"Ghosts of the Past"

Chapter Nine – "A Chill Up Your Spine"

By: purpleu

"What are you doing here? And why don't you want anyone else to treat you?" House was suspicious and concerned at the same time. Alvie's stunts and problems that he brought along with him the last time he was in Princeton were OK to deal with at that point in House's life; he needed a distraction. But now he was trying his best to leave certain things, like what put him in Mayfield, in the past. By the same token, Alvie was clearly ill; but the symptoms given him by the PA were far too vague.

"I'm sick," Alvie said. "This is a hospital, you're a doctor; the best doctor… made sense to me." Alvie slowly picked his head up, and saw Lydia, Wilson and Annie by the door.

"Hey! Gabby!" Alvie said, calling Annie by the nickname he gave her back at the institution. "And Gabby's friend… uh, Linda, right?"

"Lydia," House corrected.

"Sorry, but that was so long ago and so much has happened," Alvie said.

"Boy, have you got that right," Annie said. Alvie gave her a weak smile upon hearing her speak. "Lydia and I moved back here after some time in Arizona, and she tracked down Greg... now I'm expecting a baby with his best friend, James, and we're getting married in a few weeks. Oh, and Lydia and Greg are a couple and they're living together." Despite the way he was feeling, Alvie felt he had to properly comment on House's situation.

"My old roomie House has fallen in love, with a lovely lady who's like an angel from above, don't know when it happened, I don't see how… " Alvie hesitated as he had difficulty completing his rap, as usual.

"I think you should just shut up now," House said helping Alvie out with his creation like he did at Mayfield's talent show. Lydia saw that Alvie had his arms wrapped around him, and he appeared to be shaking.

"Alvie, are you cold?" she asked moving toward him.

"Freezing. Been like this for a while," he replied.

"How many days?" House inquired.

"Two, three," Alvie said, not picking his head up as he spoke. Lydia quickly grabbed a glove from the container on the wall; once it was on, she placed her hand against Alvie's forehead.

"He's burning up," she reported. "I'll get a blanket."

"Can you make it two?" he asked. Lydia looked through the cabinets in the room, but found nothing.

"There should be some heated blankets available; I'll check," she said. As Lydia left the room, House donned a pair of exam gloves himself.

"Keep Songbird out of here," he said to Wilson. "Until I know what's going on with him, I don't want her taking any chances." Alvie picked his head up to see who House was talking to.

"You're Gabby's groom-in-waiting," he said to Wilson.

"Annie," Wilson replied. "And yes, I'm Annie's fiancé."

"Also known as my Baby Daddy," Annie said beating House to the punch. "Alvie, meet Dr. James Wilson; husband and father-to-be," she said smiling as she looked up at Wilson.

"N… Nice… nice to see you got her to open up and talk," Alvie got out through chattering teeth. Lydia was back with the blankets; she laid one around Alvie's lower body and the other around his shoulders and upper body.

"Don't forget about Steve; he helped out with bringing Annie back to life," Lydia added in. Alvie looked at her quizzically. "Freedom Master," she clarified.

"Steve's gotten the help he needed," Annie said. "Better help than any of us were getting at Mayfield. He's married and expecting a baby next month."

"This is cool," Alvie said. "We're gettin' our lives together and into a groove, even though it did mean that I was on the move… "

"Where have you been and what have you been doing?" House asked trying to discern what was making Alvie sick.

"I stayed with my cousin for a while out in Arizona, just working on my raps and stuff," he began. "Then he got legit work in construction with a contractor who did jobs around the country. The guy hired me, too. I get paid off the books, so it's cool."

"I would assume since you're paid off the books that you have no health care insurance," Wilson said giving House a cautious look.

"Nah, but I gotta get some soon," noted Alvie.

"Yesterday would have been good. Where around the country?" House inquired getting annoyed that Alvie wasn't being more specific.

"Just in the Southwest at first; Arizona, New Mexico, Texas…then I met a girl. She's a friend of one of the secretaries. Carmen," Alvie said with a weak smile. "Her grandma got real sick and needed Carmen to take care of her… so she went to Florida."

"Did you go with her?"

"Yeah… this guy I work for, he's got stuff everywhere. He let me go to work down there; I'm back with Carmen and we're living in Grandma's house. She's a cool lady… she likes my raps."

"The few you actually complete. How long have you been in the land of the newly wed and nearly dead?" House asked looking in Alvie's eyes and then down his throat; both were red. "Get his blood pressure," he said to Lydia. She donned a fresh pair of gloves and reached for the cuff.

"Since March, April," Alvie said as he leaned forward.

"Alvie, I need you to take your arm out of your sweatshirt," Lydia said. "It's too thick to get an accurate reading." Alvie slowly complied; it was obvious the movement was causing him extreme pain. Lydia gasped when she saw Alvie's arm. House saw it, too; from the wrist all the way up to the shoulder was a series of red dots of various shapes and sizes. Mixed in among them, were several bruises.

"When did these show up?" asked House as he reached over and yanked the sweatshirt off of Alvie; the removal of the shirt revealed that the spots, blotches and bruises were all over his torso and his other arm.

"About the same time as my whole body started to hurt… three, four days. House, you are going to be able to fix me, aren't you? I'm mean I'm not dying or anything, am I?"

"Only for the fact I don't want my reputation sullied, no," House replied. He watched as Alvie started to slowly rock back and forth and put his hand up to his mouth.

"Hey… hey… I need something… I think I'm gonna puke." Lydia grabbed a wash basin from one of the cabinets, handed it to House's former roomie, and then stepped back as did House. They gave Alvie a wide berth as he began vomiting.

