A/N: Thanks all for the reviews on the last chapter. I've got the next two chapters nearly completed so hopefully I can get them up sooner rather than later!

By late Saturday afternoon, House was exhausted. He'd worked three complicated cases since Thursday and hadn't been home at all. The first case was two different cancers occurring simultaneously and upon diagnosis, was referred to Wilson's department. The second would've been solved much sooner had the mother of the sick child admitted early on that her child's father wasn't really the father. The third case turned out to be a patient's allergic reaction to medication given for Crohn's disease. During the weekend, many doctors pulled extra clinic duty because of the flu epidemic that had hit the area. Due to his specialty in infectious diseases, House was called upon for his expertise in helping to identify the strain. So, not only had he not been home but he'd hardly slept and hadn't showered or shaved; his leg hurt like hell and he was grouchier than usual. When the last case was solved, he returned to his office to complete one last task before he headed home. He'd had something on his mind the last few days and he needed to take care of it. Finding himself free to take care of it, he turned to his computer and began typing into the search engine on his screen. He was interrupted, however, when, moments later, Chase and Taub entered his office.

"What?" He growled.

"We've got another case." Both fellows looked freshly showered and alert.

"I'm going home."

"House, you live for this stuff," Chase said.

"You do know I haven't been to my apartment in days, right?"

"If you'll just take a look at it and give us your thoughts, we can run it for you."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" House asked suspiciously.

"No…I…uh…well you put me in charge when you're not here."

House motioned for Chase to hand him the file, which he did. "Where'd you find it?" He asked as he perused the contents.

"I was talking to one of the EMT's in the ER when he overheard a nurse talking to the patient. She came in yesterday."

"You mean you were flirting with her," Taub chimed in.

"She's into chicks," House said without looking up.

"Who?"

"The EMT. Long blonde hair, hot bod, bodacious tatas and legs up to her neck."

"How do you know?" Chased asked, surprised.

"Tried to hit that," House answered nonchalantly.

"No way." Chase shook his head in disbelief.

"Fine, I overheard it in the nurse's locker room."

"Wait...what?"

"You heard me."

"What in hell were you doing in the nurse's locker room?"

"Taking a shower."

"By yourself?"

"Well, duh. You know anyone around here that wants to take a shower with me?"

"I don't even want to know…I just don't," Chase waved his hands in the air in surrender.

"I want to know," Taub said. Chase gave him a look and Taub responded, "What? Good gossip. I might be able to use it."

House glared annoyingly at Taub then continued to look over the file. As tired as he was, he just couldn't help himself; it was hard to resist a good case. He grabbed his cane and got up from his chair and limped heavily into the conference room. Behind him Chase gave Taub the thumbs-up sign.

Chase tossed the copies of the case file on the table and as a well-rested Park and Adams filed into the room. House reached for the dry erase marker and threw it to Chase as he nodded toward the whiteboard and then began rattling off symptoms.

"Fourteen-year old female in the ER with chronic hepatosplenomegaly and acute thigh pain. In generally good health with-"

"House, are you okay?" Park interrupted with a concerned look on her face.

"No previous hospitalizations," House said, finishing the sentence. He looked up at her. "Am I the patient?"

"No."

"Then how I look is irrelevant. I'm fine, so let's continue."

Park wouldn't let it go. "But you haven't had a good night's sleep in days."

"What part of I'm fine didn't you hear? Now can we get back to the not-so-fine patient before she dies?" House asked before going back to the file. He continued reading the patient's history. "No history of serious illness or disease in her or her family, although about a year ago she began having intermittent episodes of epistaxis, which became more frequent over the past three months. Also acute thigh pain and mild abdominal distention about two months ago progressing gradually...but with no pain. Okay, go," he said.

"She's athletic so maybe the thigh pain is sports injury?" Chase asked. The rest of the fellows chimed in soon after with their thoughts.

"And the nosebleeds?"

"Acute sinusitis, aspirin, or something as simple as a common cold. Epistaxis may not even be one of the symptoms here."

