Short Short Shorty! :} This is the prelude to the first chapter. I knew you guys would want more, so here is the initial differential diagnosis!

House stormed into Cuddy's office with his team following close behind. He put the end of his cane on her desk so that it was covering up some of the paperwork she was filling out. He plopped a blue file down in front of her just as she looked up at him.

"I want it." He said.

Cuddy opened the file and began reading from it. "25 year old female with…insomnia, loss of appetite, fatigue, and she's not social. She's depressed, House. There is no case." She closed the file and went to hand it back to him.

"She's not depressed. She's on antidepressants and they aren't working."

"So up the dose."

"She's seen 4 doctors in the last month."

"She wants attention…or drugs. Or both."

"You know as well as I do that I wouldn't want this case if it was just 'depression'."

Cuddy was getting a bit angry now, but she knew House was right. He was always right.

She finally came to an executive decision. "Fine."

House nodded and turned around to leave. "You have 24 hours." Cuddy said, watching as he turned back around to face her.

House gave Cuddy a stern look. "Did I stutter?"

"I'll take the 24 hours if you take all of my clinic hours off the table for the next week."

"Fine." "Fine."

House turned around again and looked at his team, wondering why they were still standing there like idiots instead of running all of the tests they possibly could.

Thirteen, Taub, and Chase were sitting in the lab, continuously running blood test after blood test, when House walked in.

"We are Hadley hours into this and what do you have to show me?" House asked, looking back and forth at his team.

"Did you just—use my name to make a pun?" Thirteen asked, standing above a microscope.

House did his half-smile and head turn before looking at Chase. "Aussie. Please tell me you've caught some nasty crocs over there."

"All tests are negative so far. Maybe she isn't sick. Have we tried that theory?" Chase went over to the printer and grabbed a piece of paper. "Well she's negative for Sarcoidosis."

Thirteen looked out over her microscope and looked at house. "What about Hashimoto's disease?"

"No constipation or thinning hair..." Taub said, putting a small amount of liquid into a vial.

"Hypothyroidism?" She asked into her microscope.

"Her TSH levels are normal." Chase said, grabbing another sheet of paper off the printer.

House bit his lip and limped over to one of the tables where Taub and Thirteen were working.

"What about Lupus?" He asked. "It fits."

"She doesn't have a rash." Replied Thirteen.

"It could be early stages." House said, looking at the ground.

"Fever?" Taub asked.

"She's hot-natured." House said.

"Do you really think she has lupus?" Taub asked.

"The tests for that will take longer than the 11 hours we have left to figure out what's wrong with her." Chase was definitely aggravated now.

"So start the treatment." House said, turning to leave.

"House we can't start the treatment if she doesn't have lupus. It could wipe out her immune system."

"Start her on a low dose of Predisone. If it works, increase the dose and tell Cuddy to give us more time." House then limped out of the lab in search of an expert on lupus.

More to come soon!