3

Friday the 13th

I should know who I am by now.

I walk the record stand somehow,

Thinking of winter.

Your name is the splinter inside me,

While I wait…

Marissa's breath came out in a tiny little puff of fog when she let out a sigh. She pulled on the front openings of her wool cardigan sweater, wrapping herself tighter with it, her eyes trained on the sun setting in the hazy orange horizon. It was a cold evening—so different from California, where it was sunny and warm almost all year round. She's been living in the New Jersey for almost a year now, and she's getting homesick by the minute. She missed Newport greatly—the beach, the sun, being able to go outside at night at this time of year in only the lightest of sweaters... heck, she even missed Kaitlin and her mom, especially because Summer was away with Seth on a business trip, and Ryan was always busy with work and she had no one to talk to. Her dad, who was still in Hawaii, she missed sorely as well, of course, but she had been missing him since he left when she was still a teenager, so long ago now that she'd somehow already gotten used to it. Right then, there was only Sarah to distract her every once in a while and keep her from thinking of the only thing—only person—that she misses more than sunbathing and the feeling of the ocean air blowing and salt water spraying on her face and cool sand between her toes.

I remember the sound

Of your November downtown.

I remember the truth,

A warm December with you.

But I don't have to make this mistake,

And I don't have to stay this way.

If only I would wake.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew across Marissa's apartment balcony, making her shiver. With another sigh, she decided that she should already go inside because it could only get colder and catching a cold or pneumonia or whatever Sarah had caught doesn't sound too appealing to her.

Unless of course it gets me to go to the hospital and see

She stopped when she realized that her train of thought was going the wrong direction again.

Oh shit. She shook her head wearily and cursed her head for making yet another ridiculous, masochistic, and just incredibly lame excuse to go to the hospital—something that she had been finding herself doing quite a lot lately, especially when she's cold and alone and daydreaming of warm blue waters and top-down car rides while listening to some good music on the radio.

The walk has all been clear by now.

Your voice is all I hear somehow,

Calling out winter.

Your voice is the splinter inside me,

While I wait…

She turned around and went into the bedroom, shutting the glass doors close but keeping the curtains tied up on the sides to let the last of the day's soft orange sunlight fill the room.

Pneumonia, she remembered. What about it again?

As if on cue, she heard a barking sound from the living room.

Sarah. Right. She glanced at the clock on her dresser and realized it was time for her to take her medication again.

She went to the living room and found Sarah sitting on the carpet in front of the TV, watching cartoons and coughing like mad.

"Sarah, it's time for your meds." She heard the girl groan loudly as she went to get the medicine from the medicine cabinet in the little hallway near the kitchen. After she got the bottle of medicine and a teaspoon, she strode back to the living room and knelt beside Sarah on the carpet.

"Open up," Marissa said to Sarah as she held up the spoon with the thick purple liquid in front of the girl.

The girl grimaced. "Do I really have to?"

"Yes," Marissa answered shortly.

"But I feel better already."

"Honey, you're cough isn't even gone yet."

"No, I'm better, see?" Sarah took Marissa's free hand and placed it on her forehead. "I don't feel hot anymore."

"Sarah, the prescription says you have to take it for a week straight. C'mon, you're not going to get all better sooner if you don't drink up your meds."

Sarah pouted. "But—"

"Sarah," Marissa said warningly. "No buts."

They heard a ringing from the direction of the bedroom. It was Marissa's phone. Default ringtone. Probably the office.

"Okay, baby, I need to get that. It may be important. Will you hold this for me for a while?"

Sarah frowned but did what she was told. Marissa let her hold the spoon then stood up and ran to the bedroom after telling her that she'll be back.

She guessed right. It was the office. But of course, why would she think otherwise? It wasn't as if she was expecting a call from some acquaintance she had randomly given her cell phone number to in the street, or from an old friend she's been wanting to hear from for days now. She figured she wouldn't be too lucky. She was old and experienced enough to know that wishing never works.

