Thanks for the reviews! I think I better confess that there are a few red herrings in this story so far. I hope they are not taking you all the way up the garden path, when I'm aiming for just a slight detour.

Some of you have noted that House is sort of out of character – (no, I did not think it was a complaint as such, just an observation) – I don't think he is so much out of character as in character we have rarely seen. But we have seen him: in Socratic method, Kids, Autopsy, in Daddy's boy we glimpsed him briefly with his mother, also sometimes in the clinic with kids (the boy with the washable red rash and the girl who was "marching the penguin") and Cuddy saw him when he advised her to find a donor she can trust AND like.

I will try to make clear the whys and wherefores of what is going on but do ask questions, because one does get blind to ones own story! Also do remember that this is only day 5 of this epic, even though there are 15 chapters – well now 16 – up, so House has not been nice for very long, yet. And he was quite bad in the clinic just yesterday! Main reason you didn't actually see it, was because I really don't have much medical knowledge, and I didn't have time to do enough research to write clinic stories.

Thanks for you comments and I hope you will enjoy the rest of the story too. :)

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Once Andie had been stashed away in House's office with her mother, House decided it was time to go visit his own mother again. He did visit her at least twice a day anyway, mostly when he knew his father was doing something else, but this time he went because he knew Foreman was going to be there with the latest test results.

When he got to Blythe's room he saw that Foreman had just arrived, so he kissed his mother and then limped to the window and parked himself a little to the side leaving the floor to Foreman. Foreman gave him a considering look, but then he turned to Blythe and John who was sitting near his wife holding her hand.

"The repetition tests we did to your hands last night and this morning, are pretty conclusive. It is MG in your hands as well and not just arthritis, so it is official: you have generalized Myasthenia Gravis not just the ocular version. We found it in its early stages, so there is no reason to believe you cannot have a perfectly normal life. At this point I would start you on prednisone and we will need to monitor your calcium and potassium levels and we also need to keep an eye on your thyroid because MG often causes problems there, too. Once you are well enough to travel back home, we will refer you to a MG specialist in your area. Also you need to join a support group that will help you live with this condition. There are a number of drugs you shouldn't use, some foods may cause problems and you have to learn to pace yourself. I have arranged a meeting with one of our therapists for you, but this is an illness that you need to know well to deal with it and a few sessions with a therapist are not likely to be enough, so you really need to go to the group meetings to learn all there is to learn."

"There is no cure to this then?" John asked worried.

"No. For most people this is a permanent condition. There have been some spontaneous recoveries, but they either occur or not. But as I said, we found this early and there is no reason to presume that, with the right management, your wife cannot lead a normal life." Foreman reassured him.

"What effect the operation had on my health; in regard of this illness?" Blythe asked.

"Most MG patients improve after a thymectomy, but it may take as long as a year for the benefits to manifest themselves. And as your symptoms were slight to start with – apart from the thymoma – it is possible we really will not be able to tell what results are from the operation and what from just the normal treatment." Foreman explained.

"But what you are telling us is that basically I'm fine?" Blythe checked.

Foreman glanced at House, but got no help from there, so he just said: "I cannot say fine, not exactly. You still have an autoimmune disease that needs to be treated and monitored and can cause more, even serious, problems further down the line. But I am saying that right now you have nothing to worry about and I'm very optimistic about your future as well."

"Well, as I said once before, I'm near 70, so that is good enough for me," Blythe stated. "And by the looks of my son, that is good enough for him, too."

"Yes, Mother," House took part in the conversation for the first time. "I have seen your file and I cannot see anything that Dr. Foreman hasn't taken into consideration. The musketeers did well on your case and the planned treatment looks good too."

Foreman's first thought after that was: I'm so going to search his home!

"So when can we go home?" John asked.

"I cannot say for sure, but if we can find a doctor near you who can take over Blythe's treatment from us, I see no reason why you couldn't go home for Christmas," Foreman mused. "On the other hand, if you want to be sure we have got your medication right and the rest of the regiment going you could stay longer, up to six weeks, though you wouldn't need to stay in the hospital for most of it."

"I see no reason why we should go home for Christmas," Blythe said. "I would not be up to any entertaining or even visiting anyway. On the other hand, six weeks would be way too much for my son's nerves. I think we'll go home after Christmas but before New Year."

"A son should be happy to have his parents near him, while they still live" John House grumbled a little.

"Dear," Blythe smiled at her husband, "Greg is a grown man. Why on earth would he want his parents watching his every step?"

"Mother, you are not exactly the nosy type, so I don't think you would be watching my every step even if you were to stay longer." House felt obliged to point out. And it was true, his mother did leave him quite happily alone – it was his father who wanted the details of House's life.

"I'm not, your father is," Blythe acknowledged earning a slightly indignant look from her husband.

"It is not nosiness to want to know what is happening in your son's life!" John huffed a little.

"It is when your son is as private a person as Greg is," Blythe stated calmly. "Don't worry Greg; we will be out of your hair right after Christmas."

"What ever you decide is fine by me," House accepted. "But I have clinic duty in half an hour so I better go get some lunch before that."

House limped out of the room leaving Foreman to answer the rest of his parent's questions.

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Brenda was in the nurses' locker room banging her head lightly on the door of her locker.

"Get a grip girl! Nothing has changed! It's just Christmas spirit or something, even the Scrooge has to feel it!" she was muttering to herself.

"Brenda?" she heard a voice behind her and looked up.

"Oh, hi Imelda," Brenda said. "Don't mind me I'm just trying to hit some sense into my head."

