A/N. This is my very first Housefic. I hope you wont think it's too crappy. Read and review, please.

House and company marched out of the elevator and onto the floor where his latest patient was. As they rounded the corner Cuddy could be heard trying to talk. Trying. She was being drowned out by the sounds of a sobbing woman. "The patient's mother." said Hadley matter-of-factly.

Kutner broke in. "But isn'tisn't, Inst, inst, int" / our patient an adult?" Hadley nodded. "Then why is her mother barking orders?"

Hadley looked to him and raised her eyebrows. "You'll see."

House was the first to reach the scene. "All these theatrics, I thought I was on Broadway." he quipped.

Cuddy gave him her usual look as she tried once again to calm the woman down. "I assure you, your daughter is in no danger."

The woman continued to wail and cross herself repeatedly. "The devil has my baby." she kept repeating it over and over, in a hysterical sobbing voice.

"Mother..." came a ringing voice from inside the room. The woman looked up hopefully. "Shut up! Will ya?!" the voice of the young patient almost made House laugh as much as the look of shock that descended on her mother.

House sidestepped the weeping mother and entered the hospital room. There on the bed was a young woman in her late twenties. She had her hair tied back in a tail and she was reading, of all things, a farmers almanac. House cleared his throat. When she looked up at him he could easily see that there was something wrong with her. Both pupils were dilated and her face wore a distinct rosy sheen, House would have sworn it was a sunburn if it hadn't been in the lower thirties and cloudy all week long. "I'm Doctor House." he said.

"Figured as much." the girl said back. "I was told you'd be the only one NOT in a lab coat." she gestured to his attire. "Nice shirt, The Clash. Awesome." Then she went back to her reading.

Flabbergasted, House circled around to the side of her bed. He reached for the blanket gingerly. "I need to check your breathing.

The girl, Elizabeth was her name, smiled as he did. "I'm not naked." she quipped, casting a grin in his direction.

"Oh, I'm sure you're not." replied House. "But if you're contagious, I don't' want to catch it." He matched her grin.

From the hall Cuddy watched the exchange and groaned. "This is gonna be a fun week." she groused. Elizabeth's mother continued to weep and pull at her hair. It wasn't until the chaplain appeared that she calmed down and went with him to the hospital's chapel.

Liz sighed. "Thank the gods. She's gone." and she relaxed a little as House checked her breathing. "I really need to change my contact information." Liz muttered as House checked her eyes.

"House finished his evaluation and stood back to look at Liz. "You said Gods, just then. Why?"

Liz laughed. It wasn't a laugh that meant she thought what he said was funny it was laugh that implied that she had expected the question. She was about to answer when House reached forward and retrieved the silver chain from around her neck. A silver pentagram the size of a half dollar swung from a loop at the end. "Pagan" he said knowingly.

"Wiccan actually. Why do you think my mother is so fearful. She thinks the devil has come back to collect what's his." Liz rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "As if it weren't bad enough having to deal with her, she has gotten her church involved. There's a twenty-four hour prayer chain going on. All on my behalf. To save my immortal soul." She shrugged. "Not that I mind. A person needs all the help they can get in this life. But come on. The performance you just saw would win a Oscar. Enough is enough already."

House smiled. "I like you." he said simply, then he looked at Liz and winked. "Her mother's presence is raising her blood pressure. I don't want that woman anywhere near here unless my patient insists. Got it?" The team nodded in unison. He turned back to Liz. "Good enough?"

"Fine." said Liz. She lifted her book and went back to her reading.

House left the room, closing the door behind him. "Shes in no real danger but the incompetent doctors at the clinic she saw didn't know what she had right?" He glanced over at Cuddy, who nodded in silence. He motioned for his team to follow and they did obediently.

&&&&&&&&&&

In the staffroom, House pulled out the marker board and wrote Liz's symptoms on it. "Dilated pupils, reddening of the face and hands, low, shallow breathing, normal heart rate, no fever..." He paused. "Anyone?"

"Hypertension?" asked Kutner.

"Patient is in otherwise perfect health, she even exercises daily, takes vitamins, and she eats healthy, organic foods." He makes a buzzing noise. "Wrong answer. Next."

"Hadley leans forward onto the table. "Over-dosage of her multivitamin might cause the dilation of the pupils. The reddening of her face might be a side effect of the increased blood flow to her eyes."

House looked at her. "Good theory, but next time leave out the "mights", OK?" He wrote the word overdose on the board. "Foreman?"

As he leaned in to look closer at the board, Foreman asked "Does she tan? If she-" but House cut him off.