"Marissa Cooper, hello?"

"Hello, Marissa. It's Betty."

It was her assistant and friend Betty calling to remind her that tomorrow was her deadline and that she had lunch the next afternoon with her boss, who had been constantly hitting on her whenever they meet in the hallways or happen to catch the same elevator ride. He could be charming, she gave him that… young, good-looking, CEO of a respectable publishing company, drives a Jaguar and owns a penthouse in Manhattan... filthy rich… just the kind of guy she was certain her mother would want to screw… er, would want for her. But he was too full of himself, and she's had enough encounters with that kind of men in Newport—the kind who could never believe that a girl was capable of being uninterested in them. She'd already had Ryan pick her up in her office several times just to give him an idea, but unfortunately for her, he never seemed to get that she wasn't interested. She'd tell him to get a clue straight to his face, but he was the boss and "the boss gets what he wants", as he already once snidely said to her.

The conversation went on for a few minutes until Betty had said that was all and Marissa thanked her and hung up. She sighed, knowing she must—must —start working on her article tonight if she intended to make it to her deadline and keep her job without having to resort to inappropriate and absolutely unwanted boss-seduction measures. She had already skipped work that day because she couldn't get a babysitter and Ryan had an important meeting with some construction company and couldn't look after Sarah. The next day, however, was her article's deadline so she has to submit her article even if she decided to blow off work, which she seriously considered doing just to avoid an afternoon of pointless small talk and sexual innuendos.

She heard coughing again coming from the living room, and remembered that she was supposed to be giving Sarah her medicine. She trudged back to the living room and saw the girl lying on her stomach, face on hands, elbows on the carpet, and eyes on the TV. The spoon she had made her hold earlier was lying beside a half-empty cartoon mug on the coffee table, empty.

"I already took it," the little girl explained when she asked.

Marissa smiled and brushed the girl's wavy light brown hair away from her face as she, too, laid down on her stomach to watch cartoons with her. "Good girl."


Thirteen felt a warm hand grabbing her shoulder lightly from behind, and another on her hip. She felt the hand that was on her shoulder reach up to her collarbone to pull her hair away to one side. She smiled lazily; she knew what was gonna come next.

And she was right. Next came the feeling of a soft pair of lips on the back of her neck… trailing slowly to her ear and nipping on it lightly. She felt the bed sink beside her as the girl maneuvered herself to straddle her and start kissing her jaw… down her neck… and then across her collarbones, lingering there as one hand gently unhooked her bra and threw it to the side of the bed.

Thirteen watched the top of a head of dirty-blond hair as the girl went further down and kissed and licked the creamy skin of her toned abdomen.

One of Thirteen's hands moved from the girl's thigh to cup her face, pulling the girl straight and bringing her face to eye level. She brushed the woman's face firmly with the thumb of one hand, which she soon moved to the woman's shoulder, while her other hand moved to the back of her neck, pulling the woman's face closer to hers.

The woman's face was only a few inches away from hers when she suddenly gripped her shoulder strongly to stop her from coming any closer and began examining her with heavy-lidded eyes.

A look of confusion crossed Thirteen's face, her eyes widening and then narrowing after a moment, eyeing the beautiful woman as if she saw her for the first time since she hooked up with her in a dark, smoky private booth in a club she couldn't remember the name of.

"Your eyes…" Thirteen spoke in a soft voice to the woman whose name she wasn't sure whether she forgot or didn't ask in the first place. The woman just raised her brows in a questioning manner.

"They're…" Thirteen squinted her hazy blue cat's eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side. "…green," she finished in a voice so soft the woman wondered if it was curiosity, astonishment or fascination, or a mixture of all of these she heard there.

"Yes… they are." The woman nodded slowly, not sure why the brunette was bothering to mention it. After a while, she smiled seductively at her. "Do green eyes turn you on?"

Thirteen's lips then curled up into a wide lazy grin. She nodded. "Yeah… They're… beautiful."

