A/N: Hope you had a great weekend, guys. Enjoy, and please review :)

"Cameron."

Foreman greets in surprise as he enters the DDX room with a briefcase in his hand and a thick scarf muffling his words. Removing burgundy wool along with his coat, he hangs both items up on the pegs in the corner before turning back to face the blonde who sits behind the large desk that centres the room with her glasses perched low on her nose and her gaze lowered to a growing list of notes scribbled in black ink. He knows he'll have to ask her to translate at least half of what she's written; Cameron's handwriting when researching consisting of pretty cursive that is pleasing to the eye but a nightmare to decipher.

"You're early."

He states unnecessarily, and she glances up at the clock on the wall and shrugs.

"I guess. Did you get any sleep?"

She asks him cordially as she goes back to studying the book laid out in front of her, and Foreman nods as he moves past her to help himself to coffee. There's a fresh batch waiting in the machine, and from the steam that plumes up as he fills his mug, he would guess she's only just made it, ready for the team's arrival at seven.

"Thanks."

He murmurs, giving her shoulder a squeeze, before settling down opposite her and glancing over the various pages she's weighted down to keep the books open in order to cross-reference between them.

"How long have you been here?"

He frowns, and she glances up at him briefly, before replying in a decidedly vague tone

"A little while."

More than a little while it would seem, as he notes an empty fruit cup and plastic sandwich container stacked to her left. This strikes him as odd, but he says nothing; sensing that he is likely to receive ambiguous answers to questions that matter little to him in the first place. Instead, he takes a sip of his coffee and leans forward to read one of the pages she's marked with a slip of yellow paper.

"Ricin? Is this research into our girls?"

"No, no. Just casual poison plans. My upstairs neighbour has taken up tap-dancing and is on his third strike."

Cameron replies without looking up, and Foreman snorts but pushes on

"Ricin causes nausea in a matter of hours. Our girls haven't been sick, they've been shutting down."

"It only causes nausea if ingested. If inhaled, there's respiratory issues and shut down that can take up to seventy-two hours... The girl downstairs is getting on for that now."

"It's unlikely..."

"It is, but not impossible."

"... So you think it's something in the air that's doing this?"

"I think it's worth looking into."

The blonde muses, and when she looks up to catch Foreman frowning at her, she demands irritably

"What?"

"Nothing... It's just, up until now we've been looking into either ingested toxins or something to do with the state the girls are in."

"And you've not been getting anywhere."

Cameron points out, before sighing and pushing herself up to help herself to a fresh cup of coffee. Foreman notes that her sweater appears a little wrinkled, and raises a brow as he suddenly recognises her clothes for the ones she'd been wearing yesterday. He debates whether to call her on the fact, but decides against it. He hasn't forgotten how nasty things quickly became yesterday with the team present for House's annihilation of the blonde for seemingly no reason, and has no wish to cause her any further aggravation himself.

"We can take a look."

He offers, and she nods as she stands with her backside rested against the counter and her mug clutched to her chest.

"I already called down for Hadley to send off some urine samples before she clocks out. Those should only take a couple of hours."

"Oh..."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to go over your head... Boss."

She offers him a weary grin, which he returns as he asks her curiously

"How did she take it?"

"Well... I presume from the drainage bag attached to the catheter."

"Not what I meant, and you know it. Thirteen... How was she with you telling her what to do?"

"Well, I asked her to send off for some tests, not get down on her knees and call me mistress... Don't worry, I know you have your eye on her."

"I don't."

Foreman argues, but he does so half-heartedly and shakes his head exasperatedly as his mind wanders thanks to the scenario painted by his former colleague.

It's a shame House wasn't around to hear that one...

"She was fine."

Cameron elaborates with a shrug, and Foreman nods before commenting pensively

"Good... I know this isn't the most comfortable situation for you."

"Yeah, well, I handled three years with you and Chase, I think I'll be alright."

"We never saw you as an outsider, though."

"I have breasts. You did."

The blonde replies simply, but she dispels any tension as she takes a seat and continues with a sigh

"And the replies 'hardly', 'proof please' or 'news to me' are old hat and no longer amusing."

"Yeah? You've changed since heading the ER."

Foreman laments with a small smirk, and Cameron shrugs as she places the lid on her pen and replies seriously

"I know, I keep trying to tell you guys that!"

Another snort of laughter at this, before Foreman reaches out for the blonde's handwritten notes and studies them through squinted eyes.

"So, ricin was one idea... Any others?"

"I think it's a pretty good idea."

"Maybe, but it doesn't explain everything."

"No, well, I think there might be more to it."

"More to it than a rare poison? You know better than that, Cam. Occam's razor."

"Ordinarily, I'd agree, but I think in this case, the fact that there might be several factors to the girls' decline is obvious. The way they've been beaten- the degree to which they've been beaten- if left with such injuries untreated, the body might have started poisoning itself. That would explain the kidney failure, but not the respiratory issues."

"And the swelling?"

"Hey... I've given you a couple of ideas. I never said I had all the answers."

"You disappoint me."

"Spoken like a boss... Where have I heard that before?"

The blonde rolls her eyes, before glancing up as the door to the DDX room swings open.

"No joy, I'm afraid."

Kutner greets as he leads Thirteen and Taub into the room. The three of them look exhausted and walk over to place a pile of papers and a small selection of samples onto the table. Cameron holds her breath as she catches Taub glance over her research- ready to argue her corner- but the little man is either too tired or too aware of Foreman's watchful eye to offer her anything more than a twitch of his lips.

"What happened there?"

Foreman asks, pointing to Kutner's shirt which carries a fine spray of blood up the right sleeve.

"She coughed."

Thirteen replies, rubbing at her temples before pulling her coat from its peg.

"How's she looking?"

"She's stable... For now."

Taub pulls a face to suggest he doubts this will remain the case for much longer, and Foreman sighs as he exchanges a glance with Cameron.

"Alright, well, go get some rest, guys. I'll see you at seven unless I page you otherwise."

They nod in agreement, saying little as they gather their belongings and filter out the room. Foreman looks back up at the clock which reads a little after seven and raises a brow as he finishes off his coffee.

"It seems my new employee is running late... As his boss, it lies with me to discipline this fact."

"House?... Please don't start, Eric..."

Cameron groans.

"I'm kidding."

"Are you?"

"Well, sort of. I'm surprised he's not here. I almost expected to find him sleeping in his office this morning."

"Yes... Well... He said he'd be in around lunchtime."

"He told you that?"

"Yeah."

"Okay..."

Foreman frowns, wondering at what point the two might have found time to have this conversation, but he can read the cagey expression the blonde offers him now with ease, and decides the answer isn't worth spending the best part of the morning on her bad side.

"Fine... It'll be easier to get things done without him here, anyway."

"No argument there."

She agrees, and Foreman returns her grin with one of his own, before delegating the morning's tasks between them.

"I'll chase up the tests sent out yesterday and get these samples logged... I think it's about time you acquaint yourself with the patient, Cam. Cops are gone."

"... Okay."

She agrees, no longer grinning.

"If you're serious about ricin, you need to get her in a cleanroom."

"It's too late for that if I'm right. It'll do her no good."

"I know... But if it's on her clothes or in her hair, we can't be too cautious. Get her stripped and cleaned, and we'll go from there."

"Fine."

Cameron accepts with a grimace of resignation; understanding that Foreman means she should face the girl's state in its entirety. She is secretly glad that House won't be in until after she's completed what has been asked of her; more than capable of dealing with the trauma that has been described to her, but nervous about saving face as she has received several warnings to the contrary.

She has no intention of proving the others right. That wouldn't do at all.