Chapter 5

Looking for the Needle

House slowed down. They had been driving for three quarters of an hour to a suburb just north of Philadelphia. They were checking addresses as they drove along.

"According to Mapquest, this is it. Oh, crap."

House looked over at her, "What?"

Maia had her eyes closed, trying hard to keep the image from searing into her brain. "It's just that Mike used to own a beautiful four bedroom house in an upscale neighborhood."

House said nothing, but looked at the little duplex that bore the address where they were going. The neighborhood wasn't as bad as Maia's, but it was only a few rungs up. He nodded for her to get out and could see she was reluctant.

House snapped, "You have to face this."

She snarled, "Why?"

"We need to know what he knows, even if it's nothing."

"I don't care if someone is trying to kill me, I can live with that."

House got out and walked up to the storm door. It was a clear day, the snow on the ground was starting to turn to slush. Maia stared down as she followed him, realizing her parka had a big stain on the front that hadn't come out in the wash and her Nikes had a hole in the left one. Her hair was unkept and dried out from the drugs and antibiotics. Peering at her reflection in the glass of the window, Maia tried to pat down a few stray hairs. She walked up to the door as House knocked.

House glanced quickly over at Maia. She looks like a homeless person, pretty pathetic, hardly the woman in that photo. The door was opened by a man in his early thirties with dark brown hair and turtle framed glasses. His jaw clenched tight when he saw Maia. She barely raised her head. Briefly looking into Cole's eyes, she tried to smile, but noting his disgust, quickly lowered her head and stared at her shoes.

"What the hell do you want?" He looked her up and down and started laughing, "Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Maia coughed and raised her head, "Hi Mike. I just came to thank you for the pears."

Cole pulled his head back and furred his brow. Looking back and forth between the two of them, he snorted, "Maia, I don't have time for your games." He started to close the door.

House reached out and stopped the door from closing. Cole opened the door slightly, watching House suspiciously, "Yeah, what?"

House took out his wallet and showed him his PPTH identification, "I'm a doctor at PPTH. We're concerned. The pears you sent Ms. Connelly were contaminated with a rare, but lethal bacterial infection. We understand you have a daughter and we just wanted to make sure she hadn't ingested any of the pears."

Mike's demeanor changed, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Maia, then back to House, "I don't know anything about pears. What's going on?"

There was silence and then Maia looked in his eyes, "Someone sent me pears infected with two strains of deadly bacteria. The card said that they were from you. Didn't you get my letter?"

"I saw the name on the return address and threw it away." He started to laugh. "You mean, someone is trying to kill you? That's rich."

House didn't understand why she just stood there letting him laugh at her. She wasn't even trying to walk away or do anything to stop him. House shook his head, "I don't know why you think sending someone pears infected with a deadly bacteria is funny. Anyone could have eaten those pears. Come on Maia, let this moron get back to his soap operas."

Cole looked again at Maia, standing like a prisoner, waiting for the executioner's ax. A wave of memories hit him. Memories of all the times she had helped him and his family. How she guided him through his first trial, gave him huge bonuses, co-signed for their mortgage. She had been good to him and his family before she started snorting coke. Now she was crushed, a sad shell of what she was. It hurt to even look at her.

House had his hand under her arm and was practically pulling her back to the car. She was devastated, almost catatonic as she walked robotically back with him. A voice call out her name. They both turned to see Cole on the front step waving them back. Reluctantly, Maia turned and took a few steps back towards the duplex.

"Maia, I didn't send the pears. I may be angry, but I hope you know I'd never hurt you."

Maia swallowed hard, tears coming to her eyes. She thought about how good it had felt when she got the pears; how she was relieved when she thought he had forgiven her. She nodded and her voice came out in a wavering whisper, "I know Mike. I'm so sorry. I never… I'm so sorry. Please give Tina a hug."

She turned to leave, but he called out again to House. Maia didn't look back, instead she waited, standing as still as possible as House turned to acknowledge him.

"Hey, I can think of three possibilities, Dr. Valen, Joseph Susskind and the 186." Mike turned and went back inside.

House and Maia got into the car. House looked at her while he started the car, "Who are Valen, Susskind and 186?"

She turned, her eyes bleary from tears, she wiped them away. Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her teeth. She screamed at him as loud as she could, "It doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't matter if someone wants me to die. Don't you get it? Look what I've done? This is what I deserve!"

