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Ambteen is the femslash ship between Amber Volakis and Remy "Thirteen" Hadley from the House fandom.
Canon[]
Season 4[]
97 SECONDS
House splits up his remaining fellowship applicants in two groups based on gender. Amber urges him to let her join the men's team rather than the women's. He obliges, but Amber keeps switching between the male and female teams, living up to her new nickname, "cutthroat bitch." While the women are running a stress test on their patient, Amber comes in and tells them that she needs the patient to run another test. Thirteen refuses, telling her that the game is over because their team found what they believe to be the issue with the patient.
GUARDIAN ANGELS
While the team waits in the lecture hall for House to arrive, Amber turns to Thirteen to ask how she's doing after the previous episode, where Thirteen accidentally killed their patient. Amber tries to comfort her by telling her that she personally thought that it was the men's fault that the patient died rather than Thirteen's, and that none of that would have happened if House didn't feel the need to pit them all against each other. Thirteen doubles down on saying that she takes responsibility for the death. The answer causes Amber to turn back around. House then conducts the initial run-down of introducing the patient from his office rather than the lecture hall where the fellows are, communicating with them over the phone. They start with a differential, and when Amber offers an idea, House calls her Thirteen. Thirteen tells him that it was Amber talking, and he tells her that she is just Amber doing a Thirteen impression. Amber is annoyed by the interaction, while Thirteen laughs to herself. They continue with the differential. Later, when Amber and Taub are running an MRI on the patient, the two discuss the potential for them to make it onto House's permanent team. Amber complains that it seems that Thirteen is going to have a guaranteed spot because of the fact that she is still on the team despite the way she handled their previous case, where she killed the patient. Taub mentions that House seems to prefer fellows that he views as puzzles, and Amber says that House likes Thirteen because he's unable to figure her out.
Because of a potential lead in the case, House urges the fellows to dig up a corpse that the patient was around to see if she was infected with something. While everyone else heads straight to the graveyard that evening, Amber first makes a stop to talk to Cuddy about trying to score points with House. Cuddy doesn't agree with her strategy, so Amber finally arrives at the graveyard, bringing coffee and donuts. Thirteen grabs a coffee and Amber takes that as an opportunity to talk to her. She asks Thirteen if she grew up around the area. Thirteen is confused and questions her motive, but Amber tells her that she's just trying to make conversation. When Thirteen doesn't respond, Amber asks why she's so adamant on hiding everything about herself. She tells Thirteen that there's something wrong with her and that she's worried. Thirteen sees through her façade and assures her that she doesn't really care. Amber agrees, but tells her that she's "freaked" by her behavior because she can tell that Thirteen is being mysterious on purpose for some sort of gain. Thirteen doesn't want to continue being probed, so she goes back to Amber's first question, telling her that she did grow up in the area and walks back to help the other fellows.
The next morning, Cuddy approaches House as he eats at the hospital cafeteria. She tells him that she found the doctor's lounge covered in mud and had pickaxes left behind, assuming correctly that House had something to do with it. He jokes that Amber and Thirteen had gotten into an argument and he insinuates that he had the two engage in mud play, a sexual act where two people wrestle naked in mud. Cuddy obviously doesn't believe him and correctly guesses that he made the fellows dig up a body. However, he is able to get back on her good side by explaining to her why he made them do such a thing and he promises to clean the lounge.
The team discovers that the patient is experiencing a delusion and hallucination where she both believes her mother to still be alive and that her mother is with her while she is in the hospital. As Amber and Thirteen take the patient's blood to test for a genetic disease, Amber asks the patient what her mother died from, which irritates the patient, who doesn't believe that her mother is dead at all. Thirteen quietly tells Amber to go easy on the patient. Amber approaches her and Thirteen defends herself by telling Amber that squashing the patient's delusion that her mother is still alive isn't going to solve her symptoms, so she should give it a rest. Amber then asks Thirteen if she cares so much because she herself lost her mother at a young age like the patient. Thirteen is shocked at the guess, but doesn't deny it. Amber only turns back to the patient and badgers her more, and Thirteen only watches on. While Amber is pushing her, the patient says that the women are not nice and that she spoke to a man in a wheelchair, who said the same thing, adding that he told the patient that Thirteen killed his dog, again referencing the patient from the last episode that Thirteen killed. Amber and Thirteen are shocked, unsure as to how the patient would have known about their previous patient.
Amber and Thirteen are again together to run an ocular test on the patient. As they explain the procedure, the patient snaps at them, telling them that she doesn't care. She then brings up the patient Thirteen killed again. Thirteen gets up to walk away from the patient and Amber follows, telling her that she should be freaked out by the frequency with which the patient keeps bringing up the topic. Thirteen sarcastically responds that she appreciates Amber's concern, but Amber tells her that she shouldn't feel ashamed at being upset by the topic. When Thirteen looks down at the desk in front of her, the collar of the previous patient's dog is sitting on top of the patient file. Amber is offput by that, and Thirteen picks it up to say that someone must have purposely left it there to mess with her. As they start to argue about it, the patient starts bleeding internally. As the patient is in surgery, the team runs another differential. Taub and Dobson start to argue and House remarks that he enjoys seeing them fight. Amber then jumps to say that she hates Thirteen, but House says that their hatred isn't as productive.
