House M.D. Episode 7.19 Last Temptation

It's early morning in a bedroom with colorful paper airplanes hanging from the ceiling. When the old-fashioned alarm clock buzzes at 4:30 a.m., Masters bounds awake in her pajamas. "Cranial nerves," she quizzes herself. "On Old Olympus' Towering Tops a Friendly Viking Grew Vines and Hops. Olfactory, optic, oculomotor . . ." and on goes the mnemonic as she gets ready for work. By the time she's at her breakfast table eating a bowl of cereal, she's on to swollen scrotum. "Hernia, epididymal cyst . . ."

"Enough with the drilling!" Donovan, Masters' roommate and fellow med student, interrupts, as she rushes into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee before leaving. "You're third year. No more exams."

It's Masters' last day at the hospital, and she's feeling ambivalent. "It's kind of like coming to the end of an extreme roller coaster," she says. "Even with the terror, nausea, and whiplash, I'm a little sad that it's over."

Donovan reminds Masters that her procedure log is due today - "unless you want to blow off your internship and get another PhD." But Masters says that she's got one more lumbar puncture and she's done. "I thought you'd have that thing finished like six months ago," Donovan says. "I've been busy," Masters tells her.

At the hospital, the ER is bustling with activity as Masters races in and checks the patient list. She spots an LP candidate and excitedly hurries over to pull back the curtain . . . only to see another doctor performing the procedure. "Oh, come on," she says. "Cruz? Let me do this. I need it for my log." Cruz turns around. "Wait - you aren't done yet?" She tells him that she's been busy. But Cruz wants to know what's in it for him. "The satisfaction that comes from helping out a classmate?" That fails to elicit the desired response. "How about cash?"

But before she can negotiate, Donovan finds her and asks if she's talked to House. "It's 6:00 a.m.," Masters says. "He won't be in for another few hours." Donovan says that when she went to turn in her own log, she saw that there is an opening for an intern in the hospital's Diagnostics department. That's strange. House has never had an intern before. "He doesn't want an intern," Donovan tells her. "He wants you."

"You must be Dr. . . . Thirteen!" Masters eagerly greets Thirteen in House's office. "Remy. Hadley - nice to meet you," Thirteen says, extending a hand. Just then Chase and Taub come in, excited to see Thirteen again after a year. And then there's Foreman. "What the hell happened to you? Why'd you lie about going to Rome?" Suddenly, a voice from the other room . . . "You'd lie too, if you'd bottomed out, ended up in . . . drug rehab," House says. Well, at least he didn't mention jail, but rehab?

Foreman for one doesn't seem to be buying it. "I didn't even know you had a problem." "Loved ones are always the last to know. Loved ones and robotic, estranged ex-boyfriends," House says.

But House wants to move on to a new patient. "Kendall Pearson. Sixteen-year-old aspiring pirate." Actually, according to Chase, she's a Canadian teenager who's trying to be the youngest person to sail around the world. Apparently, she collapsed the day before during a practice. "Luckily for us, cameras were there," House says, firing up the DVD player. "Corporate sponsors want us to check that she's seaworthy before the clock strikes 'You're too old to set a record.' "

They have three days - though he points out that Masters only has one. "Last day of my rotation," she tells the team. "Could be simple dehydration. She told the Coast Guard she had felt dizzy." But House says her pulse and blood pressure were normal when she was rescued. And what about her internship? "I'm still deciding," Masters says. "Maybe she had a seizure, and that's what caused her collapse." No sign of head trauma from the Coast Guard report. Taub thinks he's spotted something on the video. "What about her back? Look. Right before her collapse, she had the small of her back on the railing. Damaged adrenal glands caused adrenal insufficiency, which caused the collapse."

House orders blood draws every 15 minutes for four hours to track her cortisol. But before everyone can leave he singles Masters out. "There's no hurry. There's no wrong choices. At least that's what they tell people who make crappy choices."

Chase wants to know what's brought on this sudden interest in her future. "You know, a blacksmith who spends this much time hammering out a new blade from raw Jell-O gets curious about who ends up wielding it." So is House interested in "wielding" it himself? "You want her to intern here," Foreman figures. Taub can't believe she'd even consider it. "Before I make my decision, I still have one more LP I need to get," she says, holding up her procedure log. "So, I'd like to go to the ER."

