Cover of a Book

by gorblimey2

A female Navy doctor gets assigned to study under House. He thinks he knows a secret about her, but the truth is much more interesting. Can House fall for someone in the military or doe she remind him too much of his Dad? Love, humor, romance, action.

1. Chapter 1

Cover of a Book

Murphy Morrighan had her orders in her hand when she walked out of her detailer's office in Norfolk, Virginia. The detailer was an old Master Chief, a lifer, about ready to retire with 30 in the Navy. She liked him, he was no nonsense and he was a miracle worker. He had really gone to bat for her and had managed to get her a slot in the military/civilian health care exchange program. The program was new and only the best doctors were being allowed to take advantage of it. Essentially it allowed military doctors to take a one year position in a teaching hospital to study skills the Navy considered important for the ever increasing demands of overseas duty. It wasn't really a residency, just simply training that would assist the doctor in the field. It counted as shore duty and it was only offered to doctors who had re-enlisted for another tour of duty, or four more years. Murphy wasn't getting out so she saw this as a great way of expanding her horizons and finding out what it would be like to practice in a civilian facility.

A lot of the doctors in the program had opted for training in orthopedics and emergency medicine. Murphy already had an extensive background in emergency medicine. She had done rotations on the USNS Mercy and in the field in Iraq and realized that she was frequently asked to examine civilians while she was on the Mercy and in Iraq and had to diagnose some fairly strange maladies. She had just finished combat duty with the Shock Trauma Platoon in Camp Korean Village about seventy miles from Baghdad. Her job had been to stabilize casualties and then move them to higher care. It wasn't easy to do it with RPG's a dime a dozen and in the hands of so many, but then they did have a platoon of Marines who were kept busy keeping them safe to do their jobs. The best thing about combat duty was combat pay...a little extra moolah in her pocket. She was hoping to put a down payment on a house with both her combat pay, savings and the $35,000 she had received as a re-enlistment bonus. Navy doctors had been jumping into civilian practice by the droves so the bonuses for re-enlistment had gone up substantially.

Murphy was being sent to Princeton. She had asked for UCLA but the last slot there had been taken a week before she applied. The only open slot that interested her was one at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. It had been open for quite awhile and she couldn't understand why. It sounded incredibly interesting and challenging. It was a position in the Diagnostics department. She would do a year rotation in the department. It was just what she was looking for. She was going to take some of her thirty day leave at home in San Diego and then use a week of it to look for a place to live in Princeton.

"House." Lisa Cuddy, dressed in a burgundy tweed suit and matching pumps, tried to get his attention but his eyes were closed and he had headphones on listening to music. She kicked his chair and his eyes flew open. He took the Bose headphones off and looked at her.

"You've changed your hairstyle." he said.

"I got it cut." she looked at her reflection in the glass and thought that the new cut looked good on her.

"A lot cut for you. You look better with longer hair. Hides that mole on the back of your neck." House started to put the headphones on again but she grabbed the right one off of his ear.

"House, the new member of your team is starting on Monday."

He looked at her in disbelief, "What new member? I don't need a new member. I didn't ask for a new member."

"We went over this last spring...when your billables fell. We agreed to join the military's new exchange program. Remember?" He looked baffled. "The military sends us a doctor. That doctor's salary is paid by the military so essentially we get a free doctor. She can bill in your department and not cost you a thing. All you have to do is teach her something about diagnosing patients. GET IT?"

"Vaguely. Send her back. My billables are fine now."

"Barely. House this gives you a chance to get ahead of the game. If the Board sees your billables are up it will take pressure off of both of us. Suck it up. She's coming tomorrow."

"I'm not feeling the vibe...I don't think this is a good idea. I don't need some snot nosed kid who couldn't cut it in the real world taking a place at the table with real doctors."

"I don't care what vibe you're getting. Here's her profile, get used to it. She's coming in tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. She has some papers to fill out in HR but she should be down here by 10 a.m. And TRY to make her feel ...ok, I know you can't make her feel welcomed, but try not to make her feel like a caretaker in an insane asylum."

House gave her an insane look and she closed her eyes in fear and left. House opened the file. Commander Murphy Morrighan, 36, single, no dependents. In the Navy since she was 18. Undergraduate at UCSD, med school at UCLA, residency at Bethesda. Tours of duty included the U.S.N.S. Mercy and recently Iraq. She had also practiced at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii and Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego. She had a specialty in infectious diseases. There wasn't much more given in the profile so House couldn't tell if she was bald, fat, green or mean.

House didn't like changes but he did like challenges. He wondered how long it would take to make her beg Cuddy to rotate her into another department? He gave it one month. House grabbed his cane and made his way to the elevator. It was time for clinic. Then it dawned on him, he could have the newbie do his clinic time. Sweet.

It was late September and they had switched to dress blues about two weeks ago. Murphy thought the uniform was a little boring, but she did have some nice hash marks and some service medals and ribbons. She even had a purple heart she got in Iraq in 2003 from shrapnel that flew off of an exploding personnel vehicle during a SAR run. The shrapnel landed in her right thigh requiring some surgery. The incident had also resulted in a commendation and Navy Cross.

She was required to wear her dress or duty uniform to the civilian hospital each day unless she was given permission by the hospital to wear civilian clothes. This would not include wearing her medals but she would be required to wear her ribbons which reflected the medals she had earned or won. She was also required to wear her uniform when she stood duty at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard's Sickbay once a month.

Murphy walked through the doors into the very modern hospital. She thought back to the seagreen walls of most military hospitals and thought how archaic they were in comparison. She stopped at the front desk.

"Hello, I'm Commander Morrighan, I'm here to see Lisa Cuddy."

"Her office is in there." The nurse pointed to some french doors and Murphy nodded her thanks.

Murphy announced to the assistant that she was there and then took a seat to wait for Dr. Cuddy. When Dr. Cuddy came through the door she was spit and polish... manicured finger nails, expensive hair cut, Tahari suit, gold earrings. This woman was beautiful and professional. Murphy already liked her.

"Commander Morrighan, I'm Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine. It's great to have you aboard."

"Thank you Ma'm."

"Oh, please I'm not much older than you, please call me Lisa."

"Lisa. Thank you. I'm looking forward to meeting Dr. House."

"Well, before you embark on that journey, let's get you through the maze of human resource paperwork. We have to get information for your malpractice insurance."

She and Lisa went over to Human Resources and as Lisa was going to leave she started to feel guilty.

"Dr. Morrighan, can I talk to you over here in private?" She motioned to a quiet corner. "I have to warn you, you are about to enter the Twilight Zone. I need to tell you about Dr. House. He's...he's not the easiest person to tolerate. He is not politically correct in ANY sense of the word, he can be crude, mean, rude and judgmental. I'm afraid he'll make your life in his department a living hell. But if you can get past his personality, he's absolutely brilliant and the best doctor in the hospital. You can't help but learn from him even if you'd like to kill him or yourself while doing so. There, I've warned you. If you absolutely can't take it any longer, come and see me and I'll see what I can do."

Murphy didn't flinch. "Lisa, I did my homework, although I did it late. After I got the position I wanted to know why the slot had been open for so long. Usually the slots fill up rather quickly, everyone in the military wants a break from the military. So I started making phone calls and I pretty much gathered from what I was told that I had gotten myself into a hornet's nest. So be it. I just have to suck it up and try my best. But I really appreciate the warning, it's kind of you to not paint the position as a bed of roses."

"Oh, it's a bed of roses, you'll just be laying on a lot of thorns." She smiled. "When you're done, Dr. House's office is on the second floor. Good luck." Lisa took one last look at her. She was a strawberry blonde with a tight chignon under her cap. She had a pert little nose, freckles, small ears, a nice figure and striking legs. She carried herself well with great posture. Her smile was warm and friendly, her voice a little on the high side, but not much. She might have had mascara on, but that was all. But she was pretty. Judging from the rows of ribbons on her, she had a lot of experiences that Lisa couldn't even begin to relate to. She was Lisa's height, maybe a fraction shorter. And she certainly sounded smart when she talked.

House and the team were in the white board room reading the chart of the newest patient. The patient, a 70 year old man, had been receiving radiation treatment for prostate cancer when he developed a cough and chest pains. His liver and spleen were also enlarged. A cardiovascular event was ruled out so House was brought in by Wilson. House got up and began to write the symptoms on the white board when he saw her open the door to his office next door. He looked around the door jamb and said, "I'm sorry but Foreman is 4F, come back next week and we'll let you have Cameron."

She cocked her head to one side quizzically and walked into the room they were in, "Dr. House?" She had her hand out to shake his. He ignored it and went back to the white board.

"Obviously, we have an infectious disease here but no one seems to know which one. He hasn't been out of the country for centuries and he lives in a home for diapered geriatrics. Any ideas?"

