Wilson was laying on the bed going over Greg's notes for the conference tomorrow, while said diagnostician laid with his head in Wilson's lap. House was 'testing out' his laser pointer. James didn't know how he'd managed to keep it after they'd almost gotten thrown off the plane because of House acting like a child with it.

The peaceful silence of their hotel room was broken by Greg's cell phone ringing.

The number was unknown, "City morgue, you kill'em, we chill'em," House answered. James rolled his eyes and kept reading the notes until Greg said, "Interesting," into the phone.

There wasn't a lot that Greg House found 'interesting' so it usually meant there was a case.

"And they all came back negative?" Greg sat up, "yes, I'll be there in a few hours. Bye."

James put the notes down and waited for House to explain what that was about.

Greg put the phone down and hastily got off of the bed, once he had started to pack up their things he told Wilson about where they were going, "Put that in the bin, we've been saved from the dreadful conference. A man in Beacon Hills hospital has an interesting case."

James frowned, "Cuddy isn't going to like this."

"Who cares what Cuddy likes? Get dressed, we're a few hours away," House told him.

James knew there was little chance of reasoning with the diagnostician, so he got dressed and packed up their things. He sighed as they closed the door behind them and headed down to the lobby to check out; Wilson knew they were going to be in so much trouble once they got back home, but House would go with or without him.

It turned out to be quite a process to explain that they were checking out even though they'd only been there for a few hours. And they still had to pay for the room for the weekend! Which Greg charged to the hospital, James rolled his eyes again but said nothing; just another thing they'd be in trouble over.

Finally, they made it outside into the night air with their bags, they managed to hail a taxi and were soon on their way to Beacon Hills. Wilson tried to nap since it was sure to be a long time until he slept next, it probably wouldn't be until the case was cracked, if he was being honest with himself.

House sat pensive, twisting his cane in his hands and staring out of the window. It must be an extraordinary case if they had tracked him down at a hotel; Greg had already ruled out multiple diagnoses, but there were still so many options, he was intrigued, and grateful to be ditching the boring conference.

XXX

The taxi arrived at Beacon Hills hospital as sunlight peaked over the horizon of trees surrounding the town. House opened the door and immediately got out, he limped straight towards the front doors of the hospital, which left Wilson to pay the driver, if he was being honest though James wasn't surprised at all. He just paid the man and hurried after House into the quiet hospital.

Greg was at the first desk he came across asking which room he was going to, the nurse said something in response that Wilson couldn't hear and pointed down a hallway. James smiled at her as he trailed after House down the hallway and around a corner.

They stopped in front of room thirty three.

"Shouldn't we wait for the attending doctor?" Wilson asked pointlessly.

House had already flung the door open and was inside before James could stop him.

"Who the hell are you?" questioned a dark haired middle-aged man; obviously startled by the intrusion.

House ignored the man's alarmed demeanour and just picked up the clip board attached to the end of the bed and examined it. He saw that they had run a lot of tests, that ruled out a few more diagnoses, and that the man in the bed had been hit by a car. Then he moved on to the patient, who was asleep, and felt the pulse in his wrist; it was little high.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor," he told them and then kept doing the usual basic checks on the patient.

"Where is the other doctor?" the other younger man with glasses asked.

"He called me in to answer stupid questions like that. I will find out what is wrong with your…partner, friend, father, brother etcetera because I'm a doctor and that's what I do," Greg turned to the door, "Wilson!?"

James entered the room after hovering in the door way, he already felt slightly embarrassed about Greg's behaviour, although it was very early and it had been a long day.

James turned to the two 'loved ones' and introduced himself and Greg, "I'm Doctor Wilson and this is Doctor House, he is the best diagnostician in the country and you can rest assured that we will find out what is wrong with…" he glanced at the clip board, "Remus…what a peculiar name, from the Roman myth of the two boys taken in by a wolf."

The older man sniggered and the younger one smacked his arm and said, "You know your history. I'm Harry, this is Severus," he indicated to the older man, "all the tests came back negative though, isn't that a good thing?"

"Not always, unfortunately," Wilson replied.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked and skimmed his eyes over Remus.

"It means we don't know what is wrong with this man, or why he ended up in front of a car in the first place," House informed them as he went back to examining some things on the patient; his fingernails and teeth were particularly interesting. They would need fingernail samples and some dental x-rays. And toenail samples he added to his mental list after inspecting the patient's feet. Hair samples as well. There was something odd about this man. He also had an abundance of scars. Perhaps he had been abused…and malnourished, maybe?

James stepped forward, "Rest assured that we will do our very best to help Remus make a full recovery."

"What does he do for work?" House queried.

"He's a teacher," Harry answered, Severus didn't seem to like Harry's answer but that wasn't Greg's problem.

Teacher would not have been his first guess, "And when he's not at work?"

Harry seemed unprepared to answer questions, "Oh, um, he enjoys being in the forest and drinking tea."

House rolled his eyes, god he hated dealing with patient's loved ones; they always gave unhelpful information, "I will need to take some samples, x-rays and run more tests before I can give any more definitive answers," Greg told them before he turned to Wilson, "time to find the attending," on that note he left the room.

"We will return shortly," James assured them and followed House out of the room.

They walked back down the hallway towards the front nurses desk and passed two men; one seemed in his late twenties to early thirties and very tall with brown shoulder length hair and the other was significantly shorter and a little older, his hair was a lighter golden brown and he was sucking on a red lolly pop. They were both wearing Fed suits.

House glanced back over his shoulder and noticed that the two men had stopped in front of the room they had just left, this case just got even more interesting, and possibly a whole lot more annoying.