Foreman is called a racist by a black Civil Rights activist, Michael Doria. The young doctors are shocked to find out that House was involved in the Civil Rights movement and is a long time friend of Doria. House surrenders to his emotions as he sits by the bedside of his dying comrade. The young team of doctors struggle with the angst of boredom. They eventually raid the entertainment center of the hospital, House's office.

MICHAEL DORIA: A former Civil Rights advocate. He speaks slowly and well. His words are kindly even when he is criticizing. He is more like Mother Teresa or a monk, rather than Martin Luther King or an evangelist.

SCENE ONE:

An elderly well spoken black man lies in a hospital bed. He is badly beaten.

FOREMAN enters.

Mr. Doria? Are you awake sir?

DORIA opens his eyes and stares at the young doctor.

Sir? Are you the Michael Doria that marched with Doctor King?

DORIA stares at Foreman for a moment and roles over. FOREMAN walks to the other side of the bed.

Mr. Doria, my Uncle told me your name once. He knew you.

DORIA stares at him.

His name was Elijah...

He was a racist.

No. Sir, he...

If his name was Elijah he was a Muslim. If he was a Muslim he was a racist, like that bastard Muhammad Ali.

Mr. Doria he marched with you and Dr. King in Alabama.

So, what! We've all got feet, any hate filled man can walk on a street. If he marched with a Muslim name he marched with the idea that he deserves something, just because of the color of his skin. It is the Black Muslim message that destroyed the message of equality that Martin spoke. The movement is a failure because King didn't want to divide his people.

The movement was not a failure. I'm proof. If not for the Civil Rights movement I wouldn't be sitting here treating you.

Have you even asked me how I feel? My whole body throbs with the pulse of my blood reminding me of every blow from my attackers. Pounding into me a reminder of every person that used a message of peace and love for power and authority.

I'm sorry...I...

When you walked in this room you didn't see a man in this bed. You saw a Black Man. One with a name you could worship and praise and place above the name of love that is God, above the equality of the soul.

...

I see it now in your eyes. You are not hearing what you want. That pedestal you placed yourself on, that place that you have earned, was earned from spite, from your desire to sit high on your thrown...oh yes, boy, if they wouldn't give you your reparations you were going to take them. Earn them even. I am sure you feel supreme with your place and your money.

HOUSE enters.

Michael.

Now that is a voice of equality. The call of the old raspy crow. (turning to the door) How have you been Gregory?

Angry. Disenchanted. Suicidal, off and on.

The path of the righteous is the path of suffering.

You know House?!

Of course. We used to organize together.

Before desire tainted the cause.

I figured you'd be in here seeking your validation.

I was just checking on a patient.

HOUSE

How come you didn't know my name before you worked here? Are you a racist?

That's what I was just telling him.

FOREMAN exits. DORIA laughs a little.

That was some good preaching.

So, what happened?

Punctuation. Irony. A gang of niggers beat me down for fifty-five dollars.

Were you trying to score some?

For the Glaucoma. I got the prescription for it. Plus, it helps me sleep. The older we get, the more we want to forget, the more we need to sleep to escape our memories. I'm up at 3am every morning.

Me too. I'll get you something.

Not that chemical crap. It is too heavy and it makes me have nightmares.

I know a guy. Real nice. Always even too. He's a bartender, so it's pretty easy access to him.

Don't trouble yourself Dr. House. I won't be leaving this hospital with any pain?

What do you mean?

I remember what it feels like to fill with fluids. Remember when those cops beat the shit out of me? Guys just doing their jobs right? Ordered by the Governor, himself.

That's the problem with democracy, any idiot can assume power.

Let me take the easy way out.

I'll keep Foreman off your case.

How long do you think it will take?

I can hear a bit of a gurgle in your lungs. You probably have two or three days.

SCENE TWO:

In the Doctor's Conference Room. CHASE, CAMERON, FOREMAN.

House was part of the Civil Rights Movement?

Well, it isn't surprising.

It isn't surprising?!

To become so cynical you have to be an idealist first. Like Bob Dylan.

HOUSE enters.

So, what have we got?

We need some x-rays. Maybe some exploratory surgery. He is probably bleeding internally.