But instead he dispatches Thirteen to accompany Masters to do the blood draw. "You can remind her about all the perks of working for me."

"Behind the deck, port side." Kendall's mom is quizzing her on parts of a ship with photos as Thirteen draws blood. "If her adrenal hormone levels are consistently low, we'll replace them. You'll be ready to launch Thursday," she tells Kendall. "Great!" Kendall says, then turns to her mom. "Inside cabin, facing the bow." Kendall's dad comes in. "Sorry, K. Need to borrow Mom," and they both leave to discuss an interview that needed to be rescheduled.

Masters volunteers to take over quizzing duties, and she tells Kendall about the last time she was on a boat. "My Freshman Mixer in college. I didn't so much mix as hurl." She was thirteen. "Yeah, I know, weird," she says to Kendall. "I was thinking 'cool,'" Kendall tells her.

Thirteen's done with the draw and tells Kendall they'll back in 15 minutes. "Unless you'd like to stay and continue bonding over your lost childhoods," she says to Masters. Kendall has a lot of preparation for the launch - can they speed up the tests at all? Thirteen says no, but Masters has an idea. "Unless you're up for getting on a treadmill? We could stress her body, see if her adrenals respond. It would only take half an hour." Masters gets a page about an LP, so Thirteen will stay with Kendall.

Masters meets Cuddy in the hall on her way to the Procedure Room. "Dr. Cuddy? Can I come by your office later? I'd love to get some advice." But Cuddy's got meetings all afternoon. "Try me tomorrow," she says, walking away. Masters follows. "This is my last day as a medical student. And I've got this decision to make. Probably the biggest decision of my career, which means maybe the biggest decision of my life." She brings up the internship.

"You do realize if you take it he'll probably end up firing you again," Cuddy says. "And he'll continue mocking and insulting you whatever chance he gets." Masters says that he's toughened her up. "Working with House is great," Cuddy says. "And it sucks. Often simultaneously. Most people can't work in that environment. Question is: Can you?"

Of course, by the time Masters gets back to the Procedure Room, Cruz is there doing her LP. "Got bored waiting," he says. She wants to talk to House. When she gets to his office, she's surprised to find the blinds drawn. Peering in, she sees a live chicken on House's desk . . . next to a note reading "Masters - I'm in the ER - House."

"Rehab. Great cover story. Now I can't ever drink around those guys again. Thus eliminating my main bond with Chase." In the ER, Masters can hear Thirteen complaining behind a curtain to House about his earlier lie. "Save the attitude for someone who didn't just get you your medical license back. Price you pay," House says, opening the curtain to see Masters. "There's a chicken in your office," she says. "No, there isn't," House tells her.

Masters asks if Thirteen was lying about rehab. "Oh, great," Thirteen says, but House tells her to relax. "She's completely honest but also completely boring," he says of Masters. "Watch this." He turns to Masters: "Don't tell anyone." "Of course not," Masters dutifully replies. Thirteen doesn't seem totally convinced as she storms off - revealing a man lying on his back on a table. "You did an LP? Why didn't you page me?" Masters asks. "Oh, I'm sorry," House says. "Did you want to do one of those? You should have spoken up. Do you want the job or not?"

She stammers a bit but says: "After careful consideration, I have decided to accept your offer for an internship." "Great," House says, grabbing her procedure log, and filling in the last spot, which Masters points out immediately. "Um, you forged the last one. I only did nine LPs." House asks her if she knows how to do an LP. Of course she does. "Do you know how to do nine LPs and say it was ten? It's time to grow up. Turn that in, the job's yours."

She doesn't have much time to contemplate the fraud when her pager goes off. "Stop staring blankly and go," House says. "No doubt something horrible has just happened to our patient."

"Her hand turned completely blue during the treadmill test," Thirteen tells Masters and the team in the hall, though Masters clearly still has the forged log on her mind. "We put her on vasodilators, restored enough blood flow so she won't lose any fingers." That rules out adrenal insufficiency. When they get to House's office, he's not there. "His chicken's gone," Masters notes. "Probably on the roof," Chase says. Wait, everyone knew House had a chicken? "Down here!" House is at the other end of the hall, near the elevators. But what is he doing with the bottom of his cane? "Loss of consciousness, plus she's slowly turning blue. Did we rule out magical gum?"

