Chapter 3

Dr. James Wilson, Head of the Department of Oncology, barely looked up from his desk when his office door swung open with a loud creak and a cane pounded on the floor. He did startle, however, when a hard clipboard was suddenly banged directly in front of him with some force.

"What do you want, House?" Wilson sighed.

"I've got an interesting patient", said House, tramping to the chair in the corner where he always sat and settling down on it. "An interesting, lying patient."

"Yes, I get it. Everybody lies." Wilson reached for the clipboard. "What is this?"

"My theories on what she could possibly be hiding", House replied, setting his cane across his lap. "And by 'she', I mean her and all four of the friends she brought with her."

"'My patient is an alien'?" Wilson questioned disbelievingly. "House, this is absurd."

"You wouldn't say that if you'd met her – or any of her four wacky friends", House told him. "They're hiding something."

"You say that about everyone", Wilson pointed out.

"They're hiding something bigger than usual", House deflected. "And she's got pink eyes."

Wilson stared at him. "Seriously?"

"Trust me. I didn't believe Foreman either when he said they were pinky pink instead of the reddish pink Cuddy led me to believe they were."

"Albinism?" Wilson queried.

"Well, she says so, but I think she's lying."

"What reason would she have to lie about the colour of her eyes, and how does it relate to her hiding bigger things than usual?"

"I don't know yet", House admitted. "But I'll find out."

"House, it is not your personal mission to discover everybody's hidden secret."

"I'm not trying to discover everybody's hidden secret – just my patients'."

"They fall under 'everybody'."

"Her story is full of holes and her file's full of even bigger ones. She's got no parents, no history, no previous doctor's name, and apparently no blood type either."

"What do you mean?" asked Wilson.

"Hole number one: she claims she was mugged directly outside a hospital because the only people close enough to see what happened were her four friends who were all too far to help her." House's cynical tone made clear what he thought of that story. "Hole number two: she was somehow given oxygen three minutes after the knife pierced her lung because of hole number one. Hole number three: her medical records say absolutely nothing about the wound or her blood type and is also utterly devoid of a doctor's signature. Hole number four: she and her four friends are being very, very evasive." House looked directly at Wilson, daring him to contradict his statements. "There are more holes, but those are the main ones."

Wilson chuckled disbelievingly. "Well, it sounds like you've had a lot of time to think about this."

"Don't laugh", said House. "It's a serious matter. I can't treat her if I don't know a thing about her."

"Look, I'll admit it's fishy, but I'm sure they have their reasons for keeping a perfectly innocent explanation from you. That, by the way, accounts for hole number four. Now if you'll please just go away, I have reports to write." Wilson turned back to the stack of papers on his desk.

"Say what you like; I'll still be gloating over the incredible and unbelievable results of my discoveries later." House got up and stalked out without another word.

"What do you think of the patient?" Taub asked Thirteen as they scanned through the dusty, empty structure on 73rd Avenue.

"I think she's calm, cool, and collected", Thirteen replied cautiously, aiming her flashlight over the ceiling beams. "She seems to be remarkably unperturbed about what's happening to her."

"Nobody's that calm", Taub disagreed, picking his way through cobwebs. "She's obviously trying to convince us otherwise."

"You're starting to sound like House", Thirteen told him. "There's some mold growing along that doorpost. Maybe she breathed in some spores?"

"Spores wouldn't cause a seizure unless they gave her an infection first, which would only happen if her immune system was suppressed", Taub pointed out. "You don't think she's hiding something?"

"I think it's none of our business." Thirteen turned around to check another area. "This room's clear."

Taub examined some torn, soggy paper wrappings on the floor. He bent down to take a sample of the ample bacteria that would no doubt be growing there. "So you're not in the least bit curious?" he called over his shoulder.

"I'll admit she doesn't seem to have the average skeletons in her closet." Thirteen shone her light on a raggedy bird's nest on one of the hanging lamps and took a strand of straw from it. "This place is completely unfit to do anything with except demolish. You'd think they'd keep this place in better repair if they want to sell it off."

"It's been empty for months; they've probably given up the idea." Taub shut the door on the room he'd just exited. "This is nuts. It's an old, abandoned store that's been left to run down and collapse on itself. We can't even go to the orphanage because we don't know which one it is."

"There're a lot of mosquitoes around", Thirteen said, slapping one away. "Malaria? If she had lung damage it could have been compounded by the disease and caused the heart attack."

"We tested for that to rule out cardiomyopathy. Negative." Taub walked back to Thirteen. "Did you hear about the anomaly we found in her blood?"

"Nope." Thirteen flashed her torch around for one last sweep of the building. "What is it?"

Taub shrugged. "Well, House and Kutner think it's an experimental drug."

"You don't?"

I don't know what to think", Taub said as they exited. "These people are weird. Her medical report's weird. They're obviously hiding something."

"You haven't even met them."

"True, but I don't need to meet them to know they're being very secretive."

Garth and Imra stared as House dragged a booming stereo into the room.

"What are you doing?" Garth demanded, as House brought it over to Imra's bedside.

"I'm sorry?" yelled House. He pointed to his ear, then to the stereo. "I can't hear you, it's too loud in here."

"What are you doing?" Garth repeated in a louder tone.

House took out a pen torch and shone it in Imra's face, blinking it on and off. "I'm trying to provoke another seizure."

"Are you insane?" Garth exclaimed.

"Nope", said House. "If she seizes, it's epilepsy, and the heart attack was caused by complications due to the knife wound. If she doesn't seize, it's an infection. Either way, we've got our diagnosis." House sounded enormously pleased with himself, as he had reached this conclusion all on his own.

Several minutes passed, and nothing happened. Imra closed her eyes to avoid seeing the annoying flashing light House was dancing in front of her face.

"Are we done?" Garth inquired in a deceptively polite tone.

House switched off the torch and turned down the stereo. "Yup. It's an infection. I'll prescribe antibiotics, and in" – he checked his watch – "twenty-four hours, she'll be good to go." He turned to leave and noticed something odd on the monitor that recorded Imra's vitals.

"Her heartbeat's slowing down", he noted.

Garth swiveled his head to look at the screen, then glanced anxiously back at Imra. "Imra?"

House switched his torch back on and lifted Imra's eyelids. Shining the light into her eyes, he said, "Pupils are unresponsive."

"What does that mean?" Garth asked fearfully.

"It means", said House, "she's unconscious." Studying Imra's still form, he added, "It also means I was wrong."

A/N: Dun-dun-dun! Dramatic, much? By the way, I will be constructing this story along the lines of a regular House episode. Thanks to guardyanangel, The Violet Rose, and leath for reviewing. Oh, and also, I apologize for the lack of page breakers in the previous two chapters, which I did not notice until today. The problem has been rectified. I'm sorry if it caused any confusion.

P.S. By the way, leath, the medical terms throughout the entire fic are the result of a lot of time and research on the internet, without which I would never have been able to get this story the way I wanted it. What's a House fic without doctor jargon, right? And the continuity is after Season 2 of LoSH and near the beginning of House Season 5.

Disclaimer: Oh, Dr. House! Would you like to tell my readers that I don't own you or your patient?