Thank you all so much for reading, for making this a favorite and for all the great comments.

I'm not certain how the school districts and high schools are organized in the Princeton area, but I know that in other parts of New Jersey, there are consolidated high schools. I took that route so that Gretchen and her friends would all be in the same school, if not the same classes.

Chapter 2.

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me again, Little Buddy," House told his son.

The little boy grinned and nodded. "Can we play a game before I go to school?"

"After we toss these dishes into the dishwasher." So, of course,

Alex stacked the dishes as quickly and carefully as he could. And, of course, House just sat and watched as he finished his coffee.

"Now?" Alex asked when he was done. They walked together to the family room. Junior took one more mouthful of his doggie breakfast and waddled behind them.

"Rocky Raccoon?" House asked, as if Alex might choose something else.

"Yup!" The whine was completely gone from his voice and his sister's refusal to play with him was almost forgotten. House inserted the disk for Alex's favorite game.

They picked up the two controllers and began to play. After about twenty minutes House asked, "How many nuts do you have?"

Alex counted his accumulated nuts. "Seventeen!" he announced.

"That's great. Did you beat Sammy Squirrel?"

"Yeah. Sammy only has five! How many do you have Dad?" Alex asked, looking up at his father.

"Can you count 'em for me?"

"You have sixteen and Charlie Chipmunk only has...three. Dad you won too!"

"OK. Time to go," House said, getting up from the floor slowly, removing the disk, then ruffling Alex's hair.

"Do we have to?" The whine was back. "Can't we stay here?"

"I've gotta show my face at work," House replied.

"Well, can I go with you?"

House sighed. "Just stick it out for a few more days," House told him. "Maybe your mom and I can find you a new school, one where the kids are as smart, well, almost as smart as you."

"Really?" Alex wasn't sure whether to believe that.

"I won't promise you anything, but we'll try."

"OK," the boy said with an exaggerated sigh. He found his Rocky Raccoon school pouch and Rocky Raccoon lunch pail, placed his small hand in his father's larger one, and they headed out.

Mercer Regional High School served four different school districts in the area surrounding Princeton. When Gretchen and her friend Ruth arrived on the school bus, it was only one of many buses pulling up to the school. Both of them hoped that some of their friends would be in their classes. They'd already discovered

that they weren't in the same home room, so they parted in the busy hallway.

Gretchen went searching for Room 212. When she found it, she walked in to see three unfamiliar faces, a boy and two girls sitting in the back of the room. She took a seat and watched the doorway. Two girls came in. She knew one of them from her previous school but not well. Then NingFang entered, followed soon after by Tommy. Gretchen let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

NingFang took a seat on one side of her and Tommy on the other. Then David, one of Tommy's friends, arrived, followed by three more strangers and Louise, a girl from Em, Audra and NingFang's school. Before long the room was full.

Somewhere along the way, a man entered. He was tall and heavyset, but not very old. "All right, class. I'm Mr. Kerrigan. I'm your homeroom teacher, and some of you will have me for Freshman English. I hope you all read the school regulations that were sent to your homes over the summer." He looked around the

room to gauge the reaction. As usual it looked like about half to three-quarters of the students had.

Gretchen thought the rules were excessive. A dress code banning shorts, swim wear, skirts more than three inches above the knee, and gang T-shirts she could understand. But no texting during school hours? No music devices at all in school?

"Now I've got your schedules for this semester, so as I call your name, please come forward" Mr. Kerrigan announced.

Gretchen waited patiently until he called Gretchen Rose House, and walked up to get hers. Her first class was Biology. That was OK. It suddenly struck her that she and all her friends might not have the same lunch period. But no sense worrying about the worst, that she'd have no one to eat with. She'd made new friends before.

Tommy was last. Except when Nick Zettler was in his class, he was always alphabetically last. He'd grown, more than his parents ever expected. At five foot seven, he was the same height as Gretchen. He wasn't as tall as his father but he still seemed to be growing.

He had Biology first period, too! He and Gretchen grinned at each other. They walked to the classroom together. Gretchen had long ago learned to slow her long-legged stride to match her friend's more awkward gait.

When they arrived, they found that Tommy's friend Nelson was also in their class. The teacher was a short woman, middle-aged, with short curly black hair.

"Please take any seat," she called out. "We'll sort things out later." The class settled down.

"This is Biology 1, so if that's not where you're supposed to be, you'd better leave now." No one moved. "Good. I'm Mrs. Levinson. This year we will be studying about the biology of all living things. You've probably learned something about this in your science classes in elementary and Junior High school, but never to the depth we will study this year." She had everyone's

attention now. "Once each week we will have laboratory classes where we will be able to study specimens under the electron microscope and learn to use other instruments to see down to the level of the chromosomes, to the DNA of the animals and plants we study."

Gretchen was interested and excited. She'd always loved science classes, but she knew this would be even better than ever.

This day, this year, this school weren't so bad after all.

Chapter 3.

