I don't own them, House and Crossing Jordan belong to their respective owners. The only character I own is Leah Rysten.

"House, you're going and that's final!" said Cuddy as she slapped shut a case folder that she had been looking at.

"You know I hate Boston."

"That's a line of crap and you know it. You don't even have to call her. It's not like you're going to run into her. She works in a whole different part of town."

"Yeah, but then if I do run into her I'll get the riot act for not calling her and telling her."

"Like I said before, your still going to keep an eye on the others, and how you handle your relationship with your daughter is none of my business. If you don't go to Boston you'll owe me an additional fifteen hours of clinic duty a week."

"Slave driver." Muttered House knowing that it was pointless to argue with Cuddy about this, arguing with her now meant more clinic hours to have to try and pawn off on an unsuspecting duckling. He left her office and made his way to the conference room next to his office. He wasn't too surprised to see all of his ducklings there but was just a little surprised to see Wilson there writing on his white board.

"No sick kids to take care of today? What are we playing? Dirty word hangman?" asked House as he pushed Wilson out of the way. He saw what was written on the board in Wilson's sloppy handwriting. Why House hates Boston.

"It's the beans, okay." He snapped then going on, "We leave this afternoon, I'm not sure exactly what the conference is about, but I'm sure Wilson's all ready filled you in on that. If any one needs me I'll be in the obstetrics lounge."

"What was that all about?" questioned Cameron just a little concerned about House's reaction.

"It's a long story and one that I can't tell you about." Said Wilson as he then left the conference room

Cameron then looked at Chase and Foreman, "The two of you have been here longer than me, do you know?"

"Well, there was a rumor going around a year or two ago that House has a daughter around our age. I have nothing to confirm or deny that rumor. The only ones that know are House, Wilson and Cuddy, but there's no way I'm sticking my head in that lion's den to satisfy your curiosity." Said Foreman.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to wait until we get to Boston and do some digging myself." Said Cameron.

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Lily Lebowski was very surprised along with Jordan Cavanaugh when they went to get Leah Rysten from her hotel room.

"Come on sleepyhead, it's time to get up!" Leah mumbled something and then woke up, when she started to sit up she was very surprised when she realized that she was holding a gun in her hand that was also covered with a bit of blood, but whose? She then turned her head and saw that JD Pollack's dead body was lying in a chair next to her bed.

"Leah, come on." Said Jordan as she entered the hotel room and started to comprehend the scene that she saw before her. "Leah, what happened?"

"I-I don't know"

"Okay, Leah, put down the gun, we'll figure this out. Leah, put down the gun." Said Jordan as she heard Lily enter the room.

"Lil, call Garret and have him send a crime scene unit down here."

"Jordan, what happened?" questioned Lily as she peaked her head around Jordan's shoulder and saw JD's body. "Got it?"

Within minutes Lu Simons, Garret Macy, Bug, and Nigel were at the crime scene.

"I'll handle the trace on Leah, Nige you and Bug start collecting trace here" said Macy as he lead Leah off to the bathroom of the room. By the time Garret and Lu searched Leah, Garret could tell she was a little shocky.

"Easy Leah, slow deep breaths. We'll get you into a different set of clothes in a few minutes. Let me have a look at your hands."

"Any idea as to what happened?" questioned Lu.

"I really don't remember." Said Leah.

"How much did you have to drink or weren't you paying attention?"

"I only had two drinks, the last thing I remember was coming up here and then having Jordan and Lily wake me up from outside the room." Garret by this time was done taking trace off of Leah's right hand and looked up to see a bruise on her upper right arm.

"How'd you get this bruise Leah? Did JD give that to you?"

"Garret, I honestly don't know, it's very possible, everything's a blur or there's empty spaces in my memory."

"Okay, we're going to get you to a hospital, have you get checked over a little more thoroughly, and have your blood sampled."

"I'll go with her." Said Lu.

"Leah, remember you don't have to say anything to her without your lawyer present." Leah nodded her head and was led out by Lu. Nigel watched Leah as she walked out with Lu. He could tell that she didn't know which way was up.

(Five Hours later back at the morgue) "Well, he suffered bruising on his chest and lungs, possible car accident a few months back from the state of healing, or a bar fight." Said Garret

"Somebody didn't want to give him three steps to get out the door." Said Nigel as Garret shot him a look and went on, "Liver looks as if it's seen better days, and last but not least two gun shot wounds."

