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Doctor, Doctor
by Auburn Red
Doctor Doctor
By Auburn Red
Email: auburnred7@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.geocities.com/auburnred63121
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for the deceased. He is my creation. The cast of "House M.D." belong to Fox and David Shore and the cast of "Cold Case" belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer. I do not intend to make a profit, I am just intending on having a bit of fun putting these two kids together. Note for House fans: The pasts presented just show my own hypotheses about the characters' lives and do not reflect on anything that was revealed as yet on the show (apart from the casual hints).
Notes: This takes place for Cold Case probably Post-"Time to Crime" and for House M.D. Pre-"DNR."
WARNING TO HOUSE FANS: This fic could result in the arrest of one of the characters! I do not hate this person, I do not hate anyone on House at all! The way this story was going, that was the way it just had to end up. Just thought I'd warn you!
Chapter One: Doctor, Doctor
I saw you there
just standing there
And I thought I was only dreaming yeah.
I kissed you then then once again
You said you would come and dance with me.
Dance with me across the sea
And we could feel the motion of a thousand dreams.
Doctor doctor
can't you see I'm burning burning;
Oh doctor doctor
Is this love I'm feeling ?
Ships at night Give such delight
We all leave
Before the morning light.
Please don't go
No please don't go
'cause I don't want to stay here on my own.
Oh doctor doctor
can't you see I'm burningburning;
Oh doctor doctor
can't you see I'm burning
burning
Fever breathe your love on me
take away my name.
Fever lay your hands on me
never be the same.
Oh doctor doctor
can't you see I'm burning burning;
Oh doctor doctor
can't you see I'm burning burning; . . .
Come with me and make believe we can travel to eternity.
~ "Doctor, Doctor" by The Thompson Twins
Princeton-Plainsboro, Teaching Hospital, July, 2004- Dr. Eric Foreman stopped his car in the parking lot and pocketed the keys. I wonder what medical cases we have today, he thought, or what horrible demeaning things House is going to make us do? He liked being a doctor, but didn't always get along with the stubborn chief diagnostician, but what was worse was he was usually right. Foreman hated that about him. But another reason he wasn't looking forward to coming to work was Cameron. They had a lot to say after last night. Boy am I an idiot, he thought sarcastically, And now I've got to have her prove it.
The African American doctor was so caught up in his thoughts that at first he didn't see the man until he heard his groan. He turned to look and saw a dark haired white man of about thirty in black clothing. He was extremely pale and staggered. "Can I help you?" Foreman asked.
The man staggered forward as if not hearing him and coughed. Foreman could see blood coming out of his mouth. His voice was weak and could barely be heard. "Where is-s s-she?" he asked before passing out. In a hurry, Foreman picked up his cell phone and called the inside.
The gurney raced down the hallway with the doctors rushing after it. The gurney stopped into an operating room. Foreman grabbed one end of the man's sheet and motioned to the attendants. "Alright on three everybody one two, three," Foreman commanded. They put the patient on the operating table and got to work. Foreman worked to cure the man putting medicine in him and stopping his continuous bleeding.
"He's bleeding an awful lot," a young trainee nurse said.
"Yeah well get used to it," Foreman said. "I don't want to hear it from House if things turn out bad." Despite the brevity, Foreman's voice showed a slight mirth to it.
"Blood pressure stabilizing," the nurse said.
"Heartbeat normal," Foreman replied.
Things calmed down for a bit as the patient's condition stabilized. The doctor looked at the patient's heart rate monitor which seemed to move at a steady rate. He then turned to his fellow personnell. "Was it good for all of you?" he quipped.
"As good as you can make it Baby," a nurse joked back. Foreman left the OR with the attendants. On the way, he spotted his colleagues Alison Cameron and Robert Chase. Terrific, God is out to get me, he thought. But that wasn't the only thought on his mind. He couldn't shake the strange suspicious looks that they gave the OR as he greeted them in the hallway.
Cold Case Department, Philadelphia, PA Jan. 2005- Detectives Lily Rush and Scotty Valens sat in the Cold Case Department barely meeting each others' glances. After Scotty had been dating Lily's sister, Christina, things had been rather testy between the two. They kept things at a professional level as they cleaned out the box to their most recent case.
"I warned you to stay away from her," Lily said blurting out
"I think I can handle her," Scotty reminded her.
"She'll never understand, and neither will you," Lily snapped.
"You know Lil, are you warning me about this for my benefit or for your's?" Scotty asked.
Lily was taken aback, but wasn't able to answer when their supervisor Lt. Thomas Stillman walked in. "Rush, Valens pack up you're leaving for Jersey," the balding bespectled lieutenant said.
Despite their earlier argument, both Lily and Scotty adopted a teasing tone to their voices. "I guess the honeymoon's over," Rush joked.
"Yeah whatever did we do to you," Valens said. "I thought we meant more to each other than a simple goodbye."
"Funny," Stillman said clearly not amused as he handed them a file with a lot of paperwork "Darien Jordan, 29, reported here in Philly as a missing person in '03. Was found at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey six months ago only he was registered as a John Doe-"
"-Here it comes," Scotty said.
"-He died in the hospital," Stillman replied ignoring the interruption. "Four hours after
being treated."
"Wrongful death?" Rush asked scanning the file.
"No suspicion of murder," Stillman replied. "I'll send Vero and Jeffries after you." Rush and Valens exchanged glances, They knew that they were headed for Princeton.
Princeton, New Jersey- Rush and Valens sat in deceptively comfortable chairs in an immaculate office that reminded Lily of a principal's office, but the woman facing them was hardly a principal. In fact she looked meaner. Dr. Lisa Cuddy, an attractive woman had her dark hair severely turned back as she scanned the affidavit with a very stern authoritarian glance. She was obviously already unhappy with the two strange detectives in her office and with this issue entirely. "It appears I have no choice," she said tersely. "I will allow it, but I want you to do your jobs and leave. I will not allow you to disrupt any behaviour in the hospital and I won't allow it to be dragged to the ground."
Rush nodded. "Yeah, we got the same runaround from the local PD. Do you have any information about this case?"
Cuddy shrugged. "Looks pretty open and shut to me. Doe, or Jordan now rather, came in was treated, recovered, took a turn and died four hours later. Heart failure. Kind of strange since he was so young, but it happens. They even investigated and found nothing apart from the usual." She leaned back as though the interview were over. "On the other hand, I would love to see House get taken away."
"I'm sorry House?" Rush asked.
"Dr. Gregory House," Cuddy replied. "He was the one who made the final diagnosis."
"I thought the physician's name was Dr. Foreman," Rush asked looking at the file to be sure.
Cuddy nodded. "It was, but House is the chief physician up there and primary diagnostician. He is the one who makes the final decisions. Drives me nuts most of the time, but as much as I hate to say it, he's usually right. He'd know more about this case, than anyone. You'll have to get through him."
"Okay let's go," Valens said nodding at Rush as they stood up.
"Oh and one other thing," Cuddy said. The detectives turned to the hospital administrator. "When talking to House, good luck."
"Philadelphia PD," House grumbled. "What do they want? Don't they have anything better to do like, oh, I don't know fight crime?" House hobbled next to his colleague and some would say friend, Dr. James Wilson complaining the whole way.
"Sorry to interrupt you from General Hospital," Wilson said evenly. "But they want to talk to us about our John Doe six months ago."
"I like John Does," House said. "They come in, come out. No threats of lawsuits. no irritating family's complaining about their treatment."
"Well this John Doe has a name and is now tied to a murder case," he said.
"Wonderful," House smirked. "Whose?"
"His," Wilson answered. He pointed to a Hispanic looking man and a blond woman walking up to them. "That's them."
House sized them both up. The man looked like a cop all right, a tough-guy looking NYPD Blue type but the woman did not. Short blond hair tied in little girl barrettes, a tiny kewpie doll face, and petulent look that told him either she knew everything and annoyed people with it or didn't and annoyed everyone by acting like she did. Either way, House instantely hated her.
Lily Rush also sized up the two doctors in front of her. The first was handsome with brown hair and was tucked in with a lab coat, stethoscope, the whole bit. The other she wasn't even sure was a doctor. His face was unshaven and he was dressed in dark clothing looking like a slob. He leaned on a cane and open a bottle and popped a pill in his mouth. She recognized his hostilr look immediately, any answers she would hope to get from him would have to be dragged out. Rush knew that this was not going to be an easy case.
"Are you Drs. House and Wilson?" Rush asked.
"That's what's written on our ID's," the older doctor answered bored.
The tucked in doctor fixed his colleague with a "shut up" look. "Yes, I'm Dr. James Wilson and this is Dr. Greg House."
Terrific, Rush thought rolling her eyes as she and Valens held out their badges. "I'm Detective Lily Rush and this Scot Valens, Philadelphia PD."
"Tired of rooting for the Eagles?" House asked.
"Only cause they're winning," Valens replied.
"Then mind telling us what you are doing here," House said. "After all I have to get back to my busy day of doing nothing, followed by nothing, and then some more nothing with perhaps treating a patient or two before I go home."
"In fact we're here to talk about one of those patients that were treated at your wing. A John Doe, also known as Darien Jordan." She showed him a photo. "Maybe you ought to talk to us since he was treated at your wing in July."
