Disclaimer: I don't own them I simply borrow them to play with, I didn't ask but I'm sure David Shore won't miss them, I'll put them back where I found them when I'm done. I make no money from this so please, no suing the poor college student!

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Redux

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Chapter Two- Menace MD

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When Lisa had first seen the two boys in the beds she had thought her eyes were playing tricks, or that her doctors were but then she realized not even Greg House would leave a quarantine room without being cleared first if only because he wouldn't want to help deal with an epidemic.

They had done all sorts of tests on the boys starting with DNA which confirmed that they were indeed James Wilson and Gregory House.

X-Rays, cat scans a battery of blood and other tests found that House was about 8 and Wilson about 6 and that both seemed to possess all of their adult memories though it seemed from the scan of their brains, that even those were a bit regressed.

It seemed, based on further analysis of the samples taken from the lab, that House had accidently stumbled upon a mixture of chemicals that worked… a little too well. And they thought the reason their brains had been affected at all was because it had been inhaled as a gas instead of used as a cream or pill, they weren't sure but it bore more looking into.

As such, even though the regression in their brains didn't seem to affect their memories, it did seem to affect their emotions and behavior, not that House had been all that mature to begin with, so really Lisa wasn't so sure there was much change there. She did however; see a noticeable behavior change in Wilson.

There were also a few anomalies that no one was really sure of, such as the fact that the x-rays that had allowed them to ascertain the boys' ages, had show a complete regression in bone structure including teeth. They weren't sure if the regression in their body had fooled it and caused it to produce a second set of adult teeth or teeth that had fallen out decades earlier had magically re appeared in their mouths. They supposed, though the latter was quite improbable, well imposable really, that they might not ever know the real answer.

None of the scientists working on the drug could think of a way to reverse the damage and in the end, they weren't sure, but they hoped that like the results of so many products made to reverse ageing effects, that this too would be only temporary.

The entire thing had gone down about a week prior and the boys had still not been allowed to leave the hospital, though about four days after the incident they had been allowed out of bed and out of their room to wonder around as long as they were accompanied by Cuddy, Cameron, Chase, Thirteen or Forman.

Kutner had proven himself to be an ineffective baby sitter. He was nothing but a big kid himself and much more likely to engage in whatever mischief the boys were getting up too then to stop it, as was evident when he helped them set the mice in the Cancer lab free. And Taub had out and out refused to help. He didn't like House as an adult and he refused to watch him as a child.

Really Cuddy had to admit that she didn't blame them for going a bit stir crazy, being a bit bored, but that was no excuse to go setting her tampons on fire, honestly she had only left them alone in her office for 5 minutes.

Lisa let them stand there for another 10 minutes before calling them out.

House, as always looked unfazed by the punishment but Wilson's bottom lip was trembling, he really didn't like getting into trouble. Despite that he always let House talk him into naughtiness.

"Oh James, come here." Cuddy said opening her arms to him, she couldn't resist that 'I'm about the burst into tears' look.

Now the first time Cuddy had done this, on the first day they had been allowed out of their room when they had gotten caught setting the mice free and spent the subsequent 15 minutes in the corner (Kutner having been sent to do an extra hour in the clinic), Wilson had hesitated, his adult memories warring with his childlike need for the comfort till he had eventually given in and accepted the hug.

It had made him feel much better even though House had called him a girl (and thus spent another 15 minutes in the corner while Wilson snuggled in Lisa's lap. Cuddy may have known House well but apparently not well enough to realize it was simply his passive aggressive way of saying 'hey what about me?' though he may not have willingly taken offered comfort at this point, it would still have been nice to know it was there!) So this time Wilson didn't hesitate, instead he ran over and quickly leaned into the opened arms, House biting his bottom lip against the smart ass comments that came bubbling to the surface. He didn't want more corner time!

Lisa lifted him up and placed him in her lap.

