Evvie didn't recover like she did the first time. Her effervescent personality was gone. Cameron didn't suggest she go back to school. Neither did Evvie. She became a shadow, coming to the hospital with Cameron, staying with Thirteen or Cuddy or Wilson. Staring out the window for hours at a time. She didn't read anymore. She slept with Cameron at night, afraid to be alone. She lost weight. Cameron had asked her over and over about going into therapy, but Evvie continued to refuse. Eventually Cameron made her go, unable to watch her falling apart day by day.

Evvie stood in front of the door and knocked. It opened to reveal a pleasant room and a kind-looking woman. "Evelyn?" she asked, smiling.

"Evvie" Evvie murmured, looking down as she watched the woman take in her broken arm and bruised eye. Her other bruises had finally faded, but she knew the eye was still pretty bad.

"I'm Dr. Sollis. Please come in."

Evvie jumped as the door snapped shut behind her.

"Please sit." Dr. Sollis gestured to a comfortable arm chair and Evvie settled into it. "You're thirteen?" Evvie nodded. "And Dr. Cameron is your foster mother, correct?"

"Yeah."

"You've been admitted to this hospital twice, both times due to physical abuse from foster brothers in your previous home."

"Yes."

"Once while in Dr. Cameron's care."

"She didn't have anything to do with it if that's what you're implicating." Evvie said angrily. "She wasn't even allowed to know who my previous foster parents were."

"I'm not trying to lay blame, Evvie." Dr. Sollis said soothingly. "I'm simply trying to establish the facts."

"They're right there in my file." Evvie snapped.

Dr. Sollis closed the file. "I'm afraid we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Perhaps we can talk about what you're going through right now."

"My old foster brothers tried to strangle me after breaking my arm and blacking my eye. I don't want to be here. How do you think I feel?" Evvie stood up and walked towards the window.

"Angry." Dr. Sollis replied. "Afraid. Sad. All normal."

"Whatever." Evvie sighed. "I just thought I was safe now."

"Because you were away from them?"

Evvie nodded.

"Charges are being laid."

"Great." Evvie said sarcastically.

"They'll probably be imprisoned." Dr. Sollis pointed out.

"'Probably' doesn't really work for me anymore, you see."

"They're in custody. They can't hurt you."

"I guess." Evvie prowled around the room like a trapped animal. "I was just really happy, for the first time ever, you know? And then they showed up and did this to me again, and it's like my perfect little world got smashed. Only, it's still there. It's me that's different. I'm sad. I don't fit in any more."

"Have you talked to your mom about this?"

Evvie shook her head. "Allie tries so hard. She does everything she can for me. I can't just tell her that."

"What about friends?"

"It'd be kind of weird to tell Remy or someone without telling Allie." Evvie shrugged.

"Remy is…?"

"Dr. Hadley. She works for Dr. House."

"I meant friends your own age." Dr. Sollis frowned.

"I don't have a lot of friends my own age." Evvie informed her. "I don't really fit in with them. I'm happier here."

"Here?"

"At the hospital, with Allie and Remy and everyone."

"I see."

"It's kind of like a big family." Evvie tried to explain. "They all take care of me…I don't know, it's nice."

"But now you don't fit in anymore."

"I'm not happy anymore. I just don't feel like doing the stuff I used to. I know I'm worrying everyone, but…I don't really know how to fix it."

"Do you think keeping it all inside will fix it?" Dr. Sollis asked.

Evvie shrugged. "Probably not."

"Maybe it's confusing for everyone when they know you aren't okay, but you won't let them help."

"I guess." Evvie sighed. "You think I should tell Allie and Remy?"

"It might help them understand why you're sad all the time. I know Allie is really worried."

"I know." Evvie looked down.

"Well, Evvie, I think this has been a good first session." Dr. Sollis smiled. "I look forward to working with you."

"See you later." Evvie climbed out of the chair and headed for the door, opening and exiting to find Cameron waiting for her.

