Dr Jordyn Abernathy was ready to go back to work after seven months of maternity leave. As she walked through the corridors, she was greeted by many of the nurses and doctors she had worked closely with during her many years at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Many of them asked her how her six-month-old daughter was doing, others only welcomed her back, but all had a smile on their face as they spoke. It was no secret that Jordyn was the only doctor in the Hospital that stood up to and had the ability to reason with Dr Gregory House.

Shaking her head in a mix of amusement and annoyance as the members of hospital staff told her of the many things House had done in her absence, Jordyn tried to ignore the ever-present anxiety that was looming over her mind. Being her first day back from maternity leave, Jordyn had anticipated this feeling, but had not imagined it to be anywhere near as prominent as it was. Katie was in the hospital day-care and still Jordyn was worrying about her as if she were in a different continent. Though, the woman did know that it was probably due to the fact that over the last year she hadn't left the girl alone for longer than a bathroom break or long enough for the paediatrician to do the necessary tests on her eyes.

"Jordyn?" A voice called, questionably, from behind the woman as she neared the stairs. Turning around, Jordyn smiled as her eyes met the face of Dr James Wilson, the one other person who House occasionally listened to.

Pushing her glasses onto the top of her head, Jordyn crossed her arms over her chest as she smirked at him. Waiting for the doctor to get closer, she called her voice thick with a British accent, "In the flesh. Though admittedly there isn't as much of it as when I left."

"Ever the joker, maybe that is why House listens to you." Wilson replied as he got within a casual conversation distance of the woman. "Which is why I stopped you. I need you to present a case to him with me."

Following Wilson as he walked in the basic direction of the elevator, Jordyn asked, "Thinking that the two of us can get a yes?"

"Normally works, isn't that how we got him to do the ex-bulimic who was vomiting blood?" Jordyn nodded. Handing the brunette woman the patient file, Wilson added, "I figured if we can get him to take a case that simple then we can get him to take this one no problem."

Watching as the other doctor flicked through the file, Wilson felt himself holding back a smirk as her eyes widened, "His blood-"

"CBC was typical, abdominal CT scan didn't show anything." Wilson added as the brunette's voice trailed off. "Do you reckon we can get him on it?"

"I reckon his-"

Before Jordyn could finish, there was a call from in front of the duo that caught her attention. Pulling her eyes off the patient file, Jordyn was met with the familiar blue eyes of House, "Sherlock and Watson are back together at last."

"I'm definitely Sherlock," whispered Jordyn.

Wilson asked, "What makes you say that?"

"I'm British, duh."

Walking towards the pair that had now stopped still, House screwed up his face as if he were a child looking at his parents, "Please don't tell me you have another Bulimia case for me."

"No, this is a particularly interesting case actually," Jordyn smirked as she pulled the file out of his reach just as he went to take it.

Looking at the woman smugly, House stated, "Now I remember why I was so pleased when you got knocked up."

"Aww, I missed you too."

Ignoring her comment, House turned to Wilson and said, "Now, Watson-"

"Told you." Jordyn coughed.

"Why do you want me to treat this guy?" House finished not looking away from the taller doctor as he did.

"Blood pressure's not responding to IV fluids-"

Cutting Wilson off, House turned away from them walking in the direction of the elevator causing the duo to follow him, "No, no I didn't ask how you plan to con me into treating him, I asked you why you two want me to treat him. Sherlock?"

Raising her shoulders, Jordyn answered, "He's a young adult, mother's instinct is kicking in."

"Watson?"

"He's sick, I care, I'm pathetic." Wilson responded counting it off on his fingers.

"There are about a billion sick people on the planet, why this one?" House questioned as he stopped in front of the elevator.

"Because this one's is in our emergency room." Both Jordyn and Wilson said at the same time causing House to look at them odd.

"That is why everyone thinks you are screwing each other," House acknowledged causing the duo to both put on exaggerated grimaces. "But that makes it a proximity issue. If somebody was sick in the third-floor stairwell that's who we would be talking about."

"Ah yes, I checked the stairwell on my way up. No sick person." Jordyn retorted raising her shoulders. "Looks like you are stuck with emergency room guy."

"Ok then, emergency room guy it is." House declared stepping into the elevator closely followed by Jordyn who finally handed him the file.

Looking confused, Wilson asked, "Wait, how was that so easy?"

"You know why." House stated.

"Blood pressure's not responding to IV fluids?" Wilson queried.

"Yeah, that's just weird." House professed as she elevator doors shut.

