Timeless

House/OC

Summary: This is a story about a woman who was apart of House's past, she comes to work at PPTH and learns so much more than what she thought to believe… Will House be happy to see her or will he be furious that she's apart of his life again? This takes place in Seasons 3 & 4.

P.S. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews!! I really do deeply appreciate them and I'm so happy that you all are enjoying my story! I promise the next chapter will be up really soon. :)

A/N: Sorry for the Delay my laptop was down for awhile but heres a nice big chapter for you all I hope you all will enjoy it! :)

CH. 7

Morning was once again chaos, and Sarlina was in the middle of it. Her entire day was completely filled with meetings with Sponsors and her nerves weren't getting any better…

It turned out that this morning Wilson's accounts were automatically frozen and his access to writing in prescriptions were taken away as well by Tritter. She knew from this morning that House was starting to suffer with the with drawls of not having any of his medication, but what she hoped was that he would be strong enough to get through this.

However, this morning Detective Cooper showed up notifying Sarlina on what Tritter was up to, she couldn't help but be thankful to have him come and help her and this is where they were now. "Thank you Detective for telling me what Tritters up to." Sarlina said giving him a warm smile, David smiled over at Sarlina as they walked side by side down the hall.

"It's really no problem; I know that Tritter has been causing you some problems so I figured I should notify you as to what was going on."

Sarlina slowly nodded as she and David were now in front of Wilson's office. "Look Detective Cooper, I was wondering… Is it technically legal for Tritter to have my files?" David frowned at her, not understanding. "What do you mean?" Sarlina sighed as she slowly looked away from him.

"He supposedly has all my information from when I was a child till now… Is it legal for him to have those files?"

David stared down at her, starting to grow concern for the young woman before her it seemed that Tritter was getting excessively interested in this woman and it almost seemed like he was becoming obsessed. "Dr. Donovan look I don't want you to start getting concerned but it if Detective Tritter does become overbearing I want you to call me you understand?" He said giving her a very serious look as he walked up closer to her, Sarlina looked up at him and started to get worried.

"You don't think he'll try to hurt me or Greg do you?"

David then instantly felt an odd twinge knowing that she has a boyfriend. "No… but I think he'll try to arrest Dr. House and have his license revoked." Sarlina looked at David worriedly and started to fidget her hands. "Well… thank you for you're help Detective." David gave her a small little smile as he started to shift his weight on both feet. "It's really no problem and It's David…" he said softly as he looked up at her, Sarlina gave him a small smile and shook his hand.

"Thank you David."

Just then, Wilson opened his door from his office and immediately stopped when he saw the intense stare David was giving Sarlina, he then slowly closed his door causing them both to quickly look back over at him. "Um… What's going on?" Sarlina then softly smiled over at Wilson and nodded towards David. "Oh Wilson this is Detective Cooper, he's the bloke I sent in the complaint to about Tritter." Wilson looked at her surprised and then looked over at David and held out his hand. "Oh hello I'm Dr. Wilson." David nodded as he shook Wilson's hand.

"Pleasure… But look I really must get going so if I have anymore updates I'll let you know Sarlina."

Sarlina smiled at David as he gave her a Cheshire grin. "Sounds good to me, have a nice afternoon Detective." David then started to laugh as he released his hand from Wilson's. "It's David… and you have a nice afternoon too." He smiled and then winked at her before he left; he gave Wilson a slight nod. "Dr." and then walked off on his way. Once he was gone, Wilson looked over at Sarlina quizzically.

"David?"

Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head. "It's nothing Wilson, stop being protective." Wilson frowned as he started to follow Sarlina. "Look… House is my friend even though he's a complete ass he doesn't deserve to have someone date other people behind his back." Sarlina looked over at Wilson incredulously, infuriated that he'd throw that at her.

"I'm not! Look he came to tell me about YOU'RE situation, he's been updating me about what Tritter is up to and Greg knows about it."

Wilson looked at her skeptically and sighed. "So you know he forged my prescription pad…" he said very quietly for only them to hear, Sarlina then slowly nodded giving him an apologetic look. "He's starting to get into really bad shape Wilson… this morning he was barely himself, his pain is consuming him. And when I saw him grab a fully filled bottle I knew that he had to of done something." Wilson frowned as he and Sarlina stopped walking, now standing in the lobby.

"Look… I know he's a pain in the ass Sarlina, I know that he's not the best guy in the world and even though I'm furious with him right now and don't know why I'm going to do this but… I'm going to flat out tell you that you mean a lot to him. Since you've came here he's smiled more, and actually has a tiny bit of enthusiasm in him. I know he will say things that may hurt but I just want you to know that he would have never allowed you in unless you mean a lot more than what he puts out."

Sarlina looked at Wilson seriously as she crossed her arms. "So what are you trying to say Wilson?" she asked almost wondering if he was going to go back to the whole David thing. Wilson sighed, and gently bowed his head and then looked back up at her.

"Don't hurt him… I don't think he can handle anymore than what he can right now or ever."

Sarlina couldn't help but allow a small smile creep up on her lips as she walked up to Wilson and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Wilson looked at her completely surprised as she moved back to face him, a huge grin on her face.

"Wilson I can promise you that I will never, ever hurt Greg… I won't walk out on him when he's at his lowest of lows, and I would never cheat on him. He means more to me than you could imagine."

Wilson gave her a small smile, seeing the sincerity in her face and in her eyes, he couldn't help but feel happy with the fact that even though he knew for sure that this Detective Cooper obviously had a thing for her that she wouldn't allow this guy to get anywhere near her.

For once, Wilson was actually happy for House, happy that now he has a great girl to stand by his side and it actually helped ease his anger towards what House had done. However, it didn't mean that he was going to let Gregory House get off that easy, it just meant that he felt more at ease about Sarlina and knew that hopefully she'll be the bolder block to keep House straight. "That's good to know." Sarlina started to laugh and was about to say something until her pager went off.

"Bugger, I'm really starting to wonder why I keep this thing at all times."

Wilson grinned at her as she pulled out her pager and sighed. "Looks like I'm need, ya see the village folk start to get antsy when their villiage idiot has been gone for too long." Wilson then chuckled at her as she turned off her pager and waved at him. "I'll see you later Wilson, Oh! If you do see Greg ask him if he'll be home for dinner tonight or should I just order out." Wilson nodded as he watched her starting to walk away. "Alright Sar see you later." Sarlina nodded and gave him a warm smile.

"See you! Oh if you're free tonight you're more than welcome to come over and watch monster trucks with us tonight too."

Wilson chuckled and slowly nodded. "I'll see if I'm free." Sarlina nodded and left not before flashing him a huge smile and started to walk away. Once Sarlina was gone, Wilson couldn't help but laugh it was obvious that Sarlina was a very friendly person which was the complete opposite to what House was…

However, that is probably why they get along so well together. She wasn't only nice but she had claws and that is the type of woman House needs, he knew that even though she was incredibly friendly that it was a good thing but at the same time it was a bad thing as well… Especially with Detective Cooper.

Wilson then shrugged his shoulders figuring that Sarlina was a smart girl and she obviously knew what Detective Cooper was up to and didn't seem very fazed by that and if she wasn't why should he? Obviously, House knew about the Detective and obviously Sarlina would tell House everything, he found it thoroughly amused that she invited him over his best friends place to watch Monster Trucks.

In a way it was kind neat that she was so ok with him and House spending time together, it was never like that with his wives they never liked House ever coming over but Sarlina was so ok with the fact that even though she's in a relationship with House that there still needed to be some guy time… Damn House was so lucky he thought to himself. He then decided that he was going to go confront House about the prescription pads and decided to go look for him. It took about twenty minutes for him to finally find House down in the basement sitting there watching T.V. and eating his lunch.

"What're you doing down here? Thought you usually have lunch with Coma Guy."

House shrugged, now wiping his mouth with his napkin. "This is Vegetative-state Guy. Better company." Wilson glared at him and started to walk in further to the room. "You stole my prescription pad and you forged my name!" House sighed and slowly rolled his eyes. "What'd you tell the cop?" Wilson frowned as he placed his hands in his pockets; he was still really upset over the situation.

"I lied! He'd have put you away for ten years; after they took your license to practice medicine. Oh! Also Sarlina knows all about what you did, how long do you honestly think she'll stick around knowing that you are pulling this crap."

House sighed and slowly shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah I know she knows, she told me that, that Detective guy she made the complaint to came to notify her about you're current status. Nice guy, seems way to into her though." Wilson then glared at House as he now crossed his arms.

"You met him?"

House then nodded. "Yeah I was in her office with her when he showed up. Like I said nice guy, but he seemed a little flustered that I was there… And he seemed kinda stunned when she told him that I am her boyfriend. He didn't really seem to care much for my sense of humor either." Wilson sighed and slowly rolled his eyes. "I can't imagine that." He said sarcastically, House then shrugged his shoulders once again and smirked at him. "So, everything's good then?" Wilson then went back to glaring at him, waving his hands around wildly.

"I lied! To the cops!"

House rolled his eyes as he took a sip out of his drink. "There is no case unless they can prove that either I got the drugs illegally or I sold them illegally. I didn't do the second, you lied about the first. Game over." Wilson stared at him stunned at the fact that House was being so stubborn. "Yeah, Tritter's just playing. He's gonna see how clever you are and then just walk away. What's going to happen when he starts going after Sarlina to get to you huh?! He already grabbed her, and how do we even know that this other Detective guy isn't Tritter's little lackey and is trying to get close to Sarlina to find out more about you!" House then looked over at Wilson and arched his brow. "You really do think she's that stupid don't you?" Wilson then shook his head.

"No I don't think that she's stupid it's obvious that she sees right through him, but what if things start getting out of hand? Do you really want your new girlfriend to really get involved in this mess? Especially since you've been wanting to get with this woman for as long as you can remember!?"

House sighed as he grabbed a chip and took a bite. "Look… Nothing will happen to her, I won't let it and the only important thing is you keep prescribing the same amount of drugs to me. Or it'll look suspicious." Wilson looked at him completely astonished.

"Here's another way to look at it. Having forced me to lie to the police, your first concern is securing your 'drug-connection'! Yeah… I can really see why she chose to be with you!"

House glared at him and was about to say something until a young man who looked like he was about 22 years old walked in with a backpack slung on his shoulder. House and Wilson looked over at him and Wilson instantly realized that the guy doesn't seem that surprised to see House.

"Joining my father for lunch. I should have called ahead for a table."

He said with a smile, Wilson then instantly spoke up trying to cover the fact that House was sitting there with his lunch. "Dr. House was just…" the guy then immediately cuts Wilson off. "Enjoying a Reuben. It's okay. After ten years, anything that'll get doctors in the same room is..." The guy then instantly stops talking when House starts putting the room light on and off in quick succession. Wilson and the guy then gave House a very inquisitive look.

"What're you doing?"

Wilson asked scrunching up his face in confusion; House then looked over at him innocently and shrugged. "Nothing. What're you doing?" Wilson then glared at House and then looked at the equally confused guy, House then picks up his bag of chips and looks directly at the guy.

"Chips?"

