House limped with a haughty air as he entered the auditorium, taking his time before reaching his desk.

All his would-be fellows watched with skittish eyes, wondering what sort of evils he'd concocted for them today.

"We have a new case," he announced with a small smile. Everyone sat up instantly, all too eager to prove their own worth. They'd been at this 'game' for weeks now and they were all desperate to get a seat on his coveted staff.

"Four year old male, bruised ribs, concussion, sprained wrist, and a widespread collection of bruises. Go."

The crowd stared at him silently, all still poised to attack, but no one volunteering an answer. After another long moment of incredulous stares, someone finally mumbled,

"Are you—are you kidding?"

House just arched an eyebrow, saying,

"Do I ever kid, generic number?"

The man flustered a bit before mumbling,

"Doctor House, that's not a sickness. It sounds like a domestic abuse case, if anything."

House shook his head, moving to sit down on top of his desk.

"Not an abuse case. Two days ago he was in a car accident."

The room filled with scoffs and agitated sighs, their attack ready stances falling in disappointment.

"This isn't a case, Doctor House. Every 'symptom' can be attributed to the accident."

House smirked, already knowing this, before mumbling,

"I want a CT scan run, better yet… I want you all to come up with any possible sickness this kid could have, and then run a test for it. Whoever comes up with the most time consuming test gets to keep their job."

The fellows exchanged skeptical looks before jumping up and hastily racing out of the auditorium. House chuckled at their desperate need to impress him before moving to erase the white board. He had assumed that all his wanna-be followers had scattered, so he was caught off guard when a voice suddenly called,

"Who is she?"

House turned slowly, surprised to be questioned by a seemingly empty room, only to find that Thirteen was still in her seat, watching him with curious eyes. He smirked slightly, pleased by her shrewdness, before feigning confusion.

"Why aren't you scattering like the rest of the pack?"

"The patient obviously isn't sick, we all know that," she spoke, completely ignoring him.

"Not to mention the fact that the patient's mother jumps at the mere mention of you, while you stake her room out like a hound on the hunt. So, who is she?"

House couldn't help but gape in surprise. He had no idea that almost-Cameron was avoiding him, considering he'd never even spoken to her before. Suppressing the shocked look, he murmured,

"I don't know. Never met her." Ignoring the not-at-all-convinced expression Thirteen was shooting his way, he quickly limped out of the room. Things were certainly getting interesting.

"Haven't met her yet," he murmured under his breath, "but I will."

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Alison had been hiding out in Jayden's room, the need to be with her baby outweighing the need to stay out of sight. She hovered by his bed, comforting him and fawning over him, all the while prepared to duck at a moment's notice behind the wrap around curtain that surrounded the bed next to Jayden's, which was fortunately empty.

Before coming here, she'd lurked around the ER trying to look inconspicuous before finally venturing back to her son's room, praying that Cuddy would be gone. Her prayer had been answered, but she was disappointed to see that Hart was gone, as well. Now she just hovered about, unsure of what to do or where to go.

Jayden watched her with mild disinterest, obviously used to his neurotic mother. He couldn't help but sigh in sadness at the loss of his game boy, which had apparently not survived the accident. It was an atrocity, really—he'd just beaten an insanely hard level.

His eyes flew to the window as doctors scurried to and fro, only to see a few lurking outside the glass, staring right back. Feeling uncomfortable, he reached out and tugged on his mom's sleeve, instantly yanking her attention back to him.

"Mommy, why are they lookin' at us?" Alison glanced up, only to have the two milling doctors turn away instantly, obviously embarrassed of being caught staring.

Finally finding something that she could have some control over, Alison jumped up to go confront the doctors. They seemed sheepish and uncertain as she approached, which only made her more nervous and determined.

"Hello, are you my son's doctors?" The two men glanced apprehensively at one another, as though she'd asked a trick question, before slowly nodding their heads in an almost synchronized motion.

"We… what I mean is… we aren't the official doctors, because his official doctor is Doctor House," one of the doctors, a man with raven hair and an Indian skin tone, murmured, "but we are working on his case, so-"

"So yes, we're his doctors," the other man, a shorter man with a distinct nose and a receding hairline, interjected. He held out his hand as an offering, introducing himself as Doctor Chris Taub. The Indian doctor, seeing what the other was doing, did the same and introduced himself as Doctor Kutner.

Alison just stared at them dumbfounded, as her mind had stopped functioning at the name Doctor House. She felt like her ears were ringing and she couldn't help but glance up, sarcastically thinking 'You're doing this to get back at me for being an atheist, aren't you?'

There was no other way to explain how this could happen. Why would House even take this case? He only took interesting cases, and all that had happened here was a car accident.

Noticing the odd looks they were giving her and realizing she was being rude, Alison hesitantly extended her good hand and shook their hands one at a time. Her mind was reeling as a new thought hit her: what if this was an interesting case? What if something was wrong with Jayden?

Suddenly alarmed, she all but shouted,

"What's wrong with my son?"

And again, the two men exchanged secretive, shady looks that only made her heart ache even more. What could be so bad that they'd hesitate like this?

"Well mayam, uhhh, you see…" They struggled for words, straining. She turned to look at her son, studying him for symptoms. He stared back at her with a curious expression, wondering why mommy was getting all riled up in the hallway.

She watched his hands, no shakes. She studied his face, his eyes, his mouth, everything she could see. And still there was nothing. She'd worked under House for years and, even with her five years of inactivity, she was fairly certain that she could still diagnose a case. But looking at her son now, she saw absolutely no signs of any sort of sickness what so ever.

So what had these doctors seen that she couldn't see?

