By this point of the story I need to try and appear like I knew something about things medical. I don't, so just go with it. I have tried to look up enough information to make it all sound half-way possible, but don't take any of the information you read here to the bank – or anywhere else, either!

Thanks for the reviews and I hope you keep on enjoying the fruits of my labour.

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The second time that day House walked into the diagnostics room with a patient file and again all his three musketeers were there. This time, though, a silence descended into the room when House entered. He could see the white board with his mother's symptoms on it and they were also looking at the MRI of her chest. House turned to Chase first and gave him the file in his hand.

"I need you to do an X-ray and the usual tests to confirm pneumonia. I want to be sure it is just a common or garden variety that Georgia has," having said that House walked over to take a look at the MRI. Foreman tried to say something but House raised a hand shushing him. He studied the image for a moment and then he turned back to Chase. "You do know Georgia, don't you?"

"Hmm, I haven't met her, but I have heard about her," Chase nearly stammered. "If she is the one I think."

"She is. So be careful, she might really go for your accent," House warned him glibly. "If she gets too frisky with you, you can tell her that you don't want to risk your job by making me jealous."

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind," Chase answered cautiously. He could not quite wrap his mind round the idea that House obviously was not going to say anything about the MRI. How could he not?

House took his mother's file and glanced through the test results, but again said nothing. Foreman and Cameron were both on the verge of saying something, but decided against it. But they were still waiting for House to ask something. He didn't. He just put the file back on the table and then walked out of the door. The trio was just exchanging puzzled glances when he turned back.

"When are you taking your findings to my mother?"

"As soon as we have finished discussing them, half an hour, I think," Foreman said.

"Fine," House turned to go but stopped again, this time he turned towards Chase again. "When you deal with Georgia, remember that her brain damage is limited to the pleasure centre. She may be giddy, and she sure is that, but she is not senile." After that he walked out. Cameron noticed that he was leaning rather heavily on his cane.

"Who the hell was that?" Chase gasped as soon as House was out of earshot. "He looked like House and had the same voice, but no way was that House!"

"He's never been like that!" Cameron exclaimed. "He must be really worried about his mother."

"I'm not sure he is capable of worrying about anyone," Foreman scoffed, though there was an element of doubt in his voice. "But I would never, ever have expected him to truly stay out of this. He must be testing us or something. He has to know what is wrong with his mother and he is just messing with us."

"He wouldn't do that!" Cameron protested.

"Oh yes, he would," Chase supported Foreman. "Anything he can do to mess us, he will. This just means that if we don't get this right, our lives will not be worth living. What were you saying before he came in Foreman?"

"I was saying that the thymoma we found may be an explanation for the drooping eyelids, but no way does it explain the pain and muscle fatigue in her hands."

"You are thinking that the thymoma might be an additional symptom and not the problem itself?" Chase asked.

"But if the thymoma is a symptom, then what she has is almost definitely a paraneoplastic syndrome or an autoimmune disorder. If it's paraneoplastic, then the thymoma is probably malignant and has metastesised," Cameron said unhappily.

"I may be too optimistic, but it looks nice and contained to me," Foreman mused looking at the MRI.

"I hate to sound like the voice of doom," Chase drawled, "but if the thymoma is not cancerous, we may very well be looking at our first case of Lupus."

"It's never Lupus," Cameron sounded distressed.

"I hope not!" Foreman sighed. "But autoimmune does seem likeliest. If the thymoma is a symptom we have Lambert-Eaton on the table still, possibly MS and rheumatoid artrhitis."

"She doesn't really have enough symptoms for us to go on," Chase grumbled. "Thymomas are not that uncommon in people, most of them are found when doctors are looking for something else entirely! It coud be unrelated to her hands or even her eyes."

"Now there's a cheerful thought," Foreman said sarcastically. "But I think for now we take the thymoma as a symptom. We have to operate on it and see if it's benign or malignant. Once we know that, we go on from there. If it's benign, then we do as many tests on as many autoimune disorders as we can and we are bound to at least get more information, if nothing else. Though I think we should do the Lupus test immediately."

"You are in charge, Foreman," Chase reminded him.

"Don't I know!" was the resigned answer. "Cameron, would you do the test, since Chase has to go to Georgia."

"So what are you going to tell Mrs. House?" Cameron asked.

"The truth," Foreman shrugged his shoulders, "not much else to do. House was right when he called his mother a human lie detector. Besides, House saw the results, I'm sure he made his conclusions as well, I'm not going to get caught lying to his mother. The best I can do is to try and get away with telling her only the things we know without having to go into the things we suspect or fear."

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Foreman and Chase walked to Blythe's room but only Foreman went in. Chase went next door to get Georgia for her x-ray and tests. He found the old lady sitting in bed waiting for him.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Chase and Dr. House sent me over to take you to your x-ray," Chase greeted her.