He glanced at the photo. "Looks familiar but we get a lot of patients around here. That's why it's called a hospital."
"Well I'm sure this one could spark a memory," Rush said. "After all you have had an impressive record only two deaths in a year his and one out of six babies. Your administrator fixed us with some reading material." She held up a large file and House glanced it over.
"Are my eyes really blue?" He said unimpressed. "Look Detective Barbie, I know it sounds strange but I actually have work to do. So I suggest you head off back to the land of the Phillies and that bland cream cheese and leave the rest of us to do our real jobs."
Lily glowered. "Listen Dr., I am here to conduct a murder investigation and I will allow you to do your job if you allow me to do mine. If you in anyway hinder our investigation, then I will have you arrested for interfering with a murder investigation. Now do I make myself perfectly clear?"
House's mouth dropped open taken aback. Wilson laughed. "Ouch, thank you!" He said shaking Lily's hand.
House turned to his colleague. "Wilson could you at least pretend you know something?" He then turned to Lily. "Alright but seeing as how I don't like my reputation being dragged through the mud, I will look into this matter myself. While I don't bother you, you don't bother me."
:"May we see the rest of your staff?" Scotty asked.
"Do what you like," House answered leading them up the elevator to their wing.
"I only have three doctors working under me," House said as he led Valens and Rush down the hallway.
"Only three?" Rush asked.
"Yeah," he said " I can't imagine why, I think it's my sparkling personality that warns people off."
"Yeah that must be it," Lily answered with a smirk.
House continued ignoring the blond detective. "The first is Dr. Eric Foreman, who despite his name is not that annoying kid from That 70's Show, instead is an annoying employee of mine. He's the one who took Do-uh Jordan's case. The other is Dr. Alison Cameron, a real looker. The third is Dr. Robert Chase, who among his many faults is also English." Lily nodded to Scotty who got the message and left to find the other three doctors.
"Alone at last," House said.
"Don't get used to it," Rush answered. "Why not instead what you know so far about Darien Jordan?"
"Not much to tell," House said. "I only visited him once."
"A doctor who visits a patient once?" Lily asked. "You're all heart."
"That's what they all say", House agreed-
~ July, 2004- House walked into the patient's room keeping his eyes on the medical chart. The John Doe had been sleeping but when the doctor walked in, he woke up.
"Wow you've had an interesting time here," he said. "Collapsed conveniantely in front of the hospital, brought back from near death, and are now gracing us with our presence."
"What's the matter Doc?" Doe/Jordan asked in a husky voice. "I blanked out."
"Quite a number of things it seems," House answered. "Extensive bleeding, heart almost stopped, and plus you're hogging the bed from our real patients."
The man glared his gray eyes icy. "I am a patient here."
"Who was oddly enough found outside our hospital parking lot where according to security you had been all night. Trying to work up enough nerve to get a shot? Getting a look at the student nurses?" When the patient didn't respond, House continued. "Anybody we're supposed to contact for you?"
"I have no family," the man answered.
"Anything we can call you besides Mr. Doe?" House asked. Doe/Jordan didn't respond. "Amnesia, I see. Only to be found in soap operas and cheesy sitcoms. Well call me when you're memory comes back. I will be waiting with baited breath." He said as he hobbled out of the room. ~
"And he died later that day," Rush answered. House nodded. "So you think he faked his injuries just to get into the hospital?"
"No, but it sounded good didn't it?" House replied. "All I said was I thought it was suspicious that someone would wait outside a hospital all night. In my experience people are either two things; those who are in a hospital and don't want to be or those who avoid being in one at all costs. Not those who wait outside one."
"What was the official cause of death," Rush asked.
'Well offically, it was heart failure brought on by cirrhosis of the liver." he said. "The guy was apparently a drinker."
"Big drinker judging by his age," Rush replied. "And unofficially."
"Unofficially, patients don't die so soon after they are revived." Rush fixed him a look. "Did that sound profound enough for you?"
Rush opened up her purse and gave House a card. "If you find out anything call me at this hotel. My cell and room number are on the back."
"Kinky," House said.
"About the case!" Lily snapped.
"And if I was the one who did it," House asked.
"I will be taking the card back," Rush answered.
House watched the detective walk away. This is going to be fun, he thought sarcastically. Then he walked over to the receptionist's desk and stood in front of a young mousy redhead.
: "Shelley?" he asked.
"Shirley," she corrected for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Shelley, Shirley, I said that," The diagnostician corrected himself. "Could you give me the record for our John Doe back in July?"
"Sure," she said handing him the record. "May I ask why?"
"Cure for insomnia," House answered as he grabbed the record.
_______________________________________________________________________
Chapter Two: Welcome to this Life
Broken doll baby
And she says that life's a waste
It doesn't have to be that way
Dad threw away her mom
Her mom gave up his name
Crucified by their words
Nailed by shame
She stares into the sun
Self-inflicted pain
She sees that they're blind
Why does she take all the blame
The rhyme has changed compulsion rules
Mary's little lambs are now raised by wolves
A voyeur with wings flashes a cure
She knows forbidden things they have a lovely lure
It's alright it's ok
Welcome to this life
Killin' time
Just watchin' the grass grow
It's alright it's ok
Welcome to this life
Don't worry sweet baby
Cuz it's over before you know
Persecuted she's not normal
I envy her strange ways
Seven deadly sins
Seize the hour seize the day
Her ideas need expression
Her wounds never bleed
Her beauty lives in my eyes
Too bad she can't see
She doesn't try i watch her spirits die
But giving up the ghost would feel so good
A voyeur with wings flashes a cure
She knows forbidden things they have a lovely lure
It's alright it's ok
Welcome to this life
Killin' time
Just watchin' the grass grow
It's alright it's ok
Welcome to this life
Don't worry sweet baby
Cuz it's over
It's alright It's okay
Welcome to this Life
Killin' Time just watching the grass grow
It's alright, it's okay
Welcome to this life
Don't worry sweet baby
Cuz it's over before you know it.
Crumbling camelot idle teardrops
Cloudy diamonds freebase funhouse
Expecting to fly but she's just standing still
Every time she gets it up she just can't close the deal
So she gives herself another way out
Walks her dog for the 50th time and
Files her nails till they bleed and she cries now
She doesn't have to try
It's alright, it's okay
Welcome to this life
Killin' Time
Just watching the grass grow
It's alright it's okay
Welcome to this life
Don't worry sweet baby
'Cause it's over before you know it.
~ "It's Alright, It's Okay" by Leah Andreone
Detective Valens walked into the hospital rec room. The place was empty except for three doctors. An African American male and a brunette woman were drinking coffee and talking while a redhaired man was half-engaged in the newspaper crossword and half-engrossed in their conversation. From the sounds of their discussion, Scotty knew that he and Rush were the topic of conversation. Obviously word travels fast around here, he thought.
"As far as I'm concerned, this woman is my hero,".the black doctor said with a laugh. "According to Wilson, she did something no one else could do: She got House to shut up for five seconds."
The other two doctors broke out laughing. "I would have paid money to see that." the woman said grandly.
"We all would," the redhaired man agreed. He spoke with a British accent.
Valens cleared his throat and the three doctors looked up silent at their visitor. "I'm looking for Dr. Eric Foreman."
The African American doctor exchanged glances with his colleagues then stood up. "I'm Dr. Foreman."
"I'm Detective Valens," Scotty said flashing his badge.
"Is there a problem officer," Foreman asked and then glanced at the badge. "-In Philly?"
"I need to talk to you about a patient you treated," Valens said.
Foreman looked to Cameron and Chase and shrugged. They looked just as confused as he felt.
"I think this is where we get off," Cameron said. She stood up.
"Yes, we'll leave you two alone," Chase agreed. "Lots of work to do." They left leaving the doctor and detective alone.
"Our sources tell us you treated this man," he said showing him the picture of Darien Jordan.
Foreman nodded. "Yeah, I treated him, a John Doe."
"Or as he's now known, Darien Jordan," Valens said. "Not only were you the one who treated him, according to the source you were the one who found him outside the hospital."
"I'll say," Foreman said. "I was arriving for work and I saw him staggered in the parking lot. He said only one thing, "where is she' then passed out. I called it in."
"Do you have any idea who the 'she' was, he was talking about?" Valens said.
Foreman shrugged. "You got me, later I heard security saw him outside during the night, so I
figured it was somebody who worked here."
"You treated him?" Valens asked.
"External bleeding," Foreman answered.
"So he died four hours later of 'heart failure'," Valens quoted.
Foreman glared at the detective from his tone he didn't believe his diagnosis. "That's what his diagnosis was and that's what he showed the signs of."
"Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to you," Scotty asked with a "yeah right" tone to his voice.
"Well something was kind of strange," Foreman said, "But it didn't have anything to do with Jordan. It was right after I treated him." ~
~ July, 2004- Foreman walked down the hallway facing Chase and Cameron. The two doctors glanced at the OR warily.
"How is he?" Chase asked, his voice slightly strained with a tone that told Foreman it was beyond curiosity.
"Pulled through," he answered. "Was bleeding there but otherwise his condition is stabilized."
He turned to Cameron and pulled her away from the English doctor. There was something he had to tell her and it had to be in private.
"Hey Alli- uh Cameron," he said. "I'm sorry about last night. I was out of line."