Murphy continued to stand, almost at attention, when House finally looked at her, grimaced and quickly hobbled over to a chair, pulled it out for her and then passed a hand over it to motion for her to sit down. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you needed a formal invitation to the ball or I would have worn my tux. In case you're wondering what we're doing, we're treating a real patient under real conditions found in real places. I know that you're used to treating the black syph patients or the dreaded gonorrhea riddled sailors but in real places people get real diseases."

House turned back to the white board after Murphy sat down and started barking orders. "Get a CBC, SED rate and start culturing some of the spew from one of his lungs. Let's see if we can grow us a zombie. Foreman, get us a CT scan of the lungs."

The team got up and slowly exited while looking at her with curiosity. She just smiled.

House was looking at the board and then he heard a sound. He turned and saw she was still in the room . "Are you a moron? What part of get a CBC and Sed rate didn't you get? I recognize that you're used to attending a brief before you do anything more complicated than wiping your ass, but you'll just have to wing it today without one."

"I didn't realize you wanted me to join them and frankly, I didn't think it took four doctors to do that. Usually, a nurse can do it." As the words came out of her mouth she immediately regretted it. She knew she had just put herself in the crosshairs.

"Oh, well, we wouldn't want you to get your hands dirty or a little blood on that nice uniform. Forgive me for thinking you were here to actually do a job. I'll have them bring in a rollaway and you can take a nap." He raised his voice like she was deaf, "I think that cap is too small for your head, the circulation has been cut off. WE actually do most of our own lab work and analysis. We're in a department that has the word Diagnostics written on it...that means we D..i..a..g..n..o..s..e.. illnesses."

"I'm sorry Dr. House, you're right, I'm wrong. I'll go find the others and help them." she nodded her head quickly and left but not before she saw him staring at her chest blatantly.

For once House wasn't actually staring at breasts, he really was staring at the chest, the chest of ribbons. House's father had been awarded the Navy Cross and a Purple Heart so House was well aware of what they meant. It both annoyed and impressed him at the same time. It meant she was a hero. His dad was a hero. Crap.

House was curious about the circumstances surrounding her medals but he didn't want to acknowledge her hero status. She made him uneasy. He wanted to make her life miserable, humiliate her and yet she hadn't done a thing except show up in that uniform. It was the uniform. It reminded him of the day-in, day-out arguments he had with his Dad on just about every topic under the sun. House's father was black and white. Your behavior was either good or bad...there was no room in the Marines for grey. No room in his heart for tolerance. Tolerance was for social workers and lefties.

Murphy had no clue where to go or who she was following. She couldn't even ask someone where they were because she didn't know who they were. Murphy went up to the third floor and was lucky enough to see the female doctor in with a patient.

"HI! My name is Murphy Morrighan, I'll be working with Dr. House. He told me that I should assist you and the others in running the tests. How can I help?" Murphy walked over and smiled at Cameron and then down at the patient. She noticed he was sweating even though his fever had abated.

Cameron looked curious. "You'll be working with Dr. House? Doing what?"

"I'm doing a year rotation under him...trying to pick up some pointers on diagnosing patients. Mind if I examine him?"

"Sure." Cameron backed off so Murphy could do an examination. "But isn't that a Navy uniform?"

Murphy put on some latex gloves and began her examination. "Yes, I'm in the Navy but I've been assigned this year to this civilian hospital to learn some new tricks." She tried to be pleasant and kind. She checked the patients legs, forearms and head. She grabbed a few culture tubes and took swabs of various areas on the patient's body. Cameron ignored Murphy's exam since she had already performed one herself. While Murphy did the examination she continued to talk pleasantly with the her. She wanted to at least start off on the right foot with this doctor. She took off her gloves and reached out her hand to shake the woman's. Then she continued to observe the patient who had a productive cough, lots of mucous.

"I'm Allison Cameron, I have a fellowship with Dr. House." She still looked a little stunned, "We weren't told to expect another addition to the team."

"Just for a year! Now, how can I help?"

"Let me show you where the lab is and you can help me run some tests there." Allison picked up the various vials of blood and cultures and took them with her. "Where were you stationed before this?"

"Iraq. A base outside of Baghdad. Trauma and triage mostly."

"Oh, you'll get along well with Chase then. He's an Intensevist."

"He would be?"

"The young blonde doctor."

"Ok...and the African-American?"

"Neurologist. Dr. Eric Foreman." Cameron said as they reached the lab.

"Are they Fellows?" She asked with an air of respect.

"Yes."

"I'm impressed, Dr. House is well known, must not be easy to get selected, he must have had dozens of applicants."

"Yes, I heard there were 432 when I applied."

"Whoa! Congratulations. You must be brilliant!" She said it earnestly. "You must all be brilliant. I'm afraid I was foisted on Dr. House. The hospital is part of the military program and I took the slot here. It wasn't as if he had a say in who came, so I didn't have to beat out anyone. I can tell I'm going to be pretty useless to this team."

"I'm sure you bring a lot of experience." She smiled kindly but she was thinking that it must irk House that he didn't have a say in who would take the slot. She wouldn't want to be this woman. Life was going to get very complicated for her, very soon.

Murphy thought the young doctor was gorgeous and that seemed to fit House's M.O. He was known for liking beautiful women. Dr. Cameron couldn't be more than 28 and she looked so innocent. But Murphy knew that looks could be misleading.

"Can you run the cultures?"

"Sure, I'm faster with blood work but I enjoy cultures more, so anything you want, you let me know."

"Faster?"

"Well, in the field you learn some tricks on how to speed things up. But it's nice to be able to do everything by the book and not be in such a hurry."

After a few hours they were back in the white board room but House was at lunch with Wilson. Murphy was studying the patient's history. Cameron decided that she would make the introductions.

"Chase, Foreman, this is Dr. Murphy Morrighan. She's doing a year rotation under House under a new military program."

Chase put out his hand and his best smile. They shook hands. "Welcome aboard the U.S.S. WhattheFuck? Hope you enjoy the ride."

She laughed a little and then turned to Foreman. They shook hands and Foreman said, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. It means you'll be the focus of the House's scorn for at least a couple of weeks instead of us."

"Thanks, I guess." She looked at them and asked questions about their time with House. They seemed to get along but unlike the military, she knew that there was a lot more competition in the civilian hospitals. Once you had been in the battlefield and had to deal with constant injuries, death and the possibility that you might also die, politics was the last thing you thought about. Oh sure, there was a lot of competition in the military for promotions but there was also a strong sense of family and in the end they all looked out for each other's back. Murphy had been lucky. She had been in the right places at the right time and had been promoted each time she was allowed to seek promotion.

A few minutes later House strolled in with a sucker in his mouth staring at Murphy. "So children, I assume you've met our new student, little Murphy Morrighan. We're going to call her Murphy or Murph...whichever you prefer. Now let's make little Murphy welcomed. Just to make her welcomed we're going to let her go first."

He sat down and smiled like a overzealous kindergarten teacher. The room went silent and Murphy was uneasy. She wasn't sure what House wanted from her except her humiliation. Cameron couldn't stand the silence so she piped up. "He wants you to present the case and findings so far."

"Oh." Murphy jumped up and went to the white board. The team cringed when she picked up a marker. House's cane came slamming down on Murphy's knuckles. "OWWW..." Murphy jumped back and shook her hand in pain.

"No one touches the markers without my permission first."

"Sorry Dr. House, I didn't know. I won't do it again." She was obviously angry but kept it in check.

"We have a 60 year old Caucasian male with stage II prostate cancer. He has had two unremarkable doses of radiation treatment. He was admitted when he started having chest pains and a productive cough. The patient is obviously immunocompromised from the radiation. He is also allergic to penicillin and sulpha. The Laboratory tests showed the white blood cell count at 18,000/mm3, absolute neutrophil count, 12,780/mm3, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, 75 mm/h; and a very elevated C-reactive protein, 14.2 mg/dl. I noted nodules on the lungs in the CT scan.

Physical examination revealed that the patient was sweating profusely despite a low fever which suggested that I do a physical examination of his upper extremities for possible bacterial infection. I discovered multiple erythematous subcutaneous nodules along the lymphatics extending from a healed cut on the patient's left hand and up the patient's left forearm. These nodules were tender and painful. There was no regional lymphadenopathy. Debridement of the lesions was performed and the tissue was tested for bacterial and fungal cultures. The Gram-stained smear showed polymorphonuclear leucocytes and Gram-positive fine, branching filaments, partially acid-fast, with a tendency to fragment into coccoid and bacillary forms. It is my opinion that the nomenclature of the bacteria is Nocardia brasiliensis. It is my opinion that in light of the patient's allergies we should start him on gentamicin and if it is non-responsive we should move on to Cipro.

