Chapter 31.

Before we left the cafeteria, Thirteen joined us. Chase shared Petey and Christopher's results with her, and she immediately stated, "Having two people, related or not, who have the same genetic defect and the same hearing problem is too small a sample to prove anything."

"So how will you get a larger sample?" Jess asked.

"First we have to find other patients with the same syndrome," Chase suggested.

"And I know just how to do that!" Thirteen said, brightening considerably.

We watched as she rushed out. Chase and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"She probably went to ask Finnegan," Chase guessed.

"Somehow I don't think so." I shook my head.

"Then where could she have gone?" Jess asked. "How can she identify other patients?"

"The Interweb! She'll find some appropriate sites and start a query," Chase realized. "In fact, all she'd have to do was Google the condition and chances are there are reports of other patients or even a support group."

"You'd be amazed how much you can do online," I said. "Well, maybe you wouldn't be," I amended, looking at Jess. She was probably an accomplished Googler and tweeter and whatever else-er.

"So, you don't need me any more, right?" Petey asked impatiently.

We'd all forgotten he was even there. Jess glared at him and sighed. "I'll drive you to the airport, if that's what you want," she replied. She turned to me. "It's alright for him to leave, isn't it?"

"Unless he wants to be treated," I said. "He seems to be dealing all right with his ear plugs."

"But would treatment be better?" Jess asked.

"He might even turn into a caring human," I said, eliciting a narrowed eye glare from the man in question, and a smirk from his sister.

"Are you talking about that pink stuff you're trying on Christopher?" Petey asked.

"Pink noise generation. Yes," I said. "It desensitizes the hearing and makes sounds more tolerable."

Pete actually gave that some thought. "Shouldn't it be blue noise for boys?"

I didn't even try to suppress my laughter. I knew he wouldn't understand if I told him pink noise was a signal with a frequency spectrum such that the energy or power was inversely proportional to the frequency, or that the name arose from being intermediate between white and red noise. And it wasn't as if there was no such thing as blue noise. It just wasn't used to treat people with hyperacusis.

"If it makes you feel better we can treat you with blue noise," Chase said, then winked at me.

Petey didn't notice the sarcasm. He smiled and said, "Now you're talking."

"I'll go set it up," Chase said, escaping before he began to laugh too.

Jess looked at me quizzically but I just smiled. There'd be time to tell her later what Chase went off to arrange.

Meanwhile, Thirteen returned. "It's amazing how many people have this problem or know of someone who does," she said. "But I've been thinking. How are we going to get any of them here to check their DNA?"

"I'm sure Cuddy can come up with a research group to sponsor it," I replied. "And if not, we could always apply for a grant. I've never done that, actually, so it'd be cool!"

"House that can take months!" Thirteen objected.

I shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I understand there's a whole team of folks here at the hospital who do nothing all day but apply for grants for studies that are much less important than this one. Foreman will know who we should approach."

Thirteen considered that before nodding and going off again, this time to find Foreman.

"What do we tell Ellie?" Jess asked.

"I'm sure Chase has been keeping her up to date on our progress," I said.

"Is he making moves on my wife?" Petey asked through narrowed eyes.

"You don't seem to care about what she's going through, but other people do," Jess said with more vehemence than I'd have expected.

"You do know she can file for divorce based on the fact that you abandoned her and your kid," I pointed out, since I was certain it hadn't entered his brain.

"She never really understood," he said.

That was a new one. "What didn't she understand?" I asked.

"That there weren't any jobs here. And she couldn't keep the kid quiet, from the day he was born."

He had a point about the jobs, and I was sure it was their hyperacusis that made the baby such a nuisance to Petey. But neither fact excused his lack of concern for either Ellie or Christopher.

"They're better off without you," Jess told him.

"Well, I'm better off without them, too!" he shouted.

Jess looked at me. "I think I'll go see Ellie and Chris," she said. "If I spend another minute with my brother I think I'll just have to scream!"

I glanced at Petey, then back at Jess. "I don't blame you. I think I'll come along." We left Petey alone in the conference room, his last expression one of total incomprehension.

Ellie sat at her son's bedside, smoothing the hair off his forehead. The baby was hooked up to a sound generator and didn't seem to mind it at all. The two of them weren't alone. A young woman, taller than Ellie with the same coloring, and quite a bit prettier, stood with her back to the window watching Ellie and Christopher. She looked toward the door as Jess slid it open.

"Jessica!" she exclaimed. "Ellie told me you were here." She frowned.

"Hi, Jackie. When did you get here?" Jess asked. For some reason she wasn't smiling either.

"Oh, about twenty minutes ago."

Jess nodded. "This is Dr. House," she said. "He's the one in charge of Christopher's case."

"We spoke on the phone," Jackie said. Me she smiled at.

"That we did," I agreed. There was a vibe in the room that I couldn't quite interpret. Hadn't Jackie been the one to take Ellie and the baby in? "I'm sure your sister's told you that we know what's wrong with your nephew, and his father, too, for that matter."

"Where is Petey?" Jackie asked, looking behind us.

"He's back in my conference room, waiting for us to start treating him, too." It wasn't hard to tell that Jess didn't like this woman, but I looked at Ellie to see her reaction to her sister's presence. Ellie's attention was on the baby. I didn't think she even knew that any of us were there.

"I came to see Ellie and Christopher as soon as I could," Jackie said, as if we'd all been waiting for her to show up.

"And now you're here," Jess said. "And all will be right with the world."