It has been nearly a year since I posted! It doesn't seem like so much time should have past. I apologize for making everyone wait for so long. From here on out I will try to post a chapter about every two weeks.

Thanks for reading,

Anne

Like Father, Like Son

Chapter 14

Greg was excited for the day to begin. Since his dad would be out of the hospital today, would have free rein of PPTH and he might get to meet his dad's team. He cleaned himself up and put on one of his dad's seldom used dress shirts and a tie. The sleeves of the shirt were too long, so he rolled them to just below his elbow the way that he had seen Wilson's shirt the day before. Greg realized that he had a few problems that needed fixing right away. He needed his own clothes for working at the hospital, he needed an income and he needed to make sure that they really were going to hire him at the music store. He had spoken to his dad as though it were a done deal, but the truth of the matter was that he had spoken to the manager in passing and the manager had seen it as a possibility. House seemed to know the people at the music store pretty well and Greg would have been really embarrassed if his dad had gone into the store, mentioned Greg teaching and the manager looked at House like he didn't know what he was talking about. The boy realized that he needed to resolve that issue fast! When he got done at the hospital he would head to the music store straight away.

Greg walked into the hospital with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He looked around at the people and wondered how many of them knew his dad and what they thought of him. Greg also wondered what his dad thought of them. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't good. Greg saw Dr. Cuddy scurrying toward him and hoped that he hadn't done anything wrong already.

"Good Morning, Greg!" greeted Cuddy. "You are right on time! Some of the doctors that work for me have never learned that art. You are already ahead of the game."

Greg knew instinctively that Cuddy was referring to House.

"Good Morning, Dr. Cuddy. I try to be on time, but being dependent on the bus, I can't promise you that it will always happen."

"I'm sure you'll do your best," Cuddy replied. "Wilson is in his office waiting for you. He wants to introduce you to House's team while House isn't going to be there to interfere."

"If House is such a jerk, why do you keep him around?" The words were out of Greg's mouth before he had time to consider them.

First, the Dean of Medicine looked shocked, then amused. "We don't speak of him in a very good light, do we? House is brilliant beyond words. He saves people who have no other hope. But he's….broken, and that affects his outlook on life. He needs to work, stay busy, because it distracts him from his pain. The hospital is good for him, and he is good for the hospital. Just stay out of his way and don't give him a reason to dislike you. He can't get rid of you, but he can make you miserable." Greg nodded and started to move to the elevator, but Cuddy stopped him. "Greg, House isn't a bad man. He's one of my best friends. Don't let the harsh exterior fool you when you meet him. He's a good man, but he's….guarded. It takes awhile to earn his trust and he doesn't suffer fools." Greg nodded and continued on.

Wilson was standing in the hallway as Greg got off of the elevator. He smiled kindly and warmly shook Greg's hand. "Greg, it's good to see you! Are you ready to meet the team?"

"Sure!" Greg nodded and followed Wilson.

"House's office is next to mine, so regardless of who you are working with I will always be readily accessible."

The room they entered was made of glass, with a large glass table near the center. To the left, was a small counter with a sink and a coffee maker. A man with sandy colored hair stood at the coffee maker waiting for it to finish brewing.

"Chase, looking at the pot doesn't brew it any faster. Just give it time". The man who was harassing Chase was smallish with thinning dark hair."

"Do you think he will notice the difference?"

"Do you think I really care? I didn't break the pot."

Wilson cleared his throat, interrupting the two doctors. "Chase, Taub, if you aren't too busy, I would like for you to meet Greg Dubois. He will be doing an internship with us for the next month or so."

Both men approached Greg and shook his hand as they identified themselves. The two other people who had been sitting at the table stood, as well.

A black man held out his hand to Greg. "Foreman. Welcome."

"Remy Hadley, but they all call me Thirteen" Greg was stunned at the beauty of the cat-eyed woman in front of him.

"Hi!" replied Greg, sounding like the fourteen year old that he was. Gathering his wits, he also said, "It's very nice to meet you both."