I meant what are we getting for lunch?

Don't you think we should be worried about your friend?

I wouldn't worry about Doria, he's a tough old bird. He'll be fine.

I thought you would be a little more concerned about the bruising around his kidneys?

He's an old man. He needs treatment.

Oh it will be a treat. He is my friend. He will be fine. That is the end of it. Is there any other unsolvable situation that I need to remedy?

Nothing that isn't being handled by someone else.

HOUSE

Good. I'm going home.

SCENE THREE:

CUDDY'S OFFICE. HOUSE enters.

I hear you have a friend here?

Yes. An old one. I need a favor.

House you know I don't like doing you favors, it adds to my time in purgatory.

Not bad. I need you to keep Foreman out of this.

He's your doctor, you can control him.

He's going to go over my head.

Why would he need to do that?

Doria doesn't want to be treated.

Has he signed the releases.

No, give me them. I'll have him sign them. Thanks Cuddy.

It is his choice to forgo treatment.

HOUSE exits as FOREMAN enters.

I thought you were going home.

I am. I just had to check in with the boss man first.

SCENE FOUR:

DORIA'S ROOM. HOUSE enters.

You need to sign these.

What is it?

The hospital will let you die.

DORIA begins signing.

So when did you give up?

Well it didn't happen all at once. Ali hurt us. Jesse Jackson became a fear monger and made it impossible to criticize black people...Ooo...I think what I believed in was gone forever when rap music came out.

Oh, come one, we're all united. There isn't anything we all wouldn't do for money.

In the end, no ideal is right. People are too weak for ideals. Too easily swayed by the sin that taints us.

We are a nation of supremacists. Everyone knows they can be number one.

DORIA

We slave for our emptiness. Slaving away for our winning dreams, missing the entire point of living.

FOREMAN and CAMERON enter.

Haha. I win. You're too late.

You can't just let him die.

You can't just make me live.

Sir, it is very possible for us to help you. And help you recover.

I have cancer you stupid girl. My liver is blacker than he is. What will you give me, two weeks? Two months? There is no reason to prolong my life.

Aren't you afraid?

Not at all. God has no judgment for me, or any person. I will be welcomed in love, as a spirit, with no skin. With no judgment from people like you.

Maybe you should go. He really doesn't like to be told what to do.

You shouldn't just give up like this. You mean something to people. There's still good things you can do.

You want me to live for you. For an ideal you made up in your gluttonous fat head.

FOREMAN exits.

House can I speak with you?

No. I'm having a sit in. See ya.

CAMERON exits.

SCENE FIVE:

In the DOCTOR'S CONFERENCE ROOM. CHASE, CAMERON, FOREMAN.

I bet that really bugs ya.

Don't screw with me, Chase. You're not House.

You're a Christian right?

Ya, I'm a Christian. What?!

How can you call yourself a Christian when you follow the most dangerous of the Seven Deadly Sins? But is it Black Pride that you have, or just Self Pride?

Chase I don't think you should...

You don't know a damn thing about what it's like to be a minority.

You're the whitest black guy in the whitest hospital...it helps you to be darker. We blend into the sea of white faces, that applied here. In our field we have to stand out by the work we perform.

Foreman wasn't hired because he was black. He was hired because he's a good doctor.

That's really my point. In America no one thinks more about the color of people's skin than a successful black man. You think you deserve it all, but you're even angrier because people think you have it because you're a pimp, or a crack dealer.

FOREMAN lunges at CHASE. CHASE avoids him.

See that ego. Rageful. Cruel. Must have come from the streets....If you hate, if you resent, if you deserve, you'll have nothing in the end. You'll just find out that all you gained still wasn't enough to satisfy you.

You are a racist.

No.

Oh yes you are. It's so easy for you to sit and judge someone in a situation you couldn't possibly understand.

No. I can sit here and criticize you because you are a human being. You won't let me criticize you because you're a racist, because I'm white. You are insecure and you feel inferior, and you use your skin as an excuse for why the world doesn't go your way all the time. Well, let me tell you something...it doesn't go the way anyone wants it. We aren't gods, no matter how much we think we deserve to be.

