A/N: So we're up to chapter 15! I can't believe that it has already reached so many chapters, and I'm not nearly finished yet! I'm so glad that you guys are enjoying this. I sure am having a lot of fun writing this. I'm terribly sorry for the lack of update but I was overseas on a vacation, so I didn't have any time to write at all, so I'm terribly sorry.

I'm not a lawyer, and not a US citizen, so I am not too familiar with the jurisdiction system in the States. I apologize in advance if there are any mistakes.

Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and of course the people who favorite, and alert this story. You guys are beyond amazing.

Pritchett sat languidly on the old couch in his office, his legs crossed over the armrest. A laptop lay on his stomach, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

He stopped only to adjust the reading glasses on his nose, making a mental note to get an appointment for that dreadful lacer surgery, and continued to type.

He looked up when the door opened, and watched the lithe form of his co-worker and best friend Katherine Jennings slip inside. She carried two boxes in her arms; her head was barely visible from the stacked cardboard boxes, and he could hear a few well-chosen curse words from behind the stack. She kicked the door shut and dropped the boxes on the floor. She blew a lock of hair out of her eyes, and glared at him.

"I'm never doing you a favor ever again." She huffed and fell into his office chair.

Pritchett raised his eyebrows, and yanked his head in the direction of the two boxes on the floor.

"This all you got?"

Katherine sent him a murderous glare and crossed her arms.

"Screw you."

The comment was merely answered with a small smile.

"So what have you got?" He asked eagerly, and sat up. He placed the laptop on the desk and wrung his hands together excitedly. Katherine rolled her eyes by his gesture and pointed with the tip of her toe towards the box next to him.

"These are all the patient files I found that involve Dr. House, and Dr. Cuddy like you requested."

"Excellent." Pritchett muttered and picked one of the boxes and rummaged through it. He picked a file and opened it scanning through the contents absentmindedly.

Katherine eyed him suspiciously but picked up the other box.

"And these are patient files from patients that Dr. House treated over the last ten years. Thankfully he only receives one patient at a time."

Pritchett didn't answer and continued to read the papers in front of him.

"Okay, you're in this mode. Fine." She huffed and dropped down on the floor and opened the other box.

"What are you trying to find anyway? I thought you wanted to look at the staff's personal files, not some old case files."

"Mmm, I'm not sure. Yet. I sort of have a hunch, so I'm asking you to be patient."

He muttered absentminded. Katherine frowned, then slammed the file she was holding into the box.

"What? You're telling me that you made me go through all those files just because you have a hunch?"

Pritchett looked up, and nodded his head.

"Yes."

"I can't believe you!" Katherine said in frustration. "You are unbelievable, you know that?"

"Of course, and you wouldn't have it any other way. I come up with crazy hunches and you sort out of the mess." He quipped back.

Katherine made a face, but picked the file up and looked through it. She was careful to keep an unhappy face just to prove her point.

They sat there for hours. Katherine went a couple of times to get coffee but Pritchett stayed in his seat and went through every single file. After five hours of continuous reading he had abandoned his jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. He sighed and took his glasses off and placed it on the papers in front of him. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the headache that was starting under his temple.

Doubts threatened to subdue his mind as he read through the case file. House's lack of co-operation made things even harder. The days had made him resilient in helping him find the person responsible for his arrest, and possibly Dr. Cuddy's accident. He refused to believe that those two events weren't related. But House's despair was getting the best of him. He knew that he was on the verge of giving up. But Pritchett sure as hell wasn't.

Pritchett looked at the papers again, and stubbornly, began to read through them again. He was positive that the answer was in those files. If he just looked hard enough, in the end the answer would come to him.

He glanced quickly at Katherine, who sat cross-legged on the ground with her cheek resting in her palm. She had removed her shoes and tugged her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. Perhaps they weren't the image of professionalism, but right at that moment he didn't care at all.

"Any luck yet?" He asked her pleasantly.

"No." She grumbled, and tilted her head upwards to meet his.

"If you would share what you're looking for, it would make my work even quicker."

"I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. It's just…When I'll see it, I'll know."

"Well, then there's little help in me." She said exasperatedly.

"No, you can't escape so easily. You know the facts just as much as I do, and I know that you're just as likely to spot the tiny details just as quickly as I can."

"Seriously?" She asked skeptically. "You're so buying me lunch tomorrow." She muttered under her breath and continued to rummage through the box in front of her.

"Well at least we're half way through." He comforted her. Only his well-meant comfort was met with an icy glare.

"Oh God. This reminds me of college, all the nights of constant studying. At least I could seek comfort in booze." She gave him a meaningful look.

"Oh no. No booze for you young lady." He said fatherly.