Chase suggests low cardiac output. "Patient possibly has cardiomyopathy. Possibly caused by mercury poisoning from all the tuna fish she eats at sea." Masters sees what House is doing. "Um, why are you putting chicken footprints on the floor?" "That clever bastard Wilson got a hold of an Australorp," he says. A what? "Hello? The quietest and calmest of all the chickens?" "Damn him!" Taub says, moving on. "Mercury poisoning is out. Red blood cells have normal morphology." "Raynaud's," Thirteen guesses. "Vasospasm in the ulna artery would explain the hand." House's chicken prints lead all the way to Wilson's office.

"Rapid loss of consciousness - cerebral vasospasm explains both," Foreman says. House agrees. "Take Thirteen and give the patient a calcium channel blocker infusion in the basilar artery." As they disperse, House sees that Masters still has her log. "Thought you were going to turn that in?" She says that she's been busy with the patient. "You're not busy now," he says, and watches as she walks away.

Masters makes it as far as the Medical Education office, holding the log in her hand. But she won't go in the door. And there's Donovan. "Still haven't turned in your log?" she asks. "Still haven't gotten my tenth LP," Masters tells her. Donovan says she thinks that Masters should take the internship.

"You're weird. You make paper airplanes for fun and hang them from the ceiling. You have a membership to the Einstein Museum and an overbearing obsession with facial symmetry. You rub people the wrong way. But House is OK with your lack of bedside manner. He's OK with your willingness to argue at any point with anyone, even if they outrank you. He's OK with your peculiar fashion sense. House doesn't think you're weird, which is weird. But good weird . . . Is that a chicken?" Masters turns around to see Wilson chasing down the hall after a big white chicken. "I think it's an Australorp," Masters says.

"Can someone please explain to me what House and Wilson are doing with those chickens?" Masters finds Foreman and Thirteen, preparing the patient for the channel blocker. "They have a bet to see who can keep a chicken in the hospital the longest without getting busted by security." Why would they do that? "The place they bought them only had one pig," Foreman says.

"I'm glad you're going to be sticking around after today," he tells her. "Really? You want me to stay?" she asks. "It's good to add a different perspective to the department. Someone who still remembers there are rules other than House's." Except that if she doesn't play by his rules, he won't let her on the team. Foreman tells her to find a way around it. "I'd have to lie to him," Masters says. "Which is still lying." "Lying about a lie - that's practically telling the truth," Thirteen says. So she'll need another LP. Thirteen knows where to get one.

"Decent stick. Very smooth." Thirteen is lying on her side on a table while Masters performs the lumbar puncture on her. Masters still wants to know why she'd lie about rehab. "Because the real reason I was gone is not something I want to share." Couldn't she just say that to the team? Thirteen laughs. "How long have you worked here? House's people have personalities that range from Nosy to Pardon Me While I Do This Cavity Search." Masters wonders if there's room for someone who does things differently. "No," Thirteen says. "Not unless House decides that's what he wants."

"During catheter removal, I got a good look at her cerebral midline." Foreman is showing the team an image of Kendall's brain. "Pineal gland is calcified." "Case closed," Thirteen says. "I'll start her on hormone therapy and ship her out." They start to leave House's office, when Masters says: "I handed in my log." "On your way to do that, did you happen to stop and give Thirteen an LP?" House asks. He's picked up her stiff gait, small pupils and a headache she's trying to hide. "Yes," Masters admits. "And I still broke a rule." "MY rule. I told you to defy the man, not this man," he says.

She doesn't understand why it's so wrong that she doesn't like cheating. "Not liking it is fine. Not doing what you don't like makes you an eight year old. Wastes your potential." Masters tells him she won't be like him. "That's the last thing I want. Because then neither one of us would be exceptional." He thinks she's exceptional? "Not anymore," House says, sitting down at his computer.

"I can do my job without compromising," Masters says. "No, you can't. Because I'm not going to let you," as he wraps up what he was doing on the computer and grabs his stuff to go home. "Internship's gone. It's time for Masters to say goodbye. Enjoy being a surgeon. You'll be fine," he says, as he walks out the door.

It's the next morning. Master's alarm clock buzzes. She sits up and goes to work. "Surgery. Anatomy. Branches of the subclavian artery. VITamin C and D. V: vertebral. I: internal carotid . . . internal *thoracic* . . . T: thyrocervical. C: costocervical . . ."

