CHAPTER TWO

As Susan drove she thought about the laboratory budget. Susan had trimmed the budget significantly when she was given the position. If there was anything Susan was good at, it was pinching pennies. When the former director had left, several of the lab techs under him had left as well. Actually, Susan was glad to be rid of those particular individuals as she had never been all that impressed. With a few adjustments in the way incoming specimens were handled, Susan had been able to modify the work schedules with the employees she retained and had not needed to hire additional personnel to replace those that had left. Her next task had been to start negotiating with their supply vendors for the supplies they needed to run the tests. So far, she'd been able to drop the supply costs down 10% and she wasn't finished with her negotiations. She anticipated another 2% decrease in supply costs with the meetings she had scheduled with vendors this week. There was a department head meeting scheduled for next week and she was hoping to be able to point to the additional cost savings during her departmental status presentation.

She pulled into the parking lot and took her assigned place, and out of habit looking toward Greg's old spot in the handicapped section. There was a car parked there, but of course, she didn't recognize it. There was a different car parked there every day. She sighed to herself. Susan was still upset with him for disappearing like he did, but she hoped he was OK. She knew he was in prison for having rammed his car into Dr. Cuddy's house and fleeing the country afterwards. She'd tried to write him quite a few times over the last year, but her letters were always returned unopened. She tried to call, but the calls were unanswered. She even tried to visit once, but she was told he was in isolation and not allowed visitors. Finally she gave up trying to contact him and moved on with her life, but it still bothered her. He was her brother after-all. Quit daydreaming Susan, she told herself. It's time to see what Dr. Foreman wants.

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"Susan," Foreman said as he looked up when she opened the door. "Please have a seat." Susan sat in one of the chairs in front of Foreman's desk. "How have you been?" he asked.

"I'm fine, but we both know you're not really interested," she said with a smirk. "So, how about we drop the formalities and you tell me what couldn't wait for the actual work day to begin?"

Foreman returned her half smile and shook his head, "There are certain aspects of your personality that remind me of someone else. Someone I've recently interacted with."

"You've seen Dr. House?" Susan asked.

"Yes," Foreman said. Susan didn't reply. "Don't you want to know how he's doing?"

"Did you want to know how your brother was doing when he was in prison?" Susan asked. "I seem to recall quite a bit of animosity back then."

"Yes, but you're not me," Foreman said.

"True. I actually have tried to contact my brother on numerous occasions to no avail," Susan said. "I've decided that when he wants to talk to me, he'll make contact on his own. Until then, I'll respect his privacy. Is there anything else?"

Foreman started to say something but shook his head. Susan got up, left his office and went to her own.

Susan unlocked the door to her office, walked inside and turned on her computer. While she waited for her computer to boot up, she pulled out the top document from her in-box. "Susan?"

She looked up, "Yes Abby, how are you today?"

"I'm fine. I saw you in Dr. Foreman's office this morning. I was wondering what that was about," she said.

"Oh, it was nothing important. Why?" Susan asked.

"Well, with all the budget cuts we've had recently, there's a rumor going around that now that Dr. House is back, that we'll all have to take a pay cut to pay his salary. There isn't any way that the hospital could afford him."

While that particular piece of news was new to Susan, she kept her face straight, "Dr. Foreman certainly didn't mention anything about that this morning. I wouldn't worry about it; you know how rumors fly around here. I'm sure Dr. Foreman will cover his salary without dipping into everybody else's." Susan's phone beeped. She reached into her pocket and glanced at it, "What's our specimen load looking like this morning?"

"About normal," Abby said.

"OK. Well, I have to take care of a few things, but I'll be in later this afternoon to help process them," she said. Abby left and Susan called David, "What's up?" she asked when he answered.

"I got wind that House is back," he said.

"Yeah, I just heard that particular rumor myself," she answered. "I haven't had a chance to check it out yet."

"Are you going up to see him?" David asked.

"Haven't decided yet," she said glancing at her watch, "It's too early for him to be in yet anyway."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you too, see you tonight," Susan answered and hung up.

Susan sat back in her chair and picked up the slinky that one of her employees had given her a few weeks back and started piddling with it. So Greg had been back for at least a full day and she hadn't heard anything. No phone calls, no note, no text, no nothing. Just the same as it had been for the last year or so since he disappeared. Susan couldn't help but wonder why he had completely avoided any contact with her. What could she possibly have done? No, she told herself, I haven't done anything. I'm not going down that path. Susan put the slinky back on her desk and started going through her email. She had a report to write, a meeting with a supply vendor to prepare for and she needed to help the crew with the specimens. Well, she didn't really need to help them – they could handle it themselves, but she liked working alongside them from time to time to show them she was willing to get into the thick of it with them. It helped them feel comfortable to come to her when needed.

MDMDMDMDMD

House hung up the phone and looked up as the door to his office opened, "Who was that?" Foreman asked.

"What? You have to monitor my phone calls now too?" House asked.

"I need to make sure that when you are on hospital grounds, you are doing hospital work," Foreman said.

"Cut me some slack, I was trying to reach Taub," House said.

