more questions instead.

The nurses at the hospital were very helpful, and he was able to locate Dr. Wilson's office with a minimum of difficulty. He was also quite fortunate in that when he found the office Dr. Wilson was present, but not currently with a patient. Control took a deep breath, tugged lightly on his jacket to straighten it and knocked on the office door.

Dr. Wilson seemed quite surprised to see him, which Control had expected, but smiled as he ushered Control into his office and waved him to a seat. "I have to say that I hadn't expected to see you here. What can I do for you?"

Control sighed, looking down at his lap for a moment and silently wishing for a cup of coffee with which to occupy his hands. "I must admit, Dr. Wilson, that I hadn't anticipated coming to see you, either, but something rather unexpected happened yesterday at the airport that changed my plans. I noticed the man who came to meet you there, and he looked almost exactly like someone I knew several years ago."

He trailed off, not quite certain of how to make his request without sounding a bit odd, but Dr. Wilson just smiled, though Control could tell that it was slightly strained. "And you were wondering if I could introduce you? I'd be happy to, but you should be aware that House is a bit...difficult to get along with sometimes, and he has a habit of saying some fairly off the wall things just to see how people will react."

Control frowned as he followed Dr. Wilson out of his office. Uncanny physical resemblance or not, that just didn't sound a bit like Tony. Tony had always been unfailingly polite; even when faced with the termination of his position he hadn't slipped into rudeness. It was beginning to look like his theory that Dr. House was one of Tony's relatives might be the correct one after all.

It didn't take long for the two of them to reach the Diagnostics conference room, where Dr. House seemed to be berating three younger doctors, all of whom seemed to be taking his harsh words completely in stride, an ability that Control rather admired. Then Dr. House happened to glance up at them and he froze in mid-motion, eerily familiar blue eyes going wide.

It was the eyes that sealed it, and Control's other theories went flying out the window. All evidence to the contrary, those were Tony's eyes, though the innocence that Control had always secretly appreciated was hidden deep down under a thick layer of pain and exhaustion. He had no idea what had happened, what had instigated the incredible identity change, but he was certain.

Dr. Gregory House was indeed Tony Murchison.

Control was barely aware of the other three doctors being steered out of the conference room or the mostly unspoken conversation between Dr. House and Dr. Wilson as the former led Control to the nearby office, but he didn't particularly mind. He had found Tony after years of searching, even if it was completely accidental, and he was certain that some sort of explanation was imminent.

A moment later Control was sitting in the office, watching Tony close the blinds and then bring him a cup of coffee. He took a sip, eyes closing in pleasure as he savored the first cup of truly proper coffee that he had tasted since he was forced to fire Tony. "Thank you, Tony. I must say, no matter how I tried I was never quite able to make a cup of coffee quite like you did." He paused for a moment, not quite sure how to bring up the subject before he finally decided just to jump in. "Why did you disappear like that, Tony? I tried quite hard to find you, and I'm not ashamed to say that I was quite worried about you when I couldn't."

Tony ran a hand through his hair and began fiddling with his cane. "I had to leave, Control. There were some rather nasty people looking for me, and the only way to make sure they couldn't find me was to make sure that no one else could find me, either. Plus, it was the only thing I could think of to keep you safe, too."

Hearing Tony speak with an American accent was certainly a bit odd, but Control pushed the oddness to the back of his mind. "Tony, something Dr. Wilson said struck me as a bit odd. He said that you were... 'difficult to get along with' is I believe the phrase he used."

The smirk Tony flashed at that looked somehow wrong on his face. "It started out as part of the new identity. After all, who would ever think that snarky, mean-tempered Dr. House has anything in common with nice, polite Tony Murchison. After a while, though, a lot of the bad temper was real, and I couldn't always remember what being Tony was like. I don't like being Greg House nearly as much as I liked being Tony, and I have a tendency to take it out on everyone else. I can't seem to help myself."

That thought made Control incredibly sad. "Well, Tony...or I suppose I should call you Greg now. Anyway, I've left British Intelligence and decided to move to America, so perhaps I could help you to remember Tony." He smiled. "After all, you haven't forgotten how to make my coffee, so it can't all be gone."

And when House threw his head back and laughed, Control could finally see his missing friend in the snarky doctor's eyes. It wasn't much, but it was a nice start.