Author's Note: Whew! I didn't think I'd make it! I most likely will not be able to post another chapter tomorrow. I hope you all have a terrific Thanksgiving! Thanks to everyone for signing up for the alerts and sending in the reviews. I'm glad to know that so many of you are enjoying the story. As always, I do not own House, etc.
Sarah was quiet on the drive home. She was tense, but House didn't think he was the cause. He considered asking her what was wrong and remembered her words from the previous day. Talking doesn't always help, she had said. She'd been good at offering him distractions; now was his chance to return the favor.
Sarah parked the car and they got out to make the short walk up to their building. House moved ahead to hold the front door for Sarah.
"Do you have plans this evening?" he asked her.
"Not really," she said, stepping past him to enter the building. He followed her.
"The Magnificent Seven is on. Ever seen it?"
"It's been years," Sarah said.
"I'll order us some dinner while you walk Maggie," House said, but Sarah didn't respond. "Pizza ok?"
"Alright," she said at last.
House ordered the pizza, then sat on his piano bench to watch for Sarah's return. She was too quiet and too tense. He felt totally out-of-his-depth, trying to figure out how best to approach her. He kept reminding himself of how she'd shown restraint, not peppering him with questions, and determined to follow her example.
He saw her returning on the sidewalk and got up to meet her in the hall. The little dog wagged her tail in excitement, practically dragging Sarah toward him the second he stepped into view.
"Maggie!" Sarah sounded slightly breathless and House looked at her in concern. Her face was flushed and she was breathing hard. "She was practically running to get back here this time. I guess she wanted to see you." House smiled. Why a dog's opinion should matter to him he couldn't say, but the fact was, he felt pleased.
"Pizza's on the way. I gave them your apartment as the delivery address."
When Sarah reached Baker Street, all she'd wanted to do was hurry into her apartment and lock the door behind her. Greg had moved ahead of her to hold the building door open. She'd felt him watching her on the drive home and knew he'd picked up on her tension.
As she'd passed through the door into the building, he'd asked her about her plans for the evening and then mentioned a movie. She hadn't seen The Magnificent Seven in years. She'd been about to turn down his suggestion of ordering in dinner for them when she realized what he was trying to do. He's offering me a distraction, she thought.
"Alright," she said. She went into her apartment and he went into his. Sarah greeted Maggie as she moved aside the baby gate and went to change into tennis shoes. She hated the thought of going back outside but Maggie needed her evening walk.
The dog had hurried to the park, as usual, but on the walk home Maggie had been moving almost as fast. Sarah almost had to run to get up the steps into the apartment. Greg was coming out into the hallway as they entered the building and the little dog had dashed toward him, tail wagging.
"Maggie! She was practically running to get back here this evening. I guess she wanted to see you," Sarah panted. Greg smiled.
"Pizza's on the way. I gave them your apartment as the delivery address," he told her.
"Ok," she said, and she led the way there, unlocking the door and letting them in.
Greg sat with Maggie in the living room while Sarah went to change out of her work clothes. She donned sweats and returned to the living room just as the pizza arrived. She held on to the dog while Greg accepted the delivery. He turned down her offer to pay for half.
They ate their pizza while they watched the movie. Neither of them talked much. Sarah was struck again by how young many of the actors were; she was so used to seeing them as older men in more recent roles. By the time the movie ended, she felt most of her tension had eased.
Unfortunately, it had been replaced with a headache, throbbing behind her forehead.
"Have you heard from your mechanic?" she asked Greg as they carried their plates into the kitchen.
"Not yet," he said. "I meant to call him today." He reached out to hand her a plate and her eye was caught by a band-aid on the inside his elbow.
"What happened?" she asked, nodding toward the band-aid. He glanced at it and grimaced.
"I had blood drawn. For a drug test."
"Oh." Sarah wasn't sure what to say to that. She was tired, her head hurt, and she didn't think she could do this tonight. Greg frowned at her.
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked.
"It's just a headache," she said. "I'm sorry; I'm not very good company tonight."
"You're doing fine," he said softly. "If you want me to leave…"
"You don't have to." Sarah gave him a tentative smile. He smiled back.
"It's only 9:30 – did you want to watch another movie?"
