Catherine had just finished the forms when the door slid open and two young people in lab coats walked into the room. The first one in was slight. She couldn't be much over 5' in height and weighed somewhere along the lines of 110 pounds soaking wet. She was pretty, with large blue eyes, pale skin, and long brown hair. The one behind her was the stereotypical blond beach boy. Tanned, chin-length blond hair, and a sculpted physique, she could see many women falling for his good looks. She didn't think either of them was Dr. House, but she was inwardly relieved when the woman introduced herself as Dr. Cameron, while the man introduced himself as Dr. Chase. "I'm Catherine Willows, this is Warrick Brown, we're co-workers with Gil Grissom. She's Grissom's girlfriend, Heather Kessler," Catherine indicated the others in turn.

Dr. Chase spoke up, "I need to speak with you, Catherine, as well as whoever knows the most about what happened prior to his coma."

"That would also be me, Dr. Chase. Where do you want to do this?"

"There are a couple of visitor lounges here on the floor. Let's go to one of them." Catherine got up and followed him out of the room, bringing the forms with her. As she passed the nurse's station, she noticed two men hanging out where they could get a glimpse of the interior of Gil's room without it looking like they were trying to do that. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that both men's gazes turned to follow her as she followed Chase. She smiled slightly and turned her normal walk into a sexy saunter she'd learned from her days at the French Palace.


When Catherine rounded the corner, House looked over at Wilson and shook his head. The other man's eyes were so wide, he looked like he belonged in an anime. House leaned over conspiratorially and whispered, "Now, do you want me to scare the shit out of her and tell her that the guy in there has cancer so you can spend some time getting to know her?" Wilson turned to look at him, his eyes returning to normal. "What? I figured you wanted a reason to talk to her other than the fact that she's hot. By the way, where's this other gorgeous woman you were talking about?"

Wilson threw him a disparaging look. "Probably still in the room."

"Dammit. Well, he's comatose and maybe she won't be so annoying." House looked around the wing for a second before he turned back to Wilson, "You want to come in with me?"

Wilson looked shocked, "You're actually going to visit a patient?"

"Hey, he's comatose, and at least one of the others in there is a scientist, which means less whiny and irritable than our usual bunch of friends and family. I'll just wait until Cameron leaves, otherwise she might have a coronary."

Wilson chuckled at that remark, then replied, "Oh hell, I don't want to miss the show. By the way, you do realize that you stated that he's comatose twice in as many sentences."

"Shut up. I blame it on the hot blonde."

"No argument there."


Heather and Warrick watched as Dr. Cameron drew blood from Grissom's arm. Warrick admired the view, then berated himself because he was interested in Catherine, then went back to admiring the young doctor in front of him. Heather noticed what Warrick was doing and smirked, deciding to tell this doctor, and maybe Catherine if she was feeling particularly mischievous. She also watched the young doctor in front of her, and applied her excellent prowess at reading people to the young woman. She saw pain, loneliness, and desperation. The pain was that of deep-seated emotional hurt, which she'd seen before in abuse victims and widows. The loneliness led her to believe that, if it was abuse, it was emotional abuse, but made the fact that she was a widow much more likely, though she was very young. The desperation was something she'd seen recently in Sara's eyes. It was the desperation of unrequited love. Through all this, however, she did not relinquish her hold on Gil's hand. All of a sudden, Dr. Cameron was finished, and as she turned to leave, she shuddered slightly, and Heather noticed that the sense of desperation grew stronger. She then hurried from the room.
Cameron was drawing blood from the patient's arm when she felt eyes upon her. She knew she was pretty, House often said so, so she thought the gaze was from the tall man in the corner. Then, as she stood up when the blood was collected, she noticed the woman in the chair with the patient's hand in hers was gazing at her. She noticed that although the eyes were a different color, the gaze was one she'd seen before from House's eyes. She shuddered involuntarily as she recalled his sensual gaze. She felt she had to leave, and leave quickly, so she walked fast out the door and to the lab to run the tests.
House and Wilson noticed the speed at which Cameron left the room, and wondered what the problem could be. They exchanged glances and walked into the room. The man in the corner, who was staring at the floor, looked up when he heard the door open. His gaze shifted from one man to the other as they entered the room. His voice was polite, yet slightly patronizing, "Have you entered the wrong room, gentlemen?" Wilson grinned, and House stepped forward and took in the entire room in one glance. He limped further into the room, taking in all three individuals in one quick look, then he spoke.

"No, actually we're in the right one. By the way, what did you say to cause that nice Dr. Cameron to take off like a bat out of hell? She wasn't blushing, so I assume it wasn't some sort of sexual comment." Wilson rolled his eyes.

The man in the corner looked puzzled. "We didn't say anything to her, I don't know why she left. Who are you?"

House grinned mischievously. "I'm Dr. House and this is Dr. Wilson, a colleague of mine."

"Warrick Brown and this is Heather Kessler. The man on the bed is—" House cut him off.

"My new patient, I know. Just wanted to check in, see how things were doing, and that curiosity about Dr. Cameron, you know . . ." he trailed off, turned, and left the room.


Heather and Warrick looked up as the door slid open again, not really expecting Catherine because she had just left. Two men entered the room. One looked like the quintessential doctor with his lab coat, tie, and dress slacks. The other . . . the other one reminded Warrick of Grissom. He was scruffy, he was wearing jeans, Nike shoes, a suit jacket over a light blue button-down shirt over a black t-shirt, and carrying a cane. He also had piercing blue eyes that seemed to know everything at a glance. When he scanned the room and seemed to pick up everything so quickly, well, that was something Grissom did rather often.

Heather had her own opinion of the two men. She saw a bit of herself in Dr. House, but she noticed that Dr. Wilson was clearly attracted to her, and then she noticed the wedding band on his finger, which caused her to narrow her eyes slightly. Then Warrick broke the silence, "Have you entered the wrong room, gentlemen?" The man in the lab coat grinned, and the man with the cane stepped forward and took in the entire room in one glance. He limped further into the room, taking in all three individuals in one quick look, then he spoke.

"No, actually we're in the right one. By the way, what did you say to cause that nice Dr. Cameron to take off like a bat out of hell? She wasn't blushing, so I assume it wasn't some sort of sexual comment." Lab coat man rolled his eyes.

Warrick sounded puzzled. "We didn't say anything to her, I don't know why she left. Who are you?"

The man with the cane grinned mischievously. "I'm Dr. House and this is Dr. Wilson, a colleague of mine." Heather's eyes widened. This was Dr. House?

"Warrick Brown and this is Heather Kessler. The man on the bed is—" Dr. House cut him off.

"My new patient, I know. Just wanted to check in, see how things were doing, and that curiosity about Dr. Cameron, you know . . ." he trailed off, turned, and left the room.


Once House and Wilson left the room, House paused in the hallway just outside the door. "Well, you were right. She's definitely gorgeous. She's also the significant other of the patient. I think you'd have better luck with the blonde."

"Where'd you get that notion?" Wilson responded as they started walking back to House's office

"Oh, come on! She wouldn't let go of his hand when we walked in, and you said you saw her holding his hand when they came in. She's not wearing a wedding band, but that Catherine has an indentation on her finger from one, so she's either divorced, separated, or widowed. Also, Heather narrowed her eyes at you when she noticed your wedding band. Besides," House couldn't help but grin, "she seemed to enjoy it when we were watching her."

"You think she knew?"

"Of course she did. Women always know. Besides, the alternative is that she was walking like that because she thought Chase had a cute butt."

"Ew. I definitely don't want to think about that."