Logan looked up from the movie he'd found on television when the door opened. His eyes widened in surprise when Goren came in after Eames. He looked back at her. "I don't see a gun. How'd you get him out of there?"

Eames smiled. "Doctor's orders. Where's Dad?"

"He and Deakins went out for coffee. They're bonding, and that scares me. Carolyn already went to our room to go to bed; she was exhausted."

Goren leaned over and gently lifted Tom from Logan's chest, holding the little boy close. He closed his eyes when Tom sighed in his sleep. Eames smiled and gently ran her hand along his back. His children always had a way of settling him, no matter how troubled he was. She leaned over and kissed the baby. Logan stretched. "Seriously, Bobby, why are you here? Is Maggie all right?"

"They took her for a procedure and Dr. House thought it would be a good time for me to come to see the baby-while he was sleeping."

"Ah, for a minute there that wasn't sounding like House. Is she okay?"

"As okay as she's been. They found Portuguese Man'o'war stinging cells free in the surf. That may be what made Maggie sick."

"That's weird. Can they figure out if that was it?"

"I hope so."

"Can they fix it if it was?"

"I don't know. The only treatment for a man'o'war sting is to treat the symptoms. It's a nasty venom. They'll do what they can, but it's going to be up to Maggie to recover...if that's what's making her sick."

"Did you get this sick?" Eames asked.

He shook his head as she took Tommy from him. "It hurt like hell, but no, I didn't get sick. Not like she is. I felt like crap for a few days, but that was about it."

"When'd you get stung?" Logan asked.

"In Korea."

Goren moved about the room, getting ready for his shower. "It may answer one thing that's had me wondering."

"What's that?" Eames asked as she sat down with her son.

"I can't figure out why she went into shock. If she's allergic to the man'o'war venom, it would explain a lot."

Logan shook his head in amazement. "Sometimes it's a good thing that you think so much."

Goren gave him a small smile before he went into the bathroom and closed the door. Logan looked at Eames. "He seems better."

"They're doing something. That makes him feel better. They could be closing in on answers, and he wants those answers desperately. I just want Maggie to get better. Bobby wants that, too, but he also needs to know why."

"Yeah...he always wants to know why, even if it doesn't matter."

"It matters to him."

"It always does."

When Goren came out of the bathroom, he was met by a squeal and a little body slammed into his legs. "Dada!"

He lifted Tom into his arms. "What are you doing up, you little stinker?"

Tommy giggled and hugged him. He kissed the little boy's soft head and looked at Logan suspiciously. Logan raised his hands. "Don't look at me. I didn't wake him up."

The baby sat back in Goren's arms and looked around the room. "Maga?"

"No, Tom. Maggie's not here."

The little boy's mouth formed a pout. "Maga." He put his head down on his father's shoulder and sighed softly. "Maga pay."

"Soon Maggie will play with you." He rubbed the baby's back. "Go back to sleep, little man. You can visit her tomorrow."

Another sigh and he settled in, nestling against Goren's chest. When he was sleeping, Goren gently laid him in the bed near the window. Eames smiled at him. "How did you know that's the bed we sleep in?"

"You like to be near the window."

He pulled her into his arms and held her close. "There's no reason for you to come back up right now. They won't know anything until tomorrow anyway."

She nodded. "But you'll call if anything changes."

"Of course I will. Good or bad."

Her arms tightened around him and he rested his head on hers. Logan approached them and rested on hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm going to bed. Call me if you need me."

Eames leaned over and kissed him. "Thank you, Mike."

"Anything for you, sweetheart."

He slapped his hand against Goren's shoulder. "See you tomorrow. Kiss my girl for me."

"I will. Thanks, Mike."

He left the room. Goren turned back to his wife and gently kissed her forehead. "Remember," he whispered. "Don't be afraid to show me how you feel. Trust me when I say I need to see that."

"How I feel," she whispered. She leaned up and kissed him, slowly deepening the kiss so there was no doubt exactly how she felt. Her fingers slipped under his shirt to stroke his skin and he pulled her tight against him. Lifesaver...

Reluctantly, he ended the kiss. "I-I'd better go," he said unevenly, his voice barely a whisper. "I want to be there when she gets back." He kissed her again, then stepped away and headed for the door.

"Bobby?" He turned with his hand on the doorknob. "Thank you. Kiss her good night for me and tell her I love her."

He nodded. "I will, Alex."

"Don't forget: I love you."

This time his smile did touch his eyes. No, that was something he would never forget. He thanked God for her love every day. "I love you, too, baby."

He left the room and headed back to his daughter's bedside.

He was pacing the far side of the small room when they brought her back. He watched with guarded eyes as they reattached her to the respirator, hooked up her leads and secured the IV pump to its pole. Then the room emptied, except for him, Maggie and Cameron. He met her eyes and she smiled. "She did well."

"What did they see?"

She sighed softly. "A lot of inflammation."

"Can you explain her fever now?"

