Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!
CHAPTER 12
Dave pulled out a file and opened it. "We already did a quick check on Dr. Cameron. With the exception of two speeding tickets and one pick-pocketing incident, she's squeaky clean." House looked like Christmas had come early. He couldn't resist opening his mouth. "Pick-pocketing incident? You've got to be kidding me." Dave shook his head. "No, we have it right here. When she was…"
Mitch put his hand up to stop Dave, glaring at him a bit when he did. He looked around the room, mentally figuring out who needed to be there and who did not. "Drs. Cuddy and Chase, and…um…you….Nurse…. sorry, I don't know your name. But I need you three to step out of the room. We don't normally have this many people involved in a case and we need to keep a tight lid on this. The fewer people involved, the better. Dr. House is going to be helping us, so he can stay, and we need to get a statement from Dr. Foreman, but after that, he can leave. The rest of you can leave now. And please remember, Dr. Cameron's life may depend on your silence, so do not discuss any of this…not even with each other."
Everyone started speaking at once, mostly in protest. Sera didn't say anything. She had worked with Mitch long enough to know that emotional outbursts weren't going to change his mind. He came off as very stoic and unemotional (which Sera knew for a fact was NOT the case), but he was excellent at his job and was fiercely loyal. He was in line to be the next assistant director of the FBI, which is why he was in charge of this case. He was very analytical, so while the hullabaloo was going on around her, Sera tried to come up with logical reasons why Robert and Lisa needed to stay. She actually wasn't too keen on Donna staying. The nurse was a somewhat unknown entity, and Sea didn't know yet if she could be trusted.
Mitch held up his hand for silence. When it quieted down, Sera opened her mouth to speak, but House beat her to it. "Look, I can't do this without my team. We work together. I don't come up with all of this stuff by myself, you know. Chase has helped to point me in the right direction more times than I can count, and Foreman is the one that keeps us from stepping too far over the line. I won't work without my team."
House was cursing inwardly. 'What the hell did I say that for?', he wondered. He glanced up and saw Cuddy, Chase and Foreman staring at him in shock. Sera was just nodding her agreement. She glanced at him and smiled approvingly. House made a face at her. Sera just smiled wider before adding on to what he had said.
"House is right, Mitch. This team, for all of its quirks, works better together. Besides, they know Dr. Cameron better than any of us do. We need all of the insight into her life that we can get. And you know Lisa pretty much already knows everything that's been going on. We trusted her enough to hide my identity when I came here. I trust her enough for this." Sera could see Mitch was considering it. They were all surprised to hear another voice speak up.
"Allison and I are friends." Donna stood up from where she was sitting slightly behind Eric. "In fact, she's the one who introduced me to Eric…Dr. Foreman." She blushed slightly at this point, but continued. "Maybe I could help. Allison and I spoke all of the time and hung out nearly every week. I probably know more about her life outside of the hospital that anyone else in this room." Eric nodded, confirming what Donna had said.
Mitch stood in front of them, obviously having an internal debate about what to do. He finally glared around the room and said to them all, in a stern voice, "Fine. You can all stay, but nothing discussed in this room leaves this room. Is that clear?" There was a chorus of affirmative responses, including a snappy "Sir, yes, sir!" from House. Mitch nodded at Dave to continue reading the file.
"Basically, when Dr. Cameron was 17 years old, she was arrested for lifting a wallet off of a gentleman at the mall. Apparently, her friends dared her to do it. The charges were later dropped."
House interjected at this point, "She probably got all teary-eyed and flashed those sweet, innocent looking baby-greens…" David flashed a grin at House, who was rubbing his leg where someone just kicked him. He thought it might have been Cuddy, but it could have been Sera, too. Neither of them would catch his eye. David was still smiling as he read a notation from the file.
"After the perp apologized profusely to the victim and expressed her deepest remorse, the gentleman decided not to press charges."
House spoke up again. "See, an ugly chick wouldn't have gotten away with that…OW! Who the hell keeps kicking me?" House glared around the table, but none of the faces were giving him any clues.
