The next day Maia was surprised to receive a large package in the mail. It was addressed to her with a return address of her former associate, Michael Cole. She had hired Michael straight out of law school, teaching him the ropes and making him comfortable with a good salary and bonuses. When her life crashed, he got in the way of the fallout. He no longer had a job and, no one would give him a job at first, afraid he might be doing coke too. Michael lost his home after months of unemployment. The last time Maia had seen him was at the State Bar Disciplinary Board. He was coming out as she was being shuffled in, strung out from detoxing.

Maia assumed that Michael must have taken pity on her and sent her something for Christmas. Inside were a dozen fresh pears from one of the mail order stores. She sat down and ate a couple of them all at once. They were fresh and juicy, the juice running down her hand to her elbow. She was touched. It was the first sign that maybe her life had turned around, that someone might care. She desperately needed something to cling onto. And this little present was a life raft. Over the next week, every time she ate a pear, she was hopeful. Maia sat down and wrote Mike a thank you card.

Dear Mike,

I received your gift and can't thank you enough for your kindness. I know that my actions caused you great distress and financial strain. I was sad when I had to let everyone in the firm go without warning. I was especially sad for you since you had just had Tina (I hope she's well. She'd be two by now, right?). I have paid a heavy price for my stupidity and inconsiderate actions. I can't tell you how much it means to know that you have forgiven me and have sent me this gift as a token of your forgiveness. When I get on my feet again, I'd like to do something for you and your family. I promise you that I will pay you back somehow. In the meantime, I hope the New Year brings you and your family great things.

Thanks,

Maia

Sticking the letter in the mailbox, Maia took the last pear out of her pocket, removed the gold foil and ate it.

Maia managed to service several clients the week between Christmas and New Years to despite feeling like crap. Needing money badly, she worked because there had been a huge slump the beginning of December. She hadn't realized that the holidays would put a dent in her business. Maia was relieved when she'd get a call. from a client; it kept her from dwelling on the fact that she had no one and no television. She didn't know which was worse.

To compound her loneliness, her health deteriorated. She was sure she caught something from one of the kids she babysat a few days after Christmas while their mother went to…well wherever mothers go at nine at night for two hours and then come back sloshed. Maia was racked with constant diarrhea and vomiting over the next few days.

On New Year's Eve, Maia thought she might hear from G-Man, but House and Wilson had gone to Cuddy's New Year's Eve party, not getting home until two in the morning. House thought about calling Maia, but was too drunk to maintain a coherent conversation. He climbed in bed, woke up at noon, took two aspirins and went back to bed.

Maia couldn't keep anything down and soon developed a fever which, over the next few days, escalated to 103 degrees. On the afternoon of January 4th she dragged herself into the free clinic at PPTH. She sat in the waiting area, nodding off, as she waited to see a doctor. When her named was called she dragged herself back to one of the rooms and was told to take a seat on the examination table until the doctor arrived. She sat for a few minutes, her head pounding and her body sinking. Finally, she laid back and fell asleep. Maia woke three hours later in a hospital bed on in room 313 with an IV attached to her arm. She looked at the IV and quickly fell asleep again.

Maia was awakened around seven to have her vitals taken and to talk to the doctor. She opened her eyes and tried to focus, but her eyes burned so much it was hard to keep them open.

"Ms. Connely? My name is Dr. Taub, I'll be one of your doctors. We need to ask you a few questions. We need to get a history from you. Ms. Connely? I need for you to pay attention."

Maia nodded. She mustered all of her energy to ask, "What's going on?"

Taub looked at her chart, "I came in to the clinic to examine you and you were semi-conscious from dehydration. We've admitted you and now we just have to find out what's causing the fever. We have you on Ampicillin and saline. Do you remember me from a few months ago? I tested you for Marburg? We were worried about an infection spreading in your building?"

Maia was about to respond when she heard a door open and a voice, somewhat familiar, bark, "When are you going to be done here? I need you on my case."

"Look, I've got to figure out what's causing her fever and septicemia."