That night, at House's weekly informal elimination ceremony, Amber believes that House is going to pick her to go home. She starts to stand up to House, claiming that she did too much work for him to eliminate her. As she rants about this, Thirteen interrupts her to accuse her of planting the doc collar in the procedure room that freaked them both out earlier, which Thirteen claims was Amber trying to throw off Thirteen's mental state. Amber tries to tell House that she didn't do it, and he chooses to keep her. Thirteen asks if that means that he doesn't believe that she did such an act, but House assures her that he's sure Amber did do it, but that attitude is why he's keeping her, because the successfully got into Thirteen's head. Thirteen tries to play it off, but House claims that Amber "owned" Thirteen.
YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW
Continuing with his games to whittle down a new team from his remaining fellows and believing he has no case for the week, House offers a challenge that will grant one person on the team immunity and the ability to fire someone. The challenge is to bring House Cuddy's thong. Meanwhile, Kutner believes he has a potential case for House, so he leaves to find evidence while Cole, Taub, Thirteen and Amber are eligible for the challenge. Only Amber seems interested in the challenge, and Thirteen asks if she's serious about trying to get Cuddy's thong. Amber tells her that she respects her if she's choosing not to participate on principle. Cole and Taub suggest that they all tell House collectively that they won't be participating so he can't fire all of them. Amber pretends to agree, but when Thirteen asks if she's still going to try, Amber says that she is and leaves.
GAMES
House and the team are handling a patient from the ER, a drug addict rockstar that House thinks is too sick just to be damaged from drug abuse. Cuddy also tells him that he needs to have an official team after this case. He tells that to the team, who then become hellbent on doing whatever they can, however dangerous, to ensure their spot on the new team. To ensure that the team works together and smoothly, House gives them a small model to carry with them like a pass, as the person with the model is the only one who gets to run tests. He gives Amber the model first to test for issues in his lungs.
Amber gives the patient a tank of oxygen as part of the test. Thirteen finds Amber waiting in the hall outside of the men's restroom, where the patient is supposedly using the restroom. Thirteen then asks Amber why she pushed so hard in the first differential for all of the patient's symptoms to be because of his drug use. When Amber explains that his history is the most obvious thing to assume is killing him, Thirteen calls her an idiot, citing that her leaving a smoker alone with an oxygen tank is the worst thing she could have done. As she says this, an explosion is heard from inside the restroom, and Amber runs in to reveal that Thirteen was right, and the patient caused the explosion by trying to smoke a cigarette while attached to an oxygen tank.
At the next differential, House starts counting points to help find his team. Thirteen asks House if she can run her tests since Amber tried and failed. Amber argues that she didn't run her test yet, and Thirteen reminds her that she can't now because the patient has smoke inhalation. The two argue back and forth about whether or not Amber can still run a test while House hides behind his whiteboard and the rest of the fellows watch. House sides with Amber and lets her run a different test to prove her theory. Amber messes up again, and at the differential the two fight again about who is correct and Amber's obsession with assuming all of the patient's symptoms are drug-related. Amber loses her turn with the model and House gives it to Thirteen instead.
At the end of the case, House has to pick two of the remaining fellows to fire. Despite both of them being integral to finding the problem with the patient and diagnosing him, House chooses Amber and Thirteen to fire. When Cuddy finds out, she tells House that he can't have an all-male team (Taub, Kutner and Foreman) and that he needs to hire either Thirteen or Amber to even it out. He says that he either wants neither of them or both, not one or the other. Cuddy tells him to hire Thirteen, which he does, keeping Amber fired.
WILSON'S HEART
After House is in a massive bus crash, he is unable to remember much more than the fact that he knew someone was going to die, he just couldn't remember who. In an attempt to remember, House overdoses on physostigmine, a drug used to treat Alzheimer's. While overdosing, he is finally able to remember that he was on the bus with Amber, and she was going to die somehow as a result of complications of the crash. He goes with Wilson to the other hospital in Princeton and move Amber to their hospital so that House, but more specifically his team, can treat her. While the team is trying to figure out what's wrong with her, House notices that Thirteen is particularly frightened and upset about the situation.
House sends Thirteen and Kutner to Amber and Wilson's apartment to look for toxins. Thirteen is immediately uncomfortable, while Kutner seems unbothered, like Amber is any other patient. Kutner searches Amber's laptop for information, finding a folder labelled "Travel." He opens a video to find that it is a video of Amber and Wilson having sex. Thirteen shuts the laptop quickly, saying that the information isn't relevant. Thirteen stands in the hallway of the bedroom getting gloves out. Kutner tells her that they can't rule anything out as irrelevant until they know what's wrong with her. She gives him a snarky, sarcastic remark before saying that he wouldn't want to watch the video if it were any other patient, and that they're all treating this case differently just because Amber is the one dying. She claims that they shouldn't be treating Amber at all, and Kutner tells her that he's going to search the bathroom.
