After bathing the baby, Alex got him dressed and tried to relax for a little while before returning to the hospital. She did give Bobby a great deal of credit for one important thing: he was not put off by the hospital environment. As difficult as it was to see Maggie laying there, hooked up to machines to stay alive, that in and of itself did not seem to bother him as much as it did her. It wasn't that she thought he accepted what was happening; she knew better. It was killing him to see Maggie so sick. But she couldn't get past the tubes and wires; Bobby didn't seem to see them at all. Perhaps it came from a lifetime of dealing with hospitals and illnesses. She felt it was more than that. His devotion to Maggie was complete, and no matter what, he was always able to look at her and simply see 'Maggie'. Again she felt guilty for looking at her beloved little girl and seeing 'sick Maggie'.

She laid back on the bed and bounced Tommy on her stomach, losing herself in his happy laughter. Then the phone rang. "Hello? Yes, I am...oh, my God...he didn't...is he okay?... Thank you for calling. I'll be right there."

She was trembling with anger as she closed the phone and looked at her father. "Bobby met Dr. House, and he punched him."

John raised his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Does it matter, Dad? He punched Maggie's doctor! I am going to kill him! I told him to stay calm."

"Alex, Bobby isn't one to just fly off the handle. Something must have happened."

"He hit Maggie's doctor...the man who's job it is to save her." She shook her head. "When I'm done with him, he's going to need the bed next to hers."

She gently wrestled the baby into his jacket, set him on her hip and left the room. John had to hustle to keep up with her.

When Eames came into the room, followed by her father who now held Tommy, Logan snuck into a corner and remained quiet. He knew what was coming. Goren's little fireball of a wife was furious. To her credit, she kept her voice low, but it did nothing to mitigate the expression of her anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

John carefully set Tom on the floor and urged him toward Goren. Happily, Tommy ran forward into his father's arms. "Dada!" he exclaimed and he wrapped his arms around Goren's neck.

Eames looked at her father. "You are not helping, Dad," she hissed.

He shrugged with a small smile and headed around to the other side of the bed, giving Logan a wink and moving to kiss Maggie. Logan grinned. John was a very smart man.

Eames turned back to Goren. "You hit a doctor. Bobby..."

"In his defense..." Logan started.

"I don't want to hear from you, Logan."

He fell silent and shrugged when Goren glanced at him. Gently, Goren kissed Tom and set him on the floor. "Go see Uncle Mike."

Tommy hurried off. "Unna My!"

Logan picked him up and entertained him while Eames laid into the baby's father. "I can't believe you hit a doctor."

"Uh, have you met the man, Alex?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Alot," Logan piped up, sinking back into the corner when Eames shot him a withering glare. She pointed a finger at him. "Stick up for him and deal with the consequences."

Goren drew her attention back to him. "Alex, h-he accused me of doing this to her."

She looked confused. Why would anyone accuse him, of all people, of hurting any child, much less his own? Granted House didn't know him, but there was nothing to indicate any person had hurt their daughter. "He what? You have to be mistaken."

Goren raised his eyebrows. "You think I'm so upset I don't know when I'm being accused of something?"

"We told Dr. Chase what happened."

He nodded. "And I talked to two other doctors. I gave them all the same account. Dr. House said I gave them different stories, that I couldn't keep my story straight because I was lying. He said I did this to her."

"I'm not understanding this. If you gave them all the same account, why would he say you didn't?"

He studied her with guarded eyes. "If?"

She waved a hand at him. "Calm down. I know you did. But why would the doctor say you didn't?"

"He baited me and I walked right into it. I...I didn't expect that, at all."

"And so you hit him?" She looked at Logan. "And you let him?"

"I'm not saying it was right," Logan explained carefully, not willing to draw her fire in his direction. "But I will say he deserved it."

She turned her attention back to Goren. "Whether he deserved it or not, you hit a doctor...and not just any doctor. You hit the doctor responsible for Maggie's care. Bobby..." She growled in frustration.

From behind her, a voice said, "You must be Mrs. Goren." She turned to face House, who was leaning on his cane and studying her. "I can tell. Anyone else who talks to him that way gets hit."

She studied him in silence, taking in his scruffy appearance and the cane he leaned on. "Yes, I am. And you must be Dr. House." She saw the bruise beginning to purple the doctor's jaw. "I am very sorry that he hit you."

"Why? You didn't do it. But I did provoke him, and I am satisfied that he is not the one who hurt her. Where were you when Maggie got sick?"

She looked surprised. "Excuse me?"

House looked around. "I'm sorry. Did I not speak English? I thought I did..."

Goren was on his feet, stepping toward the doctor. He stopped when Eames' hand came to rest in the center of his chest. "There's no need to talk to her that way. I was the one who went into the water after Maggie and when we went back to the cabin, I took care of her and she fell asleep with me on the couch. So get your radar off my wife."