"It's okay James." She assured, rubbing his back "But you have really got to stop letting Greg talk you into trouble, you are supposed to be the reasonable one, remember?" She asked with a smile, tapping the end of his nose with her index finger.

"`m sorry." He said contritely adopting a 'butter won't melt in my mouth' look.

"Yes, I know, I forgive you… both." She said patting Wilson's back.

"However, " she started turning to House now as she spoke, addressing him "Greg, when Forman comes to pick you up for lunch I will let him know to make a detour to the gift shop where you will go in and buy me a new box of tampons." She informed him with an evil smile, satisfied that she had come up with a suitable punishment.

"Menstruation makes you crazier than I thought!" He exclaimed, blue eyes wide and disbelieving. "That is cruel and unusual punishment!" He complained.

"You will do it or you will spend the rest of the day grounded to your hospital room." She warned him "And if you don't watch that mouth of yours you can wait for Forman in the corner." She added in for good measure.

He knew she wasn't bluffing so he stomped over to the couch; one good thing about this mess was it had restored his leg, and tossed himself down on it, arms crossed over his chest a pout planted firmly on his face.

He hated being treated like a child! He was still him, all be it in a tinier package, but him none the less. It just wasn't fair and it made him want to stomp his feet and scream. He hated how much things had changed. Cuddy wouldn't let them work despite all of House's protests that he was still capable of doing his job!

The worst though, was the emotions, things House had worked years and years on suppressing, coming back. Like the need for love and assurance, to be wanted and taken care of, things he had beaten out of him, came rushing back along with all the other childish insecurities and needs. He didn't like being this vulnerable and he spent even more time and energy now pretending that he wasn't.

He sunk down into the couch cushion and glared over at Wilson and Cuddy unwilling to admit the emotion he was feeling was something closely resembling, or at least a distant cousin to jealousy. He didn't want or need to be snuggled like some girly baby! He wasn't a wussy like Wilson.

He didn't need love and reassurance after punishment, didn't need to be told he was forgiven, Lord knows he never got any of those things from his father and his father had done far worse than corner time!

He found that, as far as Cuddy's punishments went, corner time was far better than clinic duty!

He bit his lip to keep quiet. Though not one to usually hold his tongue, and most people generally thought he was incapable of it, the truth was there was a great deal that he did, in fact, hold in. However, now since being regressed he was finding it harder to hold the things he normally wouldn't say, back.

As it turns out they didn't have to wait very long for Forman to come and get them and soon they are leaving Cuddy in her office with a much needed break to catch up on some paper work and make some important calls.

A brief stop at gift shop, where Forman had to bodily drag House in and Shove the box of tampons into his hand to bring up to the cashier to pay for, then the cafeteria to buy food and soon they are sitting across the table from each other in the diagnostic conference room with a plate of fries and hamburger each, House and Wilson sat eating their lunch while Forman sat at the head of the table as per usual, his face hidden behind a news paper.

Despite the large pile of French fries on his own plate, House reached over, across the table and grabbed a fry from Wilson's.

"NOO!!" Wilson cried smacking House's hand in an uncharacteristic bout of anger over one of House's normal behaviors. Even since they had been turned into kids again Wilson hadn't seem to mind House's predilection for enjoying the food off of his plate instead of the food on his own so the reaction was quite odd.

House proceeded to ignore the indignant yelps from his little friend and popped the fry into his mouth looking at Wilson's plate curiously the wheels turning in his head.

While House's own burger was nearly gone Wilson had yet to touch his but had instead been solely eating his fries and very slowly at that.

House got the look in his eyes he so often got when trying to solve one of his cases. Determined to experiment he reached over he grabbed another one of Wilson's fries and popped it in his mouth.

"Don't take my fries!!!" Wilson whined "Formannnnn!! He is taking my friesss!" he tattled.

House raised an eyebrow and added the piece to the puzzle.

It seemed awful uncharacteristic for Wilson to tattle, even if he was nothing but a little boy. James was the classic enabler, he NEVER tattled on House for anything.