The present case is consistent with the classical presentation of lymphocutaneous infection with a primary lesion at the site of injury on the hand and an ascending lymphangitis involving the forearm. The inoculation probably occurred from exposure to the soil after the patient cut himself on the spade he was using in the nursing community's patient's garden."

She looked around at everyone and their faces were blank. She looked at House who was rubbing his upper lip on his cane. She started to get anxious and sweat a little. But to anyone looking at her, they would say she was the epitome of calm and confidence.

House looked at the rest of his team, not sure if they had reached the same diagnosis or not. He was annoyed at them. He had wanted them to show her up, not the other way around.

"Cameron, do you disagree?"

"No, but then I have to admit I missed the subcutaneous nodules and I didn't observe the cultures under the microscope, I left that to Dr. Morrighan." Cameron heard House clear his throat. "I mean Murphy."

House had the habit of referring to all doctors by their surnames. It was a common thing done in the military and so House wanted to do just the opposite with Murphy Morrighan. He would single her out by calling her by her first name, thus letting her know she was not on par with the others on the team and by stripping her of that military formality that helps give officers a sense of belonging to a unit."

House looked at Chase and Foreman who were studying the table and their fingernails in humiliation. House rolled his eyes and got up. He grabbed the chart and took off out the door towards the elevator. Murphy wasn't sure what she was suppose to do but the others jumped up and followed. So she took their cue.

House entered the patient's room, put on gloves and examined his right forearm and cut. He looked at the chart and the CT scan print. He turned to Murphy. "He's your patient now, treat him. I want the other three of you to follow me back to the office."

House was not happy with the team. They were getting lazy, not being thorough in their work because they had House to fall back on. They knew House would solve the case no matter what shoddy work they might do. This was common with all the teams he had put together in the past, they just got lax after awhile. House was livid.

"The next time she beats any of you to the punch on a diagnosis, you each get to do a third of my clinic hours and hers too. Do I make myself clear?"

"Look, she was the one who had access to the cultures. Anyone could figure it out if you have access to them?" Foreman moaned.

"Yeah..right. First you have to find the nodules to debride so that you can culture the bacteria and two, you have to put it all together to know which bacteria you are probably looking for so that you can run the right tests to identify it...Norcardosis effects maybe 500 people a year in the USA. Not an easy diagnosis and yet she put the diagnosis together in three hours while you guys played twiddly winks. Go do your clinic hours, I don't want to look at you."

Murphy was back within the hour and wondered where everyone was. House yelled out to her from his chair at the computer, "You better hurry, you're late for your clinic hours, they started ten minutes ago. If you're five more minutes late they add on a full hour to your time." She jumped up and ran downstairs to the clinic and discovered House's name crossed out and hers written over it. The nurses gave her the cook's tour of the clinic and then she started seeing patients.

When she went home that night to her new house, she was beat. There were boxes all around her and she just couldn't take it. Murphy laid down on the sofa and didn't wake up until 3:00 am. She went into her bed and slept some more until her alarm clock went off at 5:30. She got up, put on her running clothes and took off across Princeton on her hour long run. When she got back she did free weights. This would be her routine until the second week when she discovered the staff gym at PPTH. Once she discovered the modern gym and it's fancy Nautilus machines, she began running to work, doing several cycles of the Nautilus machines and then showering and dressing for work at the hospital. At night she would either walk home or take the bus.

When she got to work the following day the team was silent and she knew she was screwed. "Alright, please tell me where I went wrong. I can feel the tension in here and I suppose I was the cause of it. What did I do?"

Only Chase would be honest with her. "You showed us up in front of House and now he thinks we're lazy and not doing our jobs. He threatened to make us do more clinic time if we don't improve." Even Chase didn't want to tell her that they had orders to diagnose the next case before she did or else.

"Oh God, I am sorry but it really isn't fair to you guys. We used to get guys in from southern Iraq and Kuwait that had Nocardia infections. It's much more frequent over there than here."

"That doesn't matter to House, he thinks we should have been more observant." Cameron didn't look her in the eye when she said it.

At 9:30 a.m. House walked in and threw his backpack down on the chair. He looked into the team room and saw a very quiet group of doctors.

"Dr. House, may I speak to you?" Murphy asked.

"No...you don't want to do that." Foreman advised her. They all shook their heads no.

But Murphy was sure she could make House understand that it wasn't his team's fault.

"And what would you like to tell me? You need a pass to the bathroom? Foreman hit you? Chase looked up your skirt? Cameron called you a slut?"

"No, I just wanted to say that I treated Nocardia infections in Iraq at least once a month. It was much more common over there than here. The first time I was presented with a case, I didn't have a clue what it was until one of the doctors showed me the symptoms, tests and treatment for the disease. So you see, it isn't their fault...it's a hard one to pin down."

"And yet the military seems to have nailed this one on the head. Did you hear that kiddies, Mommy says you shouldn't be punished for your stupidity. But Daddy thinks you should be punished for missing some very important symptoms. What do you think we should do with you?"

Cameron started to speak, " We all..."

House interrupted, "aaaaaannnt," he made the sound of a buzzer, "Wrong answer. The answer is, 'when I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." He then turned to Murphy, "And I don't want your lame excuses for the team. Who gives a crap what you did in Iraq and how many ragheads you treated."

House turned around and went back to his computer. The others took off to the clinic. Murphy decided she better go down too and see if she was suppose to be on duty. Apparently she wasn't but House was and he had just called down to let them know that Murphy would be taking his place...all month. She also found out that Cuddy had put her down for evening rotations which meant that she had two evening shifts each week from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. when the night clinic closed. It turned out that, with House's clinic duty she was going to be putting in 30 hours a week in the clinic. It wasn't anything new. Whenever the Mercy went overseas to help out in disasters they would end up serving as a clinic for the civilians day in and day out. She had to admit, the complaints in Africa and Southeast Asia were a little more debilitating than the colds and flu that came through the doors at PPTH. Some of the patients at PPTH had fairly trivial complaints but then Americans were used to health care at the snap of a finger so she knew she would see a lot of ridiculous presentations.

On her way home she met up with Cuddy in the elevator. "Murphy, how's the spawn of the devil? Ready to run yet?"

"He is different isn't he? I understand you hired him when no one else would. WHY?"

There was an awkward silence as Lisa looked up into the air as if the answer might be up there.

"Lisa, if you told me it was because of his sexy blue eyes and long, graceful fingers, I'd understand."

"It was because I knew how bright he was and I just couldn't let that mind go to waste." Cuddy told her.

"I think I liked the blue eyes and long finger excuse better." They both laughed as they left the elevator.

The next day a new patient had been referred to the department and she could tell that the team was happy about it. Everyone in the diagnostics department got out of clinic duty if House had a patient that required immediate attention. Not every patient of House's was dying, but his patients all presented with a medical problem that the other doctors could not diagnose and therefore, could not treat.

Murphy and the team went up to examine the patient. She didn't want to touch the teenage boy because she was afraid that the team might think she was an eager beaver. Nonetheless, they looked at her like they expected her to be the first to take a turn.

"Come on guys...please don't treat me like a pariah. Let's do this one together...I'm not that good at this, that's why I'm here."

They didn't believe her. Her presentation of findings had sounded like a textbook, almost perfect. They stepped away so she could get closer to the patient. She relented and started examining the patient. Chase did an examination too. The parents answered Foreman and Cameron's questions on the history of the patient.

The patient, Louis Welsch, was a 17 year old referred to House by a private medical clinic with arthritis in his left knee. He was given non steroidal anti-inflammatory therapy but the arthritis continued and was actually exacerbated by the treatment. Foreman was concerned because the boy was on medications for mini-seizures due to the excision of a cerebral mass when he was eleven.

They met with House in the presentation room. He stood in front of the white board ready to write down the symptoms and the differential. Murphy purposefully came in second to last...not first, not last, in the middle. She sat down as far away from the white board as she could get. Chase sat next to her at the end of the table and Cameron to her right. Foreman was directly across.

Murphy thought the team looked presentable and professional but House was unkept. He didn't iron his shirts or even take them out of the dryer before they wrinkled. He wore faded t-shirts under the wrinkled shirts and he had worn jeans both days. His beard wasn't really a beard, it was a three day growth that he obviously spent time trimming to that very length because it never got longer or shorter. His hair had been a reddish brown but was turning grey as was his beard. His face was long and sometimes it looked fresh, other times he looked haggard. He was tall and thin. There were two things that kept distracting her about House. He had gorgeous, long, thin fingers and his eyes were a shameful blue with a dark blue outer circle that emphasized just how blue his cornea was. If he had been her type, she would have eaten those eyes. But then, he didn't appeal to her.

House wrote seizures and knee-arthritis on the board. He turned and looked at the group. "Come on people, what's going on with this kid?"