He then tosses it at the guy, who didn't move, causing the packet to hit him in the face. Wilson then looks a bit interested in what House was doing, House then smirked and then looked over at Wilson. "Wanna see something really cool?" Wilson then nodded and watched House rise up from his seat, the guy looked at them both completely confused until he noticed that House just like that, disappears! The guy then looks around for House, in fear. House then suddenly appears directly in front of him giving the guy a start. This didn't go unnoticed to House and he automatically smirked at the guys reaction.

"I saw you leaving last Tuesday; practically tripped over two guys on your way out. But you had no problem opening doors. It's called Akinetopsia. You can't see things when they move. And since you haven't been hit by a bus, I assume it's intermittent. Probably accompanied by seizures, which made me think that I can set one off by flashing a..."

House then instantly stopped when the boy crumples to the floor and starts seizing violently. House then immediately looks at Wilson, who hurriedly tries to stabilize the kid. He then allowed out a long sigh as he turned his head back to the boy.

"God, I love this family!"

XXXX

After Wilson finally stabilized the boy who they learned was named Kyle, House and Wilson then immediately went to go look for Cuddy or Sarlina to notify them what just happened while House's team were going over with Kyle what just happened.

House and Wilson ended up finding Sarlina down by the clinic signing some documents at the nurse's station, House then automatically smirked and started to limp up towards her and then placed his hands on her sides and lean over to whisper in her ear.

"Can I tell you that I'm thoroughly excited to get you back home were we can have some time together?"

Sarlina then started to laugh as the nurse looked at them inquisitively; House then noticed her staring at them and glared.

"I know you must be enjoying the show but do you think you can mind you're business and do you're job?"

The Nurse glared at him and slammed her chart shut. "Excuse me?" House then started to wave his hand at her, not affected at the look she was giving him. "You heard me. Oh and while you're at it get me some peppermint tea." The Nurse's glare then turned even dirtier, then quickly rose up from her seat, and stormed off.

Once she was gone, Sarlina then started to laugh and slowly shake her head. "Always such a charmer eh Greg?" House then smirked, as his hand slowly went lower down her side and into the pocket of her lab coat and then arched his brow at what he found and pulled out a sucker.

He then immediately grinned as Sarlina finished signing her document and turned to look at him to see him holding her Tootsie Pop. "Are we practicing for the real thing?" He asked with his Cheshire grin, Sarlina rolled her eye and grabbed the sucker from him.

"No need… Haven't you heard luv? I'm a pro."

House's grin turned into a devious smirk as Sarlina started to walk away from him. "Well then how about we put that to the test when we get home?" He said suggestively, Sarlina then started to laugh and playfully slapped his shoulder. "Can't luv. I invited Wilson over to watch Monster Trucks with us tonight." House immediately stopped walked and stared at her completely confused. "You invited my best friend to watch monster trucks with us?" Sarlina then slowly nodded.

"Yeah… isn't it monster truck night? I was planning on running to the grocery story, get some beer, and make that pizza I know you like so much. I also invited Wilson because I figured that is something you two do together… "

House stared at her incredulously. "And you're going to watch Monster Trucks with us?" Sarlina then smirked at him as she crossed her arms. "Bloody hell yeah! I got money on Big Foot that bugger better kick some bloody arse or there will be hell to pay." House couldn't help but laugh as she grinned at him he then slowly moved closer to her and was now mere inches away from her face.

"Will you Marry Me?"

He said jokingly, he couldn't believe how understanding she was… Sure, he knew that she usually was but he didn't know how she would be like as a girlfriend and the fact that she invited Wilson to come over to watch their favorite show and offered to make them his favorite dinner she could have ever made. He couldn't help but feel thrilled to know that this woman that was before him was all his. Sarlina then started to laugh as she looped her arm around his and they started to walk side by side. "As tempting as that is Greg… let's take it slow kay?" House then shrugged, giving her a nonchalant look.

"Alright… but I'm not asking again, you had you're one time chance baby and you just turned me down."

Sarlina then started to laugh, knowing that he was teasing her. "Oh how will I ever live with myself!? Oh Greggie will you please forgive me!?" She said giving him a mockingly pleading look, House then smirked at her and shook his head.

"Nope. Sorry, over it. You had you're chance now you'll just have to deal with the fact that you're going to live a long, tedious, unmarried life with me and that's just how it's going to be."

Sarlina smirked at him and rolled her eyes. "Damn I was really hoping to be called Sarlina Victoria House too… You know secretly I used to write that in my notebook when I was in school and imagined you in a nice little tux and me in my white gown walking down the aisle and having about two kids together living happily ever after in the suburbs… let's just say it has always been a fantasy of mine." She grinned, knowing that, that would freak him out. Unfortunately, House caught onto her game and threw it right back at her.

"Two kids, I expect you to pop out at least ten for me… And there has to be five boys and five girls and they all must call me Master House yeah… that sounds about right. I mean after all they are going to be introduced into some pretty damn good genes so they have to work for them."

Sarlina then glared at him. "What you're going to turn our children into the Von Trap family? And who bloody says that I'm going to pop out ten bloody kids!? If that's the case we're going to find out some medical surgery that will have you pop out the other half because there's no bloody way I'm having ten bloody kids all by my onesie." House then started to chuckle as they both were now in front of Wilson who was looking at the two curiously.

"You two are already talking about kids?"

He asked completely shocked, Sarlina then gave him a devious smirk and slowly tilted her head to the side. "Of course we are silly, I hope you won't mind babysitting for us when mommy and daddy have plans." She then nudged him on the shoulder. "If ya know what I mean Wink!" Wilson the instantly realized that she was teasing him and started to laugh. "Only if get to join in." He grinned now playing along; Sarlina then playfully gasped and placed her hand over her chest, looking completely shocked.

"Wilson! I am deliberately shocked! SHOCKED I say! I don't know where you get yer information from but I am not that kind of woman!"

Wilson then started to laugh as House was snickering along side of him. "No offence Sarlina but don't quit your day job." Sarlina dramatically sighed, crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes. "Fine… if you say so… So what is it that Tweetle Dee and Tweetle Dumb need of my services?" House then arched his brow at her and then pointed to Wilson.

"He's Tweetle Dumb right?"

Sarlina smirked at him while Wilson rolled his eyes and shook his head. "A kid had a sezuire while he came to visit his father and we had to sedate him." Sarlina then slowly nodded and then looked back up at them. "Is he Epileptic?" House then shook his head.

"No he has Akinetopsia."

Sarlina then slowly nodded once again. "Is the team analyzing him now as we speak?" House then smirked. "Yep the ducklings are working their little feathers away." Sarlina then started to laugh as she, House and Wilson then started to walk back up towards his office. "So you blokes want to tell me what exactly happened? And Greg I do have a feeling that you were probably the reason for this." House then looked over at her innocently. "I'm shocked Sarlina that you would honestly think that I would be involved in some innocent kids seizure! Do you find me that heartless?!" Sarlina then rolled her eyes and smirked over at him.

"How did you do it Greg?"

House sighed knowing that he couldn't put anything past her and couldn't help but admire it. "I just flicked some lights and tried to toss him a bag of chips. He can't see moving objects when he's seizing." Sarlina nodded taking in the information House was giving her. As soon as they finally made it to House's office, Wilson's pager then went off and had to excuse himself to tend to a patient.

Once Wilson walked off Sarlina and House then walked into his office seeing his team sitting there waiting for him. They all said hello to Sarlina as she and House walked further into the room, House walked up directly to his white board while Sarlina sat down in the seat that was at the head of the table. "So… what did you guys find?" House asked as he uncapped his marker, Cameron shrugged as she clasped her hands together. "Could be infection." Foreman then rolled his eyes at her. "Or brain tumor." Cameron sighed as she glared over at Foreman.

"Says he had a CT."

Sarlina arched her brow as she watched the two banter; she noticed that this happens very often and wondered what they both were trying to prove to each other, Chase then immediately spoke up giving out his ideas. "It's probably the simplest explanation. Trauma." Cameron then slowly shook her head.

"He didn't report any injuries." Chase then scoffed at her. "He didn't report being an alcoholic either. Drinking equals falling down equal's trauma equals..."

Sarlina then looked over at them and slowly shrugged her shoulders as she clasped her hands together as she looked over the paper work that was sitting in front of her. "Maybe it's inherited." Foreman then frowned at her. "How did you jump to genetics?" He asked as he rose up from his seat and walked over to look at the papers. "From his EEG? All you got are some vaguely epileptic-formed waves." House arched his brow and then walked over to them and placed his hand on Sarlina's shoulder and looked over at the papers.

"It's not his EEG. It's his father's. When it comes to cortical seizures, like father, like son."

Cameron watched the interaction between House and Sarlina, she noticed that it seemed that House was squeezing Sarlina's shoulder almost subconsciously as Sarlina rested her elbows on the table and rested her chin into her palms. House then leans over, picks up the EEG, and hands it to Foreman who is now studying it. "Small seizures aren't unheard of in a patient in a vegetative state." House then shrugged as he was now behind Sarlina, both hands now on her shoulders.

Cameron arched her brow at the scene and was wondering what was going on, could it be possible that House and Sarlina are a little more involved that what they had lead on? Another question that kept bubbling in her head was why did she care? Sure, she had a thing for House a while ago but why did it matter to her now? She could've cared or less but why was him giving Sarlina this small bit of affection bothering her so much. House then shrugged as he subconsciously started to squeeze Sarlina's shoulders who was now looking over at the CT Scans.

"Similarities are interesting though."

Sarlina then arched her brow and then slowly looked up at House curiously. "What caused the vegetative state?" House sighed as he slowly moved his hands off her shoulders and then started to limp over to his White Board looking over their possible theories.

"His house burned down; went back in to get his wife. Firefighters found him unconscious three feet from the bedroom, asphyxiated."

Foreman then crossed his arms and smirked at him. "Not an inherited condition." House then looked back at him giving him a serious look. "Test his DNA. Start with adrenomyeloneuropathy." House's duckling then all finally rose up from their seats and started to walk off, House then instantly yelled out to them before they left.

"Check out the home."

They all nodded and then officially left. "That poor boy, His house burns down, his mother dies from the fire and his father is in a vegetated state… No wonder why he's an alcoholic." Sarlina said sadly as she read over his chart, House then shook his head as he limped over to her. "He was an alcoholic before all of this." Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head looking deep in thought, House then sat down next to her as she continued to read giving her a serious look.

"When is the Lawyer coming in today?"

Sarlina then looked up at him and then looked down at her watch. "In about two hours… I placed all my things in Wilson's office so just in case someone tries to raid my or Cuddy's office…" House then slowly nodded as he rested his chin on top of his cane, Sarlina then frowned at him and then softly took his hand.

"Greg… why did you forge Wilson's prescription? You know if you're caught you're going to go to jail and you placed you're best friend into a very difficult situation, how could you do that to someone?"

House sighed as he slowly moved his thumb back and forth over her soft skin. "I needed the medication because I was in pain… Sarlina you have no idea how much I'm suffering, and Wilson wouldn't prescribe it for me because he feels that it's all in my head so I did what I had to…" He saw how disappointed she was in him but what was he to do, he couldn't work without his medication, how else was he to function?

"Greg… what if they catch you? And what if the figure out that Wilson lied for you!? Then you both will be in jail! I don't want to loose you… Honey I'm seriously worried."

