Foreman was attempting to gather a history from one of their patients, Mr. James Loane, when Cuddy entered the room, followed by a silent, stiff looking man and slightly more approachable woman. Both wore black suits, the woman's smaller frame was complimented by a slight smile on her lips. The man, however, just quietly asked Cuddy a question, and then stood with his back to the window, observing Foreman as he worked. He looked up from the chart he was writing on, a questioning look aimed at Cuddy.

Cuddy quickly introduced the neurologist to Agents Eppes and Lake. The woman, Lake, stepped forward and held out her hand.

"Terry, please. And this is Don."

"Eric."

Terry looked at Foreman. "Is it okay if I ask him a few questions?" she asked, jerking a thumb in the patient's direction.

"Sure, no problem." This woman reminded him of Cameron. He was sure she wasn't as sweet and innocent, but she seemed genuinely nice and had a way with people. He could also see from the slightly protective stance of Agent Eppes – Don – that she had a way of making the men in her life feel a need to look out for her, even if they knew she could handle herself. Turning back from the patient to face Dr. Cuddy and Don, he suggested that they move into the diagnostics office to talk. "I've finished the history, and it might be best if we leave Terry and Mr. Loane to talk in private." He glanced back at the patient. "Mr. Loane, Dr. Cameron will be in soon to run some tests."

House ambled along the corridor thinking. He had tried sitting in his office. He had tried listening to his i-Pod. He had even tried stalking one of the pediatric interns to see how long it took until they noticed. As much as House liked the idea of an outbreak of mass proportions, he honestly couldn't see it happening. The man who had diagnosed an epidemic after seeing two sick babies didn't like the idea of bioterrorism.

So three people have died from what seems like the 'flu. But influenza doesn't kill healthy 20-somethings. Old people and babies, yes, not the ones in the middle. Not like this, anyway.

He had to talk to the Feds. Actually, he was planning to anyway. House hated the folks from CDC, but the FBI… they were different. He had been hooked to The X-Files a few years back, and always wanted to meet a real-life "Scully-and-Mulder" team. A smirk crossed his face as he wondered if 'the truth is out there'.

Dr. Cameron had been filling her time by cleaning the coffee area of their office. Chase was trying to catch up on his clinic hours – palmed off to him by House, Foreman was with the patient, and House was missing, so she had settled for some manual labor to let her think. She hummed softly to herself while she rinsed to coffee maker and started to brew a fresh batch, not realizing that House had crept silently in.

"Mmm, coffee. Thank God it's you with time on your hands, not Chase."

Cameron blushed and whirled around to face her boss, instantly smoothing her expression and looking him in the eye.

"Dr. Cuddy was just in here looking for you. She wants you to be nice to the Feds, and she said that they were going to the patients'wards to see how everything was going. They'll be back here in about 10 minutes. I was about to go page Foreman and Chase."

She scuttled out of the room before House could reply.

Okay, so I know this is very very short and not my best work, but I have no free time right now, and a friend is staying with me for a week, so this is as good as it gets right now.

-C.