Sorry about the wait, I got a new computer and I've been working on getting it up and running. Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter.

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

Haunted

Chapter 4: Infected

Nurse Brenda had just finished getting everything squared away in Cameron's room when Dr. House came in carrying a large plastic container under his arm. Brenda gave a worried glance towards the immunologist before scurrying out the door. House placed the container on the floor next to Cameron's bed then grabbed the pitcher of water off the cart that the nurse had left behind. Walking back to the container he poured the contents of the pitcher into the container then with a pious and determined smirk stepped inside it.

Cameron starred at her boss as he looked around almost as if he were confused about something. "Dr. House, what are you doing?" And they thought she was the crazy one.

"Can't do it." He said stepping back out, his tennis shoes squeaking on the floor.

"Can't do what?"

"Walk on water." He shot her a glance mixed with anger and concern. "Isn't that what you're expecting?"

"No, I just thought that..."

"You weren't thinking! Thats the problem!" House shouted at her making her recoil slightly. "You injected yourself with a disease that we don't know how to treat or what it is for that matter! Why? The girl is dead, you're not going to save her."

"I thought that if you had more time you could figure out what it was that killed her." Her voice was small a meek as she played with a loose thread on her gown. "She wanted me to help her. This was the only way."

"What do you mean she wanted you to help her! She's dead for crying out loud. Correct me if I'm wrong but I've always thought once you're dead you can't talk to people!" He couldn't believe what he had witnessed not even an hour ago. Cameron had walked into his office and injected herself knowing it was a death sentence if they couldn't find a cure. "Do you think this makes you some kind of martyr?"

"No, I just wanted to..."

"It makes you dead! You're an idiot!" House's shoes squeaked as he turned around and headed for the door. "Do you remember that slack jawed expression she wore at the end?"

"Yes." Cameron whispered as she pictured Lily in her mind just before her death.

"Thats the look of brain numbing pain." House stopped in the open door way and turned back around. "Congratulations Dr. Cameron, you just earned the number one spot in my Idiot's Hall of Fame. Don't expect any sympathy from me, you brought this on yourself." He shook his head as he walked out the door mumbling. "Such a waist."

Cameron cupped her face in her hands as tears started falling from her already bloodshot blue eyes. No symptoms presented yet but it was only a matter of time.

"What happened?" Cuddy asked as she walked into House's office. "I heard that Dr. Cameron has been admitted." In the lounge the other two ducklings and Wilson were pouring through medical books and files only glancing up for a moment at the new figure that appeared in the adjoining room before returning their attention back to the task at hand.

"She has." House didn't look up from where his head was resting in his cane. He could feel the wave of annoyance emitting from the Dean of Medicine as she tapped her foot waiting for a real answer. Sighing House leaned back in his chair and gestured for her to sit down. "She injected herself with infected blood."

"Infected with what?" Cuddy asked as she crossed her legs and leaned forward in her chair.

"Lily Gale's infected blood." He paused as he heard a light gasp from his boss as she covered her mouth. "We don't know what it is or how to treat it. Luckily no symptoms have presented as of yet."

"Why did she do that?"

"I don't know." Thumping his cane on the floor he let his head drop back so that he was looking up to the ceiling.

"Do you have any leads?' She glanced into the diagnostics lounge at the three doctors pouring through books around the glass table.

"No."

"So what are you going to do?" Cuddy shook her head as she imagined Cameron with the skin being eaten off her bones the way Lily's had.

"Treat the symptoms. I've started her on warfarin and heparin for the hyper coagulation and methotrexate."

"There's nothing else you can do?" Cuddy asked with a heavy sigh as she looked pleadingly at the head of diagnostics.

"There's nothing else to do unless we can figure out what's causing it." Both doctors looked up as Chase walked into the room.

"She's got a fever of 100.6 and there is a small rash on both of her feet." The distraught look on his face suggested that there was more to tell. "She's also loosing her hair."

Cameron was in tears as she held a large clump of her hair in her hand. She had been brushing her hair when she pulled a large tuft of it out. Hair loss wasn't a symptom of Lily's or Alex's cases, why was she loosing hers. She tossed the hair into the trash can as Chase and Foreman came into the room. "Hey." She greeted giving them a weak smile.

"How are you feeling?" Foreman asked as he went to draw a blood sample.

"I'm alright. Has House got any leads yet?"

"No." Chase answered as he poured her a glass of water. "We're still looking. For now we're going to treat the symptoms."

"Hair loss is a new symptom, so that's good right?" She felt the bald spot on the back of her head as she looked at her two colleagues.

"The hair loss was caused by the warfarin, heparin, and methotrexate, not by whatever killed Lily." Foreman cleaned the area before sicking a needle in to draw blood.

"Not a new symptom then." Cameron sighed, leaning back as Foreman finished.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Chase asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was curious about finding the answer to what disease had killed the little girl but why would anyone go so far as to inject themselves with a disease.

"I wanted to help her." Cameron looked down at her feet, a irritated looking red rash starred back at her.

"Killing yourself isn't going to help anyone."

"She kept coming back." Foreman and Chase exchanged confused glances then turned their attention back to Cameron. "At first I thought it was just a dream but she came again when I wasn't sleeping. She wants me to help, she needs me."

"You're seeing Lily? Is she here now?" Chase looked around the room as Foreman shook his head.

"No, but House has more time now. He can figure out what killed her."

"And what if he can't?" Chase still couldn't understand her reasoning for giving herself a death sentence. "Did you think of that? Cameron, you're going to die because a hallucination..."

"Chase." Foreman interrupted as he saw the tears beginning to well up in Cameron's eyes again. "We need to get this up to the lab." The two ducklings said their goodbyes and headed out the door leaving Cameron alone again.

Tbc