I'm not a doctor so the medical may not be right, I'm sorry. Well, if you are here and reading this that must mean you love Cameron torture because that's what this is. If you're looking for a story that's all kittens and moon beams you're in the wrong place, but if you're looking for a little torture to brighten up your day pull up a seat and relax. By the way, some of this chapter is told in flashback, but italics are kind of hard to read. The details of the case are the flashback.

Disclaimer: House MD is property of David Shore and Fox TV, the plot is mine.

Warning: This story contains material that is not may not be suitable for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Haunted

Chapter 1: Past and Present

Stormy grey clouds hung heavily in the darkened sky. Alison Cameron sat on her window sill staring into its countenance that seemed to mimic her own melancholy mood. They had lost a patient today, she always felt responsible for a loss but this one she felt even deeper. Lilly Annette Gale, she was only a year old, the only child of Alex and Hannah Gale. Alex had died a month after Lilly's birth from an unknown disease and now she had perished of the same illness. Cameron hoped that Lilly wouldn't become her Esther, she hoped that she would be able to put this behind her.

What haunted Cameron the most was not that they were unable to save the girl but the way in which she died. She had presented with a fever and a rash, which was nothing out of the ordinary, but as the exam went on she developed hypersensitivity as well which intrigued House so he took the case. As the day progressed Lilly only got worse.

"O2 stats are through the roof, if we don't get them down her lungs are going to collapse." Foremen announced as he entered the conference room with a manila folder under his arm.

"So, it's reached her lungs now?" House asked as he wrote the new symptom on the white bored. The whole case didn't make any sense, there were too many pieces and nothing to tie them together. Besides the high O2 stats there was also a fever spiking around 104 degrees, hypersensitivity, hyper coagulation, and massive legions were covering fifty percent of her tiny body. Any of which could kill her if they didn't get it under control and soon.

What worried the team the most was legions. The blood tests had all came back negative for toxins and heavy metals, they had even tested for anthrax though no necrosis had been found. All the tests came back negative, Legionnaire's Disease, Rickettsial, Fungal Pneumonia, and Sarcoidosis. Some evidence pointed towards an auto-immune disease so they started her on cytoxan but there was still no improvement. The only drug that did little Lily Gale any good at all was the methotrexate which was an IV anti-inflammatory.

"I've got a few more symptoms you can add to the list." Chase entered the conference room, arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the door frame. The yellow scrubs highlighting his golden hair as it fell over his eyes. "Parabronchial thickening, enlarged hilar lymph nodes, and purile effasions." So the methotrexate wasn't working anymore.

"What are we missing?" House said to himself as he looked over the new symptoms. He knew that if the answer wasn't found soon Mrs. Gale would be burying her daughter.

"Leishmaniasis." Cameron suggested. She had just returned from visiting Lily and Hannah and was still a bit shaken by the sight of the young girl's withering form. She had seen many patients in worse condition but seeing a child like that was not easy.

"Big world traveler?" House asked. Cameron shifted a little then shook her head. "How about suggesting something that is useful."

"Lupus." Foreman threw out.

"No, the phospholipids antibodies were negative." Chase said from behind his fingers as they rested on his lips."What about churg-straus?"

"Already tested, it was negative." Cameron crossed her arms over her stomach as she stared at the whiteboard.

"Multiple neurofibromatosis." Foreman shrugged.

"There's no evidence to support a neurological condition." House said as he twirled his cane. All three of the duckling's pagers went off simultaneously informing them that they needed to get to their patient's room.

As predicted her lungs had collapsed. They were able to stabilize her, but the legions now covered eighty five percent of her body and were starting to eat away at her flesh leaving gaping, infected holes. This new symptom lead them to believe that it may be fasciitis necroticans or the flesh eating disease as it is commonly called but at the rate it was progressing they didn't have time to test for it, Lily only had a couple hours left. There are three different treatments for fasciitis necroticans, with the rapid rate of progression the team decided to give her a cocktail of all three, penicillin, vancomycin, and clinamycin.

While House and the other two minions left to run more tests Cameron stayed behind to monitor the girl's condition and comfort Hannah as best she could. The treatment was not working. The pain got to be too much and she had to be put into a chemically induced coma. It was hard for Cameron to out Lily under, in her heart she new Lily wasn't going to wake up. Once again Cameron stayed behind to comfort Lily's grieving mother as she watched her only daughter melt away. Exactly twenty four hours after Lily Gale was admitted she died.

Cameron sat at her kitchen table, legs drawn to her chest as she gripped a hot cup of coffee. Work was the last place she wanted to be today, after Lilly's death yesterday all she wanted was to sit at home. But she knew that the world wasn't going to sit and wait for her to grieve for the loss of a child so she would put on her best face and trudge on. With a determined sigh she picked up her newspaper flipping through its pages nonchalantly. Nothing of interest caught her eye, not the on going war over seas, not the recent trend in the stock market, the only thing that held her attention was the obituary for one Lilly Gale. Lilly Annette Gale, the picture of a bright and vibrant blond headed toddler smiling as she clung to a Barbie doll, such a contrast to her final agonizing hours. Cameron wished she could remember Lilly this way, but the image of the one year old's pained and confused blue eyes as her skin melted away, at the end it became far to painful for her mother to hold her dying daughter

She drew in a heavy breath as she shut the newspaper, as she let it out she heard a small giggle. Gasping she turned to see where the noise had came from. There sitting on her kitchen floor was a baby, no older then six months old, with a small cut above its right eye. "How did you get in here?" She asked as she scooped the baby into her arms and carried her over to the sink to clean the cut. How did it get in here? She hadn't heard the door open or any one come in. "Where is your mommy?" The baby cooed and giggled again as it put a clump of Cameron's brunette hair in its mouth. "We'll find her. But first, I'm going to call House and get you looked at."

She dialed the number by heart, looking away for only a moment. "House, this is Cameron. I know you're home." She sighed, she knew House never answered his phone. "I found a baby sitting in my kitchen, I'm going to bring it in for the team to..." She froze as she heard the most blood curdling scream coming from the child in her arms. As Cameron turned her attention back to the baby she noticed the bleeding had started again, even worse then before. Quickly she sat the phone down and grabbed a cloth to stop the bleeding, the child screamed again, even more horrid then its predecessor. Cameron screamed as well, tears streaming uncontrollably out of her eyes as the baby began decomposing in her arms until it was nothing more then red, putrid jelly and fell splashing to the floor.

Cameron screamed as she sat straight up in her bed, cold sweat beading on her forehead, warm tears streaming down her cheeks as she gasped for breath. Frantically she looked around, only calming slightly as she realized that she was in her bed. A nightmare, it was just a nightmare she told herself as she lay back down, trembling from head to toe as she clung to her pillow, just a nightmare.

Tbc.