We really need something to figure out so that we don't have to talk to each other.

SCENE SIX:

DORIA'S ROOM. HOUSE sitting. DORIA laying.

(more gurgled now)

So, what is going to happen as I die?

HOUSE

Well...your lungs are going to fill with fluid. You'll be in and out of sleep. Then you're going to fall into a deep sleep. And basically you'll drown.

The Death Rattle.

Right. From the air passing through the fluid.

My mother died of lung cancer. I remember how hot her body became just before she died. She had been cold for twelve years, and then we couldn't cool her down...This hurts.

The shocks. After you fall asleep, I'll disconnect the stimulation from your heart.

FADE OUT

SCENE SEVEN:

HALLWAY.

Hi. Are you Mary French? Michael Doria's sister?

Yes. Where is he?

He's in a room with Gregory House...

Who's Gregory House?

Oh, I thought you knew him. Your brother and he seemed so close.

No, I don't know him. Where is Michael?

He's stable. Maybe we should talk about what you should expect.

What do you mean?

Please, let's go into this office.

CAMERON and MARY enter the OFFICE.

In the advancing stages that Mr. Doria will be in he will likely be hallucinating. He may reach up towards the ceiling. Some people believe that they are seeing loved ones that have passed on already.

Passed on? What are you talking about? I was told he was beat up.

I'm sorry...um...He was. But he also has cancer.

Cancer?

Yes. Liver cancer.

He never told me that.

The beating seems to have weakened his body to the point where the cancer will take him.

Oh Lord.

Soon he won't be able to communicate with you. He will be in and out of consciousness. His eyes may not be able to focus on you. His lungs are filling with fluid.

Oh God.

I can take you to his room now if you'd like.

No.

I can take you when you are ready.

Oh no. No. I won't go. No. I'm sorry. I can't.

It's ok. You don't need to be sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. They made me watch my Mama die. No. I can't. Ooohhh. I'm sorry. Oh no.

MARY exits. WILSON enters

Who was that?

Doria's sister.

House's friend?

Right.

Where is House?

Waiting for his friend to die.

He's not treating him?

Doria won't let us. House doesn't care.

I'm sure it is not easy to sit and watch your friend die.

FOREMAN enters.

House cares about what is right for House.

House cares about what is right for his patients. He doesn't care about coddling anyone.

CHASE enters.

Life is hard. And the hardness of it doesn't need to covered up with illusions and lies.

Don't any of you have anything to do?

No. The only crises has already signed his waivers saying we can't help him.

Maybe you should be helping your colleague.

They don't want us in there. I'm a racist apparently.

Do you have to wine to everyone in the entire hospital about that? Do you have to be liked by all black people?

Usually what makes us angriest is what is true about us. People hate to see that they are everything they so adamantly criticize. From a psychological point of view, it is usually true.

I'm bored with this. Doria won't let us in and House won't come out.

Why can't you just relax. Maybe this is what Doria was saying to you.

What?

Why do you always have to be doing something? Why does there always have to be something to solve? Can't you just let someone be?

Not when it is my job.

What if your job was to sit under a tree all day and do nothing, but sit.

I wouldn't do it.

So, you have to be doing something. Even if it hurt someone else?

Inaction harms no one.

A bunch of doctors sitting around talking about inaction. Jesus. Without a massive amount of action none of you would be doctors.

We cannot deny that the sort of actions required by a doctor are unnatural. It is against nature to treat any dying patient. So, really, the only natural thing that happens in a hospital is when the patient does die.

What if the Allies chose inaction and didn't stop the Holocaust.

(walks by)

The Holocaust would have ended when all the Jews were dead.

I'll go talk to him. But, how many genocides have occurred throughout the world that we, I mean the US military, didn't stop? If it isn't on the Discovery Channel do you even think about it?

WILSON exits.

SCENE EIGHT:

At vending machine in HALLWAY. WILSON approaches HOUSE.

Your people don't have anything to do.

They have something to do, I'm sure they're complaining about something. Wait! You don't think it's me do you?! So, send them home. They all have cell phones. Put them on call. Better yet, make them wash the windows, ooohhh, or scrub the toilets.

What's going on?

Cappuccino.