"Polite. House is going to have a field day with you." Taub sounded concerned as he said it, but his eyes were dancing indicating that he thought that this could be fun. "Maybe House will forget to stick his nose in our business while he's busy sticking it in yours."

Greg looked like a deer caught in the headlights and Wilson decided that it would be good to change the subject. "So what happened to the coffee maker?"

"Chase threw House's tennis ball at it last night and it broke," responded Taub.

"You were supposed to catch it," volleyed Chase. Taub shrugged seeming not to care about his part in the mishap.

The new coffee maker sighed as it finished its job, sounding as though it was already tired of the bickering. Chase poured coffee for those that wanted it and everyone agreed that the coffee was as good, if not better, than the coffee of the previous coffee maker.

Before talk could turn back to him, Greg asked, "So what do you do?"

Foreman spoke first. It seemed, in his own eyes, anyway, that he was spokesman for the team. "We receive a case. Normally, House chooses a case from a stack of pending referrals unless Cuddy asks him to take on a case, or a doctor sends the patient from the ER or the clinic."

Greg looked at Wilson. "Like Jewel!"

"Right." Wilson nodded once.

Foreman, not knowing what they were talking about, and not caring either, continued on. "Each doctor gets a copy of the patient's file and we use the white board to list the symptoms. Usually, we need to get blood work and do testing that will either confirm or refute our current theories. Occasionally, we go to the patient's house and look for environmental causes for the disease."

"When we are breaking and entering, we usually take either Thirteen or Chase. That way, if we get caught, there is someone pretty to deal with the cops." Thirteen, who was sitting next to Taub as he spoke, swatted at him but didn't refute the claim.

"If all else fails, House goes and talks to the patient." Foreman, undaunted, continued.

"You mean he doesn't talk to the patient first thing?"

Thirteen answered Greg, this time. "House deals with the patients as little as possible. He finds that they are unreliable sources."

"Everybody lies." Greg sounded so much like House as he said it that suddenly all eyes were on him. "It sounds like that is House's philosophy. Don't trust the patient because everybody lies." Greg laughed uncomfortably. "Does he really think that?"

"Yes," said Wilson, "but he is also afraid of getting involved and losing perspective. He would never admit to that, though"

"Ohhh, Dr. House cares sooo much about the patient!" Chase responded in a falsetto voice.

Foreman rolled his eyes, Thirteen giggled and Taub just shook his head.

Feeling the need to defend House, Wilson emphatically exclaimed, "He does!" Greg laughed out loud thinking that his dad would be calling Wilson a girl if he could have heard it.

Just then the phone rang. No one jumped to answer it so Wilson reached over and put it on speaker phone.

"Are you talking about me, yet?" House's voice filled the room and the entire team rolled their eyes. "I can hear your eyes rolling. I know you're all there. Speak up. Foreman, do we have a case, yet?"

"No, feel free to play hooky all day, House." Indeed, Foreman was spokesman for the team.

"Wilson, are you there with "Eddie Intern" to introduce him my team?"

"His name isn't …."

"I don't care what his real name is! He isn't going to stay, anyway. I'm not going to deal with him and my team isn't babysitters. They can barely take care of themselves."

The team looked uncomfortably at Greg who just stared intently at the phone. He knew better than to speak.

"Eddie, don't get too comfortable. You won't last." With those final words, House broke the connection. House was a presence even when he wasn't there and everyone felt the void he left behind.

Wilson broke the silence by announcing that he was taking "Eddie" on rounds and then they would be in the clinic.

It was nice to meet you, 'Eddie', said Thirteen with a grin. "It's good to have you here. Don't worry about House. He's actually warming up to you. Once he's named you, your one of the team."

"Uh…he's never even seen me. How could he….?"

"It's House's process. Your silence makes you interesting to him. He can't resist a puzzle and an intern that doesn't speak up to defend himself is definitely a puzzle.

