Hello…hope you enjoy this chapter which is about House.

Let me know what I am doing right and wrong please…

Just taking House MD out to play again…

"In an Instant"

Chapter Two

House limped into the hospital and the conference room late as usual. But today he found it empty. Normally he would find Cameron playing secretary, Forman reading and Chase trying to complete the crossword puzzle of the day (never has and never will happen without help). Mornings in the Diagnostic department had not changed even after being shot 11 weeks ago (while the Ketamine treatment had helped reduce the pain level in his leg, it had done nothing for the limp or the attitude). As House looked around the room he could see the evidence of his team having been there that morning. On the table was Forman's medical journal and Chase's newspaper, he could also smell the coffee Cameron had made that morning… "Well, I guess I am getting my own coffee this morning." Once he had poured his coffee he went into his office to read the mail that Cameron had sorted – reading the good stuff first… a.k.a. Cameron's junk pile.

Once he had finished his coffee and read his mail House returned to the conference room to find that his team had still not returned. Not knowing where his team was and not wanting to do clinic duty he set out to find them. Knowing that Cuddy would be on the warpath House tried to ensure that he stayed as far away from the clinic as possible. He looked in Coma-guys room; the locker room; the lab; the cafeteria; the library (he always wondered where that was); it was when he was walking past NICU that Cuddy finally caught up with him – having been looking for the last 10 minutes.

"House! You have clinic duty now. Get down there!" Cuddy yelled, knowing that House would not give up without a fight, but he would eventually get down there.

"But Mommy… I was playing hide-and-go-seek with my ducklings. They are hiding from me and I wanna know why…" House whined, making puppy-dog eyes at Cuddy. "And I thought that Forman or Cameron were meant to be down there anyways."

"No, Forman is taking Cameron home – and if you knew that one of them was down in clinic why didn't you look there first?"

"Duh-ah… I knew you were there as well. Why go to hell itself when Satan will make House calls. And what were you saying about Forman?"

That he was taking Cameron home, when he gets back he is needed in Cardiology for the day – you don't have a case and they are down 2 staff today. You will also find Chase in the I.C.U., they are full at the moment. And we need you down in clinic 15 minutes ago please." Cuddy stated as she started walking away.

House, catching up to Cuddy waiting for the elevator started whining again, "But mommy, why am I the last one to know these things? And why is Forman taking Cameron to the airport – I have not given her time off and she came in this morning, so where has she gone in a rush? And how can I find a case if all my Ducklings are out there working in other departments?" House turned on the sad puppy dog eyes once more "why did you take away my toys mommy?"

"House, if you ever arrived before 9:30am your team would be able to tell you before they leave in the morning. As for Cameron, she got a phone call a couple of hours ago; she should be on a plane by now. Family emergency, she didn't have a lot of details to give but will call later to let me know the verdict."

"So, all she said that it was an emergency?" House replied, wishing that he could get out of work by just stating he had a family emergency.

Cuddy told him as they walked into the elevator. "No, her mother called her, 5 members of her family were in a car accident this morning – it was serious. And can you go to Clinic now?"

House slowly limped into Clinic trying to decide if he should call Cameron in a couple of hours for her daily dose of vitamin house. 'What is the matter with me. Hmmm, that hallucination was strong – thinking about calling Cameron… ?' As he wlked towards the clinic he decided it would not be worth it, he could find out more about Cameron from Cuddy or Wilson latter.

A/N Thanks everyone for your support. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next one comes next week... please let me know now I am going... Astig