She said softly as she cupped his cheek in her palm, House couldn't help but smirk at her, she was so sincere and so desperately worried for him, only him and that made him more thrilled beyond belief but damn his pride for not pulling her onto his lap and give her the lovin she deserves.

Nope, his pride and his walls instead made him sit there and smirk at her as she looked at him worriedly. "Stop worrying. Nothing's going to happen, the police aren't going to waste their time on this… It's pointless." Sarlina then shook her head. "That's not what David said." House then arched his brow. "David?" Sarlina then slowly nodded as she stared at their intertwined fingers.

"Detective Cooper… He said that it looks like Tritter is going to take this in full and that he's going to try and hit everyone close to you, to get them to fold."

House thought about what she said, sighed, and then slowly looked away from her. "I think Detective Cooper has other thoughts than worrying for my wellbeing…" Sarlina then frowned at him. "Oh Greg not you too, Look. I know he's trying to be a little more helpful than someone usually would be and according to Wilson it's very obvious what his intentions are.

However, I want you to know that I see past all that… but we do need someone on our side and if Detective Cooper could help us out we have someone to allie with us." House stared at her seriously, there was no mirth in his eyes, now snarky comebacks as to why Detective Cooper wanted to be their allie no… For once, he was actually scared of losing her, whether it'd be because of Drugs or be because of someone else showing interest in her.

After all, why on earth would she want to stay with someone like him, why would she honestly want to stay with a old, miserable, crippled, drug addict? She'd be smart if she just left, if she just said goodbye to him and be on her way… And even though that all sounded so right to him, he wanted to be completely selfish and keep her as long as he could.

"Tritter's not going to touch me." He then looked into her sapphire eyes and slowly moved some of her hair behind her ear. "I'm not going anywhere alright?"

Sarlina's eyes then started to well up in tears and then gently shook her head. "I wish I could believe that Greg… But from what I saw this morning who knows what's going to happen when you're completely cut off." House stared at her intently just waiting for her to say she can't do this anymore, any minute she'll tell him and then that will be it, back to what they were. Sarlina slowly bowed her head and then gently looked back up at him again, tears now rolling down her cheeks.

"But no matter what happens, I'll be there… Honey I'm not going anywhere and I will help you through this, I won't walk out on you."

House couldn't help but give her a closed mouth smile and then leaned up from his chair and gave her a soft, warm kiss. Their lips lingered against each other's for a couple of moments, until House immediately heard his ducklings coming back into the office.

He then quickly moved back into his seat not realizing that as Chase and Foreman were busy talking, Cameron saw the scene between them and even though she knew Sarlina was a good person she was furious over what had just happened. Worse of all the fact that they were hiding their feelings for each other to everyone annoyed her even more.

"MRI and LP are both inconclusive. Infection's still possible. Tumor's less likely than..."

House then arched his brow at her while he cuts her off and leans back into his chair. "DNA?" Foreman then finally spoke up. "Adrenomyeloneuropathy test was negative." House shrugged at him, as suddenly Sarlina's pager went off she then quickly pulled it out of her pocket and looked over to see the message, she then sighed and looked up at everyone apologetically.

"Sorry to disrupt but I really need to get going… My 2:00 appointment is early."

She said softly, as she rose up from her seat, Foreman and Chase nodded understandingly, but Cameron barely reacted to her, she then looked over at House and gave him a small smile. "I will see you later?" House then nodded giving her a serious look. "I'll see you in a minute let me finish from here." Sarlina nodded and gave everyone a warm smile and waved and wished everyone a goodbye and then started to walk out of the room.

Once she was gone, House then looked back at his team and said. "DNA test again. Try Unverricht-Lundborg and late-onset Lafora's." Foreman sighs out of irritation and looked over at House defiantly, while Chase started to protest. "Genetic tests take forever. You can't just keep testing him for every inherited condition you think it might be." House then shrugged as he strapped on his messenger bag and then rose up from his seat and started to limp towards the door.

"Well, not me. I'll be leaving early. But you guys can. I have a very important meeting to attend to."

Foreman and Chase then rolled their eyes and started to walk off to go do the tests, but Cameron then immediately rushed up after House. "Why are you two hiding it?" House looked over at her and arched his brow. "Hiding what?" Cameron then glared at him as they both now were walking side by side with each other. "You and Sarlina, why are you two hiding you're relationship with each other?" House sighed and rolled his eyes.

"To save you the pain of knowing that I'm no longer single."

He said sarcastically, Cameron rolled her eyes as they both now walk into the elevator. "So you admit that you two are in a relationship." House rolled his eyes over at her as he pressed the button to the destine floor. "No… you're assuming. If you haven't noticed yet, me and Sarlina are very good friends, it's you're view of perception that makes you think that there is something more between us." Cameron then frowned at him.

"Then explain to me why you had your hands on her shoulders."

House sighed and glared over at her. "I'm flattered that you find so much interest in my every movement but you're just going to have to trust me on this one." Cameron sighed. "If you're in a relationship with her, why don't you just make it public we all know that you like her more than what you want to let off, why make her suffer with a lie?" House then smirked at her. "How do you know it's me whose putting her through with the lie?" Cameron then looked over at him completely surprised.

"So… you're admitting you're in a relationship with her?"

House then shrugged. "Am I?" Cameron stared at him completely shocked and confused at the fact that he was messing with her mind, the elevator then finally dinged and House then nonchalantly walked out of it a smug smirk still on his lips as Cameron kept her surprised look on her face watching him walk away.

As soon as Cameron was out of sight, House then limped over to Sarlina's office and opened the door not bothering to knock and saw her sitting at her desk talking over to the lawyer about Tritter, Sarlina then finally looked up at him and so did the lawyer. Sarlina then introduced House to the lawyer, explained to him how Tritter has been harassing her, and House.

The meeting lasted about 2 hours and as soon as the Lawyer received enough information he felt very sure that they had a case. Once the Lawyer was finished, House's cell phone then went off; he then immediately answered it and heard Foreman on the other line. "Hello?" Foreman then quickly answered back.

"He's unconscious and heading for a coma. He's at a four on the RLAS scale."

House then looked over at Sarlina seriously and sighed. "Stop all treatment." He said begrudgingly, Foreman then repeated House's orders and House could hear Chase in the background asking. "To see if this is a reaction to our meds?" House then shrugged knowing that Foreman had on him speakerphone. "Well, they obviously aren't helping. Given the fact that he's an alcoholic, there's a good chance his liver wasn't so hot when he came in. Anti-seizure drugs, they just pushed him over the edge." Sarlina then arched her brow at him.

"But if you take him off of those meds what will you put him on?"

Foreman then quickly responded. "It may be academic; I just started him on dialysis." Chase then quickly said. "Kidney and liver failure; not too many people come back from that." Sarlina sighed as she clasped her hands together as she and House listened to them. "Trauma's definitely out of the picture, it could possibly be an infection." Foreman over heard her and automatically said.

"Or neurological or..."

House then cuts him off. "Genetic." Everyone was now suddenly quiet and Sarlina stared at him incredulously, House sighed as he slowly rubbed his forehead and then looked back up at Sarlina. "We need a better history." House then shut his phone and continued to give Sarlina a very serious stare. "I need you're permission on something." Sarlina arched her brow at House and then gently clasped her hands. "Why don't we talk to Cuddy?" House then quickly shook his head. "No. she'll go against what I say, I know you won't." Sarlina then frowned as she rose up from her seat.

"Don't think just because I'm you're girlfriend Greg that I will go along with everything you say. We're taking this up with Cuddy and that's final."

She said seriously and then stormed out of her office; House sighed irritably and limped after her. "You know you're kinda sexy when you're being defiant." Sarlina then glared over at him as he was smirking at her. "Don't think flattery will work mate, I've known you long enough to not fall for your little remarks." She said hotly, furious at the fact that he thought he could pull one over her like that, Sarlina then walked into Cuddy's office with House following her.

"Alright… we'll do it you're way."

Sarlina then quickly turned around and arched her brow. "What?" House then shrugged "Your right! I don't want to fight, and think you have a point." Sarlina glared at him and slowly crossed her arms. "No you don't you're trying to mess with me into thinking that you're willingly agreeing with me." House then mockingly frowned. "I'm shocked that you would even accuse me of such an act." Sarlina arched her brow at him and crossed her arms. "What are you planning on doing Greg?" House then shrugged.

"Nothing of the worry."

He then placed his hands in his pockets and just then, his pager went off and he then quickly pulled it off and looked it over. "Damn, guess we'll have to go over this later." He grinned; he then leaned up and kissed her forehead. "I'll see you later." He said quickly and instantly limped away; Sarlina stared at him incredulously… she then immediately realized that he probably pressed the call button on his beeper.

"Bugger."

She groaned out of frustration and then immediately rushed over to Cuddy's office. House was now down in the basement with his syringe planning to wake up Kyle's father, House's ducklings were now in the room Foreman protesting to House's decision to wake the father. House was only mere inches of placing the syringe into the I.V. until Cuddy immediately halted him.

"Put the syringe down."

House immediately stopped moving, he and his team all turning to see Sarlina and Cuddy glaring at House as they both walked in, House couldn't help but smirk. He knew Sarlina would figure out that he was messing with her; however, he didn't know she'd figure it out that fast. "I can out draw you, mysterious strangers." He mocked to them in a Chinese accent, Sarlina then crossed her arms as she and Cuddy were now in front of House.

"Greg what were you thinking!? We don't experiment on helpless patients!"

House then shrugged pulling his syringe away as Sarlina tried to grab it. "Be reasonable. There's no way this is gonna work." Sarlina scoffed and tried to grab then syringe once again, which caused House to start laughing, thinking her attempted to grab the syringe was cute, he was almost tempted to pull her against him and get her to stop jumping by kissing her, but then Cuddy ruined it by speaking.

"Even if you woke him, it would only be for a few hours! A day! Two at the most! You're risking his life!"

House rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I'm risking getting sued. That's the only objection here." Sarlina looked at House seriously, frustrated with his stubbornness. "You'll be torturing him and his family, Greg these people don't deserve this, there has to be another way." House sighed as he mimicked the same look she was giving him.

"There isn't…"

He then automatically smirked at her." But good news for Legal. Only family he's got is upstairs dying." Cuddy heard enough and rushes to take the syringe away, but House depresses the syringe's plunger into the tube sending the cocktail into Gabe's bloodstream. "Greg!" Sarlina yelled as House yanks out the needle and stands back, satisfied. Cuddy looks absolutely stunned. While everyone looked at Gabe. No movement. The Ducklings watch with trepidation. While Cuddy furiously looked back over at House.

"I want this patient monitored for the next twenty-four hours."

She then pointed at House while she looked back at Sarlina and the Ducklings. "I want someone with him at all times, to make sure you didn't kill him! I want your ass in my office…" She was then interrupted by a grunt coming from a slowly awakening Gabe.

The Ducklings are surprised. House and Sarlina are surprised. Pretty much everyone was surprised while Gabe starts talking as if he's only been sleeping a couple of hours. "God. I'm starving." He then slowly sits up. "I could really go for a steak." Everyone looks at shock while House automatically grins triumphantly as he wraps his arm around Sarlina's shoulders. Sarlina looked over at him completely stunned, while he pulled her closer to him and then looks back down at her.