The woman was going to tell her that she had stunning eyes herself, but she wasn't able to respond anymore, because Thirteen had already pulled her close and resumed to give her a kiss that was so torrid and angry she almost pushed her back to ask her what was wrong, if only the brunette wasn't gripping her arms and waist so tightly and possessively like she had.


Tap, tap, tap…

Marissa stared through her glasses at the bright, pristinely immaculate Word document page on her laptop computer, the only thing besides the moon and the stars that lit the room, as she swivelled on her chair and drummed her fingers on her work desk.

A glance on the green glowing digits of her desk clock told her it was already a good hour and a half well into Friday, the day her article was due.

She cursed silently. Her brain wasn't functioning properly. There was nothing in there, in her head. Nothing but Summer's voice resounding in the dark along with the faint humming of the refrigerator in the kitchen and the occasional honking of insensitive, probably drunk people driving down the streets of New Jersey.

Why would being friends with her matter now after all these years? You've moved on, she's moved on. You've got friends, she's got hers. End of story.

End of story, the Summer in her mind kept saying and it was driving her crazy because she just wouldn't stop.

Why do you need Alex when you've already got us?

She stopped swivelling abruptly and shook her head lightly. "I don't," she reminded herself, saying it with as much conviction as she could muster.

Determined to finish writing her article before the sun comes up, she put her game face on and stood up, deciding that a hot cup of coffee might just be what she needs to clear her mind, though she didn't count too much on it.


Marissa had just slammed her laptop computer shut and laid back against her big uncomfortable office chair when she heard her phone ringing. She picked it up after one ring, knowing Summer had the patience of an eight-year-old instead of a twenty-eight-year-old, which she was.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"How did it go?"

"How did what go?"

"Your lunch date with that macho jackass boss of yours."

"Ugh, please, don't remind me."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah. I don't even want to talk about it."

"I think you should make Ryan do something about it, if it's really that bad."

"Oh, believe me, I've already tried."

"Well, I'm glad Chino hasn't made use of those iron fists of his yet. Guess he's mellowed with age now, huh?"

Marissa chuckled. "Huh, that's where you're wrong. He has actually offered to, I quote, 'punch the obnoxious smirk right off of that arrogant ass's face', but I told him to take it easy on the guy who signs my pay check."

"Well, Coop, you shouldn't even be thinking about it! I mean, you are one good writer and finding another magazine to write for should be a breeze."

Marissa sighed and smiled. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Thanks, Sum. I really needed that extra ego boost."

"Yeah? Why, what's up?"

"Oh… nothing. Just… I've been having this… massive writer's block lately." Marissa bent over to place her glasses on the table and then to reach the mug of cold coffee sitting amidst stacks of papers on her table. "But it's alright. Nothing a mug of hot coffee can't fix."

"Well, that's good."

Marissa took a small gulp of coffee and grimaced when she found out that it was already cold. "Ugh… Except my coffee isn't so hot anymore." She set the mug back on the table before going on. "So, what's up with you?"

"Nothing much. Just some work, work, and some, uh… work."

Marissa laughed. "Glad to know I'm not the only one. Whoever said we rich kids don't need to work our asses off to earn a living, huh?"

"I know! I could really use a vacation, you know, Coop? I miss the beach already. It's so cold here, I swear I'm getting so pale I already look like one of those Twilight vampires."

"Twilight? You read that stuff?"

"Oh please, no. But I was there with Cohen at the screening at Comic-Con, remember? So I really had no choice. But anyway, I just really, really miss being back home in Newport."

"I know, I miss it, too. So anyway, how's Seth?"

"Well, you know… Seth's being…" Summer trailed off, shrugging, though Marissa couldn't see it.

"Seth?" she offered.

"Well, yeah. You know how he is. And how is Sarah, by the way? Cohen and I haven't talked to her since yesterday morning."

"She's good. She's with Ryan right now."

"And how's she feeling?"

"She's fine. She's still coughing a lot, but I think the medicine just needs some time to take its effect. I left her medicine with Ryan, along with the prescription."