"Welcome to your surgical internship at PPTH," Dr. Simpson addresses the new interns, including Masters. "The senior residents stand behind you. We'll all get to know each other soon enough. Grab a donut and get to work." Masters quickly gets herself noticed by chiming in with a suggestion during one of Simpson's procedure.

Afterward, he talks to her near the patient chart. "Generally speaking, pledges aren't supposed to talk unless asked a question. That's because, generally speaking, pledges don't have anything to say." But Masters is more interested in the "KP" on the chart in OR 10.

"Is that Kendall Pearson? I thought she was discharged." Simpson says it's a House case. "I never know what that guy's up to." As he's leaving, he tells her he wants her to scrub in on a lung harvest. "But it's my first day," she says. "Yes, I know. I was there," he says. "Be scrubbed and ready in 15 minutes." Instead, she finds Kendall's OR, and sees her dad watching from the balcony. "What happened?" she asks. Kendall collapsed in the parking lot. "They're doing something called a sympathectomy. Masters thinks. "She must have had a hypertensive crisis caused by a neural overstimulation in her kidneys. So they're cutting the nerves. Like cutting the gas lines to an engine."

Kendall's dad smiles. "Yeah, sounds like what Dr. Taub said. Says it's basic surgery, but . . ." Masters assures him it is. "You should still be on pace for a launch in 36 hours." "Her mom's packing the boat now. I'm supposed to pick up some dry ice, but . . ." Masters tells him there's nothing he can do for Kendall at the hospital, so he turns to leave. Before he goes, he tells her that they're just trying to help Kendall reach her dream. Masters smiles. "She's different. So, you have to be different. I'll make sure she's OK."

Minutes later Masters is over Simpson's shoulder in the OR, observing the lung harvest. Simpson asks her to hold the retractors for her as another nurse comes in the room, asking to borrow a nurse for a "train wreck" in OR 10. It's Kendall's surgery. Masters looks up. "Can someone take the retractors for me?" "Not really," Simpson says, annoyed. "I have to use the bathroom," she says. "I know you're a rookie, but you've got to be kidding," another doctor remarks. She's not, and she can't wait. She tells Simpson she's going to have an accident in the ER, and he angrily asks for another doctor to grab the retractors, and she leaves.

"What's wrong?" Masters has re-scrubbed and raced into OR 10. "Hypotension, low cardiac output," Foreman says. "Don't you have your own surgery?" House asks, from the balcony. "I took a break. I told them I had to pee," Masters says. He's surprised. "You lied. It's a small one, but it's a gateway lie." She tells him she cares about the patient - another lie, House says. "You care about being exceptional." "I told her dad I was going to take care of her," Masters says. "A third lie! Welcome to the slippery slope!" House says.

Meanwhile, Kendall has constrictive pericarditis. Which, added to a calcified pineal gland . . . "When is a calcified pineal gland not a calcified pineal gland?" House muses. "When it's a granuloma," Thirteen says. "It's Wegener's. We should start her on steroids." Masters says it could also be sarcoidosis. They look to House. "You had me at 'I had to pee,' " he tells Masters. "But Thirteen's right. Start her on three-fold immunosuppressants. Masters, if you want to fight me on this, fill out a consult form so you can stick around. Welcome back!" She insists she's not back. "I'll just be staying for this case." "You've gotten really good at this lying thing," House tells her.

"Hope it was one hell of a whiz." Simpson is scrubbing up when Masters brings him a consult form, claiming House requested her. Simpson doesn't believe it. "House never asks for a consult. First day of your surgical internship, you want to be loaned out to another department. Interesting career move. Drop the form by my office. Don't stay too long. I'm already well on my way to forgetting you."

In the doctor's lounge, Cruz asks to take Masters and Donovan out for drinks. "I'd love to," Donovan says. "Except I think you're a cretin. And the last time she was at a bar it was in ballet class." Masters says she's staying to work on the case. But just this one case. Cruz is jealous. "I would kill for a chance to work with him. Like, literally, skin you and wear you as a disguise."

Later that night, Masters comes to House's office for some quiet research. What's that noise? She sees the covered chicken coop in the other room. Soon, she spies Wilson sneaking in. He uncovers the coop: It's a fake chicken with a little recorder playing chicken noises!

