Chapter 4

When Summer entered the room with her cup of coffee and a Mars bar, she found her best friend and her doctor both laughing loudly, obviously not having trouble reconnecting.

"Oh god, I will always remember his face. It'll be etched into my memory forever." Marissa spoke between laughter. "Seth was such a perv."

"Was?" Summer asked, gaining the attention of the two women, who obviously hadn't noticed her enter. "In my opinion, Cohen will always remain one. So what's the subject?"

Alex grinned at her.

"The day Seth walked in on me and Marissa."

Summer's brow furrowed. "Seth walked in on you?"

"Well, he didn't technically walk in on us. He just happened to be in my living room, when Marissa came out of the bedroom, not very dressed."

"Not very dressed? I was practically naked and Seth was enjoying every moment of it," Marissa giggled. Alex couldn't help but laugh along. Then as she saw Marissa grimace, she stopped.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? No headaches? No tiredness? Maybe you shouldn't…"

"Alex, I thought you were off duty," Marissa responded, as she rolled her eyes ever-so-slightly. "And I'm fine. Honestly. I've spent most of the time here being unconscious, so I'm pretty sure I'm rested enough."

"Really?" Alex asked, a dubious note in her voice.

"Really," Marissa confirmed. "Scout's honour."

Alex snorted.

"You've never been a scout, Marissa."

"Yeah, well, the point remains," the brunette on the bed smiled softly.

Summer shook her head at them, biting into her Mars bar. Then she wondered loudly,

"Why don't they sell tuna and tomato sandwiches here?"

Marissa and Alex both paused, their heads turning towards Summer in synchronization.

"Cravings?" The brunette in the doctor's coat asked.

"I guess so," Summer nodded thoughtfully. Then she suddenly pulled out her phone.

"Cohen? Where are you? Oh good! Stop in some sort of a shop and get me a tuna-tomato sandwich right now! What? Well, I don't care that the shops are closed! I want a sandwich!"

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I want extra mayo, you asshat! Now hurry up!"

"Yeah, babe, I love you too," Summer smiled into the phone, before hanging up. She looked at the women nearby. "Cohen will be here soon."

"You two have the weirdest relationship," Marissa commented, shaking her head.

"You know what," Alex turned towards her patient. "I was just about to say that."

"Oh, hush, Cohen and I have a perfect relationship," Summer answered, finishing her Mars bar. "Speaking of which, Alex, how are you doing in the relationship department?"

"Well… on the scale of 1 to 10, I'm definitely a …" Alex did a show of counting on her fingers. "Zero. My last date was a blind date about three months ago and that was interrupted by an emergency in a hospital."

"You're kidding me?" Summer shook her head. "You two are pathetic. If you hide behind your jobs as excuses not to get out there," she stood up, moving towards the doorway, "and don't even try to hook yourselves up with someone…" she opened the door, "… you'll end up alone in a house filled with cats I tell you. Cats, Coop. Cats!"

"Summer, where are you going?"

"I thought I could do with just one chocolate bar, but obviously not," Summer grinned at her best friend. Then she closed the door behind her.

"Never mind her relationship advice," Marissa conspiratorially spoke. "She's been telling me that for a while now. She thinks she's playing on my phobia of cats."

"Oh right, the one you got when you're grandmother's cat bit you when you were little," Alex murmured, smirking.

"I can't believe you remember that," Marissa looked at her, clearly surprised.

"Good memory," Alex answered, tapping her forehead. She then picked up the bear on Marissa's bedside. "However, my memory fails me here. Why is this thing so familiar?"

"I can't believe you don't remember Mr. Huggies!" Marissa exclaimed, taking the bear from her companion. "See," she turned the bear upside down, "this is the spot, where you maimed him."

"Where I maimed … Oh… Oh god, now I remember," Alex exclaimed, looking at the bear. "We were in your room and we were supposed to go to the…um…"

"That club – Mosaic," Marissa supplied.

"Yeah, that and we were throwing the bear back and forth, when you suddenly sent it barreling right into my face!"

"I didn't send it suddenly," Marissa protested. "It wasn't my fault you were distracted."

"Of course it was! You took off your shirt for god's sake," Alex grinned at the memory. "So in revenge I flung it back at you and you dodged it and it hit the curling iron you had plugged in earlier," she trailed her hand across the bear's foot, where the scorch mark was, "and Mr. Huggies got a bit burnt."

