Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this before each chapter? House and his crew do NOT belong to me!! Sheesh!

CHAPTER 22

Sera turned around and saw a petite blonde woman with sparkling eyes standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. "Mum!" Sera let go of House and ran over to the other woman. She heard House mutter behind her, "I was just starting to enjoy it." She ignored him and threw her arms around Dr. Hilary Andrews, the creative genius of the FBI.

Mum held Sera at arm's length, looking her up and down. "Serenity, have you eaten at all in the past 5 years?"

Sera laughed. "That's the same thing the Professor said…the Professor!! Where is Carmela?" Sera looked around at the group in the living room. House shook his head at her in mock dismay.

"Don't tell me you just now noticed she was gone? What kind of forensic investigator are you, anyway?"

Mitch ignored House's comments and told Sera, "She went…shopping." He sounded utterly confused when he said that. Sera frowned. "Did you say…shopping?"

Donna spoke up. "Well, she was about to get on the plane to France and her bags were there. They would have had to delay the flight to get her bags so she's going to get them later. She just needed to pick up some clothes and personal hygiene items. Dr. Cuddy gave her the address and she said she'd catch a cab here."

Sera nodded thoughtfully, a frown on her face. Her frown turned into a grin as she looked at Mum and gave her another hug. "So, did you bring me any toys?" Mum grinned back. "You betcha, kiddo." Mum frowned at her. "Not that I like the reason you need them. What's this about turning yourself over to Winston Dumas? And how did you talk Mitchell into that?"

"C'mon. I'll introduce you to my sweetie and then we can all go downstairs and try to figure this mess out. If we can find him, and Cameron, I won't have to go anywhere."

Chase had gone back to the kitchen when Sera was hugging House. He wasn't quite so ready to forgive the bstard, so he decided to get something to eat. He was leaning on the counter eating some fettuccini when Sera walked in with an older woman in tow. He finished chewing what was in his mouth.

"Robbie, I'd like you to meet Dr. Hilary Andrews. We all call her Mum. Mum, this is Dr. Robert Chase, an intensivist at PPTH. He's another one of the doctors on House's team."

Mum held out her hand for Robert to shake. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Mum had been in the car with House on the trip to Sera's house. He'd griped the whole time because he had to leave his motorcycle at the hospital since it had started raining. He had quickly become Mum's least favorite person in the world.

Chase grinned at her, liking her already. He looked at Sera. "Why don't you grab something to eat?" Sera shook her head. "I'm not hungry." She glanced at his fettuccini. "That does look good, though." Chase twirled some noodles onto his fork and held it out to her. She took the bite off of the fork and chewed, giving an appreciative little moan. "That is yummy. I'll get some later. Let me round up the troops so we can get started. You'll need to help 'Ric down the stairs."

With all of the scariness of a marine drill sergeant, Sera got everyone gathered downstairs in the "rumpus room", as Mum called it. She gave everyone a few minutes to look around while she and Robert brought chairs and giant pillows from upstairs and in the back room. She had a recliner in the bedroom that David and Mitch pulled out. House was settling down in it when Donna came over and told him to get up and let Eric have it. House refused, so Donna glanced at Cuddy. Lisa went over and twisted his ear like an unruly schoolboy until he got up. Donna then got Eric settled and reclined comfortably in the chair.

Sera looked at House. "Gregory, when did you and Cameron go on a second date? I only heard gossip about the blackmail date." House knew he was in trouble. She only called him Gregory when he had done something to irritate her. Usually it was just House, or sometimes Gimpy when she was in a good mood. He told her, "We never had a second date."

Sera got up and started pacing. "You idiot! You knew this at the hospital. When she was carrying on about the third date, you were getting ready to say, "We didn't have a second date" but you changed it. Why didn't you mention this? You can't withhold anything relevant, House. None of this Lone Ranger crap. I had no way of knowing you guys never went on a second date. None of us did, really. If Cameron had actually managed to squeeze you for another date, you probably would have made her silence a condition of going out. Only you knew the truth."

House shook his head. "I wasn't sure at first. I initially thought she was counting the monster truck thing as a date, despite my repeated assertions that it wasn't a date. I haven't been able to think of anything significant about a third date." Sera looked at him, her mind whirling. "Maybe…", she began, thinking out loud, "maybe the clue isn't in the third date, but in the first one." Everyone looked at each other than back at her. David voiced what they were all thinking. "What?"

