The convention was good, but it's taken quite some time to catch up on all the stories I'm writing, not to mention the classes I'm facilitating and taking, and a workshop I'm in. Finally finished this one.

Chapter 26.

"So how'd it go with Madelaine?" Magnani asked as soon as Simpson returned from Pediatrics. "Do you have a date for lunch with her?"

Simpson shook his head, as forlorn as ever. "She barely looked my way. Too busy gossiping with her friends."

"How's Jacob?" Jacobs asked.

"He's stable, but he has a bulldog of a doctor. Very protective of her position as his attending." Simpson sat with a thud. "Name's Chatterji."

"Chatterji? I heard about her. No nonsense, but gets the job done." Magnani shuffled the case files he'd been sorting as they looked for their next patient. "Let's see if we can come up with a case to present to Hadley before lunch."

House drove back to Shelby, deep in thought. He could have horned in on Jacob's case or even just stuck around the hospital, monitoring him, but something told him he didn't want to get in Dr. Chatterji's way. She seemed more than competent. He stopped at Hanbury Street to check out the situation. Will's folks hadn't started yet, but he saw the cop surveilling his property.

It was early for lunch, still he gravitated toward the diner anyway. He seemed to spend as much time there as anywhere. Perhaps he should have set up shop in his booth instead of buying the office house. He chuckled. Nah, the house would work out well. Already had tenants for the rest of the place, and some potentials for staffing his office. He never had followed up with Anita's forensics friend. That went on his mental list of to-dos for the next week.

The diner wasn't as busy as at mealtime, but it was never empty. Still, Linda came over to the booth immediately after he sat down. "Coffee?"

"Of course." While he waited, he looked out the window to the parking lot and the gas station. Hard to believe he'd only been in Shelby since June. A lot had happened since then. Now, he and Cameron were about to move into their own home, he was having an office renovated to open his own practice, and he was rarely alone any more. Was that a good or bad thing?

Case in point, Cameron arrived from the clinic for lunch. "Seems the flu is dying down. No new cases today," she said. "Did you see Jacob?"

"Yes and already locked horns with his doctor. But fear not." He held up his hands, palms toward her. "I promised I wouldn't try to muscle in on her."

They ordered their lunch, spaghetti for House and salad with grilled chicken for Cameron

"I certainly hope you keep that promise. If his doctor needs assistance, there are appropriate doctors to help."

He nodded. "Guess I'll give her a day or two before I sic Hadley on her."

They were still eating lunch when Anita breezed in. "Glad I caught you."

"Who me? Officer, I didn't do a thing." House raised his hands again.

Anita laughed. "Maybe caught wasn't the word I meant. I want you to come with me to give me an opinion on something."

"To do with my house? I'm eating lunch." He pointed his fork at his plate of spaghetti.

"That's okay. It can wait until you're finished. And no, it's not directly related to your house." She eyed his food. "Linda, can I have a plate of this?" she called to the waitress who had just served the next booth.

"Sure. Be right there."

Hadley watched her team sift through case files, trying to find a new patient. It was an ever repeating cycle. They'd finally agree on one that intrigued them, go through a set of tests, repeatedly hypothesize and guess, and finally realize the solution to the puzzle was staring them in the face all along. She smiled, thinking about all the times she was in their shoes. Now her stomach told her it was lunchtime.

The elevator was full as it always was at the noon hour. Doctors, nurses and interns headed to the cafeteria for lunch as she was. A familiar face appeared in the back of the crowd, one she hadn't thought she'd ever see again.

When they reached the floor and everyone exited the elevator en masse, she lingered so that he could catch up with her. "Foreman, what are you doing here?" They walked on together.

"I was consulted on Nora Meisner's case. Thought I'd check in to see how she was doing and whether they were ready to do her brain surgery."

"What about your job with Princeton General?" she asked.

"That was temporary, you know." He held the door to the cafeteria open for her.

"And PPTH?" She arched her eyebrows.

"They're rebuilding. If I don't get another position before it's done, Cuddy wants me back." He smiled.

"So, she's still in charge?" Hadley couldn't keep from frowning.

He nodded. "She considered an offer from a hospital in Pennsylvania, but decided PPTH was hers to do with as she pleased."

"And you're happy about that?"

They got in line for their food. "Let's just say, better the boss I know."

"I hope you're not angling for a position here." She took an egg salad sandwich.

"Why, because you want to keep this to yourself? Correction, yourself and Wilson?"

She waited for him to fill his tray with a sandwich, chips and a piece of pie. "Did you speak with House?"

"Yes." He pointed to an empty table nearby.

"So you know he left Snow Hill to start his own practice."

"Yes, although I don't understand why a nephrologist would do that." He put his tray down and sat.

"There are nephrology practices all over. The point is, he's a diagnostician. He's also certified in infectious diseases." She smiled. "And he's also going to be my landlord."

Foreman's turn to raise an eyebrow. "You and the cop?"

"So you know about Anita. Good. One less thing for me to tell you." She sat opposite him. "She's also former FBI."

"What you're saying is you're so over me, it's like it never happened, and I should leave you in peace. I get that." He bit into his sandwich and chewed.

"Guess that's what I'm saying." She bit down her smile.

"We had some good times."

She shook her head. "That was in the distant past."

They both ate the rest of their lunches without speaking, letting the din of voices swirl around them. When Wilson sat down, they both started.

"What? It was the only seat available," Wilson said.

"How's Nora doing? She wasn't in her room when I went up to see her." Foreman seemed happy to be onto a neutral subject.