"You know we can't afford him," Foreman said

"Look, obviously you aren't as good at soliciting donations as your predecessor, which isn't your fault since you don't look good in a push up bra, but if I can get some money in here to cover my department, I want to bring in a team. Chase, Taub, Thirteen and Susan are known quantities." House replied.

"You can't have Susan," Foreman said.

"I figured you'd say as much," House said. "Making her the lab director was probably the only smart move you made since you became boss."

Foreman rolled his eyes, "She has been an asset, which is why you can't have her. I need her where she is."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tread on your territory," House said picking up the receiver to call Thirteen again.

"It's all my territory House," Foreman said and walked out the door.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan finished going through all her email from the last two days and started working through the laboratory database for specimens that had come through on her day off so she could determine if there was anything left that needed to be completed. As she was going through the database, she came across some rather interesting testing that had been done, apparently on a set of lungs. Her curiosity peaked, she opened the history file and learned that the lungs belonged to a young man who had died in a motorcycle crash and had been earmarked for transplant to one of Dr. Wilson's patients. She could see that Dr. Simpson had ordered quite a number of tests spanning the course of 4 hours, all of which didn't solve the puzzle for them, and then nothing for a couple of hours, followed by another test. Susan realized the track they were on, but she could see where it was going. She continued to scroll through the testing following along mentally their train of thought. Suddenly the train jumped to a completely different track and along with it the name of the ordering physician; Dr. Gregory House. So, they ran out of ideas and ran to Greg. Susan smiled to herself. She wondered what strings Dr. Foreman had to pull to get him out of jail. She closed the history file and went back to the specimen database when the inter-office messaging system window popped up.

"Lunch?" It was Greg.

"Finally getting around to me, huh?"

"Been busy"

"I can see that. Not real happy with you"

"Sorry"

"No you're not"

"You're right. So do you want lunch?"

"I'll be in the cafeteria in 30 minutes"

MDMDMDMDMD

House found Susan at an isolated table in the corner of the cafeteria. He walked up and sat across the table. She didn't say anything, but pushed a plate with a Reuben and a serving of fries on it toward him. "So, how have you been?" he asked.

"Do you really want to know?

"Not really," He paused and noted the ring on her finger, "You're married."

"Very astute," Susan said.

"You're mad."

"Not sure that 'mad' really covers it," Susan said. "It's a mix between being upset, disappointed, hurt…"

"Hurt?" House asked.

"Yeah, hurt." Susan replied.

"Why would you be hurt? I didn't crash through your window."

"Hmm, let's see. Where should I start? Was it because you stole the untested experimental compound from the project I was working on for Dr. Riggin to self-medicate and then when that failed, tried to do surgery on yourself? Or was it when you fled the country and the police barged into my apartment looking for you, or perhaps when I was taken to the police station and questioned like I was a criminal accessory. Or maybe it was when you were finally taken into custody, you returned all my letters unopened and wouldn't take my phone calls." House was quiet.

"A year, Greg; it's been a year since I've heard anything from you. You're my brother. We're family. We're supposed to rely on each other. Ever since you and Dr. Cuddy broke up, you've shut me out. I thought we were making progress last year just before you crashed into Cuddy's house. You were starting to open up and let me in, and then you disappeared. I was worried sick. The police harassed me every day until they took you into custody. I was relieved when you ended up in jail; at least I knew you were alive. So yeah, Greg. Hurt." Susan sighed and leaned back in her chair, "Greg, you're not alone anymore. You can always come to me. We're family."

House gave a half nod and glanced down toward the table, "I wasn't trying to hurt you," he said.

"Eat your sandwich," Susan replied with a sigh accepting his manner of apology.

House picked up his sandwich and took a bite. He closed his eyes savoring the taste. After he swallowed he said, "This is good."

"You must have been seriously deprived if you think that hospital cafeteria food is good," Susan said, "Why don't you come over tonight for a home cooked meal?"

"I can't," he answered.

"Why not?"

House leaned down and pulled up his pants leg showing the monitor to Susan. "I'm only allowed to go to work and go home."

"Do they really think you're going to run out and ram somebody else's window?"

"I don't have the best track record for staying out of trouble," House said. "House and work arrest is part of my parole." Susan nodded and reached for one of the fries on House's plate. "Aren't you eating?"

Susan shook her head, "I have a lunch meeting with one of our supply vendors in a half hour."

"So, if you're having lunch with somebody else, why did you meet me here?" House asked.

Susan said. "Greg, I may be upset with you, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see you; you're my brother. When you refused all contact with me, I decided to leave you alone and give you your space. I figured at some point, you'd come back around." Susan's pager went off, "Looks like my 'lunch date' is here early. I need to go. We'll continue this conversation later." Susan stood up and as she started to walk away, she put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm glad you're home." She left House to his lunch and made her way to the lobby.

House continued to eat his sandwich in silence while he thought about what Susan said. What she didn't know was that he hadn't refused her letters without purpose. When he received the first one, he quietly returned it to the mail room and requested that all personal mail for him be returned to sender knowing that the only personal mail he would receive would be from Susan.