Oh wow! Thanks for those lovely reviews. I appreciate it loads. I am having a break from uni work so I decided to finish off the next three chapters and post them up. I am not an expert at psychology but I have tried my best to be accurate as possible. Hope you enjoy the banter between Dr Alex Drake and her students. Some of the lines come from HOUESE MD but I have changed some of it to fit the situation. I do not own either Ashes or House MD

Alex Drake stared at the class for over twenty minutes, trying to clear her head and get her emotions under control after her encounter with Gene while the rest of the class stared back at her with blank faces wondering if she would ever start. It wasn't long until Alex started to speak.

"Ok, three cases, three people walk into a room. All suffering from some form of psychological disorder, without them knowing it. How can you tell? All look normal, all dress in the same tacky cheap outfits with greasy hair and wearing cologne pretending to be cool and sexy but instead come off looking like A-grade twats. All three of them are in pain and are distraught and all three of them says they are hurt, all three believe they are suffering from a bad leg, one of them is lying, one doesn't know that he is lying while the other genuinely believes in the lie that he has created for himself. What is wrong with them?"

A blonde haired woman lifted up her hand eagerly, Alex squinted her eyes.

"I am not going to like you am I?" replied Alex.

"For the patient with the bad leg, the majority of cases are most likely caused by muscle strain. Apply heat and rest affected areas.

Alex just nodded, while rolling her eyes at the most boring answer, there was a reason why she was doing this but like the man that abandoned her one and a half years ago, the student has failed to see the deeper problem that is being hidden underneath the surface.

"Statistically, you're right. Very good. My experience: over half of leg pain is musculoskeletal, generally from excessive exercise. Twelve percent is varicose veins brought on by pregnancy, and most of the rest is the result of vehicular accidents. I said three people. That's six legs. So, you've got three hurt jogging, two in collisions, and one of the legs is pregnant."

The whole room chuckled while others smirked, they liked this woman, her cutting wit was fun and refreshing to listen to unlike Dr Riley who was mundane, repetitive and just plain boring who thought she was the centre of the universe. However, some of the students noticed a certain type of pain that lurked behind her eyes, almost like she was not the woman whom she used to be but didn't know what had happened to her that made her the woman that she was. This time a much more timid but interested and caring Asian piped up and asked.

"What were they doing when the pain presented itself?"

"I have no idea."

Another student popped up, he had long dark hair and had the appearance of a rebel from the backstreets of Manchester, Alex was proven right when he spoke up in a manchurian accent which stabbed at her heart when she remembered the man that she had cruelly turned her back on earlier this morning.

"You didn't ask? You didn't take a history?

Of course, but all that told us was what they said happened. Person A, farmer, says he was fixing a fence. Says he felt Tightness of the leg, loss of muscle control and collapsed. Person B, football practice. The guy dives for the ball and falls on the ground, clutching his foot. Coach figured he twisted it. And C, we've got Duran Duran. Preparing for his concert

The Keen student gobsmaked, squealing like a schoolgirl asked: "Whoa, you treated Duran Duran?

Alex again rolled her eyes, seriously, people's tastes of music in the 80s were downright shocking but she just shook her head and said: "Heartthrob but crap singer. And no, I've gotta disguise the identity of each of the patients and I got tired of using the middle-aged man. Duran Duran seemed like a pleasant alternative... Now, in less than two hours, one of these three will be tossed out of the hospital because they were faking it to score narcotics and has an addiction to drugs, possibly a victim of substance abuse and therefore is a pathological liar, one will be very close to death – attempted suicide caused by severe depression, while the other is abandoned by someone he cares about, the woman, believing that he is corrupt and lying to her when really he is suffering from psychological trauma caused by grief due to the loss of his daughter in a very shocking and bloody hostage shootout a year before he moved down to London therefore psychological pain turns into physical pain.. Any guesses on which is which? Okay, I say we start with the football player." And with that Alex and the team pictured the case in their minds eye.

'I was running after the ball after my team mate managed to get away from our opponent and kicked the ball to me, I dived for it in order to score a goal but I felt a sharp pain in my foot and it made me collapse in pain."

"Ok where's the pain localized?

"It started from my ankle and is radiating up."

