The next day, Catherine received a call from Dr. Richardson informing her that Dr. House agreed to the consult and that he would be expecting them. Catherine called Ecklie and let him know that she and Warrick were heading out to New York to finish up the Darren White case. He agreed. Then she called her mother, telling her that she'd be going out of town for a few days for work. Finally, she called her father. Sam was glad to know that the consult request had gone through and told her that the jet was hers for as long as she needed it. Since the reason for transport was medical, the hospital let them use the ambulance service. Heather rode with Grissom while Nick drove Warrick and Catherine to the airport. They arrived and were rapidly seated in Sam Braun's spacious private jet, and within ten minutes, the plane was in the air. Catherine and Warrick spent most of the trip talking about the case, while Heather spent most of it reading and sitting with Grissom. The plane landed in Princeton airport several hours later, and Catherine went to rent a car for the stay here while Heather contacted Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital to get them to send an ambulance out here. Catherine came back about half an hour later with an Infinity FX and waited for the ambulance to arrive with Warrick and Heather. Once the ambulance got there, Heather got in the back with Grissom while Catherine and Warrick followed it to the hospital.

Upon arrival at the hospital, they were ushered through the ER and placed in a room on the diagnostic floor. Catherine went to the nurse's station to get the forms that she needed to fill out. She sat in Grissom's room with Heather and Warrick while she waited for the doctor to arrive.


Wilson burst into House's office to see the other man playing one-person catch with himself. "Your consult is here." Wilson's eyes were sparkling as he said it.

"What's got you so excited? It's not like he has cancer."

"You should see who came in with him."

"Oh, damn. Is his family here? I hate touchy-feely crap."

"Let me put it this way, Greg. Until you get this guy better, this floor is going to be playing host to a minimum of two gorgeous women." Wilson's mind flashed back to when the patient entered. Two EMTs were pulling a gurney with an older man on it, and there was a tall younger man with light brown skin trailing behind the group. It was the one holding his hand and the one by his head that caught Wilson's eyes. The one holding his hand had the most vibrant green eyes that he'd ever seen, along with full lips and straight auburn hair. She was pale, which offset her features rather nicely, and she was dressed in slightly revealing black. The one at the man's head—damn!—was wearing skintight blue jeans, dress shoes, and a navy cardigan worn open over a tight white tank top. This woman had gorgeous strawberry-blonde hair and eyes that would give Cameron's a contest in brilliance.

"Ease up there, sparky," House's sarcastic tone cut through Wilson's flashback, "one of them has to be his medical proxy and until we know which one it is, you shouldn't be doing anything that might be construed as unethical."

Wilson's sarcasm was just as pronounced, "Who are you to talk about unethical?"

"You're the type who would care. Me? Not so much." House turned and noticed Foreman, Cameron, and Chase standing in the entryway to his office. "The man is here. Before I send you off to collect his medical history and give you his file to look at, tell me what you know about him."

Foreman spoke up first, "He's the night-shift supervisor for the second-highest rated crime lab in the country, after the feds, and the popular theory is that his lab would surpass the feds' if the feds didn't have unlimited funding."

Cameron spoke up, "He's well-respected in his field of study, which is entomology. He's published numerous papers and articles documenting his research. Also, a side note. Two of the three people that came with him also work at the crime lab. The blonde is named Catherine Willows, the African-American is Warrick Brown."

House looked at her incredulously. "'Brown?' He's a black man and his last name is 'brown?' That's a hoot." Foreman quirked an eyebrow at House's statement. "Chase, I want you to go talk to whichever of them has the most knowledge of what happened and also to gather the forms from his medical proxy, which is who, by the way?"

Foreman answered, "Catherine Willows."

"Cameron, I want you to draw some blood for some standard tests and Foreman, arrange an MRI. Oh, Cameron, one more thing. Here's his old file. I had it couriered from Desert Palms Hospital." The trio walked off down the hall. House waited a couple of minutes and nudged Wilson. "Let's go take a look at these gorgeous women you were talking about." Wilson just shook his head as they walked out of the office.