I mean with Doria?

He's dying.

And you are just letting him die?

It is his desire.

I know he signed all the forms but...

Sometimes you just need to be there, not even for someone, but just be there for the moment. Besides, I like the pain it is making me feel.

HOUSE exits.

SCENE NINE:

DORIA'S ROOM Time has passed.

HOUSE is sitting beside the bed in his chair. DORIA reaches to the ceiling. Gurgling. His eyes focused on something beyond the ceiling. HOUSE watches him.

CUDDY enters.

How's he doing?

HOUSE

(shrugs)

...

It's hard to see him like this, huh?

Ya.

(holding House from behind)

I'm gonna head home. Everyone else has gone. Wilson sent them home.

HOUSE nods.

FADE OUT

SCENE TEN:

DORIA'S ROOM Morning.

FADE UP

DORIA'S is in and out of consciousness. His eyes unfocused. He convulses with the shocks of the heart regulator every time he falls asleep. It is early morning. HOUSE sits in the chair beside the bed.

WILSON enters.

You know the hospital has fold up beds for guests.

WILSON hands him a bagel.

(drained, his eyes red)

I know death doesn't mean anything. I've seen so many people die. (voice cracking) But...

(touching House)

I know.

I've stood beside people weeping while their father dies, and felt nothing, because I didn't know them. When do you pass that point of human affection when you care enough about someone to be hurt when they die?

Maybe when you know someone intimately enough to understand their reactions to the circumstances of living.

I feel it through my whole body. My soul aches. He touched it somehow. Why would it hurt if it wasn't dead forever? I don't know. I feel like I could throw up all of my insides.

How long has it been since you've seen him?

Fifteen years. And still...(deep sigh)strange.

You can't think your way out of it.

HOUSE

(nods)

...

SCENE ELEVEN:

In the DOCTOR'S CONFERENCE ROOM. CAMERON, FOREMAN sitting.

CHASE enters.

What do we have today?

Nothing, yet.

House still in with Doria?

Ya.

That was a little soft spoken for you?

Don't start with me. Do you guys want to go get some breakfast? My treat.

Are you high?

Let's see if House wants to go.

CHASE

You are high.

CUDDY enters.

We need you up in the Children's Ward.

Thank God.

We're on it.

Should we get House?

Let's see if we can handle it first.

SCENE TWELVE:

CAMERON looks over a chart. CHASE and FOREMAN begin examining the child. The child has a tube down its throat, its on oxygen and has an IV in its arm

The child has been imobile for three days.

Three days. Why did they wait so long?

CAMERON

I don't know.

(listening)

Trouble breathing.

CHASE moves his finger in front of the child's eyes.

Lathargic.

FOREMAN squeezes the child's arm's and legs.

Poor muscle density.

Is he constipated?

Yes.

Do we have a blood sugar count?

Hmmm. Myasthenia. Let's get a vampire up here to pull some blood.

CAMERON exits. We can see her through the window of the room. A couple sitting in in a waiting area stops her. They appear worried. CHASE notices that she has stopped and is talking to them.

Hippies.

What?

CHASE exits. SHOT of CHASE and CAMERON with a COUPLE.

Why did you take so long to bring your baby in?

We live in a remote area. We had to hike out.

We don't own a car.

You can your own food, don't you?

Yes. Why?

We are going to need a stool sample.

Oh. I see.

CHASE reenters the CHILD'S ROOM.

Botulism.

Too damn easy wasn't it?

This far along the child will have be treated with the antitoxin. Damn stereotypes. Like a beacon into the answer.

I guess Cameron can handle it from here.

Hey kid, it'll take a bit but you'll be back crawling around in a few weeks.

You think that baby understood you?

Maybe he can understand the inflection of the act.

That guy really got to you didn't he? What else did he say to you? Well, I guess House knows anyway. And isn't that the funniest part.

SCENE THIRTEEN:

DORIA'S ROOM

HOUSE in his position. WARNER enters. She sits.

I remember when I was a child and I was cold I would take a blanket and cover it on the vents of the house. It was so warm. So relaxing. Peaceful. It was a nice place to think. My parents must have found me asleep on vents a hundred times. Pretty funny.