They spent the elevator ride in silence, Jordyn getting an occasional welcome back as the doors opened at the different floors. Each time, she would smile and say a small thanks before the doors would close again and she let out a large sigh.

Breaking the silence, House asked, "How is Katie doing?"

"Over stepping your boundaries." Jordyn declared not looking at him. "Asking about my daughters is going into the Dad category. You are not my Dad, you are my father. There is a difference, which you seem to understand when you are accusing me of sleeping with your best friend but not when you are asking me about me daughter."

"Are you this harsh with you Mother?"

"Unless she tries to be my Mom, no." Muttered Jordyn as she gritted her teeth stepping out of the elevator and towards the office. Turning around, Jordyn took out a deep breath before saying in a more composed manner, "She's doing better, the glasses aren't helping, they may have to do surgery."

"It's not life-"

"Over stepping, I answered your question." Jordyn interrupted. "You asked to be polite, I answered to be polite. Acting like you care isn't polite."

Before House could contribute more to the conversation, Jordyn had stepped away and into the Diagnostic Medicine Department. Watching as she embraced the two doctors she had worked with before and shook the hand of the new one, House sighed heavily as he watched the encounter. He may have been frequently described as an arrogant jerk and regularly forgot the names of his patients, but he was related to Katie that made everything different. It meant that if anything happened to her he lost someone and, although Jordyn was convinced otherwise, House truly did care about his granddaughter. Even if her mother was denying any personal relationship.

Shaking off the feeling, House stepped into the office as he watched Jordyn write the symptoms on the board. Having her back may be more complicated for him, but House knew that the team always worked better with her present. She took control and kept him objective.

As he walked through the door, Jordyn said, "CBC was typical, abdominal CT scan didn't show anything."

"So, people, differential diagnosis." House called catching the four fellows attention. "What's wrong with her?"

"Him." Jordyn whispered to him, causing him to screw his face up.

"Him, her, does it matter?" House asked Jordyn before looking turning to the others and adding sarcastically, "Does anyone think it is a testicular problem? No, so Chase…"

Scrambling for his words, Chase suggested, "Absidia infection?"

"No, you wouldn't get the rash or cough." Jordyn declared.

"What about arthritis?" Foreman asked. "Accompanying vasculitis causes nerve damage-"

"No, it wouldn't cause the blood pressure problems." Jordyn interrupted.

"Allergy?" Cameron suggested.

Shaking her head, Jordyn said, "The kid's got abdominal pain. Maybe carcinoid?"

Foreman looked at her, confused at why no-one had brought her up on her negativity before saying, "Nah, but then you wouldn't get the-"

Slamming a book down in front of him, House said, "Foreman, if you're going to list all the things it's not, it might be quicker to do it alphabetically." Flicking through the book, he pointed at a page before saying, "Let's see. Absidia? Excellent. Doesn't account for any of the symptoms."

"No condition accounts for all these symptoms." Cameron stated as she turned from the board to look at House.

"Well, good because I thought maybe he was sick, but apparently he's not. Who wants to do up the discharge papers?" House questioned sarcastically causing Jordyn to glare at him across the room. "Okay, unless we control the blood pressure, he's going to start circling the drain before we can figure out what's wrong with him. Treat him for sepsis, broad-spectrum antibiotics and I want a cort-stim test and an echocardiogram."

Before any of the others could answer, House had walked out of the office and down the corridor. Making sure that House was out of earshot, Foreman leant over the table looking at Jordyn and asked, "Did you-"

"You get used to it after a while." Chase interrupted quickly, knowing what the question was.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Jordyn looked at the rest of the team and said, "Foreman, Cameron you two go and find where ever House is and tell him to get his sorry ass back in here and stop avoiding us and the patient. Chase and I will do the cort-sim test and echocardiogram."

"You get used to that after a while too," Cameron whispered to a stunned looking Foreman. "You will understand why they are the Dynamic Duo soon enough."

As Jordyn and Chase walked to the patient's room, nurses, doctors and long-term patients continued to welcome the woman back. Much like she had that morning, Jordyn smiled, thanked them and moved on not wanting a conversation. Even as she explained that they had a patient, Chase knew that there was something more. Standing beside her as she shook the hand of one of the nurses he didn't quite recognise, Chase realised why it was that she was avoiding a full-length conversation. She wasn't afraid of them asking about Katie, if that happened she could just spit out medical facts about her condition. She was afraid of them asking how she was, how she was holding up. There were no medical facts for her to blurt out if that happened, she could only admit that she was scared. So, she kept communication to a minimal.