"Oh my!" Georgia smiled delightedly. "Dr. House was right; you do have a killer accent and great hair. It's almost a shame I'm not such a flibbertigibbet as to change the object of my affections on a whim."

"Actually, I'm happy to hear that," Chase couldn't help but smile, too. "Dr. House already threatened both my hair and my accent if I try and steal his best girl from him."

"Did he really? Georgia trilled. "How sweet of him." She saw the look on Chase's face and asked: "Don't you think he is sweet?"

"He is my boss," Chase fumbled. "Sweet is not necessarily the side of him I get to see the most often. I think he saves it for his lady-friends."

"Could be," Georgia admitted. "He did not get along with my son so well at first. But then they had a nice man-to-man talk and it has got better. At least my son no longer snarls at him. I'm glad, because it was most unbecoming. I'm sure I raised my son better than that."

Chase brought the wheelchair next to the bed. "Now Milady, your chariot awaits. We need to get you better, or Dr. House will have my hide."

"Oh, we cannot have that," Georgia agreed as Chase helped her to the chair. "I'm sure the nurses around here would be devastated if something was to happen to you."

"I would certainly like to think so, but since I don't have much time to go around charming them, I really couldn't say for sure."

"Does Dr. House keep you so busy at work then?" Georgia asked as Chase wheeled her down the corridor. As they went by Blythe House's room, Chase could see her and House with Foreman in there. He wished him good luck in his thoughts, rather you than me, mate.

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Foreman was sweating internally, though outside he tried to appear calm and collected. He was talking directly to Blythe, but he could feel House's presence in the room with every fibre of his being. He was so not bringing Lupus into this conversation.

"We could do a biopsy on the tumour, but since it really has to be removed anyway, we think it would be best to just check it during the operation. As far as we can tell from the MRI it should be benign, but we won't know for sure until we get a closer look." Foreman explained.

"And once you have the tumour out, then what?" Blythe asked. "Surely a tumour on the thymus gland would not affect my eyelids? Or hands."

"It might be the cause for the drooping of the eyelid; tumours in the chest area can do that. But you are right, it does not explain the symptoms of you hands," Foreman had to acknowledge.

"So the tumour is one shoe, but what is the other?" Blythe prompted.

"It is possible that the thymoma is a completely separate issue, but it can also be one more symptom. In which case we may be talking about some other disorder entirely, possibly something to do with your autoimmune system." Foreman prevaricated.

"And what might those problems be?"

"Rheumatoid arthritis might explain your hands," Foreman conceded.

"What he is trying not to do," House finally said from his corner, "is to cry wolf."

"Wolf? That doesn't sound very reassuring. If I remember correctly the end of that story was not very good."

"No it wasn't. The wolf, canis lupus, ate them all," House groused. "Lupus is an autoimmune disorder where the body basically becomes highly allergic to itself. Fortunately there is a way to test for it, which is not always the case with autoimmune disorders. I'm assuming you are going to do that test?" He turned to Foreman.

"Yes, Cameron is doing it as we speak." Foreman informed them. "And I'm sure it isn't Lupus, it never is."

"My son doesn't seem quite as convinced of it as you would like to sound," Blythe mused.

"Well, Lupus does come with joint pain," Foreman was forced to reveal. "But even so, the rest of your symptoms are so mild, so barely there, that I cannot believe this could be Lupus. Or then we will beat all records of early detection of it ever made. That, of course, would be a good thing for the treatment."

"So there is a treatment for it?" Blythe asked.

"Treatment, yes," it was House who answered. "Cure, no. But early detection is the key, as with most things that can go wrong in a human body. If it is Lupus, and Foreman is right, nobody has ever detected Lupus with so few symptoms, there is a good chance that you can live a pretty normal life."

"Well, I'm rapidly approaching 70, so there isn't that much of it left anyway, so I think I can handle even your wolf." Blythe stated with some bravado. "So when are you going to operate on my thymus?"

"We thought you would like your husband to be here by then, so it's scheduled for the day after tomorrow. If that is ok?" Foreman said.

"Yes, I would like my husband to be here," Blythe confirmed. "I know it is an operation that you do on a regular basis, but it's still surgery, and things can go wrong."

"They better not go wrong," House stated.

"I'm sure they won't, but I still like to be prepared to all eventualities," Blythe reassured him. "You know me."

"I do," House sighed. "And I know Dad, too. He would be most upset if you had had surgery and he had not been there. At least not now that he has some say on the matter."

"So it's decided then," Blythe turned to Foreman. "I'll have my surgery the day after tomorrow and meanwhile you do whatever tests you need and we'll see what comes out of them."

"That is the plan," Foreman said making ready to leave. "If you have any questions from me, just let me know and I will fill you in the best I can. But now I'll go and see how Cameron is doing with that Lupus test. I'll let you know the results as soon as we have them."

"Fine," House nodded to him. "Thank you Foreman."

For a moment Foreman considered fainting over House's unexpected civility, but decided then just to leave the room and let House have some time with his mother.