AN: I'm sorry for the wait! I hope that you enjoy the chapter! I want to take a moment and thank all of the people who have recently followed and favorited this story. I would never have thought that it would become this popular. You guys are amazing!

Cameron sat across from House and looked around at their surroundings for what seemed like the tenth time since they'd been seated. "I cannot believe that you went all out like this."

A smirk appeared on House's face. "Why shouldn't I? I figured that you'd like the seafood that they serve here, and it's close to the museum if you'd like to go and check it out… after dessert that is," he replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"You're in a good mood. What prompted all of this?" She asked as she grabbed her wine glass and took a generous sip of the red liquid.

House shrugged. "The meeting with the Medicaid guy ended well, so I was in the mood to celebrate. Plus you're right on it being nice to have some decent down time once in a while."

She smiled at him just as the waiter walked up to their table with a chocolate lava cake that looked to die for, along with two spoons. "Enjoy," the man said kindly as he took their other plates from the table and also placed the check face down in front of House.

"Thank you," Cameron responded earnestly, and watched as the man nodded at them both before he turned and walked away. She looked over at House and smirked as he'd already had a spoon in hand and had taken a large bite from the cake and ice cream. A giggle left her lips as she noticed a smear of chocolate on the corner of his mouth.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly, a true smile coming to his face.

"You have chocolate on the corner of your mouth," she replied simply as she took a bite of the sweet treat with her own spoon. House shrugged and continued to eat another bite of the dessert which only made Cameron giggle at him again with a roll of her eyes. "You are such a kid sometimes."

"So?" House questioned, with his mouth full.

Cameron chuckled as she quickly snatched the last bite of the treat before she sat back in her chair. "I am stuffed… and we still have to go back to the hotel and get our things so we can prepare for our flight. It looks like the museum will have to be a different time."

House nodded in agreement as he grabbed the check and stood. "Let's go then." He gently took her hand and helped her from her chair. He then discreetly paid the check at the front table before he led her outside into the now cold weather.

"I don't want to know how much that cost you do I?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around herself.

He looked down at her and quickly shrugged off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it," he answered. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they began to make the short walk to their hotel as it began to snow.

Cameron rolled her eyes as she grasped onto his hand that wasn't occupied by his cane. When they reached their hotel and got into the elevator, she could deal with it no longer. She got his attention before she pulled him down to her level and kissed him soundly, running her tongue along his bottom lip.

House growled in appreciation as he quickly engulfed her in his arms and kissed her deeply in return. He was beginning to play with the hem of her shirt, when she pulled away from him with a smirk on her face. "Why did you stop?" he asked huskily, partially out of breath from lust and arousal.

The elevator dinged, telling the couple that they had reached their designated floor, causing Cameron to smile widely at him. "I wanted the chocolate that was at the corner of your mouth," she answered simply, leaving a very aroused House standing in the elevator as she began to walk down the hallway.

Woman… you will pay dearly for that, he thought as he quickly moved to follow her before the elevator doors could shut on him.

Meanwhile back at the hospital Chase and Foreman were running tests on Michael. Foreman held an ultrasound wand to Michael's throat as he watched the screen next to him. "This will show us if there's a problem with your carotid artery that might cause a blood clot. If it travelled to his brain, it could explain the aphasia and the fall," he explained.

Tina watched Foreman for a moment before she turned to Chase. "You said you're doing an EEG is that for the same thing?" she asked.

"It's just a precaution," Chase answered, "We think the trauma caused some of the swelling and we need to keep him stable until the body can repair the damage on its own."

Maya looked between the two of them. "Neither of you think this is the problem though, do you?" she questioned.

Foreman glanced over at Chase before he looked back over at Maya. "We're covering all of the bases ma'am, to be safe." Just as Foreman was going to say more, Michael began to choke as his monitor began to beep at them.

Chase looked up in alarm. "His O2 stats are falling."

Foreman pulled a stethoscope from around his neck and quickly began to listen to his chest. "There's fluid in his lungs."

Chase quickly puts an oxygen mask on Michael's face to help him breathe. "Push forty V."

Foreman shook his head and sighed. "He's losing his respiratory drive, we need to intubate, now."

Chase and Foreman both reach for the drawer that contained the needed equipment. They pause for a short moment before they help each other intubate him successfully and watch as his stats begin to return to normal.

Later in the day Foreman and Chase stare at a chest x-ray of Michael. "Then there were two… aphasia and fluid in the lungs. A seizure cannot cause both of these."

Chase crossed his arms over his chest, hi eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Neither can a stroke."

"Unless he had an abnormal heart rhythm to begin with," Foreman noted.

Chase sighed as he looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. "Then there was one," he handed the paper that showed test results on it, to Foreman. "The urine test was positive for amphetamines."