"See hun, never doubt the master." Sarlina rolled her eyes, while Cuddy immediately rushed over to examine him. "Do you know your name? Know where you are?"

Gabe groggily nodded and said. "Gabriel Wasniak. I don't know the name of this hospital." Sarlina then quickly pulled out of House's hold, moved over to the other side of the bed, pulled out her flashlight, and slowly flashed it in both of his eyes. "How much are three and five?" Gabe then smiled up at her and gave her his answer.

"Eight. Also known as half of sixteen, quarter of thirty-two, two to the third power."

Sarlina smirked at him as she shuts off her flashlight and then looked back at House who was grinning from ear to ear. "Coolest thing ever. Any history of seizure in your family?" Gabe then shook his head. "No." House then arched his brow. "Liver disease?" Gabe then slowly shook his head. "No." He then looks over at Sarlina inquisitively "How long have I been here hun? Got the feeling it's uh, been a long time." House arched his brow at Gabe and slowly moved closer to Sarlina, giving her a protective barrier.

"Interesting. Your internal clock kept ticking. How deep does that awareness go? Pick up scraps of conversations, do you have a vague sense that the hospital administrator dresses like a trollop?"

Cuddy then glared over at him, while House continued speaking. "Or that the new Star Wars movies were a disappointment?" Sarlina glared at him and slapped him in the arm; House smirked even more while Gabe answered. "I know my wife is dead. I don't know how long it's been." He then looked over at Cuddy questioningly. "Ten years." She said softly.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Gabe then slowly frowned remembering the last memory he has had. "The fire. My wife was in the bedroom. She had taken a sleeping pill. I got Kyle out, went back in for her. I knew I didn't make it." Sarlina sympathetically frowned and then gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She whispered, Gabe slowly nodded as he placed his hand over hers. House then immediately spoke up. "How 'bout your wife's side of the family? Any history of seizures there?" Gabe looked at him incredulously, while Sarlina sighed and explained to him why House was asking all these questions.

"Your son, Kyle, is a patient here. I'm afraid his condition is serious. He may be dying."

Gabe then looks at Sarlina and inhales a sharp breath. "No seizure issues on my wife's side either. What about that steak? Nobody ever answered me." Sarlina sighed and looked back at everyone and then back at him. "We'll see what we can do." She said giving him a small smile and started to walk out of the room, House immediately limped after her while his team started to examine Gabe. As House and Sarlina were now walking down the hall, House couldn't but grin at her. "Tell me that was not the coolest thing you have ever seen!" Sarlina glared over at House.

"You disobeyed orders; you could've hurt him Greg!"

House then quickly grabs her arm to stop her from walking, little did they know was that Cuddy and Cameron were now walking out of the room seeing the two of them interacting. "But I didn't, I woke him back up, even if it's for a little while." Sarlina looked at him seriously and then slowly leaned her back against the wall and crossed her arms.

"But that's not the fact Greg… you took a serious risk and even though I have to admit that it was really neat that you figured it out it's just… you went against my and Cuddy's orders, we already have a lot riding on you now. We don't need another law suit to start pestering us."

House slowly smirked at her and started limp closer to her. "I keep telling you that you have to stop worrying about me." Sarlina glared at him. "How can I not?! You're like a big bloody kid who if you tell them to not press the nice shiny red button you do it anyways!" House smirked at her analogy and then slowly placed some of her hair behind her ear, not realizing that Cuddy and Cameron were watching them intently.

"So I suppose I still need to take you on that date."

Sarlina's glare grew even more. "Don't try to change the subject Greg. Usually I'm fine with the things you do, but this was out of hand." House shrugged ignoring her comment. "Do you like Chinese? Or should we go out for Seafood." Sarlina then groaned out of frustration. "Bloody hell just forget it you twitter patting bugger!" She then started to move away from him about to walk off, ranting.

"Always causing bloody problems, bloody damn well lucky yer not in a an insane asylum not so bloody sure if they're not going to be sending to one soon the way you sodding drive me crazy…"

House chuckled, cutting her completely off as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him and kissed her. The kiss was soft and slow and Sarlina was about to fight him off of her but eventually gave in as she felt him wrap his arms around her waist, Sarlina then wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. Their lips lingered against each other for a few moments, shocking the hell out of Cuddy and Cameron. Sarlina then slowly moved away from House still giving him a reprimanding look.

"Even though that was incredibly nice yer still not out of the hot water mate."

House then chuckled as they both then started to walk side by side with each other. "Has anyone ever told you how cute you look when you're all irritated and flustered?" Sarlina then rolled her eyes. "You're impossible." House smirked down at her as they both then started to walk towards the elevator. "Yes but it makes life so much more gratifying doesn't it?" Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head.

"Yes so gratifying that I desire your massive ego so badly that I have wet dreams over it."

She said sarcastically as they both now walked into the elevator, House then pressed the button as they stood side by side and grinned down at her. "Good to know I'm not the only one." Sarlina looked over at him and noticed that he was staring straight ahead with a smug smirk on her face and then rolled her eyes and slowly shook her head as the doors slowly closed.

XXXXX

Later that afternoon, Sarlina was called into Cuddy's office. As Sarlina slowly walked inside, she saw Cuddy sitting at her desk signing some contracts. "Hey Lisa you needed me?" Lisa then slowly looked up at Sarlina and sighed. "When were planning on telling me?" Sarlina arched her brow at Cuddy completely confused as to what she was referring to. "Telling you what?" Lisa glared at Sarlina and then subconsciously crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

"About you and House?"

Sarlina frowned at Cuddy knowing that her and House had agreed to keep this quiet and the only way she figured that Cuddy could possibly know about her and House's relationship was if Wilson had told her, and if that was the case she was going to kill him. "Bugger… I'm going to kill that bloody Wilson." She agitatedly muttered, Cuddy then smirked at her. "Actually… I had no clue Wilson even knew. Me and Cameron actually saw you two together after leaving Gabe's room." Sarlina's cheeks then started to turn red from embarrassment and then slowly sighed.

"Bugger."

Cuddy then started to laugh as she rose up from her seat. "Sarlina why would you hide this from me? I mean I can understand House doing this to deliberately irritate me but you I would have never expect this!" Sarlina bowed her head and then slowly looked back up at her. "Because… Greg felt that if you knew about us then you'd fire me because you would fear that I'd be showing him favoritism and not take my job seriously." Cuddy instantly grinned at Sarlina as she walked around her desk.

"That is so typical of him. Look I'm happy that you two are together… I mean come on I've been waiting for you two to finally get the courage to be together, I've known a long time that he had something for you and I've known for a long time that you have something for him. It's just I'm kinda upset that you didn't tell me, I understand about you worrying about the whole job thing but I promise you that I won't fire you over this. I know you're a strong woman, and you know how to stand up to House… Lord knows I've seen you do it plenty of times, and for some damn weird reason you and Wilson are the only people he'll ever listen to. I honestly think you are good for him."

Sarlina softly smiled at her as she slowly walked up to Cuddy who opened her arms wide and hugged Sarlina, Sarlina then started to laugh as she slowly pulled away from her old friend.

"So… you and Cameron saw us?"

Cuddy then started to laugh. "Yeah… let's just say we were both surprised that House kissed you out in the open like that." Sarlina softy smirked at her as they both were now walking out of her office. "He's… he's been oddly affectionate which I'm not used to since him and Stacey weren't so public about it. It's weird because for the longest time he was just Greg. My best friend in the whole world but now… He's Greg my boyfriend and I'll be honest all this time I wondered what it would be like and now that we're together… I never realized how happy I am to be with him." Cuddy arched her brow at Sarlina as they both walked down the hall. "Really!?" Sarlina then started to laugh.

"Yeah… I know he's an ass. I know he has a vipers tongue. And I know that he's crude and miserable and doesn't like people but for some reason it's like he tones that personality down a little for me and he shows me who he really could be if his bloody father wasn't such an ass or if the people who had hurt him never were even around. I mean don't get me wrong this whole situation with him and Tritter is really riling me and now that he's off the vicoden he's just… Not fully there and I know he'll get worse and worse the more he's off of it, but I'm willing to be there for him. This morning was severely hard for him, I had to give him aspirin and massage his leg for about a half an hour before he could get out of bed, and that made his mood even worse because as soon as he was about to get out of the bed he almost fell."

Cuddy frowned as she looked over at Sarlina who looked a little upset. "Sar, if he ever gets way to out of hand I want you to tell me or Wilson. House needs to go to rehab so he can detox properly, you can't just do this alone…" Sarlina sighed and then sharply looked back at Cuddy.

"Lisa I understand this. But allow me to handle it Greg doesn't need everyone telling him what to do."

Cuddy sighed as they both now walked into House's office to see his ducklings there waiting for him but he was no where to be found. Sarlina looked over at the ducklings seriously, as she walked in. "How is our patient?" Foreman looked up at her and shrugged, they all heard about House and hers little interaction with each other from Cameron and in a way he was happy that there was someone around that could keep House straight.

"Patient is fine, he keeps demanding for a steak and says there's not history of seizures from both sides of the family and would like to leave."

Sarlina arched her brow at Foreman as she crossed her arms. "He wants to leave…? He does realize that his son is here as a patient correct?" Cameron then slowly nodded. "He seems insistent about it; he said that if he only has a couple of hours to be awake and wants to see what he has missed out on." Sarlina then scoffed. "So he's going to neglect his son, who is DYING. Just because he was to have a slap and a tickle of reality." Chase couldn't help but smirk at her response and slowly nodded. "That is what it seems." Sarlina agitatedly sighed and then looked over at Cuddy.

"The bugger is out of his ever loving sodding mind!"

Cuddy nodded as Sarlina turned her head and looked back at the ducklings. "Well permission is denied. His son is unconscious and we need a family member to consent if we need to do some tests on him." Cuddy frowned and looked over at Cameron. "I want you to explain to him why he cannot leave." Cameron then frowned. "I can't he'll only talk to House." Cuddy glared at her and then looked over at Chase. "Where's House?" Chase shrugged and then looked over at Foreman who answered for him. "With Wilson I'm guess or hiding out, he should be…" He was then instantly cut off by the man of the hour.

"Goood Afternoon Angels. What do you have for me?"

House said in a rather chipper tone as he limped into his office but immediately stopped when he saw Sarlina and Cuddy standing in his office but a look of seriousness on their faces. "Uh oh." Sarlina was the first to speak. "Vegetative State Guy. He wants to leave the hospital and will not talk to any of us, he wants to talk to you." House then scoffed. "Tell him I left for the day, I'm not here. That'll make him stay." Sarlina rolled her eyes and walked over to him.

"Greg, go talk to him."

House smirked down at her figuring everyone knew anyways since Cameron not to long ago confronted him and Wilson at the cafeteria about his and Sarlina's relationship. "And what will I get out of it if I do?" he said in a smug manner, Sarlina glared at him and crossed her arms. "I'll tell you what you'll get if you don't a nice kick in the bloody arse with my stiletto heel that's what you'll get." House couldn't help the smirk even more at her; he loved how fiery she would get when she's aggravated. "OoOoh feisty! I think I like it." Sarlina rolled her eyes and slowly pushed him. "Please go talk to him." House agitatedly sighed. "Like it's going to do anything. Plus my leg hurts. Foreman you go talk to him." Sarlina frowned at him.