Turning to Jordyn, Chase took in a deep breath before asking, "How's Katie doing? I didn't fancy asking in front of Cameron and Foreman, well, mostly Foreman."

Biting her lip, Jordyn turned to Chase pulling on her necklace as she answered, "Glasses aren't working. They don't want to wait too long, but they don't want to operate if they don't have to. I just hope that it works, though she does look really adorable in her glasses." Letting out a shaky breath, Jordyn continued, "They aren't even sure that it is what they thought anymore. They think it might be a late onset because of how premature she was. The worst part is, I have no clue because I don't do Paediatrics. Not once they get knee caps. So, if your real question was how are you with everything, I think you got your answer."

There was a pause before Chase asked, "First time you've let all that out?"

Nodding Jordyn nudged his shoulder as she answered, "Yeah, glad it was you. You should always be in the loop with her medical stuff anyway, you are her God-father after all."

Passing the file to Chase, Jordyn stepped through the door of Brandon Merrell's room tying her hair back. As she saw the patient, Jordyn plastered a warm smile onto her face looking at the girl holding her the patient's hands.

Looking up from his and the woman's hand, Brandon coughed, "Are you Dr House?"

"No, thankfully, I'm Dr Abernathy, this is my colleague Dr Chase." Stated Jordyn walking far enough into the room that Chase could follow her. "Dr Chase here is going to do an Echocardiogram."

Looking up quickly, the woman questioned, "What's that?"

"It is a type of ultrasound test that uses high-pitched sound waves that are sent through a device called a transducer." Jordyn explained as Chase walked towards the ultra-sound machine. "The device picks up echoes of the sound waves as they bounce off the different parts of your heart."

"I have no idea what you just said," the woman stated.

"All you need to know is that it isn't going to hurt and is going to show us the size structure and movement of various parts of your heart." Chase explained as he looked to Jordyn who was shaking her head at her own idiocy. "Dr Abernathy is just getting used to being back with patients."

"I guess doctors understand the medical jargon," Brandon joked lightly causing Jordyn to smile at him.

As Chase began to do the Echocardiogram, Jordyn looked at the boy who was sat in the bed. His rash was extremely dangerous and was covering all the part of him that Jordyn could see, meaning that it was definitely a symptom to pay close attention to. The more she thought about the abundance of symptoms, the more Jordyn began to wonder if they were all down to one thing. The cough may have been just that, a cough, but they were treating it as though it were the main symptom of whatever it was Brandon had. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind for a moment, Jordyn pushed the sterile tray with the needle for the Cort-Stim test towards the patients bed.

Looking to Brandon concerned as he coughed, Chase asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah." He answered before coughing once more. Sharing a sceptical glance with Jordyn, Chase continued with the procedure.

"I'm doing a Cort-Stim test. Basically, I'm giving you a shot of a hormone called, cosyntropin which should trigger your glands to produce cortisol." Jordyn explained as she pulled on her gloves and prepared his forearm for the injection. "We have already taken some of your blood and then in an hour I will take some more so that we can compare the amounts of cortisol. The test will tell us if your pituitary and adrenal glands are working properly."

"His glands?" The woman, who had moved from her space beside him so that Jordyn could administer the cosyntropin, asked. "What does that mean?"

Turning to face the woman, who he presumed was the girlfriend, Chase answered, "We have a few theories we're working on."

"You mean you don't know." The girl snapped.

"Mindy-"

Brandon was interrupted by both the woman, who the doctors now knew was Mindy, and a cough. Looking to Brandon with a look of annoyance, Mindy exclaimed, "I'm just saying if they knew they wouldn't be testing you, they'd be treating you."

"Yes, well, that's the way it works." Jordyn declared trying not to snap at the girl. Due to lack of sleep and it being her first day back in the hospital, it was safe to say that Jordyn was irritated more than usual. The behaviour of this girl, her scaring Brandon, was something that would have deeply annoyed Jordyn on a regular day, so on that day it was difficult for her to keep her tone under wraps. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, Jordyn added, "First you find out what it is, then we get you better."

As Jordyn spoke, Mindy seemed to retreat back to her space beside Brandon. The rest of the examinations were done in silence, Chase occasionally looking over to Jordyn who was taking down notes. It wasn't unusual for her to write down what she was thinking and then repeat it with the rest of the team, if there was no need to repeat herself she didn't.

Putting the ultra-sound machine back as it was before, Chase looked to Brandon and Mindy before saying, "That is that all done. We will leave you two until Dr Abernathy has to take the blood samples."