Forman who had been reading his news paper and trying to ignore the fact that he was babysitting two of the hospitals department heads, one of which was his boss, bent the paper down to peer over it and chide House.

"Greg…" Man that was weird to say, but Cuddy had insisted… "Stop stealing James' fries, you have your own."

House let out a grunt of acknowledgment never tearing his eyes off of Wilson, who had gone back to eating his fries. House watched as he placed the fries into his mouth at the side, directly onto his maulers. He watched as the pile of fries got smaller and smaller yet the burger had yet to be touched. Then he watched the fries disappear completely and still the burger remaining whole.

He stared at the younger boy intently but Wilson made no move to grab at his burger. House picked up on the subtle action of Wilson's tongue playing over his front teeth…

"Hey Wilson, commere." House said sliding his chair out from under the table, turning it slightly sideways.

"Nuh uh House. Why?" He asked suspiciously.

"Just commere, ya big baby." House demanded.

Wilson pouted at being called a big baby, he simply didn't trust House's motives, but wanting to prove House wrong, he slid his chair out and hopped off, stomping over to stand in front of Him.

As soon as Wilson was standing in front of him he reached out with his left hand and pinched him as hard as he could in his soft little belly. When Wilson opened his mouth to scream House quickly shoved his right hand in both muffling the scream and grabbing his right front tooth giving it a yank.

Just as House had suspected, the tooth was loose and came out when he gave a second hard yank. He held the freed tooth up in victory while Wilson let out an ear piercing scream followed by heart breaking sobs as blood filled his mouth.

It all happened so fast that Forman, who had been doing his best to pretend to be someplace else, barely had time to toss the paper down and jump up in time to see House holding up the tooth let alone to be able to stop the entire thing from happening. He cursed himself for not having been paying attention. He was used to House's antics but he had no idea how to deal with a sobbing miniature Wilson!!

House just grinned very pleased with himself as he went over his mental white board. He had known he was right! The diagnosis really had been simple and he should have fired Forman for not picking up on it. With the symptoms being refusal to bite into things, moodiness at having easily eatable food snatched, uncharacteristic whining, tongue probing at front teeth, being 6 years old, the diagnosis was so clearly a loose tooth, treatment… yanking said loose tooth. So, despite Wilson's screaming and sobbing there was no way he could be in trouble, he had done nothing wrong, just his job!

Cameron, who had been in House's office answering his e-mails (someone had to do it and she was the only one willing even if she was no longer technically on his team though she really hated the fact that she had to tell all the people that needed his help so badly, no, though she guessed at least now it had the benefit of being true)… came running into the conference room when she heard the scream. She went right over to Wilson who was sobbing piteously and knelt down beside him pulling him to her and hushing him gently.

Seeing the problem she reached over and grabbed a napkin off the table and, folding it into a thick little square, wedged it into the little space were the tooth had once been to stop the bleeding.

Seeing that Cameron pretty much had this under control and not wanting to get in the middle of a House Wilson fight, even if they were only children now, Forman sat back down and resumed reading his paper. It was better if he stayed out of the way and let Cameron deal with this. She was better at it anyway!

Wilson, who was still sniffling and crying, allowed Cameron to shove the folded napkin into his mouth. Letting out some hiccups one little fist came up to rub at his eyes the other clung to Cameron's shirt tightly. Not only had it scared Wilson to have House yank his tooth, it had shocked him as he wasn't expecting it, but it had hurt and having someone put their hands in your mouth was a bit of an invasion of space simply adding to the misery and trauma of the experience, the blood had not helped either.

Alison, lifting Wilson up to balance on her hip, she lead him back over to the desk. Sitting down in the chair she settled the child on her lap looking over to give House an exasperated look. She always she found it hard to be more then slightly annoyed with him. She wonders why she could never get mad at the brat. Even as an adult she could never seem too, though she had managed a few telling offs but that wasn't till after she had stopped working for him.