"Oh, boo hoo. I don't care what you've done or who you hurt. Who's Susskind, Valen and 186?" He yelled back as loud as she had yelled at him. It seemed to work, she went quiet for the next five minutes as they got back in the car and drove back to Princeton.

"I86 is a gang. I sued them for civil rights violations of the dead son of my clients. I won and took away most of their tricked out cars and bling. Most of them are in jail now."

"Dr. Valen I sued and won millions of dollars for four women he molested under anesthesia. His carrier didn't have to pay because it was an intentional tort. He had to sell everything to pay us off."

"Susskind is a virologist. He was working on obtaining a patent on a gene, but if he had patent it, then no one would be able to use the gene for discovering certain genetic diseases. I argued to the court that he couldn't patent it because, although it didn't have a name, it had been the part of decades of research. He hadn't really discovered it, so he had no right to patent it. I won and he lost what was potentially millions of dollars."

"Are any of them capable of doing this?"

"They all are if you pay someone enough money. I'd say Susskind would have more access, but it wouldn't take much to buy the pears, inject them with the strains bought from a lab and send them to me."

He pulled up to her curb. "Do you have any information on these men?"

She looked empty, totally void of caring, "I might have something in my apartment. The bar has most of my files in storage."

House took a Vicodin and then got out. They went inside and Maia hung her coat up.

"Can I take your coat? Finding that information may take awhile."

House took off his coat and went to sit down.

Maia nodded towards her bedroom, "My documents are in there."

They went back and she pulled out a box from under the bed. She handed House a stack of pleadings, "You go through those, I'm going to go get some water. Want some?"

"Sure."

She went out to the living room-kitchen area while he read the documents. He discovered from the newspaper articles and judgments that each of these men had lost everything they had in these lawsuits. The gang members had killed a fourteen year old kid for a Subway Sandwich. They had not only gone to jail because of Maia's relentless investigation of what happened, but they lost all their worldly possessions to pay off her clients. Maia, had championed the victims in each of the cases, but it was just possible the defendants had come back for their revenge -- while she was down, while she was a nobody.

Maia came in and gave him the glass of water. He drank it and then stood up. "I'll call you tomorrow. I'm taking the rest of the documents to read tonight."

"Whatever." She followed him to the door where he pulled his coat off the hook and put it on.

He looked down at her. He still didn't like it, she looked hollow, as if there was nothing left inside. He thought about taking her out for dinner, but she looked like she really needed to rest. The afternoon and the pain of the meeting had obviously taken a toll on her. He left and drove by his favorite Chinese restaurant, picking up some Kung Po Chicken and Special Shrimp. When he got home he sat down in front of the television with his boxes and started to eat. He could feel a twinge in his leg which usually meant he was in for a bad night.

House put the box down and got up. He had some Vicodin in the bedroom. Just as he started for the bedroom he remembered the Vicodin in his jacket. He hobbled over to the jacket and reached into the right pocket and felt. He turned the jacket over and reached in the left pocket, nothing. He patted his pants pockets and then looked in the pocket inside his jacket, nothing. The Vicodin was missing. He started to feel panic. How long ago did he leave her apartment? An hour? He called her home and no one answered. He dialed the sex line and got her answering machine.

He ran to his bathroom and grabbed some things he would need, put his jacket on, snatched his cane and keys and flew out the door. When he reached her apartment, no one answered the door. He pulled himself up the stairs using the banister and pounded on the Umbatu's door. His wife opened it.

House was agitated, his eyes bright and wild. He scared the woman. She huddled and shrunk back. "Keys, I need the keys to Maia's apartment…Keys!"

She shrunk back. House calmed down, "Please, Maia is very ill, I need the key so I can help her."

The woman nodded to her daughter who ran and got the key. She handed it to her mother, who handed it over to House. He ran downstairs, his backpack hanging off his shoulder. Fumbling as he tried to undo the lock, House let out a sigh when he heard the tumbler click. He wrenched open the doors and ran in, looking quickly at the couch. Running into the bedroom, he saw her laying quietly, a light on the side of the bed shining softly. He could see a half empty bottle of tequila and the empty bottle of Vicodin. He grabbed Maia and shook her, but she didn't show any signs of awakening. He took her pulse. It was slow but steady. House pulled her off onto the floor and dragged her on the blanket to the bathroom. He pulled her up and into the bathtub, turning the water from the shower on her. He pulled his back pack off his shoulder and grabbed a tube out of it. House saw a small reaction, a jerk from her shoulder, igniting a little spark of hope. He began stuffing the tube down her throat, before he could get it down, she started choking. House pulled the tube out and watched as Maia semi-consciously began to vomit. House smiled as her body wretched. He held her in a position so that the vomit wouldn't choke her. When she was done vomiting, House could see several pills, partially dissolved next to the drain.