House walked in and grabbed the chart away from him. "You don't have much of a history. Okay, 37, drug addict, supposedly in recovery, had a miscarriage and a D&C ten days ago. You better check her for toxic shock. Give her a pelvic and get a culture. Look, she's either lying about her recovery and she scored a bad batch of drugs or she has an infection from the D&C. The Ampicillin should do the trick. She should start responding tonight. Once you get the samples, get your butt down to my office, we have a guy spewing green slime."

Maia was pissed. This guy was talking as if Maia wasn't in the room. She looked at House, "Who are you?"

"No one you need to be concerned with. You're not my patient and I'm not any of your business."

"Wrong asshole, you're telling my doctor what to do which means you're now involved in my treatment." Maia realized this was the same doctor who had stared at her when she was waiting for Phil to pick her up.

House cocked his head and was about to say something in response to her calling him an asshole, but then he started thinking about what she said. He looked over at Taub who was smirking. Turning back to Maia he narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Are you a lawyer?"

"Not anymore. But once you told him to run tests and treat me with ampicillin, you became involved in my treatment."

House paused, "Okay." He turned to Taub, "Do whatever you want and I don't care what you treat her with, she's not my patient!"

Taub chuckled.

Maia shook her head, "Tsk, tsk, pathetic, but don't worry, I don't want you as my doctor. So you can leave, bye." She waved her hand at him to leave.

House turned to Taub and mouthed, "Labs, ampicillin and get your ass down to the office."

Taub nodded and House left.

Maia managed to open her eyes again, "He's an ass. Is that the House that sent me to you before? I had a hard time getting a good look at him through the peephole. He sounds familiar."

Taub nodded, "Yes, that's Dr. House. He's a brilliant ass. It's sad, but if I were sick, he's the asshole I'd go to."

"You're not giving me much confidence in you."

He laughed, "I mean if I were sick with something that couldn't be diagnosed by mere mortal doctors, I'd go to him. You don't need his genius, because you have a simple infection. We mere mortals can probably figure this out on our own. We just have to find out why you have the infection and make sure you're on the right antibiotics." He closed the chart, "Were you really a lawyer?"

"Yes."

"I thought I recognized your name. It's none of my business, but were you the lawyer on crack that went nuts a few –"

"Yes, that was me." She looked up at the ceiling. "It wasn't crack."

"What happened to you?"

"Coke. Lost everything to the white demon."

"I have to admit, you were my hero. That speech you gave about the justice system from the roof of your office in your bra and panties...so cool, so hot."

"Yeah, that got a lot of play on the evening news. I received buckets of mail in support of my diatribe. Unfortunately, it didn't endear me to the State Bar. I was suspended for five years— minimum."

"Well, I need to do a pelvic to see if your infection is from the D & C."

Maia grimaced, "Oh, lovely."

After the sample was taken, Maia watched a little news and fell back asleep.

House left the hospital around 6:00 pm and picked up some beer and snacks for the poker game. Around 7:30 pm the guys arrived and got down to business. After three hours of play, House was up, but not by much. Wilson had won several pots that night, dipping into House's normal bounty.

As the guys left, Wilson turned to House, "Are you going to the wine tasting at the hospital tomorrow?"

House nodded, "You bet. They're having a raffle for a bottle of Chteau La Mondotte Saint-Emilion 1996, but you have to be there to win."

"Yeah, I'm going too. Cuddy begged me to go, there's a female Jewish donor and I'm the bait."

House snickered and shook his head, "Well at least you know she has money!"

"That's such a great comfort." Wilson smiled and left.

House cleaned up the mess left by the guys and then sat down at the piano. As he played he thought about Cali and making love to her on the piano bench. He finished the piece, picked up the phone and dialed. He couldn't help but smile; he knew exactly what he wanted from her. The call went straight to her recording. The smile disappeared. House dialed again, but again it rang through to her recording.

Did she do something stupid on Christmas? I should have kept her on the phone, made sure she was okay. Hell, why do I care? She's not my responsibility. She's probably on vacation or taking a leak.