"Her primary care doctor noted she had an episode of bone pain about a year ago but it went away on its own."

"Again...she's athletic; it could've been a sports injury."

"Says here she's been fatigued a few months, complaining occasionally of a low grade fever. ER says her lymph nodes are swollen."

"Okay let's focus on the enlarged organs," House said.

"If we start with infection, it could be mono."

"Or tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, congenital syphilis, brucellosis, or histoplasmosis. There are also the viruses like HIV or herpes."

"Her parents said the kids all had TB tests before they started playing sports. I'd rule out congenital syphilis as neither of the parents has ever been diagnosed. She's not sexually active and hasn't had blood transfusions so that rules out HIV and herpes."

"Vascular congestion means cardiac failure, pericarditis, or cirrhosis."

"She could have CF or Wilson's disease."

"What about autoimmune? Chronic lymphocytic leukemia or Osteomyelitis."

"Do a physical, blood work, and abdominal ultrasound." House instructed.

As the team was leaving, he called out, "Park!"

"Yeah."

"Clinic."

"I already did my clinic duty," she whined.

"I know, now you're doing mine."

"What?"

"Do it or you're going to do theirs too," he said pointing at the other fellows.

"But it's not fair."

"Do it or you're fired after you do their clinic duty." House turned his back to her as he limped into his office.

"You won't fire me."

"Oh won't I?" He turned abruptly in her face and raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like I'm not in the mood to fire someone today?"

Park threw her hands in the air and headed downstairs to the clinic.

He pointed his cane at the rest of the team. "The rest of you run tests, talk to the parents again and don't kill the patient."

After his team departed and he was all alone, House went back to his computer. He put his glasses on and opened up the search engine again and began typing. After finding what he was searching for, he read for some time, tapping his finger occasionally on the desk. He scrolled down, continuing his reading the documents for nearly an hour. After reading and finding the information he sought, he hit the print button. With a heavy sigh, he placed the printed documents in his backpack. He limped over to the Eames chair and sat down, closing his eyes hoping to get some badly needed rest.

"Scoot over, make room for me."

House opened his eyes and Cuddy stood before him, barefoot and dressed in loose-fitting sweatpants and a tight v-neck tee shirt.

"Mine. You can sit over there," he said pointing to the chair across from the couch.

"Move or I'll sit on you," she warned.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" He snarked.

"Not as much as you, I'm sure." She turned to walk away and House grabbed her wrist, pulling her onto him. She planted herself between his body and the back of the large couch, her left leg draped lazily over his legs. She watched him wince as he moved a little to get more comfortable.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just the usual."

"How bad?"

"Enough. I'm okay now that you're here."

"You've been nonstop for days, you must be exhausted." She put her left hand under his tee shirt and rubbed his chest.

"How'd you guess?" He asked as he planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I love how you get all wrapped up in your puzzles but I also love it when you relax. You don't seem to be doing much of that lately; in fact I've hardly seen you in days."

"That's because my boss is working me too hard."

"You can always say no."

"I could never deny my mistress," he mused.

She leaned up and gently bit his earlobe. "You're such a gentleman," she teased.

"You keep doing that and Rachel's gonna wake up to you screaming out my name." He raised his eyebrow at her mischievously.

"We could go into the bedroom and close the door," she said rubbing her foot lightly up and down his leg.

"Lightning is probably gonna strike me for saying this but right now I'd just like to lay here with you."

"Wow you're turning down sex? You sure you feel alright?"

"I do now," he said as he pulled her more tightly to him.

House closed his eyes as he held her and enjoyed the sounds of her breathing and the soft jazz playing on her stereo in the background.

"Hey," he said, after a few minutes.

"Hmm," she responded, lazily.

"You think we'll be like this years from now?"

"Like what?"

"You know...us...like...this."

Cuddy sighed and ran her hand up and down his arm. "Wow that's an odd question coming from you."

"Why?"

