Author's Note: Hello, again. Thank you for all the reviews - please keep 'em coming! I am an addict, People! :)

Sarah hadn't felt safe in her apartment. As soon as she finished her call to Greg's cell phone, she gathered some more clothing and hurried out. She nearly ran to her car, looking around franticly to make sure that Todd wasn't nearby. When she got into her car and locked the door, she breathed again. She hadn't seen him.

The next second her feeling of relief was tempered by one of fear. What if he wasn't here because he had gone to the hospital to attack Greg? I should've told Greg everything from the start, she thought. So what if he didn't want anything to do with me afterwards? At least he wouldn't be in danger now.


Thirteen met with a detective from the Princeton police department in Cuddy's office. He'd turned one of Cuddy's visitor chairs away from her desk and sat in it, facing the couch. Thirteen took a seat on the couch. She didn't know what she was going to tell this man.

It turned out that Chase had told the detective all about the phone call from Sarah. The detective had a lot of questions about House's neighbor.

"All I know is that she lives at 221 Baker Street, Apartment A and her name is Sarah Kelly," Thirteen said for what felt like the fifth time. "She didn't come home last night and House was worried about her this morning. She called to warn him about a man who might come to hurt him. Chase and I got the call because House was down here in the clinic. We came to pass along the warning but House was being attacked when we arrived."

"Why did Ms. Kelly think this man was going to attack Dr. House?"

"I don't know. She didn't say. I tried to ask her some questions but she hung up." The detective nodded.

"So the four of you came to the rescue. He must be a good boss."

"He's a good doctor," Thirteen said.

"How is Dr. House?"

"He was unconscious when I left the ER. They were going to take him up for an MRI to check for concussion. He's got two cracked ribs and a broken collar-bone."

"Ouch. Broke my collar-bone once and it hurt like a … well, it hurt a lot." The detective stood up. "I think that's all, for now. If you think of anything else, call me." He handed Thirteen a business card and she tucked it into her pocket.


When House opened his eyes, he found he was surrounded by bright white walls. Looking at them hurt his eyes and he shut them. A thudding, clunking noise sounded, echoing through the small space and making the pain in his head worse. He felt himself start to panic. What had happened to him? He was in a lot of pain and he didn't know why.

"House, it's ok." Thirteen's voice sounded like it was coming through the speaker on a drive-up. "You're in the MRI. Just hold still for a few more minutes." He let out a shaky breath and kept his eyes shut. MRI and pain in his head – he must have a concussion. As he lay still he tried to trace the source of the rest of his pain. His bad leg was hurting, there was pain along his left side, and his left shoulder was also throbbing. He tried to remember what had happened to him. The last thing that he remembered was being in the clinic, getting his blood drawn for a drug test. He'd been hoping that Thirteen and Chase could continue to look after Maggie…

"Where's Maggie?" he asked, his voice echoing in the chamber of the MRI.

"Chase is with her," Thirteen said. "She's ok. Just hold on a few more minutes."


"Where's Maggie?" House asked. Thirteen could hear how shaky he was, even with the echoing from the MRI chamber. She glanced at Dr. Cuddy, who was standing to her right in the MRI control booth. Foreman, sitting on her left, was making a show of being uninterested. Thirteen opened the microphone for the machine's speaker.

"Chase is with her," Thirteen said. "She's ok. Just hold on a few more minutes."

"Who is Maggie?" Cuddy asked. Foreman continued to pretend to ignore them both but Thirteen knew that he was listening intently.

"She's Sarah's… dog."

"Sarah Kelly?" demanded Cuddy. "Why does House have her dog?" Thirteen wasn't sure what to tell her about Sarah. This was House's business. He hadn't told anyone what his relationship with Sarah was, not even her. House had been very concerned about Sarah on Friday night. Clearly they were more than just neighbors, but were they also more than just friends? It wasn't really any of her business, or Cuddy's. The computer beeped.

"Scan is done," Foreman said. There was a hint of disappointment in his voice. Thirteen sprang up to go and get House, relieved to escape from Cuddy's questioning.


House tried hard to control his breathing as the tray from the MRI machine slid back out into the room. The pain was intense. He knew he couldn't have narcotics and if they were worried about internal injuries they wouldn't want to give him ibuprofen.

Thirteen leaned over him, her face full of concern.

"You have two cracked ribs, a broken clavicle, and a concussion," she told him. "Do you remember what happened?" House shut his eyes, trying to remember.

"I was in the clinic," he said. He tried to concentrate but he couldn't remember anything more.

"You were attacked by a … patient, in the clinic." House opened his eyes to look at Thirteen. Why had she hesitated? What wasn't she telling him?

"Sarah…" House began. Thirteen started to shake her head and Cuddy came into view.

"I'm getting you moved straight up to a room," Cuddy told him. "The police are going to want to talk to you."

"I don't remember anything," House said. It was true, but he was also concerned with finding out what Thirteen hadn't told him. He wanted Cuddy to go away so that he could talk to his fellow.

"I'll let them know," Cuddy said, frowning at him. She moved out of his sight and House braced himself for the transfer from the MRI to the gurney. It was going to hurt.


Sarah returned to the hotel where she'd stayed the night before. She locked herself into her room and paced. Should she stay here, she asked herself, or move to a different hotel? She wanted to call Greg again and make sure that he was ok. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Todd wasn't really going to go after him.

Sarah took out her cell phone, holding it in both hands and staring at it. Should she try to call Greg again? What was she going to say if he answered? What would she do if he didn't answer? She sat down on the edge of the bed and set the phone beside her. She hated feeling so indecisive. She growled in frustration and picked up her phone, powering it on.