The female doctor nodded. "It's alright," she said in a far away voice keeping her eyes on the OR.
"Hey," he said waving his hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"
Cameron shook her head and turned to her colleague as if seeing him for the first time.
"Yeah, yes I'm fine." she said softly. Foreman left to take a break but from the corner of his eye he could still see Cameron looking at the door with a look of almost fear and maybe anger in her eyes.~
"What did you apologize for?" Valens asked.
"Professional disagreement," Foreman said pointedly. "We disagreed about a case the night before and things got a little heated. Anyway the way she looked at him, I had a feeling that she knew the guy not only that, but that had some sort of bad history together. I guessed Allison- uh Cameron was the 'she' that he was talking about. That probably explains it."
"Explain what?" Valens asked.
"Well even though I was the first to find the body, I was not the doctor originally assigned to the case," he said. "Cameron was but she didn't want to take it. Not that I blamed her, she had been working a pretty rough case earlier that day and I wasn't scheduled until later that afternoon. So she switched with me."
"Sorry to interrupt this fun," House's broke through. The doctor and detective turned to see House standing in the doorway. "I hate to tear you away from your new friend, Foreman though I have a feeling this is all deja vu for you." Foreman glowered. "But I need you to come to my office. The other two thirds of your brain are already there."
Foreman looked to Valens. "Go, there's not much more I can do here," the cop said then he rose followed his employer out of the rec room while Valens left to go meet Rush.
House walked into his office, followed by Foreman. The African American doctor sat down between Chase and Cameron who were already seated looking nervous. It was obvious what they were going to talk about, or rather who.
House pointed at the white board and grabbed a marker. He wrote on the top, "John Doe/Darien Jordan." He then turned to his fellow Docs. "You know if there is one thing I hate in life, it's being proven wrong."
"One thing?" Foreman said. House silenced him with a look.
House continued. "I want you all to close your eyes and imagine a carefee time, a nostalgic time, a more innocent time of six months ago, July 2004. Now imagine yourselves here as we were diagnosing this patient."
"We went over this," Cameron said. "The only probable cause was heart failure."
"Probable but not likely," House said. "I want to know why we missed this last time and I want to know why I have a couple of detectives whose goal seems to be making my life miserable. I suggest we go over this again." He wrote heart failure on the board then crossed it out."Does anyone know why that is no longer the case?"
"Oh for the love of God," Foreman stood up annoyed. Using the marker, House waved him back down. "I treated him and he took a turn for the worst later that night."
"It was too sudden," House said. "And too violent, the nurse said he started shaking all of a sudden before he died. Or that's what she says now."
"Not uncommon in cirrhosis," Foreman reminded him.
"Yes but like I said, it was too violent," House wrote seizure on the board and then crossed it out. "Does anyone know why that is out?"
"His brainwaves showed no sign of any unusual activity," Cameron remembered. "I mean apart from blockage caused by drugs and alcohol. He wasn't an epileptic or anything like that."
"Very good, Cameron you get a gold star," he said. "What other motives did we discuss?"
"Hepatitis?" Chase suggested. "That could explain the bleeding along with the cirrhosis."
"Not in the blood," Cameron reminded him. "HIV?"
"No," Chase said rather quickly. The others looked at him. "I mean, we did the test he was Negative for HIV."
They listed other probable causes all shot down by one doctor or another. When House came to the end, he wrote "Other" on the board. "Which leads us to the other," House said. He turned his back to his employees so they wouldn't see what he wrote on the board. After he faced him they could see what he wrote. Beside "Other" he put a slash mark and wrote, "Intentional Death: Murder" on the board!
The three younger doctors gasped audibly. House grimaced. "You always see these moments in detective movies but you never think they would happen to you."
"Do you think we had something to do with this?" Cameron asked.
"I don't know," House said honestly. "All I know is you are not above suspicion no one is."
"Including you," Chase said.
"If you want to be that way," House said. "All I know is we didn't find out about it because someone didn't tell us everything about this guy and possibly covered it up. They lied, which once again proves my theory that everyone lies."
"Couldn't it just be wrongful death?" Foreman asked. He turned to his friends. "I'm beginning to like the sounds of that better and better."
"There is a big difference between wrongful death and murder," House said. "Wrongful death is 'Oops, I missed.' Murder is 'I'm glad the sorry son of a bitch is dead and if he came back I would gladly kill him again.' Wrongful death does not require one to cover up information, well not always. Murder usually does. I want you guys to do another check on the guy. Foreman, I want you to go to the lab and find out what you missed."
"But I didn't miss anything," Foreman said.
"Then I suggest you check again," House said. "Then I want you and Chase to do your thing. Check out his place."
"Uh remember he didn't have a place, he was a 'John Doe' when we admitted him and it was six months ago, even if he did it would have changed by then," Foreman reminded him.
"Don't you love a challenge," House quipped. He turned from his friends knowing that that would be all that he would give them. Foreman, Chase, and Cameron stepped out as they did,
Foreman whispered, "It had to be heart failure, it just had to be."
Rush waited outside Post-OP for Dr. Alison Cameron. Through the window she could see the doctor speaking to a patient. The woman's back was turned as she spoke to him and pointed at the blood. The patient was extremely emaciated. Cameron finished speaking to him and stepped out. She didn't see Rush until she was halfway out the door.
"What's the matter with him?" Rush asked.
"AIDS, doesn't have long it seems," Cameron answered simply. "Unless I'm mistaken you're the Philly cop who wants talk to us about Darien Jordan."
"Yeah," Rush showed her ID. "Detective Rush." Cameron invited her her into an empty conference room.
"I don't know how much good I could do to help," she said. "Foreman was the primary physician on the case, not me."
"That's not what I heard," Rush said. "I heard that you were the original doctor assigned to treat Jordan but refused."
Now Cameron looked flustered. Her face reddened with embarrassment. "But I didn't-" she stammered.
Rush continued. "According to your colleague, Foreman you were also standing outside his room looking as though you knew the guy."
"No, I mean-" Cameron stammered, but then sighed. "Alright, I did know him. Pretty well in fact, I'll never forget him~"
~ Mayo Clinic November, 2000- Alison walked out of the library as the lights were turning off indicating closing time. She was the last to leave as the doors closed for night. She followed a group of student doctors and nurses who were laughing and talking about the Presidential Election and when they were actually going to find out who won. Privately, Alison thought the same thing though she didn't participate in the discussion. She had a reputation as the group "goody-goody" the one who always turned in her assignments on time, answered all questions perfectely, never got nervous during exams or did last minute cramming. She wasn't the type to make friends easily and right now she didn't have too many. She ran a finger through her short "Rachel" style hair cut traced it over her ears. She slowed her steps so she wouldn't catch up to the group and let them move far ahead of her.
"Son of a Bitch," the swearing broke through her thoughts. She turned to see where it was coming from. She walked to the dimly lit parking lot and saw a man standing over his car. The hood was open and he was looking at the engine. Alison made sure she stayed near the light before she could talk to him. "Is there a problem, sir?" she asked.
The man turned to look at her. He was taller than she was with short dark, almost black hair. He was very pale looking and had dark colored eyes though she couldn't see in the dark what color they were. He was dressed in a black t-shirt and pants and wearing a jacket. "Yeah it's this damn car," he said. He had an accent New York or Philadelphian, Alison couldnt' place it. "Borrowed it from a friend and now it stalled on me."
Alison opened her purse and pulled out her cell phone but kept her distance. "Would you like me to call somebody a mechanic, or the police?"
The man held out his hand. "Actually if you could give me your phone I'd appreciate it. I could talk to my friend. He's expecting me."
Alison hesitated. She gripped the phone and her purse tightly. The man laughed. "It's alright, I ain't going to hurt you." He walked up to her so close that she could smell the slight smell of alcohol on his breath. She kept her grip on her cell as he relieved her hand from that position. At first he held it lightly, but then when she resisted, he grabbed her wrist even tighter. "Come here," he said.
"No," she said. She pushed away from him dropping her cell in the process. The phone clanked on the parking lot ground. He grabbed her again and this time she kneed him pulling him away.
"Ouch bitch," he yelled. Alison took that oppurtunity to run from him. She dropped her purse, and work and ran as fast as she could. She ran out of the parking lot and out of the clinic grounds. She could hear his deep breathing and knew he was close by. She pushed the tree branches in front of her as she struggled to get away.
She stopped in front of a tree to catch her breath. She was slightly relieved, she couldn't hear him breathing or his footsteps behind her. But she still wasn't satisfied, she moved away from the spot slightly keeping her eyes on the trees around her. Suddenly, she heard a grunt and the man jumped out from behind the trees to her side. He grabbed her and forced her to the ground. "If you scream, I will kill you," he growled in her ear. He put his hand on her mouth as he lay on top of her. Despite his threat, Alison grunted her protests as he raped her. ~
~ Did you ever see him again?" Rush asked.
"No, I reported it to the police but they never found him," Cameron replied. "I guess he left town."
"And that was his final word on the matter?" she asked.
"Being dead is pretty final wouldn't you say?" the doctor answered her voice withered. As if reading Rush's thoughts she quickly added. "I didn't kill him, I'm glad he's dead. I don't usually say that about people but I did not kill him. I was in OR when he died. You can check my alibi yourself. Actually that wasn't his final word on the matter. About nine months later I had another reminder." This time her voice was much softer and sadder.
