"Evelyn Shepherd. Attended Cambridge University for pre-med studies. Graduated in the top third percentile of her class. Attended Harvard Medical school for her medical studies. Graduated Magna Cum Laude. 4 years at Beth Israel Medical Center... Why are you having me look at this, again?" Wilson dropped the file he'd been reading back onto House's desk. "You should be hiring this girl already, before I steal her as my new assistant." Greg house eyed him and retrieved the file, paging through it again.

"Oh, come off it. We both know you don't want or need a new assistant." He fell silent as his eyes glanced over the pages in front of him for what must have been the tenth time. "There's nothing on here about her diagnosing history. No personal history..."

"You do realize that a personal biography isn't a general requirement for a resume, House." Wilson shook his head and threw his feet up on his best friend's desk. House dropped the folder again with a sigh.

"I guess I should put her to work. Wouldn't want to let a Harvard education go to waste. That would be a real crime." He pushed himself up from the desk, knocking Wilson's feet down with his cane before limping out into the hallway in search of his newest victim. Wilson rolled his eyes and reached for the TV remote, flipping the screen on and settling back to enjoy the rest of his lunch hour, House free.

Evelyn played nervously with the frayed upholstery of the worn chair that she'd pulled up to the wide table in House's office, where she'd been hearded with the rest of House's diagnostic team. It was her first day 'on the job' already and she was flustered beyond belief. The fact that House had found her in the clinic exactly 12 and a half minutes ago and informed her she was late for a job she hadn't been aware she'd secured might have had something to do with the butterflies.

The glass doors to the office slammed and Evelyn looked up to see house hobbling his way across to the room to a white board at the front of 'the class'. He started scrawling across it. Evelyn's eyes struggled to keep up with the string of symptoms that seemed to be growing exponentially by the minute. Headaches, seizures, distorted vision, several visits over the past 3 months, neuro-swelling, paranoia, mono...

"Epstein-Barr..." One of the older doctors in the room shouted out, making Evelyn jump in her seat. He could have had the decency to raise his hand at least, she thought numbly as House whirled around on them.

"If you showed up to work, instead of staying home with the sniffles you'd know we'd already thrown that out." House snarled, limping towards his seat at the head of the table, throwing himself into his own well worn chair. Evelyn felt herself clearing her throat and before she knew what she was doing her hand was up in the air. House stared at her for a moment and then nodded.

"What about patient history? Is there any history of psychosis?"

"No."

"Drug use."

"No." House faked a yawn and turned to the rest of his team. "Would anyone else like to throw out some obvious questions? Don't worry guys, I haven't been a doctor all that long ... it's not like I would have thought to ask any of these." Evelyn fell quiet, falling back against her chair. She felt her stomach churn as her mind started to run a mile a minute. She opened her mouth once more, but closed it just as quickly, opting to try to camoflauge herself into the hideous print of the chair instead. House stared at her for a long moment and she felt herself start to squirm under his scrutiny.

"You had a suggestion. Go ahead."

Her heart stopped in her chest. She could feel her palms starting to sweat but somehow she managed to force herself to speak, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well...the headaches and delusions suggest a tumor ... but I suspect she's killing her own white cells somehow, so it's not presenting. Especially if she's taking dextromethorphan and she's allergic. That would cause micropsia..."

House looked irritated. She shut her mouth.

"I want her taken in for another CAT-scan. If there's a tumor hidden in there ... anywhere ... I want you to find it."

"Wait!" Evelyn's hand shot up again. "Not a brain tumor. Brain death. Talk to her again. Check further into her history. She's bi-polar. She's self-medicating. That's why she's been here so much the past few months. She's filling her own 'prescriptions' by faking symptoms. The swelling in her brain isn't a tumor at all. The tissue is dying." House didn't acknowledge her. He just barked some orders at the other doctors. Evelyn sat stock still, unsure if he was pleased with her or angry for diagnosing before he'd gotten the chance.

"Dr. Shepherd." They were the only doctors left when he called her name. She hopped up obediantly and headed towards the head of the table to his side.

"Yes, sir?"

"We aren't in kindergarten anymore. Don't raise your hand." With that said, he pushed himself up and brushed past her on his way to the door. She'd known better than to expect praise from him but she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he'd brushed off her accomplishment so quickly.

"He doesn't like anyone, you know." There was another doctor still in the room, one she hadn't noticed in her nervousness, his feet propped up on House's desk, a sandwich in one hand and a TV remote in the other. He laughed and let his feet fall to the floor, heading across the room to extend his hand to her. "I'm James Wilson. Oncology." They shook. "Dr. House isn't what you'd call 'socially acclimated'. But for what it's worth as a lowly cancer doc, that was a pretty good diagnosis...in my opinion. Alice in Wonderland syndrome as a symptom of brain death..."

"I was stupid not to realize what it was sooner. I knew someone with the same symptoms..." She said nothing more on the subject and Wilson didn't push. "I should...probably go check on the patient. Thank you...Dr. Wilson." He only nodded and Evelyn felt a smile spreading across her face as she headed for the door. Maybe not everyone in this place was a bad egg. Some of them were even kind of cute.