"Out of here," House said gesturing with his head for Lydia to step out of the room. "When did the upchucking start?" He wasn't bothering to wait for Alvie's stomach to calm down or for answers; he stepped back over to the stretcher and reached up under Alvie's chin. Placing his hand around the man's throat, he felt for swollen glands.

"I'm throwing up, man! Don't… " Alvie once again gagged and threw up.

"When did the vomiting start?" House asked once again, this time raising his voice.

"Yesterday," Alvie said gasping for breath. "Yesterday morning."

"House, what do you think it is? I can hear the wheels turning," Wilson said. "You've got an illness in mind."

"I still have too many in mind. He has swollen glands, a fever, vomiting, inflamed throat and eyes… capillaries have burst, bruising… "

"Could it be an odd form of food poisoning?" Lydia questioned. "The swollen glands and red eyes don't go with the most common forms; but if he ate any kind of specialty or exotic food before he left Florida… "

"Maybe he could have been exposed to something toxic at one of the construction sites? Or even something he was allergic to and didn't know it?" asked Wilson trying to participate in House's usual DDX.

"It's not food poisoning… I haven't eaten in days," said Alive, slowly shaking his head. "I don't wanna eat; I just wanna sleep." House got a certain look in his eyes; he didn't have an answer yet, but he knew what road he wanted to go down.

"Have you been out of the country lately?" House's ex-roommate slowly raised his head.

"Yeah; I just got back last week. How… "

"Down in the Caribbean?"

"I went to Puerto Rico. My aunt found a copy of my birth certificate… a real one," Alvie said giving House a look.

"I thought I had helped you fix all that," House said trying to remain vague.

"You did, you did, man. The lie you told immigration was cool, but… "

"You lied to immigration for him?" Wilson asked quietly. "Are you out of your mind?"

"It was a possible, plausible explanation of a stretched truth. Unless said properly, 'lie' is such an ugly word," House said sarcastically. He knew better than to even look over at Lydia.

"Hey, I helped my roomie out when we were locked up; he was just returning the favor. I let him beat up on me so he could cheek some pills for Hal; then Hal helped him make a phone call," explained Alvie. "But it turned out the someone he thought was his friend bagged out on him." He gave Wilson a knowing look.

"I… wasn't about to blackmail someone… " Wilson sputtered.

"We can talk about all of this later," Lydia interrupted, seeing that Alvie was looking like his stomach was going bad again. She knew the extended story of House and Alvie; that Wilson had House leave his apartment so he could move Sam, his first ex-wife, back in. It was when House returned to his place that he found Alvie had more than invaded his space. What she didn't know was how much of the story Wilson had told Annie.

"Get any mosquitoes noshing on you when you were down there… or in Florida?" inquired House. It was now apparent that he had a firm idea of what was going on.

"You get bit by things… all the time," Alvie said retching again.

"West Nile Virus?" Wilson asked. House shook his head.

"More likely dengue fever," he said. "It's still a virus, so we treat the symptoms until he feels better."

"We can just… give him a little bit of treatment and then send him home, right?" asked Wilson. House gave him a look.

"Yeah, I'll just hand him the IV bag, the tubing and the needle and tell him to do it himself," replied House. "I need to run blood tests to confirm which virus it is. A report's going to have to be made to the CDC no matter what; they're particular about knowing what's floating around the country."

"And the law says we're required to keep and treat him for twenty-four hours even without insurance, especially in the state he's in," Lydia noted.

"But after that, the law says we can transfer him to another hospital," added Wilson anxiously. He felt House's eyes boring into him.

"He's my patient; he's not going anywhere," House said firmly. Wilson stepped out of earshot of Alvie, but still near House and the ladies.

"House, what is with you and this guy? I get he was your roommate and he helped you out, but… " House pursed his lips and looked down at the floor.

"He drove me crazy… and he kept me sane. He was the only one I could have a conversation with, however irritating it was. Then I made the acquaintance of Frick and Frack," he said gesturing toward Lydia and Annie. "At least one of them wanted to talk to me." Annie looked indignant.

"I talked to you when I realized it was the only way you were going to help me with my cello," she said. "Figured if you liked music you couldn't have been that bad. Plus, you were nice to Steve."

I'm sorry," Wilson said. "I don't mean to question whatever the relationships were at Mayfield. Believe me… I'm very happy things turned out the way they did. It's just that Foreman's driving me crazy. The twenty-five percent increase in insurance revenues that Lydia's department has brought in since she been working here has been a tremendous help. But there are still areas around here that are… bleeding money. There was very poor management, very well hidden before Foreman and I got a look at things." Wilson felt guilty for pointing a finger at Cuddy considering her current state; but the truth was the truth. "He's nickel and diming every little thing. I know we're Co-Deans of Medicine, but if he finds out that I let this guy stay beyond the twenty-four hour mark without insurance, incurring whatever the costs may be… he's going to flip out."

"Funny, I was under the impression the dictionary lists the prefix co- as meaning subsidiary or auxiliary. Are you telling me he doesn't let you have an equal say in things?" House asked. Wilson sighed.

"It's more like I simply defer to letting him take the showier role because I don't want the headache. You know how I feel about being stuck behind a desk rather than dealing with patients. Truthfully, with a few things Foreman's said lately, I don't think he's enjoying the position as much as he thought he would."

"So to feed his ego, the Dark Knight is playing the high and mighty part and you're the lackey," House noted. "Foreman's problem is that he fails to realize one thing; when the game is over, the king and the pawn both go back into the same box." Wilson nodded in agreement.