"She's becoming stronger every day. I expect she'll be ready for the brain surgery in a month or six weeks." Wilson munched a fry.

"Foreman says they've started rebuilding PPTH, and Cuddy will be running it again." Hadley sipped her drink and waited for Wilson to respond. She was curious what he'd say.

The team passed nearby but didn't stop.

"Are you two and House content to stay here? Because there'll be openings once the place is operational again."

"Quite happy here," Hadley replied.

Foreman's head bobbed."Because you have your FBI turned cop girlfriend."

"Wilson has one, too. Girlfriend I mean."

Wilson laughed. "That's true. And as for House, well, he's even more settled in than the two of us."

"Yes, he told me about his new practice." Foreman scratched the back of his head. "Beats me why you'd want to live here rather than Princeton."

"We can do without the drama at PPTH." Wilson's beeper sounded. He looked at his unfinished food.

Hadley shooed him away. "Go. I'll box it up and have someone on my team bring it to you."

"Thanks, Hadley." Wilson took off for the cafeteria doors.

Hadley rose without a word and went to one of the kitchen staff to request the box. Once she had it, she filled it with the rest of the oncologist's burger and fries.

The team was walking by again. "That was a fast lunch," Hadley said. Jacobs chuckled. Hadley held out the box and drink to her. "Could you please bring this to Dr. Wilson's office?"

"Sure." Jacobs flashed a smile. "We still haven't found a case, so it's something to do."

Foreman stared at the three young doctors as they left. "Isn't that House's former team?"

"And my new team, yes. You're not the only one to inherit a crew from our fearless leader." She grinned then stood to leave. "Good seeing you again." She took her tray to the conveyor belt and left, while Foreman stared after her. Times had certainly changed Remy, Wilson and especially House.

Lunch over, House and Anita left the diner. Cameron had already gone back to the clinic. They drove in Anita's car, out to the dock.

House got out. "Why are we here?"

"You're an observant man, more so than most, so what do you see here?" She waved an arm.

"Several boats tied to the pier but as many more empty slips, an office building of sorts, that probably holds the dock master's office, a restaurant at the end. They serve the best crab cakes, by the way. Lots of wood planking. Couple of men fishing off the end of the pier. Is the man loitering closer to us one of yours?"

"Actually one of Anderson's, but yes, he's the cop surveilling the pier." She bit her lower lip. "Now, what don't you see?"

He glanced at her then back at the peaceful scene in front of him. He checked his watch. "Where are all the diners? There should be people leaving the restaurant after eating lunch."

"Exactly. I was here earlier when the restaurant should have been full, but no one was going that way, so I checked the doors. They're unlocked but the open sign isn't out and the lights are off."

House shrugged. "It's probably light enough inside from the sun."

"Maybe." She half-smiled. "You in the mood for some of those crab cakes you like?"

His lips twisted into a smile. "Lead the way."

The tap of his cane on the wood plank walkway was the loudest sound as they approached the door to the restaurant. Not sure what they would find inside, they pushed at the door together.

Silence except for the hum of the air conditioner greeted them at first, but then footsteps came from behind the bar area.

A slim man of medium height appeared. He asked in a quavering voice, "Can I help you?" He perspired despite the cool temperature. "I'm the manager here."

"Are you closed? We noticed there weren't any customers," Anita said.

"It's … it's almost one-thirty. Um, you just missed the lunch crowd."

They couldn't admit they'd been watching the place. "Must eat early here," House said.

The man smiled and his shoulders visibly relaxed. "Yeah. That's it."

"So we're too late for the crab cakes?"

"We're plum out," said the man, regaining his composure. "Sorry. You'll have to try again tomorrow."

"We'll come earlier next time." Anita turned to go.

House had one last question. "Are the cook and barman gone already too?"

"Um, yeah. They're gone."

House followed Anita out. When they were halfway down the walkway he asked, "What do you make of Mr. Manager?"

"Scared to death." Her mouth set in a grim line. "I wonder what this has to do with our missing teen vandals."

"Do you think they're hiding in the restaurant, holding the staff?"

She nodded.

Hadley's team was still looking for a case that interested them all and wasn't easily solved. As they examined the piles before them, they'd each roll their eyes and slap the file on the table, stating the diagnosis: chronic bronchitis, emphysema, rheumatoid arthritis, botulism, and the common cold. Why the doctors in charge hadn't recognized the symptoms of such common ailments surprised them.

"Here's one. Night sweats and hunger in a fifty-five year old woman." Jacobs laughed. "Haven't doctors heard of menopause? Duh!"

"Or this one. Frequent broken bones in an eighty-five year old. Don't they do Dexa scans on their older patients?" Simpson put his head in his hands.

"Still no patient?" Hadley asked, entering and seeing the files strewn all over the table, each with a sticky note on it with their diagnosis.

"Unless you want us diagnosing each and every one in under an hour, no. This won't do," Simpson said.

Dr. Meisner appeared in the doorway. "If you still need a new case, I have one for you."

Magnani dropped the file he was holding. "Please."

"Dr. Cameron sent this one to the Pediatric department and the doctor in charge ruled out the preliminary diagnosis."

"You're talking about Jacob Briggs," Hadley said, suddenly more alert.

He nodded.

Simpson raised his eyebrows. "I thought Dr. Chatterji had Jacob's case under control."

"I'm afraid she hasn't. I gave her six hours. All she could do was stabilize the boy. Now we need a diagnosis. And fast. He's no longer stable for."