"So what do we do now?" Emily asked, the gravity of the situation really hitting home upon learning that no help was coming, the team of profilers was the first and only line of defence.

"Our best and possibly only chance at figuring out what bioagent was in the bomb is to identify House's would-be assassin," Hotch said, "Reid, JJ, you look after the patient. We need to know the second any of the patients start showing new symptoms. The rest of us will work on the profile."

"How do we know that this was an attempt on House's life and not a random attack, terrorist or otherwise?" JJ asked.

"We don't, but what are the chances that the two would coincide so neatly?" Hotch answered. Reid opened his mouth to recite the statistics of such an event, but Hotch preemptively stopped him with a raised hand and a sigh of, "Rhetorical question, Reid."

"Did we ever stop to think that maybe House knew something was going to happen?" Emily asked suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at her questioningly. "What would make you say that?" Rossi asked.

"Well, House gets a page from someone who obviously wants him to be in the blast zone, but instead of answering it himself he sends his fellows? That seems a little suspicious to me..."

"House doesn't answer the vast majority of pages, this isn't exactly new behaviour," Reid said.

"No, he screens calls, not pages."

"House may be a lot of things, but he's not evil," JJ said, "Most of the time..."

******

"Why are we here exactly?" Amber asked disdainfully.

"We need to identify the toxin," Cuddy snapped rather impatiently.

"They just said no one's showing any symptoms yet," Taub said, "Which means there's nothing we can do."

"Well then, in the mean time, you can diagnose the patient you still have."

"Why do you even need us?" Amber asked, "There are five doctors already on the ward. Ones that have the ability to run tests, physically interact with the patients, while we can do nothing. What more could we possibly do?"

"The fact that there's a major emergency risking mass casualties in the hospital isn't enough for you?" 13 asked.

Amber's expression made it clear that it wasn't; clearly, there were more important things she could be doing, especially when the ones at risk were her competition for her job.

******

"Reid, what are you doing?" JJ asked, standing back and watching him, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Reid looked back at her over his shoulder, then back at the wall where he was scrawling in large letters: seizures, fever, elevated SED rate, hypersomnia, personality changes, creepy-crawly sensation. "I'm listing the patient's symptoms, that way we can use them to diagnose her and be able to differentiate new symptoms originating from the toxin."

"That's permanent marker, you know," she pointed out, looking at the thick black letters.

He shrugged, "I didn't have washable markers or anything else to write on..."

"What about the windows where it would wash off? The ward is only, what, like sixty percent glass?"

Again he shrugged, "Guess I didn't think of that." He paused to examine his list before looking up sharply and asking, "What's taking Morgan so long?"

"He's already back, Hotch just talked to him," JJ said.

"I didn't hear the phone ring..."

JJ rolled her eyes, "It rang two separate times. It was Morgan the first time, Foreman the second. Em's talking to him right now."

"Is it just me or is there something weird going on with her and Morgan?" Reid asked.

"Please tell me you're not just picking up on that," JJ said.

"No..." he said unconvincingly.

"The 'official' position," she said, punctuating the phrase with air quotes, "Is that there's nothing going on... But if you ask me, Morgan is jealous because Em, at the very least, kissed Dr. Foreman. But for God's sake, do not bring it up with either of them!"

"But... What..." he stammered.

"How about we stay focused so we don't all die and I'll explain everything later."

******

"Are you sure..." Foreman started to ask.

"I'm fine," Emily repeated, trying to sound annoyed, but secretly pleased that he was so worried about her. It had been awhile since someone cared so much. Before he could once again repeat his line of questioning, she added, "If there's anyone I'd trust to figure out what the toxin is, it would be you."

He smiled brightly, before becoming totally serious, "Just in case something happens, I want you to know... I love you."

"Don't say that," Emily scolded half-heartedly, "Nothing's going to happen. Then you can tell me in person." She felt her heart flip-flop in her chest; it had been even longer since someone had said that to her and meant it. She wanted to say the same back, but she wanted to be sure that she really did love him and wouldn't be saying it as a reaction to the very real danger she was presently in.

"I can't promise I won't worry, but I'd feel a lot better if I knew there was a kiss waiting for me..."

If looks could kill, Foreman would have been dead a hundred times over. Morgan standing nearby, eavesdropping on his conversation, staring daggers at him. His near-boiling blood threatened to erupt when he heard him say those three words and he would have given anything to be able to hear what she said in response. Did she say it back? On second thought though, he decided that it was probably better that he didn't hear it, because he wasn't sure he could handle her saying she loved him.

A/N: Whoa... It took like forever and three days to get this chapter written. I'm super sorry for the long wait! I hope it was at least worth it...