"Greg, wouldn't you say that Alvies's behavior is a bit unique?" Lydia asked.

"Saying his behavior is unique is unique unto itself; why?"

"Well, I was just wondering; don't you think you could even call it a bit… crazy?" House saw the twinkle of mischievousness in Lydia's eyes; he matched her look as he shook his head...

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around," he said to his girlfriend.

"Wait… what are you two up to?" asked Wilson becoming concerned. House scheming was one thing; Lydia was almost as bad sometimes.

"The state says that if after treating a person with no insurance for twenty-four hours, you determine they are a danger to themselves or others, you can place them on a seventy-two hour psyche hold… at the state's expense," Lydia said with a smile.

"You're not putting Alvie back into lock up or anything, are you?" Annie questioned. "You can't do that to him! He doesn't belong there!"

"Babe, calm down; I get what House and Lydia are saying. House puts him on the psyche hold which he serves out here in the hospital under House's care; care which would involve getting him better. At the end of the time period, Alvie's free to go," Wilson explained.

"But will the hold be put on his medical records?" his fiancée asked.

"Won't matter," House replied. "He's been in and out of more psyche wards than the two of us combined." Annie laughed.

"I'm afraid that's true," she said. Wilson, who had been smiling, had his face take on a very thoughtful expression.

"House, can I ask you something?" he inquired.

"You just did," House replied. Wilson rolled his eyes.

"Once the CDC gets word that we have a patient with either West Nile or dengue, they're going to require us to hold him until all evidence of the illness is gone. We may not have to go the route of a psyche hold," Wilson noted.

"Yes, but if it's not either one of those viruses, then we would be under no obligation to keep and treat him," Lydia said, knowing that House wanted to keep Alvie around no matter what.

"I'm just afraid Foreman's going to press you on the issue," Wilson said to House.

"I'm not worried about Shaft, Jr. With Alvie…" House began.

"Hey! House!" Alvie could be heard shouting from the exam room. "I'm still really cold, and this is getting old, my body needs some heat… " The rappers voice trailed off.

"… a psyche hold can't be beat," House said finishing Alvie's rap and addressing Wilson's concerns at the same time. "Have the PA come over; I'll let them prep him down here and then send him up to ICU. Give him the bed next to Cuddy to save me from running around from room to room. Keep the hold under wraps until we need it."

"He doesn't have to be in isolation?" Annie asked.

"The only way you can catch either virus is to be bitten by a mosquito that previously bit an infected person," Lydia explained to her friend. "The insect always carries a small quantity of blood from the previous bite."

"You could French kiss him and you wouldn't catch it," House said.

"No. I think the world of Alvie," Annie said shaking her head. "But, no."

"I'm going to go see why Alvie's cold again," Lydia said. "He has his sweatshirt off, so that may be it; or maybe the blankets fell off of him."

"Which PA was taking care of Alvie?" Wilson asked. "I'll let him know to come on over."

"I never bother remembering names," House noted. "Why do you think I call her Fraulein?" he said nodding in toward Alvie's room where Lydia stood fixing the blankets.

"But you still have to remember to call her Fraulein," Annie pointed out with a smile. House gave her a look.

"Is it really such a good idea to pick on me just now? Your wedding is in only a few weeks and think of all the fun I could have up to and including that day," House said with a smirk. "A laxative slipped into his morning coffee, a sleeping pill sprinkled on top of his bagel… "

"Greg!" Annie exclaimed.

"House!" Wilson cautioned.

"Don't worry, I'll behave; or I'll never hear the end of it from Lyd-i-a," said House as he leaned into Annie and emphasized each syllable of her friend's name.

"What's up?" Lydia asked stepping out of Alvie's room. "I thought I heard Greg call me."

"It's nothing," Wilson said, waving his hand and laughing. "House… which PA?" House scanned the ER.

"The one over to the left; the guy who looks like he shops the next aisle over from you in L.L. Bean." Wilson left to speak to the PA just as the orderly was bringing Ben back.

"Here's the soccer star, safe and sound," the fellow said. "The radiologist said to tell you he's read the x-ray, but he has it available for you to look over, too, Dr. House."

"Thanks," House replied. The orderly turned to Ben.

"No more getting, hurt, OK, Pal?" he said to the boy. "Your team needs you in there."

"OK. Thanks, Kyle," Ben said. The child got out of the wheelchair used to transport him and Kyle rolled it away to attend to his next patient.

"House, you never told me you had a kid," Alvie said seeing the boy standing by the doorway. House looked in with great annoyance.

"There was a reason I never told you that," he said.

"Alvie, Ben and his sister, Elise are from a previous relationship I had," Lydia explained. House saw that the child was looking up at his mother, then hung his head down at her words.

"Yeah, this is my rent-a-kid," said House. "For a flat fee, he hangs around and I put up with him." He looked down at Ben and saw a big smile on his face; the boy knew when House was teasing him.

"Hey! I put up with you, too!" Ben retorted. House reached over and flipped the kid's baseball-style cap off and onto the floor. "I can't pick that up; I have an injured arm!"

"And I have an injured leg; which trumps your injured arm since I've had it longer than your wussied-out arm," House replied. Wilson came back over, and looked confused as he caught part of the conversation.

"Everything OK?" he asked.

"He started it," Ben accused pointing at House.