She was awaken by a familiar voice, "You're test came back negative. The infection isn't related to your D&C."

She opened her eyes. "It's you again. I thought I recognized your voice. Where's my doctor?"

"He's running tests on another patient. The charge desk called and told me that your fever isn't responding to the ampicillin. We need more blood and a better history." House sucked the frappachino through the straw.

"I thought this was just a simple infection and that ampicillin would take care of it? Or at least that's what you told Dr. Taub. I thought you were the guru at diagnosing difficult patients?"

"You're not my patient."

She sighed, "Then I want to see my doctor now. I've got to get out of here. I have no medical insurance and no money. I can't afford to be here."

"You have a fever that's getting worse. You're up to 103.5 this morning. If we don't figure out what this is, you'll be dead in a few days.'

The monitor showed a spike in blood pressure and heart rate. They both looked over at it when they heard the beeping. She winced, "Well, according to that machine, you obviously have my attention. I know I'm not your patient, but what do you suspect—wink, wink?"

He grinned, "Well, wink, wink, what have you eaten in the last few days?"

"I haven't eaten much in the last three days because it keeps coming up. Before that I had pasta with sausage, cereal, pears, cheese and a seven-up. Oh and tea, lots of tea."

"The sausage, how long had it been around?'

"I bought it fresh that day."

"Milk?"

"I buy it by the quart so that it doesn't go bad."

"Pears?"

"Christmas gift, gourmet pears from Holly Orchards. You know they come in a large box in gold foil."

"Do you have any of them left?"

She stared deep into his blue eyes and thought about the day he passed by her when she had been waiting for Phil to pick her up. "Do you remember glaring at me when I was outside on the bench. You passed me on Christmas Day while I was sitting outside."

He turned his head to the side, "You know, maybe that's it. I've been trying to figure out where I know you from. There's been something familiar about you too." House gave her a stage wink. "Now, the pears? Any left?"

She shook her head.

"Too bad," he paused, "Dr. Taub, wink, wink, is going to order a few more blood tests."

"Oh, yeah, Dr. Taub is going to order it, right." She winked at him. "If you hadn't rushed him, maybe he would have put more thought into my diagnosis."

"You have an infection, it's simple. We just have to figure out what bug is causing it and then prescribe the right antibiotics. In the meantime, I'm going to, uh, Dr. Taub is going to prescribe Vancomycin to see if it works."

"Can I take it at home? I really don't have the money for all of this."

"You have an unremitting fever and you were severely dehydrated when you came in…obviously, you don't know how to take care of yourself. So no, you don't get to go home."

Maia crossed her arms and tried to look mean, "I knew enough to get myself into the clinic."

"Where you collapsed! That's why stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting." House shook his head and left the room.

Maia waited for the nurse, who finally came in and hooked Maia up to the Vancomycin. She waited an hour until the bag was empty and then yanked the needle out of her arm, put a Kleenex over it to stop the bleeding and got dressed. She wrote a note and left it on the side.

"Dr. Taub (House), Vancomycin worked, I'm all better. Ciao." She was feeling better now that she was rehydrated. She knew that Vancomycin was a heavy duty antibiotic, the one used when a strain was resistant to older antibiotics. Before unhooking the machine, she noted that her fever had fallen to 102.5. It was enough evidence for her to be convinced that she was cured. Sneaking past the busy nurses, she went down the stairs and out of the building. It was freezing outside. She dug in her purse for her keys and discovered that they were missing!

She went out to the parking lot, looked through the window to see if she had locked them inside, but she hadn't. She leaned for a few minutes against the car until she felt strong enough to turn and walk back into the building. Maia looked up and saw House hanging over the railing on the second floor dangling a set of car keys. She glared at him and walked up the steps to get them.

Approaching him with her arm outstretched, she clenched her teeth, "May I have my keys, please?"

He shook his head, "Vancomycin worked, I'm all better. Ciao? Tsk, tsk, you can do better can't you? I can see from your glassy eyes that you still have a fever. You may feel okay, but you need to wait. We don't have your blood tests back."