Foreman looked over the paper, and then looked up at Chase. "Amphetamines don't cause pulmonary edema though."

"They do if you smoke them," Chase clarified.

Foreman furrowed his brow. "This doesn't make sense. In one of his books he went on and on about how he gave up drugs and alcohol, said that it saved his life."

Chase walked over and sat in House's plush chair and began to play with his oversized tennis ball. "Everybody lies," he stated, quoting his boss's words.

Wilson stood in the cafeteria as he listened to one of the nurses sob and talk about her recent ex. He nodded in sympathy as she continued to talk about how the relationship started out so perfectly, and just as he was about to respond to her, his cell began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID before he looked back up at the woman in front of him. "Excuse me, I have to take this." The woman nodded with a sniffle and Wilson turned and exited the cafeteria as he answered the call. "Hello?"

House stood I front of a large window at the airport as he watched the heavily falling snow outside. "Hi honey, how're the kids? Are they fairing okay?" he asked, before deciding to clarify. "How is Mr. Aphasia?"

Wilson furrowed his brow as he turned a corner and headed towards the elevator. "Cuddy called you?"

"Everybody covers their ass," House answered simply as he looked down at Cameron, who was dozing in one of the airport chairs.

"Well," Wilson started, "He has a pulmonary edema. Chase did a tox screen, and it came back positive for amphetamines, he did the dance of victory."

House smirked. "I bet there's another shoe."

Wilson chuckled. "I though the kids didn't call you?"

"I know the way you tell stories," he answered in return just as he sat beside Cameron, who shuffled to lean heavily against him.

"Foreman went to talk to Mr. Thomas about the results when he found him to be running a temperature."

"So, it's not the drugs, he's just got a bad rep… alright, I gotta go, they'll probably be trying to reach me."

"You don't have call waiting?" Wilson asked.

House rolled his eyes. "I'm hanging up on you now," he stated before he pulled the cell from his ear and ended the call.

Meanwhile Wilson stared at his phone and sighed. "But it's only five dollars a month," he said aloud.

Back in the conference room Foreman and Chase sat at the large table and stared at the white board. Chase continuously rolled House's tennis ball back and forth between his hands. "Drugs don't cause a temperature."

Foreman sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Encephalitis or meningitis are the most obvious suspects. We need to start him on antibiotics."

"It could be an auto-immune disease. Lupus, Behçet's... we could start him on a high dose of steroids," Chase suggested, just as the phone that sat in the middle of the table began to ring.

"Except if he does have encephalitis, steroids could weaken his immune system," countered Foreman as he reached to answer the phone. "Foreman here."

"How high is the fever?" Foreman raised his eyebrows in surprise, causing Chase to furrow his brow at him in confusion. "Put me on speaker, and why haven't you called me?" The caller said, causing Foreman pushed the button on the phone to speaker.

"A hundred and one, how did you know?" Foreman asked.

"What, you think you guys could have a party as soon as the parents are gone and I won't hear about it?" House answered, causing Chase to raise his own eyebrows in surprise and scoot closer to the phone. "Start with broad spectrum antibiotics for possible bacterial meningitis, and an anti-viral in case we luck out and its herpes encephalitis," House added.

"What if it's auto immune?" Cameron asked, having woken up to House's phone call, causing Foreman and Chase to smile upon hearing her voice.

House turned and smiled at her. "Well then we're screwed, which is why we need more information. Are there any genetic issues within the family?"

"The man can't talk, his medical records are sketchy, and the wife's only known him a couple of years," Chase answered.

"What about the MRI?" House questioned. "Did it show anything?"

"The CT scan was negative," Foreman replied, causing House to sigh.

"A CT scan… is that short for MRI?" he asked sarcastically. "Great, that saves us a lot of time."

Chase rolled his eyes. "We have an MRI scheduled in twenty minutes; it was the earliest we could get the machine."

House sat back in his chair as Cameron looked over at him with a concerned look on her face. "I teach you to lie, cheat, and steal, and as soon as my back is turned you wait in line?" he questioned, causing Foreman and Chase to chuckle. "Get an MRI, and get a better medical history."

Foreman bristled in frustration. "But the man can't talk!"

"Who cares? He'd probably lie to you anyway. We'll be a bit late, our flight is delayed. I'll see you in a few hours." House hung up the phone and looked over at Cameron. "What?"

"Nothing. I know it bothers you to be away from a case, is all," she said softly as she reached up and ran a hand through his hair before she looked back out of the window. "Our flight may be more than just delayed."

House sighed and nodded in agreement. "I'm beginning to think the same thing."

Cameron leaned over and placed a gentle, slow kiss to House's lips, then stood. "I'll go get us some coffee okay?"

He smiled up at her and nodded, before he watched as she turned and headed towards one of the many shops that were in the airport.