"House."

"Um…Dr House…this is, well, this is Dr Flanagan from St Mary's ER."

House leaned back in his chair. He was used to doctors from other major hospitals calling him for consults. Sounded like this one was fresh out of med school and was appropriately scared about disturbing the renowned Dr House. This could be fun.

"Yes Dr Flanagan. What little problem have you been unable to—"

"There's a patient here who's apparently been asking for you." The ER doctor interrupted, still sounding nervous. "I don't know why, there's nothing unusual about her case."

Suddenly House felt his stomach dip. This was the problem about having people in your life you cared about. You jumped to conclusions, were vulnerable to being blindsided by…

"Jess?" House asked, his voice surprisingly calm.

"Yes, Jessica Mitchell. She's actually the PR officer at the hospital here."

"What happened? Is she okay?" House asked, already rising and grabbing his things together to make it faster to get over there.

"Oh."

House could almost hear the pieces fall into place for the young doctor, suddenly realising that there was an entirely different reason his patient had been asking for the famous doctor. An entirely personal reason. "You should get over here, Dr House," he said urgently.

"I'm on my way."

House hung up the phone and strode as quickly as he possibly could out of his office, ignoring the looks from his team in the conference room.

--

At the St Mary's ER, House found Dr Flanagan quickly. He'd been right, the doctor was young, but now that he was clear about House's role in the situation, he'd regained his confidence.

"It was a car accident," he explained, pulling House into a more secluded area of the chaotic ER. "From what the police told me, someone ran a red light and hit the side of Jess's car. She's pretty badly banged up, at least three broken ribs, fractured pelvis, broken left tibia, internal bleeding. She had a collapsed lung when they brought her in, but we managed to fix that before she went up to surgery. The paramedics told me that she asked for you when they got to her, but since then she hasn't been conscious."

"She's pregnant," he said quietly. He didn't miss the grimace that flashed across Dr Flanagan's face at that news. But the doctor covered it quickly and nodded. "I'll call the OR and let the surgeon know. But her injuries…"

House nodded curtly, understanding what he was being told without needing to hear the words.

"I'll take you up to the OR," Dr Flanagan offered.

As they started to make their way out of the ER, a nurse came over.

"Are you Jess's partner?" she asked him.

The question took him by surprise. "Yes," he answered simply, the declaration meaning so much and yet so little.

"Here, the police brought in her purse." The nurse handed him a red leather purse that he recognised as Jess's. She then handed him a small plastic bag. "Her jewellery. We had to take it off before they took her up to…"

"Yes, I know," House interrupted. Looking at the plastic bag made House feel sick. Jess's watch, gold bangle, necklace. The little sapphire and diamond ring was at the bottom, looking out at him as a taunt.

You really thought you could be happy?