Kelly saw House BEFORE lunch when she went to check on Jen and her son. He wasn't in the patient's room - apparently she was still the only one rating that kind of treatment - but outside of it, arguing in the low tones with Dr. Cuddy.

She pretended to ignore them and stood in the doorway of her destination as Foreman and Taub spoke to Jen and her parents by the boy's bedside. Jen hadn't seen her yet, and Kelly didn't want to intrude.

A minute later she felt him behind her, his chest resting lightly against her back.

"Exactly what did you say to Cuddy?" he hissed into her ear.

"Why?"

"Because after she met with you she hunted me down and wanted to know if I was taking anti-depressants. And when I told her I wasn't, she said she wanted me to take a DRUG test."

It was difficult for her to keep a straight face, but somehow she managed. "All I said is that you've treated me appropriately for your station and I'm happy with the quality of care. I wasn't aware those were symptoms of drug use."

Jen noticed her then and waved her inside. Kelly left House without another word and he didn't try to follow.

Later, at their table in the corner of the cafeteria, they laughed aloud about it. Laughed loudly enough that Cameron heard and let her curiosity get the better of her.

"I see you're feeling better. Have you been discharged already?"

"Sadly, no," Kelly replied, adjusting her sleeve to reveal her hospital bracelet before motioning for Cameron to join them. "I'm afraid the good doctor here has yet to solve the mystery."

House didn't say a lot during the ensuing round of small talk that followed, and anything he DID interject was said in a way that Cameron was used to: abrasively, sarcastically, sharply. And yet the laughter had betrayed him. She knew intuitively that something had changed.

Later she found herself talking to Cuddy, who had sought her out in the hopes that she might have some special insight. "I'm worried about House."

Cameron was able to understand her alarm, but didn't share it. "I thought he seemed to be doing better. Better than I've seen him since the accident."

"He's acting bizarre. In anyone else, it might seem like a relief, but I don't like the idea of him behaving this erratically. He might be a bastard, but at least he's always been consistent about it. Now..."

"Now he seems different."

"Yes."

"And you're afraid... what? That he's cracking up after what happened?"

"Maybe. Or else he's on something. I just know that he was in a severe funk, and now suddenly he's not... and then some. And it isn't because he's reconciled with Wilson; they've still barely spoken."

"What about his patient? This woman with the temperature dis-regulation?"

Cuddy was quick to squash that theory. "What about her? She's only been here for two days. I can't see anyone affecting him that much, even if he did have a thing for her. It's all just so strange."

After her lunch with them, not to mention the stories she'd heard from House's team, Cameron was ready to disagree. "I don't think there's anything strange about it. She's young, she's attractive, she can handle him. And he's lonely; he misses Wilson. He's not going to go to any of us to fill the void, but he needs SOMEONE to help him process all the guilt he must be feeling, or at least distract him from it. I think it all makes perfect sense."

Cuddy got called away then, leaving Cameron alone in her office to consider that for all of her trying, she's never been able to get House to laugh like that.