She began to move around like a sloth trying to find water. She was moaning slightly. House grabbed her hair and pulled her head back so that the shower could hit it. She tried to open her eyes, which was all House had to see to start breathing easier. He pulled her back out of the tub and put her on the blanket, looked around and grabbed a towel. He mopped her up and then went into her bedroom, pulled out a sweatshirt and sweat pants and went back into the bathroom.

He pulled her top off and smiled. She had pretty breasts, round, pert with pretty pink nipples. He took the towel and dried them, trying to ignore the signals his groin was sending out. He pulled the sweatshirt over her head, failing to catch her head as it fell back with a thud on the floor. He chuckled. He grabbed her pajama bottoms and pulled them off, smiling again at the wisps of dark blonde hair between her legs. He took a towel and dried her, the dressed her in the sweatpants. He pulled her back to the bedroom, picked her up and rolled her onto the bed.

House sat down and started to shake her shoulder.

She moaned.

"Wake up. Damn it, wake up. I can't believe that you did this after we just spent all that time and money making you better. You're so ungrateful. Now wake up."

She moaned and then pulled her shoulder away from him. He pushed her back, his jaw clenched, he started shaking her harder. Her eyes flew open.

The voice that escaped from her mouth sounded like something from the Exorcist, "Will you stop that! I have a headache you demonic quack."

"Like I care! You have to stay awake for at least a couple of hours."

"You must care, you're here dimwit!"

He tried not to laugh at the sound of her somewhat demonic voice, which was probably the result of the tube rubbing her vocal cords as it went down. "I really don't care about your hide, but I do about mine. I don't want anyone to know where you got the Vicodin, so you're going to get this crap out of your system and then I'm letting you find your own way to pull the plug on your pathetic existence!"

"Has anyone told you that your bedside manner reminds them of Sweeney Todd?"

"And your life reminds me of a bad Harlequin Romance Novel. Now, you don't have television, so what do you want to do?"

Maia rolled her eyes, "I just tried to kill myself, not like I made plans for 'later'!"

House smirked, "Oh, give me a break. Let's play cards. You do know how to play cards, right?"

"I'd prefer sleeping. I'm really tired and sick."

"Yeah, well I'd prefer being home in bed with a beautiful woman, but—"he purposefully eyed her up and down lying in bed, "I'm not, am I?"

She curled her lip and snarled. "What do you want to play?"

"Texas Hold 'em. $10.00 ante."

She shook her head, "I don't have $10 for the ante. I've been so sick and in the hospital that I haven't made any money lately."

"Alright, we'll play Spades. Do you know how to play Spades?"

She nodded, got out of bed, fell back on the edge of the bed, slid down to the floor and laughed. "Whoa, I'm more wobbly than I thought."

House started laughing, he rolled across the bed and looked over the edge at her prone on the floor except for her shoulders and head still leaning up against the bed. "For God's sakes, get up and get the cards."

She stuck her tongue out at him and clumsily got up, walked to the drawer in the kitchen, grabbed the cards and took them back to the bedroom. They played Spades for an hour before House felt comfortable that she was going to be okay. He had beat her at every hand, but just barely. He figured that if she weren't drunk and drugged, she'd probably be damn good at cards.

After the seventh hand she looked at him, "I'm so tired, can I go to sleep now?"

He nodded as he put the cards down on the dresser. He picked up a book on the civil war while she curled up and fell fast asleep. After reading for awhile House felt rumblings in his stomach reminding him that he hadn't had dinner. He got up, went to the kitchen and started going through her cupboards. Besides a healthy store of wheat thins and cocoa puffs, there was really nothing to eat in the apartment. He grabbed his keys, the key to the apartment and his jacket. He was buttoning up when there was a knock on the door. He opened the door, gawked at the visitor and grinned.

She smiled back, "Hi, I'm Jennifer, is Maia here?"

