"What did you find for me, my kiddies?" House grinned at them, a scary sight on even the best of days.

"Liver function's down," Foreman said, ignoring House.

Chase nodded. "We knew earlier that her liver function was off, but we assumed-"

"You assumed," House interrupted.

Chase rolled his eyes, trying to not be bothered by House. It wasn't working so well. "Fine. I assumed it was because of her pneumonia. It would make sense."

"Other than her now failing liver," Cameron added in. "It doesn't add up. I mean, does she even have pneumonia?"

House tapped his cane, his face twisted slightly as he thought about it. "Is her liver actually failing?" he asked. "Or is it just she's had pneumonia so many times that her liver hasn't had a chance to recover in-between?"

Foreman nodded. "That also makes sense."

"Wait a second," Chase said, his blond hair falling in his eyes. "She has pneumonia now? What about your whole, 'pneumonia is a symptom' theory?"

"It's a crappy theory," House said, rubbing his face. "What idiot thought pneumonia was a symptom? It's clear she has it." He paused, waiting for his minions to speak. "Come on! What does she have?"

"Cellulitis!" Cameron blurted out suddenly, her eyes narrowed as she tried to think.

House rolled his eyes. "It doesn't fit," he snapped. "It doesn't cause pneumonia or shortness of breath or anything!"

"It explains the swelling, fever, and why the liver function is down," Cameron offered again.

"Her legs are swollen because her liver function is down," Chase argued. "It doesn't fit, Allison. Just leave it."

House raised an eyebrow. "Allison, is it?" He smiled creepily at the couple. "Robert and Allison, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-"

Foreman cleared his throat. "House, we have dying patient. Can we get back to the differential please?"

"Oh, fine," House said dejectedly, limping over to the white board. He stared at it for a moment, thoughts flying through his head. "Aha!" He said finally. "What starts with p, and ends with n?" It was silent. "Come on!" House yelled. "There's no such thing as a dumb answer!"

"Premature ejaculation," Chase said suddenly.

House paused, his fingers stopped tapping his cane. "Never mind. There is such a thing as an incredibly dumb answer. She's a girl, you moron."

"Pulmonary hypertension," Foreman offered.

"Nope!" House sing-songed. "Wrong again!"

"Pandimonium?"

House looked up at the door to see who had answered his question.

Cuddy.

"Ah, Cuddy, won't you come in," House said, his fingers tightening around his cane. "It's always such a pleasure for you to come and ruin my team's delicate thought process."

Cuddy sighed. "Stop fooling around and just tell them, House," she warned through clenched teeth. "I run this place and have power over you. Don't make me exert it."

"Fine." House rolled his eyes. "Try pleural effusion. The membrane around her lungs is filling up with fluid, causing weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath, and cough."

Foreman nodded his head in submissive agreement. "Of course. It fits, and can be cause by both pneumonia and liver disease."

"Buys us some time to find out why little miss mute has liver failure." He waved away his team. "Go and tell the mother. Then, start the thoracentesis."

Cameron, Chase, and Foreman all left silently, each wondering what Cuddy wanted with House.

"So," House said, once they were gone. "Come to have rough make-up sex with me?" he asked, winking. "I've heard glass tables are especially good."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "I came to apologize," she said stiffly. "I'm sorry I thought your patient was fine, when in reality, she's not."

House raised an eyebrow. "I don't care that you feel guilt over a wrong decision. Go cry over the patient and tell her you're sorry." With that, House strode out the room in search of Wilson. It was his lunch break.

Cuddy was left standing there, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed with distaste.

House M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M.D.

"So you're going to stick that into my back?" Josie squeaked, her voice still barely there. She fell back against the pillows, her face flushed with fever.

"I'm sure it's for the best, Josiebear," Ms. Zimmer said, although her lashes were wet with tears. "These doctors know what they're doing." She motioned to Chase. "And he's Australian."

Chase smirked slightly, finding Ms. Zimmer's trust in him, solely because he was Australian, funny. "We do know what we're doing, Josie," he said, trying to sound comforting. "If we don't drain your lungs via this hollow needle, you risk having your lungs collapse."

Cameron smiled compassionately. "It's for the best. We just want you to get better." She motioned for Ms. Zimmer to step off to the side. "We think she has a condition called Pleural Effusion. It's when the membranes around your daughter's lungs fill with fluid. If we don't remove it, her lungs could collapse, and she could die."

Ms. Zimmer stifled back a gasp. "Of course, of course," she said, the tears now running silently down her face. "Do what you need to." She lowered her voice. "Does this having anything to do with Tuberculosis?"

"No," Cameron shook her head. "We ruled that out, as well as many other conditions. Doctor House believes your daughter may have a liver condition, although we can't be sure yet. We first need to get this under control."

"Liver condition?"

Cameron nodded. "You've been told her liver is possibly failing?" When she received a nod, Cameron continued talking. "Well, it can sometimes cause Pleural Effusion. Once we have that and the pneumonia under control, we should be able to do a liver biopsy and find out what's wrong."

"Alright," Ms. Zimmer agreed. "Do it."

House M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M.D.

House looked at his pager, his eyes narrowing at what he read. He quickly made his way to Josie's room, and stepped inside to what seemed to be chaos.

"She's in V-fib!" Chase yelled to House. He spun around wildly. "Where are the damn paddles?" His eyes were completely focused, ready to do anything to save his patient. "Where the hell is the nurse?"

Cameron continued the external heart massage, the heel of her palm pumping Josie's chest in a steady rhythm. "Chase was just starting to drain her, and her heart just freaked…I can't even…"

Josie lay on the bed, her eyes un-focused, gasping as air failed to fill her lungs.

House just stood there, cane in hand, and watched as his team flurried to fix his young, dying patient.