"Ben, stop it," his mother said. "There's no reason you can't pick up your hat with your right hand. However, since House knocked it on the floor, he can pick it up," Lydia said smiling sweetly at her boyfriend. House looked bothered as he used his cane and snagged the plastic band on the hat; he held it out to Ben. "Now the two of you behave yourselves; this is an emergency room, not a playground." Ben seemed fine with Lydia's admonishment, but House was pouting and looking at the floor like… well, like an eight year old.

"Lydia, do you remember when we were teenagers, and we were talking about our futures?" Annie said moving over to her friend and putting her arm around her shoulder. "And you said you wanted three kids someday?" Annie was beginning to laugh. "Well, you know what they say… " Lydia folded her arms and looked at the ceiling.

"Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it," she replied. Annie and Wilson were both laughing now; even Alvie had a smile on his face.

"I think I've done enough damage here," House said. "I'm going to go look at the x-rays for this one," he said nodding at Ben. "Still hurts?"

"Yeah, and I couldn't always put it in the position the x-ray tech wanted me to." Lydia looked concerned.

"Still think it's just a bone or muscle bruise?" she asked.

"There's nothing wrong with it; the radiologist saw me waiting for Kyle to come back and we started talking. He let me see the x-ray."

"And he told you there's no breaks or anything?" Annie asked.

"No, I figured it out. House has brought me to the hospital a bunch of times; I've learned more from him here than I have from any of the books I own," Ben explained. Annie shook her head.

"Doogie Howser," she said with a smile.

"He's all set?" House asked Wilson pointing into the exam room.

"Yeah, I talked to Rich, the PA. They're going to clean him up, get a gown on and bring him up to the floor… do you want your team to do the work up on him?" House considered things for a moment.

"Have them do the chest x-ray and EKG down here; I'm not expecting anything startling. My team will do the blood draw and IV hook-up in ICU."

"Whoa, whoa, House… what's happening?" Alvie asked. Not being the one who usually delivers standard bedside chatter, House looked down at the floor as he spoke to his ex-roomie.

"You're being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. You either have West Nile Virus, or more likely dengue fever," House explained. "I need to run tests to confirm what you've actually got."

"Admitting me? I can't stay… I've got work. No work, no pay," Alvie said shaking his head. "I gotta be sending money back to Carmen."

"Where are you working?" Lydia asked.

"Pinewood. They're building a new condo complex down there."

"That's thirty-five miles from here," Wilson said. "I know you wanted House to treat you, but wouldn't you have been better off going to a doctor down there?"

"I tried," Alvie said, his breathing becoming a bit labored as he dropped his head down. "I went to a clinic, but when they heard I had no insurance, they said I'd have to pay." He shook his head. "I can't… I can't do that to Carmen." Alvie lifted his head and saw House giving him a strange look. "Carmen… she's pregnant. We just found out. That's why when the boss wanted me to take this job in Jersey at a higher pay rate, I couldn't say no. I gotta take care of my lady and my bambino." The news startled House; Alvie settling down? The guy who had been in and out of rehab so many times and had as many tricks up his sleeve as House did?

"Are you getting married?" House asked with a noticeable disapproving tone. Alvie nodded.

"We wanna do it before the baby comes; that's why I gotta make the money."

"So you've given up the one thing that drove you, the one thing you loved; your rapping," House said cynically.

"No, no, man. Carmen's behind me with all that. She helps me practice and helps me finish stuff like you did back at Mayfield. Every couple of nights when I go to a club for open mic night or something, she gets someone to stay with Grandma and comes with me." Alvie looked at House and smiled. "She believes in me and my stuff that I do. I want her to be my wife." House was trying to process what Alvie told him, when he heard Lydia's voice.

"Hon? I'm going to take Ben back over to bed fifteen; it's still empty. Do you think he's going to need a sling?" House took a deep breath; he looked at his girlfriend, and then down at the boy.

"Yeah, probably. I'll go look at the x-rays," he said quietly. He turned to walk away, then retreated a few steps to look in at Alvie. "Do me a favor… chill out and do what the others tell you to do. You need to be here." House left the exam room in the ER and continued on his way to radiology. By the time House got back after looking at Ben's x-rays, Alvie was almost ready to head upstairs; he just needed to get an EKG. Lydia had gotten a hold of a sling, but was waiting for the word from House.

"He's good to go; just get the sling on him to support the arm and shoulder for now. We'll figure out things beyond that when we get home."

"I know how to do a sling," Ben volunteered.

"Greg, I have Tom on my phone," Annie said handing it to him. House made a face; he didn't want to repeat the same story over and over.

"The kid's fine, just going to be stiff and sore for a while," House reported to Tom. "He might benefit from some PT; he has limited range of motion at the moment."

"But nothing broken or dislocated," Tom confirmed.

"Nope; he dodge the proverbial bullet."

"Great. At least he'll be up to attending the award ceremony on Friday. House, can he hear us talking?" House took a few steps away from the cubicle.

"I'm now in the cone of silence," he said.

"The director of the travel teams came up to me before; Ben's been selected for the team in his division."

"Great; more mornings up at the crack of dawn," complained House.

"Don't give me that crap; you love it. You'd get up at any time to see either of the kids play a game," Tom said. There was an awkward silence for a moment. "Um… look, House… I'm sorry about what I said to you out on the field today, but the coaches are under a lot of pressure to make sure who is speaking on the child's behalf… "

"And even though I'm the emergency contact and come to the fields every Tuesday night to pick them up from practice, my word isn't good enough because I am neither their father nor their father twice removed."