Rush understood. "Still with you?"
Cameron shook her head. "SIDS, she didn't even reach her first birthday." Her eyes filled with tears.
Lily sat in her hotel room pondering what had been said and looking over the information that she had received when she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" she asked making sure her gun was easy accessed just in case.
"Wise men coming from the East bearing gifts." Lily smiled at the familiar voice. Vero's. She opened the door to see the overweight middle aged detective and his gray haired African American partner standing by the door.
:Good to see you guys," she said clapping them on the shoulder. "I found out some stuff."
"Yeah, so did we," Will Jeffries replied.
"Let's go get Valens and find out," Rush said leading them to Scotty's hotel room.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter Three: Taking Over Me
You don't remember me but I remember you
I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you
but who can decide what they dream?
and dream i do...
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You're taking over me
Have you forgotten all i know
and all we had?
You saw me mourning my love for you
and touched my hand...
I knew you loved me then
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You're taking over me
I look in the mirror and see your face
If i look deep enough
So many things inside that are just like you are taking over
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live to breathe
You're taking over me!!!!
You're taking over me
You're taking over me
You're taking over me....
Taking over me!
~ Taking Over Me by Evanescence
Scotty Valens held the phone to his ear and dialed a number he was only starting to know from memory. It rang three times. Valens grinned as he heard it pick up, but his grin quickly faded when he heard the voice. "Hello?" asked a sleepy male voice.
"Uh," Valens replied looking at the phone to make sure he dialed the proper number. "I'm sorry, I'm trying to reach Christina Rush."
"She's sleeping," the man said. "What do you want with her?" Valens felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him.
"Nothing," Valens said his voice hollow as he hung up the phone. Well you had been warned Valens, he thought to himself, Chalk another one up to the idiot!
His thoughts were distracted by a knock on the door. He opened it to see Vera, Jeffires, and Rush standing on the other side and waved them in.
As if reading his thoughts, Rush asked. "Wasn't home?"
"Oh she was," he said.
Rush smiled not unkindly. "I hate to say I told you so, but I did."
Jeffries cleared his throat. "If we can get to the matter at hand."
Rush nodded. "Yeah, Cameron's alibi checks out. She was in OR when Jordan died."
"Maybe she was working with somebody," Valens suggested.
"That thought occured to me as well, so I hadn't completely ruled her out yet," Rush said then her tone turned softer "I must admit that if it had been me-"
. "Yeah I would have done some serious damage if he hurt my girls as well," Jeffries said bitterly. "You know we're not allowed to pick 'em."
Rush nodded and turned to Vera and Jeffries. "What did you guys find out?"
"Quite a bit actually," Jeffries answered. "In July 2004, a guy fitting Jordan's description checked into a hotel about five miles from here under the name Darien Jacobs. He checked out a couple of days later."
"A name for every occasion," Valens quipped.
Vera held up a copy of a contract. "Not only that but we finally have a connection to Our Fair City. Jordan, then using the name, Adrien Kingsborough rented an apartment in Philly in '97 with a co-signer, Robert Chase."
Valens and Rush exchanged looks of recognition. "One of House's doctors." Rush said.
"Not only that but the landlord remembered them pretty well because as he put it 'he didn't get too many Limey fairies' living in his complex and he had two of them" Vera said using air quotes.
"So Jordan was English," Valens realized. "Probably affected a different accent in front of Cameron."
"Not only that but Chase knew him all too well," Rush said.
"Remember the car that both Foreman and Cameron described in their incidents, a blue Camino?" Rush and Valens nodded as Vera continued holding for dramatic effect. "Well guess whose name that car was registered under."
"The good doctor," Valens guessed. Vera and Jeffries nodded.
"Let's go back to the hospital to see if we can talk to the good doctor," Rush suggested. Valens agreed.
"We'll go to the hotel and find out what we can find out about Jordan," Jeffries said as the four detectives rose and left to do their work.
The hotel clerk, a gray haired plump woman whose tag read "Linda Davis" looked at the picture the two officers showed her. "Yeah I know that guy, he checked in last summer, Room 3B" She pointed to the second floor which was seen from the lobby.
"Can you tell us anything about him?" Jeffries asked.
"Not much too tell," she said. "He was quiet mostly kept to himself except for one incident I don't think I'd remember him at all."
"What was that?" Vera asked.
Ms. Davis recalled, "Well he had a visitor one night, guy, red hair, looked kind of preppy like one of those Princeton students and spoke with a hoity-toity accent you know like you hear on Masterpiece Theatre?"
Vera and Jeffries looked at each other and nodded. "Go on," Jeffries prompted.
"Well apparently things got a little loud between them," she said ~
~ July, 2004- Ms. Davis could hear the shouting coming from 3B all the way from the lobby. Whatever was going on, she was equally concerned for the other guests, but also just as curious since she was a natural-born gossip. She was torn between calling the police and obeying her natural curiosity and listening in. She opted for the latter.
She walked out of the lobby and carefully crept up the stairs so she wouldn't be heard. As soon as she reached the B level she could hear the argument better. She stayed in front of 1B (the previous guests had checked out that morning. If she were caught she could always say that she was doing some maintenance work on the room) and listened. It was two men, the guest Darien Jacobs and the English guy she let in. The funny thing was she didn't remember Jacobs having an English accent himself when she admitted him, but now he definately had it.
"I warned you to stay away from me!" the visitor roared. "What is it going to take to get you out of my life?"
"Oh really," Jacobs asked. Ms. Davis could tell he was amused. "And you came all this way just to tell me that? Or maybe you're the one who's having a hard time getting over me!"
"It's over, move on I have," the visitor said quietly in a tone that said that he was heading for the door.
"Oh you've been with anyone else since me?" the other guest asked. "Lived with anyone else? Dated? Sogged with anyone else?" There was a deep silence when he added. " Didn't think so.
I don't think you've moved on as much as you think."
"I'll call the police, I'm not afraid of you anymore," the visitor threatened in a tone that indicated he couldn't answer Jacob's earlier questions.
"Go ahead seeing as how helpful they were last time," Jacobs prompted. Silence again, then "YOU GET AWAY FROM THAT DOOR!!!!" Davis reared back terrified. Then she heard a loud crash, like glass breaking and the visitor screaming not words, just noise.
She then heard the sound of someone fall and bang against something the bed or the dresser, Davis insanely thought. The visitor said quietly but fiercely. "Get away from me. I'll kill you if you don't."
"You'll kill me" Jacobs laughed as though he were a small child stepped out of line. "Maybe I should watch my back then? Daddy's Little Boy has a gun?"
That was enough! Ms. Davis ran out of the B wing and to her lobby to call the police. But it was too late. While she was making the call the visitor had left and Jacobs left a half hour later and never returned. ~
"Yeah I'd say that was pretty loud," Jeffries said. Just then Jeffries' cell began to ring. He looked at his phone, then held up his finger to say one minute. "Jeffries," he said.
"Jeffries," Valens said. "We haven't found Chase yet. Seems he and Foreman took a really long lunch."
"Yeah well we just found out that Jacobs and a guy fitting Chase's description had the Lovers' Spat to End All Lovers' Spats." He quickly explained Davis' testimony.
"Hmm," Valens considered over the phone. "Maybe from the sounds of a drunk 'Where is she' was actually 'where is he?'"
"Yeah, so you don't know where Chase is?" Jeffries asked.
"He could be anywhere," Valens said. "But Rush and I are still looking on it."
Vera tapped Jeffries on the shoulder. "Hey Will look." Jeffries looked at where he was pointing. At B level, two men were making a very obvious attempt at sneaking around. The red haired one looked around as if to keep watch and the African American one had his back turned as the door opened to 3B. "I'll give you three guesses as to who those two are," Vera said.
"I'll call you back," Jeffries said to Valens as he hung up.
Foreman and Chase crept into the hotel room. "It's unoccupied perhaps we could have just asked for the key?" Chase suggested.
"Can you imagine how that conversation would go?" Foreman asked. " 'Hi we would like to break into the hotel room of a guy who was here six months ago and was killed in our hospital.' "They walked into the hotel room and took a quick look around. It had been vacuumed and the bed had been made. "I can't imagine what House expects us to find here. This hotel room had been cleaned several times probably in the last six months."
"If they have not is this type of hotel that people would want to check in?" Chase said.
"Well we have to do this anyway and have to find something or we'll never hear the end of it."
The two doctors searched. Foreman looked through the drawers, but couldn't find anything apart from stationary, pencils, and a Gideon Bible. Figuring he had nothing to lose, the doctor flipped through the Bible hoping to maybe find something no such luck. He searched under the table and chairs: nothing. No chemicals apart from the usual smell of cleaning equipment. Nothing personal to indicate Jordan let alone anyone else. "Any luck?" he asked turning to Chase.
The British doctor seemed to stop searching for a second. He fingered the edge of the dresser with a far-away look in his eye. His back was propped against the bed. "Hey you awake?" Foreman asked. But Chase didn't seem to answer as though he hadn't heard him. Foreman shrugged and went back to work.
"Foreman," Chase said. Foreman turned to his friend's direction. Chase had reached his hand behind the bedpost and pulled something out. "Look what I found."