House had stayed at Sarah's apartment until after 11. They'd watched another movie though he wasn't sure how much either of them had been paying attention to it. He'd been too aware of her sitting beside him on the couch, wincing from time to time. She'd taken ibuprofen but it didn't seem to be helping the headache much.
When he opened the door to her Thursday morning, her face was pale and drawn.
"Head still hurting?" he asked.
"A little. I shouldn't have stayed up so late." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.
They drove to the hospital in silence. Sarah pulled up to the entrance and stopped the car long enough for him to get out before driving off without a word. House frowned after the car, wondering what was going on? Was she annoyed at him? He'd thought he'd handled things pretty well the night before.
Sarah's head was still hurting. It had never really stopped and she'd had a restless night as a consequence, which made the headache worse. She'd wanted to stay home but there was a meeting scheduled for the afternoon that she had to attend. She knew Greg had been concerned, watching her on the drive in and she wished she'd found some way to let him know she was alright.
The first person to greet Sarah was the graduate student she'd spoken with the day before. Sarah had completely forgotten to ask Greg about helping the student reach the right person. She apologized at once.
"I'll call my friend right now," she said.
"Thanks, Sarah. I really appreciate it." Sarah pulled out her cell phone and pulled up her list of received calls, looking for the call Greg had made on Tuesday. He answered on the third ring.
"Sarah?"
"Hi, Greg. Can I… ask you for a favor?"
"What do you need?"
"I meant to ask you this yesterday but it completely slipped my mind. There's a graduate student here who's working on a paper about free health clinics in the Princeton area. She wants to talk to someone about the free clinic at your hospital. I was hoping you could tell her who she should talk to." There was silence on the other end of the phone. Sarah was about to ask if he was still there when Greg spoke.
"Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine. Who's the student?"
"Her name is Anna Martine."
"I'll let Dr. Cuddy know to expect her," Greg said. He ended the call before Sarah could thank him.
House had gotten updates from his team about their patient and sent them off to run more tests. When his cell phone rang, he'd been surprised to find that Sarah was calling him. She'd explained about a graduate student wanting to talk to someone about the free clinic. House heard his office door open and looked up to see Cuddy enter.
"Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine. Who's the student?"
"House…" Cuddy said and he held up a hand. Sarah was answering him.
"Her name is Anna Martine."
"I'll let Dr. Cuddy know to expect her." House ended the call and looked up at his boss.
"Let me know to expect who?" she asked.
"A graduate student named Anna Martine. She's writing a paper about free health clinics and wants to ask you about ours." Cuddy frowned at him, clearly waiting for the joke. House just looked back. After a moment, Cuddy sighed.
"You're needed in the clinic this morning," she said.
"I have a case," House said.
"Your team is running tests. They can find you in the clinic when they've got the results." Cuddy started toward his office door but paused before opening it. She looked back at him. "Your test results were clean."
"Good. I wouldn't want to compromise my patient care in the clinic." House got to his feet and made for the door.
"House…" Cuddy began.
"Same time next week?" he asked, moving past her to exit the office. He felt her staring after him.
Sarah returned to the office from her meeting to find the secretary and one of the students laughing at something on the computer.
"More political jokes?" she asked.
"No. It's Dr. Deacon's semi-annual report. He's got some great pictures in here!" Dr. Deacon was the assistant chair and he wrote up a report of what had gone on in the department near the end of each semester, which was then posted on the department's website. This year, Sarah remembered, he had been taking pictures to include in the report. She stepped around to look over the secretary's shoulder to see what he'd captured.
The first picture was from a home football game and showed one of their undergraduate majors, dressed in a banana costume. There were more pictures of students, in classrooms as well as in the halls and at activities across campus. She smiled at some of the familiar faces. She looked away as someone passed by the office in the hallway.
"Oh, Sarah, that's a great picture of you!" exclaimed the student and Sarah's head snapped back to the screen.
Dr. Deacon had taken a picture of her, working with two student employees, to decorate the office for Homecoming week. She was laughing at something someone said, a half-filled balloon in her hand. She felt her blood run cold.
"I want that picture taken off of there," she said.
"What? It's a great picture." The secretary was puzzled, as was the student. They both stared at Sarah.
"Just remove it. Now." Sarah stalked away, heading for her own desk. Her headache was coming back.