Alex then interrupted the vision and asked. "Any ideas?"

The rebellious student piped up. "We should take some tests find out what is wrong with his leg."

Alex again rolled her eyes, if only it was that simple, the 80s is not as medically and technologically advanced as 2008 so therefore it would take ages to find out if there was something physically wrong with the leg. Where was Dr House these days when you needed him?

"Why do you believe him? He could be lying. I said one of the patients is lying." Said Alex.

"The keen student then answered in an intelligent manner that impressed Alex. Pathological liars and substance abuse patients have specific patterns of behavior when trying to manipulate family members, friends and professionals to get them the drugs that they want. We should be looking for signs of substance abuse and check family history to see if the person has had a history of substance abuse and we should also be looking at the patient's body language and facial expressions when he speaks because they usually give indicators that they are lying and then call the cops on him."

Half nodded in agreement while the more experienced students casted skeptical eyes on the students who were agreeing with the keen one.

"Very good. So half of you toss him in jail while the others think that there is something else that is wrong with him. As I said, one of them is a pathological liar and a substance abuse patient but he is not the one. So by letting a suicidal depressed patient who suffers from pain which emerges itself in the form of physical pain with potential suicide thoughts get cuffed and tossed into jail and branded as a pathological liar and a drug user you have just killed him. The other half, spot on.

"But, but you said..."

"I tricked you that is the only thing wrong with caring and keen people, so eager to help and to please others that they don't see the whole picture and jump to conclusions. That's the sad reality of the human race and 50 per cent of the time you are wrong and you will kill somebody, if you can't handle that pick another profession or graduate and teach. So how do I know that he is not lying?" asked Alex.

Everyone just stared at her and shrugged. Not really knowing what to say.

"I know because the soccer player is limping and is relying on a walking stick, a healthy man in his early forties do not start limping around like an 80 year olf and all of a sudden start relying on a cane when there is nothing in his previous medical history that said he had seriously damaged his leg or foot. Medical history indicated that he has had no reliance on drugs except for the occasional tablet to cure a headache, has had no major accidents and no history of surgery. His facial expressions are tight and gives nothing away but his eyes waters up and his body is always stiff when he tries to walk almost like he is trying to ease the pain that he is feeling when he walks. Also when you look at his leg there is no form of allergy or serious wounds that can inflict such pain. Just because he is a football player doesn't mean he is taking drugs or suffers from drug addiction, remember he's British, its only the American baseball players and the Olympians that cheat with drugs. So what explains this?

The caring one than spoke up. "Usually, family can indicate if something is wrong with him.

"Yes, true, family members are usually the first ones to see changes of behavior. The wife had said that her husband all of a sudden became withdrawn, now unless he is having an affair, the only other reason why he is withdrawn all of a sudden is that he is suffering from depression. In some cases, people with depression and suicidal thoughts can be in denial about it and the brain represses it but in doing so it can emerge itself in the form of physical pain leading to the patient believing that they are physically ill when in fact that are depressed. In his case it could be the result of having too much fame and because he is always in the public eye and never gets to have any rest due to the fact that he is a football player. He is under pressure a lot from his manager and from his coach to perform well. On top of that he is away a lot of the time either at training, at some special event, doing interviews or at a game playing for his team, always on the go, never a minute to rest. Could also be caused by anxiety due to his desire to achieve and impress everyone around him and the moment he has a bad day or a small slip up he curses himself, beats himself up and tells himself that he is not good enough and therefore has to push himself to prove his worth when he doesn't really need to." Explained Alex.

"He feels guilty" stated the rebellious one.

"Exactly."

"He could easily turn to drink as well" piped the caring one.

"Nearly everyone does luv" replied the rebellious one."

"Maybe you northern flatfoots do but we don't" huffed the keen one.

"Yeah, because you posh yuppie twats are so perfect when in fact all you are just smug twats with sticks up your arse." Retaliated the rebellious one.

"That is quite enough" snapped Alex, silencing everyone.

Ok, moving on, how do we treat him?" asked Alex.