"You sure Chino's up for arguing with an eight-year-old kid about taking her medicine?"

"Sure. He's a big guy. He can do it. Besides, Sarah's being a real sweetheart, she's actually been taking her meds all by herself for a couple of days now."

"Oh, she is? Wow, that's good. I'm glad she hasn't been giving you any more headaches than you already have. Thank God she hadn't taken so much after her dad than her mom."

Marissa rolled her eyes. "Heh, well, that doesn't really say much."

Summer laughed. "Yeah, fine, I have to admit you're right on that one."

Marissa grinned.

"You know, Coop, we should really take Sarah back to Newport sometime soon. We could take her to dad and Julie's. I swear that house has been so empty since Kaitlin moved out. And then we could take her shopping and sunbathing with us! We haven't been back there since Chrismukkah last year. She's going to love it!" Summer gushed excitedly. "What do you think?"

Marissa smiled at Summer's enthusiasm. "Absolutely. I could really use some time off work myself."

Betty, Marissa's secretary, knocked and entered the room. Marissa held up a hand as the woman approached her table to tell her to wait, but seeing the worried, on-the-verge-of-panic look on the woman's face, she knew that whatever Betty's agenda was, she shouldn't put it off any longer.

"Yeah, sounds good to me…" she said on the phone. Betty was signalling to her that it was important and couldn't wait. "Hold on, Sum, I gotta go… Yeah… Yeah, I'll call you later. Bye."

Marissa hung up and looked up to Betty. "Hey. What is it?"

"Marissa, Ryan called. He said he was trying to call your phone but couldn't reach you…"

"Oh, I was on the phone with Summer. Why, what did he say?"

"It's Sarah."

Marissa felt a sinking feeling in her stomach at seeing the grim expression on Betty's face that accompanied the mention of Sarah's name.

"She's in the hospital right now."


A little over an hour, a dozen or so broken traffic laws, and a speeding ticket later, Marissa sat silently at a metal chair inside a private patient room in the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital as she watched with teary eyes the unconscious girl lying in the bed with an oxygen mask, an IV line, and several other machines she had no idea what were connected to different parts of her body. Ryan was pacing back and forth silently near the windows, his head down and his hands inside his pockets. All that could be heard was some machine beeping at regular intervals.

I remember the sound

Of your November downtown.

I remember the truth,

A warm December with you.

But I don't have to make this mistake,

And I don't have to stay this way.

If only I would wake.

Marissa reprimanded herself in her head for having had let this happen. She wasn't sure what she did wrong, or even if she did anything wrong, but she still felt bad for what happened. She had wanted to go to the hospital, alright, she didn't deny it. But not like that. Not with Sarah entering the hospital disoriented, short of breath and complaining of headache. Maybe wishing sometimes does work. Now, she just wishes that Summer loves her enough to forgive her for anything wrong she might have done. She had already called her a few minutes ago and told her Sarah was stable, but her best friend had quickly hung up and she knew she was out the door to get Seth the second she mentioned the word hospital.

I could have lost myself

In rough, blue waters in your eyes,

And I miss you still…

Marissa sighed, not out of frustration or boredom this time, but more out of physical exhaustion and mental stress. She felt a firm hand gently squeeze her shoulder and she looked up to see Ryan smiling at her, as if trying to reassure her that everything will be okay, though he didn't look too reassured himself. She returned it with the most convincing smile she could give him.

The door was slid open by somebody a few minutes later. Marissa didn't immediately recognize who it must be; the room was dimmed out and even some of the night lights were turned off because Ryan said that the doctor said Sarah was "showing signs of light sensitivity".

The person closed the door and walked closer. Marissa could then see that it the person was wearing a white coat, and that it was a male. Marissa stood up and tried not to be disappointed.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Kutner. I'm Sarah's attending physician."

"How is she? Is she going to be alright?"

"We don't know for sure yet, but her condition is stable, and she's looking good so far," the doctor named Kutner told them.