"House, I would trust you with my kids' lives, and I just don't mean medically." Tom sighed. "You've had a reputation for all the years that I've known you as being… a little crazy, a little reckless sometimes. I don't know if it's because of getting older or the influence of a certain someone we know, but you are definitely mellowing out. I know you'd still push things to the limit anytime you thought it was necessary… or just if it sounded like fun," he said as he laughed. "I don't know… maybe one day I can get that rule changed so that guys like you who are a better father than a kid's biological one can get treated right." House glanced over his shoulder; he saw Ben was showing off to his mom, aunt and uncle-to-be his knowledge of how to put on a sling.

"Fraulein put you up to this?"

"No, House; it's the way I truly feel. I'm sorry if I'm going off on the subject a little too much, but it's been eating me up ever since I spoke to you earlier. You didn't deserve that." House closed his eyes and dipped his head down.

"Thanks," he simply said.

"No problem," Tom replied. "Listen, I just spoke to Lydia, and I can't see things here lasting any longer than say another forty-five minutes to an hour. By the time Ben's bandaged up and you get over here, it may not be worth it."

"I'm not going to be able to go anywhere for a while. I've got to check on Cuddy, and see if we can pull the plug on dialysis or not." House looked at his watch. "That's in a little over an hour. And then there's the newest addition to my menagerie of sickies; my ex-roommate from Mayfield."

"What's going on with him?" Tom asked.

"Dengue fever as far as I can see." House described the symptoms to Tom and pointed out the differences between dengue fever and West Nile that led him to his conclusion.

"Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head… as always. Can't you call Thirteen or Chase to come in and give you a hand? I know Foreman's not coming in to keep watch over Cuddy until six."

"Taub's supposed to leave at two-thirty. If I can threaten him sufficiently to stay, I'll just have to hang around long enough to calm the guy down, and set the wheels in motion for his care. But he's a little crazy in a harmless sort of way; he didn't want to be admitted."

"He didn't want to be admitted and he probably has dengue fever? You better keep an eye on this one."

"That's why I may be here for a while. I've got Wilson and Songbird here; I'm going to see what baby-sitting arrangements I can make." Tom laughed.

"OK, House; go do whatever you have to. I might see you when I stop by the house later to check on Ben. Catch you later. Bye." House ended the call; he turned and made his way back over to the cubicle where everyone was waiting. He handed Annie her phone.

"Tom told you there's no point in going over to McDonald's?" Lydia asked. House nodded.

"I'm going to head up to Cuddy early. If Taub stays, I can concentrate on taming Alvie and convince him that he has to stay without the use of restraints; an unpleasant memory for the both of us," House said grimly.

House, do you want me to stay here and give you a hand? If Cuddy does need the dialysis, you can go with her without worrying about Alvie; if she doesn't… then you have some help in dealing with him." House looked away from Wilson.

"Thanks; but you're not the one I need here to help me. Unfortunately, the person I do need has other obligations." He turned to Lydia. "Alvie didn't know you well at Mayfield, but he knows you a lot better than Wilson. However, I'm sure where boy goes, Mom is going to want to follow."

"Well, Ben didn't have any broken bones or anything like that," Lydia noted. "But… you know me; yes, I would like to keep an eye on him." Ben rolled his eyes at his mother's words.

"I have an idea," Annie said. "Since James and I missed out on getting something to eat because of the fire over at Good Olde Times, we were thinking of stopping by that new hoagie shop, The Whole Darn Thing. Maybe we could take Ben with us to check the place out, then bring you two back sandwiches. At that point, you can see how things stand." House eyed Annie's questioning face while he considered what she said.

"Is it the hormones from being knocked up or are you always this smart?" he asked. She gave him a disapproving look as Lydia tapped his arm.

"You know I don't like you using that phrase in front of young ears," she said.

"I'm not swearing or cursing," House said. "Even if I was, those words are just sentence enhancers." Lydia shook her head and turned to her son.

"Will you be OK to go with Aunt Annie and Uncle James to the sandwich shop?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," the boy replied, wincing as House helped him down from the gurney.

"I'd suggest getting some ibuprofen into him now to take the edge off," House said. "He still doesn't swallow pills, does he?"

"Greg, he's only eight," said Lydia.

"I was swallowing them without water by then," he noted. "I'd order him a dose of the kid's version of ibuprofen here, but by the time the pharmacy got around to delivering it, the arm will have healed itself… or fallen off."

"We can stop at the store and pick up a small bottle," Annie said. "I'm sure James knows what to get. Now, just write down for me what sandwiches you want us to bring back so we can get going." Lydia pulled out her ever handy note pad and a pen.

"I would assume they have hot heroes there," she said.

"Yeah, I saw a meatball Parmesan hero listed as one of the opening specials through the end of the month," Wilson said. "It came with a bag of chips and a soda."

"I'll take that with a Coke," House said.

"The same for me with a diet Coke," Lydia added in. She wrote the order down and reached for her wallet to give them money; she looked up and saw that House had taken money out first.

"I know you're Mr. Moneybags now that you don't have any more ex-wives to take care of, but take this for the kid's medicine and whatever food it'll cover." Wilson was about to say as Ben's uncle-in-waiting, he would cover this; but he quickly realized that it would make House feel awkward after what happened today. Wilson was beginning to get used to House treating occasionally, events he attributed to Lydia's positive influence on him. Not that he still didn't pull a fast one by stealing candy bars or snacks from the cafeteria by putting them in an empty, small soda cup with a lid and paying for only that. But there was a certain generosity that came out of House once in a while; and Wilson was beginning to see that it had been there all along, hidden underneath layers of hurt.

"OK, I think we're ready," Annie said. "I'll text you when we get back here later and you can tell us where to bring the food to."