Foreman started, "He had a craniotomy to excise a cerebral mass six years ago and he continues to be on antiepileptic medications. Just two years ago he was treated for pulmonary tbc and he received antituberculosis therapy for one year." House was writing the symptoms/history as Foreman talked. Foreman paused and Chase took up the mantle.

"He's not had trauma or surgical intervention in the left knee. His temperature is 103 F., he has multiple lymphadenopathy with different sizes at the axillar region, hepatosplenomegaly and arthritis at his left knee."

"Sounds like a virus, bacteria or critters. Get an ESR, CBC and an IgG." The team, including Murphy jumped up to leave. House yelled, "Hey sailor, stay behind." He walked into his office and sat down behind the desk. He looked up at her standing across from him. His face was serious and almost angry. "You will participate. You can't hide behind silence and your attempts to blend into the wall. If I think you are compromising your contribution to a diagnosis in your hopes to be loved by your peers or tolerated by me, I will get rid of you. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir. I mean, yes Dr. House." She stayed close to the desk. He started working and then looked up when he noticed she was still there.

"You can go now...oh wait, dismissed sailor." He chuckled to himself. She turned slowly towards the door as if there was something she wanted to say to him. "WHAT?" he yelled at her.

"His knee was red. Very red."

"Why didn't you say this earlier?"

She said nothing but he knew it was because she didn't want the others to think she was raining on their parade. He took his hand and slammed it down on the desk. "This is exactly what I mean, exactly. DON'T EVER DO THIS...GET OUT OF HERE...NOW." As she left with her tail between her legs he yelled, "You are a lousy doctor, choosing popularity over the health of your patient. What are they teaching you in the military?" She turned to say something but he gave her a sharp look that warned her to keep her mouth shut and keep walking, which she did.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck," she said to herself all the way down the hall. She didn't know that she was being followed.

"You must be House's new stepchild. My name is James Wilson, head of Oncology."

"How could you tell?"

"You might remember you're wearing a uniform in a civilian hospital? Plus, only someone who worked for House would be cussing themselves out as they walked down the hall. What did he do?"

She had completely forgotten that she was the only one wearing a uniform. "He just reminded me what an ass I've been. I was trying to avoid his wrath at the expense of the patient and he called me on it."

"Wow...you're pretty honest aren't you? That's quite a confession but don't be too hard on yourself. We've all done that. House's wrath can be pretty painful. What are you doing for lunch? Why don't you join me in the cafeteria and I can give you some pointers. House is my friend."

Murphy didn't want to give out any signals that she was in the least bit interested. "I'm sorry but I better keep my mind on the patient today, I'm already low man on the totem pole."

"Understood, maybe some other day?"

"That would be nice, thanks."

"And your name is?"

"Oh, sorry...Murphy Morrighan."

"Later Murphy."

"Later Dr. Wilson."

"Call me Jim."

"Jim." Murphy smiled and then took the hall down to the lab where the three minions were waiting.

"Well?" Foreman said.

"I've been chastised for not contributing this morning. It's the damn if you do, damn if you don't syndrome. But he's right, I noticed that the knee was red and didn't mention it."

"Well of course it's red, it's inflamed." Cameron said.

"Yes, but redness located just near the capella in the knee means an isolated infection. We need to run a culture of the synovial fluid."

"Did House ok that?" Foreman asked.

"I didn't ask him. I'm a doctor, do I have to ask permission to run a test?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Yes, you have to ask me ..." She turned around and saw House leaning on his cane and staring at her. "It's my case, my patient, my ass."

"Ok." She sounded exasperated, " May I PLEASE run a synovial test?"

He looked at her and with a whiny voice said, "Nooooooo."

She looked stunned.

"Cameron, run a test of the synovial fluid and Foreman, get an MRI. I'm going to an early lunch."

"Am I allowed to help run the tests or do you want me out of the loop?"

"You expect me to let you...an adult who has to be inspected to see if they put on their clothes right...do something as important as a synovial test? "

Cameron really didn't want her help. House had already shown her a lot of attention, sure it was negative attention, but it was attention. House didn't show attention unless there was something that interested him in the person. She reluctantly let Murphy run back up tests on the synovial fluid. Cameron kept her results close to the vest. Murphy didn't care who knew her results or when they knew it, she thought the members of the team were all in it together. Her results were posted on the computer as soon as she obtained them. House was receiving email flags telling him that results were available. He started reading them as they came in.

The team met back at the office at 3:00 p.m. with the results. House had in his hands the results from the work that Murphy had posted: SED rate was elevated (ESR) 86 mm/h, hemoglobin 9.5 gr/dl, leukocyte 5900 /mm3, thrombocyte 473 000/m3, CRP 221 mg/dl (normal 5 mg/dl), Ig G 20.9 g/l (normal 7–16 g/l), Ig A 5.5 g/l (normal 0.7–4 g/l), Ig M 2.8 g/l (normal 0.4–2.3 g/l), albumin 24 mg/dl (normal 35 mg/dl), PPD 20 mm diameter and HIV, rheumatoid factor and brucella agglutination tests were all negative.

Chase indicated that all the other biochemical tests were normal. Foreman found that X rays and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the left joint showed septic arthritis and patellar osteomyelitis. His cranial MRI was normal except secondary findings due to his previous cranial operation. In the computerized tomography (CT) of the thoracal region, there were multiple lymph nodes at the axillary region and multiple calcified lymph nodes at the hilar region but the bilateral pulmonary paranchimal regions were normal.

Murphy had just handed House the results of her synovial fluid analysis which she had conducted. She had assumed that Cameron had already posted hers because Murphy had performed her analysis after Cameron. The analysis found that the synovial fluid displayed 80 polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The results of the blood cultures were negative. At the examination of the synovial fluid, AARB was negative.

Cameron realized that House was holding Murphy's results and that he was unaware that Cameron's results were in her hand. She spoke up, "I found Aspergillus fumigatus in the synovial fluid."

"I know, I'm holding the same findings from Murphy. You don't see it very often but occasionally Aspergillus causes granulomatous lesions and arthritis like what we're seeing here. Schedule him for surgical excision of the patellar osteomyelitic tissue and switch the antibiotic treatment to Amphotericin B deoxicolate 0.7 mg/kg/day. If we aren't seeing results in 30 days switch him to itraconazole 400 mg/day. Give him co-trimoxazole for prophylaxis."

He looked at Cameron and Murphy. "Good work."

Murphy picked up her stethoscope and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" House demanded.

"I have night clinic Tuesday and Friday." She continued towards the door.

House shrugged his shoulders, "And I've got a hot date with a lady of the night..." House grabbed his backpack, helmet and cane and went out the door just before Murphy. Murphy followed him to the elevator and waited patiently behind him for the doors to open. They both got in.

He looked at the Navy wool skirt that hung just slightly below the hem of her lab coat and thought that her ugly pumps did nothing to compliment her beautiful legs.

"Nice legs, ugly shoes. Do you have to wear a uniform?"

"Until they give me permission not to." She said staring at the light marking the floors over the elevator doors.

"Who is "they?""

"I guess Dr. Cuddy." The door opened and she walked over to the clinic desk.

"What has she got to do with the uniform?" He was curious.

"I thought your hooker was waiting?"

"I'm paying, she doesn't care what she does as long as I pay. Answer the question."

"Some of the hospitals want us to wear our uniforms as P.R. You know, it looks good right now to be connected to or supporting someone in the military. Other hospitals don't care what you wear. Dr. Cuddy hasn't said anything so I assume I am to wear my uniform. The documents she received about the program clearly say it is the hospital's decision. But tomorrow I'll be wearing my service uniform. I just wore my dress uniform because my service uniform wasn't back from dry cleaning."

"Cuddy received those documents last spring...I doubt she remembers the uniform information. Have fun in clinic." He gave her a silly little look.

"Good night." she said.

Around 7:40 p.m. Murphy was in with a young college student who had been having headaches when House popped his head into the room.

"What's with her?" he asked.

"Migraines."

"Get rid of her, we have a patient." He turned and walked to the elevator, twirling his cane as he waited for the doors to open.

When Murphy was done with the migraine patient, she went upstairs. It was just her and House. She didn't say anything but her expression begged the question where were the others?

House chuckled, "Afraid to be alone with the big bad wolf?"

"No, I just don't want to step on toes."

He sat down and opened the chart and threw her one of the three he had brought in. She still didn't know where the others were but she wasn't about to ask. The patient was a middle aged woman with organs that were shutting down quickly. They went through their steps and put all of the symptoms on the board. Murphy went up to get her history while House did some research in JAMA. Murphy called down to House. "Can I get some bloodwork? A CBC, SED, Liver panel and Creatine?"

"Yeah, but send them downstairs, I don't want you tied up doing lab work when we have other work to do."