House couldn't stop grinning at the gorgeous brunette, probably twenty-five, 5'8" and beautiful. He was staring at the object of the advertisement that had made him pick up the phone and dial for sex. He motioned with his thumb to her bedroom, "She's sleeping. I'm her doctor, just made a house call. She's not well."

The young woman looked genuinely concerned, "Oh, no. That's bad. I knew something had to be wrong. She usually pays me on time. Is she going to be okay?"

"I'm not sure. I was about to get a bite to eat. Why don't I buy you a cup of coffee and tell you what's going on?"

She hesitated, but saw the cane and apparently felt safe with a cripple, because she nodded. "Okay. Where do you want to go?"

"My car is parked out front, we can go to the restaurant down the road."

They walked to the curb and when she saw the car she took a step back, "You're a doctor and you drive this?" She looked skeptical.

"Besides the fact that it's a classic, I use it during the winter, normally I travel by motorcycle. Here, here's my I.D."

Jennifer seemed convinced because she accompanied House to a restaurant where House lathered on the charm for the next hour and a half. Jennifer seemed smitten. As she drank her third cabernet, she ran her hand up House's left thigh until she met the small bulge from his penis. She took her nail and drew the outline of it on the fabric of his pants, circling it over and over as it got larger. House reached over and put an arm around the back of her chair, closing his eyes as her finger danced over the shaft and head. The waitress approached and House quickly asked for the bill. He paid it, put on his jacket to hide the bulge and they left. When they got to the car she turned to him and opened her lips slightly for a kiss. He leaned forward and, using his tongue, tickled the tip of her tongue with his.

She started breathing harder as she felt his hand reach up through her coat and grab her breast. "Let's go to your place," she said

"I can't. I have to watch Maia. Let's go back to her place for now."

She pulled her head back and furred her brow, "You have to babysit Maia?"

"Make sure she doesn't get worse. Come back with me."

She nodded and they drove back, barely getting their jackets off as the fell into the living room wrapped in each other's arms. Jennifer, grabbed House's belt and unbuckled it as he managed to unlatch the bra under her sweater.

"Is Maia asleep?"

House could barely speak, his breath was rushing, "She's asleep." They fell onto the couch with House's levis half way down his knees.

He grabbed his wallet and pulled out the condom which Jennifer took from him, dressed him and then gave him a deep kiss. House pulled her sweater up and found the bra dangling. He pulled it down from the breasts and started sucking and fondling. He felt tingling sensations as he rubbed his sheathed erection against her thigh. She grabbed it and guided him inside. He sucked and thrust, sucked and thrust, like a dance. It was all so delicious. Her breasts were large and heavy, with brown, succulent nipples, the size of a half-dollar. The depth of the couch made it difficult to get comfortable or to get any momentum. He picked her leg up and began thrusting harder and faster. She raised her hips up to accommodate as much of him as she could. She screamed out in pleasure as he started to come, short, fast thrusts until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up, Jennifer's nipple still firmly in his mouth. Maia was standing in the kitchen holding a glass of water watching them. He sucked in an uneven breath and dropped the nipple. But he couldn't stop the orgasm. His face was contracting as Maia gave him a little wave and a smile.

"Don't let me stop you." She said calmly and went back to bed.

Jennifer blushed and pushed House off of her, "I thought you said she was asleep."

"She should have been…she had enough drugs in her."

Jennifer was shocked, "You drugged her?"

House sneered, "No! She drugged herself." He pulled the top of the rubber down and off, admiring the amount of sperm it had in the tip. "Be back." He got up, pulled up his levis and walked to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. He walked by the bedroom and could see her sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed hugging a pillow. She looked up and their eyes met. She stared down at the condom in his fingers and frowned. Maia jumped up and slammed the door.

House cleaned up and went back to a rather flustered Jennifer.

"I better go talk to her." Jennifer said.

"Come back tomorrow; I'll talk to her tonight. Can I get your telephone number?"

She hesitated and looked embarrassed. "I'll give you my cell. I have a boyfriend that I live with, so please don't call, just text me, okay?"

House nodded and pocketed the piece of paper she gave him. After she left, he went back into the bedroom but Maia was asleep. The apartment was getting cold so he went back out and saw that the thermostat was set on a timer. Between 10 pm and 6 am she had set the temperature at 57 degrees. He grabbed a throw off the couch and went back to her bedroom. House took off his shirt and levis, crawled under the throw and went to sleep. Sometime in the night, when he found himself shivering, he got under the covers making sure he didn't venture to her side of the bed.

