PROLOGUE

KNOCK KNOCK. "Come in."

A pretty administrative assistant opened the office door and, with a smile, handed a manilla envelope to the young man sitting behind the huge oak desk. At the top was the name "Charlie Dryer" and "CONFIDENTIAL" in big, bold red letters underneath the name. The man, an Oncologist to be exact, threw the young woman a flirty smile who, in turn, reddened with embarrassment and stumbled out, leaving the handsome Oncologist to shake his head in amusement.

But that smile, and that face, and that attitude, were, in reality just a series of very well-rehearsed, excessively-utilized masks for his true feelings.

The moment he read the name on the envelope, Dr. James Wilson's stomach churned with foreboding. He knew that foreboding feeling...and it was never good.

Instead of immediately opening it he dropped it in front of him and leaned back in the leather office chair, its springs groaning in protest. A thousand thoughts ran through that handsome head of his...but only one penetrated through the fog of emotions and noise of thoughts:

What to do now?

How will you know unless you open the envelope? his voice of reason asked. He nodded to himself and took a deep breath then leaned forward, grasped the envelope and ripped it open, giving no thought to proper envelope-opening decorum. He pulled out lab results...

and he was right.

It wasn't pretty...just like he knew they wouldn't be. It never was but, then, that's the way it was as the Head of the Department of Oncology.

A stomach tumor.

Metastasized.

The patient was terminal...six months, tops.

The paper shook in his right hand from the spasms of nerves that seemed to uncontrollably seize his body. "Oh, no," he moaned, rubbing his eyes with his left as he attempted to keep the moisture at bay.

Dr. James Wilson had seen hundreds of cases like this one...but never had one affected him like this. Why?

Because "Charlie Dryer" wasn't Charlie Dryer.

"Charlie Dryer" was really his best friend, Dr. Gregory House.

House wanted to keep the testing a secret. Wilson, the only human House had one iota of trust for, said he'd run the tests under a false name.

And Dr. James Wilson held the fate of Dr. Gregory House in his hands...

Dr. Gregory House was dying. All he had was...

six months.

*****