Chapter 2

He liked Sundays, Sundays were the day of rest, Sunday was the day to lounge around eating a nice cooked breakfast, read the papers and maybe go for a run. He liked the Sunday run, it was more relaxed than any he did in the week. No time constraints didn't matter how far he went or how long he took. Sometimes Stacy would go with him, but sometimes he could just run.

Today he had plenty of time, he was alone so he could please himself what he did. That didn't feel as good these days as it used to. He had got used to having Stacy around and he liked it, there was a time when he felt that he would end up alone. He didn't seem to keep girlfriends for long or jobs or even college places. He got bored very quickly and most people couldn't put up with his constant know all attitude, was it his fault he did know almost everything. But for whatever reason Stacy had stuck around and he enjoyed her company, she was intelligent, yet very loving and caring. At work and in the courtroom she was a hard ass but at home she wasn't, she could give as good as she got that's for sure and they often went toe to toe and he liked that about her too.

She was slightly younger than him, 35 and she was bouncing along in her career quite nicely, even talked of them moving to Washington at some point in the future, no rumbles of mother nature calling, as far as she was concerned she didn't want kids and neither did he. Something else they had in common. He had no objections to where they lived, he moved with his job, but he liked living with her.

He bent down to finish tying his shoe lace and smiled to himself, he gathered his ipod and keys and went out the front door. It often made him smile when he thought how she moved in with him after just one week of knowing each other. Then eventually they had bought this condo together and the rest was history. This was probably the longest home he had had in years. They had been there for 4 years with no signs of moving yet.

The sun was shining on this crisp spring morning, perfect for running. He took his time, running through the streets and the local park and then back to their home, 10miles wasn't bad for a Sunday. One of these days he would sign up for a marathon, maybe they both could. He let himself back in and went straight to the fridge, fully stacked and waiting. They normally cooked breakfast together on a Sunday but he couldn't be bothered just for himself so he had some toast and found some peanut butter.

Picked up the Sunday paper and started reading on his way to shower. He toed his trainers off, showered, put on shorts and a t-shirt, turned on some music and started reading the paper. He soon got bored and reached for the journal that had been delivered the day before. He would have a new paper coming out soon, he was getting bored at his job and getting papers published was about the only thing keeping him going at the moment. Having a double specialty was sometimes difficult , because of the 2 he had, neither one complimented the other. He liked Infectious Diseases more because there was more scope for 'odd' things but when he had to deal with the CDC he didn't like that either. He had thought once about working for them but soon put that aside. The job he had now was ok, because it did enable him to be in both departments, he wasn't head of either one yet but he was assistant in both. Although to become head of one he would probably have to leave the other.

The hospital had also just brought in a new policy that all doctors had to work hours in their new clinic. It had been brought in a month ago but so far he had managed to get out of it. That was until last week when he was summoned to the Deans office "you need to do your allotted clinic hours or you will be fired" he was advised. His response "Where does it say that in my contract?" The Deans response "You don't have a contract yet, we have been negotiating with you since you started, that works both ways you know"

He had left without saying another word, he was already on egg shells with getting fired, he didn't really want to be out of a job again. So he had conceded, he had to do his clinic hours this week all 6 of them starting at 8am on Monday morning. Great way to start the day and without Stacy here aswell. This was not going to be a good week.

He was missing her today, didn't normally bother him when she went away, she had been doing it ever since they had started dating. He lifted the Phone from its cradle and rang the hotel that she was staying in and got put through to her room. He sighed slightly when she answered "Hey, how ya doing?" she said in a slight southern drawl

"Missing you" He said honestly.

"Good, I'll be back on Thursday, want to pick me up?"She enquired

"Sure, normal time?"

"Yep"

"So what are you doing?" He asked

"Nothing much just reading the morning papers, you been for your run?"

"Yeah" He laughed, was he really that predictable

"Are you all hot and sweaty" She breathed down the phone to him

"No, I showered"

"hmm, make sure you pick up your trainers and put them away" She scolded

"I did" He lied

"No you didn't" She retorted

He looked around the room as if seeing if she was there

"You never pick up your trainers, I do!" She said laughing

"See you Thursday then" He said quietly

"yep!"