"There were pockets of localized infection in her lungs. We're going to add another antibiotic until we get the sensitivities back this afternoon."

"Infection from what?"

A sympathetic look crossed her face. "I don't know. Maybe once we know what's causing the infection we'll have a better idea where it came from."

"What about the nematocysts? Did you see any evidence of them?"

She nodded. "We suctioned the fluid from her lungs and the pathologist will have a look at it. If there were any there, we should have gotten them."

"Her stomach?"

"None of them would survive for long in the acids of the stomach."

"But did you see any evidence she was stung?"

"There were lesions in both areas, but we have to wait for pathology before we know what they are."

He walked around the bed and leaned against it, looking at Maggie for a long minute. "Is she going to be all right?"

"I don't know. We need to figure out just what's making her sick. It may be a combination of things. I promise you, as soon as we know something, we'll tell you."

He took his eyes from the little girl and held Cameron's gaze. "I'll trust you in that, Dr. Cameron. I need to know what you know, what you think. Whether it's good or bad, I need to know."

She nodded. "I'll tell you. Try to get some rest. Good night."

"Good night."

He moved to the head of the bed and gently fingered Maggie's hair, and his hand caressed her cheek. "I'll be right back, mouse."

He kissed her forehead and went out to the nurse's station to call Eames. He told her what Cameron had told him, assured her Maggie was no worse, and told her he loved her. When he went back to sit by Maggie's bed, he was struck again by how still she was. Since the day she was born, he'd never known her to be so still, not even when she slept in his arms. He read to her for a little while, then he slept fitfully in the chair, holding her hand, taunted by dreams of the restless sea.

He jerked awake, not certain what had pulled him from sleep, but grateful that something had. He ran his hand through his hair, surprised to find it wet with sweat. He didn't quite remember what he'd dreamed of, but it couldn't have been good...not with the sweat and his racing pulse. Leaning back in the chair, he decided he didn't want to remember. It was a struggle to calm the pounding of his heart.

A movement near the door caught his attention and he looked over to find House standing there, leaning on his cane. "Do you always sleep so well?"

"Do you always watch people sleep?"

"Call it a hobby."

"You have too many hobbies, Dr. House."

House limped over to the foot of the bed. "Keeps me out of trouble."

"Somehow I doubt that."

The doctor looked amused. "You owe me, detective."

"Make my daughter better. Then we'll discuss it. Right now count yourself lucky you haven't gotten hit again."

He gave him a sardonic grin. "I got two pathologists out of bed at three o'clock to read Maggie's biopsies. I won't have the final confirmation until later in the day, but I have the preliminary findings. Let me say: Wow. No wonder this kid is sick."

"That tells me nothing. What did they find?"

"First you tell me what Dr. Cameron told you."

"She told me just what she told you she did."

House raised his eyebrows. "How do you know she told me anything?"

"Because she's very thorough and when she was done talking to me, she came to you and told you the same thing. You know what she told me."

House leaned back against the bed and studied him. After that first day, when he had struck a deep chord by accusing this man of harming his daughter and gotten punched for it, he found himself surprised at every turn by him. His intensity, intelligence, devotion, even his sensitivity, which usually just turned his stomach, impressed him; everything about him was unpredictable. "Very well, then...you know we found a lot of inflammation."

He nodded. "And areas of localized infection in her lungs."

"Right. We added vancomycin to her medication cocktail. It's a powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotic. When we get the sensitivities back, we hope to drop her down to just one effective antibiotic."

Goren nodded. "What about the nematocysts?"

"There were quite a few of them in the fluid they got from her lungs. Luckily, most of them were not discharged. But for her size, Maggie still absorbed a lot of toxin. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot we can do but wait. They drew some more blood to check on her kidneys and they seem to be recovering. Her liver seems all right, too. So far, she's still stable. That's a good sign."

"Why did she go into shock?"

"Apparently, she's allergic to the venom. When she went into shock a couple of things happened. First, her entire system began to shut down, including her immune system. The bacteria in her lungs has probably been there for a few days, but her immune system was able to keep it under control and it would have eventually eliminated it entirely. That's its job. Did she have any cold symptoms or has she been around anyone who is sick?"

"No, she hasn't been sick at all. Her cousin was sick last week, but Maggie and Tom haven't shown any symptoms."

"Sick how?"

"I thought it was a cold. My wife would know more."

"Hmm. It's funny how different people react to the same pathogen." He paused. "I mean funny weird, not funny ha-ha."

"I figured that."

"One more thing before I go. If you hadn't brought her in to the emergency room when you did, she would have died."

Goren sat back in the chair, rested his forehead on a hand and closed his eyes. He did not want to consider how close he had come to losing his little girl. The thought of it was almost more than he could take.

House watched him for a moment, oddly finding himself wanting to say something to him, but he wasn't good at that kind of stuff. He would leave that to Cameron; it was much more up her alley. In silence, he left the small room.