"If you did count the monster truck thing, then the restaurant date was the second. So maybe there is a clue in the monster trucks. But it couldn't be anything she could see. He wouldn't have risked putting her on the phone if she had been able to see exactly where they were. So she must have heard something or smelled something to give her a clue about where she is."

House had been twirling his cane, but he suddenly froze. Sera looked at him. "Spill!" House looked at her. "The monster truck rally was at the East Windsor Fairgrounds in Hightstown. Home of the Airport Speedway. Maybe she heard the cars and recognized the location."

Mitch was on the phone before House was done speaking. Sera heard him telling someone to check churches within a 5 mile radius of the Airport Speedway in Hightstown. House looked at Sera. He actually looked contrite.

"Look, Hateful, I wasn't deliberately withholding anything. Cameron frequently called the monster truck thing a date just to annoy, so I thought maybe she was doing it again…you know…one last time…" House looked away from Sera, who could have sworn she saw something shimmering in his eyes. 'Nah, it must be my imagination. The only time I can imagine House crying is if he ran out of Vicodin or if his porn subscription was cancelled.'

Sera sat down and crossed her legs. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was after 10 pm. All of the stores were closed by now. Where was the Professor?

Sera closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind. There was something bothering her that was just beyond her reach. She couldn't quite figure it out and it was driving her crazy. Her thoughts drifted back to Carmela. Her mentor had borrowed clothes before on nights like these when they were pulling an all-nighter. And she knew Carmela's traveling habits. She always carried personal items and one change of clothes in her carry-on, along with her medications. So why did she need to go shopping?

Sera shook her head and put it out of her mind. She turned to Mum. "So, Dr. Jekyll, what strange things have you concocted for me? Anything that will turn me invisible or make me impervious to metal?"

Mum smiled. "Actually, now that you mention it…"

Sera smiled back at her friend. "Okay, what have you cooked up?" "Well, Z and I have been working together on a…project, I guess you could call it, and I think we've come up with something revolutionary."

Eric held up his hand. "Okay, it's starting to sound like a combination of James Bond and the Avengers in here. Who is 'Z'?"

Mum, Sera, and Dave laughed. Sera took the question. "Actually, we do call her Z as an homage to 'Q' from James Bond. Dr. Zalamandra is a major tech geek. She comes up with some crazy gadgets. Some of it is a bit on the wacky side, but it always works." Sera turned back to Mum. "So, you brought me some body armor or something. Dumas isn't going to let me wear protective gear, you know. It would make him very happy to make me strip down."

Mum tried to keep from smiling as she reached in her bag. "Well, he definitely won't want to strip you out of this. It's kind of funny that Dr. Foreman mentioned the Avengers. Actually, dear, it was your costume from that Halloween party 6 years ago that inspired this baby."

Sera felt her face heat up. "You didn't."

Mum pulled out a shimmery, black cat suit. "I did." She handed the outfit to Sera, who ran it through her fingers, feeling and pulling the material. She looked at Mum, her eyes wide. "What is this? This isn't Kevlar…is it?"

Mum looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Well, Z and I took some liberties with something some Japanese scientists came up with. They created these vests that are resistant to piercing with sharp blades. They used a material that's high-density and woven with aramid fibers with silicon carbide particles embedded. The fabric is resistant to bending stress and deformation resistant. It's also a multilayered biaxial weft-knitted fabric that's been impregnated with formaldehyde-resorcinol copolymer latex, especially effective for stopping bullets. Now, what Z and I did to increase the flexibility was to integrate the copolymer with…"

"WHOA!! Some of us don't speak geek, you know!" House yelled suddenly, causing Mum to stop and glare at him. Sera shot House a barely disguised look of relief. She'd been out of the game for a while and forgot the cardinal rule: NEVER ask Mum about her creations. Her eyes had been threatening to cross before House interrupted. David was glaring at her and Mitch just shook his head in amusement. He also glanced at Mum fondly. Sera made a mental note to try to dig info out of Mum later. Trying to pump Mitch for gossip was as fruitless as an apple tree in the Sahara.

Eric, who had been dozing for the last minute, cracked open one eye. "I want to hear about this Halloween costume." Robert grinned and winked at her. "Yeah, fill us in." Sera's face became even redder. "It's nothing. I dressed up as Catwoman for Halloween. That's all."