After getting the lab work going and taking the history from the patient and family, she joined House back in the office. He was on the phone.

"...patient, so get your ass in when you get this message." House hung up the phone and looked at her. "I am afraid you are going to be busy tonight. Foreman is gone for the weekend, Chase isn't answering and Cameron has the flu but said she is willing to come in for my sake. I'm not interested in getting the flu so I told her to stay home. Of course if she knew we were alone she'd be here in a flash."

"Why?"

He pretended to flip his hair back like a woman and in a high pitched voice he said, "She loves me. She knows I'm just a wounded soul seeking love in this world. It's my vulnerability and sweet nature." He walked towards the table and went back to his normal voice, "So anything in her history that we should know?"

They sat down at the table and started going through her history and medical journal articles which had anything to do with her symptoms. Anything that seemed to fit they shared with the other. Murphy received a page indicating that some of the labs were on the computer.

"We have results."

House and Murphy went into his office and Murphy put in her information and password and brought up the results. House was standing behind her. He looked down at her neck and hair. He could tell she was a natural strawberry blonde from her roots. He also saw that wisps of her hair at the bottom of the chignon rolled naturally into little ringlets Her hair was either wavy or curly when let down. Her shirt was crisp and clean. He watched her take her foot out of her pump curl it and roll it back out to stretch it. She was probably tired and her feet were most likely swollen and sore. He could smell just a hint of the perfume she was wearing, it was fading as the day and evening dragged on. It had a vanilla note to it. He liked it.

She could smell him standing next to her. It was a nice, musky male smell. He wasn't pungent or overwhelming. When he bent down to read the screen she had a chance to take a good look at the scar on his neck. She could swear it was a gun wound, she had seen enough of them. Who shot him in the neck? He quickly turned to look at her and caught her staring at him and his neck. He didn't say anything, just gave her a serious look.

"Any suggestions?"

"Septicemia from some underlying pathogen, but what's the pathogen? We have fever, headache, light sensitivity, diarrhea and tightness in her chest. Dr. House, we need to start treatment or she'll die soon, any treatment. We can't wait until we have a diagnosis."

"Sure Einstein...but what treatment?"

"I'd hit her with something broad." Murphy answered.

"This came on like gunslingers...broad may be too weak to knock it down."

"Then go with Cipro. It's a heavy gun."

"I agree." He picked up the phone and told the nurses to start her on an immediate drip of Cipro and then he turned to Murphy. "Tell me her recent history again."

"No known colds or flu, has a cat and two dogs. Lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Only thing she did out of the ordinary was visit the Grand Canyon two weeks ago. She is a housewife, volunteers at the local library twice a week. No allergies..."

House was staring at the keyboard with intensity. It was obvious that something was clicking in his brain. He jumped up, grabbed his cane and took off. She followed him to the elevator but he said nothing to her.

They entered the patient's room and House looked at the very distress husband. "Your trip to the Grand Canyon, did you take one of those trips down to the bottom?"

"Yeah."

"Your wife, on a horse, mule, donkey?"

"Mule."

House looked for cuts on her legs and found a blister on her foot which looked like it came from shoes, but House was pretty sure it was from bacteria. House turned to Murphy, "Get a sample of the nasal discharge and this blister. Look for Burkholderia mallei."

The husband asked House, "What's that?"

"Bad shit." and then he walked out.

Murphy took a sample and while she was doing it said, "It's a zoologic disease passed to humans usually through contact with infected horses, donkeys or mules. It's not typically found in the USA but it is found in Central and South America."

"Is it fatal?"

"It can be."

There was no assay test for Burkholderia mallei, also known as Glanders. She had to actually isolate the bacteria and test it. This would take hours, possibly days. She worked as diligently as she could but it had been a long time since she had performed straight microbiology isolation techniques. House came into the lab while she was scoring the agar.

"She's responding to the Cipro, but I don't know if she'll make it. Too much damage to her organs. We'll see, maybe her kid has an important soccer match she needs to make and she'll recover in time."

"That was amazing, if it is Glanders, how did you even think of it? There haven't been any cases in the USA."

"I read that Mexico had just reported their first cases in Donkeys and horses. I also read that the Arizona border patrol was having trouble with illegal caballeros bringing in their own horses for working the ranches. A lot of Mexicans work as cowboys in Arizona and in the Grand Canyon for the vendors and it's possible an infected horse was brought up and it spread."

A few hours later the woman was still holding her own. House had gone home to sleep and told her not to wake him unless it wasn't Glanders. After ten hours, she pulled the plate and prayed there had been enough time to get a viable colony.

She ran the Gram stain and other tests and confirmed that it was Glanders. She checked on the patient and continued the Cipro because she was responding to it. She called the CDC and reported the disease. She knew this might get her in trouble with House, but Glanders had been considered as a possible biological weapon and the CDC had a reporting requirement. She packed up at 8:00 a.m. and went home.

Murphy slept most of the weekend.

House had to cancel his hooker and he was not happy. It wasn't that he really wanted hookers in his life, he just needed a release without the complications of social niceties.

House had been licking his wounds for awhile, ever since he sent Stacy Warner back to her husband. A few months ago he had decided it was time to put Stacy behind him and had begun to strike up the obligatory conversation with the occasional barfly. He was just wetting his whistle before getting back in the game.

On Monday Chase and Foreman were shocked and somewhat miffed to hear that there had been a patient and that House and Murphy had diagnosed her without them. Cameron was still ill and had called in sick. House waltzed in at 9:30 and looked at Murphy, Chase and Foreman.

"No patient today, you guys are free to complete your clinic duty or do your charting or write ups. Where's Cameron?"

"Your girlfriend is sick." Foreman said with a sly smile.

House shooed them away with his hand to go "play with themselves." He sat down and began going through the mail that Cameron had set aside for his review. He watched as Murphy, in her service uniform of shirt, pants and cap, made her way to the clinic. House saw her backpack in the next room and knew she kept a laptop inside it. He was about to go next door and crank it up to snoop when Wilson walked into the office.

"I have tickets for tonight's, "Evening with Dave Chapelle."

"Sweeeeeet. How did you score those?"

"Pharmacy whore..."

"Oh yeah, the best." House nodded in approval.

"I'll pick you up at 6:30 p.m. and we'll get dinner."

House again nodded yes.

"Hey, how's Murphy working out?"

"She's alright. If someone was able to pull that corncob out of her butt she might be easier to tolerate. She's too spit and shine for me. You thinking of nailing her?"

"I struck out the other day when I asked her to lunch." Wilson said with an air of defeat.

"Sadly she's just waiting for me to ask her out and I just don't find her attractive." House answered.

"Really?" Wilson was surprised, she seemed pretty aloof to him.

"No, well no she's not waiting for me and yes, I don't find her attractive."

"She's really pretty in a spit and polish kind of way."

"Well the only polishing I want my women to do is polish my knob. I don't think she's got her rag out to do that."

"I thought you'd have her crying by now." Wilson was sitting across from his at the desk.

"That was the plan but it turns out she's not bad at diagnosing patients. Kind of makes it hard to humiliate her when she's scoring more hits than your own team."

"What does the team think of it? "

"Chase is taking it in strides. Foreman is up for the kill and Cameron is worried that she is going to be usurped as my favorite groupie. I'm actually having fun watching them all position themselves."

"Now that scares me. What are you planning?"

"I'd like to see what the monkeys do when I make Murphy the alpha female."

"House. You'll not only make your team miserable but you'll kill any chance for Murphy to be integrated into the team."

"So? She's only here temporarily. I think it will be good to stir things up and make them sharpen their knives. They've been getting rusty and lazy. They rely too much on me to pull their butts out of the fire."

"Be careful what you wish for House."

"Lunch?" He asked as he got up.

"You're buying." Wilson responded.

"Can you spot me $20 until I get to the ATM?" House smiled.

Wilson rolled his eyes and started walking towards the elevator.

For the next three weeks Murphy knew she was being played but couldn't do anything about it. When performing the differential House had started asking her first what she thought. If she tried to back off and let the others speak first he would quiet them and wait in painful silence until Murphy said something. She hated everything...the clinic, the humiliation, the competition within the team and House's games. She had only been there one month and had eleven long ones to go.

House made it a practice to find something wrong with her each day. One day she had dropped some tea on her shoe and House made a big fuss over her failure to maintain the dignity of the U.S. Navy uniform. Another day she tripped and he asked Cuddy to have a discussion with Murphy about her drinking because she was beginning to stumble. Poor Cuddy did talk to her and soon found that House had been playing them both.

