Another couple of short ones tonight, but there's some reveals in each.

I must say, I have the greatest readers. Thank you all. And I love the comments you leave.

Chapter 99.

"What did Mr. Conway do to that girl?" Steven asked Audra as they did their homework at the dining room table. "Why was he arrested?"

"He didn't do anything," she protested. "The girl said that he..." Audra wasn't sure how to explain to a seven-year-old. "...that he touched her where he shouldn't and tried to hurt her. But he'd never do that."

He took her word for it. He didn't know the teacher very well, but Audey did. "Then why would she say he did?"

Audra shrugged. It amazed her sometimes, how some people behaved. "Maybe she was angry with him," she speculated. "Maybe he gave her a bad grade or something."

"Oh." Steven went back to his spelling words, but his mind was still on what the adults and teens had been talking about ever since Sunday night.

Audra finished her biology homework and looked over to see whether Steven needed any help. They'd gotten into a routine since he'd returned to live with Marty, Nancy and her, really an extension of what they'd done before his mother took him away. After dinner they'd sit together and work on their individual assignments, and then Audra would check Stevie's work.

"Audra, can I sign the petition for Mr. Conway?" Steven suddenly asked.

She smiled at him. "Of course you can!"

In a house not too far away, Joel and Sherry were also talking about Evan Conway.

"Emily and Tommy are printing out petitions for all the kids to sign, whether or not they were ever in his class," Joel told his sister.

"I think all the kids in my class will sign one!" she said. "We all love Mr. Conway and will do anything we can to help."

"Just don't let Dad hear you say anything about it" Joel warned. "Or Mom either."

"I know." She nodded her head. "Dad still thinks he's guilty and Mom, well Mom will just have another fit. I just wish they didn't think I was like Mindy!"

Joel frowned. "Do you think things will ever be, well, normal again?"

"Not as long as Mom still blames herself for Mindy's death, and Dad still thinks every male is out to seduce his daughters!"

"Don't you ever feel that you want to tell someone about it all?" Joel asked rhetorically. "Maybe if people knew it would be better."

"But that's why we had to move here from Philadelphia, so that anyone who knew wouldn't talk about it, and no one else would find out," she replied.

"But what if they did? We didn't do anything wrong."

"Mom thinks she did, and Dad thinks Mindy did, and he's afraid that it'll ruin his reputation." Sometimes Sherry thought she understood things better than her older brother.

"Well, at least we can help your teacher with our new friends," Joel decided.

"Yeah, I think we've both made some really good friends here," his sister agreed. "Still, I miss my friends from Philadelphia."

"Me too," Joel said with a sigh.

Chapter 100.

The next day at noon Allison Cameron waited for the elevator to take her down to meet her husband for lunch. Normally she would have taken the stairs, but it had been a particularly trying morning.

She'd spent most of it treating a little girl about Alex's age. The child had a recalcitrant infection that was causing her a good deal of abdominal pain. Little Amelia's cries had touched her heart, and so had the worried looks on her parents' faces.

Finally at eleven, Amelia had begun to respond to a new antibiotic, Murafemacin, but they still didn't know what was causing the high fever, reddened cheeks, and stomach pain that had brought her to the hospital in the first place. Cameron left the girl's bedside only after the fever had dropped down to 101.

The doors to the elevator opened, and Eve Chambers stepped out. She seemed deep in thought and, as usual, completely unaware of anyone around her. She started down the same hallway as she had when Cameron saw her before.

The doctor made a split second decision. She was determined to find out where the woman was going. So instead of getting on the elevator, Cameron followed Eve. She knew that there were offices for several doctors along this corridor. In fact she had a suspicion that Eve might be seeing one of the three psychiatrists who had offices there.

So she was surprised when, instead, Eve walked through the door with the name Alan Hammond on it. Now why would she need to see a pulmonologist? True, if she needed one, her husband couldn't treat her himself, but wouldn't he have mentioned that she was having lung problems?

Cameron was stumped, but she also knew just the person to run this by. She glanced at her watch and saw that she was already late! Retreating the way she'd come, she dashed down the stairs rather than wait for the elevator again.

House wondered what had happened to his wife. She was usually much more punctual than he was. It had to be something serious to keep her.

Ten after twelve she rushed up to him, breathless from running down the stairs. The extra color in her soft cheeks was not unattractive, he thought.

"Sorry I'm late!" she hastened to apologize.

"Were you late?"

She smirked. "I just followed Eve Chambers to see where she's been going lately."

"And?"

"Al Hammond," she stated, then waited to see what he'd make of the news.

"A pulmonologist? Her husband wasn't good enough for her?" House asked.

"You know her husband couldn't, or rather shouldn't treat her," Cameron pointed out.

"Yeah," he allowed, but he wasn't convinced it was a good reason. "No. She's not seeing him about her lungs."

"Greg, what else does anyone see a pulmonologist for?"

"Beats me," he replied. But she knew he wouldn't rest until he found out.

They got some food and sat down at what had become 'their' table. "That's not all that's worrying you," House guessed. He'd learned to interpret his wife's expressions and moods.

"I'd like you to consult on a case," she decided on the spot. "That is, if you're not too busy."

"If you need me to consult, then I'm not too busy," he said, nodding for her to go on.

"Four-year-old girl, high fever, flushed cheeks and tummy pain. Didn't respond to the usual antibiotics, but did respond to Murafenacin."

"That's for bacterial infections, isn't it?" he asked, but of course he knew it was.

"Yes. But our cultures and tests haven't shown any bacteria in her blood or urine."

"How severe is the pain?"

"It seems quite bad. She's been crying since she was admitted," Cameron reported.

"Any other symptoms?"

She shook her head. She looked at the salad greens on her fork, then returned it to her plate uneaten.

"This one's really gotten to you, hasn't it?" he asked, looking at her face.

"Yes, it has."

He'd almost finished his lunch. He took one more mouthful and stood. "OK, let's go."

"Go?"

"To see your little sicky," he said, leading the way out of the cafeteria.