Suddenly there's someone at the door. It's House, and he's locking Wilson in. "Want yours extra crispy or original recipe?" House says, from the other side of the glass. Wilson races out the back window, leaving Masters rather stunned by the whole scene. But then she sits bolt up. "Chickens!"

"You ever get sick from poultry?" It's later in the evening, and Masters goes to Kendall's room. Kendall says she was sick a few months ago. Masters thinks she got the bacteria Salmonella enteritidis. Is that good or bad news? If she's right, then all Kendall needs are antibiotics. "Did you always know that sailing was it for you? That it was the right thing?" she asks Kendall. Turns out she didn't even start until she was ten, and wasn't a fan at first. Actually, there's plenty she still hates about it. "I hate being wet, cold. I hate eating nothing but freeze-dried food." Masters says that's not much of an endorsement. "Sailing is amazing, but it doesn't mean I love every second on the boat. Doing what you love means dealing with things you don't. If there were nothing to overcome, it might not be that -" and suddenly she winces in pain when Masters checks her arm. Masters smiles.

"Salmonella enteritidis is a nice catch." Chase congratulates Masters in the MRI room, while they scan Kendall. Is she going back to surgery when the case is over? "That's the plan," she says. "I think that's a mistake. I think you should go back to surgery," Chase says. Masters is confused. "I just said I was . . ." Nope, what she said was that was her plan. "Which means House might be right, and you might be lying to yourself." She wonders if that would be so terrible. "You chose House over surgery." He says his time with House changed him. "In ways not everyone in my life thought was for the better." And when you do change, it's not so simple to go back. Then he spots something on the screen. "There, in the humerus." Masters shakes her head. It doesn't look like an infection. It looks like cancer.

"You have lymphoid sarcoma." Masters is telling Kendall and her parents what they found. It's a cancer in her arm. It's treatable. "But part of that treatment involves amputating your arm." They're all shocked. "There's nothing else?" Kendall asks. Masters says that they can do chemotherapy and radiation after the surgery . . . "I don't mean after," Kendall says. "I mean instead of. If I leave soon, I still have time to break the record." Her parents can't believe she's serious. But Kendall tells them she feels fine. "Postponing the surgery will increase the likelihood that the cancer will spread," Masters says. "Don't take this away from me!" Kendall begs her parents. "It's just a month. I can take extra precaution. I'll Skype you every day, and I will fly back if something goes wrong." Masters tells her parents she'll be risking her life.

"I think we need to discuss this as a family," her mother tells Masters. They're actually considering it? "Your daughter's condition . . ." she begins. "Thank you, Dr. Masters," her mother cuts her off mid-sentence.

Later, Kendall's father emerges from her room. "She's not budging. She wants to launch tomorrow." Masters tells him she's a minor. "You sign the consent form, we can do the surgery." But Kendall's already talked her mom into it. "One parent's signature is enough." "You're asking me to blow up my family," he says. "I'm asking you to save your family," Masters corrects him.

But he knows what he's up against. "On her first solo on a crossing, she scheduled a court date to become an emancipated minor. She'll do it again. And she'll win. She is going to do what she's going to do, with or without me. I'd rather have it be with."

Masters needs House's advice. But House is terribly busy training a dog in his office to fetch chicken feathers. "No one will stop Kendall's sail! You need to step in." House says he's a diagnostician. But she could die. "Pretty sure the law of the land states that everyone has the right to be an idiot," House says. "I think it's the Second Amendment." He's constantly railing against hypocrisy, forcing people to face the truth. But this time, nothing? "Yeah, because they've face the truth."

Masters says they've made a decision that will likely kill their daughter. "I'm fine with that," he says. "I wanted a diagnosis. I got it. What do you want?" "I don't want her to die," Masters tells him. That means she'll have to break the rules. But she can't. "So coloring inside the lines is more important to you than saving this girl's life. I was wrong about one thing: you are not exceptional."

She moves on to Wilson for advice on Kendall's cancer. Wilson says everyone in oncology is talking about the case, as he suddenly jolts forward in his chair. "My back's acting up," he explains. But he says he would keep trying to persuade Kendall to have the surgery. Though it's hard for him to get the sentence out as there is definitely something strange happening under his desk. Masters sighs. "I know there's a chicken under there." "Oh, thank God," Wilson says, retrieving the bird from beneath him. "Pecked through one pair of my loafers."