"see ya later" He said

"Not if I see you first" She replied

He put the phone back in its cradle, got up, went to the bedroom, picked up his trainers and put them away, smiling to himself, he liked to mess with her. He picked up the laundry basket and headed to the kitchen and put their washing on. He found the dry laundry and folded it, he needed a shirt for tomorrow, his suit was dry cleaned and ready. He found the iron and got to work, it didn't take long, what was Stacy moaning about when she had to iron them!

House got up and dutifully went into work the next morning, he had clinic duty so he donned a white coat so as to protect his, trousers and shirt and he changed his shoes, just in case, didn't want to get his favorite shoes all messed up by some idiot puking all over them. He was already late when he go to the clinic and got moaned at by the head nurse, cause now the clinic was backed up and it was all his fault "yeah yeah yeah" he said as he called the first patient.

After an hour of runny noses, crotch rot and about as many rashes as he could tolerate it was time to see his last patient. He took one look at the guy and could tell straight away that he was actually sick. He took his BP which was low and took some history, but didn't have much time to do anything else before the guy passed out. House called a code and the nurses came in and got to work on him, House immediately went out to the nurse's station and requested that the patient be admitted to his department.

"So, how does this work, the patient needs to be admitted!" He stated very sternly

"Usually, the Attending Doctor takes them into their department first or if you know which department he should be in I can try that for you" She responded in an 'off' manor

"I don't care where, admit him, he is definitely sick. " He said impatiently tapping his fingers on the counter

"You don't have any beds available in your departments" She said flatly

"What? Von Schmidt checked out this morning"

She busied herself on the computer" Nothing has been updated, did you sign him out?"

"No, the morgue did"

"Oh, I still can't do it, the system won't let me"

"Well admit him under General Admission and I'll go see Sinclair and tell him he is my patient" He said walking away.

"I can't do that either!"

"Why not?" He said mid stride and turned around

"Because I have to have Sinclair authorise it and he won't do that ….not for you anyway"

"For god sake admit him somewhere and I don't care where, he needs treatment now!" He shouted

At that point the Assistant Administrator came into the clinic "What in the world is going on Dr House?"

"This moron won't admit a clinic patient that needs treatment now!"He said pointing at the nurse

"Nurse Bailey what is going on?"

"Dr House doesn't have any spare beds in his department, and we don't know what's wrong with him.."

"You're a doctor now are you, you know what's wrong with him" House said interrupting her

She gave him a frown "anyway and I can't admit him into general without Sinclair's authorisation"

"Which we know he won't give to Dr House"

"You know what this is bull shit, the guy needs treatment, I will go and see him in the hall way then shall I " He said turning round to walk off again.

"Dr House you can't do that!"

"No, but I will until the paperwork has been cleared for my department, Von Schmidt checked out this morning, there is obviously something wrong with the system" with that House walked off to find his patient.

House found his patient, still in the clinic room, he was just about stable but no-one was keeping an eye on him. He paged an orderly to come to the clinic so that he could take the patient to a room. They took him to the room that Von-Schmidt had been occupying and got him settled. He asked one of his nurses to keep a watch over him while he got the paper work sorted out.

He went off and did his rounds, came back to his office at the end of the day, updated his patient files (which he hated doing, but for now he did to keep the peace) and searched the computer for his new patient. As far as he could tell he still hadn't been admitted anywhere.

So he hacked the Hospitals main frame and entered his patient on the system. Then went to the patient's room with his new file and checked on him. He decided what needed to be done, let the evening staff know what to do for now and to call him if anything changed. He put an order through the system for some blood tests that he wanted done, they normally did their rounds at about 6.30am early enough for no one to realise that he had added him himself.

He had completed 1.5hrs of his clinic duty, upset 3 nurses, argued with the Assistant Dean, hacked the hospitals' computer and ordered tests fraudulently, all in a days work! He closed his computer down, looked at the clock, 7pm hopefully no-one else would still be around, he turned off his light and locked his office door and walked down the now quiet hallway. Tomorrow may be a different story..