A/N: Hey guys... :) Just wanted to quickly thank you all for your very nice comments and reviews! They really keep me going. :) But back to the story... Have a great weekend!

"What happened?" Dr. Morgan calmly approached his fellow and their patient who was right now sitting, leaning against one of the walls of the PT gym.

"Nothing." House sounded – as per usual – irritated, to say the least...

His fellow rolled his eyes. "He fainted."

House shot him an annoyed glance at that. "I didn't faint. I – "

"Unexpectedly lost consciousness," the physiotherapist immediately interrupted. "Commonly referred to as 'fainting'." Then, turning towards his boss: "He won't let me touch him." He vaguely gestured towards the blood-pressure cuff he was holding.

House immediately spoke again. "I'm fine."

Morgan decided to end their quarrel for now and take initiative. He turned slightly to directly face their patient. "You wanna move over to one of the benches?"

House immediately averted his gaze. "Not right now," was the very brief reply, more mumbled than spoken.

Morgan nodded slightly, but now crouched down next to the other man. "You hurt anything? Hit your head?" He was already reaching for his penlight.

House briefly shook his head, the PT assistant speaking up from behind to elaborate: "He fell a little awkwardly on his right side; might have hurt his shoulder if anything… I don't think he hit his head." Dr Morgan nodded, but the other man already continued: "I still think he should be checked out. We have no idea why he fainted. Maybe there's something wrong neurologically…"

House rolled his eyes at that, but before he could even shoot down the idea, Morgan already interrupted again. "Lift up your shirt, please."

Frowning slightly, House hesitated a moment before finally simply following the request.

Morgan briefly palpated his ribs on the right side, before quickly scanning the rest of his torso. "Looks alright." Then his hands went to the right shoulder. "Anything hurt around here?" He probed the joint, then the collarbone lightly, watching House for reactions. There weren't any.

"I'm fine!" Louder this time, but he was still very pale.

Morgan nodded, finally searching the other man's eyes. "So. What happened."

House looked away at the question, tensely rubbing his forehead, but not replying anything.

"He just got down from one of the tables. I asked him to come to the pool…"

Morgan frowned slighty at that. "What had you been doing before?"

"Just some range of motion exercises." His fellow sounded immediately defensive. "Nothing that wasn't on your plan. Nothing we haven't done before."

Morgen once again eyed his patient critically. "You ready to move now…?"

Just a brief nod.

They helped him over to one of the benches, the frown on Morgan's face deepening when he noticed that House still seemed somewhat unsteady, leaning heavily on both of them for support. Once they had carefully helped him sit down, sweat was once again standing out on his forehead.

"You need to lie down…?" Morgan didn't like how shaky the man seemed.

House shook his head, but leaned forward slightly.

The assistant got nervous again. "Dr Morgan… Don't you think it would be a good idea to – "

The orthopedist interrupted him calmly. "Go get a blood draw kit, please." Then he nodded towards the blood pressure gauge. "And leave me that."

Handing over the device, the younger man still hesitated. "And should I ask for a consult from – "

"He'll be fine!" Slowly but surely, even Morgan was losing his patience with the kid's obvious nervousness. Throwing his colleague a slightly apologetic glance, he continued more quietly: "Just get the kit, please."

Once the younger man had left the room, House threw Morgan another unhappy glance. "My blood is fine. It's my knee you're supposed to be treating." When the orthopedist just started taking his blood pressure without replying anything, House continued more quietly. "And I didn't take anything, if that's what you're thinking…"

Morgan looked up sharply at that, surprise on his face. "You think I wanna do a drug screening?! That's not what this is about at all…" Completing the blood pressure measurement, he slowly removed the cuff again. "You seem to have lost some weight. – I actually do just wanna check your blood."

House was still frowning at him. "I'm not sick."

"Okay… But are you eating?" Morgan finally asked a little testily.

"Of course I'm eating! I'm not an idiot…"

The orthopedist regarded him calmly, simply ignoring his obvious anger. "Vomiting then…?" When House didn't reply anything, he pressed gently: "'Cause you seem – "

"I'm in pain!" House finally yelled, causing the other man to flinch slightly at the sudden increase in volume. He immediately deflated again, a resigned and even somewhat guilty look on his face.

"I know." Morgan eventually returned calmly, not moving from his position at House's side. "You're also an ass." To the other man's slightly questioning glance, he immediately clarified: "I've been asking you to switch meds; repeatedly now. But instead you're… pigheaded enough to force us to constantly hurt you and to stress your system to the point of near collapse! Or actual collapse; I'm not quite sure about that yet…"

That was the moment the PT assistant chose to make his reappearance. He handed over the blood draw kit and held something out to House that looked suspiciously like some sort of sports drink. Then he eyed their patient worriedly. "How are you feeling…?"

House nodded slightly in response, but immediately opened the bottle. "I'm fine. As I've actually told you multiple times by now." Then, a lot less sharply: "And stop looking so damn guilty. This had nothing to do with you…"

He acknowledged Morgan's blood-drawing activities with a cursory glance, before simply leaning back slightly and taking a long drink from the bottle. Handing the blood draw kit – plus two filled tubes – back to his assistant, Morgan finally eyed his patient again.

"So… A nice long trip to the cafeteria or a banana bag – what's it gonna be?" House hesitated. "I'm throwing in some pain meds and an anti-emetic as an hors d'oeuvre if you wanna try some actual food…" He softened the statement with a small smile.

Another long moment of silence, before House finally just nodded slightly, a somewhat determined look on his face now. – He slowly started pushing himself to his feet.

Morgan mirrowed the movement, still keeping a close eye on the other man, while trying not to be too obvious about it. "Great! Let's step by my office first then…" He handed House his crutches.

Accepting them gratefully for once, House still frowned slightly at the orthopedist. "You're not actually coming to watch me eat, are you." Not really a question.

Morgan exhaled on a strange sort of half-laugh. "Oh, believe me House… I'm coming."

tbc... :)