Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or House MD. All original characters belong to me. Any similarities to real life persons, in name or description, are strictly coincidental.

2.

"Hotch, honestly. I'm fine; it's just a cold." Since when had Hotch become so overprotective? Taking Emily to the ER because of a simple coughing fit was a bit overboard. Though, now that she thought about it, the unit chief had always been extremely vigilant when it came to his team's health and well-being.

"It's not just a cold. You've been sick for days now, and it hasn't gotten any better." She went to make a retort, but he shook his head. "You could barely breathe back there. I'd rather get you checked out and sure you're alright."

"So keep me out of the field for a few days."

"And get the station sick? I think not. Once we find out what's wrong, I'm getting you a plane ticket back to D.C., and you're not to come back to work until you're better." Emily groaned in annoyance, but with the look Hotch had on his face, she wasn't going to risk arguing with him further. But she hated the idea of going home when people were still being murdered.

She might have been ignorant to just how sick she really seemed, but Hotch noticed how every time she spoke, her words were punctuated with coughs, and how her face was even paler than usual. He was worried about her.

Sitting unnoticed, or probably just ignored by everyone else in the ER was House, his sneaker-clad feet now resting atop the desk at the nurse's station. See, he was doing what Cuddy asked; looking for a case. And this was much more exciting than reading through the patient files anyway.

Nothing had caught his interest, though, until a couple had entered the room, led by one of the ER doctors. At least, the two of them bickered like a couple; they had been going at it for ages. Normally, a patient prone to arguing would definitely not been the center of his attention. But, he had heard the two of them identify themselves as FBI agents. Now, that was interesting.

Using his cane as a support, he got to his feet, and weaved his way through the busy ER to the patient's bed.

"-and you're not coming back to work until you're better." House managed to catch the last snippets of their conversation, before the woman seemingly gave up talking, although there was a hint of defiance still in her eye. As he limped closer and picked up the file hanging at the end of the bed to take a look, the man looked up at him.

"What are you doing? A doctor already checked her out, he said he'd be back soon with the results."

"Just taking a look." His eyes hastily scanned the page, but he was interrupted as one of the ER doctors stepped up beside him, looking quite angry.

"Dr. House, what are you doing? This is my patient."

"Consulting," answered House, never taking his eyes off of the file.

"I don't need a consultation. All Agent Prentiss has is a case of pneumonia. I'm giving her antibiotics and sending her home." Ah, so he had heard right. She was an FBI agent.

"What about the headache? It says here that she reported a headache as one of her symptoms as well." The ER doctor raised his eyebrows, not sure where House was headed with all of this.

"So?"

"A headache could be a sign of a deeper neurological problem." The dark-haired woman sat up at this statement, frowning.

"Excuse me, but, are you saying that I have something wrong with my brain?" she interrupted.

"Agent Prentiss, Agent Hotchner, I am so sorry for the hold up. Sometimes Dr. House here gets a bit carried away." The doctor put his hand on House's shoulder, turning them away from the two, as he lowered his voice.

"House, she had pneumonia, not a brain tumor. Stop scaring my patient, and go back to chasing your zebras. Let me deal with the horses. And, if you don't leave my patients alone, I'm going to alert Dr. Cuddy to your actions."

"Oh, you're going to sic the dean of medicine on me?" retorted House. "I'm so scared." He bit his knuckle in mock worriment. The doctor threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"You know what? Fine, do your tests to find out the diseases she doesn't have. Just get out of the ER; away from me." He practically threw the file at House and then stormed off, and House turned back to Agents Hotchner and Prentiss. The two of them both had a mixture of fear and curiosity on their faces, although Agent Hotchner's expression of his feelings was a bit more guarded.

"I'm admitting you."

"But didn't the other doctor say it was just pneumonia?" But House didn't even catch Agent Prentiss's question, because he had already disappeared out the door.

"Where's Emily and Hotch?" questioned Reid as Morgan entered the conference room the BAU team had made their temporary work space while here in New Jersey.

"And the suspect?" Rossi added as an afterthought.

" He's ready to be interrogated," Morgan answered the latter question first as he plopped down into a chair, running a hand over his head. "Hotch took Emily to the hospital."

"What, why?" Reid's voice rose about an octave, as it normally did when he became worried or excited by any means.

"You know how she hasn't been feeling well?"

"She never said anything about it-" Morgan cut him off.

"You know Emily; she wouldn't say anything about being sick. But we can all tell. Anyway, Hotch, Emily, and I were chasing the UNSUB on foot, and she could barely breath she was coughing so much, so Hotch took her to the ER."

"Is she okay?"

"I don't know; Hotch hasn't called me yet."

"Well, it'll do no good worrying about her. We need to get back to the case," Rossi reminded them; waving the case file in the air in case they didn't remember that they had a suspect in custody.

"You're right," agreed Morgan, although honestly, he knew that he and everyone else just wanted to be sure Emily was alright before doing anything else. They all wanted to race to the hospital to be there with her, but they couldn't do that.

Not with an ongoing case.

Author's Note: I know, this chapter wasn't very exciting. But the next chapter, you'll find out about the case, and the interactions between House's team and the BAU will be more interesting. Just stick with me here.

And don't forget to drop me a review and tell me what you think so far.