"He won't talk to anyone but you. Greg please stop being a bloody pain in my arse and do this, I'm not going to order you to do this but this man needs to realize that his son may need him."

House then shrugged. "And I care because why?" Sarlina slowly shook her head, furious that he was fighting her on this, she knew why he was pulling this he wanted to show everyone that she couldn't push him around. However, that wasn't what she was trying to do all she wanted was for him to talk to this man to make him understand that there really is a chance that his son may die.

"What would you do if your child was in there or your loved one was in there would you just leave them and go explore the world while their in the hospital and this may be the last time you'd see them? Would you really walk out on them?"

She asked seriously, in a way it would be nice to know if any of this happens but she knew that he'd stay, he has before but she wanted him to think about it, remember what the right thing was. House sighed as he stared down at her sapphire eyes, he knew she would poke and prod for the answer and he supposed that he may as well give her one.

"If my kid or my loved one was in the hospital I'd… I don't know what I would do. Probably get in there and make them better, so I wouldn't loose them."

Sarlina softly smiled up at him and then gently crossed her arms. "I thought so… now will you please go talk to him." House sighed as he bowed his head and slowly shook it. "Alright… only because you have been asking so nicely." Sarlina's smile grew even wider as he gave her a serious look and then started to limp out of the office. Once he was gone, Cuddy looked over at Sarlina completely shocked. "What I would give for your power." Sarlina then started to laugh.

"Trust me the initiation is a real pain to earn it sometimes it really makes you second guess why you had to have it in the first place."

Cuddy chuckled as they all started going over the all the paperwork to figure out what's going on with Kyle's case. Meanwhile House was now walking into the Gabe's room seeing him standing at the mirror readjusting his shirt and while House carried his tray of food in for him, Gabe then slowly looked over at House and scoffed.

"Your barber sucks."

House smirked at him as he limped in to see how baggy Gabe's clothing has became on him. ""Coma diet". I could make a fortune." House then immediately corrected him. "Vegetative State Diet". Who gave you your clothes?" Gabe then looked over at him as he sat down on his bed. "Dr. Donovan supposedly issued them for me after she left. I guess I'll need all new ones anyway. Everything went in the fire." House then shrugged as he placed the tray of food down.

"Don't worry about it. We use recyclable clothes now. Wear them once, then eat them. Your son's measles vaccination, d'you remember if he had it and what type it was?"

Gabe then scoffed at him. "You're a piece of work, you know that?" House sighed irritably and then sat down in the seat across from Gabe as he continued speaking. "You weren't gonna tell me, were ya? I don't need new clothes. Dr. Cuddy says my body will adjust to the drugs, and I'll be a vegetable again by tomorrow; if I'm really lucky, the day after." House then slowly nodded his head, not bothering to look at him.

"Yeah."

Gabe scoffed and frustrated shook his head. "If I got a day to live, I'm not gonna spend it in the hospital room, being grilled." He said as he grabbed his coat and started to walk out of the room, House then immediately rose up from his chair and started to limp after him. "C'mon, where you gonna go? House burned down, your wife's dead. Business is sold off. The only thing you have left is down the hall, heading for a liver biopsy." Gabe then smirked at him.

"Used to be this little um, hole in the wall, run by a guy named Giancarlo. Made the best hoagies in the world. Real Italian rolls. Prosciutto, provolone, Mmm. How far is Atlantic City from here?"

House then arched his brow. "You have one day to live and you want a sandwich." Gabe then glared at him. "People on death row get a last meal." House then rolled his eyes. "State provides it. Who's providing for you? You got a car? Money?" Gabe then smiled at him. "You're negotiating with me." House then smiled back at him and slowly nodded.

"Maybe I am."

XXXXX

Meanwhile, while House was busy talking to Gabe, Sarlina was now walking down to her office and was immediately stopped by a familiar raspy voice.

"You sure do get around don't you?"

Sarlina instantly stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to see Tritter standing there smirking at her, Sarlina agitatedly sighed slowly pulled her cell phone out and dialed the number to the front desk. "Yes I'd like Security here to escort out Detective Tritter please." She then waited for a response and nodded.

"Thank you."

She said still glaring at Tritter as she closed her phone and start to walk away. Tritter then started laugh as he followed her. "They won't be coming I notified them of my visit and told them that I'm doing some investigative work." Sarlina instantly stopped walking and turned around and glared at him. "What sort of investigative work?" Tritter then smirked at her. "How many pills does Dr. House take per day?" Sarlina stared at him completely shock and then groaned out of frustration.

"Seriously… you know what? You need to find yerself a girl mate! Because this is becoming very out of hand."

She growled, Tritter then started to chuckle as he placed his hands in his pockets. "You are a feisty… I can see why he likes you. But that isn't why I'm here and after the little interviews I've had with Dr. Chase, Cameron and Foreman I think I have all the information I need." Sarlina then arched her brow. "What that Dr. House is in massive pain and needs the medication to proceed with work?" Tritter then slowly shook his head. "Does Dr. House ask you to write him a prescription for vicoden?" Sarlina frowned at him as she subconsciously crossed her arms. "No he doesn't. Dr. House uses his medication properly and doesn't traffic the medication to anyone, he uses it for his own purposes." Tritter then slowly nodded.

"You know… the thing about addicts is that they love to pull their loved ones into wearing rose colored glasses, make them believe that the things they do aren't hurting them, that they are in desperate need to keep that one little nitch in order to survive. How long are you going to sit here and believe that Dr. House is really helping himself with this medication? How long are you going to believe that he really needs it to work and move on… he needs to go to rehab, clean himself up. He's capable of being off this kind of medication… And if he's an addict and when I do have enough proof that he forged his little friends prescription pad I will be sending him to jail. So go ahead keep on defending him, believe that he has done no wrong… keep those rose-colored glasses on, but I promise you pretty soon those glasses will finally clear up and you will see what kind of man he really is. A no good scum of an Addict. And that's all he'll ever be."

Sarlina stared at him wide-eyed as he finished talking and slowly smirked to himself when he saw security coming towards him.

"Well hello gentlemen there's no need for an escort I'm finished here."

The security men slowly nodded, Tritter then looked down at Sarlina and noticed the perturbed look on her face, which caused him to smirk even more. "Have a nice day Dr. Donovan." He said cheerily as he started to walk away leaving here there completely speechless in the middle of the lobby, not knowing what's going to happen next.

XXXXX

While this was going on, House was now walking towards Wilson with his backpack slung on his shoulder who was at an ATM pulling out money. "Take out another hundred, for me. And I need your car." Wilson then glared over at him.

"I'm not doing you any favors."

House sighed and slowly rolled his eyes. "You'll get it back tomorrow. Two days max. Road trip." Wilson arched his brow at House and then sighed as he placed his card back into the ATM. "Does Sarlina know about this road trip?" House then shook his head. "Nope, was gonna grab the patient and swing by her office." Wilson then rolled his eyes. "Do you honestly think she's going to allow you to do this?" House then shrugged.

"If I explain it to her she'll understand."

Wilson then arched his brow at House as he handed him his keys. "Right… because running off with a patient who only has 24 hours to live is going to be very ethical in her eyes." House then smirked at him. "Don't worry my girl will come through." Wilson rolled his eyes while House then limped off to go grab Gabe. Once House grabbed him, they both headed towards Sarlina's office to see her sitting at her desk going through files on her computer, as soon as they walked in Sarlina then immediately looked up at them.

"Oh hello, so have you decided that it is best to stay with your son?"

She asked, Gabe then shook his head. "We're going on a road trip, I need to get out of here and Doc is going to supervise me." Sarlina stared at him wide-eyed and then looked back at House. "Oh he is, is he?" She said starting to glare at him, House hesitantly smirk at her and started to limp towards her desk. "Now before you start yelling and saying this is a bad idea I figure we can go out for a bit and be back before you know it." Sarlina then frowned at him.

"Greg you know what will happen if Cuddy finds out your doing this, I'm sorry but the answer is no."

House then groaned. "Oh come on! Sar, just do this for me for once please? I promise I'll be good." Sarlina then glared at him. "That's not the case Greg, what happens if something happens to his son? We need him here to make sure HE doesn't get hurt and to make sure he is aware that his son is possibly DYING!" House then smirked at her.

"Yeah but I'm a doctor, I'll be with him and if anything happens you can always call me."

Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head. "Fine… but Wilson goes with you." House then immediately noticed a bit of sadness and fear in her eyes and strangely enough started to grow somewhat concerned. "What happened?" Sarlina then slowly looked up at him. "Nothing… stop be protective." House then shook his head.

"No… something happened, please tell me."

Sarlina sighed and started to rub her head to ware off the oncoming headache. "We'll talk about it later huh?" House looked at her skeptically, which caused Sarlina to slowly smile at him. "I promise… Now go off on yer little adventure and make sure you two geniuses find out what's going on with that man's son alright?" House then automatically grinned at her. "You're wonderful you know that." Sarlina then rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Now go before I become the wicked bitch of the east and change my mind."

XXXX

As soon as House and Gabe walked out of Sarlina's office, Gabe then looked over at House skeptically. "So that's your little lady huh?" House then arched his brow at him.

"…What?"

Gabe then started to laugh. "You're wife or girlfriend. Gotta say she's a real looker, kinda reminds me of my late wife." House then looked at him trying to pull off that he has no clue what he's talking about.

"What makes you think I'm involved with her intimately?"

Gabe then chuckled as they started to walk towards the lobby doors never telling Wilson of their excavation. "You seem like the kind of guy who could care or less about anyone but the ones you care for. And when you asked her what was the matter it obviously showed that she meant something to you because if she didn't you would have ignored it." House sighed as they now walked out of the hospital.

"Whatever you say Vegetative State Guy."

Gabe smirked over at him as they both walked up to Wilson's car to only see Wilson now leaning against it. House instantly stopped and then slowly rolled his eyes. "Damn she's good." Wilson then smirked at House. "Yeah she is, she figured you wouldn't tell me that she wanted me to go with you on you're little road trip so she went and told me herself so here I am." House then shrugged. "So here you are, guess monster trucks are off tonight." Wilson then nodded.

"She understands."

House then smirked, he liked knowing that Sarlina and Wilson got along with each other really well, it made things a lot more pleasant for him. House then slowly limped to the passenger's side of the car while Wilson sighed irritably.

"This is like trying to control the weather, but I'd prefer if you didn't eat in the car. Just had it detailed."

Gabe then smirked over at him while he walked up to the driver's side of the car. "I drive!" Wilson looked at him incredulously. "Oh, the hell he does!" House then shrugged and then threw Gabe the keys. "Sure!" Wilson then looked over at House astonished that he's allowing Gabe to drive his car.

"Aside from the fact, he just woke up from a vegetative state; the guy doesn't have a license."

House then shrugged once again and then moved to sit down on the passenger's seat, Wilson groaned out of frustration while he jumped into the backseat and Gabe sat down in the drivers. "How 'bout this? Cops stop us, we lie. You know how to do that. Chips! Besides all the drugs pumping through his system right now, his reflexes are better than Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s." Gabe then smirked at Wilson in the rearview mirror and started the car and immediately sped off.

XXXX

Meanwhile Sarlina was now walking down to Kyle's room where she had paged all of House's ducklings.