Foreman examined his friend's find as Chase put it in his hand. It was small and clear, and any doctor would recognize it immediately. "A syringe. No guarantee it's his."
"Only one way of finding out," Chase said. "Other than that I found nothing."
"Me too," Foreman said. "Let's get out of here."
The two doctors stood and Foreman opened the door as they were about to leave. Unfortunately, their way was blocked by two men, an older African-American man and a pudgy dark haired man.
"Ehh, what's up Docs?" Vera asked imitating Bugs Bunny.
"WHAT? They broke into someone's hotel room?" House asked in mock alarm. He turned to his employees. "If they let you off with a warning that is just too generous. Consider yourselves grounded. And I should let you know, your mother and I are very disappointed!"
"Save it, House," Jeffries said. "They already told us you told them to do it."
House glared at Foreman and Chase. He took pride in noting that they looked as though they wished the earth would swallow them up. "Snitches." he grumbled.
"We should have them arrested for breaking and entering," Jeffries said. "But if they give us the evidence we won't worry about it."
Chase hesitated, but gave the syringe to the cop. " Our fingerprints are not on it. It was the only thing that we could find."
"What? nothing else?" House asked. The detectives glared at him.
"Thank you," Vera said then turned to House. "You can go." House walked away mumbling something about having better things to do. "You too," he turned to the duo. Foreman left, but before Chase could get up Vera grabbed him by the arm. "Not you."
"What for?" Chase said.
"We just like men with accents," Vera said. Chase sat back down.
"We'll sum up, Chase," Jeffries said. "You knew Darien Jordan pretty well."
"What?" the doctor asked, his voice sounded strangled. "You have no proof."
"The hotel desk clerk and his old landlord in Philly, you remember Philadelphia don't you, said that he was English," Vera said.
"There are a lot of us in America," Chase pointed out.
"Yeah but this particular Englishman had a vehicle registered in your name," Jeffries said.
"It was stolen from me, long ago," the doctor said getting more nervous.
"And rented an apartment in Philadelphia with both him and you as leasees," the older detective said. Chase said nothing. "Not only that but the desk clerk said that she saw a guy fitting your description visiting him in the hotel getting into a very animated argument with him. You even threatened to kill him."
Chase mumbled something that they couldn't hear. "I'm sorry what was that?" Vera said.
"The bastard deserved whatever he got," he swore.
"Where you the one who gave it to him?" Jeffries asked.
Chase shook his head his face very pale. "No, I didn't. I went to see him to stop him from stalking me. He had sent me many threatening emails and notes, phone calls. He even had one taped out my apartment door. Said all kind of things horrible things. I had some of them saved, just in case I could report it to the police. But when he died, I figured it didn't matter. I wanted to throw them away, but I forgot. They are probably in my apartment somewhere."
"You were lovers," Jeffries said it wasn't a question.
"Yes, he was the reason I came here in the first place," Chase said "Adrien Kingsborough was his real name."
"That you know of, "Vera pointed out.
"I had better know," Chase said. "I knew him for a long time. He worked for my father.~"
~ London, England. Agust, 1997-Robert walked past the large immaculate lawn around the wealthy white house to the rusted gray car waiting for him. He opened the door and slid into the passenger seat next to the dark haired young man across from him. Adrian Kingsborough turned down the radio just as a news bulletin sounded announcing that Diana, Princess of Wales was injured in a car accident in Paris.
"This thing's a soddin' piece of junk," Adrien said indicating his car. "When we get to the States I'll be glad to get a new one, a posher one. " His companion had a funny look on his face. "What's wrong?" He asked. "What did your Old Man say?"
Robert shrugged. "Nothing."
"You mean he's okay with it?" Adrien asked.
"Mostly because I didn't tell him," Robert said.
"Lost your nerve did you?" Adrien teased.
Robert looked down and practiced what he was going to say. " 'Daddy, I am running away to
America with one of your male mechanics.' Hey maybe we can run off together while he is recovering from his stroke!"
"I thought your Dad was 'a materialistic crooked son of a bitch who cared only for money and didn't show the slightest bit of concern for his wife and son'.'" the dark haired man said quoting his lover's words.
Robert scoffed. "I also said status seeking in that he will care that I am in a homosexual relationship, and have been secretly since I was sixteen, not only that but with someone who is 'below my station'."
"Do you not want to go?" he asked.
Robert sighed coming to the real reason. "It's my Mum you know that. I can't leave her while she's sick. My Dad doesn't take care of her properly, but I do. The last time he left the gin closet unlocked and she nearly drank the whole thing dry. It's not that I don't want to, I just can't."
Adrien looked squarely at his lover with those intense gray eyes that made Robert melt.
"Robby, you thought about what everyone else wants your Dad, your Mum, me. Now tell me right now what do you want for you?"
The young Englishman looked closely at Adrien, his companion's fingers running through his short hair. They slowly pulled together, their arms becoming interlocked. "I just want to be with you."
"Alright then, I'm taking that job in Philadelphia and I'm leaving this weekend. I don't want to leave without you, but if you're not there, I'll have to and I love you too much to do that."
They kissed passionately before Robert pulled away. "One other thing," he said. "I will want to go to med school."
"Just say the word and you will Baby," he said. "They do have Med Schools in America. They even use modern equipment and speak English there."
Robert couldn't resist a smile creeping up. "Come on smile for me," Adrien prompted. He smiled wider. "There that's it." He said as they fell together in a deep embrace and kiss.~
~ "My mother died two days later of cirrhosis," Chase said. "So we ran off together."
"So he needs a ticket to get to America and seduces his boss' son to get it," Vera continued, "And you believed him."
Chase shrugged realizing not for the first time how hopelessly naive and infatuated he sounded. "I was eighteen."
He continued. "I was happy the first year or so, I mean he was intense and would sometimes get himself into trouble but I didn't mind that, but overtime he began to change. Perhaps he had always been like that and I didn't notice. He became violent more argumentative, he also began to drink a lot. Occasionally I would catch him with drugs."
"Did he ever hit you?" Jeffries said. Chase nodded and blinked as though he could still feel the punches.
He sighed. "I was in love with him when we first met, but by the time I saw him in the hospital last July no one probably hated him as much as I did."
"I'm sure Alison Cameron would beg to differ," Vera said.
Chase blinked rapidly. "Cameron? What does she have to do with anything?"
"According to Cameron your boyfriend liked getting with the ladies and not always by their consent," the cop said.
Chase let the news sink in. "Cameron was rap-? She never said anything, well why would she? And Adrien did that to her? I knew he was bisexual in fact he had a girlfriend when we started going out, but oh Cameron. That son of a bitch! .I didn't know, I swear I didn't know. When?"
"November 2000," Jeffries answered. "Strike a bell with you?"
Chase nodded. "That was around the time I left him."~
~ Philadelphia, PA. November, 2000- Chase walked home to their apartment carefully making sure that Adrien wouldn't hear him. That's silly, he told himself, Adrien was at work and would be gone for several days. He wasn't home. He never revealed what he actually did, and Chase had no idea. Okay he had some idea, also some idea on how he entertained himself, but he never asked. The last time he did, Adrien had put him in the hospital with a broken wrist.
He rested his head against the apartment door stifling a yawn. He was exhausted from a full couse load at school. At least since Adrien wasn't home, he could take a shower and rest before he began work that evening another taxing situation working as a lab assistant for some very rude doctors.. Also his relationship with Adrien was draining him. It was hard to tell how he would act. One minute, he would be so sweet and so remorseful. The next he would fly into a rage and strike him after some real or imagined insult.What made him even lonelier was there was nowhere he could go to. He didn't have too many friends out here and those he did have were more Adrien's than his and he tried reporting it to the police but they behaved as though a domestic dispute between gay lovers was not an actual threat.
He tried leaving Adrien once and was found by one of his friends. Of course Adrien went into his sorrowful act and of course Robert believed him and came back. He bought him a car once hoping that it would make him happy, but he didn't seem to be. It's my fault, he thought bitterly, I made a damn fool of myself and look where it got me, in this low rent apartment in a strange land, with a man I'm not even sure I love anymore. You could always go home, a calmer voice inside his head said, If not to your father then you have some friends in England that you could stay with, ones who wisely warned you about him. He considered that as he unlocked the door and walked in the apartment.
The lights were off so he turned them on. Just as the room filled with light someone jumped up from the couch. Robert drew back in fear. Adrien threw a whiskey glass at the door nearly missing Chase just barely. "Adrien, it's me!" Chase said.
Adrien blinked and squinted. "Robby sorry," he said. He waved him down. Robert looked closely at his lover. Adrien had changed a lot since they moved to America. His hair was fuller and now was thinning. His face was pale and his eyes were almost permanently bloodshot. He was older than Chase, but lately he looked it. Chase walked to the refrigerator and offered his lover one half a subway sandwich. Adrien just slapped his hand throwing the sandwich on the ground.
"Is something the matter?" Chase asked putting his hand on Adrien's shoulder. The dark haired man turned away from as if he had been bitten by a snake.
"Just fine," he said his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why do you ask?"
"Do I need to really explain it," he said. "I'm worried about you. You never tell me where you are going or when you are coming home. You seem upset about something."