Marissa let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, have you found out she has yet?" Ryan asked.

"She has meningitis. It means that the linings of her brain and spinal cord are inflamed, and in her case, it's because of a bacterial infection, probably the same one that caused her pneumonia. Her blood culture and sensitivity test results aren't back yet, but I can tell you that she has bacteremia—bacteria in the bloodstream, which was what invaded her nervous system and caused the swelling of her meninges."

"But why would this... complication happen? We have given her the medicine," Marissa told him.

"There are a lot of possible reasons. It could be because her immune system was down, which is unlikely because she doesn't have an immunodeficiency syndrome, or it could be because the infection wasn't treated immediately and properly."

Marissa shook her head, still not understanding. "But I gave her the medicine."

"Well, it's possible that the bacteria weren't susceptible to the antibiotics that you had given her; it may be an uncommon type of infection that the usual, first-line drugs can't cure. Also, it could be because the bacteria have developed into a stronger, more resistant strain. You see, the antibiotics, it has to be maintained at its optimal therapeutic levels in the blood stream. If the right level isn't maintained until the infection is completely eliminated, the bacteria will eventually be able to fight off the drug's effects and develop resistance to it," Kutner explained. "Are you sure, you have given her her medicine for the number of the days the prescription said?"

"Yes. I made her drink it until this morning before I left for work."

Kutner looked at her, somehow skeptically. "Have you always seen her actually take her meds?"

"I…" Marissa swallowed as she thought back to the last few days. "I'm… I don't… Oh my God…" She wrapped her arms around herself.

"Look, there could be other reasons, as I have said. Bacteremia is the most common complication of pneumonia. It happens. Catching infection is particularly easy for kids, especially in this type of weather."

Marissa nodded slowly. Ryan placed an arm around Marissa's back comfortingly before he turned to ask Kutner. "So, it's treatable, right?"

"Yes, it is. We're just waiting for some blood tests and the x-ray film, and then we can start treating her. We're doing the best we can. In the meantime, she's under observation, and she may have to stay here for a few days or weeks until she's well enough to be taken off the oxygen support."

Ryan nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

Kutner nodded and turned to leave the room. He was already in the hallway when he heard a voice calling out his name.

"Dr. Kutner!" Kutner turned around and saw Marissa jogging towards her. He stopped and waited until she caught up with him.

"Yes?"

Marissa stopped in front of him and swallowed before talking. "Um, I… I just want to ask if you know where the doctor who saw Sarah earlier this week is? Dr. Kelly?"

Kutner scowled. "Dr. Kelly?"

"Yes."

"You mean Dr. Dwight Kelly from the surgical department? You must have gotten it wrong, because I don't think he does clinical duties."

"Oh, no. I mean Dr. Alex Kelly. She, uh, she was the one who examined Sarah earlier this week and prescribed her the antibiotic."

"Female?"

"Yes."

"Um… There is no female Dr. Kelly in this hospital," he said slowly.

"I'm sorry?"

"I don't know any Alex Kelly in any department in this hospital. Are you sure you got the name right?"

Marissa's face scrunched up in confusion. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Um, well, I think I know all the doctors in this hospital and there isn't a Dr. Alex Kelly working here, as far as I know. Maybe she's new."

"Brunette… blue eyes… my height…?"

Kutner's eyes narrowed slightly as he seemed to think about it. Marissa, however, cut off his train of thought.

"Um, never mind… It's… not really important."

Kutner nodded slowly.

Marissa smiled politely at Kutner. "Thanks anyway, Dr. Kutner."

Kutner smiled at her, too. "You're welcome, miss…?"

"Marissa."

"Right." Kutner nodded, smiling, and then left.


"Slow night?" Kutner asked the scrub suit-clad man and woman sitting in a metal gurney parked against the wall on an empty hallway, both holding thermos flasks.

"Yeah, thank God," answered the pretty blonde sitting with her back against the wall and her legs dangling from the bed.

