- 8 -

The next day at PPTH was hectic for everyone as they made accommodations and arrangements for all the incoming doctors. Today was the first day of the Infectious Diseases Conference.

"Excuse me," said a tall, dark, and handsome man. He was standing alongside a slightly shorter white man. "Can you tell me where Auditorium C is?"

Nurse Brenda was flustered as she shuffled through her papers. "Um, it's down the hall and to the right."

"That's where I just was."

"Then you must have missed it."

"It's an auditorium; how could I have missed it?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

The man rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you're too busy to show me, can you recommend someone who isn't?"

Nurse Brenda smirked as House walked by her station. "Dr. House!"

"Sorry, busy," replied House quickly as he tried to escape.

Nurse Brenda rolled her eyes. She knew that was a lie, and House knew that she knew it was a lie, too. It was such a shame that he couldn't outrun her. Brenda followed him quickly and stopped him. "Dr. House, could you please escort these men to Auditorium C?"

"Why do they want to go to Auditorium C?"

Brenda rolled her eyes. "Why don't you ask them that… you know, while you're walking them there?"

House heaved a sigh as he walked back to the Nurse's Station to find two men waiting for him. They started walking down the hallway together. "Why do you want to go to Auditorium C?"

"Did she say you were Dr. House?" asked the black man.

"That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Don't you have a specialty in Infectious Disease?"

House rolled his eyes. Here we go again. "Yes…."

"So, are you here for the conference then?"

"I work here."

"But… you aren't attending the conference?"

House stopped outside a pair of double-doors. "Auditorium C. There you go."

"But wait—."

"Have a nice day," smirked House as he tried to limp away. He didn't get very far, though, considering Andrews was in his path.

"Dr. House, what a pleasant surprise."

House kept his mouth shut.

"Did you get your name on the conference roster like I asked?"

"Nope, sorry, all full."

"That's funny, it says there's an opening right here." Andrews pointed to his clipboard.

House chewed on his lip. This wasn't going to end well for him, was it?

"I told you to sign up for the conference, House!"

The two other doctors were just standing by the door, watching the whole scene.

"Yeah…" said House. "You see, the thing is—."

"And where the hell is your lab coat?"

"It's in my—."

Andrews rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go join—." He paused to look at the nametags of the other two doctors. "Why don't you go join Drs. Foreman and Hamilton in the Auditorium?"

"I didn't sign up for the conference though." Yeah, like that was going to work.

Andrews was steamed. "House—."

"Yes?"

"I'm tired of this!" he shouted loud enough for the whole hallway to hear. "You're fired!"

Well, House certainly wasn't expecting that.