House finally arrived at work at 10 AM after dropping Alex off. He had a new fellow who'd started the previous week, another cardiologist that he doubted would ever be as good as Leslie Sullivan Chase. He had the unlikely name of Lucas Hartmann.

House found him with his other two minions, Lynette Marshall and Chris Forbes, in the diagnostics conference room, a room that hadn't changed much in the twenty or so years he'd used it. Marshall and Forbes had only been with him about six months. He tried not to think about the number of young doctors he'd influenced over the years. He never thought of it as 'training' or 'mentoring', leaving words like that to the self-important doctors who thought they were doing the world a favor by taking younger doctors under their wings. That just wasn't his approach.

The team was poring over copies of a patient file. "Dr. House, we have a patient" Hartmann announced happily.

Rather than point out that it was obvious, he just asked "Symptoms?" and picked up his favorite marker.

They rattled off the information - recurring headaches, running nose, recent hair loss, and stomach pain - and he listed most of them on the whiteboard.

"You forgot the recent hair loss," Forbes pointed out.

"Not relevant," House replied, shaking his head.

"How do you know?" Marshall asked.

"Is he over fifty-five?" House asked, letting them draw their own conclusions.

"Could be an infection," Marshall suggested. "Or an autoimmune disease."

"Maybe it's just the flu." Hartmann seemed to think he was contributing.

"Or just a common cold," House responded.

"We could use a consult from an Immunologist," Marshall said.

"Ask and you receive," House said, looking towards the door where his wife had appeared. "Whaddya think, Dr. Cameron?"

"Probably not autoimmune," she said as she quickly scanned the whiteboard. "What about a stomach virus?"

"There's nothing in here about a fever," Forbes said.

"If the patient's been on aspirin or Tylenol for the headaches, it would keep the fever down." She was shaking her head when she felt her phone vibrate. Glancing at the screen, she saw it was Alex's school. Panicking she answered. "This is Allison Cameron."

"Mrs. House, it's Betsy Keller."

"Did something happen to Alex?"

"Well, oh, no, he's OK, except..."

"Just a minute," Cameron said into the phone. "I'm going to take this in your office," she told House. She could see the concern on his face. Once she entered his inner sanctum, she said, "Out with it, Mrs. Keller." She'd gone from worried to annoyed.

"Well, he's starting this week the way he finished last. He won't take a nap with the other children, won't play with them. He's been lying, telling them he can read. And he's been calling them all idiots."

Cameron sighed. "What do you want me to do? I can come get him, but..."

"Oh, would you?" The relief in the daycare teacher's voice was unmistakable.

"Yes," Cameron said. "I will." As she closed the phone she muttered, "Mrs. Keller you are the biggest idiot of all!" Then she saw House and his staff watching her through the glass. She reentered the conference room. "I'm going to get

Alex," she told House. "He's OK" She put a reassuring hand on his arm.

He nodded, and seemed somewhat relieved.

Before she left, Cameron took another look at the whiteboard. "Check his electrolytes, and start him on Paracetamol," she prescribed. "I'll be back," she said in her best imitation of Arnold, which really wasn't very good at all. Then she was gone with House watching her, completely distracted from his case.

Forty minutes later, Cameron was back with Alex. Forbes and Marshall were off testing the patient's blood electrolytes, and only Hartmann was left in the conference room. But seeing his wife and son, House returned from his office.

Alex grinned at him, only to find his father glaring back with narrowed eyes. That was all it took to get Alex to cling to his mother, and wipe the smile off his face.

"Can I leave him here?" Cameron asked. "I've got rounds."

"You gonna whine?" House asked the boy.

Alex shook his head, looking cautiously back.

"OK" House told Cameron. "You can leave him. I'll bring him to the cafeteria at noon."

Alex watched his mother leave and then took a seat at the table, his legs dangling more than a foot above the ground.

Forbes returned to tell them that Marshall had taken the sample to the lab, but also that the patient now had a fever. They'd just started him on Paracetamol. "I've been wracking my brain, trying to think of what Dr. Cameron might have in mind." He stopped short and stared at Alex without his mother.

"Hi!" Alex said. He'd met Forbes a couple of times before.

"Hi, Alex. Have you met Dr. Hartmann?" When Alex shook his head, Forbes went on, "Dr. Hartmann is the new Diagnostics Fellow."

"Nice to meet you," the boy said politely.

"So now that we all know one another, let's get on with this," House said.

"Where's Dr. Cameron?" Forbes asked.

"She's doing rounds," House replied. "So, kiddies, it's up to us." He scratched the top of his head forcing his eyes open wide. "Gee, I wonder what it can be."

Alex had his lips pressed together, almost afraid to make another sound. But House noticed he wanted to say something.

"OK," he said in a singsong voice, tilting his head back and forth. "What d'you have to say, Alex?"

"Is the pain in his stomach or his chest?" he asked.

"Good question," House said, especially since it got him thinking about the symptoms differently. "Very good question."