"Party-pooper." She murmured.

Pritchett couldn't help but allow a small smile grace his lips. He shook his head and turned his head to the page in front of him. He turned the page and read several lines when he froze. Slowly he ran his thumb over the edge of the page and turned back. He ran his fingers over the page and stopped by the last paragraph. His eyes widened and he flipped over to the front page and examined the name of the patient, and the personal information. In the top corner was scribbled with messy letters.

Time of death: 3. December 2008, 12:30 a.m.

He reread the contents several times and finally the pieces clicked in his mind as he finally found the missing piece to his puzzle.

He darted up quickly and grabbed his jacket. One glance at Katherine made her shoot up from the ground, and together they marched down the department.

"What did you find?" She asked as she jogged beside him down the hall.

"Two years ago, Dr. House received a case. Her name was Margaret Atwood. She was having heart problems. Had been going to five different doctors, and no one knew what was the matter with her. Then she goes into Dr. House's care. I didn't quite understand all the specifics, but I think that they treated her for five different syndromes in as many days.

This gets even more interesting when Dr. Cuddy's name suddenly pops up. Suddenly she became the patients attending."

"And?" Katherine asked skeptically. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"At first I didn't see anything note worthy. The patient got worse, and finally Dr. House get's the case back into his hands. Two days later the patient died."

"And that's all very sad, but I don't see the mystery." She said impatiently.

"I didn't either. Not until I saw who was notified as her next of kin."

"Who? Who was it?"

Pritchett opened his mouth to speak but was caught off when a young officer came up to them.

"Detective Pritchett. Thank God I found you."

"What is it? I'm in a hurry."

"Ah so you've heard already." The young officer sighed in relief.

"Heard what?" Pritchett raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"You…you don't know." The younger officer frowned. "I think you should follow me."

"I'm sorry but we're in a hurry."

He began to walk away but he felt a hand on his arm.

"Detective. You want to see this."

Pritchett glanced at Katherine who shrugged her shoulders. He sighed when he saw that he didn't have any other choice. He followed the younger officer who called himself Tad. He couldn't for the life of him remember him, but followed him anyways.

They entered a very clustered office space of the crime department. Officers stood by a white board where Police Commissioner Pierce Ritz stood. His broad shoulders and black moustache made him appear way more intimidating than he was in real life. Somehow he had always reminded Pritchett of a big bear. His eyes lit up when he saw him, and he scurried over to him quickly.

"Ah Pritchett. Right on time. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I had a lead on the case."

"Well son, I think that you can drop that right now. There has been quite the turn of events."

"What exactly is going on?"

Ritz looked at him with dark brown eyes under bush of eyebrows.

"There was a murder. The victim was Sarah Adams."

Pritchett's eyes widened. Out of everything he had not suspected that.

"Any suspects?"

"No, but we're looking at it. At least we can rule out Dr. House."

"You're releasing him?"

"We've got nothing on him. Besides this was getting ridiculous. The prosecutor had nothing against him in the beginning, so I see no reason but to release him."

"But sir, don't you think that this is all connected? Don't you think that at least he should get police protection?"

Ritz looked at him like he had lost his marbles. He stepped closer, towering over him like a giant mountain.

"Look around you. We barely have enough troops to handle cases like these. You know the government is cutting our budget. We can't hire any new, and the few men I have are all working overtime. I can't spare anyone."

"But I think he's in danger. Clearly there is some madman out there who doesn't have any mercy, and I think that he is the person to blame for these crimes."

Ritz gave him a rueful smile. Like a father about to tell his son that he was being childish.

"I know how you work, and I know that you wouldn't make any assumptions unless you're sure that you're right. If you know anything bring the evidence to the table, and we'll try to find the man responsible for this all, but you know as well as I do that these things take time. We can't just jump around and play Batman."

"I'm not trying to play a hero. I have evidence of the person responsible, and while you're sitting here talking things through, a murderer is walking the streets of Princeton." He said animatedly; "and he won't hesitate to kill. I'm afraid that if we don't act now we'll have another body within the next twenty four hours."

"Let's hope for everyone's sake that you're wrong."

"I'm afraid that I'm not."

"I'm sorry Detective." He shook his head and walked over to the front to go over the facts of the murder.

Pritchett's head was spinning. He held the answer in his hand, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to present his facts until Ritz had gone through every detail of the crime scene. He simply didn't have that time.

He allowed himself to slide away from the group of officers who stood and watched Ritz.

He blinked Katherine who stood her ground, but he noticed her curt nod. He managed to slip through the door and headed towards his office. He knew that he had to take matters into his own hands, no matter what the consequences of his actions would be.

