"And the charts go there when you are finished," Cuddy said as she took Alexis through her whirlwind tour of the emergency room.

Alexis had been gifted with two exam rooms for pediatrics only, a crash cart stocked with pediatric equipment, and the warning that she might want to see some adult patients to generate revenue. She shook her head and followed Cuddy around the hospital. The tour was as unremarkable as she expected. Sterile walls and halls. Staff that feigned excitement that she was going to be joining them. All hospitals essentially looked alike.

"Fantastic," Alexis replied with faux enthusiasm.

"Give me six months to remodel the back hallway and you will have your own work area," Cuddy replied.

"It's really no hurry. I'd prefer to be part of the design and equipment planning," Alexis said as she shook the woman's hand.

"Of course, you are the expert," Cuddy replied, "Did you want to go by House's office?"

"No, I'd rather start to settle into my own office."

Cuddy escorted her to the tiny office that afforded her a view of the ambulance bay and all the noise that went with it. She preferred it that way. Alexis busied herself unpacking the contents of her satchel and the boxes she had FedEx'ed ahead of her. Medical texts, folders of uncompleted research, and a picture of her and her mother taken far too many years ago.

"Lexy, they sure have you tucked away from the rest of the world," Chase said as he stood in the doorway.

"Well, look who got himself out of bed this morning," she replied.

"It would have been easier if you had woken me up before you left," he replied.

"That would have only led to more distraction and both of us being late."

"True," Chase said as he walked into her office and closed the door, "But, I wouldn't have minded the distraction."

"Are you trying to lure me back to your place tonight?"

"Lure? You make me sound less than honorable," Chase said as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He pulled her closer to him, shocked that she hadn't resisted. After the long conversation about professionalism that she had given him, he had expected Alexis to push away any advances. Chase did enjoy that she seemed to be a most willing partner in crime.

"Don't you have disease to cure?"

"That would require your father to pick a case and get his ass out of bed," Chase said softly as he kissed her.

"You sure enjoy flirting with disaster," Alexis replied with a chuckle.

"You only get to live once," he replied.

"Are you going to philosophize or wax poetic about how utterly messed up all this is?"

"No, I was hoping that you would want to have lunch with me. I'm stuck in the hospital until House shows his face for the day. The rest of his team seems to be rather curious as to what his offspring is like," Chase said.

"Hmmm. What if I'm not interested in satisfying anyone's curiosity?"

"You are dangerous. You're going to get me into a lot of trouble, Lexy," Chase whispered softly in her ear as he began to slowly kiss the slope of her neck and her clavicle.


"Where the hell is Chase?" House demanded as he skulked around the office.

"He went for coffee about half an hour ago," Taub replied completely uninterested in any of the drama that was unfolding around him.

"Where the hell is he getting his coffee from? Columbia?" House replied.

"Let's just start on the case. I will fill him in later," Foreman said as he opened the folder.

"Page him," House growled.

House wasn't interested in the normal banter today. He was wondering where the hell his daughter was after he pounded on her door for twenty minutes last night and called her four times. Her landlord finally let him in after House showed no signs of stopping. Alexis's apartment was immaculate. The boxes she had yet to unpack were neatly placed in the corner. Her magazines were organized alphabetically. House was tempted to delve further into his daughter's life, but he noticed the flowers on the table. The bouquet of red roses was out of place. It didn't belong in the home otherwise decorated in creams and golds. House looked at the card despite his best judgment.

Lexy, Drinks at 8. My place for a night cap afterwards. –Robert

The note was rather innocuous on its own, but coupled a distinct absence of a toothbrush in the bathroom; House knew night caps weren't going to signal the end of the night. House's body shook with anger. He had trusted Chase with his daughter during countless visits to New Jersey. Alexis would always stay with Chase after going out to dinner because 'looks like she isn't genetically bred to hold liquor like you do; poor girl, cannot even handle a glass of wine.' He was going to punish Chase despite the logical part of his brain thinking that his daughter was a grown woman.

"Sorry, I was just buying Alexis some coffee and showing her around," Chase said as he hurried into his chair.

"I'm sure. Wouldn't want her to go without coffee," House replied.

"So when do we get the pleasure of meeting the daughter you've told us so much about?" Foreman sarcastically quipped.

"Seems that she's been a little busy since settling into New Jersey. Didn't even have the decency to check her voicemail last night, much less answer the door," House replied as he threw the case folder at Chase, "Probably had a little too much to drink."

"Could you possibly be more cryptic?" Taub asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Could you just drop it so we can get to work?" Chase asked knowing somehow House had figured out where Alexis was last night. It occurred to him that he might want to check his landline for bugs. He might just want to toss his whole apartment to make sure House hadn't installed video cameras or God knows what.

"No, let's not drop this. Let's talk about where my daughter was last night," House said as he rapped his cane against the table.

"House," Foreman said as he looked between Chase and House, "Let's get to work. Harassing Chase isn't going to make this man's blood pressure any lower any faster."

"No, I'm curious as to why my daughter needed to pack a toothbrush for night caps," House replied as he glared at Chase.

"This coming from the father that won't return her calls and asked Cuddy to fire her," Chase replied as he locked eyes with House.

"I trusted you with her," House replied.

"No, you asked me to keep her away from you," Chase replied coldly.

House gave up momentarily. He opened the file and read through the labs leaving his team to suffer in silence. Foreman began to talk about the labs and produce a differential that was weak at best. Chase muttered comments through clenched teeth. Taub was thankful that this time he wasn't the one sleeping with the boss's daughter. The tense conversation lasted for twenty minutes before House told the team to get the hell out of his office and go run whatever God dammed tests they wanted to.


"That's what you get for snooping," Wilson replied as he finished writing on one of his charts.

House had sat in his office for an hour before deciding he needed to talk to someone. He decided that Wilson might be the one to validate how betrayed he felt. House hadn't been expecting Wilson to tell him that after the conversation they had yesterday, he was fairly sure House had no business telling Alexis what to do.

"He's Chase. She might as well sleep with everyone in Plainsboro," House replied.

"Are you more upset that Alexis is having sex or having sex with Chase?"

"She's a doctor. I'm fairly sure that I don't need to give her the birds and bees talk. I'd hope that Mary gave that to her years ago," House quipped.

"You've never cared about whom Chase slept with before . . . besides Cameron, that Swedish girl. Nevermind."

"Look what he did to Cameron," House replied.

"Look what Cameron did to Chase. My advice is that you talk to Alexis and stop torturing Chase," Wilson replied.