Sera stood up and walked over to peek at the file in Dave's hand. "Okay…so, Cameron was a juvenile delinquent…sorta. I don't see anything helpful there…unless the victim's name was Dumas?", she asked almost hopefully. Dave shook his head regretfully. "Nope. Byron McAllister. Died four years ago from pancreatic cancer."
Sera grabbed the recorder that Dave had brought in and set in on the table in front of Eric. "Ok, Eric. We need for you to tell us what happened when Dumas got Cameron. We'll try not to interrupt – just tell us every detail you can remember, no matter how insignificant it may seem. We'll ask you questions when you're done. Hopefully, by the time you're done, the Professor would have arrived and we can figure out what Dumas is up to."
Robert, House, Donna, and Eric looked at Sera in confusion. Donna asked what they were all thinking. "Who on earth is the Professor?"
"The Professor is the other brainiac on the team", said Dave, jokingly. Sera rolled her eyes and looked at her PPTH friends.
"The Professor is my mentor. In fact, she's the reason I work with the FBI. She's a forensic psychologist and one of my college professors. She was working on a case about 12 years ago that no one could solve. They were looking for a little girl that was being held hostage. The guy was a relative or something…total nut job. Anyway, she presented the case to us during a class for us to create a profile. We didn't know we were working on a real case. After we had discussed it for a while, I asked her if they had found the girl alive at the man's abandoned childhood home. She just stared at me for a minute then rushed out of the room.
None of us knew where she was going, but she had called the FBI to tell them where to look. Turns out, the man had taken the little girl to his old home. There had been a fire there and no one had lived there for years. Unfortunately, they found the girl too late. The next time the Professor was called in to assist the feds, she took me with her. She kind of made me her apprentice. I've been working with them ever since. She and I don't usually work together anymore, but she is the expert on Dumas. Twice, we've almost nabbed him. Well…three times if you include the time he kidnapped me."
Sera asked Mitch, "You DID call Prof, right?" Mitch gave her an annoyed look. "I called her the minute Dr. Cuddy called us. I'm lucky I caught her. She was about to board the plane to go to a conference in France. I'm surprised she answered the phone, actually. She was in the queue to get on the plane."
Dave snorted. "C'mon, Mitch. You know the Professor. She never lets a phone ring. She's almost obsessive about it." House's eyes, which had begun to glaze over and droop from boredom, suddenly snapped wide open. "What did you say?", he asked Dave. Dave frowned at him. "I just said that the Professor always answers the phone. Even if we are all out to dinner, she always answers the phone. I've flown with her and she doesn't turn the phone off until she's on the plane and about to take off."
House closed his eyes and began to massage his forehead as if he had a headache. Without looking up, he asked, "What is this professor's name?" Sera narrowed her eyes at him. "Professor Ling."
House muttered an oath. "Carmela Ling?", he asked. When Sera nodded, he cursed again and mumbled something about "…all the gin joints…" Sera stared at him until he looked up. Her eyes widened and she gasped. House could almost see the light bulb go off over her head. He cursed again.
"You! You're the one! The man who broke her heart in college! She told me about you. Although she exaggerated a bit. She said you were devastatingly handsome." Sera continued to glare at him. She opened her mouth to say something to him again, but she heard Robert's voice behind her saying softly, "You okay, mate?"
She turned and looked at Eric, who was diaphoretic and gripping his pencil tightly. His skin looked rather grayish. Donna was softly asking him something and he was shaking his head. Robert looked at her. "Can we save the trip down memory lane for later? Let Foreman give his statement so he can go back to his room and take something for the pain."
Eric shook his head. "I'll give my statement, but I'm staying here. I want to help. I'll be okay." Donna started to protest, but Eric cut her off. "Allison is your friend, too, and you would do the exact same thing. I DON'T want to argue about this." Eric smiled to soften his words. "I wouldn't mind if you help get me comfortable on that couch over there when I'm done giving my statement, though." Donna smiled and gently patted his face with a cool cloth Agent Mix had handed her.
House reached in his pocket and pulled out his pills. He took one out and slid it across the table to Eric. Eric picked it up and raised one eyebrow at House. "You really are trying to turn me into you, aren't you?" Donna went to get some water, which she handed to Eric, saying, "Quit griping. It'll take the edge off without making you too dopey. It was one of the PRN's Dr. Tintagel prescribed anyway." Eric took the medicine, ignoring House's "Wimp!" comment when he washed it down with water.