House lay on the bed facing the wall. He felt unbearably frustrated and angry, his former melancholy long gone, and replaced with seething anger and hatred. He had locked himself up to the police, even to Detective Pritchett who seemed to be on his side. But he was finished with them all. He knew that, in the end, his refusal of cooperating with the police would get him into trouble, but he realized that initially it wouldn't matter. He was screwed no matter what.

Somehow he had, deep down, accepted that he would go to prison. Actually he was surprised that it hadn't happened before, only he had never suspected that it would be because of something like this.

The thought itself made him seethe with anger. He clenched his fist and punched it into the wall beside him. He groaned and grit his teeth. He hated this, all of this.

The pain he felt in his hand felt nothing like the pain he was suffering from inside.

He could still feel the horrible feeling when Wilson had arrived into the visitor's room and told him that Cuddy had lost the baby when she fell.

Baby. He hadn't even realized when he had started to use the term to describe his offspring. In the past months he had never referenced to it as a baby, mostly it had been a fetus in his mind, although he had never called it that in front of Cuddy. But now… well, everything had changed.

He turned his head sharply when he heard loud footsteps walk towards his cell.

He was prepared to resist, and had positioned himself in a locked position when the door to his cell opened.

"Dr. House."

He didn't say anything. Instead he locked his eyes with the officer and tilted his head slightly to the side silently telling him that he didn't want to go there.

"Dr. House. If you would come with us."

House made sure that his posture indicated that he was not going to humor them. He sure as hell was not going to take any more interrogation; he was done with that for the rest of his life. They had questioned him with every possible question, and he knew that they realized that they couldn't keep the charade going forever.

"Dr. House." This voice was gruff and commanding. The officer who had opened his cell almost jumped and took a step aside when he saw the man behind him.

The man was one of the main interrogators in his case. He had formed a serious resentment towards the man. Things hadn't exactly started off nicely between them after he had made one of his observations on him clear. Needless to say they hadn't exactly formed a friendship over the last couple weeks.

His expression was hard, and demanding.

"Dr. House. If you would come with us." It wasn't a question. It was an order.

House's eyes drifted from his muscled arms towards his crippled leg, and he knew that he had lost the fight.

Slowly he stood up from the bed and moved his hands upwards for them to handcuff. His hands were cuffed, and together they walked down the hall.

To his surprise they didn't shove him into the familiar interrogating room, but walked him down a hall with various offices.

Instead they went through various different office spaces, until they finally opened a small office and without a word they shoved him inside and shut the door behind them. He stood there alone. For a split second he wondered what the hell was going on, until he got a closer look, then the question of his whereabouts was painfully obvious.

He looked over the room, and speculatively he observed the various items in the small room. There were not many personal belongings there, but it didn't take him a long time to figure out to whom it belonged. He picked up a photo frame that stood on the desk. The picture showed a considerably younger, and happier Detective Pritchett, who stood proudly beside a dark haired woman. They stood on a cliff that overlooked the ocean, both sporting gleeful smiles.

House put the picture back on the desk, and sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk that had been stuffed into the small space. He didn't have to wait a long time until the door opened and Detective Pritchett stepped into the room. His hair was disheveled and his clothing wrinkled, he observed him wearily. He shut the door quickly and walked over to his desk and dropped into his office chair.

"Dr. House. I'm afraid we don't have too much time." Pritchett muttered.

"What's going on?" House asked immediately.

"I don't have any time to explain. After five minutes you're scheduled to meet Judge Edwards he will declare you free of all charges due to unforeseen circumstances."

"What circumstances?" House sat straight up in his seat and looked at Pritchett curiously, his heartbeat drumming in his chest.

"House, listen to me. I'm not supposed to talk to you, this investigation is over, but I'm talking to you as a friend. When you enter the room don't say anything clever or provoking, just do as they say, but when you walk out don't go to the hospital."

"What…why not?"

"You're in danger. I think that someone is going great lengths in harming you and Dr. Cuddy, and I ask you to go somewhere no one knows of. If it means you need to leave the country, do it."

"What the hell happened?" He demanded.

"I can't tell you right now, but just do as I say." Pritchett's voice was panicked, and his eyes darted back and forth as if he expected someone to dart through the door any minute.

"Do you know what this means? Of what you're asking me?" He asked aggravated. He couldn't be foolish enough to believe that he would leave without Cuddy.

"I'm asking you to trust me."

House stared at him. There weren't many people he had complete trust in, and that trust had to be earned. Pritchett had shown him a lot of support, but had he proven that he was trustworthy? He wasn't too sure about that. But what other option did he have?

He nodded his head curtly and Pritchett gave him an appreciative smile and opened the door of his office. The two officers that had led him to the office stood up from the chairs they had been sitting on, and gave Pritchett a brief nod before escorting him away.