"I thought you said you don't believe in God," the man, also with blond hair and sitting in a similar position except with his arm resting against his flexed knee on chest level, questioned her in a thick Australian accent.

"I don't, but maybe I will if the ER stays empty long enough for me to finish even one cup of coffee in one sitting everyday, at the very least." She brought the thermos to her lips and drank from it.

"And no surgery tonight?" Kutner asked.

The blond man shook his head. "There is. The nurses are already in the OR prepping the patient. I'm going in in a few."

Kutner nodded as he mounted the gurney and sat beside the woman.

"And what are you doing here?" the man asked Kutner.

"Just waiting for some tests." Kutner laid back to rest his head on the wall and sighed heavily.

"Long day?" the woman asked him good-naturedly.

"Every day with House is a long day," the man answered for him, slightly dragging out the word "long". Kutner smirked.

Just then the three doctors heard steady footsteps accompanied by a soft thumping of what sounded like a rubber object on the floor. A man with tousled graying hair, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, a backpack slung across one shoulder and a coat over the shoulder of the arm that wasn't holding a cane, appeared around the hallway's corner.

"Hey, don't tell me you don't miss those 'long' days we had spent hand-in-hand treating patients and saving the world, Dr. Chase?" House raised his brows at the handsome doctor in mock disbelief. "I'm sure Dr. Cameron here does," he gestured to the blond woman sitting between the two guy doctors.

Chase scoffed, while Cameron rolled her eyes.

"Aw, come on, you know you do. No need to be shy now. Women find affection sexy. Toughness, is out."

"Aren't you supposed to be going home now?" a smirking Kutner asked House.

"Your questions are getting more and more stupid everyday," House replied, gesturing to the knapsack he was carrying. The smirk was wiped off of Kutner's face.

"I am on my way home now. I heard you guys talking and just couldn't pass up the chance to say hi to my dear colleagues," House said, and both Chase and Cameron rolled their eyes. There was no other passageway to the elevators besides the hallway they were in.

"You're supposed to be home now, aren't you?" House pointed at Kutner.

"Uh, well, new patient just got in. I'm waiting for test results so that I can start the treatment. And then I'm going home after."

"The dyspneic kid with pneumonia who came into the ER earlier? What's she got?" Cameron asked Kutner.

Kutner nodded in affirmation. "Positive Kernig's and Brudzinski's."

"Meningitis," said House. "Some idiotic mother didn't give her kid her meds and let a simple URTI progress into a full-blown drug-resistant infection again?" He began to limp towards the atrium and the elevators, mumbling. "This is why I think doctors are wasting time talking to patients, especially to those ones who have compliance issues."

"This is why doctors have to talk to patients, so that they would be educated well regarding their therapeutic regimen," Cameron retorted.

House stopped walking and turned around. "Doctors' duty is to prescribe patients with medications, not to talk to patients." He tucked his coat under his arm and tapped the front pocket of his pants with his palm. "Sometimes I just think we might as well just tie the prescriptions to the patients' fingers with a string," he mumbled as he placed his walking stick between his knees and he dug a hand in his jeans pocket. "Whether the patients comply or not is completely up to them." He frowned and then began inspecting his coat's pockets.

Cameron just sighed and shook her head at House's stupid ideology.

"Maybe it's atypical pneumonia," Chase suggested, refusing to take part in the previous conversation, knowing that it would be pointless.

Kutner shrugged. "Yeah, it might be. It didn't respond to Thirteen's amoxicillin prescrip..." Kutner trailed off and scowled.

Chase and Cameron turned to look at him.

"What?" Chase asked.

"Thirteen."

"What about her?" Cameron asked.

"Do you guys know a Dr. Alex Kelly working here?" he asked, ignoring Cameron's question.

Cameron frowned. "No."

Chase just shrugged. "Why?"

"Well, there was this woman who was asking me earlier if I knew where Dr. Kelly is."

"Kelly from Surgery?" Chase asked.