"Sarlina what's going on, why did you page us all?"

Cameron asked worriedly when she immediately noticed the serious look on Sarlina's face. "I know all of you have had spoken to Tritter. What I want to know is what did you all say to him?" Foreman then shrugged.

"Why is it important?"

Sarlina sighed and slowly crossed her arms. "Look, Tritter is going to be around her a lot I guarantee it and he's going to push you all to your limits, I understand you all are very loyal to your boss but what I need to know is what you all are telling him so we can all be ahead of the game." Cameron then stared at her completely in awe. "You're genuinely worried for him aren't you." Sarlina then slowly looked over at him. "I it shocking to worry about someone you care about?" Cameron then slowly shook her head. "No… it's just I never thought anyone would fight this hard for House." Sarlina then softly smirked at her.

"Trust me the House I know… Is completely different from the House you know. Remember I told I've known him for a very long time. So instead of talking about the relationship that I know you all must have heard already let's get back to what's important."

Foreman then scrunched his face up. "So it's true… You're really with him." Sarlina sighed and nodded her head.

Yes I'm with him, it's not going to affect you're jobs I promise, I won't get involved unless you all need me. And I will be fair to all of you as well as him. Nothings going to be different from the usual other than the fact that me and Greg are seeing each other. Now can we please get back to the main topic here?"

Chase then frowned. "What do you see in him? He's mean and grumpy and doesn't care for anything." Sarlina then started to laugh.

"Then you really don't know him that well now do you? Like I said I've known Greg probably longer than anyone in this hospital and trust me I have a lot of deserved respect for the man. I'm not standing up for him because we're together, but I'm telling you this out of pure experience that he's more than what he lets on."

Chase then slowly nodded, while Cameron couldn't help but smile. The more and more she got to know Sarlina she realized that she was starting to like her more and more. Sure, she had snarky wit and sense of humor to her but when it came down to business she was determined to get her work done.

In a way she could see why House could be attracted to that and in a way she still felt that pang hit her since she now knew that House and Sarlina are officially a couple. Cameron then softly sighed and looked back over at her. "Tritter took Wilson's assistant for coffee." Chase then looked over at Cameron completely confused.

"Why?"

Cameron then shrugged as she crossed her arms. "Something Tritter said. She told me the police think that House stole Wilson's prescription pad and forged his name." Foreman then arched his brow. "You believe it?" he asked as he looked over at Sarlina, Cameron then looked at her worriedly. "Is it true?" Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head. "Not that I know of." She lied, she knew that something's needed to be quiet as of right now until House was here to explain for himself, Chase sighed and then looked over at Foreman.

"Do you?"

Foreman then scoffed as he crossed his arms. "Why, absolutely. I do. I'm just checking how naïve you are." Cameron then glared at him while Sarlina was sitting back analyzing his team to see how truly loyal they were. "He's not gonna steal his best friend's pad, jeopardize his career." Foreman then scoffed once again.

"Until his best friend says "no" to him. House is a junkie. Junkies do whatever they have to do to get what they need."

He then looked over at Sarlina seriously. "That is why I have no clue as to why you'd want to be with someone like him. He will ruin you're life with his constant obsession of drug use. You may think you're strong enough to take on this, but what you don't know about with Junkies is that it doesn't matter who ever they hurt just as long as they get that hit. And trust me if House doesn't get his supplies he'll be taking everything out on you." Sarlina stared at him seriously, her arms crossed, no emotion shown on her face as she looked at him.

"You have underestimated me then."

Foreman then sighed, he knew from what he's seen of her that she was a strong willed person but he was worried what House would do if his supply was completely cut from him, Cameron then walked over to go see how Kyle was holding up and sighed. "Kyle's under three in the RLAS scale. He's only showing localized response." Chase then nodded as he pulled out his cell phone and started to walk away.

"I'll call House. Tell him I'm gonna need an answer soon."

XXXX

"Well, you want answers more than I want money. Right, so, here's the game. Ask whatever you want. But for every question I answer, you have to answer one first." Gabe muttered as he was now looking over the candy racks in at the gas station while Wilson waited leaning against his car for him and House. House groaned out of frustration and wove his hands up in the air.

"Why would you care about anything I have to say?"

Gabe then smugly smiled at him. "The day before I died, I was a successful man. I had a factory with over two hundred employees. People listened when I talked. I liked power. Now, the only power I have left is the power to annoy you." House couldn't help but smirk at him as he followed Gabe up to the register.

Once they got all their goodies they then jumped back into the car and headed off to the highway, Wilson was still sitting in the backseat, while House was in the passengers looking over the map. "Get in the right lane for 295. And pass me the Twizzlers." Gabe passed him the twizzlers and continued driving; Wilson then popped a twizzler in his mouth and started to speak again. "I'm curious." House then shook his head.

"No you're not."

Wilson ignored him and still continued to speak. "Why would a man's first instinct to be to drive away from the only family he's got?" House groaned in frustration and quickly shook his head. "Noooo! This is no time for you to do your thing! We don't care about his state of mind; we don't care if he's happy." He then looks over at Gabe.

"This factory of yours. What did you make?"

Gabe looks at House, who looks back. House sighs. "So ask me a question." Gabe then shrugged. "I'm thinking." House rolled his eyes and then pulled out his bottle of Vicoden and looked over at Wilson. "Only six left, by the way." Wilson then scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "So sign my name. You don't need a doctor, you need a pen." House glared at him and then swallowed his pills dry while Gabe looked over at him curiously. "What is up with you two?" House then shrugged. "Wilson lied to the bulls to keep me out of the big house." Wilson then immediately became ticked off.

"Are you out of your mind?"

House then rolled his eyes. "Who's he gonna tell? By tomorrow night, he's gonna be a mindless stalk of celery. Since I answered that one, by the way, my turn. What did you make in your factory?" Gabe then sighed. "Luxury boats. You ever been in love?" House then smirked at him. "Wow! Going right for the closets with the embarrassing stuff. Good move. Yes! Describe the boats." Gabe then smirked at him and then looked back at the road.

"Thirty-five to sixty-five foot hulls, twin engines, Parquet floors in the galley, staterooms with queen beds. How'd you meet? Is it with that woman dark haired woman your with?"

House was silent; he didn't necessarily know what he felt for Sarlina other than complete possession, and something more than just acceptance. Was it love? He didn't really know, after all they've been together for a short amount of time but they have known each other way longer than that. Was he even capable of loving someone again? After Stacey he was damn well sure that he couldn't love anyone anymore.

But the more and more he thought about what would happen if Sarlina left him, he didn't think he'd be able to handle it. She meant a lot more to him than what he wanted to led on, and for these last couple of days he started to realize more and more that he never wanted to let her go. He then slowly sighed and looked over at Gabe. "She shot me. These boats - I assume you use mildew-resistant paint on the hulls?" Gabe then frowned at him.

"Naturally. Shot you?"

House then shook his head. "Paintball. Doctors versus lawyers. Ever take your son to the factory?" Gabe then shrugged. "Sure. He used to run all over the place. He was perfectly safe. Ever love anybody else? Come on you gotta feel more for that girl than what you're leading on. I see how protective you are with her, you practically hover her when you think she's in need to be protected. How did you two meet she seems like a very nice lady, and a saint to put up with you, from what I've heard from Dr. Cuddy you can be a real pain." Wilson rolled his eyes up and scoffed.

"Amen to that."

House was starting to get agitated, he didn't want to discuss his relationship with Sarlina in all originality he wanted to keep their relationship a secret but of course he had to pull a bold move and kiss her out in the open and now everyone knew and his delectable little secret was now never more. "No more questions. I got my answer. While dad's in the office, son's watching 'em spray-paint. And what kid wears a mask?" House then smirked at him and pulled out his cell phone and starts dialing Sarlina's phone number. "Hello?" House then smirked once he heard her voice, for some reason she made things a lot lighter once he heard her.

"Hey we're still on the road I need you to tell Foreman to draw a blood, test for mercury poisoning. And for Chase to start heavy-metal chelation while we're waiting for results."

Sarlina then nodded as she smiled against the phone and told the team what House wanted them to do, she had been spending most of her time with them at his office going over certain theories as to why Kyle was getting worse and at the moment they were all hitting road blocks. "Will do mate, how's the road trip?" House then sighed. "Nightmarish, Wilson is still whining and the Vegetable is demanding to play 20 questions in order to find out information for his son." Sarlina then started to laugh.

"Bugger… I'm starting to like this guy more and more."

House then scoffed. "I see how it is you're only with me for my stunningly good looks and hot body huh?" Sarlina then started to laugh once again and slowly shook her head. "Actually it's the cane… it does things to me I just can't explain it." House then smugly smirked against the phone noticing that Gabe and Wilson were listening to him intently. "So what's going on over at the fort things going crazy?" Sarlina sighed and slowly shook her head.

"Tritters, been harping the ducklings but I rounded them up together and we've all been trying to go over what's going to happen. Cameron and Foreman had me out our status though, bugger you never told me how nosey these gits are."

House couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah… sorry about that, how are the ducklings handling the idiot?" Sarlina shrugged as she looked over at Cameron who was still waiting for her orders. "They're holding up, I suppose only time will tell." House then slowly nodded his head and sighed.

"Yeah guess we will… Call me when you find out the results."

Sarlina then nodded her head. "Will do luv, I take it that it's going to be a long night." House then slowly nodded. "Yeah… sorry." Sarlina then smirked against the phone.

"It's fine luv, take yer time find out what's happening and be nice to Wilson the poor bugger risked everything to keep you safe."

House sighed and slowly rolled his eyes. "Yes mom." Sarlina then started to laugh. "Alright luv talk to you later." House then slowly nodded. "You too bye." Sarlina smiled and said bye back and hung up the phone.

As soon as House had shut the phone, he saw Gabe smugly smirking. "Oh she means so much more than what you're letting on." House then glared at him. "Shut up." Gabe then started to laugh.

"Oh come on! You're girlfriend isn't harping at you about how you're not going to be home! And is keeping you're team together while you're gone! And! She had allowed you to take me out of the hospital with complete and utter trust from you and is obviously defending you as well on this issue of yours! Shoot if I were you I'd marry her off the spot!"

House sighed and slowly rolled his eyes up to look at the windshield. "She deserves better than me…" Wilson then scoffed.

"When are you going to realize that she doesn't want anyone else but you. As messed up as that is you're damn lucky you have someone who truly cares that much about you!"

House sighed irritably and slowly rubbed his head from the oncoming headache that was starting to form. "As wonderful as it is that you two are worrying about my love life why don't we concentrate on the more important things."

Meanwhile, Chase was now stuck with Tritter in the Lab, which Tritter had made into a interrogation room. "How many pills does he take a day?" Chase then shrugged his shoulders, trying look as nonchalant and unaffected as he could.

"It's hard to say. Pain levels vary all the time. Could be six, eight... ten."

Tritter then smirked at him. "Ever write any prescriptions for him?" Chase then slowly nods. "Yes." Tritter then arched his brow, his smirk still apparent on his lips.

"Why? Did he tell you to?"

Chase then slowly shrugs his shoulders. "He asked me to" Tritter smiles, then rolls up a chair and takes a seat in front of Chase. "Medicine attracts people who are attracted to power. I know how he hates when he is defied by a patient. I doubt he handles defiance from his staff any better, I almost question if he didn't intimidate that little brunette that is so fond on helping him...