"Why do you ask?" Adrien sneered. "You think I'm having something on the side. You think that Rich Boy is the only one I get hard for?"
Chase shook his head dreading what was coming and already sorry that he asked. "No, I'm just worried-"
"-Yeah worried, think you're better than your poor lover huh?" the man said.
"No, I never said that," Chase almost stood until Adrien held him back down. He had pulled
Robert closer until he was practically sitting on his lap. "No, Adrien I don't want to when you're like this."
"Oh you don't want to," he said. "Little Schoolboy who never did a bad thing in his life. Except run off with his Daddy's mechanic." He pushed Robert closer to him trying to put his hands on the young doctor-to-be's genitalia. Robert moved his hands, and Adrien tried again only this time rougher. Robert pushed his hand away and lightly slapped his lover's face. Adrien was first stunned but then he pushed Robert off of his lap. Chase fell to the floor. Adrien landed on top of him and prepared to strike him. Robert kneed him away but Adrien grabbed him by the wrist. He punched him so hard that he fell by a table his hand hitting it as he fell.
Chase woke up what seemed like hours later with a sore neck. Adrien must have knocked him out cold. He looked outside, it was night. He had been out awhile. He felt his face examining it for any bruises. Just a cut lip and a throbbing hand, he got off lucky this time. Adrien was nowhere to be seen; no doubt going wherever it is he went. He had taken the car as well. Mechanically, Chase stood and began to pack a few clothes. He checked his wallet for money and saw that he had just enough to hop on a bus and get a plane ticket. He grabbed his suitcase and left the apartment knowing he was going home. ~
"I didn't return to America until last June when I began work here," Chase said finishing the tale. "One of Adrien's friends must have found out I had returned and told him, that's when he began stalking me."
"What's your alibi," Jeffries asked.
"I was in the Rec Room alone," he said. "I was going home early that day and I got something to eat."
"Not much of one," Vera replied.
"Well, I'm sorry but it's the best I could do," Chase said.
Vera and Jeffries related the story to Rush and Valens later in the hotel room. "Seems likely,
not much of an alibi but a strong motive for murder."
Rush agreed. "But not enough evidence to link him totally yet." Just then her cell phone
rang. She answered. "Rush."
"Would you like to talk to a guy with a really big stick?" a voice said imitating an obscene
caller.
Rush rolled her eyes facing her colleagues. Valens could barely hold back a grin and the other two were also smiling. "Yeah that's a good idea crank call the woman who not only has a gun but is permitted to use it."
House's voice returned to normal. "Just come to the hospital lab there's something I want to show you. It has to do with Our Hero.It's really exciting. Come on you know you want to."
"I'll be there one hour," Rush said hanging up. She faced her colleagues and explained House's call.
"Looks like you got to go to talk to your boyfriend again," Valens teased.
Rush rolled her eyes. "I can't wait."
_______________________________________________________________________
Chapter Four: I Believe
Walk blindly to the light and reach out for his hand
Don't ask any questions and don't try to understand
Open up your mind and then open up your heart
And you will see that you and me aren't very far apart
'Cause I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
Violence is spread worldwide and there are families on the street
And we sell drugs to children now oh why can't we just see
That all we do is eliminate our future with the things we do today
Money is our incentive now so that makes it okay
But I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
I've been seeing Lisa now for a little over a year
She said she's never been so happy but Lisa lives in fear
That one day daddy's gonna find out she's in love
With a brother from the streets
Oh how he would lose it then but she's still here with me
'Cause she believes that love will see it through
And one day he'll understand
And he'll see me as a person not just a black man
'Cause I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
I believe I believe I believe I believe that love is the answer
I believe that love will find the way
Love will find the way
Love will find the way
Love will find the way
Please love find the way
Please love find the way
~ "I Believe" by Blessid Union of Souls
House had his back turned and looked into the microscope as he heard the footsteps stop behind him. "What's the matter, Barbie?" He asked in mock concern. "Lonely now that you and Ken broke up?"
Rush grimaced at the doctor's sarcastic comment. "How did you know it was me?"
"I heard your footsteps stop in front of the door," House answered. "Most people who are familiar with this place know where the lab is without having to read the numbers on the door.Plus, I saw your reflection in the window." He pointed to the window.
Rush walked closer to House. "You had something to show me." She reminded him. "And it had better be relevent to the case and not what I think it might be."
"First one thing and then the other," House said. When the detective growled, he turned to a more business like manner. He waved her over to microscope and stepped aside for her to look in. "Look in here."
Rush looked inside the microscope. It looked like a sample of blood with several black and white spots and marks around it. Rushe turned to the doctor. "I'm sorry. You're talking to someone who failed basic high school chemistry."
"With those highlights? I never would have guessed." Another glare this time with a pointed look at the gun at her side. "Alright, did you see those white spots inside it?"
"Yes," Rush asked warily.
"What you see swimming around in Jordan's blood is Morphine," House replied. "Enough to give him an overdose and ultimately kill him."
"And it wasn't perscribed," Rush reasoned.
House shook his head. "Not at least according to his file. Now quid pro quo? You're not married since you don't have a wedding ring. So you're single, seeing anyone?"
"I don't see what that has to do anything," Rush sputtered.
"I just like to get to know the people I am forced to work with," House answered. "You and Officer Gourgeous an item?"
Rush rolled her eyes. "His name is Detective Valens and no we are not. He is my partner."
"He's seeing someone else isn't he?" House said.
Rush kept her eye on the microscope hating this line of questioning. "Yes."
"A friend of yours I would guess, maybe a relative?" House said.
Rush whirled to face him stunned. "How did you-?"
"Well you still work together so you're still pretty tight," he said. "And you still have him in your life, so it must be a close relationship to you not one you want to see the back of with either person."
Rush didn't respond to it. "What about you, Sherlock or Hannibal as it were. You don't have a ring and you seem to stay pretty distant from the rest of the staff, both female and male so you're not with any of them at least not now. Are you seeing anyone?" House gave her a long surprised look. "I can play that game too."
"No, my sparkling personality," he reminded her. "Though I'm always on the lookout for a Future Ex-Mrs. House."
"Yeah that must be it," she said. "Now back to the subject at hand: the morphine? He was a drug addict, could he have gotten it before?"
"That was my first instinct," House said. "Until I found this." He removed the small slide and inserted another. "This was his blood when he arrived in the hospital. See the difference?"
Rush looked inside at the blood and black spots. She didn't have to look long to figure it out. "No morphine," she said.
"Which means someone put it in him here," he said.
"Is it possible for Chase or Cameron to have given it to him," Rush asked.
"What do they have to do with it?" House asked. Rush at first hesitated but House waved his finger. "Uh uh, uh, Detective Blondie. I shared information with you, it's your turn."
She quickly told the stories that Chase and Cameron recounted to the police including the deceased's real name. House clicked the top handle of his cane. "Wow, can I pick them or what?"
"You don't sound surprised," Rush answered. "Did they tell you?"
"Are you kidding and if they did I wouldn't have trusted them," House said. "That Cameron was raped, I guessed that. Did she tell you she had a baby?"
"And it died, SIDS," Rush said.
"Yeah well," House said not replying to that. "That Chase was gay, that again I guessed. Turns out I was right on both counts. But that Cameron was raped by the same guy that Chase was being gay with? Sounds more interesting than General Hospital! About whether they could have done it, I don't know. But I will tell you that discovering this would be easy."He indicated the morphine. "Any first year medical student could have found it."
"So either someone didn't discover it or that they had and didn't tell you about it?" Rush said realizing. "More than likely the latter. Who usually does the lab work for you?"
"Foreman," House said. "Door number three."
"Looks like we'll have a chat with him," Rush said.
"Okay but I'm watching," House said.
"Wait a minute," Rush said."How do I know you're not just saying this because you're the killer?"
"Nonsense," House said. "If I were the killer why would I tell you how I did it?"
Rush sighed. "Whatever. You can watch."
"Oh and something else?" House asked.
"Yes," Rush asked.
"Can I be bad cop?"
Eric Foreman sat in a very uncomfortable chair with two detectives and his boss looking at him. He was nervous, but tried not to show it. Inside, he wished the floor would crack open and he could crawl in and let this misery end.
"We know that you lied about the report, Foreman," Valens said.
"No I didn't," Foreman said. "It was heart failure. That's what the tests showed."
House gave a mock sympathetic click. "Foreman, if I taught you anything it was to be a better lier."
"I'm not lying," the doctor said. "Can I go back to work now or-?"
"-In a minute," Rush said pointing to the seat. Foreman sat back down.
House pointed at the slide. "Exhibit A, actually the only exhibit but never mind. Anybody coming in after you would have known that this had morphine. Any lab technician, any med student, and above all your warm and cuddly boss would have found this. And yet you neglected to mention it in his report."
"I didn't see it," Foreman said pointedly.
"You didn't see the spots that surrounded his blood?, "House asked. Are you really that blind?"
"I am not lying," he said glaring at his employer and emphasized his words.
Rush nodded. "Maybe you were trying to protect yourself, for something you did or trying to protect someone else for something they did."
Foreman kept his face down. He didn't want to look at the three faces so close to him. "I am sticking with my diagnosis. It's better for -"
"-Who, Doc," Valens said. "The patient?"
"No, her," Foreman said. "Allison."