"Very protective...but I get the impression that, in spite of her size, your wife does not need protecting." He looked toward Logan. "Who's the little guy?"

"Our son," Goren answered.

"Did he eat the same meal Maggie did?"

"Yes."

"Who cooked it?"

Eames looked at her husband, puzzled. Then she answered, "We both did."

"How sweet. The meal consisted of?"

"Chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes," Eames answered.

"The chicken was fully cooked, I assume?"

Goren frowned. "Of course it was. I'm very careful about meat."

"Was the broccoli fresh or frozen?"

Goren's brain hit the same track House's was on. "Fresh, but washed and steamed."

House made a face. "And she likes broccoli?"

"Yes. So does the baby."

"What did they have to drink?"

"Milk. It was fine."

"Let me guess. You had milk, too."

"I always have what they do."

"No wine with dinner? Beer?"

"When I have dinner alone with my wife, yes. With the kids, no, not usually. Like I said, normally I drink what they are drinking. Maggie did not ingest anything at dinner that she shouldn't have. And Tom had the same meal."

House nodded. "And he's fine?"

Logan set the little boy on the floor. "Go see Daddy, tiger."

House watched him scurry around the bed, right to his father, giggling the entire way. Tom's arms went straight up into the air. "Uppy, Dada!"

Goren picked him up and sat on the edge of the bed. He met House's eyes. "Yes. He's fine."

"Did he go in the ocean, too?"

"No. But Maggie was playing 'storm' with him and dumping water over his head."

"He didn't ingest or inhale any water?"

Eames shook her head. "No. She warned him before she dumped it on him."

"You haven't noticed any lesions on his body?"

Eames was suddenly worried. "Lesions from what?"

"We don't know yet."

She shook her head. "He doesn't have anything. No bumps or bruises. Not a mark."

House looked back at Goren. "And you haven't suffered any ill effects?"

"Not from the ocean, no."

"Did you inhale or ingest any water?"

"No."

"Does Maggie know how to swim?"

"A little, yes. We've taught her to tread water and she knows how to float. But she learned that in a pool. She wasn't expecting the ocean to attack her."

"Attack her?"

Eames answered, "When Bobby brought her out of the ocean, she said the water tried to eat her."

"That's an interesting perception."

Logan spoke from the corner. "Maggie is an interesting child. I would never call her typical. She's a great deal like her father."

"So when she wakes up I should expect her to punch me?"

Logan smirked. "Only if you insult her daddy."

"I'll remember that." He watched the giggling toddler jumping on Goren's lap. "No one should be that happy."

Goren frowned at him. "Why not? He's a baby, and we'll try to keep him happy like this for as long as we can."

House grunted. "Good luck with that." He noticed John standing near the bed with Maggie's hand tucked in his. "And you would be?"

"I'm Maggie and Tom's grandfather. I take care of them while their parents work."

"Ah, working parents. Daddy is a cop. What does Mommy do?"

His eyes shifted to Eames. She didn't miss a beat. "I am Daddy's partner."

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought there were rules against that."

Goren was losing his patience. "What does that have to do with Maggie getting better?"

"Not a thing. I just like gossip." Crossing the small room and stepping past his patient's parents, he studied Maggie more closely than he had before. "My bright and eager young colleagues seem to think that something in the ocean hurt Maggie. I need to know exactly where she went into the water. Dr. Chase loves field trips."

Chase studied the paper in his hand and looked at Foreman. "This is the cabin. He said it's about a hundred yards down the beach...that way." He pointed. "The hole they dug for the little boy should still be there. He said it was above the high tide mark."

Foreman picked up the tackle box that held their sampling containers and implements while Chase carried the small cooler they would set the samples in once they had collected them. They headed off down the beach.

They had no trouble finding Tommy's hole. Foreman looked into it. "This thing's about two feet deep."

"Mrs. Goren said it was deep. They were having fun with it. It doesn't take much to entertain little kids."

"A hole and a bucket..."

"And an imagination, which they say Maggie has in spades. I can't wait to see her with House."

"That should be good," Foreman grinned, opening the box and pulling out several containers as Chase stripped down to a pair of shorts.

Taking several containers, he stuck them into a drawstring bag which he tied to his belt. "I'll get a sample from the waterline, and then a couple more further out. How far out did he say they went?"

"He said the water was chest-deep. On you that would be about here." He held his hand just under Chase's nose.

"Very funny."

Turning, he crossed the sand toward the breakers. After getting his waterline sample, he headed into the surf. Foreman began collecting samples from the beach.

When they were through on the beach, they went to the cabin. Using the key Goren had given them, they went from room to room, collecting samples in case the pathogen they sought was lurking somewhere in the building.

When they were through, they headed back for the hospital, hoping that something in the small cooler would shed some light on whatever it was that made Maggie so sick.