The next morning he got up and saw that she was still asleep. She looked better, more color to her cheeks, easier breathing. He put on his clothes and took off.

Around nine Maia woke up and found the apartment empty and a condom wrapper on the floor of her living room. She had just picked it up when the door opened and House walked in with several plastic grocery bags.

She held the wrapper up, "You could at least pick up after yourself."

"Sorry, it was your friend's fault, she did the honors."

Maia looked in the refrigerator and saw nothing but condiments and a cold pitcher of water. She grabbed it and poured herself a drink as house put the bags on the counter.

"You may not have noticed, but you have nothing to eat in there. I'm hungry." He held up a carton of eggs and a package of bacon. "Now, feed me."

She put both hands on her hips and smacked her lips closed. There was an uneasy pause and then she gained her composure. "Please take your food and leave. I didn't want you here in the first place, and then you use my apartment to screw my friend…in front of me? Well, that's about as low as you can get. I really, really wish you'd get out of my life."

He snorted, "Your life? You call what this is a life? You tried to end it if you recall…so why do you care who I screw on your couch? And for your information, it was your friend who started stroking me. What was I suppose to do, slap her hand and send her home?"

"Yes!"

"Have you seen her breasts? Her legs? Her eyes? My God, I'd have to be a eunuch to send that back to the factory without giving it a try."

"This is my home. You could have taken her to your place."

He looked up and then back at her, "Okay, I promise next time I screw any of your friends I'll make sure I do it somewhere else. But I couldn't leave you in your condition last night."

"Well take your groceries and leave now. You can go now."

House shook his head, "One, I need to watch you for forty-eight hours or at least until I go to work tomorrow and two, you owe me breakfast. Now be grateful, put these groceries away, then fix my breakfast. I stopped by my apartment and got a few things. I'm going into the bathroom to take a shower."

House took his shower and then came out to find a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast waiting for him. "Where's yours?"

"They're your groceries, not mine."

He slid the plate at her, his teeth clenched, "Eat the damn food. Then you can make me a plate."

She slid it back, "Go to hell. I don't want your charity."

"It's not charity…you need the food to detox. Now eat the damn food or I'll hospitalize you for a week."

She ate the food and then got up to fix him more. He ate it and then read the newspaper he had picked up from his apartment. She went and took her shower, then washed the dishes. She wiped her hands on the dishtowel and sat down with him to read.

Maia slammed down her book, "I've got to get out. I'm going for a walk."

House stood up and started to get his jacket on.

Maia shook her head, "You don't have to come."

"You think I'm letting you out of my sight? I can't trust you. No, a walk is okay as long as we don't go too far."

"But I take really long walks, I like to go over to Carnegie Lake."

"I'll drive over to the dock and we can walk from there." He could see that she wasn't happy, but he couldn't care less.

They drove over and began the walk around the lake.

"Dr. House, why are you doing this?"

"Call me Greg."

Something pinged her brain cells, as if she had heard someone say like that before with that tone. "Alright, Greg, why are you doing this?"

"If I take you in and hospitalize you, you're tox screen will show opiods. The police will be called. With your background, you'll be up in front of a judge before you can get your orange jumpsuit on. You'll end up in jail and frankly, I still want to figure out who's trying to kill you. Plus, they'll start asking how you got the Vicodin and let's just say that there are some people in the police department that have me in their sites. Now you answer me, why did you try to kill yourself? You don't seem like a quitter."

"I've screwed up my life so badly and I've tried so hard to make it up to people. But, no one seems to want to give me a second chance. I can't seem to catch a break. I just don't care anymore. I have nothing in my life that has any meaning, that makes me want to get up in the morning, that makes me want to put one foot in front of the other. To be honest, the only thing I can think about is getting some coke. There's a voice inside of me telling me that I can do anything if I just get some snow."

"Yeah, you can get a jail sentence and a new girlfriend in an orange jumpsuit."

She chuckled.

"Wow, you cracked a smile. I'm shocked."

She smiled, "Believe it or not, I used to smile a lot.'

"Sorry, but I don't believe you."

They both laughed.

As the walked, they talked about the history of Princeton, each exchanging trivia to try and impress the other. House wondered what it was about her that made him feel on his toes. When she wasn't wallowing in self-pity, she was good company. It had been a long time since he had thought that about anyone except Wilson.