"Let's let the team get back to doing nothing so that we can get some actual work done, Greg," Wilson suggested as he moved to the door. "I want to look in on Jewel and need to do rounds and read a couple of articles on new treatment protocols."

"Bye, Eddie!" called the team as Wilson and Greg left.

As they walked toward Jewel's room Greg took time to consider the team. They seemed nice. They certainly didn't take House too seriously, but they did seem to respect him. He was looking forward to getting to know them better, but at the same time he was realizing that laying low and staying off of his dad's radar was going to be really difficult. If House was going to think of him as "Eddie", Greg wasn't going to argue. His dad may have made the whole situation easier. House wouldn't be putting things together very quickly if he didn't even know his intern's actual name!

Entering Jewel's room, it was clear that she was highly agitated. Although she was asleep, Jewel was thrashing in her bed. She was saying "Rubies"! At least that's what it sounded like to Greg. Maybe she was trying to figure out how to pay for her hospital stay. Greg supposed that she could have been robbed, too. It was clear, at any rate, that the fever that had been going down the day before was on its way back up, again and Wilson was going to need to figure out how to bring it back down.

"Greg, I don't like what I'm seeing. The antibiotics aren't working I think we need to talk to the team."

Greg felt his heart lurch. He hadn't anticipated a differential so soon after his internship started. He knew that he would have nothing to offer, but even if this was happening six weeks down the road, the same would be true. "You don't think they'll ask me anything do you?"

"The team would ask only about her symptoms and any observations that you might have made. The cool thing about House's differentials is all the things that come into play. Other doctors just look at the medical issues. House looks for environmental clues and personal clues - things that another doctor wouldn't consider relevant. That's what makes him so good at what he does."

Wilson stood beside Jewel's bed for a time, just holding her hand. "You aren't alone, Jewel. We will figure out what this is and get you better in no time."

"Rubies" was all that Jewel could say it seemed.

Wilson patted her hand as he released it and headed back toward his office. Greg couldn't imagine his father doing that no matter how hard he tried. He just didn't seem to be the kind of person that was good with bedside manners.

"So what happens, now?" Greg asked.

"I'm going to send copies of the file to the team and then order lunch to be delivered. The team wasn't really planning on doing much today, so I figure that it won't hurt to sweeten the pot."

On the way to his office, Wilson stuck his head into the conference room. Greg saw that Taub and Chase were now flicking a triangle of paper across the glass table, Foreman was reading a medical journal, and Thirteen was surfing the internet.

"I have a case." The team stopped what they were doing and looked at Wilson. "House sent her to me yesterday thinking that she would make a nice diversion from my cancer patients. I put her on antibiotics, but her fever isn't coming down and she may be having hallucinations. She keeps calling out 'rubies'."

"House isn't here," responded Chase, as if that settled the matter.

"I'm buying lunch."

"Send the file," encouraged Foreman as his stomach growled loudly.

Throughout the meal, the white board filled with ideas. First, the symptoms were listed and then the differential began. Greg heard words that he had never heard before and often had no idea what they were talking about. Thirteen wrote them down and as she did, she told Greg what they meant. Remy Hadley was not only pretty, she was considerate, too! Greg was thinking about just how pretty Remy Hadley was when he realized that she was talking directly to him.

"Eddie…." Greg fell back to earth. "Do you have anything that you want to add that could be relevant?"

"Uh…"

"Spoken like a true teenager," said Taub acerbically.

"Taub, give him a chance he's new to this."

"He looks like he should still be in the eighth grade," retorted Taub.

"Ninth," responded Greg, "But I'm really smart."

"Just ignore him, Eddie. Taub's just jealous because you're taller than he is!" Chase interjected. "What do you have for us?"

Greg thought carefully about all that he had seen of Jewel and heard during the differential. The team was impressed that he was willing to be thoughtful and not allow himself to be flustered just because all eyes were on him. "She was really dirty. I mean really, really dirty. Maybe she's homeless and lives in a box or something like that. If she did, she might have that disease that you get from bats, histoplasmosis, or rats, leptospirosis?"