"Sounds great," Lydia said as she moved forward to give Annie a hug. As the two friends embraced, Lydia looked toward the entrance of the ER and saw Cameron and a tall man walk in with her. "Allison, what are you doing here?" she asked when Cameron came closer.

"Tom told me that you guys were still here. Phil just got into town, and I wanted you to meet him." Cameron handled the introductions of her fiancé all around.

"Nice to meet all of you," Phil said. "You in particular, Dr. House; I've heard a lot about you."

"They're all lies," House said quickly. "Cameron was just upset that she couldn't get her marriage to work due to her overwhelming desire for me." Everyone but Ben and Phil shot House a look; Ben looked puzzled, Phil laughed.

"I've heard the good and the bad," he said. "But actually I knew about you and your work with differential diagnoses long before I met Allison. I have to admit I was impressed when she told me she had been a fellow under you."

"Well… not exactly under me," said House as he busted chops.

"Behave yourself," Lydia said quietly, seeing that Cameron was becoming uncomfortable. "So, Phil, you hit a lot of traffic on your way up."

"A bit. It was more that I got on the road late. One of the babies in NICU died this morning; it's never easy to just walk away when that happens, especially with this little fellow. He was born in the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy and fought for seven weeks to stay alive. Despite all the tubes and wires, you could see he was a really cute baby, a real charmer." Cameron looked around and saw that Annie had tears in her eyes.

"Hey, you're going to do great," Cameron said reassuringly. "I know who your OB is and he's a great doctor. Plus you've got two of the best doctors hanging around with you all the time, too." Annie laughed and sniffed back her tears.

"I know; I'm just scared," Annie replied. Wilson put his arm around her and gave her a hug.

"You and the baby are going to be fine. I'm going to make sure of that," he said.

"Oh, by the way," Phil said to Ben. "I understand congratulations are in order; your team took first place."

"Yep. Nobody scored on me," Ben said proudly.

"At the price of injuring your shoulder," his mother noted.

"I can appreciate what that's like. I play on a men's amateur league back home; but I'm a midfielder. Well, you take care of that arm and good luck with your future games."

"Thanks," the boy replied.

"We're heading back to the hotel," Cameron said. "Phil hasn't gotten any sleep yet, but I did want to stop by so you could meet him."

'It was nice to see you," Lydia said to Phil. "And I hope you both enjoy the conference."

"I'm sure we will," he said. "And I told Allison depending on timing, maybe we can have dinner one night."

"That would be nice; we'll have to see how things go," Lydia said. There were good byes all around and Cameron and Phil left.

"Let's try this again," Wilson said. "Now we're leaving." Ben gave his mother a kiss goodbye, and House a fist pump. Then Annie, Wilson and Ben headed for the doors of the ER.

"Ready to deal with LL Cool A?" House asked as he headed toward Alvie's cubicle.

"Ready to go," Lydia answered. House had only taken a few steps when he stopped. "What's the matter?"

"You didn't give Wilson the kid's car seat." House turned, but Lydia grabbed his arm.

"I weighed and measured Ben, at his insistence, while you were reading the x-rays," she said. "He doesn't need to be in a car seat anymore." House smiled a little; he knew Lydia wasn't looking forward to Ben reaching this point in his young life.

"An admission that your little boy is growing up?" he said prodding a reaction from her. Lydia looked at him just before they got to Alvie's door.

"Well, at least one of my boys is," she said with a smile.

"Dr. House!" House saw the PA Rich hurrying toward him. "The patient isn't ready yet, I'm afraid."

"Why not?"

"He wouldn't let us do the EKG on him." House rolled his eyes.

"I'll handle it," he said. House and Lydia stepped into Alvie's room; he had on a hospital gown and was covered with the blankets. His head was resting back on the gurney and he had his eyes closed.

"Wake up," House said poking Alvie lightly with the handle of his cane. "I told you to chill and let people take care of you. What happened?"

"Man, don't… hit me like that. Those things… they hurt me, they hurt like hell," Alvie complained.

"The EKG leads don't hurt anyone," House said wondering what was actually bothering his ex-roomie.

"The sticky stuff… on the squares… "

"He means the adhesive for the leads," Lydia said.

"Yeah, he does," said House as he pulled back the sheets to reveal more of Alvie's body; the red spots and bruises were everywhere.

"Put… put the covers back. I can't… t… take the cold." Alvie was shaking so violently Lydia reached over to help keep him on the gurney while House examined him.

"Just give Greg another minute; he has to look you over so he knows what to do to help you," Lydia said to the poor man.

"That's one of the best lies I've heard lately," House said grimly as he rolled Alvie onto his side and saw his back was also badly affected. "About as good as when I tell you I'm just drinking apple juice. Let's lay him flat and cover him." Lydia and House did just that, and tried to make Alvie comfortable. "Let's try the EKG again. You might have a lighter touch than the usual tech and I can distract him." Lydia nodded and stepped out of the room. She found Rich, the PA, explained their game plan and asked him to bring the EKG machine over to Alvie's room. In a few minutes, a tech was rolling it in.

"Thanks, we'll be done in a few minutes," Lydia said.

"Take your time," the tech said. "It gives me a break." House got Alvie talking about various things as Lydia slowly and gently placed the leads on Alvie's arms, legs and chest. He asked him how a rap artist becomes a construction worker, a couple of questions about Carmen, his girlfriend, and finally some serious questions.

"Are you under treatment right now for the problems that got you into Mayfield so many times?" House asked as Lydia placed the last of the leads.

