Chapter 9 Cold Harbor Hospital—About 9 AM the next morning

Chapter 9 Cold Harbor Hospital—About 9 AM the next morning

After arranging donuts and coffee for her guests, Patty drove them up to the neighboring town's hospital. During the trip, she sensed that something else was brewing along the lines of the whole Sandoval mess. However she also inherently knew that if House had a problem, she should just let him deal with it.

When she pulled up in front of the facility, she told them, "Well here we are."

Yeah. Like I ever wanted to come back here again, House mused to himself.

"We'll see you back here about 4:00. Dinner's on us tonight," Cuddy indicated.

"I'll think on our options. I appreciate it, Lisa. Let's hope it's a celebration dinner. Good luck in there," the driver agreed as the passengers got out. With a honk of the horn, she took off.

Cuddy looked anxiously at House. "Are you going to be all right in there?"

"Yeah. Hey it was a long time ago. Those losers are long gone," he dismissed.

"House, you don't need to play games with me. Remember, your feelings are important to me too," she admonished while giving his hand a supportive squeeze.

"I don't want you going into Empress withdrawal or anything," he retorted. "Meantime I wonder what the townies are putting on the menu? Something good and corny."

"Humble pie," she cracked.

"Already setting the mood? Wow. I didn't think we interviewees did any of that awful stuff."

"Keeping you in check merits an exception," she told him.

"Administrative loophole. Ah. Careful, Cuddy, you're not the Empress here."

"I'll try and keep that in mind," she responded dryly as they entered the facility. Other than a few doctors walking across the floor, it seemed pretty quiet.

"Wow. They definitely need you to stir things up," he presumed.

"Maybe we might want to get through the interview first?" she reminded him.

A slender elderly man in a grey suit approached them. "Drs. House and Cuddy, right? I'm Kevin Peters, the hospital administrator. Welcome to Cold Harbor."

"Thank you. It's a pleasure to be back here," she replied while shaking his hand.

"Likewise," House chimed in while shaking the other's hand.

"That's right. You both are originally from the area, aren't you?" Peters realized. "Ms. DeAnda mentioned that." He scratched his head. "All the better. Well the agenda's not that complicated. I'm going to give you a tour. Then we'll meet with some of the doctors for a question and answer session. I figure we'll eat lunch about 12. Then we'll make things official after that."

"Sounds swell," House declared.

"Then shall we?" Peters proposed while starting the tour.

An hour later—ICU

Peters orchestrated the tour so as to hit every possible highpoint that the regional hospital facility could offer the two physicians. The conference room could videolink to any place in the country if not the world. The labs and Clinic offered the best service outside of Marquette and were still among the top five facilities in the state. Each physician had his or her own office.

And they were prepared to offer House a team like the one he had at PPTH.

Admittedly, the Diagnostician was intrigued. If he could score the right kind of autonomy, a small sleepy place like this one could be a decent fit. "What's the arrangement with NMU or Michigan?"

"We have cooperative arrangements with both of course. Why?" Peters responded.

"Just curious," he responded.

"What Dr. House is getting at, Mr. Peters, is that we both like to have the best resources possible," Cuddy clarified trying to reduce any possible threat to potential employment.

"I know. I appreciate that," Peters expressed. "Any doctor worth his or her salt would want the same. Perhaps Princeton Plainsboro might have issues with his attitudes over such things but we don't here. In fact, our regional ties have gone into our ICU. It's better than Marquette's."

The two visitors admired the bustling scene around them. They saw doctors working in harmony to treat the eight or so patients there. Equipment wheeled back and forth across the room.

"This is very impressive," Cuddy complimented.

"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy. We try. Shall we get upstairs?" Peters noted.

As they were turning to leave, the doors to the ambulance bay burst open. A group of paramedics followed by a young woman with long dark hair in scrubs rushed their patient into the area.

"Dr. Hadley? What's going on?" Peters wondered.

"Sorry, Mr. Peters. We have a patient with a mysterious stomach virus," Hadley sighed while rubbing her forehead. "I rode with the paramedics and tried all of the tests that I could think of. We'll need cultures and other tests." She ran her hands through her hair. "I wish that House guy were here. Can't we call down to the OC and find him?"

Cuddy looked at him expectantly.

"Aw crap. Here we go," House groused. "Probably a garden variety enphleghmitis. Who's the lucky contestant?"

"And you're supposed to be House?" Hadley supposed.

"Maybe or someone with his charm and devilishly good looks. Gimme the file," House responded while taking the file from her. He flipped it open and stared incredulously at it. "Yeah right. As if I'm really going to treat him?"

"Treat who? House, who is it?" Cuddy asked, wanting to know what was going on.

"His father," a familiar voice responded.

They all turned to find an older woman standing there in the doorway; her blue eyes also identical to the diagnostician's.

"Hello, Greg," Jane House greeted.

"Hi, Mom," House responded while rolling his eyes.

The crap was definitely about to hit the fan…..