Have you ever told me anything about your childhood?

My parents would yell at me to let everyone else have the heat. It was like yelling at a brick. I didn't have to react. My will was stronger than theirs and they knew it. I wanted to be there and I was staying. My parents wished child abuse was more popular.

I bet it frightened them how smart you were.

Isn't it funny what you can remember when you are not trying to force your mind to think of something. When there is no great problem to solve. (pause) Remember how we would talk after we had sex? Remember how philosophical and light it was?

Why do you do this? Why does everything have to drop down to some indecent level?

Just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean you should let yourself forget it, or warp it into something it wasn't, just because you have these walls, biases, and filters constructed. If you really think on how it really was, you know it was god damn beautiful.

....

I'll tell you one good thing about drugs...They make even the most insignificant things mean something. Something honest and good.

What's he dying from?

Cancer. The Big C. The old man's gift.

Isn't that pneumonia? (pause) Do you see yourself in him?

I love it when you take advantage of my emotions. (pause) Not at all.

So, you idolize him.

No. I appreciate him.

Where is all of this coming from?

It was always kinkiest when you were psychoanalyzing me.

(half laugh)

House...

Do you know when I knew I wanted to marry you?..I watched my father die...and I wondered on his life and on all the build to that final instant...I thought on my own death...To the last second of it...and I knew that the thought I wanted last would be...you. Absolutely everything I knew about you, all at once, a final stamp on a man's life.

(stunned)

.......

Every second...I know I didn't show it right, but it changed my life, and always for the better.

DORIA suddenly jerks up and yells something. Gurgled. He grabs upwards. He collapses.

He does that sometimes. Just barely in his body now. Waiting for that second that he's weak enough to escape.

It changes us when we watch someone die. It softens us...gentles us...for a time anyway.

We know that these seconds, whatever they are like, will be here for us tomorrow, or sooner...What will be the final fate of the gamble of our beliefs?..

Is there anything that you could ever believe in?

We cannot know what we don't experience. We are such cowards for staying alive.

SCENE FOURTEEN:

CHASE, CAMERON, and FOREMAN sit in the DOCTOR'S CONFERENCE ROOM.

CAMERON is writing something. CHASE is spinning in a chair starring at the ceiling. FOREMAN is thinking, his legs stretched out, his chin in his hand.

I know.

What?

He said "I know."

Ha-ha.

Where's the most entertaining place in this hospital? (pause) And it is the most avoided place in this entire hospital.

(quickly)

House's office.

I know where he keeps the pills.

CHASE, CAMERON, and FOREMAN exit.

SCENE FIFTEEN:

CHASE, CAMERON, and FOREMAN enter HOUSE'S OFFICE.

CAMERON goes right for a drawer. CHASE flicks on the soap operas.

Where's the GameBoy?

CAMERON opens another drawer and hands the GameBoy to FOREMAN.

Why do you know where everything is?

I like to go through people's things...

It arouses you doesn't it?

The thrill of getting caught?

The thrill of finding what people think is hidden.

I like to take dirty panties out of people's hampers.

I'm wearing panties.

CAMERON

What?

Want to smell them?

CAMERON

Do you have my green thong?

I sleep in it.

CAMERON begins crushing up the pills that she found on House's desk. CHASE takes out a hundred dollar bill. CAMERON does a line.

The bigger the bill the better the high. You in on this Foreman?

No that's cool.

CHASE does a line. CAMERON begins to crush up more pills.

Want to smoke it?

Want to put some Ritalin with that? You'll never pay more attention to nothing in your life.

Ya! Ya.

CAMERON pulls out a blackened piece of foil from her pocket.

You've got to love a girl that's prepared.

CHASE smashes up some Ritalin and they head for a window.

What if we have a patient.

It won't happen. Not today. The day's almost over anyway.

We still have three hours left in our shifts.

Every old man I've ever known has looked back on his life and wished he had lived it. Look we've all worked god damn hard all our lives, today has been given to us. Let's not waste anymore of it.

At least this crap is legal.

All right, give me a line of the vicodin. But I don't want to smoke it.

Cool.

CAMERON crushes it up. FOREMAN snorts it.

New horizons. You're breaking barriers today Foreman.

CAMERON and CHASE head back to the window. FOREMAN sits down and starts to play the GameBoy.

FADE OUT

SCENE SIXTEEN:

FADE UP

FOREMAN is playing the GameBoy. CAMERON and CHASE sit close together watching the soaps.

FRONTAL SHOT of CHASE and CAMERON.

In the soap opera world nothing ever gets you down. You could be in a coma for fifteen years, your brother could have been killed by the mob, you could have had to stop an evil weather machine, and still you're never too down to go out and screw your other blind half-brother's sister.

CAMERON

A fake world. Fabricated by the weaving of adjectives.

Adjectives control the world. Adjectives take a simple event and manifest an emotion for it.

CAMERON zones out for several seconds. CHASE watches TV.

You know what I like about drugs? I like that moment when you just shut off. Your mind isn't on, and you are just staring into nothing. (pause) I think that is when you know you have a problem, not with drugs, but a problem inside yourself, when it feels so good to be dead.

Maybe there is a trauma in your past that you shut yourself down during, so you didn't feel the pain it could have caused you.

But the pain is the only thing that lets me know I'm still alive.

So what's it from?

I can't find the reason in me. I've tried, but it is buried somewhere.

SHOT to include FOREMAN.

Maybe there isn't an event. Maybe it's your natural instinct to protect yourself. Maybe it's on all the time. It could be a programmed response and you became obsessed with the feeling it gave you.

So, maybe you have to overcome your own design to be able to let your lust for detachment weaken.

Maybe you're addicted to your own despair.

What if you have to stop wanting it to get it?

SHOT of WILSON passing. He glances in House's window to the hallway. He stops in his tracks and enters HOUSE'S OFFICE. Everyone jumps a bit.

WILSON

Let's see...Idle hands...While the cat's away...uh...God forbid you don't have anything to do.

We're working on our bedside manner.

We don't have anyone else's problems to solve so I think we've started working on our own.

What a day for you guys. Learning the basest micromanagement skills. Maybe a reflection, a siesta, kind of time period should be set up in the hospital to make our doctors better people.

CAMERON

A lot of corporations that focus on creativity do that.

We aren't supposed to be creative, we're supposed to be analytical.

I would have to say that making things up doesn't really bode well with the job requirements.

If you don't stop thinking you might think yourselves out of jobs.

Like Socrates. If you're too smart you will hinder yourselves.

Maybe I am too smart.

I think you are too smart.

Try to keep it in your studio apartments kids. How about you go check on House.

SCENE SEVENTEEN:

DORIA'S body jolts and convulses in his sleep. Thrusting his crouch into the air and slamming him back down to the bed with every shock. HOUSE begins to remove the heart stimulation.

You're almost there. You don't even have to try now.

CAMERON, CHASE and FOREMAN enter.

I don't think he'd want any of you in here. Especially a raci...

I just want to be here. I don't have an agenda or a reason. We all just want to help you.

I don't need any help watching him die.

(rubs House's shoulder)

We know. It's ok. But maybe we'll stay.

Well it's your funeral...well his. Suit yourself.

Some SILENCE forced by the heavy situation of emotion.

He's so hot. You can feel it coming off of him. The Tibetans have a method of meditation called the Inner Heat Yoga. Supposedly, what they are doing while in the meditation is simulating the experience of death and it creates great heat as one adjoins with full spirit of male and female.

CAMERON

They can melt a ring of snow around them.

Right. They become very hot.

THEY sit. Waiting. No one says anything for some time. The only sound is the gurgle of DORIA'S drowning.

Look at Foreman.

FOREMAN sleeps.

Ever since I first met Foreman I've been waiting for this moment. Does anyone have a black marker?

I do.

I think you need a white marker.

Damn your right. He doesn't even have enough hair to put stuff in.

It's like he has prepared for this moment, probably from the first moment he met you, Chase.

Maybe you could expertly trim his nails down to nubs. Oh...Someone got their before you did.

This could be my only chance.

You could duct tape him to the chair.

Or put shaving cream on his hand and then tickle his nose. hehe.

I'm awake.

(laughter)

(pause)

Thanks for taking care of everything over the past couple of days.

There hasn't been anything to do.

We had one easy case of botulism.

Hippies?

Of course.

I'm glad you're letting out your emotions.

Eventually, there is an event that pushes you over the barrier that we hold ourselves back with. Life builds up and in time it always explodes.

You've been taking my vicoden. Cameron?

What do you mean, Cameron?

I like to watch people go through other people's things when they don't think people are watching them. Besides I have a skirt cam under my desk.

No, you don't.

Of course the pictures Chase gave me were much better.

Chase?!

He didn't know I have pictures.

Neither did I.

How much longer does he have?

Tonight or tomorrow morning.

Are you going to be ok?

I haven't even seen him in ten years, I don't know why I feel anything.

But he meant something to you in the course of your life.

...I don't know.

House, I thought you knew everything.

I'm as dumbfounded as you are.

What are you going to be like when someone as significant to your life like me passes on.

Oh they'll never find the body.

It is different when you don't see the body, and you just here about someone's death.

Like when Foreman's telling us about it the next day over coffee.

There is an unnatural random SILENCE amongst the group. It suddenly seems like the heaviness of the room returns again. Things are awkward.

I think I'm going to head out tonight.

CHASE shakes HOUSE'S hand.

I guess I will too.

FOREMAN smacks HOUSE on the back.

CHASE and FOREMAN exit.

Do you need anything?

No thanks.

It's ok to be human you know.

I expected that zinger a lot earlier.

I'm just saying...it's good to be, to remember what's important, and what's final.

So, sure, I'm a human, but it just isn't functional. It's pointless and wasteful to be human.

Yes I know. But even the pointlessness doesn't matter either, because you're stuck with your humanness.

Are you trying to seduce me again?

Are you trying to push me away again?

It doesn't matter what situation surrounds us, we still are stuck being our screwed up selves in it. Interpreting the circumstance through a thousand biases. Changing what is happening, warping it into something for ourselves.

Our greed makes us mourn. Because we want them to stay for us.

CAMERON stands and kisses HOUSE on the cheek.

I'm going to go. So that you don't hold yourself back, to appear some way to me.

CAMERON moves to exit.

Allison.

Yes.

Can you imagine I said something really kind and poignant to you?

I'd love to.

CAMERON exits.

FADE OUT

SCENE NINETEEN: FINAL

FADE UP

DORIA'S ROOM. It is late at night. Everything is silent except the sound of the flat line and the sound of water from the bathroom. HOUSE is not in the room. WILSON enters. WILSON appears concerned.

House?

WILSON knocks on the bathroom door.

House are you in there?

No answer. WILSON tries the door. It is locked.

Oh crap.

WILSON begins to dig through a mess of keys that he has. None work. He runs out into the hall and returns with a new set of keys. The SHOT remains on the door.

He finally opens the door.

HOUSE is passed out on the toilet. The water runs into the sink.

WILSON checks HOUSE'S vital signs. HOUSE is alive. WILSON shuts off the sink and starts to wake HOUSE up.

HOUSE suddenly vomits.

Eck!

And you without your camera. How are we ever going to remember this?

What are you doing?

I just wanted to be left alone for a bit.

You are overdosing.

I didn't mean to. I just took a couple more than normal. I guess I know my limits now. It's two more than normal.

HOUSE begins to clean himself up.

Did you record the time of death?

Yes. 11:14pm.

Hmmm. It's late then. I knew it was late, but not that late.

Are you losing time?

Story of my life. You left the sink on. I didn't know what was happening in here.

I like how the sound of water drowns out everything. I usually fall asleep in the tub.

WILSON

That sounds safe.

WILSON moves to unplug the heart monitor.

I've never inhaled the water. I don't move when I sleep.

Well, I don't sleep when I sleep. I am always half awake. A fly buzzes by and I'm wide awake. Can't sleep for hours.

With how helpless we are it amazes me that we think we are so important, and it is that thought of importance that put us here.

Humanities great hubris. People have been thinking about it for centuries and have gotten nowhere. But I know I could go for a bite to eat.

Let's get something really greasy.

HOUSE and WILSON exit.

FADE

ROLL CREDITS