House had gone several times to the Princeton Plainsboro Courthouse, and none of those visits had been pleasant. He walked alongside the officers into the building. They walked down a long hall, and stopped in front of wooden double doors. The officers led him through the door and into a room.

The judge's chamber was a wooden paneled room with heavy furniture. Behind a carved chestnut table sat a young man in a quintessential judge's uniform.

It was the same judge that had prolonged the custody, and House couldn't help but glare in his direction.

He was young; too young for the role he served, probably about thirty years old. He was handsome. His high cheekbones, and noble nose were prominent on his slim facial features. His dark sleek hair was combed back, and under dark brows two pair of oval shaped slate grey eyes observed him coldly. He could see the naivety in his face, and knew that he lacked experience, which meant that he could be easily oppressed by anyone who had enough cash in his hands.

House was sat in front of him in a soft leather chair, the two officers stood slightly away from him but close enough if he was going to do anything.

"Shall we begin?" Judge Williams started; he turned his head down and began with a formal voice.

"The date is, 15th July 2011, 9:30 a.m. The convict, Dr. Gregory House, was arrested on 5th July for sexual assault against his co-worker, Sarah Irina Adams. The defendant has pleaded to be innocent of his crimes. Head Detective Samuel Pritchett states that the defendant is innocent of his crimes, and refers to witness reports and Ms. Adams's testimony. Considering Detective Pritchett's statement, and the unusual circumstances that have occurred I hereby declare that Dr. Gregory House is released from custody, and every charge that has been laid against him will be dropped." The gavel hit the block as a sign that the meeting had ended, and that he was indeed a free man.

House let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding, and stood up off the chair.

He wasn't sure what had led to his release, but he felt like a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders. He was escorted back to the station where he could gather back his belongings. His clothes, wallet, watch, cell phone, and cane were finally retrieved to him, and he didn't realize how trapped he had truly felt until he stepped out of the police station, a free man. He stood on the steps outside the building and weighed his possibilities.

He could do what Pritchett said, and run away. It would be so easy to just disappear, but he knew that he would never forgive himself if he would. He might be a douchebag, and an ass, but he wasn't a coward.

House knew that his intentions weren't merely pure. He couldn't hide his curiosity towards the person who would go such lengths in making his life a living hell. Not only was he insanely curious but also incredibly angry, and he sure as hell was not going to let that person get away with this.

He felt insanely angry, and if it weren't for Pritchett's warning he would have marched through the city and hunted down the person who was behind all of this. But he wasn't an idiot. He knew fully well that a cripple like him would never be able to get away with it without getting himself killed in the meantime. So for the first time in years he let his heart decide and dialed a very familiar number on his phone. He waited anxiously, and walked back and forth.

"Hello."

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her voice.

"Cuddy." He breathed into the phone, not quite able to hide his relief.

"House?" She said with a shaky voice.

"I'm so sorry." He blurted out. "I should have been there for you. Cuddy, I'm so sorry." He didn't know where the apology came from.

"Don't be an idiot." He heard the tears in her voice, and wished that he could be there and comfort her.

"How did you get a phone? Did you steal it?" She said and laughed through her tears.

"No. I'm out. I was released off all charges about…ten minutes ago."

"So you're out?"

"Yeah."

"Thank God."

"I'll be there in five minutes. I just…I just wanted to hear your voice."

"I'm so glad to hear from you. You don't know how scared I've been. House, there's something you need to know…"

"Don't." He said sharply. He didn't mean to sound so cruel to her, but at that moment he didn't want to hear the words she was going to say. He didn't know whether it was for his own selfish needs or if this was the need to protect her, but he didn't want to talk about the events of the past couple of weeks right now. He needed to feel free for just a few moments before the harsh reality would overpower his feeling of freedom.

"House…"Her voice was trembling, and he knew that he had hurt her so he quickly added.

"Not now, please? I just…" He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "I'll be at the hospital in ten minutes, okay?"

"Okay." She breathed.

"I love you." She added quickly before he disconnected the call.

"Love you too." He said softly, and flipped the phone shut. He walked on the street, and called for a cab. He smiled softly, and thought that no matter what would happen he knew that they could go through it.

In a parking space, few feet away, was a shiny black Cadillac parked. The shaded backseat window was open. A trail of smoke slithered through the gap. A hand peaked through the window and flipped a cigarette stub on the street before retrieving inside. The man wrung his hands together and watched through the front window as the cripple walked into the cab and drive away.

A ghost of a smile appeared on the man's papery thin lips. Maybe Dr. House wasn't as clever as he claimed to be.