House woke up feeling well rested again. The first thing he thought about was Cali. He wondered how old Cali really was. She didn't sound dumb. In some ways, she sounded older than him, like she had put on a few miles in her life too.

When he arrived at PPTH, House found a dour looking man sitting in his office. House was just as dour in return. "CDC?"

The man stood up and extended a hand. House hesitated and then shook it. "Ken Larson."

"The patient is on the fourth floor in quarantine. Before I left yesterday, I transferred him over to Dr. Proctor, our infectious disease specialist. You'll be interfacing with him."

"Maggie told me to deal with you and you alone. She said that you'd try to pawn me off on someone else, but I was to stick with you to determine if this was Marburg and if it was spreading."

"But I just diagnose…I don't treat."

"Yeah, but she said you'd be the best at helping decide if it had spread. Dr. House, she said that either you cooperate or you go into quarantine too."

House's mouth dropped open, "That little bi…" He stopped and a smile spread slowly across his lips. She knows me too well. House nodded. He heard the door open and saw Cuddy rush towards him.

"Is it true? Marburg?"

House gave her a silly face and put his finger up to his mouth, "Shhhh, the CDC will hear you!" He motioned to Ken.

Cuddy gave House a disgusted look, then turned to Ken, "Dr. Larson?" Cuddy smiled as she shook Ken's hand. "Dr. Malone said you were coming. Have you seen the patient?"

"Dr. House was just going to show me."

House gave a phony smile to Cuddy and then indicated that they should follow him through the door. They all went upstairs to the fourth floor and entered the quarantine room. House provided Ken with a photocopy of the chart that he had prepared for the CDC. Within minutes they were back outside.

"I'd have to agree that it's Marburg. Good call Dr. House." Ken said.

"Can I go now?" House asked.

"Dr. House, we need to follow up and see if anyone on the plane, or that he came into contact with, is sick."

House acknowledged this, "I assume the CDC in Washington will cover the passengers on the plane. I've already taken the liberty of bringing his family in later this morning for testing. He informed us that, since he got home, he hasn't been out of his house.

Cuddy knitted her brow and narrowed her eyes, "And you believed him? What happened to, 'Everybody Lies?'"

House held up a finger quickly to his mouth again, "Shhhhh."

Cuddy shook her head, "At least interview his relatives today."

"That's his job." House said, pointing at Larson.

She sneered at him, "House, I promised Dr. Malone that you would conduct the investigation. So do it. You can call Dr. Malone if you need additional help."

"Dr. Malone won't be there she's leaving for Europe tomorrow."

"Europe?"

Ken volunteered, "She was promoted to European Liaison with WHO."

Cuddy's eyebrows went up, "That's quite a feather in her cap. Still, she said she'll be monitoring this investigation through email. So you need to report to her each day. No excuse."

House sighed deeply and snarled as Cuddy stormed out the door. He turned to face Larson, "You can take a break, the family won't be here for another hour." House practically ran out the door, leaving Larson in his wake, and headed for Wilson's office.

He pushed open the door without the courtesy of a knock. Wilson was sitting with a patient, "Not now House."

House paid no attention and came inside.

"House, I said not now!"

"I'm not here, just passing through. He opened the door to the balcony and went outside. Wilson watched him out of the corner of his eye as he continued to outline the treatment for the patient. When the patient left, a very irritated Wilson joined House on the balcony.

"I know it's useless to chastise you, so what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm dodging the CDC."

"What?"

"Maggie sent down this bozo to work on my Marburg case; I had to hide."

"Why?"

House stood and stared at Wilson, "Because he's not Maggie."

"That's quite an observation. No, he's not Maggie. If you want to see Maggie, you need to get in that boat you call a car and drive to Washington D.C."

"She's not in D.C. anymore."

"You just talked to her by the miracle of Ma Bell…"

"She moved to Europe."

"Okay, I'm not following. You told me this morning on the way in that you spoke to her last night. She was in Europe?"

"No, she's leaving tomorrow. She's accepted a two year post there."

Wilson chuckled, "You have lousy timing. I've never met her, but you two seem to be two ships passing in the night. Either that or you are on the longest collision course I've ever seen."

House walked into the office again and sat down on Wilson's sofa. "Why do you think a woman becomes a phone sex operator?"

"What? Phone sex? I don't know…not very bright—"

"She's bright."

"— the money. Are we talking about any one person?"

"Maybe."

"You've been having phone sex? What happened to the hookers?"

"I haven't given them up. Don't worry; I'm still stimulating the underground economy of the area. I'm trying to spread the wealth among all the ladies of the night."

"Why do you need both?"