"Yeah… I found a good doc down in Florida." Alvie smiled. "Carmen goes with me… to my appointments. She wants to know what to do… to take care of me."

"Alvie, don't talk; just stay still and breathe normally," Lydia said. She pushed the buttons necessary to run the test, and in a few seconds, got the print-out of the results. "Looks good," she said handing it to House after she quickly looked it over. House came to the same conclusion after reading it himself.

"Distract him," Lydia whispered as she got ready to remove the leads.

"So what meds are you on now?' House asked as Lydia started to quickly clear the machine from Alvie.

"Lexapro… I…I can't remember what else," Alvie said as he constantly drifted off to sleep.

"That's for depression; are you on anything for anxiety or sleep problems?" House asked remembering back to what they were trying to get his roomie to take back at Mayfield.

"I was on Seroquel… I was sleeping too much… and I gained weight," Alvie mumbled. "I forget… "

"Did you bring your meds with you?" Lydia asked. She had spotted a bag labeled "Patient's Belongings" on the counter

"Yeah… they're in my day pack."

"We'll invade it and see what he's got in there after we get him upstairs," House said. "Knowing him, he's probably not even taking what's been prescribed for him. Right now, I want to find out where things stand with Cuddy, and then dive into what he needs."

"I'll let the tech know we're finished with this," Lydia said indicating the EKG machine. "Then I'll find Rich and let him know that we need transport to bring him up. Oh… I never did get to do his blood pressure before… "

"We'll add it to the list of things to do," House said. Lydia left in search of the PA. House looked down at the gurney; he already had a feeling Alvie's blood pressure was lower than normal. It would be consistent with dengue. That was the only medical thought occupying House mind at the moment. She believes in me… I want her to be my wife. Alvie's words kept floating in and out of House's consciousness. Ignore him, House thought to himself. He's crazy. Then again, so am I sometimes; just in a different way. House looked to his left as he heard Lydia laughing; she was standing outside of Alvie's room talking to Rich the PA. He was a good looking guy, closer to Lydia's age than House was; and he was making her laugh. House wasn't normally jealous; just sometimes a little afraid that Lydia would take a good look at what was out there and what she's hooked herself up to, and regret her decision. She believes in me… Yeah, she does, House thought. Lydia returned to the room shaking her head.

"Transport's being called. It's up to you if you want to wait for them or go up and check on Cuddy. I can stay here and accompany Alvie."

"That would work out better. I have the feeling if things are still status quo from what Chase reported earlier, I can call off dialysis and maybe get Taub to stay with Cuddy."

"Greg, if she's starting to improve, do you really think a twenty-four hour watch by a doctor is necessary? They do have very competent nurses up there," Lydia pointed out.

"It's not the state of Cuddy's health that I'm concerned about at this point. It's the intentions of one Dr. Stein that I'm considering," House replied. "Hopefully Mama Cuddy will be up there, and I can find out if he's made any attempt at contact. If he has, it would most likely be through her. He's probably thinking she's still a safe point in all of this; he knows that the rest of us have figured him out."

"Little does he know Arlene is on to him, too." Lydia sighed. "The person I feel for the most in all this is Rachel. All the child wants is to hear the sound of her mother's voice one more time, and not only can't she have it, she has to be subjected to the mistakes and misjudgments of the adults around her. For all we know, Cuddy presented Stein as a grandfatherly figure, and now the man tried to kill her mother."

"Her mother's already dead, for all intents and purposes. My qualm with Stein is how he was causing Cuddy addition, unnecessary suffering," House said bluntly. "He should have let nature take its course and not interfered."

"Lydia?" Rich was at the doorway. "Transport should be here in about ten minutes. I told them the patient need to get up to ICU stat, so it shouldn't be too long a wait."

"Thank you," she replied. When Rich moved away from the doorway, House saw her roll her eyes.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"I had to straighten out a misconception that Rich had earlier and I just get the feeling, he hasn't quite shaken it off yet."

"What misconception would that be?"

"He thought that we were married. Then when I told him no, he thought that I was available. He seemed a bit put off when I told him the answer to that was also no." She shook her head. "Has the dating pool around here really been that dry for that long that every woman around here gets hit on?"

"Nope, not every woman," House said as he headed to the door. "Only the beautiful ones." Lydia smiled and bit her bottom lip, a gesture House loved to see. "I'm going to check on my other patient." House took several steps away from Alvie's room before he allowed the corners of his mouth to upturn. Snap, he thought. Made her smile. House was now in a much better frame of mind, and much more able to focus on what waited for him upstairs. After a quick stop at a vending machine to grab a soda to quench his thirst, House found himself in the elevators leading to ICU. When to doors opened on the second floor, everything seemed relatively calm. He heard the sounds of Arlene and Rachel coming from Cuddy's room; Arlene was obviously reading a book to her granddaughter.

"'The beautiful princess smiled at the handsome prince, took his hand and agreed to be his wife. They're home was a beautiful castle overlooking the kingdom, and they lived happily ever after. The End.'"

"A guide to modern living, I see," House commented.

"Hello, Dr. House," Rachel said. "Grandma said Ben got hurt. Is he OK?"

"He's fine. Do you have ESP powers you're not telling anyone about? Because I'm not aware of anyone calling to tell you he was injured," House said looking between Arlene and Taub.

"Thirteen texted me," Taub said. "She said at first there was a question about him hitting his head, but it turned out to be his shoulder. She also said they won the game."

"They won. And it was his shoulder, although I'm sure Lydia thinks the kid and I are still lying to her about it. There were thirty-seven seconds left, and he didn't want to be pulled."