House gave her the crappy jobs. She did all the pelvics, colonoscopies, fecal smears, debridement of sores...anything that involved bodily fluid, she got to test or clean it. He wanted to see how long it would take before she went running to Cuddy. It didn't take much for Cameron to run. But Murphy never said a word and he hated her for it. She was just like his Dad, it all stayed within the platoon or division...you were taught to deal with it, suck it up and get on with your duty. Sure you could moan about it to people in your platoon, or division, or team...but it always stayed inside. To everyone outside the group you were one big happy family.

The day that things turned worse House had was making a derogatory remark about the size of her breasts underneath her uniform in front of several doctors in the cafeteria. "Let's face it, if someone could have found those lost puppies you might be married today. But when they're the size of two sunny side eggs, it's hard to get excited about getting you in bed. Maybe some guy with his own shortcomings, pun intended, will take pity on you."

She was feeling rather sorry for herself so she sat down in the office to write Susan an email on her lunch hour. She had just finished when House came back from lunch and checked to see if the lab results of their patient were back. The child patient was in no danger of dying, but she was in a lot of discomfort.

The results weren't back and so House was bored. The rest of the team kept occupied with journals, charts and write ups. Murphy excused herself to use the rest room. When she got back, to her horror House had her laptop.

"Well, well, seems that you've been busy writing emails...hmmm, this is interesting. Dear Susan..."

"Dr. House, please give me back my laptop, that's private."

Foreman chuckled, "Not to House."

"Dear Susan,

I'm here in hell, commonly known to most Princetonians as Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital where I have been sentenced to hard labor under the thumbs of the evil and malicious Dr. Gregory House."

House paused and looked up at her with a smirk on his face. Murphy was looking down at the table and couldn't meet his eyes.

"Dr. House, please, I'm begging you, don't do this. Please."

"Let's see, where was I? Evil and malicious Dr. Gregory House. I am serving a year of indentured servitude to this misanthrope who enjoys making me the bait to stir up the pot. He loves aggravating the doctors in his department by favoring me in the differential. The truth is that he really doesn't favor me, he just likes to see the reaction of the others when he shows me preference. Typically, he makes my life miserable by assigning me every crap job that comes down the pike. But, it could be worse, I could be back in Iraq getting my ass shot at again.

You would laugh if you saw this man. He is disheveled, worse than those photos of Albert Einstein you see in the poster stores. He typically looks like he just got out of bed...his hair looks tossed, his clothes are wrinkled and he has a three day beard that is sprinkled with gray and brown. His saving grace is that he is brilliant and he does save lives. Unfortunately, he knows he's brilliant so he doesn't even have the consideration to be humble about his superiority to others. He revels in the fact that he is at the top of the brain food chain and the rest of us fumble through life having to work at being bright. His wit is acidic and he cruelly says anything that comes to the top of his head. There is no governor on his mouth. If he thinks it, he says it. He wouldn't know a politically correct idea if it kicked him in the ass.

But to be truthful, I feel sorry for him. Imagine being so far above others that you don't relate to them on even the most basic level of human needs? I suspect he is an island to himself and I don't know if he likes that or finds it lonely. I doubt he lets anyone close enough to find out. He can't even have a normal conversation because it would mean coming down to our level.

I miss you terribly and wish you were here to give you a kiss and a hug. I received the warm throw you sent me. Is that to make up for all the times that you..." and House paused for a second, unsure if he should continue reading it, "Is that to make up for all the times you hogged the covers and I woke up freezing in the night? I wish we were back on Oahu, sharing a hotel room and surfing and diving. Let's hope that we can get stationed together again and rent a house together. That would be fun.

Well Susan, I can't tell you how much I love and miss you. I think of you all the time.

Take care and keep your head down. You mean the world to me.

Love,

Murphy

House started chuckling to himself. "So, don't ask, don't tell...a genuine lesbian in our military. Hey, you're Irish...what do they call an Irish lesbian? Gaylick..." He started laughing, "Guy walks into a bar. Orders five tequilas at once. Bartender asks what's wrong? He says his youngest son told him he was gay. Next day, same guy walks in and orders ten tequilas at once. Bartender asks what's wrong? He says his older son just told him he was gay. Next day he comes in and orders 20 tequilas at once. The bartender says, "Christ isn't there anyone in your family getting some pussy? The guy says, "Yeah, my wife."

Murphy said nothing but got up and grabbed the laptop out of his hand and put it in her backpack. House smiled at her and said, "I would never have pegged you as a muff diver." She went down to the clinic.

House was dying to tell Wilson. He ran over and found him with a patient. "I know why you didn't score with the Commander."

Wilson looked with disdain at House and then told his patient, "Excuse me, but I have to make sure he has his medication or he starts bouncing off the walls." He got up and joined House in the hall. "What?"

"You didn't get to first base with Murphy because she's a carpet muncher."

"She's gay?"

"Yeah, isn't that hot?"

"How did this come up?" Wilson asked.

"Never mind that...she has a lover named Susan." House smiled an evil grin.

"But Murphy is in the military..."

"Don't ask, don't tell." He gave a look of disdain. House gave Wilson his best O'Riley voice, "See that's why this nation is going to hell, the lesbians are taking over the Navy."

"This is all very interesting but I have to get back to my patient."

Within days the whole hospital knew about Susan and Murphy. When Cuddy heard she almost ran into House's office. She found Cameron.

"Is he behaving?" She knew that Cameron would know what she meant.

"No. Every reference aimed at her is about her sexual preference. It's very painful but she just keeps her mouth shut and takes it."

"Oh God. We're going to get hit with a lawsuit. There's nothing touchier than a lesbian."

Cameron giggled a little at that statement and then she noticed that Cuddy hadn't realized what she had said. She asked an obvious question, "How would you know?"

"I know a few lesbian couples and believe me, they are very protective of being lesbian."

"I don't think she'll say anything. If she does and she acknowledges it, then she is essentially "coming out" and the Navy will be forced to boot her. The best she can do is ignore him."

"That's true." Cuddy started to relax. "She has more to lose from a lawsuit than to gain. Still, have him call me when he gets back."

House was "invited" by Cuddy into her office. "You can't harass her...stop the innuendos and jokes."

"You want me to lick this?"

"HOUSE!!"

"I guess you'll have to put a muff-ler on me." He snickered.

"I'm not joking." Cuddy warned him.

The jokes, innuendos and crude suggestions kept coming. House offered to watch Murphy and Susan to see if they were doing it right. He told her, "There's a new lesbian shoe called Dike. It comes with an extra long tongue and you can get it off with one finger." Murphy ignored him.

At the beginning of December, House had a patient with unremarkable but steadily worsening symptoms including fatigue, diarrhea, fever, vomiting and cough. For days the team ran tests and couldn't figure out the problem although the CBC showed decreased cellular material in the blood and there was a decrease in serum protein in the blood. The third day they had all come in early as the patient's skin turned grey. He now had an enlarged spleen and liver. To everyone it seemed as if he had malaria but he didn't. House came to the realization that the patient was probably infected with a parasite but he wanted to check something out with Murphy.

"Where's Murphy?" He asked the team.

"She went to work out in the gym." Chase told him.

House grabbed his cane and took off towards the staff gym. The team followed behind. It was 5:30 a.m. and the gym was deserted. The lights were on indicating that someone had used it earlier. The gym had great equipment but it wasn't large. It could accommodate maybe twelve people at one time. The changing rooms each had two showers and two changing booths and a toilet. House heard the shower in the women's changing room and hobbled towards the door.

"HOUSE, you can't go in there. That's the women's changing room...wait until she comes out." Cameron chastised him.

"Yeah, and do you want to tell our patient that, while he was dying we were waiting for Murphy to wash her hair?" He opened the door and walked in. The rest of the team shook their heads and stayed outside.

Murphy was rinsing her hair. She turned off the shower and opened the door to get out. Her towel was hanging on a peg about ten feet away. House was standing by the peg. At first she didn't see him because of the water in her eyes. But then she realized he was standing there leaning on his cane and waiting for her. "Ahhhhhhhhhhh..." She screamed loudly and tried to cover up with her arms. House grabbed the towel and handed it to her. When she reached out to get it he playfully pulled it back. She jumped and grabbed the towel out of his hands. She was very angry.

House had heard the water stop as he entered the changing room. He stopped and watched the door to the shower open. He had no intent of actually seeing her naked, he had intended to simply talk to her while she was still in the shower but he considered this development a bonus. When she came out he could tell she hadn't seen him and that gave him time to check her out. He was struck with what a beautiful body she had. It was pale but in perfect asymmetrical proportions with breasts that sat high and round with perfect pink nipples. More importantly the breasts were bigger than the uniform revealed. She had a patch of dark blonde pubic hair that looked downy and soft. He swallowed hard wondering what her body would feel like next to his. He watched her as she hastily put the towel around her. He sighed and said to himself, "Damn, what a waste."

"You are the lowest piece of sht on the ladder. How dare you invade my privacy like this and humiliate me. Do women find this attractive because I can't imagine that they do."