"How was it?" Cameron looked nervous, standing.

"It was better than I thought." Evvie admitted, leaning against Cameron. Cameron put an arm around her shoulders.

"Good." They wandered out of the psych wing. "Want to get lunch?"

"Yeah." Down in the cafeteria, Evvie acquired a grilled cheese and some soup. Cameron smiled when she saw the sandwich. It had been hard to get Evvie to eat lately.

Taking a seat at an empty table, Evvie looked confused. "Aren't you going to ask me what we talked about?" she questioned Cameron.

Cameron chuckled. "You'll tell me if you want to. I know I'm your guardian and all that, but this therapy is for you – there are probably parts you'll want to talk about, and parts you'll want to keep to yourself."

"Yeah, that's true." Evvie took a bite of her sandwich. "If Remy can come over tonight, I think I'd like to tell you both something at the same time. Easier to go through it once and all that."

"Okay." In all honesty, Cameron thought she might be grateful for a wingman on this one. Or wingwoman, as the case was. "You want to invite her or shall I?"

"I was thinking I'd head up there after lunch, see what's going on. You're done at 7, right?" Cameron nodded.

"Kay."

Cameron smiled at her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for trusting me."

Evvie grinned. "No problem."

They finished lunch and Evvie headed to diagnostics while Cameron went back to work. She found them doing a differential and let herself in quietly to watch. They were interesting. Thirteen winked at her as she came in and sat down. She smiled in return and sat back to watch the suggestions fly.

As everyone filtered out, she approached House. "Feel like getting your ass kicked on X Box by a little girl?"

He examined her. "I don't know if you'd noticed, but you only have one functioning arm."

She shrugged. "My fingers still work, don't they?" He nodded and gestured to the door. They headed for the doctor's lounge.

"You pick the game."

Evvie went over and selected a battle game. "Let's go." she turned on the machine and moved back to the couch to select her character. The game started and she concentrated on kicking House's ass. She had to admit it was more difficult with the cast between her fingers and thumb. House beat her without much difficulty. They played until Thirteen arrived with blood results, eliminating the diagnosis they'd been expecting.

"Get Taub and Kutner back." House told her, standing. Evvie followed them back to diagnostics. While they waited for the two other doctors, Evvie invited Thirteen for dinner.

"Given that I can get out of here at a reasonable hour, definitely." Thirteen nodded.

"Don't I get an invite?" House whined.

"No" Was Evvie's straightforward response.

He pouted. "You're way too blunt for your own good." He returned to his handheld Nintendo. Evvie smiled.

Later that night, Evvie sat on the kitchen counter while Cameron and Thirteen prepared dinner and essentially repeated to them what she'd told Dr. Sollis before waiting for a response, biting her lip.

Cameron went first. "When you go through something really painful, it's natural to feel displaced." She looked up at her daughter. "When I was 22, my husband died of cancer. I spent the next few years concentrating on nothing but med school. I lost touch with my family, my friends. I didn't want to get close to anyone. It wasn't until I graduated and started at the Mayo Clinic that I actually started making friends again." She shrugged. "I wish someone had told me to talk to someone, which is maybe why I've been pushing you so hard about therapy."

Thirteen nodded. "When I got diagnosed with Huntington's, I went the opposite way. I also didn't want to get close to anyone, but I went about it in a really self-destructive way. I watched it destroy my mom, remember what it did to our family. I didn't want the same for anyone else. But sometimes you need people, you know? If people want to know you despite the fact that they know what's going to happen, I don't know if you have the right to push them away." She sighed. "I can't connect with that feeling of having the perfect life like you and Allie, because I was too young to remember when it was like that. But I understand the feeling of not fitting anymore." She shrugged. "I don't really know what to say to help you with what you're going through, except that I guess both Allie and I have had some sort of experience that can help us to relate."

"Okay." Evvie nodded. They went back to making dinner in silence, none of them sure what to say.