"Really? It looks to me like you are not succeeding very well. I called your name three times before you responded." Imelda mused. "You know, I only know one man in this hospital who can have that effect on a woman."

"Who said it was a man?" Brenda questioned with exasperation.

"Fine, a cripple, then if you prefer," Imelda shrugged. That got Brenda's attention.

"How...?"

"Been there, done that," Imelda revealed. "You looked into his eyes, didn't you?"

"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean," Brenda tried to prevaricate.

"He talked me into falsifying lab results," Imelda confessed having first made sure they were alone.

"You!" Brenda felt her jaw drop. "Nobody could talk you into anything, let alone into anything even remotely nefarious. No way did he get you to falsify lab results!"

"It was that time when Foreman was in charge of the diagnostics department. House wanted to treat a Munchausen's patient because he was sure there was more to her symptoms than just the ones she had manufactured herself. But he needed lab results to convince Foreman. He couldn't draw blood from the patient, so he asked me to gather all the extra blood I had left over from other tests from other patients and run the tests with that. No way was I going to do that – until I made the mistake of looking into his eyes." Imelda shrugged. "You know what I mean, don't you?"

"Yes," Brenda acknowledged. "There just is something in them, something deep down that you don't even recognise but they mesmerise you."

"And for a moment you would do anything for him," Imelda finished the thought. "It does pass, you know. Don't worry. You will be normal soon enough. Though it may reoccur, like when he gives his balcony to a terminal kid, or something, and then, just for a moment, you remember. But it does pass."

"You know then that it was House, not Wilson, who was behind the balcony thing?" Brenda asked.

"It had to be House," Imelda pointed out. "No way could Dr. Cuddy make him decorate his balcony all in pink, she wouldn't even dare to ask! If it happened it happened because House wanted it. And I expect he had a lot of fun raiding the hospital that night."

"I bet. "Brenda agreed. "Did you tell anyone?"

"No," Imelda said. "It's none of anybody's business. I don't care to feed the rumour mill. Even if you tell the truth, by the time it has reached the other end of the hospital, it has changed again beyond recognition."

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Having sorted out her head in the locker room, Brenda was quite calm when she handed Dr. House his first case that afternoon. He was on time, or near enough, which he had been almost every time since his father had arrived. For the sake of the smooth running of the clinic, Brenda was hoping for a long visit.

House was his normal, grumpy self and he was muttering to himself about idiot patients as he made his way to the exam room. Before he got there, Brenda called him.

"Dr. House," when he turned Brenda said: "Before you go in, I would like to remind you that Dr. Cuddy has received her this week's quota of your disgruntled patients, so I would advise you to try and be fairly civil to them."

"And if I'm not?" House questioned somewhat insolently.

Brenda put her finger to the side of her nose, and nodded like Santa and revealed: "I think I can find a way to make you sorry if you are not."

House got the reference to the "Night before Christmas" and he made a face at Brenda, but when he had turned his back to her, he had to smile. She sure knew when she had proper blackmail material!

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Once Foreman had finished talking to Blythe and John he made his way to the diagnostics department. When he entered the room where Chase and Cameron were waiting for him, he greeted them by saying:

"We need to search House's home."

"Do we ever!" Chase agreed.

"You two are overreacting to this!" Cameron insisted. "He is just being nice. He can be, you know."

"No, Cameron, we don't know," Foreman made his point. "He does not compliment us, he does not tell people that we do good work or that we are the best team in this country. That is not House! Not the one he normally is."

"Yeah, and you haven't even seen the worst yet," Chase told him.

"What more is there," Foreman was puzzled.

"This," Chase said and turned Foreman to look into House's office where Andie and her mother were both asleep, Andie on a gurney and her mother in House's chair.

"House knows about this?" Foreman questioned.

"Yep," Chase answered. "And not only that, he arranged it."

"Ok, the raid we did was typical House, he loves stealing things, especially if it makes Cuddy's life difficult," Foreman listed. "But this: giving up his balcony and now his office to a cancer kid and her mother. No, that is not House. We need to search his home. Cameron, will you call us if he leaves for home before we come back?"

"No!" Cameron put her foot down. "You two are not going into his home and invading his privacy! If you do that I will go to him, immediately, and tell him what you are doing."

"Cameron!" Chase exclaimed. "You wouldn't do that?"

"Yes I would." Cameron stated. "There is nothing wrong with him. He is just concerned over his mother and worried about Andie. He likes Andie. All else is just results of that. He is not using anything stronger than Vicodin! I'm sure of it, and I will not let you search his home."

"If this was a patient, you would not say that," Foreman said. "If he is on drugs he could end up as a patient himself. Prevention would be better."

"Not if there is nothing to prevent." Cameron was adamant.

"Look, Cameron, can't you see we are worried," Chase tried.

"No. I think you are just curious about his private domain and you want to snoop."

"Would we really do that!" Foreman protested.

"Yes, you would," Cameron said. "Look, his mother is barely out of surgery, we only today confirmed the diagnosis. Any personality change, any odd thing in his behaviour can be traced to his worry about his mother. Can't you see that?"

Foreman hesitated. "Ok, maybe. I give you two more days, but if he isn't showing signs of getting back to his normal self, I am going to search his home and you are going to serve as a look out. Clear?"

"Ok, if he isn't more normal by the day after tomorrow I will not object to you two searching his rooms." Cameron agreed.

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After three hours in the clinic House left there for the day. He hadn't sent a single patient storming to Cuddy. As he handed his last file to Brenda he asked: "So was I a good boy?"

Brenda smiled, made a locking motion over her mouth and took the file.