The two detectives looked at each other: Cameron. House just had this peculiar look on his face that was equal parts surprise and almost laughter. "I missed that one," House said.
"Are you two together?" Rush asked.
Foreman shook his head. "No, she doesn't know. Just me for her, as far as I know. And I really know now."
"How do you mean?" Valens asked.
Foreman tapped his fingers to the table. "The night before Jordan was admitted. Cameron and I hung out. We first went to a bar and then went back to my place. We had a few drinks and were talking when I did something pretty stupid."
"What were you talking about?" Rush inquired.
Foreman looked at House embarressed. He stammered, " I-I'd rather not say."
"Go on," House prompted.
"Well, Boss," Foreman said. "You. We were talking about you."
~ July, 2004- Foreman and Cameron had swallowed the latest bit of alcohol, as Cameron laughed hysterically. Foreman picked up a yard stick and held it to his side pretending it was a cane. He was mimicking their boss during the dressing down of his employees he gave them earlier that day. "In my hospital, I am God and you will do what I say Foreman." He said doing his best to imitate House's voice. "If you didn't find it in his system, I suggest you check it again."
Cameron fell over to the ground slapping the ground as she laughed. "Good one, that sounds just like him!"
"Someday if he pushes us too far," Foreman said. "Maybe we all oughta chase after him!."
At that Cameron's voice could barely be heard over her chuckles. She tried to speak but broke up again. "I was just imagining , you, me, Chase , Wilson and the others going after him with torches and hunting him down!"
They laughed entertaining the notion. "Well except Cuddy!" Foreman laughed.
"That's true," Cameron said. "Maybe we can hunt her down too." She pulled her hair back imitating their administrator. "Why House you have a bigger ego than I do," she said.
"Well you know what they say about men with big egos," Foreman said going back to his House routine.
"Oh Greg," Cameron sighed seductively.
"Oh Lisa," Foreman growled feigning romance.
The two pretended to fall into each other and just fell to the ground breaking up. She is beautiful, Foreman thought watching her lie on the ground. He always thought she was, but was suddenly conscious of the fact that Allison Cameron had entered his thoughts more often lately.
"Do you think they like each other?" Cameron asked.
Foreman felt like he had been shot. Did she know? "Who?"
"House and Cuddy," Cameron reminded him.
"Oh them," he said flatly. "Who knows, probably?"
"Oh," Cameron sounded disappointed.
"You're not sweet on him are you?" Foreman asked suddenly feeling jealous.
"NO! He's old enough to be my father," Cameron laughed. "He's just a good doctor, I respect
him."
"Respect him or respect him?" Foreman teased drawing out the last respect.
"No, just respect him," she said. "I'm not really interested in anybody right now. I actually
haven't been with anyone in awhile, you?"
Foreman shook his head. "Haven't found the right girl yet. Though there is one girl I am sort of into right now."
"But she doesn't know?" Cameron asked.
"No," Foreman answered.
"You know you should go for it with her," Cameron said. "You should come up to her and put
your hand on her hair and just press your lips on hers."
"Really?" Foreman asked putting his hand on her hair. There was silence as Foreman leaned closer to his colleague. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her.
They kissed for a half second, until Cameron pulled away. Foreman could tell that she was
suddenly sober and horrified. "What are you doing?" she said. She then pushed herself away. "Get away from me!"
Foreman stood up. "I like you, I have ever since we started working together!"
"Are you crazy?" Cameron yelled. "I am not going to do that with you!"
"You sure as Hell would do it with House," Foreman blurted out. He saw the hurt in Cameron's
eyes and was remorseful. He felt sober now as well. "Look Allison, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to
say that. I'm sorry."
He pulled closer to her, but this time she resisted. "You stay away from me!" Foreman obeyed
staying where he was as Allison grabbed her jacket. "I'm going home," she said.
"You're drunk," Foreman said. "You can't take your car."
"Well then I'll walk," she said.
"Ten blocks?" Foreman asked.
"I'll think of something," Cameron declared. "It's late, I just - I have to go." She opened
the door and ran out leaving Foreman alone with his thoughts.~
"When I saw the way she looked at the guy the next day," Foreman said not wanting to finish.
"You decided to play the knight in shining black armour," House jibed. Foreman nodded not
acknowledging House's caustic comment.
"First you offered to switch cases with her when she refused to take him," Rush realized. "And then you thought that she might have killed him so you were willing to sacrifice your career for her or at least let it take a hit."
"Yeah pretty much it," Foreman agreed.
"Well you're in luck," Valens said. "Your Lady Fair has an alibi for the time of Kingsborough's death."
"She didn't do it," Rush agreed.
Foreman sighed. "Thank God." Rush and Valens left the two doctors alone together. Foreman looked at the table, the clock, the mirror, anything to avoid looking at House's gaze.
"Uh would it help to say I'm sorry," Foreman joked weakly.
"Oh Foreman, You know what the worst part about your performance was," House said. "You
thought Cuddy and I were a couple!"
Det. Vera and Stillman rang the doorbell to the fine brickhouse. They heard a soft pleasent female voice speaking loudly. "Hold on Jim, I'll get it," she said. Then the door opened to reveal a woman with a short pert neck length blond haircut. She was dressed in a blue office suit and was putting on an earring. "Yes, is there something I can do for you," she asked.
Vera and Stillman revealed their badges. "Ma'am, I'm Detective Stillman and this is Detective Vera. We're here to speak to your husband."
The woman's eyes widened looking concerned. "Is he in some kind of trouble?" she asked.
Stillman shook his head. "No we just wanted to ask him a few questions."
Dr. James Wilson then appeared at the door fully dressed. Vera smirked. He thought the doctor looked like someone who had spent most of his life in prep school. "It's okay Julia, I got it," Wilson said. He then turned to the detectives. "Can we talk about this on the way, I am going to be late for work."
"We'll walk you out," Vera said.
Wilson turned to his wife. "I'll see you later. I might work late though." He said.
"Okay, I'll see you later," Julia said. "Don't let House bite."
"I won't," he said. "Bye."
"Bye," she said as he left.
Vera and Stillman walked behind the doctor who walked as fast as he could. "I guess it's
about Darien Jordan?" Wilson asked.
"He has a real name, Adrien Kingsborough," Stillman replied.
"New one on me," Wilson said.
"And we know that he might have been killed by an overdose of morphine," Vera said. "Who
among the staff would have handled it, any of the younger members?"
Wilson shrugged. "That would be wierd if they did."
"How so," Stillman said.
"Well I'm too busy right now to explain but it's a matter of public record," Wilson answered.
"Generally, first years aren't allowed to handle morphine except under extreme circumstances. Look I have to go." He felt in his pocket for the car keys and opened the door to his red car. "But I'll look into it and let you know," he said.
They handed them the card to the hotel and he accepted it as he revved up the engine. "Thanks for letting us know-" Vera said as Wilson pulled the car out of parking and sped across the road. "-Andretti."
Stillman, Vera, Rush, and Valens sat next to each other in the hospital waiting room. "Wilson was right," Stillman said. "Goes back to a lawsuit in the 80's, first year medical personnell are not allowed to perscribe,offer, or give morphine unless a senior doctor is present. Cameron, Foreman, and Chase are all first year personnell. In fact the ruling is so strict that if they tried to get it from the closet where they locate it, the system automatically rejects their I.D."
"There are ways around that," Valens offered.
"Not only that," Vera said as he held out a schedule. "According to records, Adrien Kingsborough died at 12:15 p.m. That means the suspect would have gotten the morphine between 11 and Twelve." He held out a chart. "This shows the hospital personnell who entered that closet. Does one of the names around that time ring a bell?"
Rush looked at the list. She didn't have to look long. One name lit up like a neon light in Vegas. "I'll be damned," She whispered severely.
_______________________________________________________________________
Chapter Five: Heart of Stone
We need to lay in each other's arms
There's no where else to go
It's all so easy and I want you to know
There'll never be another one who could get this close to me
Everything you give to me is everything I've ever dreamed of
Even when you turn your back now
I can feel you reaching for me
Even when you walk away
I'll still know where you're hiding
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I've seen your tears fall when you thought you were alone
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I can't believe it
You try to make like I'm not there
To show me how you feel
You don't have to hurt me with the hurt that you won't reveal
There'll never be another one who could get this close to you
I can give you everything that you've ever dreamed of
Even when you turn your back now
I can feel you reaching for me
Even when you walk away
I still know where you're hiding
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I've seen your tears fall when you thought you were alone
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I can't believe it
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
The more you try to hide your love, the more it shows
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I can't believe it
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
The more you try to hide you love, the more it shows
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I can't believe it
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
Your eyes say yes even when you tell me no
I can't believe you've got a heart of stone
I can't believe it
~ "Heart of Stone" by Taylor Dayne
House was talking to his latest patient, or as he liked to call "Freak of the Week" and today's was probably the freakiest or at least the dumbest. This young man was one of those Gothic style kids all decked out in black makeup, and spiky hair, with prosthetic fangs.
"I don't normally come out at night, Doc," he said.
"No kidding," House offered in mock surprise. Where do I get these?, he thought to himself.
"But my mouth is starting to bother me, every time I eat anything." House looked inside the kid's mouth. "I mean I can't suck on the lives of innocent mortals."
