Chapter 3

"Samantha, Samantha," the words seemed to come from a great distance, but the concern was evident. Samantha slowly opened her eyes, and gazed at her mother. Why was she in on the ground, what had happened?

"Mom, whats up? Why…" and then everything came back, the seizures, the syringe, the…wait, Sam sat up quickly, but before she could stand she let out a cry of pain and stumbled back to the ground. Looking down, her shirt was covered in blood, and she felt as tgough she was going to pass out.

"Damn, its my ribs again, probably only bruised though, I have some morphine in the…."

"No, Samantha youre… going to the… hospital!" But Sam was shaking her head, "Maybe Ill go later but I have got to get to work, I can set the bones myself and go tonight."

"Samantha, you need …help…" started Laura but Sam had already crawled to the bathroom and was closing the door.

Once the door was shut Sam laid down on the cool tile, damn, this was really going to be a setback. Of course she should have been expecting this, it had been about a week, she had been careless. At least its just my ribs this time. Getting up Sam began to undress and examine the bleeding, just minor scratches. Unfourtunately, her whole body was covered in bruises. Quickly wrapping bandages around her torso Sam pulled on a long sleeved shirt and pants, while lastly pulling a baseball cap over her eyes to cover the bruises that were forming.

When she was done she cracked open the door to she that her mother had dozed off on the sofa. Quietly Sam crossed to the front door, grabbed her bag and slowly closed the door. The walk to the gas station wasnt long but by the time she arrived she was panting, maybe she really should go to the hospital…but no she needed to keep off the radar, childrens services never gave up once they knew you existed.

Sitting at the cash register was Adrian, her bosss son, who was finishing up college at Santa Clara University. He glanced up and muttered a quick "Hey". Looking at the clock Sam said, "Hey, Ive got a couple more minutes can I use the back room for a couple of minutes?" Without waiting for an answer she went to the back office. As soon as the door was closed Sam grabbed the phone and dialed information. "Hello Id like the number for Princeton Plainsboro Hospital," she said glancing down at her notes, "in New Jersey." At the hospital she had snuck into the records room and copied Houses file. "One moment please," came the response, "Ill connect you."

"Hello Princeton Plainsboro Hospital, how may I help you?" This was it, Sam gulped and in her most pompous sounding voice said, "Yes, Id like the extension for Dr. House". This request was followed by what sounded like a groan before, "If you have a complant, the Head of Medicine, Dr. Cuddy will be glad to listen to you."

A little taken back Sam said, "No this is not a complaint, please connect me."

In an undertone Sam heard, "If you dont have one now, you will later", but before she could respond the pone began to ring and an angry male voice said, "WHAT?"

This was the man, but she hadnt expected him to really be that bad. Well it didnt matter, in the same pompous voice Sam, "Dr. House. I am Dr. Kelly, and I work at OConner Hospital in…"

"Yes, as much as I would like to know your entire life story Im busy saving lives, so get to the point."

This time Sam was not so nervous, so she went on and told House about how she Had this "patient" and no one could figure out what was wrong with her.

"All that proves is that Californian doctors are idiots, say do you still need to have been to med school to work there?"

No Sam was mad and she blurted out, "I heard you were the best diagnostician in the country, but I guess I heard wrong."

She was about to hang up when he said, "Wait, ship this patient out here, along with her medical file, you do have medical files in California, dont you? And Ill take a look, and by that I mean Ill cure her." With that the line went dead.

Sam sat there for a minute stunned, she had pulled it off. Now she had to figure out how to get across the country.

Same day-PPTH

House was in a good mood, apparently patients did just fall into your lap sometimes.