"And any one of us would be able to testify to self defense on Leah's behalf if need be. We all saw what happened when Leah had agreed to go out with him for that very short time." Said Nigel as Garret then asked, "Do you have the ballistics results ready yet Nigel?"

"I'm getting there. Okay, running it through the computer re-enactment. Oh dear lord." Garret and Bug were both standing over Nigel's shoulders when they heard that reaction come from him. "JD was shot in the back." Said Nigel.

"Not a word of this gets out, you hear me? I'm heading down to the precinct."

(Meanwhile at the Boston PD) "Okay Leah, let's take this from the top. What do you remember about the party and the events leading up to what happened?"

"Not too much, Bug's speech, one of the drinks that I took a sip out of that I thought was mine was JD's it was on the strong side." Said Leah as Woody popped in a security surveillance tape.

"This is footage of what happened outside in the hallway of your hotel room. Do you remember anything about what you and JD were arguing about?" questioned Woody.

"No, but seeing this is helping, but not by much, it explains how I got the bruise on my arm." Said Leah as she got lost in her own fuzzy thoughts about the conversation that took place. "Why is it so important that you have to return that call?"

"It's my father." "Come on Rysten, you told me that you and your father hardly ever speak, so what's the big deal, come with me to DC." Leah was then brought out of her reverie when she heard Woody say Garret's name

"Detectives, could I have a word with the two of you alone."

"Garret, what's going on? What did you find out? Let me see." Said Leah as she took the folder from him and opened it. When she saw the findings her blood went cold. Woody having worked with both Jordan and Leah numerous times to know their body language could tell something was wrong."

"What is it?"

"JD was shot in the back, so it's murder" she said as she let the file drop to the desk next to her, as Lu started to red her her rights and lead her away to booking. Once the two of them were gone Woody turned to Garret, "You and I both know that she couldn't have done this, we have to clear her."

"I know, right now things don't look good. She tested positive for GSR and her finger and handprints were on the gun."

"I'll see if I can pull a few strings at the DA's office. Any family that we can call for Leah's support team?"

"It's not very likely, she and her biological father are on uneasy ground with each other."

"Crap, so, we're pretty much on our own."

(Later the next day in court) "How do you plead Ms. Rysten?"

"Not guilty your honor."

"Plea of not guilty entered. Terms?" asked the judge looking at the prosecuting attorney.

"We'd like Ms. Rysten held until trial, no bail. She's a flight risk." At this time Jeffrey Brandau entered and whispered something to the lawyer. "Mr. Brandau, care to share with the class?"

"Your honor, I'm sorry for the interruption, but I just got off the phone with Ms. Rysten's lawyer who is finishing up another case and we were able to reach a deal. Ms. Rysten will be held on bail, surrender her passport so as to not be a flight risk, and she is not to set foot in the Boston County Morgue until the trial is over. If she violates any of these terms she will be held until trial."

"Ms. Rysten?"

"I agree to those terms."

"For the knowledge of the court the name of Ms. Rysten's lawyer?"

"Adam Pierson."

"Court is adjourned until such time evidence is brought forward." After the judge dismissed the court Brandau came up to Leah.

"You're free on bail, Pierson all ready posted it for you. My suggestion to you is go home, unplug the phone and rest."

"Thank you Jeffery. I'm sorry that this is putting a damper on your wedding with Lily."

"Leah, don't go there now." Said Jeffery as he made his way out. Leah was able to make her way a little further down the main aisle of the courtroom when she heard a voice, "They sure didn't give you a lot of options did they luv?"

"Nigel?"

"Dr. M let me come. Thought you needed a little moral support, plus I needed you to answer a few questions for me about a few things we found."

"Nigel, you know I can't step foot-"

"Since when have you and Jordan exactly played by the rules?"

"Since I really don't want to spend any time in a jail cell with a roomie by the name of either Gertrude or Big Bertha."

"All right, all right, we'll go to your place then to talk." Said Nigel a little taken aback at how Leah was acting. A half an hour later Leah and Nigel were at her apartment.

"So, what did you find?"

"Well, for one we found a memory stick on your key chain."

"A memory stick. I don't even own one."

"It's JD's luv, with files from the morgue on it and photos."