"Oh, come on! If this was a simple case of overexposure to a tanning bed we'd be laughed out of the hospital." He sighed angrily. "Think smaller. Think bigger."

Taub sighed and blurted out "Rosachea. The slapped in the face look. She has that."

House nodded. "Good, but does that explain the dilation of her pupils?" Taub shook his head. "It's something else." He started to pace the room. His cane dragging on the carpet, making a dull scratching sound.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Elizabeth sat in her bed and sighed. She looked out the window and tried to see the sun as much as she could. "If I could get outside, I'd feel better." she muttered. The sounds of her mother from the end of the hall brought her to her senses. Her mother was being denied admittance to the ward and she wasn't very happy about it. Liz couldn't help but smile. She leaned over to try to hear her mother better when the pain came. A sharp stabbing pain in her back, on the left side. She gasped for breath as she reached for the call button. Within seconds her doctor was alerted.

&&&&&&&&&&&

House's pager went off and he nearly jumped. "Patient is having trouble breathing. New symptom." He said as he pointed to Hadley and said "Come with me. You guys figure out what's doing this."

House and Haldey raced down the hall to Liz's room. Liz was calm but gasping fro breath. Hadley propped her up and House pulled out his stethoscope and listened to her lungs. "Hmm." he said. "Lungs are clear. What does it feel like?" he asked Liz.

Between gasps Liz was able to say that the pain felt like someone was squeezing her lung. "Like- wh- when you- h- hold- a b- balloon- in your- h-hand and force- all- the air- to- one end." Her face showed the essence of calm but her voice seemed panicky. House stood up and bit his lip in frustration.

"Giver her a chest x-ray. Lets see what her muscles are doing." His brow was furrowed. This was a totally confusing case. Nothing was adding up.

After a grueling stint in the radiology lab, Liz was taken back to her room to rest. "Who knew getting the inside of my body photographed would be so exhausting." she quipped as Kutner helped her back into bed. Kutner smiled and was about to speak when Liz suddenly latched on to his sleeve. "The room is spinning." she said.

"Okay, Lets get you set down and I'll check your eyes." Kutner and Taub hoisted Liz onto her bed and Kutner pulled out his penlight. As he scanned her eyes he noticed something odd. He smiled at Liz and said he'd be right back. He exited the room at a modest pace, but as soon as he was away from view he started running. He threw open the glass door to House's office and said "Her eyes are seizing." He said, his chest heaving in and out as he caught his breath.

House stood and followed Kutner back to Liz's room. As he walked he chewed his lip absentmindedly.

&&&&&&&&&&&

After Kutner left the room Liz looked at Taub and asked "What's wrong?" When Taub could only shrug Liz sank down into the pillows and sighed. She tried to focus on one tile on the ceiling. It was impossible to do. The whole room was still shaking. She was still trying to still her eyes when House and Kutner came in. "what's going on with my eyes?" she asked. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

House borrowed Kutner's penlight and shined it in Liz's eyes. Her pupils were still dilated but both eyes were trembling. "Hmm, weird." said House. He raised up and looked at Liz. "It looks like your eyes are sleeping, but you're still awake. R.E.M."

Liz scratched her head and sighed heavily. "So what now?" she asked. "More tests?" House nodded. "Fun." Liz groused.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Back in the staffroom, House and his team scanned the new symptoms on the board. R.E.M was scribbled in next to dilated pupils as was dizzy spells. "Okay, now what can cause all of these things?" he asked his team.

Taub drummed a pencil on the table and suggested "It might be a sleep disorder."

"But that doesn't explain the rosy cheeks." Hadley chimed in.

House paced again. "This is buggin' you isn't it?" asked Foreman. "Last time you paced like this was the time that girl had the plague." House stopped dead and turned to stare at Foreman. Foreman shook his head. "Nu-uh. No way. She couldn't be carrying the plague. She doesn't own any pets. Besides. She lives here on the east coast and she hasn't had any contact with anyone from the arid region of the States. No way, House."

"Check anyway." was House's reply. Foreman grudgingly rose and exited the room. "Take Kutner with you." House added. Kutner rose and followed Foreman to the lab.

"You really think it could be the plague?" asked Hadley.

""Only one way to be sure." said House without looking at her. "Go check her for a black boil. Look under her arms, legs and the back of her neck." Hadley rose and and went to examine Liz. House turned to Taub. "You and me are going to visit her apartment."

Taub was about to protest until House held up a set of keys on a jeweled keyring. "Okay." he said as he reached for his coat.