Seras awoke in her room several hours after she almost crashed. Dr House was sitting beside her bed.
"Dr., what happened? The last thing I remember was coughing up blood and…"
"You almost crashed on us. And it wasn't blood. It was some kind of sludge. We sent a sample of it down to the lab and we should have a result back in a few hours. Although by the way you look, we won't have that luxury."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that if we don't find out what's wrong with you, you're going to die. And very quickly I might add. You see, you've got what we call an "unknown disease". It's called that because, and here's the hard part to follow-we don't know what it is you've got. I've got Dr. Napyeer and Dr. Cox on the case. In fact, I think I should head back to my office." He popped a vicodin into his mouth. "And before I forget-To all of you out there in readerland, there's going to be a House marathon on January 20. This, however, coinciding with the inauguration of president Obama, few people will actually be watching it. I told the network heads they should have it on a different day, but nobody listened."
"Um, what are you talking about?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
-----------------------------
An hour passed, and Seras was getting worse. Fortunately, the lab had just come back with the test results, so perhaps the team would be able to glean something useful out of it. Herr Doktor was the first to speak up.
"Vell, zhe lumbar puncture came back negative, und zhe blood culture didn't show anyzhing. Zhe analysis of zhe sludge, however, shows something very interesting. It's her liver."
"You mean her liver is the problem?"
"Nien, Dr. House. I mean zhe sludge vas her liver. Or rather, vhot ist left of it."
"You mean that her body is decaying form the inside out?"
"Essentially, yes. But in all my years of vork, I've never come across something that made a vampire decay from vithin. Unless…"
"Unless what?"
"Occam's razor. Zhe simplest solution ist often overlooked for a more complex one. I need to talk vith zhe patient."
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In Seras' room, Herr Doktor was talking with Seras.
"So tell me, Seras, vhen vos zhe last time you drank blood?"
"Never. I haven't had any yet. Master is always telling me to do it, but I don't. At least, not yet."
"Well, you need to start. You see, zhe bleeding und zhe necrosis of your liver were caused by your refusal to drink blood. Your body started to reject itself. You should have noticed zhat your body was dehydrated when you first had your hallucinations. In humans, hallucinations can be caused by a lack of fluids, und in vampires, zhe same thing applies. Alzho I've only ever seen it in a few very rare cases. I'll start you on a blood IV, und you'll get better in no time."
"Thank you. And you know, you're actually not a half bad doctor when you're not with that psycho Major."
"Danke."
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Everything was over. Seras had gone home, and the impromptu team of doctors were saying their goodbyes. Dr. House went first.
"Well, it's been swell seeing each of you again. I hope you'll forgive me for not calling more often, but hey, what can you do? Now if you'll excuse me, there's a new episode of Monk coming on in a few minutes, and I want to see it I can solve the case before he does."
"Vhell, I guess I should be off. Herr Major's probably vondering vhere I vhent."
"So, Dr. Cox, do you want to join us in our little circle of feelings, of are you just going to say goodbye?"
"Oh please, Betsy. You really think I'm going to just leave without saying goodbye to my oldest friends? Although I really should get going. Bobbo's going to get on my ass for just disappearing to another show. He always does."
And so they all parted ways, meeting up at doctor conventions around the country. They never, however, had another case like the one they had had, though.
Oh, and if some of you are wondering where Dr. Who disappeared to, he went off to fight Daleks in between the 2nd and 3rd chapters. He was never seen or heard from again.