However, that is another story, so now you correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Dr. House asks for anything. I think he takes it. And I think that you are stuck, lying to the police, to cover up something…" He then shakes his head sympathetically.

"You didn't wanna do."

Chase then just sat there and stared at him coldly furious with the way Tritter was playing this game.

XXXX

A couple of hours had gone on by as Night had finally came. House, Wilson and Gabe were now officially in Atlantic City driving around trying to find Gabe's sandwich place.

"We have been up and down St. James like a Monopoly car. It's not here. Giancarlo has left the building."

House said agitatedly, since the whole ride down Gabe has been doing nothing but playing more than 20 questions with him. Gabe sighs and then rests his head on the wheel in disappointment. Then he angrily pounds on wheel, while Wilson sat in the back just observing.

"We can still turn around and go back to Princeton..."

He was then instantly cut off by Gabe who angrily rose his head up. "No! We've come this far, I'm getting the hoagie!" Wilson stared at him astonished by his reaction and waited a moment before he spoke again.

"If your son does have mercury poisoning, there's a good chance he'll respond to the chelation. You might be able to have a few minutes with him before you lapse..."

Gabe then instantly interrupts him again and angrily turns around and glares at him. "Why are you so concerned about me?" Wilson wove his hands up in frustration and finally gives up while House sat there quietly looking at the window, now finally speaking. "Deep inside, Wilson believes if he cares enough, he'll never have to die." Wilson glared at House and decided that he should put his two cents in.

"Your behavior isn't normal."

House then scoffed. "And you would know normal." Wilson sighs and starts to move his hands around animatedly. "What could he have done that you won't forgive after ten years, when this is your last chance?" Gabe sighed looking out the window. "My son is what he is. His mother's side - all drunken losers; he's gone the same way." Wilson then arched his brow.

"House told you that drinking had damaged your son's liver."

Gabe then glared at him. "But you said that!" Wilson then shrugged. "But you didn't hear him say that 'til after we left the hospital. So, why did you leave?" Gabe quietly looks out the window while House gave off his observation. "Maybe your son takes after your side; seizures and an allergy to emotional connections." Gabe then wove his hands wildly not wanting to hear anymore from them. "Okay, okay, okay, enough! We're in Atlantic City, and my time's not up yet. We'll find a hotel with a casino."

Meanwhile, back at PPTH. "How's he holding up?" Sarlina asked as she walked into Kyle's room seeing Foreman and Cameron there. "BP's starting to drop." Sarlina's eyes widened while Foreman rushed to his side.

"O2 stats down to 70."

Sarlina then quickly rushed and grabbed an oxygen mask and placed it over on Kyle's mouth. While Foreman gets a syringe with epinephrine and injects it into Kyle's IV, Cameron then stared at him worriedly. "What're you trying to do? Make him bleed faster?" Sarlina then automatically caught on to what he was doing and looked over at Cameron sharply.

"Check his pulse!"

Cameron automatically did while Foreman injected Kyle. They then checked the monitor, which said HR 126, BP 104/58, SpO2 70, Temp (F) 101. Sarlina's eyes then widened and then quickly looked back at them nervously.

"It's not his liver… It's the heart."

As this was going on, Gabe finally found a hotel and got the nicest suit in the building. House, Wilson and Gabe were all now sitting in the room watching TV while Wilson was ordering room service.

"I understand it's a French chef. But I'm sure he can handle this. Need a twelve-inch Italian roll, Oregano vinegar. No, not Balsamic vinegar. Oregano vinegar."

House then immediately shuts off the TV and stands up in front of Gabe menacingly and starts talking like Hannibal Lector. "Quid pro quo, Clarice." He then goes back to his normal voice. "Game's still on." Gabe then looked up at him curiously. "I thought the answer was mercury poisoning. What other questions would you care about?" Wilson then rolled his eyes as he waited on the phone.

"If you each had one day to live, you'd look for one last meal and House would look for one last answer."

House then holds up his Vicodin bottle and signals that he has only five pills left then dry-swallows one. "Last ten years. How much awareness did you have?" Gabe then shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. I knew it wasn't the next day. I knew that, I recognized your voice. How often were you in my room?" House was about to answer until Wilson immediately cuts him off. "No, you're wasting a question. I have a better one." House braces for Wilson's question who automatically asked.

"Why steal my pad? Why put Sarlina through all this mess? If you truly care about her why put her through this hell?"

House rolled his eyes and sarcastically says. "Oh my God, you're right! I'm an addict. Thanks for opening my eyes." Wilson then shook his head. "No, I mean, why my pad? Foreman, Cameron, Sarlina and Chase's pads are just as convenient. But their association with you is involuntary. They're employees and Sarlina is you're girlfriend. I associate with you through choice and any relationship that involves choice, you have to see how far you can push before it breaks…" Realization then finally came to him.

"You want to push her as far as she could until she breaks to the point where she will say she can't be with you anymore. So YOU can prove that you were truly meant to be alone. Because if you can admit that you are happy and have an absolutely beautiful woman who loves you and cares for you then you'd have nothing to complain about, then you're misery is nothing but a waste!"

House then nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders. "This is easy. You ask the questions, answer them and make tasty snacks. Let's go try the casino." Wilson then glared at him.

"And one day, our friendship will break and it'll just prove your theory that relationships are conditional and you don't need human connection or deserve it or whatever goes on in that rat maze of your brain. And I'm telling you one thing if you're that much of an ass to let Sarlina ever go! I'm so taking her out to dinner and treat her the way she deserves to be treated!"

House then groans out of frustration and then looks at Gabe apologetically. "Sorry. If I'd known he was gonna be this annoying, I'd have stolen Dr. Cameron's pad and Dr. Foreman's car. She appreciates my brooding melancholy." Just then, House's phone then started ringing. He then immediately turned it on speakerphone and answered. "House's house of whining. State your complaint." Sarlina then immediately answered.

"Greg… the patients BP had dropped dramatically."

She said a little worried; House sighed and slowly rubbed his head. "Do an echo. Mercury isn't likely to damage the..." He was then cut off by Sarlina. "It didn't. Mercury test was negative." House then slowly shook his head. "Look don't worry, do an Echo and then call me back immediately as soon as you get the results." Sarlina then slowly nodded. "Alright… You guys are ok?" House then nodded. "Yeah we're good I'll talk to you in a bit." Sarlina sighed on the other line and slowly nodded.

"Alright bye Greg."

House then hangs up his phone while Sarlina hangs up hers and tells the team what their next move is. House then slowly looked over at Gabe and Wilson who were looking at him with complete interest and sighs.

"I was wrong. Your son's still dying. I need to go over every relative you ever had again. This time, forget their diseases; just tell me how they died. We don't have time to take turns."

An hour went by as House went over all of this relative while Wilson finally found the restaurant and was now on the phone with them. "Hi, you guys deliver?" He then waits for a minute "Lemme put it this way. If you deliver, there'll be a hundred dollar tip in it for you." They answered yes and he was immediately thrilled. "Excellent!" He then looks over at Gabe.

"Victory!"

Gabe then stared to laugh. "The night is finally going my way. Wilson, toss me a soda." Wilson then picks up a beer can and tosses it at Gabe. Gabe's hand is positioned to catch it, but he doesn't clasp it as it hits his hand. His hand remains open. The can falls to the floor. This event is not lost on any of the three men in the room. Gabe slowly curls his fingers inward to make a fist. House and Wilson exchange a knowing glance.

While this was going on Foreman was now walking down the lobby and saw Tritter walking up to him. "Should we go somewhere to talk?" Tritter asked, Foreman sighed and ignored his question. "House is an ass. But he obviously needs pain medication. How much pain one person feels is not a call the government should be making.

And you harassing Dr. Donovan isn't going to look very good on you're side. She has done nothing wrong and only started working here not to long ago. I think you're harassing her because you know she's close to House and think that if you get to her you'll get to him. But trust me on this it won't work." Tritter then shrugs. "So you think I'm a bureaucrat with a badge, following some arbitrary guideline?" Foreman then pretends to think about it and smug smirks at him.

"Yeah. I do."

Tritter then smirked down at him. "So you're saying I should, just trust him. Do you?" Foreman then shrugged his shoulders. "You're not qualified to make..." Tritter then cuts him off. "I'm not sure you are either." Foreman then stares at him as he continued. "I've been a cop for twenty years. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't try to sell me some self-serving story." Foreman stared at him nonchalantly and shrugs.

"If you had my job, you'd know…. Everybody lies."

XXXX

"Think you've run out of relatives. So, it's my turn." House just sat there silently as Gabe asked his question. "Why did you become a doctor?" House then arched his brow at him. "That's the big question? I give you complete license to humiliate me and that's the best you can do. Well, okay. Let's discuss the wonder of the human body." Gabe then shook his head.

"No, no, no. You're a curious guy. You like to figure things out. Why not go into research? Why work with people when you obviously hate people."

Wilson finds the question pertinent and waits for an answer. House sighed irritably and slowly shook his head. "Oedipal fixation. I was seeking my mother's love and she thought that Ben Casey was just the dreamiest." Gabe then glared at him. "All right fine. You don't think you'll need any more answers from me? Give me a hard time." House then looks at Wilson, who is waiting for the answer and decided he may as well relent.

"When I was fourteen, my father was stationed in Japan. I went rock-climbing with this kid from school. He fell, got injured and I had to bring him to the hospital. We came in through the wrong entrance, passed this guy in the hall. It was a janitor. Friend came down with an infection and doctors didn't know what to do. So they brought in the janitor. He was a doctor and a buraku; one of Japan's untouchables. His ancestors had been slaughterers, gravediggers. And this guy knew that he wasn't accepted by the staff, didn't even try, didn't dress well, he didn't pretend to be one of them. The people around that place, they didn't think that he had anything they wanted, except when they needed him. Because he was right; which meant that nothing else mattered, they had to listen to him."

House then finally asked. "What happened on the night of the fire?" Gabe then glared at him but House doesn't care.

"Yeah, sure it's a stressful, emotional question. Suck it up!"

Gabe sighs and finally speaks up. "My wife had taken a sleeping pill and gone to bed. It was Christmas Eve. Kyle popped corn in the fireplace. He managed to knock loose some tinder. Wrapping paper caught on fire. Spread so fast. I got Kyle outta there. When I went back in for..." he then starts to choke up while Wilson stared at him completely shocked.

"You're a disappointment."

Gabe then looks at Wilson surprised, but Wilson doesn't care. "You act as though you don't need anybody. You just blame your son for what happened." Gabe then immediately stands up furiously. "I don't blame him. He was a twelve-year-old boy. You don't blame a kid for an accident" Wilson then scoffed. "Then what are we doing here? Why aren't you with him?" Gabe then started to yell.

"Because it wouldn't matter! I failed to keep my family safe! I couldn't stop the fire, I couldn't save my wife! Now you want me to stick around watching while I fail to save my son?! Thank you so much for waking me up!"

House then stared up at him. "How did your son dislodge the tinder? " Gabe chuckles wryly and sits down, his face buried in his hands. Then, as if to humor the crazy doc, he replies. "He dropped the popcorn tray. He had been complaining it was too heavy. I should have listened." House then immediately figured it out.