"I AM a doctor. You don't have anything that I haven't seen before. Now I need to know, have you treated anyone for leishmaniasis ?"

"Sure, in Iraq." She paused, looked at the floor and then looked at him. "Oh my God, you're right. I just never considered it because it's not Iraq. How would he get it?"

"How long can it incubate?"

"Two weeks to two months." She said. He watched as a rivulet of water ran from under the towel and down her leg . "Will you leave so that I can get dressed?"

"Meet us in the lab, we'll have a sample for you to run an assay." He looked back at her wrapped in the towel which barely touched her thigh, shook his head and said, "Damn, what a waste."

She ran the assay and felt stupid. It was leishmaniasis, a disease she had seen numerous times in Iraq. But she wondered where he had contracted it. "Dr. House, where did he get the protozoa? Was he in Iraq?"

"We're going to find out." They walked to the patient's room and met Cameron who was coming out of the room. "Cameron, you took the history...what's his connection to sand flies?"

"Mexico, I just found out that he was in Acapulco two months ago. They forgot to tell us that because he was only down there three days for a wedding on the beach."

Later that night Wilson and House went to dinner and House ordered a beer. He took a swig and said, "Have you ever noticed that a lot of lesbians have incredibly beautiful bodies?"

"What brought this on?"

"I was looking at Murphy Morrighan's naked body this morning and thinking what a waste it is for her to be a carpet muncher. It's a perfect little body with perfect breasts."

Wilson shook his head in disbelief "HOUSE, how did you see her naked?"

"I went into the women's changing room in the gym to ask her a question and she was naked."

"Don't you have any shame or sense of propriety?"

"I needed to talk to her and she was in the shower. I have seen naked women before, I am a doctor."

"That's no excuse." Wilson paused, "So she was hot?"

"Beyond hot. We lost a great player for our side when the muff divers got her."

"What a shame."

"Precisely."

The following week House and Wilson were joined by Cuddy in the cafeteria.

"I understand you were purposefully in the women's changing room while Murphy was taking a shower and that you saw her naked."

"I needed to talk to her. I was going to talk to her over the shower door but she was getting out of the shower and I was standing there. I hadn't expected to see her naked, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"Oh House, you really have to stop tormenting her. Why are you doing this? You're just lucky she keeps her mouth shut."

"I take it Cameron informed you of the situation?"

"Of course. It wasn't Murphy."

"Why are you making her wear her uniform all the time?" House asked.

"What do you mean, make her wear her uniform? She came with a uniform."

"Yes, but you can give her permission to wear civilian clothes."

"I can?" She seemed surprised.

"Yeah, if you tell her she has the option to wear civilian clothes, then she can."

"I don't care. It's nice to see her in the uniform but if she wants to wear civilian clothes that's fine."

That afternoon, Cuddy saw Murphy starting the night shift in the clinic.

"You can wear civilian clothes although I would like you to wear your uniform once in awhile, it's good P.R. for us. But do feel free to wear civilian clothes."

"Well, thanks."

"I heard what happened in the changing room. Do you want me to do anything?"

"If I thought it would have an effect I would, but there's no chance of that happening."

She nodded in agreement. "I wish I could make your life easier. Are you getting anything from your work here?"

"Oh, of course. I have already expanded my thinking when it comes to diagnosing illnesses. He is brilliant and I've learned some of the process he uses. You know, I secretly admire his skills and his ability and have been amazed at his work. Despite the crap he deals out, I think I'll take something back with me to the Navy."

"Oh, I am so glad to hear you say that. You have made my day. I know what you mean, he has surprised and amazed me for years." Lisa was about to leave and she stopped, "You know we have a Christmas party at the University Arms each year. It's going to be the Saturday after next. You are invited along with the rest of the staff."

"My dress uniform is somewhere buried in my boxes in the garage."

"Then wear a civilian dress."

"I'll think about it. But I don't know if I fit in with everyone. I'm a little different if you hadn't noticed."

"Hey, some of my best friends are a "little different. Feel free to bring whomever you want." Cuddy wanted her to know that Cuddy was comfortable with her alternative life style. She smiled and left.

Murphy wasn't sure what to make of that, but she thought that maybe going to the party would be a good way to meet more people and try to make friends. Most of the people at PPTH had been nice but hadn't been really approachable.

House had a hard time getting to sleep the Friday before the party. His leg was uncomfortable. He had been faithful in doing his strengthening exercises ever since his second round of rehab. The exercises along with new, non-narcotic pain relievers had helped House break his addiction to Vicodin but it hadn't been easy and there were nights, like this, when the pain lurked in the back and he felt uncomfortable, uneasy and unable to sleep.

He lay in bed trying to think about anything but the discomfort. He thought about music and the various new pieces he was trying to learn. But it wasn't helping, his mind kept wandering back to the leg. And then he thought about work and the last patient and then that day in the shower. He played her coming out of the shower over and over and over. He was starting to get aroused. In his mind he walked over to her and put his hands up to cup her breasts and then he moved his hand around her and pulled her into him and kissed her, moving his tongue past her lips and exploring her mouth. She pulled down his zipper and she started to rub it. Cameron came in behind him and started to pull his shirt out from his pants. Murphy undid the button on his trousers and the pants fell to the floor. Then Cameron and Murphy kissed deeply. Cameron then undid his shirt and helped him pull the shirt and t-shirt off over his head while Murphy kneeled in front of him. Cameron was now naked and he could feel her small pubescent breasts pressed up against his back while Murphy pleasured him with her mouth and tongue. House pleasured himself with these thoughts until the leg discomfort was a distant thought. He found the release to be almost too pleasurable to bear. He fell asleep soon afterwards.

The next night House put on a burgundy silk t-shirt under a black sports coat and grey slacks and drove to the party. He walked in and saw Wilson with a date. She was the English professor he had met at another party. Wilson waved at him and House walked over to him and his date. Chase was also at the table.

"Greg House, Clara Thompson. Clara, House is my friend I was telling you about." Wilson looked at House, "So, no date tonight?" Wilson looked around although he didn't expect to see anyone interesting.

"No. I came alone. I don't plan on staying long." House looked around for the bar and spotted it. He went and got a gin and tonic. He walked back over to the table where Wilson, Clara and Chase were sitting and talking to each other. He took a chair across from Wilson. A quarter of an hour went by when Wilson looked up and smiled past House towards the front door. House turned to look and there stood Cameron in a slinky green silk dress. Her small breasts and nipples were outlined by the silky fabric. House looked down and smiled so that no one would see how attractive he found her in the dress. House thought that Cameron was lovely, but her breasts and hips were no match for Murphy's. Murphy's hips were round and ample but in no way was Murphy fat.

Cameron made her way over to the table and sat down between House and Chase. "Good evening everyone."

"You look hot." Chase said.

"Thanks."

They returned to their talking. Chase brought them all another drink. They were all having a good time teasing House who, for once, was taking it pretty well. Chase looked up and scrunched his face as if he was trying to figure out who had walked in. The entire table turned around to look at the front door. She was in a scarlet red cocktail dress with spaghetti straps that attached to a gathered peasant cut top. The peasant cut revealed the tops of her round, pert breasts. The dress came down in satin skimming her waist and glancing over her round hips and round tight bottom. Her reddish blonde hair was up on top of her head with tendrils of curls hanging down the back of her neck. She turned to say something to Foreman who had stepped in behind her. The tendrils fell down her back. The dress itself was cut low down the curve of her back to just below her waist. All House could think was, "Sweet."

He looked at Wilson who smiled at House and mouthed, "What a waste." House chuckled and shook his head in agreement. She walked in and talked briefly with Cuddy. They watched as Carolyn Castle, a known dyke, walked over to Murphy and started to talk to her. Murphy followed Carolyn to a table full of women. The entire group was known as the hospital's "lezbos." Murphy shook hands with a few of them, smiled, said a few words and then made her way over to their table.

"Good evening everyone. Merry Christmas." Murphy smiled at the table.

"Merry Christmas." They all answered in unison.

"I think I'll go get a drink." She stepped away to get her drink.

Chase and the others felt a little sheepish that they hadn't offered to fetch her a drink. But things were strained between her and the rest of the team. The guys felt uneasy with such a gorgeous and intelligent lesbian on the team. Cameron just didn't know how to relate to her. Even though she agreed that House was using her to stir things up, it still made her uneasy that she was receiving House's attention, good or bad. This also made Cameron feel guilty...the fact that she was pissed off at Murphy for something that House was doing. It was illogical but it was the way she felt.

