Ch 39: Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun!

House was pleasantly surprised when Sundai came back with a file in her hand about an hour after he had sent the team off to look for new possibilities. "What's this?" he asked, deciding to see how far he could push her. He took the file from her extended hand and looked it over skeptically. The patient was a fourteen year old paraplegic with sudden diabetes symptoms and a nasty rash.

"The case you asked us to find," she replied, not in the least put off by his skeptical look.

"I asked you to find me a case in which the patient is destined to die a virgin?" he asked. "That doesn't seem like a thing I would do…but then again, I am all for new experiences."

"You asked for an interesting case," she replied. "And I think you'll agree with me that this qualifies as interesting."

He raised one eyebrow. "You find virginal weirdos interesting?" he questioned.

"Not as interesting as you, but that's not the interesting bit and you know it."

"Oh, I think that's plenty interesting…"

"House, focus. You wanted something strange and now you've got it…so order a round of tests and we can get started on diagnosing the virginal weirdo."

House smirked. "You're a clever one, aren't you? Knew I hired you for a reason."

"So you're going to start working on this case?" she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Go home. It's five…we're off at five unless we have a case pending…and right now I haven't accepted any cases."

"You can't just leave this kid until tomorrow…with this rapid a progression it's likely that he won't make it until tomorrow."

House feigned shock. "My God! I hadn't thought of that...Since you're the doctor that found our little freak, you'll have to make sure the kid survives if you want the aforementioned prize." She looked at him curiously. "Oh yeah…I know you want the prize…you'll have to work for it a bit, though."

"House," she protested. "This isn't about any prize; this kid is going to…"

"Die. I know," he cut her off. "But not if you're here to make him feel better." He stood up and made for the door. He paused and turned back to her, his hand on the glass. "Oh, and Sundai?"

"Yes?"

"Be sure to get a history while you're keeping our patient alive." He was gone before she could reply or ask any more questions and she simply sighed. She had known taking the job would be the most difficult experience of her life and now she was going to have to go with the flow if she wanted to keep the position.

House watched his new fellow head off toward the patient room from behind the nurse's station. She didn't look overly harried and for that he was glad. It seemed that she would fit well into his team, though he would need to train her to stand up to him once she learned to follow orders. He smirked, pleased with himself for having such great hiring skills, and headed toward the elevator to meet his fiancé.

It was nearly 10:30 when House strode into the office the next morning, to see Thirteen and Sundai waiting on him. "It's nice to have a few women waiting," he said as he tossed his bag in the floor next to his desk. Thirteen rolled her eyes and the girls shared a significant look before House spoke again. "Well are you gonna give me the stats on our patient or do I have to go ask him?"

"He's probably not resting like I told him to, so if you want to see him, feel free," Sundai started.

"Not my style to see patients," he told her. "I assume he didn't die during the night so one of you can get samples and the other can question the parents on recent activities and then help the other with testing."

"Sundai actually took care of getting his panels done. Did a full work up on the kid last night," Thirteen informed House with a smirk.

"Really? Interesting." He thought for a moment. "Alright. Well Thirteen can go talk to the parents and Sundai will get a special treat…clinic duty until Foreman drags his ass into work and then you'll get to help him check the house."

Sundai left the room, not questioning his orders, but Thirteen hung back for a moment. "Why are you pushing her harder even though she stayed here all night and did most of the work?"

"The same reason I hired forty people to fill three slots," he replied. She narrowed her eyes and House sighed. "I need to see how far I can push her and what she'll snap about. I don't have the luxury of breaking her in over a few months so this is going to be hard and dirty and way more than she'll have to endure in a job ever again, but if she makes it, I'll have found the absolute best choice for the job."

"What if she can't make it?" Thirteen asked. "What if she's crushed by what you force upon her and you kill the initiative that's already there?"

"Well then, she can go back to working in the morgue," he replied. "She's good, but I have to know what kind of limits she has."

"Why not ask her?"

"I didn't ask you guys," he said with a shrug. "You seem to be awfully interested in pleading her case…you aren't contemplating switching sides on Wilson, are you?"

"No…I just don't want to see you tear this girl apart."

House simply nodded, taking in the information he had been presented and storing it away for later use. The six month pregnant woman before him sighed deeply and walked out of the room, determining it better to let it go than press the issue more. House knew he'd be hearing all about her thoughts from Wilson, however.

He settled back in his chair and went over the different possible scenarios that his experiment could end as and wondered how strong this very intelligent new girl really was.