"A bit," Marissa rolled her eyes. "Poor Huggies was in pain for days."

"I'm sure he was, but on the bright side," Alex put on a mask of seriousness. "It seems that his second-degree burn has not harmed his dermis very much, so it's just papillary…"

Her voice was then muffled when a pillow hit her face.

"Really mature, Marissa," she spoke as she pulled it off. "And I'd really retaliate, but I gave an oath not to harm my patients or something like that."

"Oh, so basically, I have immunity?" Marissa playfully asked, "I can do anything I want and you can't stop me?"

"No," Alex automatically said. "Whatever you're thinking about doing, don't. I might not harm you, but I can sedate your ass."

"Just my ass?" Marissa raised an eyebrow.

"You get what I mean, dumbass," Alex smirked, handing her back her pillow.

"Yep, you have an obsession over my ass," Marissa seriously nodded, grinning when Alex shook her head, slightly exasperated.

"You are a piece of work, you know that, right?" The brunette finally asked, a little quieter, looking at her. "Always were."

Marissa smiled at her.

"Of course. I'm special that way." She then shifted in her position and looked at Alex with a seriousness that wasn't there a second ago. "But, I meant to ask you earlier… Am I like okay now? Really okay?"

"Physically yes, mentally…"

"Don't make me use the pillow," Marissa warned, almost playfully, before regaining the solemn expression. "But really. I'm not going to get sicker again, right? I'm fine now?"

"Yeah. The treatment worked. Your stats are improving and while you'll have to stay in the hospital for few days for follow-up tests and monitoring, but you're fine now," Alex gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Good, because I think mom couldn't handle another relapse," Marissa spoke, turning onto her side, so she was facing Alex. "She's really worried."

"Trust me, we know," Alex smiled. "She promised to sue the entire hospital if we screwed up this case."

"No, please tell me she didn't," Marissa slid a hand over her face. "I swear embarrassing me is what she lives for nowadays."

"It's not that bad," Alex leant back in her chair, amused. "She just managed to scare the hell out of Foreman and the others and that is not an easy feat."

"Mom can be scary like that," Marissa nodded slightly. "So you were supposed to tell me why you won't let that House dude find anything out about you?"

"'Cause it's fun messing with him," Alex replied.

Just then the door opened and Seth came in – carrying grocery bags.

Alex, noticing that she was still holding Marissa's hand, quickly released it, not noticing Marissa's amused smile as she did so.

"Seth what are you doing?" The doctor in the room asked.

"Well, Summer needed a tuna sandwich, but every restaurant where I could get one is closed by now. So obviously I have to make her one," Seth gave Alex the 'duh' look. "I bought tuna and bread and butter and kitchen knives and…"

"They let you in here with kitchen knives?" Alex asked, her eyebrows lifting.

"Yeah, it comes out that the security guy's wife is also pregnant, go figure. Um, so where is Summer anyways?"

Marissa's brow furrowed, as she too noticed the lack of a certain slightly insane friend of hers.

"She went for a chocolate bar a while ago. She should've been back by now… maybe something happened?"

"Relax, Coop, I'm fine," Summer's voice interrupted her before she could go into a panic mode. "I just had to use the bathroom and then I bumped into this really hot guy…"

"What?" Seth wheeled around, his fuzzy eyebrows furrowing. "Who?"

"Hey ya, Seth," Ryan entered the room, carrying a bag as well.

"Okay, doesn't anyone sleep anymore?" Marissa asked. "It's like, um, what's the time?"

"About 2am," Alex supplied helpfully.

"It's 2am!" Marissa exclaimed, then looked at Alex, surprised. "It's really that late?"

"Yep," she nodded. "So, I see you've got your bases covered, so maybe I should…"

"No, come on," Summer protested, "I've barely had a chance to talk to anyone from Newport days!"

"I was in Newport for only a few months," Alex reasoned.

"Ah, you're much more interesting than any of those Newport bitches anyways," Summer waved her hand, dismissing the comment. "C'mon, Alex, think of it as a fun night of catching up and…"

"I brought cards and board games," Ryan held up his bag, before nodding to the doctor. "Hi, Alex. Looking good."

"You too," Alex replied, giving him an almost smile, before turning towards Summer. "I have to work from seven."

