Author's Note: Welcome to my three-or-so shot that was made entirely because of procrastination! Yay! Instead of doing my science homework, working on Perspective, or working on A Different Part to Play, this is what I'm doing. I have slight writer's block on Perspective that should clear out soon, and as for A Different Part to Play, I'm trying to think of a good title for the chapter. Yeah... anyway, this was very very VERY inspired by the episode "Simple Explanation" of House M.D. If that's not the correct episode title, sorry. I thought it was. D: Even the title of this was inspired by it... the preview to it. It said something like "Every season there is an episode that is beyond words. This is that episode." I kind of wanted to write a story like that. I hope you like it! :P Please review, it might make me update on all of my stories sooner. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonny With a Chance or House M.D., my inspiration. Nor do I own "Catch Me" by Demi Lovato, which is where the lyrics at the beginning are from.

"But I won't set my hopes too high
'Cause every hello ends with a good-bye"

He knocks on the door, rapping his knuckles against the harsh wood. Next to him, a blonde hugs her faux fur coat to her body, glancing up at the dark sky and watching the snow float gently down. The trees nearby look almost dead, with their bark such a twisted gray and no specks of green to redeem them. She exhales, her breath cutting sharply into the cold, moist air and making a smoke-like substance. Five seconds pass, ten, twenty, a minute, two. "She's not going to answer, Chad. Maybe she's not home?"

Chad shrugs, hands in the pockets of a leather jacket. "She hasn't answered anyone's phone calls. There's nothing to explain why she hasn't been at work for the past two days. Maybe she's out of town… but maybe not. Maybe she's just avoiding us. But why?" His brow furrows in anxiety and confusion.

"Well, if you think she might be home… I'm willing to do anything to get out of the cold. We can talk some sense into her if she's here. I mean, say we're sorry…" Her voice trails off as she kicks a stone off the walk. "For making fun of her, I guess? Maybe she wasn't in a mood for jokes."

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't have said what we did." He sighs, rubbing his temples. "But how are we supposed to get in?"

She lifts up something that glints like gold in the dull sparkle of the snow. "I have a key. She gave it to me back when we became friends, so that I could come and make sure no one's robbed her when she goes to Wisconsin for her visits. We could use it."

"Seems kind of shifty to enter. It's kind of like breaking in, Tawn," Chad mutters.

"Don't be such a baby," Tawni teases. "Is Chad Dylan Cooper afraid of taking a few risks?"

"I'm not afraid of anything!" he responds indignantly, not with his usual cocky air, but with more of a defensive one.

"Then come on, let's go." She inserts the key into the lock and twists it slowly. When she hears a click, she opens the door, and then gestures soundlessly for Chad to follow.

He shuts the door behind him and they begin to tip-toe through the empty house. "She is out of town," Tawni mutters to Chad, but then something catches her eye in the kitchen. She strides towards it, careful not to slip on the slick hardwood floor. "Look! The sink's on!" she exclaims loudly. Chad starts towards her but slips and lands on his back with a thud. He winces and sits up, rubbing his shoulder.

Tawni begins to giggle uncontrollably. "Smooth move, Cooper!" she manages between laughs. He half-smiles, half-grimaces, and gets to his feet with the help of the counters.

"Well, turn it off before the place floods!" Chad demands, trying to act like his tumble never happened. Tawni chuckles a little longer before turning the knob until the water stops.

"It doesn't seem like Sonny, to go off on vacation without telling anyone and with the water on," Chad observes quietly. Tawni tilts her head and considers it, then nods.

"I know what you mean. She doesn't seem like the irresponsible type, and definitely not the type who would ever risk losing her job. Maybe she's still mad and she's hiding from us, and she was… ah… washing her hands when she heard us," Tawni speculates.

"That must be it," Chad accepts without a second thought. "Come on." He leaves the kitchen and scans the living room, calling out, "Sonny!" occasionally.

Tawni joins in, hollering the brunette's name, feeling a little bit like she's searching for a dog.

"Let's split up. Look for locked doors," Chad suggests, and Tawni agrees. He speeds off to the basement, while she heads upstairs to look through the bedrooms.

There's nothing worth noticing in the guest bedroom, but when she enters Sonny's room, she sees a notebook lying closed on the desk. Loving gossip the way she does, she picks it up and takes it, holding it under her arm with a wide smile as she thinks about exposing Sonny's secrets… then she figures out it might not be such a great idea, seeing as this is her best friend she's talking about. Well, it would still be nice for her to know, so she takes it anyway.

The bathroom door is closed, and when she tries to open it, she finds that it's locked. "Sonny, I know you're in there!" Tawni shouts, proud that she was the one to find the girl. "Look, Chad and I are sorry, okay? We didn't mean that you're actually a bad actor… or that you're the ugliest person in Hollywood… we were just kidding. Please come out or I'll have to come in!"

When nothing happens, she sighs and heads to Sonny's room to rummage through the drawers. When she finds a safety pin, she grins and heads back over to the door. She rapidly unlocks it with the safety pin and swings it open. "Sonny, I'm he-" she starts to announce, then she gasps and covers her mouth. "CHAD!" she shouts, trying to keep her emotions from spilling all over the floor.

"You found her?" And Chad is sprinting up the stairs, and Tawni backs up and squeezes her eyes shut -

"No." She hears the tiniest slap of floor against jeans, and she opens her damp eyes to see Chad crouching beside Sonny, his hand on her heart, looking up at Tawni like a scared little kid. This wasn't what she expected. She expected a yell, and then for him to run away, like there was no… problem, but instead he's an inch away from crying too, and it seems like he doesn't know what to do.

"Someone killed her," he whispers, staring at the gun an inch away from the girl's bloody head. Her eyes are wide open, and when he brushes her cheek with his hand, he finds that it's still wet with her tears. She's sprawled out across the floor, with blood everywhere, and her pretty face marred by fear.

"Chad…" Tawni murmurs, remembering how the door had been locked and thinking about how there's no other exit. "I don't think she was murdered."

"Someone killed her!" he retorts, but she sees the sadness swimming in his ocean blue eyes, and the disbelief etched in the creases of his face. And then he cries, and she doesn't know what to do, so she just stands there beside him, frozen in sadness, while her best friend is frozen in death.