Dr Gregory House was sat on his sofa, enjoying one of his many soaps on the television and enjoying a cold beer.

He had just finished cleaning the house. He had decided because his best friend Wilson was due to come round tonight, he'd best clean up. It was the weekend; Cuddy had given him time off for all the extra clinic duty and his team were under investigation of the killing of a patient.

House though was more pre-occupied with his friend's behaviour over the last week or so. Along with his team messing up it had been an extremely long and busy week.

On Monday – Wilson arrived for work with a friend; they smiled as they walked through the atrium and went their separate ways.

House who was looking over the balcony recognised the other young man from school.

"Was that Peter?" House asked when Wilson stepped out of the elevator

"Yes, it was and Good morning to you too" Wilson said trying to get to his office quickly before the full 20 questions had been asked

"You seeing him?"

"No House, just because he is gay, doesn't make me gay. Have a good day and please be nice to Cuddy!"

Wilson slammed his door before House could limp to it. He didn't want to shut House out but as yet he hadn't decided if he was gay or not. That wasn't something he was going to discuss with House.

House slightly stunned at Wilson slamming of the door, was now pre-occupied with Cuddy, he decided before meeting the team that he should go and find why he had to be nice to her today.

He took some vicodin as he stood in the elevator, he began to feel high and saw pretty patterns in front of his eyes.

He then blacked out for a few seconds and came too when he had gone up and then back down to the ground floor. No-one else had been in the elevator to his knowledge.

It then struck him, it was Cuddy's birthday.

He limped out of the hospital, got on his bike and went shopping.

Meanwhile in Cuddy's office

"I have noticed Dr Greg House has been taking even more vicodin" said the manager of the pharmacist

"Well he does need it for the pain"
"Hmm well he did go at one of my staff the other day, when they refused to give him another bottle"

Cuddy sighed, she thought that most of this addiction was going to have gone by now. But to no avail she thought.

"Do you have the records?" she asked the disgruntled man

"Yes" he pulled a bulky blue folder out of his briefcase, put it on her desk

"Thanks, I will be in touch"

He smiled; he liked Cuddy he didn't care for House.

She smiled; she cared for House and sighed as she rang his office

"Taub speaking"
"Where is House, its Cuddy"
"We have no idea, he was last seen on his bike"
"Hmm do you have the case I sent him this morning"
"Is it the grey folder?"
"Yes that's the one Taub"
"We will give it a start, and by the way Happy Birthday"
"Thanks" she put the phone down, she wondered where House had disappeared to now.

House was limping around the mall, when he saw Peter

"Hi Peter"

"Greg?"
"Yeah, its been a while"
"Sure has"
"So you got a boyfriend these days"
"No not really, and no its not Wilson, he warned me if I bumped in to you"
House grumbled at this response, Wilson was getting to good for him

"So what are you doing down here at the mall"
"Birthday present for my boss"
Peter had always been good at finding presents, they used him at school to get their mums presents for various events.

"Well I assume female"

House nodded

"Hmm, try the jewellery shop, if not clothes are always good"
"Thanks"
House limped off. Peter smiled as he watched him go. He always had a thing for Greg.

Back in the office, the team had read the history of the patient

"So he is 10 years old, been doing a lot of sport and got a fever"
"Hmm have we ruled out meningitis?"
"No, for some reason the ER didn't check for that"
"Start with that" Foreman said, the team then set off to the ER

He looked at his watch

"Where the hell could be"

Cuddy walked in to the office

"Still not here"

"I haven't even heard from him" Foreman said

"Heard from who" said a deep voice behind them

"YOU" they said together

"Where the hell have you been House?"
"Out"
"Fine, I am not even going to argue with you"
Foreman made his exit, leaving House and Cuddy to it.

"So my team have a case, you and I are here alone"
She smiled she knew he was up to something

"What are you playing at?"
He made her close her eyes; he took the present out of the bag

"Here"

She looked down at her hands and saw a small box

"Thanks"

"Well open it, then you can thank me properly"
She slowly undid the ribbon tying the box. It was wrapped to perfection he thought.

