[AN: I do apologize for taking so long to get this chapter up. Life is starting to get a little more reasonable, and so I'm hoping for more frequent updates. Enjoy this little interlude and if you are so inclined, a review would be well received.]

Chapter 24

Dr. Christian opened his bag and started going through his supplies. He didn't have everything he needed, so he was going to have to stop by the office before his visit. He thought about the old days when physicians often went to the patient's house as well as seeing patient's in the office. In those days, the office was usually the doctor's personal home as well. He wondered how they decided everything they would need to take with them not knowing what was waiting for them when they arrived. Of course, in the old days there wasn't as much stuff that they might need and they didn't worry about single use syringes etc. He set his bag on the table and went back to his bedroom to finish getting ready.

As he showered his mind drifted to the day before when House had barged into an exam room while he was with a patient. "I need to talk to you," House said.

"I'm with a patient," Dr. Christian replied.

House glanced over at the patient with an assessing look, "Pulmonary Hypertension and well on his way to respiratory failure if he doesn't lay off the drugs. Now he's diagnosed; I need to talk to you."

"Wait in my office. I'll be there as soon as I can," Dr. Christian said. House grumbled impatiently, but shut the door. Satisfied that House was on his way to his office, Dr. Christian apologized to his patient and continued his exam. True to House's word, the patient was showing all the symptoms of pulmonary hypertension – including signs of drug use, though the patient wasn't high at the moment. He finished his exam and wrote out a prescription for various lab tests to confirm the diagnosis. He called his nurse to send an order to the hospital lab for chest x-rays and several other tests and sent the patient to Westland Memorial for a full workup with the pulmonologist on staff at the hospital. He'd check in with the pulmonologist tomorrow to discuss next steps.

Finished with his patient, he checked his watch and then headed to his office where House was waiting, "Now what is so important that you had to interrupt my patient's exam?"

"Need to talk to you about Phillip," House said.

"Who's Phillip?" Dr. Christian asked.

"Phillip James, my nephew," House said, "The older one, not the baby." House went on to explain Phillip's condition and the regimen he was on to control his protein levels. "He's playing football on the junior high team." House said as he finished his dissertation.

"So we need to adjust his diet and drug regimen to fit his activity level," Dr. Christian said.

"Not we; you," House said. "You're in charge of his health."

"But if you're living there…," Dr. Christian started but stopped when he saw the look on House's face. "You're leaving," he finished.

House looked down as he bounced his cane on the floor collecting himself and then looked back up at Dr. Christian. He took a deep breath and continued, "So you'll be taking over his care."

"Okay," Dr. Christian said. "I'd like to have some current blood work done and a few scans taken of his liver before I re-adjust his regimen.

House nodded, "Whatever," he said. He took one last look around the office, "Your office could use a little more spice." He got up from the chair he was sitting in and limped out of the room.

Dr. Christian hadn't worked much with Dr. House at this point, but he knew enough of his reputation from school and the articles he'd read on the man that as ambiguous as that statement was, leaving Phillip with his condition in his care was a high complement. The man trusted him to take care of his extended family. He wondered where House was going, but knew it would be fruitless to ask. In fact, House probably didn't know where he was going himself. It was too bad actually; Dr. Christian thought back to the last few days working with him on that case and realized that he enjoyed working with the acerbic man. He would've liked the opportunity to work with him again.

He stepped out of the shower and dressed. Several minutes later he was headed toward his office for supplies and then would be back on the road toward the James' property.

