Sadly for me, but probably happily for you all I own none of this.....this story starts out pretty dark but I swear all with get a bit sunnier by the end =) Hope you enjoy.

Somewhere in the apartment a pipe was leaking. House could hear every drip as water escaped from the pipe and hit the floor in an unknown location of his residence. At least the noise somewhat drowned out the constant ticking from the living room clock. The noise from the wretched time piece infuriated House to the point that he considered getting up and throwing the damn thing out the window. But his leg hurt too much for movement to be a realistic notion. The dripping continued, as did the ticking and the pain in his leg. House considered calling Wilson but quickly realized that when someone said they were through with you it meant they no longer cared enough to answer the phone at two in the morning. He was alone and he was suffering. He wanted out. He wanted to escape the pain, the impending flooding of his apartment and the desolate sound of the ticking clock. With every last bit of willpower in his body House forced himself off of the couch and shuffled into the bathroom.

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Wilson was asleep when the phone rang. He tried to ignore it but the constant shrill tone finally drove him out of bed. He padded into the dark living room and lifted the receiver.

"Wilson, its House. He tried to kill himself." The voice on the other end rasped.

"Selfish bastard." Wilson growled into the phone. He slammed down the receiver and made his way back to bed. He was done letting House run his life. He was getting some sleep.

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"They decided to commit House today. He'll be transferred to an institution in the morning." Dr. Cuddy said causally as she entered Wilson's office.

Wilson didn't even bother to look up from his paper. "Good for them, whoever they are. I hope they chose a place that still does lobotomies."

"Have you even been to see him since he was admitted?" Cuddy demanded.

"Nope." Wilson reached over and grabbed a bagel off of the desk. He took a large bite and washed it down with a swig of coffee.

"So that's it then? You just don't give a crap?"

"Pretty much." Wilson turned the page in his newspaper and took another bite from his bagel.

"He…." Cuddy started.

"Look. I know you feel sorry for House. I don't. The man has bankrupted a good portion of my life. He has damaged every relationship I have ever been in, led to the death of my last girl friend….he practically laughed at me when my mother died last month!" Wilson dropped the paper and looked Cuddy straight in the eye. "If it were me down there do you really think that House would be running to my rescue? I'm sorry Lisa. I just can't do it anymore."

Cuddy nodded sadly and made her exit, quietly shutting the door behind her. Wilson picked back up the paper and resumed eating his bagel.

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The guilt hit like a ton of bricks the next day but Wilson refused to give in. He wasn't going to go visit House where ever they had him locked up. He wasn't going to blame himself for House nearly doing himself in. He wasn't even going to think about House at all.

Of course the latter part of this resolution was a complete failure, not helped at all by House's somewhat loyal former and current ducklings.

"Do you think they'll ever let House out?" Kutner asked as he passed Wilson in the hall.

"How should I know?" Wilson tried to walk faster in an attempt to shake off House's lackey.

"You're his best friend." Kutner pointed out. "I hope they let him out soon. House is a good doctor. Who can blame him for wanting to end the pain in his leg? Do you think that maybe the doctors where he is now can help cure his leg pain?"

"I don't want to talk about House." Wilson snapped. "Don't you have work to do? Or are all of you so brainwashed by House that you are incapable of functioning without his dictation?"

"Sheesh." Muttered Kutner under his breath. "And they say House is the grumpy one in that couple."

Wilson sighed. Great, now not only was he thinking of House but apparently his former friend's minions thought they were a couple. Wilson took a deep breath and pushed to elevator button. As the door opened he found himself face to face with Dr. Allison Cameron.

"Have you….?" Cameron began to question.

"No. I haven't. Why can't anyone seem to grasp the fact that House and I aren't bestest buddies anymore?"

Cameron looked at Wilson as if he had lost it. "I was going to ask if you had seen the new playroom in the kid's oncology ward. Being that you work down there I figured you would be interested."

Wilson frowned. "Sorry."

"Everyone in this hospital knows you are a selfish bastard who ditched his best friend because you couldn't handle it anymore. Half of the hospital can't seem to blame you, the rest just think you are an ass." Cameron frowned back at her former boss's former friend. "In case you're wondering, I'm leaning toward ass."

"Thanks." Wilson stepped past Cameron and got into the elevator. He would not let this get to him. He was done with House and that was that.

That night Wilson sat in his dark apartment trying to concentrate on the TV but his mind kept wandering back to House. He considered the last argument they had been in, the last time they had spoken, the last time he had seen his old friend. How could it be that a man who obviously cared so little about him had consumed so much of his thoughts, his time, his life?

Wilson thought he would feel relief in the fact that House had most likely departed from his life for good. Instead he felt a bit empty, dark and lonely like his apartment was at two am without House's phone calls demanding company, free food or a prescription. As much as Wilson tried to block out these thoughts with memories of how angry House had made him they just wouldn't go away. Wilson finally grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen cupboard and used it to drown out all thought entirely. He was not going to let House get to him. It was over.