But about Kendall, all he would do is try to convince her? "That's all you can do," he says. Masters doesn't seem so sure. And is that more clucking coming from under Wilson's desk? He's busted, and pulls up House's chicken. "Disgusting beasts. I don't know why I ever agreed to this bet." Can't he just call it off? "And lose twenty dollars?

Listen, House was in the exact same situation Kendall's in. He needed surgery, but he didn't want it. Once he was in a medically induced coma, his girlfriend signed the consent form as his proxy. They went ahead with the surgery against his will. Probably saved his life." So she did the right thing? "Depends on who you ask."

Before she can ponder this lesson, the door bursts open: "Fetch!" House's hunting dog runs in and grabs Wilson's chicken. "No! No!" Wilson races after out the door and down the hall. "Excuse me, who's responsible for this chicken?" A security guard, only he's not asking about the dognapped chicken, he's asking about House's chicken, that must have run out of Wilson's office in the commotion. No one says anything. "Does anyone know who owns the chicken?" The guard asks again. "That bird belongs to Dr. Gregory House," Wilson loudly announces. Masters just shakes her head.

The next morning, she goes to Kendall's room. "You need to do this surgery. Now." Kendall says she's leaving today. "It's a stupid record!" Masters says. But it's not about the record for Kendall. "I use to race against other people. I could have the slowest boat in the fleet and I'd win. The other racers would think I was crazy. I'd set off on some tacking angle that made no sense to them, because they couldn't see what I saw. I could sense the changes in the wind before they even happened. At the top of the game, you play by different rules." Masters gives a half-smile and tells her the medicine might burn a bit, as she hangs the IV bag.

Later, in House's office, Masters' pager goes off. Seems almost like she was expecting it. Foreman and Chase are in Kendall's room. "Bradycardic arrest. Third-degree heart block," Foreman says. Chase says it's probably paraneoplastic syndrome. They'll need to get her to an OR for a pacemaker and plasmapheresis.

Masters sees Kendall's parents run in. She grabs the consent form. "We have to get her to the OR and treat her. This is what I was worried about. If this had happened at sea, she would be dead. We need you to sign the consent form. Authorize us to amputate her arm." They agree.

Masters races in to the OR, just as Taub has the pacemaker ready. "Don't need it. Push calcium chloride, it'll fix the heart block." They all look at her. "The bradycardia was me. Her parents signed the consent form. Amputate her arm."

"What happened?" Kendall is groggy and waking slowly from surgery. "You had a cardiac episode that required us to bring you into the OR," Masters explains. "That crisis resolved, but . . ." Kendall notices her arm. "What did you do?!" "During surgery we found cancer in a lymph node in your neck. The cancer was already spreading. It had to be done." Kendall starts crying. "If we had waited until after the sail was over, you would have died," Masters tells her.

But Kendall is distraught. "That record! That was everything!" Her dad says she still has a life, a future. "You weren't supposed to do this! How could you?" Kendall screams. "Because we love you," her mom says. "I hate you! I hate both of you!" She starts to cry again. "My arm . . ." and her dad holds her as she cries. Masters turns to leave. "Dr. Masters," Kendall's mom says. "Thank you."

It's morning again, and Masters' alarm buzzes. But today she doesn't bolt up and start quizzing herself. She just lies there.

"Someone has got their pouty face on." House gets to work and sees Masters moping in his office. "I did things no doctor in their right mind would do," she tells him. "Good!" House says. "I manipulated, lied, forged, stole . . ." But House doesn't want the specifics. "Might be called to testify."

He walks down the hall and she follows him. She broke the rules because she believed she was right, so why doesn't she feel good or satisfied? "And you're following me to ask how I break the rules and maintain my rosy demeanor?" House asks, as they reach Wilson's office. "I didn't do it to be happy. I just thought I would be," she says. "Well, you can't always get what you want," he says, as Wilson opens the door.

House hands him a twenty. "To the victor, the spoils. Your bird recover OK?" "Physically, yes. Emotionally? It was a long night. Next week: ferrets?" Wilson says.

Masters tells House she can't do it. "I'm leaving." Is she going to surgery? "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I do know I don't want to be here." She tears up. "Nothing will ever be simple again," he tells her. "I'm fine with that," Masters says, and walks away down the hall . . .until she trips over House's chicken. She laughs and looks back, but House is gone.