After he was done, Mitch sat down across from him, pushing Sera out of the way. He turned on the recorder and picked up his pen to take notes. Eric began speaking in a monotone voice, his hand still gripping the pencil tightly:
Cameron and I were waiting for the elevator to go downstairs, but for some reason it was stuck on the 4th floor, so we decided to take the stairs. We started down…I forgot what we were talking about, but it wasn't anything important. I don't know what alerted me to someone else's presence. He must have made a noise or something, but I turned my head suddenly to look behind me. I felt a sharp little…I don't know…it felt like a small claw scratching me or something. I started to feel lightheaded and my vision got blurry. I began to fall and Cameron was shouting for help and trying to hold me up. I saw a man grab her and try to pull her away from me. I grabbed her arm and punched him. I only grazed him though, because I couldn't put a lot behind the punch. It was enough to throw him off balance since he was on the steps and he lost his grip on Allison.
She tried to drag me to the door. I felt my legs giving out. I tried to stay up and keep myself between her and the guy. I saw him grabbing for her again and I pushed her behind me. That's when I felt something like fire cut into my abdomen. I fell backward, knocking Allison down with me. I felt her touching my legs…it almost felt like she was patting me down for weapons or something. I tried to tell her he didn't cut me there, but I couldn't talk. I felt numb…I couldn't feel her hands anymore. I could barely see at this point, but I saw him drop something pink on the ground. He had Cameron and was dragging her down the stairs to that back door between floors 1 and 2…you know, the one that leads around back where the service trucks make deliveries? I could hear her fighting him and calling me…just saying my name over and over. Not Foreman…she was crying, "Eric, no, Eric! Eric!" And I couldn't do a damn thing but lay there. Just lay there like a fking bump on a log while this monster drags her away. Then, suddenly, she stopped screaming and I heard him drag her off. Her voice stopped suddenly, like she was gagged…or more likely, drugged, because I couldn't hear any more thrashing. I heard a clatter, like something metallic hitting the ground. After that, I heard the door open. Then everything went black. But I swear, even when I was unconscious, I could still hear her screaming, "Eric! Eric!"
The sudden loud crack as Eric snapped the pencil in his hand made everyone jump. Eric's eyes looked bleak and his hands were shaking. Sera went over to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. She felt his shoulders shaking and just held him tighter. Donna was standing behind his wheelchair, her arms wrapped around him from the back.
House looked at Foreman sandwiched between the two women and thought of at least five comments he could make. Then he thought about Cameron being dragged off by a murderer. He felt a wave of nausea and decided to keep his comments to himself. He glanced at Chase, who was also standing next to Eric, gently cleaning the blood from Eric's hand where the broken pencil had jammed into his skin. Robert looked at him and House could clearly see the entreaty in the younger man's eyes. House sighed and made his way over to Eric.
House awkwardly patted the small bit of Eric's shoulder that he could reach that wasn't being blocked by one of the women. After about a minute, Foreman stopped sobbing. House could hear him mutter something to Sera. Sera said, "What?" Eric lifted his head and said, a bit more clearly, "You're squeezing my stab wound." Sera gasped and jumped backwards, almost knocking House down. After he steadied the both of them, House carefully got down on one knee in front of Eric.
House held out a tissue to Eric, who took it and wiped his eyes. Eric looked up at his boss and steeled himself for some comment, some snarky remark. He made up his mind not to let anything House was going to say bother him. House put the handle of his cane under Eric's chin and gently raised his head. Looked into his slightly puffy brown eyes, House said, gruffly, "It's not your fault."
Eric was appalled to feel his eyes tearing up again. He blinked quickly, determined not to cry again in front of House, but House saw him anyway. "Oh, for cryin' out loud!" House got up quickly and walked to the other side of the room, muttering, "…trying to be nice…dmn crying…getting soft…"
They heard a voice coming from the doorway. "The day you get soft, House, is the day I'll do the can-can on top of the Louvre Museum."