"Ragged Red Fiber. It's an inherited condition. Dropping things, muscle weakness, poor night-vision. These people seem uncoordinated and accident-prone. Careless. It's transmitted in mitochondrial DNA, so it only passes through the mother. Your wife's family weren't drunks, they were sick."

Wilson then immediately says. "It wouldn't have affected his liver" House then looked over at Wilson as he rests his chin on his cane. "The kid is a drunk. Thinks that he killed his mother and turned his father into a vegetable. I might have a few shots myself." He then pulls out his phone and calls Sarlina. "Hello?" House then immediately spoke up. "Sar, Test his DNA for Ragged Red Fiber." Sarlina arched her brow and then looked over at the team and gave them House's order, but Foreman then quickly shook his head while she puts her phone on speakerphone.

"It's not gonna..."

House then cuts Foreman off automatically hearing him on the other line. "Here's a thought. Why don't we not assume that the test is negative 'til we actually do it." Sarlina frowned and then softly spoke into the phone. "Greg… Kyle has severe cardiomyopathy. He's an alcoholic and has no shot of a transplant. So no matter what we do he's going to die anyways." House sat there as she allows out a soft sigh. "Honey I'm sorry." House then slowly nodded.

"I call you later."

Sarlina frowned on the other line starting to get worried. "Greg… please be careful." She said softly having an idea what's going on, House sighed and buried his face into his hands. "Don't worry Baby… I will. I'll call you when I'm on my way home." Sarlina then slowly nodded. "Alright sweetheart bye." House then nodded. "Bye." House then slowly shuts his phone and looks up at Gabe apologetically. The hoagie had finally came but no one is eating it. It's raining outside and thunder can be heard.

Wilson sits morosely on the couch, while House paces the room. Gabe peers out the window at the view. And finally decided to come up with his decision. "I want to give Kyle my heart." House then stops pacing. As he and Wilson look at Gabe. Gabe then faces them and speaks.

"This thing, whatever it is. You said he gets it from the mother. My heart's fine."

Wilson then immediately spoke up trying to talk some sense into him. "And it could go on being fine for the rest of your life." House then shrugged. "Yeah. 'S not like he's gonna do anything with it." Wilson then finally stood up. "Well, you woke him up once. Maybe, someone will come up with some other answer. We've both seen breakthroughs no one expected." He then looks over at Gabe. "And Ragged Red Fiber's treatable, but not curable. Even if he gets your heart, there's no guarantee." Gabe then slowly shrugged his shoulders not caring anymore.

"He's my kid."

He then looked over at House. "It's just like you said, if you were in that position you'd do anything to find out what's causing that loved one their pain… well this is my way of fixing the problem and helping my son." House sighed and slowly opened up his phone and called Cuddy, he decided that he has placed Sarlina under enough stress for one day and figured he should give her a break. Cuddy then instantly answered her phone and when House told her what Gabe wanted to do she became furious.

"No! Did you really expect a different answer?"

House then sighed. "We have arranged transplants before when a patient is near death." Cuddy then immediately said. "Except he isn't near death. He's saying 'Kill me and cut out my heart'. Are you out of your mind?" House then slowly shook his head. "Fine. I'll think of something else." Cuddy then slowly frowned against the phone. "I'm sorry." House then nodded and then shuts his phone; he then looked up at Wilson sternly now making his final decision.

"Wilson, get out."

Wilson automatically figured out what he was going to do and firmly said. "No." House then glared up at him. "You've lied to the cops enough for me. Maybe I don't wanna push this 'til it breaks. And I do NOT want you to tell Sarlina about this you understand?" Wilson stared at him for a moment until House finally admitted.

"She does mean more to me than anyone would think… I don't want to break what I have with her I want to see how far we'll really go."

Wilson seems to understand. He then looks at Gabe and slowly walks out, taking his jacket and House's cane as he goes and then closes the door behind him. House waits till Wilson is gone. In a somber tone, he speaks to Gabe.

"Pills are the simplest. Hanging has less chance of damaging the heart."

Gabe then slowly nodded thinking everything over. "I'm okay with pain." House slowly nods, fidgeting with his hands. "Strangulation's better than breaking your neck. Which means this'll be slow." Gabe softly sighed as he bows his head. "I wouldn't get to see him even if we got in a car right now and broke the speed limit, driving back, would I?" House then gently shook his head. "No." Gabe then slowly nods. "Tell him... I don't know what to tell him. Think it's my turn to ask a question, isn't it?" House then arched his brow at him.

"I don't think so. 'Cause you've just asked me that thing about the speed limit."

Gabe gives him a look that says humor me and House finally answers him. "What do you wanna know?" Gabe then shrugged. "If you could hear on thing from your father, what would it be?" House sighed; the last thing he wanted to talk about was his father. "It wouldn't help you." Gabe then looked at him pleadingly.

"Try me."

House then slowly looked up at him and finally answered him. "I'd want him to say, "You were right. You did the right thing" Gabe then slowly smiled at him. "Yeah, it doesn't help" House then chuckles and looks at Gabe, the smile disappearing slowly. Gabe looks solemnly at House.

House then finally got up and limped out of the room giving Gabe one last nod as he closed the door behind him and sat down against the wall, Wilson then finally came walking down the hall with House's cane in his hand, House looked at him curiously but Wilson explained why he had the cane.

"Alibi."

House then slowly nodded. "I figured. You know I never wanted to go home as badly as I do and just lay there with someone laying right next to me…" He then looked up at Wilson in a forelorning matter.

"I don't want to loose her."

Wilson gave him a sad smile and gently nodded his head. "You won't." They waited silence until an ominous thud was heard from inside the room. They then both looked at each other, sadly and knew what they had to do…

XXXX

The operation went well and House ended up telling Kyle the same line he told Gabe that he'd love to hear his father say to him.

And as soon as he debriefed with his team, who told him that Sarlina held up wonderfully. When House asked where she was, Foreman told him that Cuddy sent her home after an extremely long day of work.

They also ended up telling him that Tritter had been interrogating all of them and that Sarlina had made it a point to keep the team together while Tritter was trying to intimidate them all. House couldn't help but smirk as he drove back home thinking over all of the things that his team had told him when he got back.

As soon as he pulled up to his apartment it had to have been about 4:30 in the morning. He slowly turned his car off, and then pulled out his cane and limped out of the car and into his apartment.

As soon as he walked in he saw all the a lights turned off except one that she must've left on for him so he wouldn't bump into anything, he then slowly walked further into his apartment as he quietly closes his door. He then ended up seeing Sarlina curled up on the couch with a pillow under her head a throw placed over her body.

House couldn't help but smirk noticing that she was waiting up for him, he then slowly limped over towards her and gently placed some of her hair behind her ear, Sarlina then instantly woke up from this interaction and groggily looked up at him. "Hey…" She said softly as she stretched and gently rose up from the couch.

"You're home."

She said giving him a soft smile, House smiled down at her, then sat down beside her, and pulled her to sit on his lap. "Why did you wait up for me?" He asked, as Sarlina rested her head on his shoulder, Sarlina shrugged as she gently started to fall back into sleep again. "I wanted to know how it went, and I wanted to make sure you got home ok." House smirked at her as he wrapped his arms tightly around her keeping her very close to him. "Kyle got a new heart; His father gave it up for him so he could live." Sarlina slowly moved away and looked up at him. "Guess he really did care after all." House then slowly nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Sarlina looked up at him and gave him a small smirk. "Aren't you all questioned out?" House slowly smirked at her as he leaned up and kissed her temple. "If I had asked you to marry me when I was at you're wedding what would you have said." Sarlina stared at him a little incredulously. "…What?" House sighed and slowly looked away from her.

"At you're wedding what would you have said if I asked you to marry me right there and then? Would you have said yes or no?"

Sarlina stared at him bewildered, this was so not her Greg she was used to him being completely closed off but for some reason he felt that he needed to hear the answers instead of just believing what he wanted to believed and in a way, this side of his kinda shocked her. She had to think over his question, at the time he was with Stacey and thought that he was madly and utterly in love with her. But could he have possibly at that time in their lives wanted to be with her instead? She didn't know Greg was always a mystery to her… even though she claimed to know him so well there were still parts of him that completely surprised her and right now was one of those moments.

"If you had asked me to marry you at that time of our lives… I probably would have said yes."

House's eyes widened from her answer, he was so sure she would have said no but her answer took him by complete surprise. "So… we could've been married by now and probably have a couple of kids." Sarlina then started to laugh. "Greg what's going on? You've been talking a lot about these kind of things lately you're usually not like this." House sighed and slowly looked up at her.

"I just don't want to loose a good thing… And I know there will be a time that you will want to walk out on me, I'm not good for anything. I'll probably ignore you, get caught up in my work, even may hurt you by saying something stupid… but I'm selfish and I'm stubborn and… I don't want to bend you to the point where you'll break and go and leave, So… if I offered you something to make sure you'll stay and don't end up like Stacey where she's married and happy with some other guy. Then you'll be mine, I'll get to keep you and you won't go away."

Sarlina couldn't help but smile up at him and lean in to give him a soft, warm kiss. They stayed like that for a couple of moments and then she was the one to break apart from him.

"Greg honey… I'm not going anywhere. And even though I think it's great that you want to make sure that I'm not going to walk out on you and this is you're idea of doing so, I… I'll be honest luv I want to take this slow. I don't want any speed bumps or shoulda coulda woulda's if this is the road you want to take, let's take this slow let's do it right."

House looked at her somewhat relieved as she gently cupped his cheek. "Twice in one day you turned me down you realized that?" He said cheekily as a smile had spread on his lips, Sarlina then started to laugh and gently pecked his lips. "And I remember you saying that I had lost my chance last time." House then shrugged.

"Figured that I'd try again and yet again I was turned down. I'm starting to really wonder if you are only with me for my charming good looks and massively, HUGE, Penetratingly, marvelous… Personality." Sarlina stared at him for a moment and then started to laugh. "Come on you old sod, Let's get you to bed I'm exhausted and I'm sure you are too. Let's get some sleep."

House nodded thrilled with her option and then allowed her to gently rise up and help pull him up to his feet. As soon as he was officially standing he then wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her… Sarlina was surprised at first from his intimacy and couldn't help but smile as she hugged him closer to her.

They stood there for a couple of moments, no words were needed said, there was a complete understand as to what was just said to both of them and a deep appreciation to each other's needs. House and Sarlina then slowly walked into his bedroom and then got ready for the night.

As soon as House walked out the bathroom and had his pajama's on he then walked closer to the bed and saw Sarlina fast asleep. House couldn't help but grin down at her as he slowly sat down on his bed and then pulled the covers over him, he then gently pulled her closer to him so he could feel her against him. To know that she was there and that she was never going to leave him. Sure, this was completely out of his element and normally he'd throw any thoughts of this away in a minute but.

Tonight was a bit of a revelation. He wanted to make sure and guarantee that she wasn't going anywhere and it finally dawned on him that if she ever had decided to leave that it would hurt him even more than it did when Stacey left and that is was terrified him even more.

Well here's the Seventh chapter, Let me know what you guys think...

Reviews are deeply appreciated, they really motivate me to continue writing this story.