Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!

CHAPTER 10

House followed behind Sera, his mind going in fifty directions at once. He was sick of this. Once again, someone on his team was in jeopardy. Two someones, if you counted Foreman. 'See', he thought, 'This is what happens when you start to care. Someone always pulls the rug out from under you.'

He watched Sera's shapely behind moving quickly ahead of him, but try as he might, he couldn't muster up one lascivious thought. He kept imagining Cameron's face, cut beyond recognition, damaged beyond repair. Even if they saved her before she was…House couldn't wrap his mind around the word "killed". But even if they did find her in time, would she be okay emotionally and mentally? He had a feeling she would never by the disgustingly, annoyingly optimistic, ever hopeful, little Miss Do-Right that she used to be.

Sera stopped suddenly and turned to face House. She was about to speak when she noticed the morose look back on his face. She stamped her foot in frustration. "Oh, for the love of…House, will you snap the hll out of it! We don't have time for your pity party or your regrets. You can mourn your lost opportunities later – now, we have work to do!"

Hose looked at her in shocked confusion. "Missed opportunities! You don't think I was interested in that little girl, do you?" Sera wiped her brow in mock relief. "Well, I don't now, thank God." She tilted her head and looked at him thoughtfully.

"You really do think of them as your kids, don't you?" Sera ignored the scoffing sounds House was making as she continued. "Eric is the oldest boy who's like a chip off the old block, Allison is your angel that you want to protect while at the same time toughen up a bit, and Robert…actually, Robert's like the middle child who gets lost in the shuffle."

House and Mitch, who had continued to follow them, looked at her as she stared into space, thinking about what she'd just said. House whacked her lightly with his cane to get her attention. "How is this enlightening look into our dysfunctional family help us same Cameron from some maniac bent on getting his revenge against you?"

Sera blinked and looked at House, focusing on the scar on the right side of his neck. She stared at it for a while, then said, almost dreamily, "Are you sure I'm the one he's trying to seek revenge on?"

Sera turned on her heel and practically ran towards the diagnostic department with House and Mitch hurrying behind her after sharing a completely bewildered look.

Sera arrived in the diagnostics office and went straight to the table where the coffee maker was. She made a fresh pot and nuked some water so that she could have some tea. She walked over to Mitch and took his headset ("Hey!") and called David.

"Hey, Dave….how is he?...what?...so is he coming up when he's done?...they are?...I thought I told you to stay with them! What the… well, I wanted you to stick with Lisa and Robert… just tell your crime lab people not to mess up the scene before I can get there…yeah, I know, but maybe he was careless. And get someone up here with some recording equipment. He's gonna call back. And I want Eric questioned when he gets up here and not a second before…. What?...I put me in charge of the investigation – you got a problem with that?...whatever, David!"

Sera disconnected and gave the headset back to Mitch, who was smirking at her. "You know he hates it when you start barking orders." Sera shrugged, unconcerned. They went through this every time. She didn't care how much David pouted, as long as he did what she said.

Sera looked at House, who had just whacked her again with his cane. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You do NOT want to hit me with that thing again!" She glared at him for a second then relented. "Eric is going to be fine. The wound is superficial. There was a lot of blood, but nothing major. In fact, by the time Robert got there, it had all but stopped. Eric is being stitched up now. He's going to need a lot of stitches, but he asked for a local so that he'd be able to answer questions to help get Allison back." She took a step closer to House and gave him a stern look. "He's going to be in a lot of pain and he probably already feels guilty, so no comments from you! I know how you are, but if you can't say something nice, then shut up!"

House opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but something in her eyes made him stop. She had that dangerous glint again. He nodded once. Sera looked over as Lisa and Robert came in the room, trailed by an agent. Sera didn't recognize her, but the woman came over with her hand out.

"Dr. Blair, I'm Agent Ruth Mix. I've heard so much about you. It's really an honor to meet you." Sera shook her hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. She had been out of the business for a while, and wasn't used to accolades. She turned to Robert, who was looking at her rather clinically, as if making sure she was okay. She smiled at him and was relieved when he smiled back. He gently chucked her under the chin and went to sit down. Sera fought off the urge to grin stupidly and went to get some chart paper from the closet.

She quickly wrote down the conversation she had with Dumas on the chart paper and taped it to the wall near the white board. Mitch and Ruth read over it carefully. She saw House looking at it, but knew he had already committed it to memory. She picked up a marker and wrote down the word "church". She saw House nodding out of the corner of her eye. Mitch looked at her. "Why a church?"