Taub, newly impressed with Greg, responded, "Don't end a statement with a question mark when you're in the process of impressing the competition. Good job, Eddie." Taub's change in attitude made Greg's head spin.

"I'll take Greg with me to get the samples I need and then to the lab to confirm which it is" stated Thirteen as she stood and nodded to Greg to follow. Greg didn't think he could get any happier.

After collecting the needed samples, Thirteen and Greg went to the lab. Thirteen prepared the slides and then showed him on the computer what each disease would look like when they looked through the microscope. Thirteen allowed Greg the first look through the microscope.

"Histoplasmosis"

Thirteen looked and nodded. "Step aside, Dr. House, you have competition!"

Greg discovered that he could be happier!

After starting Jewel on the proper medication, Thirteen and Greg returned to the conference room to report back to the team and Wilson. Everyone shook Greg's hand and congratulated him on his first diagnosis. Wilson looked like a proud papa and Greg wondered what his own dad would have thought of his performance. How in the world was Greg going to stay silent about this? Well, it just had to be, for awhile anyway.

After Greg left the hospital, he stopped at the music store and was provisionally allowed to teach piano and guitar. All of his students would be eight years old or younger and for the first few lessons, one of the adults on the staff would need to be present. Greg agreed to the conditions and shook hands with the owner of the store. Now all that he needed was a student or two.

Exhausted, Greg made his way home. He knew that he needed to by some work clothes, but that would have to wait. The excitement of the day was wearing off and all he wanted was food and sleep.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

House sat in Nolan's waiting room thumbing through a "medical journal" that Nolan had set out for him to peruse. He appreciated that Nolan was thoughtful enough to take into account House's considerable intelligence by leaving the magazine out for him, but House would have rather looked at the tattered and torn People and other "entertainment/gossip mags" from years gone by. He found a Soap Digest, stuck it into the journal, and caught up on Prescription Passion and General Hospital in the synopsis section. The doctor thought it all sounded very familiar and checked the date - July 2005 - that figured.

Nolan finally stuck his head through the office door. "Greg?"

House dropped the magazine as though he was a twelve year old caught with a Playboy.

"Luke and Laura reuniting again was a real shock to me, too!" laughed Nolan, knowingly.

House gave Nolan an inquisitive look.

"You left a Soap Digest inside my medical journal the last time you were here."

"And I thought I was the smart one." House stood and went into Nolan's office.

"And how does that make you feel?" joked Nolan in his best, really bad Freudian accent.

Not into encouraging, Nolan or his imitation of Freud, House sat down and waited for Nolan to stop smiling. House hadn't smiled yet. He had things on his mind.

"What if I screw this up? My dad sucked at being a father."

Nolan's response wasn't all that surprising. House had rehearsed the whole conversation in his mind as he rode his motorcycle on the way to the appointment.

"What makes you think you would screw this up?" asked Nolan.

"It's what I do."

"That will only happen if you allow it to. You, of all people, know that change is possible. You have made great strides recently." responded Nolan. "As for your father, he only has as much influence as you allow. He's dead. He isn't going to hurt you again."

House sat thoughtfully for a moment. "The damage has already been done. It can't be undone."

"It can be used, though, to help you become the kind of father that you want to become."

A wry smile passed quickly over House's lips. "Ah…remember what he did and do just the opposite."

"Something like that, yes. I don't get the impression that Greg is the sort of kid that is going to require a lot of discipline from you. Guidance, possibly, but from what you have said before, he isn't a mischief maker. Don't go looking for trouble before it exists. Run through some scenarios that might come up, if you like, and decide how you could respond, but don't project your youth onto him. Your backgrounds are very different so you can't expect him to behave as you would have when you were that age."

Silence filled the room as House considered the shrink's words. He hadn't been far off when he imagined the conversation. That his own wisdom was apparently Nolan's wisdom gave him a boost of confidence. Maybe the father thing was something that he could handle without totally ruining the kid. House felt….good!