CHAPTER 4

It was late afternoon, and the sun created playful shadows all across the floor of PPTH's cafeteria. Too late for lunch, and too early for dinner, the cafeteria was relatively empty. A single table in the middle of the room was occupied by three doctors, deep in discussion over their coffee, stale cafeteria bagels, and one perfectly sliced apple, which was already turning brown while Cameron forgot about it and voiced her concerns to Chase and Foreman.

"Have you been in there lately? It's a mess, and he's obsessing over this." Her concern was so intense that it almost sounded angry, and Foreman's reaction didn't help to alleviate any of it.

"So what? What else is he gonna do? You can't tell me that you aren't just as curious." He was tilting his chair back, idly sipping at the coffee that had cooled off over an hour ago, tossing Cameron's concerns aside for the millionth time that day. House's recent crusade for the truth didn't seem any more obsessive to him than the man's usual persistent search for answers. The only difference was that Eddie was dead, and House usually tended to concentrate on the living.

"C'mon, wake up Foreman. I know just as well as you that the guy doesn't lose all that many patients, but have you ever seen him so tied up over even one of those deaths like he is with Eddie? It's crazy!"

Chase smiled. "Well, we are talking about House, so the craziness is just a given, right?" Foreman smiled also, and nodded in agreement. Personally, Chase was beginning to agree with Cameron, but he wasn't ready yet to start flipping on sirens and trying to "save" him. He'd seen House fixate on patients and their illnesses before, like Foreman, and while it was slightly disturbing, it just didn't warrant that much concern from him yet.

Cameron gave the boys a look that suggested she felt betrayed by them both, and was frankly quite disgusted with them. But she continued to argue her point. "You guys saw him with Eddie. When have you ever seen him act that way towards a patient before? Never. He thinks it's a waste of time to see patients face to face because "everybody lies", or whatever. But he came down and talked to Eddie everyday that the poor guy was here. It was…scary." She finished, for lack of a better word.

Foreman leaned forward, all business, ready to put the subject to rest once and for all. "Look, we all know House can be a little…fanatical, at times. He's a passionate guy. It's what makes him such a great doctor. Why should we care if he wants to waste a day trying to solve his little puzzle? It keeps him from bothering us, and that's just fine with me." Cameron opened her mouth to disagree, but Foreman went on. "Eddie was a nice guy. House took a liking to him, so maybe he just figures that someone needs to give a damn about a homeless guy dying."

Chase raised his eyebrows dubiously. "Right." he said, the word dripping with sarcasm. "That's House, always doing the good and noble thing. C'mon Foreman, even I know that's a load of crap. House has never cared about anybody in his entire life.-

"Yes he has!" Cameron angrily interjected.

"-He's not about to start caring now. Cameron's right. There's something else going on with him. He was just acting plain weird about it this morning."

Foreman rolled his eyes and groaned. "Wow. You're right. House is acting weird, so there's definitely something wrong." He shook his head at his colleagues. "House will always and forever be strange, and he's always going to find something to obsess and be anal about. Everyone does. I mean, look at you Cameron. House does something unexpected, and you spend the entire day obsessing over it. It's really not that serious."

"Yet." She answered ominously. "You two didn't see him yesterday."

They were both silent, looking at Cameron expectantly. Foreman was sure it would be something trivial and not all that interesting. But Chase listened on curiously.

"I went down to the office, and he blew up in my face and started yelling about how he "killed Eddie". It was a little scary. He didn't seem able to understand that the three of us played any part in Eddie's treatments."

"So? He's our boss. In the end, he's going to take responsibility for anything that happens." Foreman just didn't see what was so concerning about all of this. To him, it was just House being House.

"No he wouldn't." Chase spoke up. "I think House is always more than happy to blame any one of us for things, if they're our fault."

Cameron was about to add something to that, growing more confident that Chase was on her side and was beginning to see what she was seeing. But she didn't. Looking behind Foreman, she nodded in the direction of the cafeteria line, where House was paying for coffee. Foreman turned around to look, and a sly smile stole over his features. "Why don't we just ask House? It'll sure beat sitting around debating this all afternoon."

Cameron shot him an angry look that said "don't", but was silent as House came over to the table.

"What's this, a group of federal employees?" He looked down at his watch. "Isn't somebody supposed to be leaving now to go cover my clinic duty?" He looked around at their faces, and they in turn looked at one another. Looking very confident, Foreman asked, "Why can't you do it?"

House gave him a look that was half annoyed and half mock incredulous. "Me? Are you serious? I'm a busy doc. Can't spend my days wiping runny noses and telling teens they're pregnant. My brain is far too valuable to be used on something like that."

