My mother and I never had the best of relationships—after my father died when I was ten, she spend most of her time at work. She was obsessed with her job, I was obsessed with trying to get her attention. Then she married Fred Morton, at the time, age twenty-five, ten years younger than her, ten years older than me. After three weeks, he gained my distrust and I put two dead bolts on the door to the room my younger sister and I shared. I stopped trying to gain her love after that. That is why when she showed up at the hospital, I was shocked. More than shocked, and slightly mad. Whenever we were together, a fight ensued.

She didn't even knock on our glass door, she just came in like she owned the place, which in her mind, she did. She was followed by a young man around my age wearing a suit. The colors matched perfectly with her skirt-suit and bag. That's my mother, always matching.

"Allison, honey!" And so it started. Every time she called me honey, I know she had news. Every time she called me doll, she didn't care about anything I had to say. And every time she called me by my first two names, I was in trouble.

"Mother, what a…pleasant surprise!" I stood but didn't engage contact. Rule one with my mother, do not engage contact, let her come to you.

"Yes, well, we were in town for a fashion show and decided to stop by." She threw her coat and purse on the table and looked at my colueges. "Who are they?" she demanded.

"Mom, this is Doctor House, Doctor Foreman, and Doctor Chase. Everyone, meet my mom." I said with a sigh.

"Hmm." She said in her bored tone. "Allison, this is my fiancé, Matthew Richmon." She waved towards the mysterious man.

"What happened to What's-his-face?" I asked, picking my mother's things off the table and ushering them into House's office.

"Couldn't handle the pressure."

"I'll be right back." I told House. He gave me an amused look then returned to the file in front of him. "Um, Mom, I need to work. If you would have called before hand, I would have set some time aside to see you."

"So you can't even spare some time for your own mother?" she asked as she sat down on the couch.

"We have a new case."

"I thought you were a doctor, not a detective."

"Medical case, Mom," I sighed. "I work on medical anomalies."

Just then, Chase poked his head through the door. "What's your theory?"

"Lupus."

"It's never lupus!" House shouted from the next room.

I walked to the door and pushed Chase out of the way. "He has all the symptoms and for once in your life let someone else be right."

"Somebody needs her Midol!"

"To bad I gave it all away to a grumpy old pervert."

"Alright, my little ducklings, test for lupus!" I turned back to my mother and soon to be step-father and told them I'd be back soon.

"Don't you walk away from me!" She shouted. "We were having a conversation! You don't walk out on me when we are having a conversation!"

"I have to work, Mom, I'll be back when I finish."

"I don't have all day to wait around for you!"

"You never did." I said as I walked out.

"Some mum you got there." Chase said as we walked towards the patient's room.

"Oh yeah. Abigail Smartly, grade A mother." Sarcasm was pooling around me like I was drowning.

"She, uh, seems nice enough." Foreman added.

"She's a whore with a wallet and a whole state falling at her feet."

"Do I sense some resentment from our little miss sunshine?"

"Trust me, she deserves mush more. Like a boiling pot of oil and a hint of salt." I suddenly thought of something. "Can you two do the tests by yourselves?"

"I think we can do without you, Princess."

"Thanks." I turned and started walking away, pulling out my cell phone. "Hey, it's me. You remember how my dear old mom got you wrongfully arrested for trespassing our senior year? Well do you want to get back at her?"