"So, think of this like this," Seth flung a hand over her shoulders. "You can drive home, sleep like two hours and then get ready for work and come back here OR you could have fun for these five hours you have left, go from here to straight to work and use your time for much more useful things than sleeping."

Alex pursed her lips. "Seriously, guys…"

"Alex," Marissa spoke, "I'm a very sick girl and my last wish would be for you to stay here with me and my friends and play, what may be the last board game I ever play, with me…" She pursed her lips into a pout, blinking her eyes furiously.

Wordlessly, Alex picked up Mr. Huggies and flung it at Marissa's face.

"Hey!" The brunette protested after the collision between her face and her teddy bear. "What happened to the oath?"

"To hell with that. I'm off the clock," with that she pulled off the white coat and threw it into the chair nearby. "So what games did you bring, Atwood?"

XxXxXxXxXx

Fighting off another yawn, Alex tried to concentrate on what was going around her, while drowning a cup of coffee – the third one already. She and the others were waiting for House, who to her great surprise, actually showed up on time.

"Morning!" He brightly greeted them all, way happier than any normal person would be at 7:30 am. "How's it going?"

"We saved the girl. She had Polio," Brennan boasted. Alex was too tired to even roll her eyes at his bragging tone like she usually would have done.

"We cured it with C-Vitamin," Kutner added, obviously proud of their day's work.

House gave them a blank look.

"Yeah. I cured depression with tonic water once. Actually, I think there was some gin in it too."

"We gave her 150g over six hours. It worked."

"No, it didn't."

Heads turned towards the back of the room, where Foreman was standing.

Alex's tiredness disappeared faster than a friggin' snowflake in the desert as she placed her cup on the table with a small clang, her head snapping up. It didn't work? Marissa wasn't healed after all? But she had seemed perfectly fine. She had checked her before leaving this morning. Everything was returning to normal.

Damn, she had even promised her she was alright and now...

"I told you that you can't cure polio. That means either she's not cured or she never had it. Since she's recovering fine…"

Alex watched as Foreman handed a file to House.

"I tested her blood from admittance. No polio. That means Brennan screwed up the lab tests."

"Or you screwed up your lab tests," Brennan spoke up from his seat.

Amber looked at Foreman.

"You must have. She got better."

"Yeah, all of her symptoms are gone," Alex spoke up. "Even the fever went down soon after the treatment."

"So it's relapsing and remitting. Maybe... porphyria," Foreman reasoned.

"Nah, that's a stretch. If she had porphyria, you would have seen purple urine," House spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Surprised, Foreman looked at the man.

"You think it's more likely he cured polio?"

"They believe it. Her symptoms fit perfectly. And the alternative is unbelievably convoluted. Some doctor would have to poison her with thallium so it looks like polio, then fake a lab test, then give her Vitamin C and stop the poison so she magically gets better," He paused and looked at one of them. Brennan to be exact. "Actually... it is kinda doable, right?"

Everybody was shocked. The applicants all stared at their rival, expecting him to protest – say he hadn't done such thing. But surprisingly, he remained quiet.

"So what do you think? Should we test her for thallium before you contact Stockholm?" House asked him.

Alex's brow's furrowed as she realized the truth.

"You bastard! You poisoned her?"

"Now, now, Thirteen. No reason for name calling. I'm sure he has a good reason for poisoning his patient," House spoke, looking at Brennan expectantly.

"Vitamin C cures polio. I've seen it!" Brennan insisted.

"Yeah. In some bush clinic. You needed polio in a place with a proper lab. The only problem is that places with proper labs don't have polio, do they?" House responded.

"There is no money in finding cures for diseases that only kill poor people," Brennan spoke, standing up and approaching House. He then looked at his fellow applicant. "This will make them do research!"

He moved his eyes over their faces. They all were too stunned to respond. All except…

"I am so totally going to kick your ass, you moron."

Surprised, heads turned towards Alex, who really didn't give a damn. What the hell was this freak thinking?

"Don't you get it? I faked one lab test to save a few thousand lives! I did what I had to do." Brennan turned towards House and looked at him. "Isn't that what you hired us for?"

House nodded, sighing.

"Which is why I'm not firing you."

Needless to say, nobody replied to that. Brennan was too relieved to speak and risk messing something up and everybody else was just… really, really shocked.