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David woke up to find himself the recipient of a very pleasant sensation. Somebody was feeling a little better this morning and was immensely grateful for how he'd comforted her the night before. He had no problems responding to this particular treatment and had spent the last hour in pure physical enjoyment. Afterwards Susan got up to take care of the boys leaving David to recover alone in the bedroom. He sighed with contentment and then got up and made his way to the bathroom. As he showered he thought over the coming day. It was Saturday; there were a few chores to do this morning before it became too hot to function outside and then Susan had said something the other day about building a chicken coop, so he wanted to look up some plans on the internet so he could start that. Then tonight of course, they had that cookout at Stan's house they needed to go to. He hoped Susan would feel up to going. He thought it would be a nice distraction for her. Tomorrow was Sunday and Susan always looked forward to going to Bible study and church. She had joined the choir and singing always helped lift her spirits. He hoped that by the end of the weekend, that even though she would still be missing her brother that she would be back to her normal self, though that might be too optimistic. They had a good life here. He had a good job, they lived on a small acreage which Susan, with his and Phillip's help would slowly modify it into a working hobby farm. He knew she had plans next spring for a very large vegetable garden and chickens. She'd even commented on wanting to raise goats and a pig as well. This was all very overwhelming for David, who was the consummate 'city boy', but he was willing to give it all a try. His dad had been raised on a farm, and soon his parents would be here. He knew his dad would help him fill in the knowledge gap. He finished his shower and turned off the water. He noted that the water was starting to smell of sulfur again, so he made a note to himself to replace the filters they'd installed behind the pressure tank. He stepped out of the shower, dried off and moved into the bedroom to dress.

MDMDMDMD

Officer Tom walked into the room and sat down at his desk and turned on his computer. As it was going through its start-up process, he pulled out his wallet and extracted the sheet of paper that Shirley had given him the night before. As she had started talking he recalled the man he had pulled over for speeding who was bringing medicine for his sister's baby. That evening he'd started a search on him when he was called away to that accident. Finally the computer was ready to go and he pulled up his DMV search history and found the query. He retrieved the information and at the top of the screen was an image of the driver's license of Gregory House with the words "deceased" inscribed in red over the image. Tom had hoped that Shirley had mixed up the name or something in her research, but there it was clear as day. The man had faked his death. Faking your death was a pretty extreme way to handle your problems. He wondered what House had done causing him to want to disappear. He wondered if he was involved with the mob and knew too much or what felony he'd committed – other than faking his death. He picked up his phone….

MDMDMDMD

Susan put Billy in his swing and started working on breakfast. This morning she decided she would make pancakes, Phillip's favorite. He walked out of his room carrying his guitar, "Mom, do you know anything about guitars?"

"Not much; why? Did something break?" she asked.

"No," Phillip said. "I just can't get that chord right no matter what I do. I wish Uncle Greg hadn't left."

"What chord is it?" Susan asked. Phillip told her and she walked over to the piano and lifted the lid to expose the keys. She positioned her right hand on the piano and played it for him. "This is what it should sound like," she said. Phillip sat down on the edge of the piano bench next to his mom and fingered the chord on the frets of his guitar. Then he strummed the strings, only it wasn't a strum, it was a plunk. Susan looked over at his left hand on the neck of his guitar. "Your fingers are practically all tied in knots," she observed.

"I know," Phillip said. "That's why I can't press them down right to get the right sound to come out."

Susan studied his fingers, "You know," she said, "there is no rule that you have to play the notes in that order, they just all have to sound. See, I can play this same chord on the piano, by changing this G on my thumb and playing it an octave higher with my pinky. It's the same chord, just the notes in are in a different order." She looked at his fingers again and pointed to his third finger which was stuffed uncomfortably under his second, "What note is this finger on?"

"E," Phillip answered.

"Okay; what if you were to use this third finger on this second string in this spot and find another E somewhere else. Where is another E?"

Phillip thought for a moment and then smiled, "The bottom string is an E all by itself; I don't even have to press it down anywhere."

"Okay then, try it now," Susan said. Phillip strummed the strings and the chord sang out. Susan smiled, "Sounds perfect."

Phillip was grinning from ear to ear, "Thanks mom….what's for breakfast?"

Susan smiled, "pancakes."

"Sweet!" Phillip said as he jumped up and went back into his room. Soon Susan heard the chord being strummed over and over. She got up from the piano and went back to the kitchen to start mixing the pancake batter.