When they get back from the apartment, Kutner gives House some diet pills they found in the bathroom that could have something to do with her condition. House tells them to look for damage in her heart, and as the team is leaving, he tells Thirteen to stay behind. He confronts her about her lack of contribution in the differentials and the fact that she is more on-edge than usual. Thirteen says that it's because they're treating Amber, and is about to explain why, but House interrupts to tell her that he doesn't care at the moment, he needs her to "get over" whatever she's feeling and be useful to help solve the case. She doesn't say anything before leaving to join the rest of the team.
House orders that they chill Amber's lifeless body more than they already have to give them more time to diagnose her by filling her lungs with cold slurry. Kutner and Thirteen do it. While Thirteen is preparing the tubing, Kutner asks her what House wanted to talk to her about. She lies, giving him a sarcastic answer. She almost connects the wrong tubes before Kutner stops her. She is frustrated that she keeps getting things wrong, and Kutner assures her that, although it feels like it is, this case isn't any different than any other case they've had. He accurately reads that Thirteen is upset because of the idea that Amber could die. She questions why Kutner isn't equally as upset at such an idea, and he tells her about the fact that his parents were killed when he was young, so he is slightly desensitized to death because it's something that happens to everyone.
House has another dream, where he sees that Amber has a rash on the small of her back. When he checks her real back with the team, she has the same rash. Foreman suggests that it's an abscess rather than a rash, and House tells Thirteen to stick a needle in the area to check for pus. Thirteen hesitates, so House orders Taub to do it instead. Thirteen argues that she can do it, but House doesn't hear her out and yells at her for still being upset over the case. She walks out of the room.
The team believe they have the answer, and House finds Thirteen in a bathroom stall. He is in the one next to her, and talks to her about why she's messing up on the case. She finally admits that she is, mentioning that she didn't even like Amber in the first place. House asks if she hated her, and Thirteen says that she didn't hate her enough to want her to die. He deduces that she isn't guilty about hating Amber, so she's just afraid of the idea of a young doctor dying before her time. Thirteen tries to leave the stall, but House is there to block her. They discuss the fact that Thirteen is afraid of the scenario because of her own medical history, as she could possibly have Huntington's disease, which would also significantly shorten her lifespan and is something that she has been avoiding testing for, just because she doesn't want to believe that she really has it. House pressures her to finally test herself for the disease, and she tells him that he avoids his problems just as much as she does. He tells her to pack up her things because she's fired, and she responds that he's messing the case up more than she is before she pushes past him to leave.
After a series of new symptoms and House getting his memories back with electric brain stimulation, it's revealed that Amber has amantadine poisoning and it going to die because her body is too destroyed from the bus crash. She is woken up to spend her last hours alive and with Wilson. When everyone learns that she cannot be saved, the team contemplates what to do. Thirteen is the one to suggest that they all say goodbye, to which Taub claims that she didn't like any of them. Kutner says that they liked her, which Taub questions, but Foreman says that they like her now. In the small goodbye montage, Thirteen is the only one on the team to smile at Amber and give her a hug, which Amber notably leans into. After Amber dies, Thirteen is in the lab, finally testing herself for Huntington's after being inspired by Amber's death. She finds, frustratingly for her, that she tested positive for the degenerative disease.
Fanon[]
Thirteen and Amber are a perfect example of an "enemies to lovers" trope, especially after the Season 4 finales, House's Head and Wilson's Heart. Amber and Thirteen are constantly feuding, especially as they become the final two women in the running to be on House's team. However, this dynamic changes when Amber dies, where Thirteen becomes uncharacteristically shaken by her death and cannot function in helping to solve the case as usual. Amber's death even brings Thirteen to face her fear of finally testing herself for Huntington's, which she ends up having, starting her on the journey of trying to live with it.
House's previous jokes during the initial hiring period of Amber and Thirteen secretly being interested in each other also help with this ship. The ship is also interesting in the fact that Amber is generally seen in the fandom as the least-liked fellow, while Thirteen is one of the most-liked by the fandom.
On AO3, Ambteen is the third most written ship for Amber and the fifth most written for Thirteen. It is also the fourth most written femslash ship in the House M.D. tag. There are currently 25+ written works.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Thirteen/Amber tag on AO3
- TUMBLR
- Amber x Thirteen tag on Tumblr
Trivia[]
- Despite hating each other, Amber and Thirteen are often seen together in scenes, whether that be near one another in the lecture hall, sitting directly next to each other during differentials in House's office or dealing with a patient together.
- Thirteen is canonically bisexual and openly intimate with women on the show, which fuels this ship as well as other femslash ships that include Thirteen.
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| House Ships • House Characters | ||||
| SHIPS | het | Foreteen • Hacy • Wilber | ||
| slash | Choreman • Hilson | |||
| femslash | Studdy | |||