"What!"

"It's true. Did you have your access card on you?"

"Dammit! I had left it in my top desk drawer that morning on accident and when I came in I saw JD rummaging around through the drawer, he said he was looking for an aspirin, and that he wasn't snooping, the snitch swiped my card and what else did you find out?"

"Not much we're still trying to work on that, but from what I've been able to piece together so far is that the cases that he took happen to go back to a judge in DC by the name of Gordon."

"So, it's possible that JD could have been on a story and he got too close to finding out the truth."

"It looks like it's starting to point that way. I need to head back, you call me if you need anything." He said as he gave her a hug and kissed her on the top of the head.

"I will." Said Leah

(Later the next day) Lily decided to pay Leah a visit to see how she was coping. "Hey how are you?"

"All right, I guess. Jordan called me and told me what happened. You don't have to cancel your wedding because of me. Go on with it."

"I really want to help, this is an all hands on deck situation."

"I hope Jeffery understands that. He was a little cool towards me at my arraignment."

"Don't worry about him, he knows or should know how far back you and I go as friends, and let's face it, the whole crew at the morgue is your family, and we're here to support you." Said Lily as she wrapped Leah up in a hug, and then noticed that the answering machine that was sitting on the side table was flashing.

"Still getting lots of calls from the press?"

"Not as often as I did two days ago, my dad's called here a few times."

"And you didn't pick up?"

"I was a little afraid too, I mean what would you think if you found out that your daughter got accused of murder, or have your daughter tell you that?"

"I'd be behind her every step of the way."

"You don't know my dad."

"People can surprise you every now and again. Think about picking up the next time he calls, what's the worst that could happen you hang up on him?"

(Meanwhile at a local hotel convention center in Boston) House and Wilson decided to meet up for the lunch break during the weeklong medical convention that Cuddy had demanded quite a few of her staff go on. "So, what are your plans during your free time here?" questioned Wilson who was definitely fishing on House's emotions at being in the same city as his daughter.

"Jimmy, you're fishing, knock it off. I know where you're going with this." Said House from behind the newspaper that he was reading. He read a few more lines and stopped his next witty comeback to Wilson when his eyes landed on an article of disturbing interest. MEDICAL EXAMINER ARRAIGNED FOR MURDER OF JOURNALIST. The paper must have been the one the journalist worked for, because his picture was there along with his daughter's.

"House, earth to House." Said Wilson trying to get his attention. House ignored him and got out his cell phone.

"Yeah, Adam Pierson please. Pierson, you happen to read page three of the Boston Mirror. You're on it. Good. Explains a few things. Can't really make any promises. Right." Said House as he ended the call and went back to the paper.

"House, what in the hell is going on? Who's this Pierson person and why is page three of the Mirror so important?"

"You really want to know, take a look for yourself." He said as he tossed Wilson the paper. Wilson scanned the article and couldn't believe his eyes.

"This is not good at all."

"Really Brilliant observation there."

"So what are you going to do?'

"What do you mean what am I going to do? Explains why she hasn't returned any of my calls."

"You're her father."

"Yes, I know, but there's really nothing much that I can do."

"Well, you could stay here and help her out."

"Right, like she's really going to want my help."

"Don't be so sure of yourself, she may need someone in her corner, and it wasn't as if you really had a say about being able to see her when she was younger."

"Please don't remind me. I'm not even sure if she's still staying at the same place that she was when she first got her job here."

"That's where you're in luck."

"What, you happen to know where she lives?"

"Yes, Uncle Jimmy has been keeping in touch with his god-daughter. She's in an apartment building on Pearl Street."

After Lily had left Leah had decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and eat something, she couldn't remember the last time that she had eaten and she knew that wasn't a good sign. After rummaging through the fridge she found that she had some left over soup from the little Italian restaurant that was three blocks away. After popping that in the microwave she got out a bottle of water from the fridge. At first she was a little surprised she thought that she had drank the last one four days ago. Leah just shrugged it off, from all the stress that she had been under her memory wasn't being very cooperative. After taking a long swig she waited for the microwave to ding. She then headed over to her entertainment system and turned on the stereo and sat down on the couch. When it did two minutes later as she made her way back to the kitchen she felt very light headed and woozy, before the thought even crossed her mind that there may have been something in the water she fell to the ground in a heap.

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