House expected Murphy to go back to her female friends but instead she came over to their table. Foreman got her a chair. She sat down and started to nurse the drink. The conversation became centered around the hospital and things that had happened before Murphy had arrived. There was a lot of laughter about things that were apparently inside jokes and Murphy felt awkward and out of place. She smiled and chuckled but in truth she felt left out. House looked at her and remembered her stepping out of the shower. He compared it to how she looked now, her makeup was perfect, just setting off her lips and eyes. Little diamond earrings dangled from her ears enhancing the fact that her ears were just the right size for her head and perfectly formed. She looked up and saw him studying her. She gave him a slight smile of courtesy.

House leaned forward, "Murphy, do you know why Marine pilots prefer planes to women?" She shook her head no, "Airplanes don't get mad if you touch and go."

Everyone laughed. "Airplanes expect to be tied down. Airplanes can be turned on with the flick of a switch." More laughter, "Airplanes can be flown at any time of the month." The laughter kept coming and House kept throwing them out, "Airplanes come with strict weight instructions. They don't care how many planes you've flown before." He finally ended it with, "Airplanes don't object to pre-flight inspections."

She turned and said to House, "A man fell asleep on the beach. He woke up several hours later and suffered a severe sunburn to his legs and was taken to the closest hospital, which happened to be a U.S. Naval Hospital.

His skin had turned a bright red and was very painful and had started to blister. Anything that touched his legs caused agony. The lead that night in the emergency room was a Chief Corpsman,. The Chief checked him out and then prescribed intravenous feedings of water, electrolytes, a mild sedative, and Viagra.

Rather astounded, the 3rd class corpsman, who was with the Chief inquired, "What good will Viagra do him in that condition?"

The Chief replied, "It'll keep the sheet off his legs."

House started laughing out loud much to the astonishment of the entire table. Even Wilson could only remember a handful of times that he had heard House genuinely laugh a belly-laugh.

A few minutes later the band began. Everyone at the table was out dancing except the most beautiful woman in the room, Murphy Morrigan. No man bothered to come over to ask her to dance, it would be a fruitless gesture, especially when there were so many eligible straight women present. Even the lesbians seemed to be ignoring her. Of course House couldn't dance with his leg and cane so he sat at the table with her. She pretended to listen to the music but he could tell she was embarrassed. Embarrassed that no one was dancing with her and that no one was engaging her in conversation at the table. She was an outsider and no one was making any attempt to make her feel a part of the team or staff.

House felt guilty, as much as House could feel guilty. He had made her the subject of ridicule at the hospital. People knew she was a lesbian because of him and the team didn't accept her because he had set them at odds with her. He watched as she tried to put on a good face. Bobbing slightly to the music and taking too many sips of her drink to fill in the gaps of silence. She finally leaned over to House and said, "I've got to go, I have another party to go to."

He nodded to her and said, "Are you sure you have to leave so soon? I was going to ask you to dance the next fast one..." She laughed an appreciative laugh. She stood up. He grabbed her wrist, "Before you go. Do you like to sing?"

"What?" She was confused.

"There's a piano in the next room and I was going to play it. I need a singer, I could use your assistance. Come on." He still had her wrist. He could see her weighing her options, "I know I'm a jerk and the devil incarnate, but let's call a truce tonight. We're both alone and we both know you don't have another party to go to. Stay and sing with me."

She hated that he could read people so well and was so observant. She shook her head in disbelief. "I'm not a very good singer. I doubt you'll want my assistance."

"No one's going to hear us, we'll be sequestered next door." he raised his eyebrows as of he was asking a question.

"Ok. It's your funeral."

"He grabbed his cane and then held up his left arm for her to take and she placed her hand lightly on his forearm as if she was being escorted to the dance floor for a waltz. They went into the next room where the grand piano sat almost in the middle of the room and he sat down. He did a few scales to limber up his fingers and then looked at her. What would you like to start out with?"

"Oh my God, don't ask me...I don't know what you can play. You pick."

"Do you know, "Everybody Makes Mistakes?" House started playing the melody to it.

"Lacey J. Dalton, it was one of my favorite songs when I was a resident."

House did an intro and then started to sing with her.

Break my hear-ear-eart - heart's dead broken

Steel me bli-i-ind - money's just a token

The stranger that I loved

Was even stranger than he seemed

The honesty I thought we had

Was some crazy thing I dreamed

Another B-grade movie for life's big silver screen

But the king of hearts, he always takes a queen

Hooh-hooh baby

Hooh-hooh baby

Everybody makes mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes

Everybody takes and takes

Take my love - love's for takin'

Break my hear-ear-eart - a heart's for breakin'

The strangers that we love

Are often stranger than they seem

The honesty we talk about

Is someone's crazy dream

Another B-grade movie for life's big silver screen

But the king of hearts, he always takes a queen

Hooh-hooh baby

Hooh-hooh baby

Everybody makes mistakes (everybody makes mistakes)

Everybody takes and takes

Everybody makes mistakes

When the song was over they were both were chuckling,"I love those lyrics, they are so true. I thought you said you couldn't sing." She smiled at him.

"Hey, you said the same thing and you were adequate." He continued fooling around with the keys.

"Now I can tell you are lying, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

"How about, "Don't You Feel My Leg?"

She took a big drink of her third Margarita. "I'm shocked...you know that song? I didn't think anyone but sailors knew it. Where did you learn it? I love that song..."

"Sit down over here on the piano bench." He patted next to him. The bench was long compared to most so she just sat on the edge of it. Cameron came in and saw them sitting together.

Murphy saw her, "Cameron, come on over. Help us out. We're going to sing, "Don't You Feel My Leg."

"I've never heard of it." She said.

House smiled at Murphy, "It's older than she is and so are we." House started playing the melody, which was distinctly honky tonk.

Don't you feel my leg, don't you feel my leg, cause if you feel my leg you'll wanna feel my thigh and if you feel my thigh your going to go up high, so don't you feel my leg.

Don't you buy no rye, don't you buy me rye, cause when you buy me rye, you're gonna make me high and if you make me high, you'll get a big surprise, so don't you buy no rye.

You say you'll take me dancing, buy me gin and wine, but I know different, you've got somethin' else on your mind. You say we'll ball and have a lovely time, but what I've got is mine all mine.

So don't you feel my leg, don't you feel my leg cause if you feel my leg you'll wanna feel my thigh, and if you feel my thigh you're gonna go up high, so don't you feel my leg.

Don't you feel my leg, don't you feel my leg, cause if you feel my leg you'll wanna feel my thigh and if you feel my thigh your gonna make me high, so don't you feel my leg.

Don't you feel my leg, don't you feel my leg, don't you feel that leg.

As House played the great honky tonk melody, Murphy sang the song by herself . She would raise her skirt a little up her thigh whenever "touch my thigh" was sung. About two dozen people had joined them in the room and were sitting or standing near the piano. The crowd clapped their hands at the end. House had been staring at her leg and thigh as she sang the song and having a hard time concentrating on the melody. He took a good gulp of his drink and smiled, "It's a good thing you're batting for the other side or I'd be on you like white on rice."

Murphy shook her head and laughed. "Well, considering I've had three strong Margaritas, you might have had a chance. Thank God we have an audience now, maybe you'll behave!"

House wasn't sure of what to make of that. He'd never had carnal knowledge of a lesbian before. It made him excited to think about it. He was kicking himself for not locking the door behind them when they came in.

House played some songs which Cameron knew so that she could sing along. They were mostly Broadway songs. She knew none of the honkey tonk songs that Murphy and House knew. House learned a lot of the Honkey Tonk songs from hanging out with his dad in Honky Tonks frequented by Marines when he was a kid. He suspected that Murphy, being a sailor, had experienced the same Honky Tonks.

Murphy was talking with Chase and laughing quite a bit. She came over to House a few songs later and surprised him by kissing his cheek as he continued to play for Cameron. "I'm going to go, but thanks for saving the evening and thanks for the truce. Merry Christmas Dr. House."

She looked over at Cameron to wave goodnight and was disheartened to see Cameron glaring at her. Murphy realized that she had just kissed House and Cameron wasn't pleased.

"If you wait, I'll give you a ride home, you shouldn't drive after four Margaritas." House suggested.

"They have a stand of taxis out front, I'm going to take one. You stay and have a good time, good night." She took off swiftly and decisively.

"Damn." House said to himself. He had visions of offering her a ride and her inviting him in to her place for a drink. He was sorely disappointed. He looked at Cameron and as much as he would have liked to have screwed her, it would mean having to deal with all the painful emotions in the morning and afterwards. Cameron was the kind of woman that would equate sex with him as an act of love instead of just meaningless but enjoyable sex. He couldn't get away with the one night stand that Chase had managed to get out of Cameron.

It looked like House was going to go home alone unless he hit up one of the nurses. The alcohol would have softened them up for the kill by now. He thought about it and decided to go for it after the song was over. In the end, House left with two women on his arm and his Christmas wish for a manage a trois was granted. Things were looking up.