Sera nodded at House, who answered. "He refers to my team as my children. That would make me the father. Father House. It just screams 'church'." Sera nodded, then added, "Plus, Dumas' father is a Catholic priest. A very nice man who has been cooperating fully with the investigation. Where is Dumas's father's house? His daddy lives in a church."

Mitch just shook his head. He wasn't sure he would have drawn that conclusion, but he also wasn't a famous profiler, either. Sera was rarely wrong. And even when she was wrong, she was never totally wrong. Just off by some small detail. Agent Mix wasn't convinced. "Dr. Blair, I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. It seems a bit too convoluted." Sera stared at her for a moment, then looked at the other agent. "Mitch?" Sera's tone clearly told him to handle Agent Mix.

Mitch leaned over and whispered something to Ruth. She looked like she wanted to protest, but Mitch kept whispering and she closed her mouth. Meanwhile, Sera was talking. "There's got to be at least a million churches in this area. We should probably limit the search to Catholic churches. Maybe Lutheran, as well. That's still going to take too long. We need more info. Maybe when Eric gets here, he'll be able to help."

Sera picked up another marker and made a chart with 15 rows and 2 columns. At the top of the first column, she put the word "victim" and at the top of the other, she put the word "motive". She turned to her group. "Dumas didn't choose his victims randomly. He has a very refined sense of justice. He only goes after people that have either wronged him or wronged someone he knows. If the person who needs a comeuppance is a male, then he finds a pretty female that has some kind of connection to him and takes his vengeance out on her. He thinks it's his right to mete out consequences. Apparently God, in his eyes, is taking too long."

"I want to go through his previous victims and the motives he had for going after them. We've been able to make connections sometimes by looking at other victims. I want to know what motive he would have for going after Dr. Cameron. Either his "justice" is against her directly, or he's trying to get back at someone close to her."

House looked at Sera. "You don't think it's you?" Sera shook her head. "I did at first, but he already got his revenge on me when he killed Jamal. Even though Jamal's murder was not planned, he still killed someone close to me. So, in his twisted mind, we're even. That's why I haven't heard from him until now. I think he sent the roses just to throw me off. He loves a good red herring. He wants me to think he's trying to get at me, but I don't think that's the case. Also, he only uses other pretty women when the person he wants to get is not a pretty woman. I hope I don't sound immodest here, but I've been told that I'm attractive. He wouldn't need a substitute for me. He already captured me once and tried to kill me. That's when Jamal got killed – when he came to save me."

Sera smirked at House and Robert. "Besides, if Dumas wanted to strike out at someone close to me to hurt me, why on earth would he choose Cameron? Lisa would have been a better target. She's beautiful, and she's my best friend. She and I also don't have the history of animosity that Cameron and I have." She heard House mutter, "I don't know if I'd call Cuddy beautiful…" She snorted at his comment, then walked over to where he was sitting. She lightly traced the scar on his neck. House leered at her. "I hope you're not coming on to me, because I'd hate to see what an angry wombat looks like." He lifted his cane and whacked her hand off of him. Sera shocked him by snatching it out of his hands.

Sera quickly twirled the cane, sent it behind her back, then swung it around and brought it to a sudden stop about a centimeter away from his face. House's eyes widened. She tapped him lightly on the forehead with the cane, but her eyes were flashing with anger. "You just made my point beautifully. You make enemies. You save lives, true, but you make enemies while doing it because you push people too far and you don't know when to shut up! That's why a few months ago someone shot you! I think that somewhere along the line, you either had Winston Dumas as a patient or you treated someone close to him and, you being you, you pissed the man off. Aren't you lucky that you had a pretty woman close to you to take your punishment?"

She tossed the cane in his direction and went to the door. She looked back at Mitch. "You know the cases. Get the info up on the board and call me when Dr. Foreman gets here." She pointed at Ruth Mix, who looked like she was about to get up. "Don't follow me!" Sera left the room. House, who had been sitting with a look of astonishment and guilt on his face, let out a breath and turned to Robert. "Well, my boy, you've certainly got your hands full with that one!" Robert looked at House in disgust, muttered, "Shut up, House" then went to follow Sera. Mitch stopped him at the door.

"I wouldn't follow her if I were you. She needs some thinking time, alone. She's also angry that this guy is still running around hurting people, plus, I think she's also irritated at your boss, so she's probably going to blow off some steam. Unless you want to become collateral damage, you really should leave her alone." Robert shrugged off the man's hand on his shoulder. "I'll take my chances", he said, then left the room.

Mitch shrugged and said, under his breath, "Fools heed warnings not." He turned to the whiteboard to fill out Sera's chart.