Cuddy entered the conference room with her hands held out in exasperation aimed at Chase and Cameron; Mr Howard waited outside nervously, his eyes franticly scanning the hallway for signs of security or the cops.

"Mr Howard has been looking for his son – who isn't in his room" Cuddy stated to Cameron and Chase who both stood looking guiltily at Andrew, who continued reading the journal intently, "is there any reason why he's in here – or is he acting as Foreman's replacement while he's busy?" she hissed angrily.

"Err, no – we just started the differential and, err, he turned up." Cameron stuttered as she turned to Chase for help.

"Any idea where Foreman and House are?" He attempted to change the subject abruptly as the three of them went into House's office for more privacy.

"Radiology." Cuddy offered no further explanation; she had almost forgotten about House and his appointment with a brain scan until now – she made a mental note to call him and see what was going on in that head of his...better yet, she'd call Foreman and get the truth!

Both Cameron and Chase were giving her questioning looks; Cuddy swore she could hear the cogs in their heads turning slowly as they processed what she had told them – she waited for the inevitable statement.

"We don't have a patient in radiology." Cameron said, breaking the silence.

"Foreman is checking House over." Cuddy hoped she said it with enough distain that it would stop Cameron asking the next obvious question…

"Is he ok?"

…it didn't work. Cuddy sighed slightly and attempted to get back to the task at hand, "he's fine – get Andrew back to his room, he should be monitored at all times; the last thing we need is his father suing us because his son has died in a conference room."

"I don't think that's going to happen." Chase said calmly as he motioned through the glass wall; Cuddy and Cameron turned to look at what he was staring at in shock.

All three doctors now faced the scene; Andrew's dad was holding his son's collar and was waving a gun around franticly. Surprisingly, it was Andrew who looked the calmest out of the two and he seemed to be trying to talk to his dad quietly; clearly he was used to this kind of behaviour. They flinched when they heard Howard shout "what do you mean you gave it to him – where is he?"

"I'm calling security." Cuddy said as she quickly made her way to the phone on House's desk; Cameron and Chase broke off looking at Howard briefly to watch her.

"Oh God" Cameron said softly as she looked back to the conference room and saw Howard staring at them; he wasted no time in joining them in the office, gun in hand – pointing at Cuddy...

A few floors above…

"How are you feeling?" Wilson asked as he and House boarded the elevator; he was rewarded with a half hearted grunt as he stood beside the wheelchair and pressed the button for the 4th floor.

Wilson hated the uncomfortable and uncharacteristic silence that he was being subjected to on the journey to the 4th floor; he stepped back slightly and glanced at House, hoping he wouldn't notice. House was swaying slightly in the chair, face screwed up in concentration as he absently flexed his right hand. Wilson first thought was that he was in pain and he was about to say something until he saw where House's eyes were actually focussed – they were following the numbers on the elevator control panel as they lit up floor by floor. 'Guess you're more worried about that than you really want to let on' Wilson thought nervously as he shifted from one foot to the other, unconsciously fidgeting as he pondered over House's state of mind.

"Stop it." House stated causing Wilson to jump a little.

"What?" He managed to reply sounding innocent.

"Staring at me like I'm some kind of mental patient."

"I wasn't staring at you – I was admiring your break…and I don't stare at the mentally incapable either" Wilson covered by pressing two fingers against House's cheek, causing him to flinch in pain, "sorry – but you realise you lost the bet" he said as he smiled apologetically.

"You realise I can't pay you 'till I can actually recognise numbers again – unless you want to rip me off big time…I know I would." House stated bitterly as he attempted to repay the smile with a lopsided grin while trying not to hurt his face; he failed miserably and was glad when the elevator reached its destination and the doors opened to reveal the fourth floor.

"Do you still want to see your team?" Wilson asked as he made a point of pushing House in the opposite direction to where he wanted to go; he didn't give House a chance to answer or object as he wheeled him into the room where Foreman was drawing up his meds.

Foreman looked just as annoyed as he had done previously, in the CT room, Wilson noted as he watched him placing several syringes on the small metal tray; he'd probably rather be dealing with the young kid with Cameron and Chase instead of his boss...mind you, nobody in their right mind would willingly choose House as a patient. Obviously he wouldn't welcome it if Wilson were to subtly let him know that there were other patients in the hospital who needed Oncologists and House wasn't one of them right now.