The rebellious one then spoke up once more. "There are a range of things that can be done along with gentle hospital reassurance. Since the guy is being pressured all the time, then it is recommended that he spend some time away from work and go on a holiday and relax. Put in for leave time, sort out something with his manager while arrange for counseling and support management. If the suicidal thoughts are very strong, maybe drugs, like antianxiety medication, maybe buspirone (Buspar), clonazepam (Klonopin), or lorazepam (Ativan), an antidepressant, like fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa), or venlafaxine (Effexor), or a medication to address anger or mental agitation, like risperidone (Risperdal) or aripiprazole (Abilify). It can be started right away in an attempt to relieve the symptoms of the sufferer of suicidal thoughts. It is also important that there is someone with him and observing him at all times.

"Keep up with stuff like that and I might take you on as a member of my team, you are good at this' smiled Alex, nodding in approval.

The rebellious one smile shyly and replied "god is in the detail ma'am."

Alex nodded she couldn't help but feela sharp pang at her heart as memories of her time with Ray, Chris, Shaz and Gene brainstorming in CID started to come back to her but continued further.

"Ok that is one solved. Let's take a vote, who thinks that the farmer is the pathological liar and the substance abuse user?" asked Alex.

No one put their hands up, all shaking their head in disapproval, which started to make Alex angry, but couldn't quite figure out why, her demeanour changed from nice and professional to cold and menacing.

"Right. Who believes it is the rock star than who is the pathological liar, who pisses in everyone's face, can't tell the truth and is corrupt, does whatever he wants while the farmer who presents himself as the innocent working class every day worker is the one who tragically lost his daughter. Go on. Tell me what you are really thinking, lets be honest here" Snarled Alex, her anger and hurt that she had locked away for over a year and half started to come to the surface, something that was detected by everyone in the room.

"Well it is usually the rock stars that get on the drugs, these days celebrities are turning up dead because they are too doped up."

"Too judgemental. Try again.

When everyone remained quiet, Alex decided to let loose.

"Let's change it then from a rock star to a cop, always in the line of fire right? Has to deal with shit everyday in his life, people are letting him down right, left and centre, he carries a lot of pain and a dark secret inside that he can't admit to himself which one of the reasons why he has moved to London from Hyde, he comes to rely and trust in his boss, a DCI who he has fallen for, would do anything for. When the time comes when he needs her, and tells him the truth, or what he believes to be the truth, she throws his cries and pleas in his face, accuses him of being corrupt, turns to a slapper for reassurance to get back at this male copper who is really a con artist getting paid to separate them, he then uses his own daughter against him and threatens to kill him and goes on to shag some idiot on that man's desk. Let's look at that what does that tell you?" Demanded Alex, coming face to face with the keen one.

"Well...um...it could have been brought on by stress from the job.

"If that was the case then why would he be so hurt and distraught that this woman used his own daughter against him?"

"well, uh...I" stuttered the student, feeling very scared all of a sudden."

"How about because he is corrupt and is lying because he feels that he can use the female DCI's feelings for him against her and expect her to lie down and take it replied the rebellious one"

"Then why would he stay loyal to her in order to help prevent a blag from going down if he was corrupt, what if he was reaching out for help.

"Well, then he is either delusional, making everything up and doesn't give a crap.' Replied the rebellious one which made Alex explode in a sea of anger that frightened everyone.

No. History doesn't indicate that the person is a fantasist or suffering from Schizophrenia so naturally you are WRONG! HE WAS REACHING OUT TO HER THE BEST WAY HE KNEW HOW. HE NEEDED HER HELP!

"It hard to concentrate if you are in our face all the time."

"You know what you are? Useless. No. Worst then useless, oblivious, just like that DCI was, but at least you all know it!" Snarled Alex at the caring student.

"It's hard for me to think like this if...

"Do you think that this was easy on the patient at the time when he was going through all that emotional trauma of being abandoned? COME ON, What are you missing! yelled Alex.

Then a small Essex voice spoke up from the back, surprising everyone.

"Delayed Grief and denial due the loss of a loved one."

Everyone turned around and Alex looked up to see Sharon Granger leaning on the side of the wall along with Chris, Ray, the new DI and Gene, shocked to the core from seeing Alex's little display of rage, bitterness and anger.

