Author's note: I wanted to thank everyone who wrote to me asking about the remaining chapters to this story. Your comments kept me going over what was a difficult couple of months for me. I apologize for keeping the story—and all of you hanging. I hope you enjoy where it's going and as always, I appreciate all of your comments. gl
House glanced at his watch as the elevator slowly climbed to the fourth floor. It was ten minutes to nine, just slightly early for his first interview of the day and definitely late if one were to ask Cameron. The lights to the conference room were on and there was an obvious appearance of order about the workspace. He could see as he passed by the adjoining glass wall to his office that ridiculously tiny plates, napkins and a covered tray of assorted bagels had been thoughtfully set out on the long table.
He dropped his bag abruptly behind his desk as he looked over the three candidate files neatly laid out, each with their own appropriate sticky note. He slowly ran his finger over the words '9am sharp!' written in bold ink but with a girly flourish. There was only one person he knew that could possibly get away with such a blatant exclamation of distrust in his short-term memory for all things irrelevant.
The long blinds on the wall rattled and gently swayed against the glass as Foreman breezed through the doorway. "Wilson's going over the first candidate's file in his office. He said he'd be here in about five minutes".
House nodded as he reached over to turn on the small lamp on his desk. "Great. So, with any luck this poor bastard will be the one and we can call the rest off for today," he said, unconvincingly, as he crumbled up the yellow sticky note from the first file and tossed it into the trash bin.
Foreman took a deep breath as he plopped himself down in one of the chairs directly across from House's desk. "Well, if my interview with you can be used as a measure of how this one will go, we should be done with all three in twenty minutes flat".
"Just because it was quick, doesn't mean I wasn't thorough," House quipped. "Besides, I knew everything I needed to know about you before you even stepped foot in this office. The only thing you can't tell from a piece of paper is how proficient a person will be at taking crap; more precisely, my crap. Gotta rank that quality right up there with undying loyalty."
Foreman laughed lightly under his breath. "Well, that explains Cameron and Chase. What was the requirement for me?"
"Servitude," House smirked.
Foreman threw back his head as he rolled his eyes. "Naturally".
A slight smile began to turn up the corners of House's mouth. "I like to think of you as my special project; my gift back to society, if you will. Don't worry, though, I cleared it with Human Resources. I'm allowed light, racially ambiguous needling as long as we hug afterwards".
"Ah… that's more Wilson's area. Feel free to give him mine," Foreman said, awkwardly leafing through his copy of the candidate's file.
House glanced again at his watch; it was almost 9:00.
"Has anyone seen Cameron?"
Foreman put on his best confused look as he lowered the file to look at House. "Cameron? I wasn't aware that she was part of the interview process".
House anxiously tapped his long fingers along the edge of his desk. "She's not," he said, dismissively.
From over Foreman's shoulder House could make out Cuddy's familiar figure briskly walking towards his door with what he could only guess to be his 9:00 interview. "Oh, here we go," his voice was calm, but clearly annoyed.
Cuddy seemed to naturally overpower the interviewing doctor even though he was at least half a foot taller than she. "Dr. Gregory House, Dr. Eric Foreman, this is Dr. Michael Parker. Naturally, your reputation proceeds itself House, but I've briefed Dr. Parker on your unorthodox interview skills and work habits, all the same," she jabbed, as she placed a reassuring hand on the back of Parker's shoulder.
"Good luck, Dr. Parker, it was great meeting you. We'll be in touch," she said, lightly, as she shot House a quick look of warning before turning to leave.
Wilson held the door open for her as she turned to leave. "Rein him in, please".
"Dr. Wilson!" House bellowed. "Just in time. This is Dr. Michael Porter, our first victim of the day. Few men have been so brave Porter-- which is why the last doctor in this position was a woman".
Wilson cringed slightly as he made his way towards the doctor to shake his hand. "Dr. Porter, it's a pleasure," he said, as he grasped the young doctor's hand in his own. "You've been warned, haven't you?" he asked, discreetly. "I mean, naturally you have Dr. Foreman and my apologies up front, but compared to actually working with House, this interview will seem like a preschool inquiry".
The very tall Michael Porter smiled nervously, but managed a firm "I'm prepared". Wilson nodded his head unconvincingly and then motioned towards the empty chair between his and Foreman's.
Exactly nine and one half minutes later, Wilson returned from walking Dr. Porter to the elevators. Foreman sat silently, staring at an imaginary spot on the wall over House's left shoulder. "Well," Wilson said, breaking the silence of the room, "I think it's safe to say he wasn't prepared," he sighed, as he sank down into one of the empty chairs. "I've got to hand it to you, House. I thought vaguely alluding to his sexual preference and whether or not he thought his mother would be good in bed was a brilliant touch in proving he'd be crazy to work for you".
"Oh, relax," House said, rocking his fingers back and forth over the buttons on his Gameboy. "He was clearly conflicted sexually. How can you be a good diagnostician if you can't even figure out your own sexuality? If anything, I did him a favor. He's probably calling his mommy right now to tell her the news—or to ask her out on a date. So, who's up next?"
Foreman lifted the next file folder from the stack off of the desk. "Janice Bertram. So, if her hair is too short or she's wearing slacks are you going to humiliate her, too?"
"No, that would just be rude. If she's wearing anything that doesn't show me leg skin at least one half of an inch above her knee, we'll get Wilson to tell her we had to cancel the interview. Actually, we've got about an hour, why don't you just go ahead and call to cancel now. No sense wasting the poor woman's time".
Wilson's head fell forward, while his hands grabbed the side of his neck as if in pain. "You're going to see both of these remaining candidates today if I have to pay you myself to do it. You need a replacement for Cameron, House. Especially since you've promised Chase his job will be here whenever he's ready. Unless you're going to work all day and night, you better put your team back together".
"Fine, but I'm not going to hire her".
"Why? Because she's not Cameron? Foreman asked.
"No," said Wilson, abruptly as he stared at House's hands busily working the Gameboy keys. "It's because of her last name, isn't it?"
The small electronic game whistled and beeped, signaling the game had been lost. "I can't very well call someone Bertram," House said, tossing the game dismissively onto his desk. "And, if I can't call her by her last name, I'd have to call her Janice…and I don't do first names well. Especially ones called Janice".
Foreman shook his head in disbelief. "So, you're dismissing all of her skills and qualifications based solely on her name?"
"I know," House scoffed, "I'm an enigma".
"Not exactly the word I had in mind…where are you going?"
"To see our patient," House shot back, as he pushed his way through the tall glass door.
"We don't have a patient," Foreman yelled back as the door swung closed.
"Forget it," Wilson said, as he picked up Janice Bertram's file and dialed her pager number into the phone on House's desk. "We'll just see if we can bump up Dr. Peng from this afternoon.
Foreman sighed quietly under his breath as he rose from his chair to make his way towards the door to the conference room. "Great. I'll go Google how to apologize in Mandarin".
Wilson shook his head and smiled as he picked up the ringing phone. "James Wilson. Yes, hi Dr. Bertram. Thank you so much for calling back. I'm afraid we're going to have to postpone your interview with Dr. House…"