No one offered him any response to this, so he gave them a grin that was definitely hyped up with too much caffeine. "So. Any takers?"

Foreman and Chase both instinctively looked at Cameron, who continued to glare at them. House shrugged and closed his eyes, trying to decide who he felt like punishing. At the moment, he was still feeling put out with Cameron, but he didn't want to send her away just yet. If she was still angry with him, he wanted her to be around to finish the argument. "Okay. Your enthusiasm is appreciated." Snapping his eyes back open, he nodded at Chase. "Chase, you've got patients waiting downstairs." Chase opened his mouth to object, but House cut him off. "I know, don't thank me. It's the least I can do for you." Giving him a fake optimistic, encouraging, life coach kind of look, he added, "Go get 'em Sparky."

His jaw tightening, Chase bit back a remark and gathered up his tray, mumbling something about House being a jackass as he walked off. House gave the two remaining doctors an ornery grin and took the now empty seat. Foreman exchanged a look with Cameron, and they both waited for House to speak, which he did after stirring a ridiculous amount of sugar into his coffee.

"So." He looked them both over suspiciously. "Now that Chase is gone, us grownups can talk. What's new?" he joked, looking from Foreman to Cameron and back to Foreman again. They were both suddenly subdued, Cameron because she felt guilty about discussing House behind his back, and Foreman because he was beginning to notice the tell-tale signs of fatigue and stress on House's face. He hadn't seen him much that morning. House had been completely buried in charts and books when Foreman had arrived. He'd said good morning, only for House to nod vaguely, too absorbed in his work to give any kind of coherent response. Foreman had shrugged it off and left to go about his day's duties. But now, with House's attention trained on them, he could clearly see that he had been working hard to figure out Eddie's death. His constant five o'clock shadow was darker than usual, and his voice sounded hoarse and strained. And this didn't even take into account his eyes, which had taken on that haunted look that Foreman had only witnessed in House when his leg pains were unbearable. But House's leg didn't appear to be giving him any trouble, so Foreman had to silently concede to Cameron that there was indeed something wrong with this picture.

Cameron tried a tentative smile, and timidly asked, "Are you having any luck with Eddie's case?"

House looked at her as though this was the last thing on his mind and shook his head. "Nope. I'm nowhere with it. With any luck, the autopsy results will be in by the end of the day." He stared vacantly at the floor, his mind going over the charts that had become burned onto his brain over the last twelve hours. He had decided to take a break, thinking maybe a short walk around the hospital and some coffee would clear his head a little. All of the information about Eddie that he had been studying had started to blur together, making it all relatively useless. He figured he would hide in Wilson's office for an hour or so and play his Nintendo DS, then head back to his office and back to work. His thoughts were interrupted by Cameron's question.

"Why can't you just wait on the results?"

House frowned. "I am."

Exasperated, Cameron rephrased her question. "I mean, why keep stressing yourself over the file when you could just go down to the clinic or somewhere and wait for the autopsy results?"

House looked as though this thought hadn't occurred to him, but shook his head. "Nah. I hate clinic duty." Cameron looked at him in relative disbelief. "So you're just doing this to get out of clinic duty?"

"What?" House asked, remembering his earlier argument with the girl. "Were you actually thinking that I give a damn about a patient? Of course I'm doing this to avoid the clinic" he scowled at her, then stood abruptly, taking his coffee, and hastily exited the conversation and the cafeteria. They watched him walk off, his mind already back on Eddie, eager to get back and seeming to have forgotten his self-prescribed break. Cameron turned back to Foreman, waiting. Grudgingly, he nodded and shrugged. "Okay. So maybe you're right."

"You think?" she asked irately.

Foreman frowned, finishing his now completely cold coffee and standing. "I'm not sure it's anything as big as you're talking about, but House is definitely worth keeping an eye on."

This seemed to satisfy Cameron, and she nodded appreciatively. Foreman checked his watch, giving her a small wave. "Gotta go. See ya." She smiled back at him, and he walked off, thinking about House and wondering what could possibly be so intriguing about Eddie to him. He didn't understand, and as he walked towards the elevators, he had to remind himself that the workings of House's mind were something that nobody was likely to ever understand.

TBC.

A million thanks to the folks who commented on the first three chapters. You guys mean the world to me. I'm thinking that I need to spring for something a little tastier than jello this time, like kool-aid, or perhaps some chicken.

Note: if eddie died on, hmm…let's say he died on monday, and house woke up at 7 am that morning, how many hours has he been up now? and what time/day will it be when the 76th hour comes around? i is one turrible mathematician, need helps wit dis maf (math).