Chapter 3

House was sitting at his desk, head resting on his cane, his current case was proving rather difficult. The patient had all the signs of Lupus, but it was never Lupus – it had to be something else - but what?

His mind was wandering, he hadn't been home in 3 days and the last few weeks had been challenging, at one time they had ended up with 2 cases, which he hated because when patients were sick enough to get to him they needed all of his and the minions attention. Maybe he should get for a while, he hadn't been to the park in ages and that was always a good place to think, mmm the leg was good – had been for a week or so, maybe a stroll in the park would clear his mind.

Lexi sat at the table after Summer had gone to school, trying to work out what to do with her life. The girls didn't need her anymore really, Frankie was off at college and Summer had just started her Junior high year in high school and even Scott was spending more and more at the garage – although there wasn't any extra money coming in.

The bills were piling up all around us, she had to make a decision and soon. She had been going to the park atleast once a week to help clear her mind and in the hope of seeing 'crucifix man' again, she had already been this week, but much to her disappointed she hadn't seen him.

Scott came down to the table and brought her back to reality, she decided now was a good time to ask his thought on the physio idea. "I've been thinking about going back to physical therapy – it means I would have to retrain I think, what do you think?"

"I think you should suck it up and go back to accounting it's the best option" he said

"And Whys that?" she said

"Cos it pays better" he said

"Oh I see, bollocks to how I fee or what I want, just make sure I earn good money and that's so that you don't have to !" she said

At that he shrugged his shoulders and walked away, leaving her angry and upset again. So she took off for the park again – god her head was cloudy this week.

She sat at 'her bench' with her laptop and coffee, she was thinking about the PT again, who would be able to tell her what she needed to know about her qualifications, mmmm where to start – if in doubt ask google. So she searched and it gave her a lot of numbers to try, ok so which one start with, well starting at the top of the page would be a good place.

So she started to make some phone calls, whilst she was on the phone, she saw him limping along with his cane, but today he seemed like he was having a better day, as he got closer she smiled at him and now she really was distracted, she had no idea what the other person was telling her, then she realised that they had actually hung up. She continued to make my phones calls and by now he was sitting at 'his bench' which was infact next to hers. She wasn't getting very far with her search for information and she was getting really frustrated and the last person she spoke was so rude "WELL THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP" she shouted and put the phone down "aaaaarrrrggggghhhhhh"

She looked over at him and he had a smirk on his face, he had obviously overheard her conversation.

She was so pissed off, that she got my stuff together in a hurry and got up to go "hey" she heard "had a bad day"

She turned round and went over to him " I have made about 20 different phone calls to see if I can get some information or even to see someone about my qualifications and I got absolutely nowhere and some of the people were so rude, so I've had enough for today, time to go home" She said.

With that he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, nicked the pen out of my hand and wrote a name and telephone number on it and passed it back to her. "ring this number and ask for him. He's a physio at the local hospital and he's English too so he must know what you need to do " She took the piece of paper "thanks – erm – I don't even know your name – I'm Lexi by the way"

"Greg – Greg House"

"Well ok then – Thank You Greg House I will make sure I call him tomorrow" with that she left.

The next morning after Summer had gone to school, Scott had left for 'work' and the housework was done, she decided to get the piece of paper out, she rang Mike Smith at PPTH, he was really helpful and suggested she go in and see him tomorrow. At last something was beginning to go right.

As she looked at the directions, it seemed that the hospital was not far from the other temp job she had. She drove to PPTH, well almost, she parked a little bit away so she could have a little thinking time. She arrived at the hospital at 9.55am, she stopped at reception for directions, as she did so, she could hear a commotion going on in the clinic area to her right, she couldn't who was causing the commotion but it sounded interesting and a little familiar – strange.

She was in with Mike for about 45 mins and came out feeling really happy and enthusiastic, something that she hadn't felt in a long time. So she decided that she was too excited to go straight home, so she headed for that park that I had seen from Mikes office. As she got there, she saw him limping his way in front of me, she followed him and they ended up at the pic-nic tables – it was the same park that she had been coming to – what a donut! How come she hadn't noticed there was a big hospital building next to the park.

As she caught up with Greg she was going to offer to buy him a coffee as a Thank You, but as they got to the snack shack it was shut and it had started raining.

"Hey, do you fancy going to this little coffee shop I know, its about a 10 minute walk, so that I can buy you a coffee as a thank you – and they do really nice cake too?"

He just looked at her for a moment than looked down at his feet or maybe his cane she wasn't sure. "oh, I'm sorry, would that be too far to go – I didn't even give it a thought"

"Actually, that would be nice and I think I can make it, if is only 10 minutes away, don't think I can go more than that today"

They walked side by side, to her favourite coffee shop and if she was really lucky there would be a band playing soon. When they got there, she found them a table, as Greg sat down he was rubbing his leg again and she could see the walk had really taken it out of him. She went and placed their order for coffees and slices of cake, as she came to the table the band started to play and as luck would it they were playing 'blues' which was her favourite. Her face obviously showed her pleasure as she could feel Greg watching her and as she turned to him he was smiling too – he was obviously enjoying it too. She instantly thought of Scott – she wish he liked it too.

As they sat just listening to the music, drinking coffee and eating cake, her thoughts turned to Scott and her life. Did they even have anything in common anymore? There was no way that Scott would come here and sit and drink coffee and listing to music. They didn't like the same films or music anymore – did they enjoy anything together anymore? What was there left of their marriage?

She heard a click click in front of her

"Penny for them" he said

"this music always sends me into deep thoughts. I saw Mike Smith today, he doesn't think I will have a problem with my qualifications, just need to do a few work based assessments and some online multiple choice tests and I will be good to go. He also said he was going to speak to 'Dr Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine' to see if I can have a job there, as one of his team are leaving in a couple of weeks, so I could re-certify as well as working at PPTH, he said he would let me know as soon as he can"

"Fantastic"

They chatted about music and laughed about her sense of direction, considering her previous job was only a block away from the hospital and the park she had been going to for a few months now was actually next to the hospital, how did she not notice this great big building!

They finished our coffee and cake the band had also finished playing, they had been in there for ages, when his phone rang "what!" "Ok I will be back in 10 mins" and he hung up. As they got to the door she asked Greg if he wanted a lift as her car was just outside and she could see that his limp was a little heavier than when they came and it was raining hard and had started to thunder. His first reaction was to say No until we got outside then he said Yes. So we got into the car and I said "Where to " and his reply was "PPTH – I'm a doctor there" with a wide smirk on his face – although not quite a smile.