"I don't blame him. I was the same way when I played," Taub noted. House gave him a look.

"Played what? Jacks? Tidily Winks? Mother May I?"

"No, soccer. I played for three years, then came down with Mono and missed a whole year. Being sick with something like that got me interested in medicine, and the rest is history."

"Never quite thought of you as the Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy type," House admitted. "What position?"

"Striker."

"I was that yesterday when the kids and I played soccer," Rachel said.

"I'm sorry we didn't make the game," Arlene said. "But I'm just exhausted and overwhelmed. I think we both needed some extra sleep and to take things slow today."

"Too bad I couldn't have done the same," House said. "How have her vitals been?" he asked indicating Cuddy. He noted that her skin tone was brighter, her breathing less labored. The output from her urine catheter was vastly improved both in volume and color and her blood pressure was at 95/60, an extremely acceptable reading.

"She's doing much better, isn't she?" Arlene said hopefully. House took a deep breath; once again he was going to have to straighten out Mrs. Cuddy's overly optimistic thinking.

"The condition she was in when she was brought to us was…" House stopped himself when he realized that Rachel was looking up at him and listening. "Not good. We've improved that. We've made her more comfortable… for the short term. Long term prognosis hasn't changed." Arlene dropped her head down and hugged her granddaughter tightly.

"I know. I… just hate seeing it dragged out like this. I've done a lot of thinking in the past few hours and I realize what I've been hoping for is wrong. It would have been better for Lisa if she… had just gone right away. This is hurting me to watch, it's killing me that I can't help her; it's hurting her more."

"Arlene, it's natural to want to help your child, to protect them," a voice from the doorway said. Thomas came into the room, and over to where Arlene and Rachel were sitting. "No matter how old they are or how capable they may be at handling things out in the big wide world, you always want to have something to do with making them feel happy and safe. Right now you feel like that has been taken away from you; I know that feeling all too well. But there's someone else who needs you more than your daughter does right now. And I'm sure she would be the first one to tell you to focus on her," Bell said as he stroked Rachel's head.

"I know," Arlene said. "And I'm going to." She kissed her granddaughter; the child faced her, and returned the gesture.

"How'd you get here?" House asked Bell, wanting to quickly change the atmosphere in the room.

"I walked it," he replied. House looked at him incredulously.

"That's a three mile walk!" he exclaimed.

"Got my exercise for the day," Thomas said with a shrug. House shook his head and returned his focus to Cuddy.

"Going back to my unanswered question from earlier, how have her vitals been?" he asked Taub.

"Decent. BP's gone no lower than 87/58, pulse 66, and O2 sats have been between 90 and 94. She's tolerating the Lasix well that Chase introduced; haven't taken her weight again, I thought once every twenty-four hours was enough. The catheter bag has had to have been emptied twice so far since I took over, and it looks like number three might be in an hour or so." House nodded in agreement.

"What about her labs? She was holding a lot of fluid, but she's putting out a lot. Chase has her on forty milligrams of Lasix?" Taub nodded. "We may want to cut that back to twenty; it was good for a jump start, but she may not be able to sustain things at that rate."

"I put her last labs from this morning in the chart," Taub said pointing to book on Cuddy's bedside table. House picked it up and quickly skimmed through the notes Chase and Taub had made, and the lab reports. Cuddy was much improved under their care.

"Call dialysis. Tell them thanks, but our patient has decided against the treatment."

"You want me to tell them a person in a coma made a decision for themselves? Taub questioned.

"Why not? Takes the burden of blame off of us," House replied. "I need you to stay until Foreman comes on. I have another patient coming up." Taub looked surprised and House picked up on it. "He was my roommate at the Crazy Bin. Dengue fever; need bloodwork to confirm."

"I can stay. Rachel's at a bridal shower; she won't be home until much later. Um… House, you have to go talk to the nurses." House rolled his eyes.

"If they're looking for a ride on my cane, tell them it's spoken for." Taub shook his head.

"Stein called." House left the side of Cuddy's bed and turned toward the door; Thomas joined him.

"I don't know how you get away with some of the things you say," Bell said shaking his head.

"I'm charming; I understand it's hereditary." Thomas smiled as he let House go to the desk by himself. There was no nurse immediately in view, but the sound of the elevator doors opening did catch House's attention. Lydia exited followed by an orderly pushing Alvie on the stretcher.

"Room three," House called out.

"Thomas! How did you…" Lydia began.

"Social niceties later!" House barked out. He saw Lydia looked startled. "Stein called. I want to find out what he said."

"I'll go stay with Alvie," Lydia said. "Thomas, why don't you come in here with me? I want you to meet a friend of Greg's." House made a face at Lydia's description of him and his ex-roommate; but he did appreciate her effort to get Thomas occupied and away from him at the moment.

"Dr. House, I'm Melanie, the RN supervisor for this section of the floor. I took the call from someone named Stein. He claimed he was Dr. Cuddy's physician; I knew that wasn't true because I was told to talk to only your team. He wanted to know about Dr. Cuddy, but I told him his name wasn't on the chart, and I couldn't give him any information. That's when he started screaming," the nurse said shaking her head. "He demanded that… that I tell him if Dr. Cuddy was still alive. I offered to have Dr. Taub talk to him, but he just continued screaming that I had to tell him if she was alive or not."

"What did you say?" House inquired.

"Nothing; I just refused to answer. As upsetting as the call was, it was what he said right before hanging up that unnerved me the most."

"And that was?"

"I'm coming there to finish what I started."