"Why not?"

"Cost? Plus it seems that if you've had a hooker, why do you need phone sex?"

"Oh Jimmy boy, you ought to try it. She's really very good."

"You keep talking as if there's one in particular."

House went over to the desk and grabbed the local "free" paper out of Wilson's trash can. He opened it up to the back, "Her, Cali."

Wilson whistled to himself, "The girl, and girl is the appropriate noun, in the picture is gorgeous and definitely your type. But House, the odds that this is the woman you're talking to are pretty low."

House gave Wilson a smirk, "For God's sake, don't you think I know that. But you should try her."

Wilson looked at his with distain, "I don't need phone sex. I prefer the real thing."

"I do too, but real sex brings real women with real problems and real needs. Sometimes I just don't want to have to deal with the morning after, the awkward run to the restroom to pee, the morning breath, the frustration of wanting them to go home. I find it refreshing to just hang up the phone. All problems solved."

"Here's a novel idea; why don't you try and find yourself a girlfriend?"

"Because with real women come—"

"—real problems."

"Jimmy boy, you learn fast."

House grimaced as he tried to climb the dark staircase of the apartment building. "The CDC better give me combat pay. I think I just saw a rat. I know I saw cockroaches and a Crip…and a Blood."

Remy stepped over some trash in the stairwell, "House stop moaning. You're lucky we're here in the daylight."

"Dr. House, the CDC is not responsible for your discomfort."

"If it weren't for the bloody CDC, I wouldn't be a white man with a target on his back." House reached the landing of the third floor. He glanced back at Ken, who was waiting for him to go up the next flight of stairs. "This sucks. You tell Maggie that I don't care how much she begs, I'm not marrying her."

Ken looked confused and bewildered. "I'm sorry, are you engaged to Maggie?"

House snickered, "Not anymore…not after sending me on a wild goose chase into this hell hole. Tell her the sex wasn't that good."

"Dr. House, we shouldn't be here more than a couple of hours. Mr. Umbatu's teenage daughter is showing symptoms and his little daughter plays with the kids in this building. We have to get samples and interview the occupants. The Umbatus live on the second floor, we need to start our interviews up on four."

Houserolled his eyes, "I know that moron, I'm the one who suggested we come."

"Then why are you upset?"

Remy , who was standing four steps below Ken, shook her head, "He just likes to moan. You get used to it. It becomes background noise."

House sneered at her and then kept climbing until he reached the top of the apartment building, the fourth floor. He knocked on the door to 408. They all waited patiently, but no one answered. He moved on to 406, knocking on it. A door opened and a small, oriental woman answered. She cautiously held the door open inches, to the point where it reached the end of the security chain.

"What you want?" she said in a thick oriental accent.

House rolled his eyes and began to speak in Japanese, "I'm here because your neighbor is very sick and may have infected you and your family with a deadly disease. I need for you to answer my questions truthfully or this man behind me has the authority to deport you."

The woman, who was a resident alien with all the proper paperwork, started screaming at House in Japanese, "I have a green card. I'm here legally. You should go downstairs, most of them don't have green cards."

House held up his hand to shut the woman up, "I don't care about your green card. Answer my questions and we're out of here. Now let me in, I need to sit down, my leg hurts from climbing the steps."

The woman looked from House to Ken and then to Remy. She paused, uncertain about what she should do. She closed the door, undid the chain and then let them inside. House, Ken and Remy could see that the woman did the best she could with what she had. The furniture was thread-bare and the walls in bad need of paint, but the apartment was clean, comfortable and smelled like fish.

Sitting in the chair, House began to interview the woman in Japanese. When they were done, he got up and went into the kitchen with the woman who offered House a bowl of fish-head soup, which he accepted, slurping it down. As House ate, he watched Ken and Remy squirm, ready to go.

Remy finally hissed, "House, hurry, we have thirty more apartments to go."

He smiled and pulled out a fish head from the bowl; its dead eyes staring into space, "You should try the soup, it's great."

"Come on!" she replied.

He shrugged his shoulders, handing the bowl back to the woman. He thanked her in Japanese, bowed and then picked up his cane. Once they were out in the hall, House told them that they had a bigger problem. House frowned, "Mr. Umbatu's wife lied to us. She and their daughter, the teenager currently in our care, aren't unemployed. They're just employed under the table. They both clean houses and babysit, mostly the kids in the apartment building." House looked at the stunned faces of Remy and Ken. They both looked a little paler at the thought of what this meant. "One good thing, Mrs. Nygoya is her rival. She babysits all the oriental and white kids. Mrs. Umbatu watches the Hispanic and black kids. Apparently there are only eight families with kids that Mrs. Umbatu watches from time to time. The problem is, Mrs. Nygoya doesn't know who Mrs. Umbatu cleans houses for except for a bachelor on the third floor."

