Title: Mentor

A/N- There appears to be a slight confusion that I neglected to make a point about. There fore, please allow me this opportunity to clarify. We are working on a "Timeline" alteration! Okay? This means (and I do not mean to sound condescending by dumbing down this much) the tv show House M.D. story line is completely thrown away (Though I do elude to it quite often). Basically, what I am trying to achieve with this fanfic, is an idea of what "could" have happened, had Cameron met House much earlier. Extreme breakdown, (Allison is 19 almost 20, House is in his first few months of a relationship with Stacey, Wilson has been friends with House for about 5 years, and Cuddy is still House's old college buddy). Since this is a very big shift in our House M.D reality- I would greatly appreciate anyone who has questions to please ask them. I don't want any confusion, and I will answer questions in A/Ns do to the fact that the story line will become repetitive and rather redundant if I try and include such miniscule observations. I apologise for this author's note for becoming so long. But the last thing I would like is confusion considering how off scale this story will be!-Andi... Ps. To, JJamie. I applaud you at your observation about "Joe". Yes, he is indeed "Dead Husband"'s best friend. Don't worry, his role will become clear later!-Andi... P.S.S- Much later-Andi

Chapter Two: Dr. Gregory House

Julia and Allison took their seats in the large lecture room. As they found an open pair of chairs and dropped down their purse's, Allison leaned back in the chair and looked at the podium. However, no one was standing behind it. Instead, their was a man in his mid to late thirties sitting about a foot in front of the podium on the floor. He was clad in an old concert t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that were frayed at the hem, revealing his black tennis shoes. He was gazing out into the crowd that had gathered for his lecture, his eyes looking bored.

Allison wanted to narrow her own eyes at his passive expression and his lack of professionalism in his choice of extreme casual wear, but she decided that the annoyance would be lost in the sea of faces surrounding her. Crossing her arms over her chest, Allison waited as the seas settled and silence consumed the room.

For nearly a full minute, the crowd stared at the lecturer and the lecturer stared just as blankly at the soon to be lectured. With a heavy sigh, the man stood up as if exhibiting a great amount of force by just being there. It was clear to Allison that he was probably doing this lecture against his will.

"My name is Dr. Gregory House and I am here today because Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where I work, is trying to get more people interested in the medical field." Dr. House stated, confirming Allison's suspicions towards his lack of enthusiasm. "I have no personal interest in telling a bunch of kids that they can do it if they set their minds to it. Because the truth is, you can't."

There was a great outburst of murmurs among the students who had decided to attend the lecture. Many hissed and few applauded. It was a mixed response; one that Gregory House had expected.

"I can tell that at least ten of you in this room don't have any care whatsoever about the medical field, and that you're only here because you have nothing better to do on a Saturday than attend a lecture that has nothing to do with what you're majoring in... I, on the other hand, do have better things to do on a Saturday." There was a shimmer of laughter that swam amongst the group. "I diagnose patients. I solve the puzzles and I save lives." His eyes traveled across the room, spotting a pair of bright green orbs, flecked with blue. Shaking his head, Dr. House continued after another moment of looking at the beautiful young woman. "Part of saving lives, is doing whatever it takes to solve the puzzle. Even lying to your patient." A large amount of the group laughed at this as well, which Dr. House deadpanned with, "I am entirely serious. You will lie, because your patient will lie." Beginning to pace in front of the group, he continued. "Diagnostics is the art of being a better bullshitter than your patient. Luckily, if you make it through the medical program, you will be armed with very large words that your patients can't understand. Making it much easier for you to deceive them."

A meek voice spoke up from the crowd. "What if your patient isn't lying?" They asked.

Dr. House glared, "Everyone lies. And an omission is still a lie."

"That's unfair!" A young woman stood up, hands placed firmly on her hips, "Not everyone lies. I don't lie!"

"When was the last time you had sex?" Dr. House asked the protesting young woman as his arms crossed over his chest.

She flushed a bright red as everyone in the room looked at her, "Uh, last month..."

Dr. House gawked, "You had sex last night, didn't you?" He accused, making the girl flush even deeper red, and without denying, flop back down in her chair, "See? Everybody lies. Whether it's because they're embarrassed or afraid of getting in trouble. Everyone lies."

Allison watched the non-subtle doctor pace. He had sparked curiosity in her. Standing up, Allison cleared her throat, drawing his attention to her, "How do you break down the puzzle?" She asked.

Dr. House looked at the young girl who rose, looking at her small frame and curving body. Finally, a real question. "Usually by symptoms." He didn't know what made him be an ass to the only person who had bothered getting him on a true topic. Maybe it was the fact that this young woman gave him thoughts that would make his girlfriend bludgeon him over the head with a club.

"But," Allison forced herself not to stammer, "symptoms can mean so many things. Confusion can be caused by something as innocent as a lost nights sleep to something as severe of Alzheimers."

"Okay." Dr. House decided to take it easy on her, seeing as she was the only one trying to make this somewhat interesting for him. "A woman comes into your office. She's complaining that she has sciatica and wants you to put her on pain medications. What do you do?" Dr. House crossed his arms.

Allison froze, he was giving her a quiz? She wasn't even a medical student! "Uh... Has she been diagnosed with sciatica?" She once again tried to keep the vibration out of her voice.

"No, but she read about it on the internet when she looked up leg pain. So she just knows she has it." Dr. House widened his eyes.

"Is the pain running down the back of her leg?" Allison asked, knowing that was the referred pain pattern of sciatica.

"Yes." Dr. House was pleased that she didn't fall prey too easily.

Allison saw the pleased look flash in his eyes and tried not to become over confident. She realized that the look he gave her may not have anything to do with her being on the right track with her questioning. "But.." Allison chose her next words carefully. "The pain is running down the back of her leg but... Which part of her leg?"

"How do you mean?" Dr. House asked, tilting his head as he leaned back against the podium lazily.

"Well... To a lot of people the leg is the entire leg." She gestured from her hip to her toes, "But, sciatica runs the length of the posterior of the femur to the knee. But if a patient came in they could mean that the pain is in the back of their leg running from the back of their knee to their heel." Allison felt like she had just confused herself.

"So, you're asking if the pain running down the back of her leg refers along the back of the thigh or the back of the calf." Dr. House summarized for her.

"Yeah." Allison nodded.

"It's running down her calf." Dr. House supplied.

"Then it's not sciatica." Allison finally stated firmly. "Plenty of things can cause leg pain, something as severe as thrombus... In which case I would humor her by checking her leg for edema, heat or changed color. Or it could simply be a pulled muscle from walking too much." Julia gawked at her friend, head up turned and eyes wide.

Nodding, Dr. House stood up straight, projecting himself from the podium. That had been a rather detailed accounting of what she would do. "What year are you in?"

"Sophomore." Allison took a second, thrown off by his sudden change in direction with his questions.

"When did you start your studies in the medical field?" He asked next, leaning over to grab a pen off of the desk and twirled it between his fingers.

"I haven't decided on taking classes for it yet." Allison answered.

Dr. House paused and looked at Allison, "Okay, let me rephrase. When did you take your first anatomy class?"

"I haven't yet." Allison was afraid that the doctor was going to kick her out of his lecture.

"Sit down." House said firmly. Allison flushed and lowered back into her seat. She hadn't even realized that she'd remained standing the entire time they had broken down the sciatica question.

The remainder of the lecture, Dr. House couldn't help glancing over at the young woman who had actually been brave enough to ask a question that wasn't completely worth blowing off. She had spoken more intelligently than the meek boy who had asked if all patients really lied, or the other young woman who stated blatantly that she didn't lie. The agitating part was that she could so accurately go through the motions of making a proper diagnoses, and yet she hadn't taken any classes. This intrigued Dr. House as to what books this girl had been reading. He knew for a fact that pre-med students didn't get that detailed in pathology.

At the end of his lecture, Dr. House watched Allison gather her purse and jacket. Part of him wanted to go over and tell her that she should consider going into the field, but something stopped him. He watched her walk out of the classroom, and regretted it almost immediately that he didn't tell her how great she could be. Not because she could decide that all leg pain didn't mean sciatica or even that she went the extra mile by giving a complex reason and a simple reason. No, he was intrigued by the girl because of her very first question. The test quesion. She hadn't asked, "how do you cure patients". She had asked, "how do you solve the puzzle". This alone gave him great curiosity, and almost assured him that she really could be great.

"Come on." Julia took her friend's hand and tugged her towards the diner across the street. "Let's get some food before we drive back."

"Julia." Allison paused, letting her friend's arm jerk her slightly forward before Julia stopped to look at her. "I... I think I want to go to medical school." She said, sounding almost shocked at her sudden epiphany.

"What? Really?" Julia was excited. "What changed your mind?" She asked.

"Dr. House."

"That sadistic bastard is what makes you want to be a doctor?" Julia quirked an eyebrow, "He totally shot you down!"

Allison shook her head, "No, I took him by surprise." She was in awe at this realization, "Julia... He thought I was already in the program. That must mean that if I can make him think that, and all I've done is read a few of your books... That must mean that I might actually belong in medicine."

"I can't believe that you're only realizing this after that jerk made a show out of you." Julia rolled her eyes skyward, "I've been telling you for weeks that you should do it-"

"That's not it, Julia." Allison assured, "Just... Something he said."

"What did he say?"

"In the beginning... That saving lives is doing whatever it takes to solve the puzzle." Allison grinned, "He may say it in a mean way, but he does care about saving people."

"Come on, crazy girl. I think you're getting loopy from a lack of food." Julia now dragged her friend into the diner.

While they munched down on cheese fries and hamburgers, Allison and Julia joked about some of the things that had taken place during the lecture. When their third round of coffee came though, something neither had expected happened.

"Can I join you?"

TBC

A/N- Woot!!! REvieW PUHLEEZ!!!!!-Andi!