"Wow"

There was a silver bracelet engraved.

"What does it say?" he asked sarcastically

"To a wonderful boss, with love Greg House"

She smiled with delight; they hugged and kissed each other on the cheeks.

"Happy birthday"
"And I thought you had forgotten"
"Hell no"

Phew he thought, thank god the vicodin woke him up.

He limped leaving Cuddy in his office to the door to go find his team.

Cuddy decided to wait to tell him off about the vicodin.

Tuesday – House had decided to sleep in the office, he had the best nights sleep ever. He was all happy and jolly when his team walked in

"Morning troops, and how are we all today?"
"Fine" Was the collected tired response

"So our little 10 year old, has a fever and is worn out by the sports"

"Correct"
"We ruled out meningitis yesterday" Thirteen piped up with.

"Okay, good"
"Your praising us?" asked Taub stunned at this revelation

"No, duh I just want you to figure out what's wrong with this dude and then I can go sleep"
Taub shook his head in disgust.

"Sleep would be nice" Thirteen mumbled

"Wow okay, sleepy heads" House shouted, then opening his drawer and getting a sound horn out

"Don't you dare" Foreman said who had just arrived with coffee

"Hmm, coffee, all tired whose party?"
"None"

House put his finger on the horn and was about to sound it when Foreman piped up
"We were all testing the patient last night, the kid had heart failure twice"

"So why isn't it up on the board?"
"HOUSE" Cuddy shouted walking in to the meeting

"Just ruddy fix him, go!" House ordered, they decided to do as they were told.

House turned to her and smiled

"Don't look like that, I need to tell you off"
"Sorry"

"What?" shocked by this sorry

"I said sorry, you'll be asking why I am taking the vicodin, why I ordered the woman on the desk to get me more"

She simply nodded

"How the hell did you know all of that?"
"Tasks in your outlook, very revealing"

She growled at him folding her arms

"I think you…I'll see you later" he said kissing her on the cheek as he went by. House was about to say what he thought she should pick as her dress for the hospital ball. But Wilson had just walked by the office with Peter.

Again he watched them from the balcony, he saw them hold hands for longer, but decided that Wilson was pretending. He said nothing when he saw Wilson for his lunch.

Wednesday – This to House was a non-day to start off with, Wilson had not confided anything at lunch yesterday, but House noted that he was talking always about girls and Cuddy. House was now confused.

"Taub my good duckling and how are you today?"
"We have a problem"
"Do we?"
Taub stood there in the corridor and looked sternly at House

"Don't tell me the patient is….." he looked quizzically at Tuab's face

"DEAD" he said after a while

"Correct" Taub answered
House face dropped in horror.

The rest of the team appeared, they slowly walked in to Houses office. House was now on his chair bouncing his ball.

Foreman was about to speak

"I will ask the questions" House said sternly

"Thirteen, how did the kid die?"
"Heart attack"
"Taub did you do a full history"
Taub went silent, Thirteen nudged him and whispered "Don't you dare"
"Fine, Foreman please go get Dr Cuddy"

Foreman moaned but did as requested.

Thirteen and Taub stood in silence, watching the ball bounce against the wall.

House said nothing

"House, what is it?" Cuddy said rushing in, with Foreman close behind

"Team go sit in the office downstairs, do not talk to anyone or do anything"

Cuddy looked shocked and in distress at this

"House?"
"What did Foreman tell you?"
"Well the patient is dead and you were grilling the team?"
"Correct, well they did kill a kid"
"What? How can you be sure?"
"The kid had cancer, if they had bothered to a full history they would of worked it out"

"Where were you?"
"Cuddy, don't. I was watching them, but as you have often said its about time they should do a case on their own"

Cuddy sighed.