Ken shook his head, "Oh, crap!" He paced on the landing, "We need to find the kids she babysits."

Housenodded, "Yeah, I'd say that was top priority. You speak Spanish thirteen, you work with Ken. I'm going to go find this guy that has his house cleaned by her."

House took the well worn stairs to the third floor, leaving Remy and Ken to knock on doors on the fourth. He knocked on the door and wasn't surprised to find that no one had answered. He knocked on the door next to him. A twenty-something girl answered the door. She was holding a toddler.

"I'm Dr. House and I'm here on behalf the CDC. A tenant upstairs has a deadly disease and we're making sure that you haven't been in contact with him or his family. Who watches your daughter?"

She was indignant, "I do!"

"When you have to run out for a minute, who watches your daughter?"

She looked at him, "Do you have some i.d.?" House pulled out his PPTH identification card. The woman relaxed. "If my boyfriend isn't here, Mrs. Umbatu does or, sometimes Maia."

"Maia?"

"She lives on the first floor. She's home a lot."

"When was the last time that Mrs. Umbatu babysat for you?"

"Three days ago."

"And Maia…when did she last watch her?" House glared at the toddler in her arms.

"I had to go pick up my boyfriend from work the day before yesterday, so Maia watched her. I tried to get Toja to watch her, but she wasn't in. I went down to Maia's and Toja was there, cleaning her apartment."

House took out his cell and called Remy. "What's the name of Umbatu's daughter…the teen in the hospital?"

"Toja Umbatu."

House quickly closed his cell phone. "You and your entire family need to go directly to Princeton Plainsboro Hospital as soon as possible. See Dr. Chris Taub and tell him that I sent you from the Umbatu apartment building." House wrote Chris's name on a card and handed it to her.

The woman knitted her brow, "You think we're sick?"

"Maybe. Just go see Dr. Taub. Which apartment is Maia in?"

"First floor, Apartment 4."

As he made his way down the stairs, House called Taub and brought him up to date. "I'm on my way to the woman that was in contact with her yesterday.'

Looking upand down the hall,House realized that Maia's apartment was towards the front of the building. He found it and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a hoarse female voice asked.

"Dr. House."

"I don't know a Dr. House."

House put his eye up to the peep hole and could see an eye looking back. "I'm here with the CDC. Two of the occupants of this building are in the hospital with a deadly disease and we have reason to believe you came into contact with them."

"Who?"

"The Umbatus."

"Toja?"

"Yes, now can you open this door? You sound ill."

"I woke up this morning with a cold."

House shook his head and narrowed his eyes, "Come on, don't be a moron, open the damn door so I can examine you."

"I don't know you!"

House got out his identification card and put it up to the peep hole. "Can you see that?"

"I.D. cards are a dime a dozen. What disease is it?"

House was frustrated. It was unlikely that she was going to know what Marburg was. She was wasting his time, "You know, I don't give a damn if you die alone in there; so if you start bleeding from every orifice, come down to PPTH and ask for Chris Taub."

"You told me House and it said Gregory House on your i.d. "She said suspiciously.

"Taub is my Fellow." House turned to go.

Her muffled voice asked, "Bleeding? As in Ebola or Lassa?"

House stopped and turned to face the door again. "Yeah, as in Marburg."

"Marburg?" There was a pause, "Dr. House, I have a headache, chills, fever and a sore throat. I'm hoarse."

House was tired of this, he yelled at her, "I can tell. You have symptoms that should be checked out. Open the damn door."

"I don't believe you're a doctor. Doctors don't scream at their patients.'

"You're not my patient…yet."

"You're not my doctor…ever."

"Ewwww, you hurt my feelings." He chuckled.

"Ewwww. Good, I've made my quota."

House chuckled to himself, "Well, if you bleed to death it will probably be out of that mouth of yours; it's big enough."

"You better hope you don't get it…since you're one big sshole."

He hid his face so she couldn't see the grin on his face, "Fine. I'm leaving a card out here; get yourself to the hospital and get checked out; see the guy on the back of the card."

"The guy on the back's not you, is it?"

"I'm House, the guy on the back is Taub." House started to leave, but something made him stop, "Look Maia, you sound bad, make sure you get into the hospital."

He could hear a muffled, "How did you know my name?"

"Telepathy. Now make sure you get in today." He yelled through the door.

"Sure Greg, anything you say. You know how much I trust you."

He chuckled, then turned and left.