"Not your case." Replied Alex, shocked to know that her former team members of the force were at the back listening and watching every single thing that she said and did the whole entire time while she never noticed.

"Nothing wrong with a consult" rebuffed Ray. Alex smiled at this, he had obviously learnt a lot since she had been gone along with Shaz.

When individuals loose loved ones in traumatic, shocking and bloody situations, especially mothers and fathers in regards to losing their son or daughter, some carry with them a lot of guilt with them, they feel that they should have been there for them when in reality there was nothing much that could have been done. They feel that it is their responsibility as a parent to always be there for them, support them when they need them and never let them down. For this individual it seemed that he wasn't there at the time, maybe he couldn't reach her in time and had left them in the care of someone they trust but things went wrong. The individual is unable to come to terms with their loss and puts off grieving; that person then moves down to a new city and start all over, from the description of this patient they obviously had no one, so, therefore, there is no reason for them to be there anymore, no one left to tend to. So they start over again but then they start to believe that their loved one is still alive and start to make up wild stories in order to convince themselves that their loved one is still alive leading them to believe that they could return home to find them safe and well. The death of this person's loved one obviously had a huge impact on him and is so overwhelmed by it that he couldn't deal with it, therefore everything is stored at the back of his mind, like a piece of film, the mind is an amazing organ that can repress and bring up things from a person's past. But sooner or later some small detail forces them to deal with the situation head on and therefore everything starts pouring out and it is too much for them to handle. It could lead to mental and emotional breakdowns, depression and suicidal thoughts and other health hazards like lack of sleep, refusing to eat and naturally treating everyone and everything as their enemy" explained the caring student.

"Brilliant...but you took your time...NOT ONE OF YOU CONSIDERED IT. YOU ALL JUMPED TO THE CONCLUSION THAT JUST BECAUSE HE COMES UP WITH A BIZZARE STORY THAT HE WAS CORRUPT! YOU COULD HAVE MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED THE PATIENT RIGHT THERE AND THEN BY REJECTING HIM LIKE THIS MAN'S DCI DID!" shouted Alex in anger, the truth coming out and hitting Gene, Shaz, Ray and Chris like a ton of bricks while the DI looked on in curious puzzlement.

"I'm from the future. I was shot, and I woke up here, with you. Just like Sam Tyler, only... only this is my reality. And I am fighting not to die, because if I die, I will never get home. And it's insane, but there it is. And I trust you, which is why I'm telling you the truth."

"You know I ask for the truth and you piss in my face."

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no. Please, please don't do this. I'm telling you the truth. I thought it was all in my head, but Summers, Summers is here too and- And he's from the future and I saw him, I saw him. He shot his younger self. He's behind Operation Rose and I- I don't know why, but I do know that I have to stop him."

Get out of my sight inspector.

"The police officer reached out to her for help, she was under the delusion that could see his daughter again by making himself believe that he was from the future and was shot in the head and was fighting to get home. He admitted this to her when she had asked him for the truth, he didn't lie to her, he genuinely believed in it. He needed her help. The guilt that he was caring around with him was strong, felt that he had let his daughter down, and felt that he should have been there for her. Wasn't his fault, his daughter disobeyed the orders of her godfather and got caught in the crossfire; he couldn't deal with, went into denial and made herself belief in her own self deluded fantasises. He thought he could trust her to see what was wrong with him even if he couldn't, trusted her to believe in him and help him. But instead, accused him of being a cold, selfish liar and a bad parent, threatened to kill him in front of everyone, took the word of a con artist and a slapper over his and shagged him on his desk that night. It nearly destroyed the patient emotionally and mentally."

The explanation blew Gene, Shaz, Chris and Ray all away as the facts over what happened on the eve of operation rose became public, all too shocked to say anything. Gene was still trying to process the information while his stomach dropped. It was then Chris spoke up.

"Oh my god, this isn't about some male copper, this is about the ma'am, it's Alex.

OHHHHH Dear. I have to leave you hanging on this one. I promise to update as soon as I can as I am already halfway through the chapter now. Thanks for the encouraging reviews, hoping to hear more from you. I hope the cases/lecture was good enough, I am not a psychology student or a medical student but I hoped it is up to standard.