She didn't know what to do

"Suspend them for two weeks. But go and ask them to go to the morgue, I shall show you all what should have been done"
She decided this wasn't a bad idea

"Two weeks?"
"Yes, they need to learn Cuddy" House was firm in his answers and orders. He didn't care what his team did and had done, but deep down he knew that on his watch they had messed up.

House was sat in the morgue, with the boys body covered up. His team along with Cuddy appeared about ten minutes later.

"Welcome to the world of death" House said

"Why are we here?" asked Foreman scared of the fact that he and the team had been suspended for two weeks.

"Taub, please uncover the body"

He did, as he pulled it back, he winced as he saw several bruises on the kids back

"Didn't see them did we"
"no" said Taub

"Thirteen, you are fired, you missed suspected child abuse, you know longer can work under me"

"The rest of you your suspended"

Cuddy didn't move, Thirteen looked at her pleading with her

"No sorry, he's right"

"What did kill him?" asked Taub
"Cancer, Wilson did a test as I asked him too, the kid had terminal cancer and only had a few weeks"

He covered the boy's body back up.

He stopped at Cuddy

"Are the parents still here?"
"Yes, ummm"
"I will tell them"
"House"

"It be fine"

The rest of the team left the hospital, Thirteen asked Cuddy what other jobs were available, she suspended her for a month and then said she can work in the clinic.

House limped up the stairs, he reached in to his jacket pocket and found a vicodin.

He swallowed hard and then went up in to the parents room.

"Hi I am Dr Gregory House"
"hi" said the father

"You here about our Craig?"
House nodded

"Finally some answers"
"I am afraid he died from an infection which basically stopped his heart."
"But I thought these things can be treated?" asked the father

"Yes, my team missed it, for which I am truly sorry, however"
"HOWEVER" shouted the father

"Please sir, I know you are upset. But I have to tell you that Craig was dying from cancer, he had weeks to live. There is no reason I can give which will justify my teams actions. I wish I had been here, but they are now suspended and fired." House said, looking at the father. Both were standing up at this point.

He looked at the mother, she was in tears. He walked out of the room to give them space.

House had said that angrily. He knew standing up to the father was not in his nature.

He went in to his office and sat and cried his heart out. He felt devastated by this loss.

Wednesday – House limped in to work, he saw Peter and Wilson hugging.

"Wow he's gay" he thought

"House" Wilson shouted

"hey honey how are you?"
"Okay, okay I will explain later. Please can I ask you something?"
"Yes"
"I heard you were devastated about that boys death?"
"Yeah its crap, I got to do my clinic duty all day"
"Why?"
"Just want to be nice to Cuddy"
"What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing. See you later darling" House said smiling and laughing at Wilson who was trying to be gay he thought.

Thursday – House sat in his office and threw his ball over and over again against the wall

"Okay what have you done?" said Cuddy storming in to his office

"Good morning to you too" House said softly

"I was away yesterday and I have just heard that you did 18 hours of clinic"
"Can I have a sticker?" he said childlike

She smiled

"Maybe. But why?"
"I was feeling guilty. I will see you later" House said, he couldn't believe he had just admitted that. But he kissed her on the cheek and gave her a hug. He then limped out of the office.

Friday – Well that for House was a busy day, he had stayed in the hospital all night.

Having done clinic duty all day yesterday and decided to do some more.

Wilson and Cuddy met up in her office

"What's wrong with House" asked Cuddy

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he has done three days solid of Clinic"
Wilson dropped to his seat

"Wilson?"

"I know he was feeling bad at that young boys death"
"He said he was feeling guilty"
"Well when I saw him I could tell he had been crying"

They both sat there worried about House, wondering if this was a new illness. Wondering if House was actually House.

House then limped in making them both jump

"Hey, you free tomorrow night Wilson?"

"Erm yes"
"You free Sunday Cuddy?"
"Yes"
"okay, Wilson see you tomorrow night at 7, Cuddy see you Sunday morning at 10 will come round"

He smiled at both of them.

What was he up too? They both thought.