"Thank you, Doctors." Brandon coughed, barely managing to get a syllable out between each cough. Sharing yet another sceptical look, Jordyn and Chase walked out of the door.

Once they were out of ear shot of the room, Chase asked, "What did you notice?"

"I'm not quite-"

"Dr Abernathy," A voice called from behind them. "Can I ask you something quickly."

"Sure," Jordyn smiled before handing the note pad to Chase. "Take that up to the office and show House. I'll be up as soon as I'm done."

Nodding, Chase walked in the opposite direction of Mindy and towards the stairs. Looking back to the woman, Jordyn raised an eyebrow as she stated, "I'm not sure scaring your boyfriend is the best medicine for him right now."

"I know, I get… stupid when I'm scared."

"Fear does stupid things to everyone," Jordyn declared caused Mindy to visually relax.

"Look, I was wondering… You seem to be quite strong willed… I guess I am slightly more comfortable asking you this-"

"The question."

Without second thoughts, Mindy stated, "Before this happened, we were having sex."

"Well, it is unlikely that you would have gotten it. We have run an entire STD-"

Interrupting Jordyn Mindy said, "No, I was wondering if maybe I did this to him. I was kind of rough."

"Look, I know that rough sex can get quite dangerous, but the chances of that doing this to him are slim. Yes, maybe, it triggered something that could have set off an episode, but that could actually be what saved him." Mindy let out a large breath as Jordyn placed her hand on her shoulder. "You didn't do this to him, okay? Now, do you have any other questions." Mindy shook her head. "Okay, I am going to go and join the team so we can work out what is doing this to Brandon."

After taking Brandon's blood an hour after the Cort-Stim test, the Diagnostic Medicine team, minus House, were in the lab. Everyone was working together, but apart at the same time: Cameron was sat at the computer as she waited for the breakdown of Brandon's bloodwork to come in; Foreman was looking at some of the previous tests that had been done; Jordyn was preparing a slide for the microscope; and Chase was sitting on the counter and looking at a piece of paper for no obvious reason. Each doctor had been used to it only being 3 of them for almost as long as they had been doctors, so the extra pair of hands were both useful and annoying.

As Jordyn placed the slide under the SEM, Cameron turned from the computer to the rest of the group.

"It is really good to have our haematologist back," Cameron smirked as she watched Jordyn pull up a chair to the microscope. Smiling to the woman, Jordyn pushed her glasses up onto her head before leaning down to look at the slide.

Looking confused, Foreman asked, "Aren't glasses used to help people see?"

"She has odd eyes," Chase smirked causing Jordyn to quickly flip him off, not once looking up from the slide.

"There is nothing visibly wrong with his blood," stated Jordyn as she pushed back from the table turning around to face the other doctors. "We just have to wait to get the results back on the Cort-Stim."

"It's got to be viral." Foreman declared as he looked at the other three doctors. "We should start running gels and titers."

"That wouldn't match the girlfriend's theory," the doctors in the room looked at Jordyn confused. "She thinks that she caused it by being too rough."

"What did you tell her?" Foreman laughed.

Joining Foreman by laughing, Chase asked, "I hope you told her 22-year old men don't die of sex."

"No, I told her that she didn't cause it, she probably only triggered it. Which may have saved his life." Jordyn smirked looking at the two boys. "Sex can both save lives and take them."

Coughing, Chase asked, "You ever take a life?"

"Oh Robert," Jordyn spoke placing her hand on his shoulder as he reached past him for the printer. Moving her lips to his ear, Jordyn stated, "I don't kiss and tell, you should know that."

While Jordyn passed the printed sheet to Foreman, Chase said, "If anyone else did that, it would have been sexual harassment."

"The accent stops people from reporting me." Jordyn joked, stopping as she saw Foreman's face. "What does it say?"

"We should stop the antibiotics."

Looking confused, Cameron said, "It's too soon to say they're not having an effect."

"They're having an effect. His BP's falling fast." Foreman explained passing the sheet to Jordyn who read through it quickly looking shocked before she passed it to Cameron who read it and passed it to Chase. "There's fluid filling his lungs. His creatinine's rising. His kidneys are shutting down. Our treatment isn't making him better, it's killing him."

"You three go to the office, I'm going to go and get House." Jordyn declared and the others nodded as they watched her leave the room.

"What the hell did she say to you?"

Putting a smug smile onto his face, Chase picked up Jordyn's notebook and pen which she had left behind in her rush to find House and walked out of the lab. He knew that she didn't kiss and tell, he knew that better than anyone.