David walked in from the back room and stopped by Billy's swing to tweak his nose and then picked him up, "Hey little man," he said then kissed him on the cheek. He carried him on into the kitchen and came up behind Susan and leaned down to kiss her on her neck. "How're ya doin'?" he asked.

Susan looked over at him, "You're sounding more and more like a native," she said laughing. "I'm fine."

"Just picking up the local lingo," he responded. He moved over to the table and sat Billy on his lap. Billy promptly started banging on the table. David grabbed his hands to stop the noise. Billy hollered out his displeasure and pulled his hands away from his dad's grip and started banging on the table again. "You know, we should start a family band," he said.

Susan lifted her eyebrow as she turned to look at him, "Oh?"

"Well, between you, Laura, Phillip and Billy we've got all manner of instruments and you sing too," he said.

"So, what do you play?" Susan asked knowing the answer already.

"The radio," David said with a smile. There was a knock at the door and David looked questioningly over at Susan. "I wonder who that could be?" They generally didn't get a lot of visitors, especially early on a Saturday morning. He got up, carrying Billy with him and answered the door. "Dr. Christian," he announced. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine thank you. I came to see Phillip," he said lifting his bag for David to see.

"Okay," David answered somewhat puzzled. He stepped aside and let the doctor in the house and then called for Phillip. Phillip came out of his room, "Dr. Christian is here to see you."

"Why?" Phillip asked.

"Dr. House came by the office yesterday and told me about your condition. I need to examine you and take some blood," he said.

"You make house calls?" Phillip asked. "Besides I'm not sick."

"Not generally," Dr. Christian answered. "I'm doing this as a special favor to House; I owe him one. From now on you'll have to come to the office."

MDMDMDMD

Officer Tom hung up the phone, closed his eyes and sighed. He hadn't gotten a lot of information from the Princeton police department as to what kind of criminal House was, but he'd obviously faked his death to escape jail. That made him a fugitive and since he'd crossed state lines, the FBI was going to be involved. Anytime the feds got involved in a case, it became a lot more complicated. His thoughts moved toward the conversation with Shirley the evening before. The way she described House, he sounded like a crass individual, but he wasn't dangerous. In fact, the in the long run despite his methods, he'd diagnosed a little girl with a rare condition. A person like that couldn't be all bad. Still though, he had work to do. He had to find the woman he was staying with and go arrest the man. He got up from his desk and walked into his supervisor's office.

MDMDMDMD

Dr. Christian finished examining Phillip and then started the process of pulling his blood for analysis, "If it's okay, I'd rather mom do that part," Phillip said.

"Phillip, I'm sure Dr. Christian is a very good phlebotomist. Besides, I haven't pulled anybody since before your brother was born," Susan said from the kitchen.

"I still want you to do it please," Phillip begged.

Susan took the pan off the burner and walked over to the couch where Phillip and Dr. Christian were sitting, "alright," she said. Dr. Christian got up and moved out of the way so Susan could sit down. Susan quickly pulled the three tubes of blood and handed them over to Dr. Christian.

"You're fast," he said.

"And she doesn't hurt either," Phillip added.

"Well, that's the most important part," Dr. Christian answered with a smile.

"Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Susan asked. Christian agreed to stay and soon they were all sitting around the table. Billy sat on David's lap while David coordinated feeding Billy cereal and himself pancakes with sausage. Susan started to grin when she realized that David was about to feed himself a spoonful of rice cereal soaked in breast milk when the doorbell rang halting the process in mid-flight. David looked at his spoon and quickly maneuvered to Billy. Still grinning, she said, "Wow, two visitors inside of an hour. I wonder who that could be." She got up from the table to answer the door.

It had been a fairly quiet and pleasant morning in the wake of House's departure in the James household, but as Susan reached for the door, she had no idea that her pleasant morning was about to be turned upside down.