"That's NOT all", Dave interjected. He was about to speak again, but Sera shot him a look that promised severe retribution if he continued. Dave smirked. "Well, maybe now isn't the right time to talk about it. But I will never forget that whip." Sera rolled her eyes and ignored the fact that House, Eric, and Robbie were gaping at her in astonishment. She sighed softly at what she was about to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She reached over and picked up the cat suit. "So, Mum - this will resist those poisonous darts?" Mum nodded. "It is pierce-resistant, but not pierce-proof. If he gets close enough and shoots it with enough force, it could get through. However, I doubt you'd give him the opportunity to get that close. In order to make the fabric more flexible and less bulky, we had to…" Mum glanced around the room at the barely audible groans she heard. "Ok, fine – the quick and dirty version. We had to fiddle with the bulletproof thingy to make the material thinner, so now, unfortunately, it won't protect you from a gun."

"He's never used a gun before. Normally I don't make assumptions, but I don't really have a choice here. If the agents in the field don't find the church, I'll have to go in."

Mum placed her hand on Sera's arm. "There is one good thing. Even if the dart gets through the suit, the material slows it down. It may only scratch you…might not even break the skin."

Eric spoke up. "Even a small scratch would be enough to render her unconscious. I don't see how we can avoid this topic any longer. This pierce-resistant suit is great, but it's not 100 reliable. And you still have parts of your body uncovered. He got me on my neck, right below my jaw. I doubt that suit covers that area. You can apparently do all of these awesome things. You're bad, there's no denying that. But if you're unconscious, it doesn't matter what weapons you can use and what karate moves you know. If you're unconscious, you're completely at his mercy."

Sera shook her head. "It won't be a problem, 'Ric. This suit gives me the edge I need, but even without it, it won't be a problem. I'll be ready."

Robert narrowed his eyes at her. "HOW will you be okay?" He tilted his head, looking at her closely. "What aren't you telling us? Don't play the hypocrite – don't keep anything from us."

Sera tried to deny it. "Robbie, I'm not…" She leaned back in shock when he shouted, "You are!!" Robert took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at her almost desperately. "You're hiding something. Tell us. Tell me. Give me a reason not to slip you some thiopental and keep you in a coma for the next week. 'Cuz right now, I'm thinking about it. I have never felt comfortable about this and the more I hear, the worse it gets. Tell us what you're hiding."

Sera got up and paced around the room. She went over and picked up her bo, twirling it around her fingers as she walked around. She really didn't want to tell Robert what she'd been doing for the past 18 months. Actually, all of the doctors in the room were going to blast her. "Might as well get this over with", she thought.

She stopped twirling and turned to face everyone, leaning on the bo. "There are several antidotes to curare. I plan on using one of them." Mitch said quietly, "We know about the antidotes, but you can't inject yourself with anything if you're not sentient." Sera shook her head. "I'm not talking about edrophonium. There was another antidote developed in the 19th century. Iodine, potassium, and water in the right balance will diminish the effects."

Donna spoke up. "You still can't take it if you're unconscious." House was looking at Sera, a frown forming on his face. Sera knew she was about to be busted.

"Please tell me you haven't been doing what I think you've been doing." Sera eyed him coolly and said, "I've been monitoring it very carefully. I made sure my levels never went above 7 and…"

"What!" Eric and Lisa exploded at the same time. They both talked over at each other in their eagerness to yell at Sera. She sat down, sighing. This double team scolding was going to take a while. She was grateful when David, after a nod from Mitch, stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled piercingly. Eric and Lisa stopped immediately.

Mitch spoke calmly. "What exactly did you do?" Sera didn't meet his eyes when she spoke. "I've been giving myself potassium injections and iodine supplements - screwing around with my electrolytes and making myself hyperkalemic. Basically, if your levels get above 7 mEq, you're talking severe hyperkalemia."

Dave looked confused. "So…too much potassium is bad, right?" Robert answered him quietly, looking at Sera as he talked. "Too much potassium can lead to a cardiac arrhythmia. And it can be asymptomatic, so you don't always get a warning…not before it's too late, anyway. It has a 67 mortality rate if not treated immediately." Robert looked into Sera's eyes as he said, "Too much potassium can lead to sudden death."