The Mental Foreman

Eric Foreman shifted his gaze across the office. It was quiet. Too quiet. And that was too good too be true. Cameron: staring off into her coffee with the occasional glace at the file spread before her. Chase: seemingly talking dirty to the coffee machine to coax it to make a fresh batch of coffee. Foreman himself was also going something coffee related. House, however was not, and at eight ten in the morning, that was a dangerous sign.

Foreman casually glanced at his employer, who was sitting on a desk, a reference book open on his lap. With a slight incline forward, he noticed that House was all too deeply engrossed in the anatomy of the skull. Carefully, Foreman leaned in more, narrowing his eyes. House looked up and smiled all too sweetly at him. Foreman scowled right on back.

"Oh Chase!" House called out in a sing song voice. "I need you to identify something here for me." He brandished the book. "I think they got it wrong."

Chase raised a quizzical eyebrow. "That's...the nervous system, ask Foreman."

"Oh, no, not Foreman. Cameron, how about you then?"

"Nervous system. Foreman," she grunted distractedly.

House snapped the book shut with a resounding snap. "You're not any fun."

They all shrugged and went back to their coffee-related activities.

"So let's make it a game! Pin the neural enty points on the skull!" Chase, Cameron and Foreman watched as House eased himself onto his feet and hobbled over to the dry erase board. He drew a rough skull, then offered the marker to Chase.

"C'mon," he enticed, "it's a once in a lifetime chance."

Chase snorted. "Hardly. You know, if you just lay a middle ground in, then pull out the highlights, it could look like a skull."

"I'm not looking for art advice, I'm looking for the name of the hole that's right here," House emphasized his point, circling the mandible. "Come on, come on! I'm thinking that Chase might now since he knew the thing about the middle ground."

No response.

Foreman sighed and just gave it up. "It's called the mental foramen."

There was a pause. Chase broke it, finally voicing the puzzled look on his face, "I don't get it."

Note: The mental foramen is a real thing! I was sketching a skull out of a medical text and discovered it. The execution is poor in this one, though, but I'm totally convinced that it's because of the mental foramen that Foreman is the neurologist. :)