"I'm not checking back into Hotel California. I can't afford it."

He looked her up and down. "Okay, I'll take you to the Econolodge." She's feisty, even sick. She must be poor, she can't even afford a home dye job. She has gray coming through the blonde, especially in her temples. I have to admit, she's doing a good job hiding it with the haircut. "Follow me Brittney."

"Brittney?" She ran after him as he took off. Damn he's fast with that cane. Must be the long legs.

"Yeah. Brittney Spears. She doesn't know when to stay put and keep her mouth shut either."

They took the elevator and exited out the door to a corridor with offices. He opened the one marked, James Wilson, Oncology. It was empty, but decorated with movie posters. He pointed to a small sofa, "Your bed. Now if a fortish man with an annoying habit of claiming this is his office tries to get rid of you, tell him that you're Taub's patient. When your labs come back, I'll come get you."

She put her bag down and held her hand out, "Keys?"

He wrinkled his nose, "I don't think so, not yet."

She crossed her arms across her chest, "This is false arrest."

"Okay, sue me…oh, that's right, you're not an attorney anymore. Guess you'll have to hire someone. Now lay down, I'll be back later."

House closed the door and headed back to his office. It wasn't long and Taub was standing in front of him. "What did you do to my patient?"

House looked at him with a slight smile on his face, "Do to your patient? What do you mean?"

"Ms. Connelly, she's gone. I apparently prescribed Vancomycin and then she checked herself out." He was obviously upset. "House, the woman was very ill. I've got to go over and convince her to come back."

"Come with me." House got up and took Taub to Wilson's office. He opened the door and looked in. Wilson was sitting at his desk and there was no sign of Maia.

House snapped his head towards Wilson, his brow furred, "What did you do with the woman that was on your couch?"

"Seduced her, made her beg for more and then convinced her it was my office and asked her to leave."

House gave him a look of frustration, "You sent her away? She's sick you moron. Didn't you notice her filmy eyes? The fever?"

Wilson looked at House and shook his head. "I told her she could stay, but she said that she was going to go home and sleep."

"Go home? I have her car keys."

Taub and Wilson both looked at House with disgust. Taub shook his head, "You took her car keys?"

Wilson shrugged, "Well, she borrowed my phone and called a cab."

House threw his hands up, "And you let her?"

"Every man has his price. And mine was $3.95. Hey, she looked like she was a few days over her 18th birthday and said something about false arrest. People over 18 can hire cabs and go home, despite your concern."

House rubbed his head and looked down thinking through what he was going to do. "Are her labs back?"

Taub shrugged, "I haven't looked yet."

House practically ran back to his office and pulled up her record, turning white at what he saw. He heard Taub, who was standing behind him, curse. House looked up at Taub.

"Great. We've been giving her antibiotics and she has an E. Coli infection."

Wilson, who had followed looked at them, "What does that mean?"

House stared off, not really concentrating on answering Wilson,"An E. Coli infection doesn't respond to antibiotics and, in fact, antibiotics appear to hinder the recovery of patients."

House shook his head, "This makes absolutely no sense, an E. Coli infection doesn't cause a fever and her fever has been getting worse on a daily basis. Crap. We've got to get her back and isolate her. She may be carrying some new type of virus that's competing with the infection."

House wrote down her address and then looked up at Taub, "Isn't this the building where our Marburg case lived?"

Taub nodded. "You remember the woman that you wanted to meet? It was her."

"No wonder her voice sounded so familiar." House smiled to himself. He was curious about her, why she seemed to strike a chord with him. "Bring her record and let's grab some bags to go through her apartment. Might as well do a reconnaissance while we're there. Tell Remy and Larry they've got the helm while the away team is…away."

"Yes, Captain Kirk. Does that make me Spock?" Taub asked.

"No, it makes you the expendable guy that dies on the planet while we're away. Wilson, you're McCoy."

"Well, I'm staying here."

"That makes sense; you never liked the transporter anyway."

Wilson scratched his head and went back to the work on his desk.