Snuggling the whimpering child in her lap she ponders what to do. She could try and put House in the corner but that hadn't worked the last time she tried and though, when Cuddy had found out that not only had House done something to warrant corner time but that he had defied the person looking after him, he had spent the rest of the afternoon in his room, which had not made the little boy happy, Cameron didn't really think that meant he would listen any better at the moment. Especially since he was now standing up peering at the door as if plotting an escape.

She could whap Forman and insist he do something. House, for some reason had been much more inclined to listen to the neurologist (though not too much more inclined), Alison wondered if House was intimidated by the man or something.

She supposed he was a bit more threatening then she was. The thing with that was he also listened to thirteen but not so much Chase so she was fairly certain it wasn't a gender thing especially given the fact that, when in a mood and not listening to anyone else he always listened to Cuddy. Again she supposed if she really wanted to analyze it that it made sense.

During their tenure with House, her and Chase were much more easily walked all over by him then Forman had ever been and Thirteen never had a problem standing up to adult House, talking him on or dealing with his crap, in that she didn't take crap from him. She supposed it made sense that now as a child he would have more respect for, and therefore, listen better to them.

She sighed. The truth was the only person that had any real effect on House's behavior was Cuddy. She was the ultimate authority figure in his eyes and the only one he truly worried about punishment from, even as an adult. Everyone knew that.

House may have poked fun at her wardrobe and done things he ought not, behind her back but when it really came down to it he knew where is bread was buttered and at the end of the day he did get the right forms signed, get her permission to do risky tests and do his punishment clinic hours when he had been naughty and they had been assigned. So it was unsurprising that the same held true now that he was a child, of course now it was things like setting tampons on fire and corner time instead of blowing up MRI machines and clinic duty.

Mind made up, Alison gave a sad sigh and picked up the phone with her hand that wasn't rubbing circles in Wilsons still heaving back. Dialing the number and placing the phone in the crook of her neck holding it to her ear with her shoulder, she peered at House.

"Greg, sit down in your chair and wait for Dr. Cuddy." She ordered him firmly as she listened to the phone ring, pulling Wilson closer when he gave another hiccup. He snuggled into her still whimpering and sniffling.

House plopped himself down on the floor in spite of and stuck his tongue out at Cameron - there was no way he was being bossed around by his former, easy-to-intimidate employee.

Alison sighed again as Cuddy picked up on her end "Dr. Cuddy, can you come down here please? House just pulled out Wilson's tooth and now he's sitting on the floor pouting ... yes, Wilson's bleeding everywhere… No he still won't listen to me, I'm sorry." Though she wasn't really sure why she was the one apologizing. She did genuinely feel bad about interrupting whatever the dean was doing but it wasn't as if she could help the fact that House simply wouldn't listen to her.

House let his defiant front drop a moment and he nibbled his bottom lip. That's funny. He never used to feel so nervous about getting in trouble with Cuddy, sure he didn't like it, he had always hated getting extra clinic duty and he always made sure to stay out of trouble for a few days after being assigned more hours simply because he didn't want even more. He didn't think that meant the punishment worked... Of course not, it was simply common sense that he allow Cuddy a few days to calm down before resuming his naughtiness… he did the same for corner time though it was more like a few hours (a day at most) then a few days but he chalked that up to the regression.

He didn't think it should surprise anyone that he found himself inhabiting the corner quite frequently. He pouted, he ended up facing the wall at least once a day but he thought that had to do more with the fact that, now that he was younger people didn't let him get away with the same things they used to. Nasty things he said that used to get over looked when he was an adult now got him banished to the corner and he didn't quite think that was fair.

He didn't even bother to examine that fact that instead of being nervous he should be pissed that Cameron had called her and told on him!

He had been so lost in thought that he had missed the rest of the phone conversation and thus did not know what the outcome was… He hoped Cuddy wasn't coming, if she had felt that he had behaved so poorly that she needed to drop everything she was doing to tend to him she would be really mad!