The voice mail notification popped up and Sarah keyed in her password carefully. Her hands were starting to shake as she lifted the phone to her ear.

"You have one new message," said the electronic voice. "Received today at 11:18 am." Sarah took a deep breath.

"Sarah, I need to see you. I've gotta see you," came Todd's voice. He was panting and his voice was trembling. "Your limping friend wouldn't tell me where you are. Please, Sarah, I need to see you. I came all this way. You can't do this to me!" Sarah hit the key to delete the message, not wanting to hear any more. She felt sick. Had he tried to hurt Greg? He'd sounded strange. The lightening fast change from pleading to threatening wasn't unusual, but he'd been breathing heavily.


When they moved House from the MRI to the gurney, he nearly screamed. Thirteen cringed in sympathy and reached out to check his pulse. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips were compressed into a tight line, as if he was trying to keep from making any more sounds. His pulse was rapid and he was sweating.

"Hang on, House," she murmured. "We'll get you into that room now."

"Check on Maggie," he said, opening his eyes to look at her.

"She's with Chase. I'm sure she's fine."

"Just check. Now."

"Ok. I'll go." Thirteen glanced over at Foreman, whose face had remained impassive the entire time. House was going to have to be moved one more time, from the gurney to the hospital bed. She realized that he didn't want her to see that. She looked one more time at House and then headed to the Diagnostics office.

Chase and Taub were in the conference room. Maggie was sitting on Chase's lap, her chin resting on the table, as he looked through a file. Thirteen smiled; it looked like the dog was reading the file with him.

"How is he?" Taub asked.

"Cracked ribs, broken clavicle, concussion." Thirteen felt like she'd given this report to a dozen people already. "He woke up during the MRI. He's in a lot of pain."

"He can't have narcotics, not with his addiction," Chase said.

"He asked me to check on Maggie," Thirteen said, cutting off the discussion. She'd run through the same considerations already. If there were any internal injuries, NSAIDS might cause House to bleed out.

"She's ok," Chase said. "She was sitting in Taub's lap when I came in."

"She's a cute dog," Taub said defensively. "Why does House have her?"

"Have you heard from Sarah?" Thirteen ignored Taub's question, addressing her own to Chase. He shook his head.

"Think we should try calling her?"

"I don't know."

"Sarah's the dance instructor, right? Is this her dog?" Taub asked. Maggie squeaked, putting her front feet up onto the table and stretching toward Thirteen, tail wagging. Taub looked amused when Thirteen sat down beside Chase and allowed Maggie to climb into her lap. She had to lean her head back to keep from being licked in the face. Taub looked from her to Chase and back again.

"Neither one of you is going to tell me what's going on, are you?"

"Nope," Thirteen said.

"Fine. Want to hear what Foreman and I found in our patient's home?"


Moving from the gurney to the bed had been as bad as moving from the MRI to the gurney. House had just gotten his breathing back under control when the door to his room slid open.

"House?" It was Cuddy's voice and House turned his head to watch her walk toward his bed. A man in a bad suit was waiting in the hallway outside. The police, House thought.

"Cuddy," he said, trying to keep his voice under control.

"The police want to talk to you. I've explained that you don't remember anything about your attack but the detective has some other questions."

"Ok," House said, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I'm not letting him stay long," Cuddy said and House opened his eyes to stare at her. Her tone had been gentle throughout and her face was full of concern.

"Relax. I'm not going to sue."

"House…" She shook her head, looking exasperated now, and turned to go get the detective. He knew that people in Security were going to be getting chewed out today. Considering their track record, they deserved it. He supposed he should be glad that whoever it was that had attacked him this time hadn't used a gun.

"Dr. House, I'm Lloyd Graham with the Princeton PD. I need to ask you some questions about what happened here today. Is that ok?"

"Ask your questions," House said. He just wanted to get this over with.

"Do you remember what happened to you?"

"I was in the clinic. I don't… remember…." Flashes were coming back to House. Someone had yelled, demanding "Where is she?" and a man had been standing over him, swinging a cane at him, his cane.

"A man attacked you. Do you remember any of that?"

"I… I don't know." Nothing more was coming back.

"Your fellows Drs. Chase and Hadley said that a woman named Sarah Kelly called to warn you that a man might come to hurt you today. They came to tell you about the call but you were being attacked. We need to talk to Ms. Kelly. Do you know where she is?"

"I don't," House said. "She… she didn't come home last night." House fought back a rising sense of panic. This man needed to go find Sarah, not interrogate him.

"Do you have any idea how Ms. Kelly knew that this man was going to come here?"

"A man left several threatening messages on her answering machine. One of her friends also left her a message, telling her that someone named Todd was out on parole."

"How did you come to hear these messages?"

"I was in her apartment – she gave me a key – taking care of her dog," House said. "She… you need to find her. I think she's in danger." It was getting harder to control his breathing. Everything hurt so much. Cuddy stepped forward.

"I think that's enough, Detective Graham," she said, her eyes flicking toward the monitors to House's left. He knew they would show elevated heart rate and blood pressure. "Dr. House needs to rest."

"If you think of anything, please call me right away." The detective pulled out a card and Cuddy took it from him.

"He will," Cuddy said, steering the detective toward the door. House shut his eyes, his right hand clenching in the blanket as he fought back nausea. He heard Cuddy saying something to the detective; she sounded far away. He concentrated on his breathing, trying to block out everything else.