"You normally don't think much about the future, especially your own."

"Sometimes I do," he confessed.

"Well, we've never had much luck with anyone else and as crazy as it might seem sometimes, we fit. Perfectly. Even when we're at our worst."

"Yeah," he said. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Do you want it to be like this years from now? I mean…will I be enough for you?"

"What kind of question is that?" She smacked him lightly in the chest.

House looked at her waiting for a response.

"House, I don't know where we'll be ten or twenty years from now but I can't imagine you not being a part of my life and I don't want to. It's like you've always been there, even when you weren't. You know what I mean?"

He looked into her stormy grey eyes and his breath hitched at the love and sincerity he found in them. At that moment, he could not deny that when they were open and honest like this, it made him believe that they really would make it.

"Yeah, I do."

"House, wake up! We've got a problem."

House woke abruptly to see Chase standing in front of him. "What time is it?" He growled, annoyed that he'd been woken from his slumber.

"It's six-thirty."

"Wow, thanks for letting me sleep a whole two hours," he grumbled. "What's going on?" He asked grumpily.

"The pain in her right thigh is worse and she's she can't even walk now."

"Did you do an MRI?"

"No, the machines have been in use."

"Boot someone. Lie. Cheat."

"I can't."

"Have you not learned anything from me over the years?" House asked, clearly annoyed.

"I don't have to because she's next on the list. Taub's on it."

"So what are you thinking?"

"Osteomyelitis but her white blood count isn't high enough."

"Do a bone biopsy."

"Before we do the MRI?"

Just then, Adams entered House's office with test results in her hand. "Her liver function, lungs and white cell count are normal; blood and urine are negative."

"That rules out infection. No need for a bone biopsy," said Chase.

"But she's got enlarged lymph nodes, liver and spleen. Something's attacking it," Adams said.

House stood up painfully, rubbed his thigh and walked over to the rear door of his office, looking outside.

"If it's not an infection, it could be a tumor. Leukemia, Lymphoma, Neuroblastoma. Do the MRI and radiography," he said.

"You know, the pain and the swelling in the abdomen could be a lipid storage issue. There are some signs of Niemann-Pick," Adams suggested.

Chase's eyes lit up with an epiphany. "The patient is Jewish," he said.

House looked at him thoughtfully. "Ashkenazi Jews have a higher tendency for Niemann-Pick. Do a blood and bone marrow test for type B which would be more appropriate for someone her age."

As Adams and Chase took off to run the tests, they were met by Wilson at the door. He nodded at them before entering House's office.

"Hey, you haven't been home yet?"

"Shocking, isn't it? They just can't get enough of me."

"I guess you haven't heard the news then."

"What news?"

"Stevens is the new Dean."

"Stevens? From NYU?"

"Yep and not only that but Grogan is the new Associate."

House rolled his eyes. "Doesn't surprise me. He's the biggest ass kisser here."

"He's a good doctor."

"Good doctor doesn't mean good administrator."

"Well, at least now things can get back to normal."

House scoffed. "Things haven't been normal since...well...it's been a long time."

Wilson nodded his agreement. He knew all too well what House meant. "You know I miss the old days," Wilson said. "And I don't mean your drug induced, hooker binging, overdosing or doing the ten thousand other things that nearly killed you days but the days when she was here and you'd antagonize her, stare at her ass, make snide comments and she'd grab your balls and refuse to give them back to you."

"Cuddy never had my balls."

Wilson snorted. "Ha!" He pointed his finger knowingly at House. "That's what you think. Everyone knew she had your balls, everyone that is...except you."

House twirled his cane. "You know what I miss? I miss the days when you bought me lunch because you're such a good and caring friend."

"House, I still buy you lunch."

"Oh yeah, well now you can buy me dinner too. I'm starved," he said as he limped away with a smirk. Wilson let out a sigh and shook his head as he followed his best friend out the door.

Okay all hope you enjoyed that chapter. Got some good stuff to come. Thanks for leaving your comments!