"You're gonna quit." Caught off guard, Brennan looked at House. "Go on, get out of here."

Alex expected another protest, but one never came. Instead, resigned, the man plainly nodded and left the room.

"So, you're just letting him go?" Foreman asked.

"Absolutely. I'm gonna let him get as far away as possible before you call the cops. Guy's a nut job."

House then looked at the Fellows, his eyes stopping on Thirteen.

"I liked your rage. It shows me… that you look hot while you're furious."

"House..." Foreman spoke, exasperated.

"What? You can't honestly say you weren't thinking the same thing?" House gave him an expectant look, only gaining an raised eyebrow in return. "Seriously, don't you remember the time, when you actually could be fun?"

A blank look. House sighed.

"Yeah, I can't remember them either. Probably because you never could be fun!"

He shook his head as if disappointed before leaving the room without another word, leaving the rest of them behind in silence.

Alex stared at her desk for a couple of moments, before she looked up at Foreman, who was looking suddenly very worried.

"You know what this means right?" she asked, suddenly realizing something horrible. While the other Fellows looked confused, Foreman slowly nodded, his expression mirroring her own.

"Somebody has to tell her."

"Yeah, but what if shefinds out?" Alex asked back, shuddering.

"Oh," Taub's eyes widened a moment later. "Oh my god. That would not be good."

"What?" Kutner frowned. "What wouldn't be good?"

Cole tipped his head towards him slightly. "Think Kutner. Who is the last person you'd want to tell that Brennan has been poisoning Ms. Cooper?"

Kutner's eyes went comically wide, as his mouth opened in a silent 'o'. "Oh no."

Amber looked between everybody. "Are you talking about Cuddy?"

"I nominate Amber to go tell the patient," Alex spoke up quickly.

"I second that," Kutner raised his hand as high as it could go without him actually standing up.

Foreman looked at them as if they had grown a second head... a moustache and at least three tails.

"Are you kidding me? The hospital wouldn't have enough money left to buy toilet paper if we sent her. And that's if shedoesn't even find out. Even the patient could sue her."

"True," Cole nodded, thoughtful.

"What are you talking about?" Amber demanded, confused. She was a smart woman and she didn't like to be out of the loop. Being out of the loop was a very bad thing. Especially in this hospital.

"I'd go, but after the row of misdiagnosis…" Foreman looked at Kutner. "The patient seemed to like you."

"The patient yes. But the patient might not be alone..."

"Do we have to tell her?" Taub asked, "We are obligated to inform the patient, not the patient's mother. "

"Well, the patient has to be informed. It's the law," Alex spoke the obvious. "And the mother might not leave the patient's side. At all."

"This situation is bad." Foreman spoke. "And the only thing we can do is to put it in a way that wouldn't get the hospital sued."

"House would tell us to keep it a secret," Kutner rationalized.

"Cuddy is going to find out," Foreman rubbed the bridge of his nose. "When Brennan is arrested there will be questions and Cuddy will find out. And since she already had a," he coughed, "discussion with Mrs. Cooper-Bullit, we either deal with this right now or we might all be in deep trouble later."

"I'll go."

Alex drowned the last of her coffee as heads turned towards her. "I probably I have the best chances. Besides, if the worst happens, what would be a better way to spend a morning than explaining to Julie Cooper-Bullit why her daughter was poisoned?"

"Oh, so that's what you were talking about!" Amber exclaimed.

Kutner and Cole exchanged a look.

"And they wonder where the blonde jokes come from…"

XxXxXxXxXx

Hesitantly Alex pushed the door to the hospital room open. She almost leaped in joy when she understood that she had seen correctly from the window – Marissa was completely alone!

"Hey," the said woman greeted Alex sleepily. "Back so soon?"

"Eh, yeah, I guess," she spoke hesitantly, lingering in the doorway, unable to think of anything to say.

"Is everything alright?" Marissa asked, assuming that the silence was a bad omen. "Is this a work-related visit?"

"Actually, I think I have the day off now that you're treated," Alex replied, closing the door behind her and approaching her bed slowly.