"Ms. Carter," a familiar voice greeted and she glanced up from her near hysteria to see Doctor Hadley approach. She felt a new wave of optimism now that this doctor was here, thinking that she would finally be told the truth.

"Doctor Hadley, can you tell me what's wrong with my son?"

Doctor Hadley glanced over Alison's shoulder into the curious, familiar blue eyes of her son. She studied him again, noting the genetic traits she recognized from a certain boss of hers. Ignoring Alison's question, she glanced over at her fellow fellows, wondering if they noticed it too. They didn't. She sighed.

"Ms. Carter…," she started, but stopped when she glanced over at Alison only to find her attention fixated on someone else. She turned, following her gaze, until they landed on the federal agent from before. She let out a breath of relief, glad that she didn't have to improvise some lie for the woman when in reality there was nothing wrong with her son.

Just House and his mysterious interest in her, which, looking at her son, was starting to seem less mysterious.

Relief hit Alison in a wave when she saw that familiar bulk of her marshal rushing towards her, but her relief dissolved as quickly as it came when she caught sight of the look on his face. Her eyes widened as she saw Hart rushing towards her, clearly fuming.

"Uh oh," she muttered under her breath, earning her sideways glances from House's wanna-be team. Then the two men noticed the giant man rushing towards them, his face bright red with barely contained anger. Alison held her hands up defensively, quickly saying,

"I can explain." He didn't seem interested in her explanation, though, as he pointed to an empty hospital room across from Jayden's.

"In there. Now." His voice dripped with venom and she walked in slowly, only to have him rush in behind her and slam the glass door, as much as one can slam a glass door, before he turned to shout at her.

"Are you crazy?!" he threw his arms up in the air as he shouted, clearly needing to physically show how upset he was. The new team watched from the other side of the glass door as the two argued.

"Do you think he's the father?" Kutner mumbled, watching the man screaming at the pretty blonde.

"Maybe. He seems upset about the kid being in the hospital." Taub mumbled as they all failed at their attempts to not watch the dispute.

"Unless he put the kid here, that is."

Kutner rolled his eyes, murmuring,

"It was a car accident, remember?" Taub glanced at him with raised eyebrows, as if to say well-aren't-you-naïve.

"Oh yeah, because a domestic abuse victim has never lied about being abused before. Sometimes it's a 'car accident', sometimes it's 'I fell down the stairs.'"

"He's not the dad," Thirteen interjected. The two glanced at her in surprise at the topic change, having both forgotten for a second that she was even standing there. The serious look on her face quickly made them wonder if she knew something they didn't.

"He looks nothing like the kid." she explained, not wanting to mention who she really thought was the father. It was a stupid theory, really. House as a father? If that was the case, then she wasn't sure who she sympathized more with: the kid, or the mom. The mom for having to sleep with a guy like House, or the kid for having his genes. She couldn't help but smirk at that thought before turning her attention back to the glass and the arguing pair.

---------------------------------

"It's not my fault, ok? Look, William, I didn't plan to get into an accident while we were going through New Jersey! After the wreck they took us to different hospitals! I had no say in the matter!" Alison continued to defend herself within the room, oblivious to the new team's discussion on the other side of the glass. Her mind was too focused on Hart.

"Don't you get it, Alison? If someone recognizes you here it's over! You're breaking the biggest rule of all!" He was infuriated at her. How could she risk not only her life, but Jayden's? Didn't she realize the risk in coming back here?

"Look, no one's recognized me yet, ok? I can stay in the shadows and everyone here will be none the wiser. I mean, I have changed a lot since the last time I was here."

He just sighed angrily, clenching and unclenching his fists. He'd never wanted to hit a woman so badly in his life. He settled for poking an angry finger at her and hissing,

"If anyone, and I mean ANYONE, recognizes you, it's over, you realize that? We'll have to find you another identity and you and Jayden will be moved to a new beginning again. Is that what you want?" She sighed angrily, running her hands through her hair.

"No, that's not what I want. What do you want me to do, Hart? Drag my son out the front door? I think that might cause some unwanted attention." He glared at her, hating that she was right, hating that there was nothing they could do, and hating the guilt he felt for all of this. He was the reason they were out on the interstate to begin with. He'd almost gotten them killed.

She saw that his glare had softened a bit, so she tried a weak smile before saying,

"Look, I'll be careful, ok?" He sighed again before turning to leave. She thought about mentioning the fact that Jayden's father happened to be his attending physician, but the fury the man had just released told her that little bit of information would most likely push him over the edge.

"You better be," he mumbled as he left the room, storming past the team that had been gawking at their quarrel. Cameron found herself blushing then, realizing they'd been watching the two argue the entire time.

"Um, he's just worried about Jayden," she managed lamely as she pushed past them and disappeared down the hallway.

"See?" Kutner mumbled as they watched her leave, "he is the father."

Thirteen just rolled her eyes, saying,

"That doesn't prove anything. And why did he yell at her? It's not like she caused the pile-up." She turned to head down the hallway, her two teammates trailing behind. Taub glanced over his shoulder hesitantly before mumbling,

"I hope he isn't the father. I don't like how he yelled at her." Kutner just laughed, saying,

"Hey now, don't start crushing on her. You've got a wife, remember?" Taub just sighed, murmuring,

"Yeah. Don't remind me."

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Alright, so I have more or less mapped out the rest of this story and it should only be about 10-13 more chapters, unless I go off on some tangent along the way.
BTW, there will be a little Jayden/House interaction in the foreseeable future (as in within the next couple chapters).

It would make me smile like a five year old on Christmas if you'd review (: