Author's Notes: This chapter was meant to be longer but instead I decided to split it up. I am doing this to give a little bit of an update as I write the rest of the chapter (now chapter six)

Chapter Five

The next morning, House walked into the hospital feeling a little more than a pleased with himself. He hadn't heard from Max about the whole 'Chase' issue since she had found him in Wilson's office. He had expected her 'come back' to have happened last night. When it hadn't he knew that she was most likely all talk.

He was a little disappointed when nothing happened. Not that he liked being the subject of a prank or joke, but its nice when you are playing against an equal and House didn't have many equals. At least he didn't think so. He had expected Max to lash out in some way, or at the very least to go tell Cuddy. She did neither.

House walked past the nurse's station of the clinic and grabbed a red lollipop out of the jar before he continued walking. He was about to open his lolly when Wilson suddenly walked up beside him.

"So?" Wilson began to ask as the two men made their way to the elevator. "Any backlash yet? From Max, I mean."

"Nope," House replied shortly.

"You think she was just all talk?"

House looked at his friend for a moment and answered with a quick gesture that was both a nod and a shrug at the same time. The elevator doors then opened and both men stepped inside.

"I don't know," Wilson said after a pause. "I mean, this is the girl who spent months lying about who she was just so she could get closer to you and Cuddy."

"And?" House asked. His voice slightly raised as if he was preparing to lash out. Which he was if Wilson was about to say anything negative about Max.

"And, I'm just saying, I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you."

It was then that the elevator doors opened again. House's mouth twitched up into the slightest of smiles before it disappeared as he watched Wilson walk out and head to his office. House then followed him and made his way to his own office.

**House MD**

When House walked into his office he saw his entire team sitting at in the DDX room, with takeaway coffee cups in front of them. He frowned when he saw Cameron standing in front of the whiteboard while holding a marker in her hand.

House walked into the room suddenly, causing the door to bang against the wall and making all three younger doctors jump slightly.

Foreman recovered first. "We have a case."

"And that's a reason to be playing with daddy's stuff?" House asked as he walked over to Cameron.

"I was just—" Cameron began as House snatched the marker out of her hand.

She didn't finish though, as House stepped past her and stood in front of the whiteboard before waving her off with his hand. He didn't see Cameron roll her eyes as she walked over to the table and joined Foreman and Chase.

House quickly studied the symptoms on the board that Cameron had written. Then he turned around to his team.

"Okay, give me the patient's file." He ordered, clicking his fingers repeatedly.

Foreman stood and handed House the file before sitting back down. House quickly looked over a few pages, while glancing back at the whiteboard. It looked like his team had actually done a good job so far. Not that he would ever tell them that of course.

"Ok," He said after a minute. "What's our next step?"

"Get a complete blood work done." Said Foreman.

"We should also get a full family history if we can." Added Chase.

House tossed the file back onto the table and then waved his hand flippantly at the younger doctors.

"Well, go to that." He said. "Cameron you and Chase get the history. Foreman, you get the bloods done."

House then took the lollipop he had grabbed earlier out of his pocket and took off the plastic wrapper before placing the lolly into his mouth. He sucked on it for a second when his eyes suddenly grew wide. His tongue started to tingle and burn as if he had taken a bite out of an extremely hot pepper. With great force, he spat the lollypop out of his mouth making it land across the room, almost hitting Cameron's feet.

"What the hell, House?" Cameron yelled in disgust.

House ignored her and instead he moved quickly to the table and grabbed the first cup he could and drank it down quickly.

"Hey!" exclaimed Foreman, as it was his coffee that House had grabbed.

House continued to ignore his team as he threw the first cup, now empty, over his shoulder before he grabbed the next one.

"House? What are you doing?" Came a voice from the doorway.

Cameron, Foreman, and Chase turned around to see Wilson standing there. His expression of confusion matched their own. House continued to ignore him as he finished his second cup of coffee rather quickly.

Finally, House managed to ease the burning sensation in his mouth. He blinked a few times before realized that the four other people in the room were all staring at him. He straightened up and glared at them.

"Don't you all have something to do?" He snapped at his team.

"But-" Cameron began, a look of confusion still on her face.

"-Now would be good," House said shortly.

The younger doctor's all knew better than to stay and argue with him, so instead, they shared a look before retreating out of the DDX room. Once they left, Wilson moved towards his friend with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"What just happened?" Wilson asked.

"Since when does the hospital offer children extremely spicy flavored lollipops?" House asked before he walked over to the lollipop on the ground. Carefully he grabbed the very bottom of the stick and picked the offending object up off the floor.

"Huh? House, what are you talking about?"

"This!" House said, waving the lolly in front of Wilson's face.

Wilson raised his own hands in front of his face with a look of disgust. "That's a spicy flavored lollipop?"

House didn't answer and instead, he rolled his eyes. Then he limped into his office and threw the lolly into the small wastebasket in the corner. Wilson followed him straight away.

"Maybe the nurses finally got sick and tired of you stealing the lollipops from them," Wilson suggested with a slight tilt of his head.

"Bit dangerous, and they are meant for everyone."

"I'm pretty sure they are meant for children who come into the clinic," Wilson said back. "Not children in a grown man's body."

"Either way," House began as he took a seat behind his desk. "Since when do the nurse's care that much…." His voice suddenly trailed off as a thought occurred to him.

"What?" Wilson asked after a short pause. He slowly made his way towards House's desk.

House ignored him and instead he grabbed the phone from its cradle. He brought the receiver to his ear with one hand and dialed a number with his other.

"Ah, House?" Wilson asked.

Once again, House ignored him. He then placed the phone back into its cradle and then hit the button to put the call on speaker. It rang one and a half times before the person on the other end answered.

"Good morning, Doctor Cuddy's office." Came Max's cheery voice. "Max speaking."

"Been anywhere near the nurse's station in the clinic this morning?" House asked her, not bothering to announce that he was the one who was calling.

"House?-" Wilson began but Max cut him off.

"Having an interesting morning are we Doctor House?" Max asked, and House could hear the smirk in her tone.

"You think you're pretty clever don't you?" House asked. His tone held hints of annoyance but also hints of pride and amusement.

"Oh, I think I'm brilliant," Max said cheerily, cockily.

"So this is your version of 'it's on'?" House asked. "Because it was pretty lame."

"Firstly, I don't know what you're talking about." Came Max's replied through the phone. "Secondly, if I did know, I would say that this was just the beginning. Unless, of course, you're willing to admit defeat?"

House narrowed his eyes slightly, even though Max couldn't see him. He leaned in closer to the phone and said in a low tone, "You don't know who you're messing with little girl."

Without missing a beat, Max replied, "Bring it on old man."

Then the room filled with the familiar noise of a dial tone after Max had hung up on her end. After a moment, House reached out and pressed the button to end the call. Then he leaned back in his chair. His mind thinking as he tried to suppress a smirk.

To Be Continued…