"Find anything?" he asked as he pushed the glass doors open. "If not, you'd better have a damn good reason why."
Foreman stood up. "If we knew something, anything specific then we might be able to narrow the search a little. This is a lot of paperwork."
House stood there, not speaking or moving. He brushed his hand over his stubble and said "Amy gave me a number. It was on a pill bottle. I think it's the vaccine, in pill form. 4128b. Look for anything related to that."
Foreman nodded and sat back down, not bothering to say anything about his calling the patient by her first name. Taub, on the other hand wasn't as smart as the others were, it seemed.
"How come you're calling the patient by her first name? You never call your patients by their first names. Hell, you never actually see your patients unless there's something we can't figure out."
"And I see you haven't figured this out yet..." House's eyes drilled into the balding man. "I call her by her first name because I work with her sister. I also work with her sister's boyfriend. Her name is Amy. Any other stupid questions to waste my time?" he asked the rest of the room.
Kutner and Hadley both shook their heads while Foreman just looked at Taub as if to say, 'stupid little man.'
House nodded his head sharply. "Good. Now get back to work." He retreated into his office and closed all the blinds.
"Why do we always have to do the leg work?" asked Taub.
"Because." answered Kutner. "House makes more money than we do."
"And he has Tenure. We're replaceable. There are a million others who'd give a kidney to work with House. We do the work, we get to stay." Hadley added from behind a file folder.
House sat in his office and stared into space. He had no idea how to fix this thing. He hated it, but he was sure that Amy wasn't going to live. He hadn't given up hope yet though.. Hope. He hadn't thought the word in a decade... but then he met Jesse and her... people.
The room was silent. The door was locked. The only means of communicating with House were his pager or the phone. Either of which could go off at any moment giving him good or bad news. He sighed and picked up the over sized tennis ball and tossed it back and forth form one hand to the other. He'd never tell anyone but he'd actually gotten it at a pet store.. It was a dog toy. The thought made him grin.
The phone ringing startled him and he dropped the ball.. literally. Reaching over to pick up the receiver he let out a loud sigh, steeling himself for bad news. "House." he said with an air of authority.
"Well, hello there, stranger." came a warm, familiar voice.
"Jesse?!" House blurted out, obviously caught off guard by her voice being on the other end. He grinned. "I knew you'd call me." he added smugly.
"Lizzie tells me that my brother has gotten into trouble again. You aren't going to get into another fist fight are you?"
"That depends on whether or not he's willing to help me cure Amy." House said bluntly. The subject of Joaquin always made his conversations with Jesse more.. prickly that usual.
"Oh, he'll help.. if he knows what's good for him. That girl is as close to me as my own kids. Jack calls her and Liz his other sisters. What does that tell you? If anything happens to Amy, Jack will be my muscle on that side of the pond. Don't worry about that." Her voice was steady and calm but the tone suggested that Jesse was pissed. Not at House, for which he was grateful. No, she was pissed with Joaquin.
"You'll fix it then?" House asked, half believeing that she'd be able to."
"I'll try my very best." Jesse said from the receiver. "Elizabeth told me everything. I'll work on my end to get things started. If you or Cuddy haven't gotten a fax in an hour and a half, you have Lizzie call me back."
"I will." In the short span of time that he's been on the phone with her, she's already reduced him to short sentences.
"We'll talk again." Jesse told him. "I'll want updates on Amy and I don't think Liz is up to it, personally. She's too close to it."
"Yeah, she is."
"You'll keep me updated?"
"Yeah.. Every hour if you want."
"Have Liz give you my number, the new one. Tell her I said it was "Shiny".
"OK." House was a blithering idiot around this woman. What the hell did she do to him? "Talk to you later." He stammered.
Jesse let our one of her trademark laughs and said "I'll be expecting your call." Her voice was almost seductive... She was coming on to him over the phone!
"Yeah..." House said, blissfully, which caused Jesse to laugh again. Shaking out of his stupor he asked "You put a spell on me woman?"
"Would I do such a thing?"
"In a second!"
"Well then, maybe I did." She laughed again.
"Well stop it. I have a job to do and I can't spend all my time obsessing over what you're wearing or not wearing!"
"Oh, stop it." Jesse teased. "I'm wearing wool socks and flannel pajamas. It's damn cold out here. Not a very romantic picture."
"That all depends." House said. "On how low cut the top is."
"Animal." Jesse spat though the phone.
"You....." He started to get into the argument. She was making him feel better by fighting with him... How very Jesse of her.. "I'm not falling for it. Nope."
"What?" She asked playfully. Another giggle.
"Stop it Jesse. I have work to do. I don't bug you while you do what you do best."
Jesse snickered. "That Voodoo that I do?"
House snorted. "That you do so well." he sighed. "I have to get back to Amy." he said finally, forcing the words out. He didn't want to hang up.
"Alright. I'll work Joaquin from my end and see what I turn up." She paused. "It was nice talking to you again."
"Yeah, it was." House said. "Real nice."
"Call me soon and let me know if anything changes."
"I will."
"Bye." She said with such a final note that House wanted to call out to her to not go away again.
But his pride reared it's ugly head and he simply replied with "Bye. Talk soon."
The line went dead and House leaned back in his chair, having noticed only just now that he'd leaned forward when he realized it was her on the line. With a determined sigh, he dialed Cuddy's extension and told her to expect a fax from Joaquin within the half hour, if she didn't get one, call him and he'd call Jesse.