"And you're not on your way home to sleep? Seriously, not that I don't appreciate your company, but Mom and Kaitlin should be back any minute and Seth, Summer and Ryan only went away to get breakfast and coffee," she paused. "I can drink coffee now, right?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't affect the treatment anymore," Alex replied. She then sighed and slid a hand over her hair. Damn it, if it hadn't been for the brilliance of Brennan she wouldn't had needed any treatment at all!

"Alright, you're starting to scare me here," Marissa sat up straighter, frowning. "What's going on?"

The doctor sighed once more, as she leant closer, taking one of Marissa's hand into her own, her blue eyes locking with her emerald ones as she tried to string together a smart thought or two.

But since her brain was sometimes just as useful as an ice cube in Alaska, she groaned in frustration once again, only managing to confuse Marissa even more.

"Listen, I really have to tell you something important and I don't know how to say it, so it wouldn't sound incredibly bad, but I'll try, okay?"

Marissa nodded slowly, already having understood that something not good was going on.

"Just promise me that you'll hear me out before... before you do whatever it is you're going to want to do after I tell you this, okay?"

"Okay," Marissa swallowed softly, expecting the worst scenarios possible. Alex gave her hand a comforting squeeze before she began.

"So, here goes…"

The doctor relayed her everything she knew and by the time she finished the look on Marissa's face could only be described as utter shock. She stared at Alex as if waiting for her to yell April's fools any time soon.

"That… that bastard," she finally managed to get out. "I thought I was going to die! Everybody was so damn worried! Mom and Kaitlin and..." she shook her head, her brain filled with bits of information that didn't quite add up. "I can't believe this. He's not going to get away with this!"

"He's not," Alex quietly spoke, stopping Marissa from beginning a full-on rant. "He'll be put away for this and if that's not going to happen... Well," a tiny soothing smile played on Alex's lips, "I still have the number of those guys I brought to the bonfire. They're even bigger and scarier now."

For a moment Marissa looked like she was going to snap or yell, which would've been a normal reaction from a girl, who had just found out her doctor had poisoned her. But instead she snorted softly.

"I remember them. Ex-cons, huh?"

"Yeah, and you know, I think you can actually call them that now," Alex spoke thoughtfully. She smiled slightly, when Marissa did too.

"So," Marissa begun, "It was just a heatstroke?"

"Mhm."

"This is just so unreal. The best diagnostic hospital in the state and I get poisoned. Am I lucky or what?"

Marissa sighed and closed her eyes, trying to think this through. But no matter how much she tried to concentrate on the big bad thoughts of poisoning, a very pleasant feeling was keeping her way too distracted. Finally, she cracked her eye open to see what it was.

It was Alex. Still gently holding onto Marissa's hand, her thumb had started to make small, slightly ticklish but rather nice circles on the back of her hand, making the brunette in bed feel all kinds of tingly.

Damn. There goes the important train of thoughts with poisoning on it. But then again, the next train of thoughts featuring a certain ex-girlfriend of Marissa's seemed a lot more interesting anyways.

Alex was definitely unaware of the actions of her runaway thumb, as she was gazing at the opposite wall, completely engrossed in her own deep thoughts.

Slowly Marissa's eyes swept over her doctor's face like they had several times over the last few days. She had really changed over the years they hadn't seen each other, but a bit of her was so familiar that Marissa couldn't help the smile that tugged on her lips.

"Do you think your mother should know?"

Alex was now looking at her, her blue eyes filled with inquiry.

Marissa blinked a few times, before she could comprehend what the other woman meant.

"No. Definitely not. There's no reason to tell her. If that Brennan guy is dealt with, there's not really anything she could do. Except you know, make a scandal. She's very good at that."

"I remember." Alex chuckled and then suddenly stopped, her brain finally catching up with the activities of her hand. Slowly she extracted her hand from Marissa's. "Um, I should probably go home, you know. Sleep a little – or a lot."

"Yeah," Marissa smiled, tugging on her blanket with her now free hand. "And I'll just stay here and recover from the drama."

Alex would've laughed, but unfortunately the voice she heard next took away the humour in the situation. Seriously, of course she had to show up just ten seconds before she left! Seriously!

"What drama?"

Marissa looked past the doctor in front of her, her eyes staying on the woman in the doorway.

"Oh, it's nothing, Mom," she spoke a moment later. "Just speaking about my recovery..."

XxXxXxXxXx

A/N – The review button might be lonely. Please keep it company. Thank you :)