House looked at the syringes with interest, "antiemetic?" he asked as he pointed to the one filled on the right; Foreman nodded in response but didn't bother to stop what he was doing – he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

"You still nauseous?" Wilson asked, thinking that this was just House's way of letting him know; House nodded carefully in response, "think we can get you into bed before we start pumping you full of drugs?" House shrugged and held his arm out for Wilson to grab hold of – 'only one way to find out' he thought.

Wilson managed to get House to the edge of the bed before he was forced to ask for Foreman's help; it became clear that House didn't have the strength in his right arm to push himself up the rest of the way and Wilson could see that he was angry at his powerlessness.

"I've requested that no one comes in here – I told the nurses that House has been experimenting with pain meds, he's got a killer headache and that he's trying to sleep it off." Foreman said reassuringly as he helped House onto the bed.

He then stripped House down to just his t-shirt and rolled the sleeve up to inject the antiematic; "hang on – I've got an anti-convulsant here too" he said before House could pull the sleeve back down; House paused and took the empty packet from the tray.

"Phenytoin?" House asked as he read the label on the packet. Foreman frowned, why was House intent on questioning everything all of a sudden – didn't he trust him?

"He can't recognise numbers" Wilson said, as if he'd just read Foreman's mind, "big medical words don't seem like too much of a problem though…"

"Slight aphasia is normal; it should correct itself within a few hours…I wouldn't worry about it." Foreman replied sounding confident as he injected the anti-convulsant.

"Who's worried…Wilson was just getting used the thought that he might actually beat me at poker…" House said dryly as he tossed the packet towards Wilson, missing completely, but causing himself to nearly fall off the bed - 'Shit'

"How long does the paralysis last?" he asked wearily as he caught himself on the rail of the bed just in time with his left arm; also finding time to give Wilson a glowering look, as though it was Wilson's fault that he nearly fell.

"Could be a few hours…could be days." Foreman shrugged.

"I can see how Chase gets all the best patient reviews and you don't." House muttered as Wilson forced him to lay down by placing a hand on his shoulder, "speaking of which – what's happening to my patient?"

"I haven't had a chance to check up on him yet…been a little busy this afternoon in case you haven't noticed." Foreman stated as if he was talking to a troublesome child.

"Well why don't you go and find out – Wilson can play doctor while you're gone" House replied in the same voice as Foreman had used, "don't worry I'll make sure he doesn't touch any of the big drills 'till you get back" he stage whispered when it didn't look like Foreman was going to move.

"Tell them to treat him for Iron deficiency Anaemia…" House added, almost as an afterthought, "then you can drill a hole into my head."

"We're not drilling into your brain – I thought we'd go for coil embolization instead." Foreman said as he chucked the used needles in the refuge box on the wall, "don't go anywhere." He called back as he left the room, presumably to actually pass on House's diagnosis - although it wasn't clear if he was talking to House or Wilson.

Foreman didn't make it far when he almost ran into the mini-mob of people storming from the conference room; Cuddy was leading with the patient's dad, they were closely followed by Cameron and Chase who both looked like they had seen a ghost, then at the rear was the patient himself. It wasn't the largest welcoming party he'd ever encountered but it came pretty close to being the weirdest! Foreman gave his two colleagues a questioning look – they didn't have time to fill him in before Cuddy grabbed his arm.

"Where's House?" she hissed; 'surely House couldn't have pissed her off already – he hasn't even seen the patient today!' Foreman thought as he tried to figure out what was going on as Cuddy held onto his arm for dear life.

"He's a little busy right now." It was a feeble reply and he wasn't surprised that she didn't buy it; she glared at him, making him uneasy to say the least, "room 312" he conceded. To have House mad at him was normal, to have Cuddy mad at him…let's just say that it was something best left to House to deal with as he must be used to it by now!

The party resumed their march towards House's room, this time with Foreman leading; he couldn't help feeling that there was something strange going on and that it wouldn't end well for any of them…especially House.