House brought out a small bottle from one of the coat's front pocket and smiled. He opened it and took out a pill. "Aha! There you are, Vicky, you naughty little pill." He popped the pill into his mouth and dramatically breathed deeply. Then he returned the bottle to his pocket and started walking again.

"Well, I asked her if it was Dr. Dwight Kelly from Surgery, but she said no. Apparently, it was a female doctor named Alex Kelly."

"Maybe she's new," Cameron suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I told her… But the thing is, I think she was talking about Thirteen."

House was already halfway across the third floor atrium when he abruptly stopped walking. He slowly turned around, and walked back silently towards the gurney, straining his ears at the mention of Thirteen and a possible explanation to the mystery that was she.

"She was the one who saw the kid on Monday. Even her description fits," Kutner said.

Cameron frowned. "Isn't Thirteen's name Hadley?"

"It is," Chase confirmed. "But, well, Hadley and Kelly sounds kinda similar, in a way. You sure you heard her right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"What, she's using an alias when introducing herself to patients?" Chase asked, laughing lightly at his question's absurdity.

"Could it be—" the three of them all turned their heads when they heard House's voice, "—that Thirteen was too stoned she didn't realize she was giving the patient her fake bisexual-strippers-club-member name? Or maybe, she uses different cool-sounding, badass names for picking up girls in every strip joint and night club she goes to? You got to admit Alex Kelly sounds more James-Bond-cool than Hadley or Thirteen. I mean, what girl lets herself get picked up by some woman who says, 'I'm Hadley. Thirteen Hadley,'" House said in a fake, yet very authentic-sounding British accent.

Cameron rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at House's antics, nonetheless. "Some nurse probably just made a mistake."

"Well, only one way to find out." House turned around and was about to walk away to look for the patient's room when the doctor in question strolled by and stopped in front of him, preventing him from walking any further. She crossed her arms and looked at him with narrow, suspicious eyes.

"Dr. Hadley," House greeted her loudly. "Glad to have a chance to say goodbye before I retire home after another long, fruitful day of saving lives."

"I heard my name," Thirteen said.

"Oh, I was just saying to them how today is Friday the Thirteenth. You know, they say it's an unlucky day, but I was telling these superstitious folks—" House gestured to the other three doctors "—that that's—" he waved his hand and blew a small raspberry, "—crap, because today is actually a very, very lucky day."

Thirteen scowled at House's odd behavior.

"So," House said as he moved past Thirteen. "Have a good night, Dr. Bond."

Thirteen raised an eyebrow at the sight of House's form limping away towards the elevators. House gave her a knowing smile and a small wave before the elevator doors slid close.

She turned to the doctors on the bed. "What was that all about?"

Chase shrugged, while Cameron just looked at her. Kutner was tapping his fingertips slightly on the bed's metal railing, not meeting her gaze.

"Kutner?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly, signalling him to start explaining.

"Uh, I was just telling Chase and Cameron about this woman who came up to me earlier... asking about you."

"Who? Patient?"

"Family of patient's. I think she said her name's Marissa."

Alex eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly.

"She was asking if I knew where she could find Dr. Alex Kelly, and I told her that there isn't a doctor named Alex Kelly here. She gave me a description, though, and I didn't figure she was talking about you until just about... two minutes... before you came."

Thirteen's squeezed her eyes shut and put a hand on her forehead. "Lemme guess. House heard about it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I told him someone probably just made a mistake," Cameron said. "But House is just… being himself about it basically. As usual. You know him. He's probably on his way to interrogate this Marissa woman about you right now, as we speak."

"Not if I get there first."

"Well, he is lame. Should hardly be a stretch!" Chase called out to Thirteen as she made a dash for the elevator, and then the stairs when she saw that the car was still on the ground floor.

"Oh, hey, hey, it's two-one-four!" Kutner called after her.

Thirteen raised her hand without looking at him in a small gesture of thanks as she ran down the stairs, hoping Jeffrey was being Jeffrey as well.


*Song lyrics by Joshua Radin ("Winter")