"Yeah don't you hate it when that happens," House said sarcastically as he examined the mouth. "Well Lestat, I see your problem. You are going to have to go veggie for awhile bite the necks of celeries, and brussel sprouts."
"I can't do that," the man said. "The children of the night are calling me!"
House waved his hand disdainful. "Yeah well, they're going to have to wait genius! You drilled your fangs in to your mouth so tight it affected the nerves!"
"Will I live doctor," the kid whined sounding less like the Gothic vampire and more like the wussy suburban kid House figured him to be.
"Yes," House said. "Just go into surgery and have them removed. And then go to the costume shop and get some fangs that don't cause you to wedge out what little brain you have!"
The kid sighed. "Alright, Doc." As he rose to leave, the patient turned to House. "By the way doctor what type of blood do you have?"
"M.E. positive," House said. "Much too rich for your tastes!" The kid left as House slammed the door behind him. What an idiot, he thought popping a Vicodin.
He gathered up his records as he saw Det. Lily Rush standing by the door waiting for him to come out. He walked out with the detective following close behind him. "Why Detective Rush, seeing you alone twice within a couple of days? People will say we're in love!" She followed him into his office and closed the door behind them.
Rush held a paper in front of his face. " Would you care to explain this House?" Rush asked. House opened the paper and saw a list of hospital personnell's names with his circled at 11:45 a.m.
"Well it seems to explain to me that your job must be very boring," House quipped.
Rush stopped him with one hand and looked directly into his eyes. "Enough with the comments, enough with the superiority, and enough with the patronizing attitude. This is the personnell who entered the closet which carried the morphine that was given to Adrien Kingsborough. He died at 12:15 p.m. Your card was the only one registered during the time that it was taken."
"So now the one who led you on the trail is now the one who did it, is that it?" House asked. He walked up to her covering her with his shadow. "Now you suspect me what makes you think that if I killed Kingsborough I would stop with him?"
Lily backed up. She didn't expect House to be threatening, but she didn't trust him. She kept her hand on her gun just in case. House walked even closer to her. "You know detective, we are in a hospital. It would look very bad for you if you got hurt by one of it's own staff. But before you go, there is something I will tell you."
Rush held out her gun keeping it in her hand. "What?" she asked warily.
House pulled her closer holding her by the arm and whispered in her ear. "I did not kill him."
Rush relaxed her grip on her gun but did not lower her suspicion. "How can I believe you?"
"Check the security camera," House replied. "I did not go in that closet until later that night to get to my Vicodin. In fact my card was missing during that time."
"You expect me to believe that?" Rush asked sounding very skeptical.
"I don't expect you to believe anything," House retorted. "But it was missing; you can ask Wilson or even the Evil Queen of Darkness."
Rush was puzzled. The Evil Queen of Darkness? "Dr. Cuddy," she realized. She remembered her earlier confrontation with Cuddy and recalled the woman's bitter words about House: Drives me nuts most of the time, but he usually turns out to be right. No, the detective thought, he could be lying to me. Just humor him, she thought. "Alright how was your card stolen?"
House grinned but shook his head. The Philadelphia Blonde didn't believe him. As far as she was concerned he would go to prison for a murder he didn't commit. She was just as stubborn and determined to get the job done, just like he was. Boy did he hate that about her. On the other hand scaring her into thinking that he did it was kind of fun. ~
~ July, 2004- House was sitting in Cuddy's office across from Wilson and was inwardly trying to blank out any dressing down that she had given him. Once again she was arguing with him about the treatment of a patient and once again he had to prove his theories which were of course right. They were arguing over whether to perscribe the patient, Adrien Kingsborough, morphine or another sort of drug which could be addictive.
"This John Doe has drugs in his system!" Cuddy reminded him! "Another shot could just as easily kill him."
"Or you know it could revive him," House said. "Besides I'm not even sure with the guy's medical history that he even has any type of drug problem."
"He doesn't have a medical history," Cuddy reminded him.
"Precisely," House said. "It might be a little suspicious that he is even in our hospital at
all, after sneaking around outside it all day."
Cuddy waved her hand, annoyed. "Right, right the famous House credo: People lie. But his blood does not."
"I'm not asking for the guy to start tripping on LSD and trying to find what's left of the Deadheads," House replied. "I'm trying to save his life. He was close to death when Foreman admitted him."
House and Wilson rose and Cuddy grabbed him by the arm."You will not perscribe him morphine or any other drug of that kind," Cuddy replied. "Do I make myself clear?"
House bowed low. "Oh yes Your Eminence, I am unworthy to be in your presence." He snickered and left the office with Wilson close by.
Wilson trotted to walk closer to him. "You know I think that she would have made a good replacement for Kathie Lee Gifford," House said. "You know in theory."
"Don't let her to get to you," Wilson said.
"Thanks for sticking up for me back there," House said.
"Well," Wilson replied. "You two talk so much no one can get a word in edgewise. Look out!"
A candy striper pushed forward with a hospital cart right in House's direction nearly knocking the diagnostician over. Wilson helped pushed him to the side holding him by the coat. The girl stammered and apologized to the doctors and rolled away.
"You okay," Wilson asked.
"Yeah, I'll live," House said. "Apparently, she's heard of me."
Wilson thumped to the hallway. "I have to go, I have a patient waiting for me."
House nodded. "Yeah, me too. I have to actually pretend like I-" He checked his pocket. "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong?" Wilson asked.
"My I.D.'s gone," House answered. "It was in my pocket. It will probably turn up but-there goes ordering from the espresso machine later."
Wilson laughed. "It will probably be turn up more than likely it fell in Cuddy's office."
House shrugged. "I'll check it there but the last thing I want is short, dark, and Bitchy on my tail again!" ~
"So you're saying that your card went missing and that person may have killed Kingsborough to frame you?" Rush said still suspicious.
"Well would it interest you to know that I found it again, an hour after Kingsborough was killed?" House asked. "Or will I be sharing a cell with a guy named Sven?"
Rush glowered. "That doesn't mean you get off," she said very icily. "You're still on my list." But then again Cuddy did say she would love to see you get taken away, Lily thought.
"You know it's sad when the greatest romances come to an end," House retorted.
"No," Cuddy said sternly. Rush and Valens were once again sitting in her office, but this time Lisa Cuddy looked different. Before when they first encountered her, she was very businesslike and proffessional. Now she exhuded embarrassment, and a little bit of shame. "I remember him coming in here looking for his I.D. I chided him for being so irresponsible and I sent him on his way."
"So you didn't see it or take it," Valens said.
Cuddy glowered at the detective with a look like she could spit fire. "If you are accusing me of what I think you are accusing me of-"
"-Would you have had any trouble accusing House?" Lily asked.
"NO!" Cuddy said. "We have a very difficult working relationship but I would never do that to him! We have a history together, he knows I wouldn't do that."
"What kind of history?" Valens said. "You worked together long?"
Cuddy looked down at her manicured nails. "Yes but more than that."~
~ April, 1994- Lisa lay in bed asleep next to her lover. They had a very passionate night, as all their nights were. She felt very relaxed and happy lying next to Greg. She wasn't sure what made her wake up and turn to him, but she was glad that she did. Instead of laying, Greg had sit up and dangled his left leg over the bed. He winced with pain.
"Are you all right Greg?" she asked. Lisa sat next to him, her shoulder length dark hair bouncing off her bare shoulders.
He turned to her and ran a hand through his clean shaven skinny face. She always teased him saying that he looked like a skeleton with flesh. "I'm thinking about growing a beard you think?" he asked.
Cuddy laughed. "Dream on." Then her voice turned serious. "No, what is it."
House pointed at his leg. "It's this."
"Is it still giving you trouble?" Lisa asked examining it.
"No I'm making this face just to test my mother's theory that it will in fact stay this way," House said through clenched teeth.
Lisa grimaced. "You know I hate that sarcasm. Remember what the doctor said, you overworked it and pulled a muscle." She said quoting his doctor. "You have been working rather hard lately."
"I'm not an athlete," he said. "This is one hell of a pulled muscle."
"Well he did say to rest it," Cuddy reminded him. "You always think you have to get a second opinion."
"Not just a second opinion," House said. "A right one. Doctors lie to get people to go to them."
"And you say this even though you and I are both doctors," Lisa pointed out.
"We're the worst," he said grinning. He pushed her back on to the bed as she laughed. He mounted on top of her. "And now for something completely different-" he said. He was about to kiss her until he fell over in pain.
Cuddy sat up holding her lover by the shoulder. "Greg, are you okay?" she asked, shaken and afraid.
"I'm fine," he said gruffly. He stumbled out of bed and reached for his jacket when he fell to the ground his left leg no longer supporting him. Lisa reached into her labcoat pocket and pulled out her cell phone.
The doctor's diagnosis was quick. House had an infection in his leg much like a heart attack. He would never be able to walk without a cane and would continue to feel pain for the rest of his life. Lisa Cuddy listened as the doctor, a short gray haired man named Donaldson wrote a prescription for Vicodin.
Cuddy turned to House. "I'm sorry Greg." she said softly. She looked down at her black coat and the seams of the white nightgown under it but avoided her lover's gaze.
"It's nothing," he said so harshly that Cuddy looked into his eyes. She saw many things in them anger, bitterness, accusation. But most importantely, she knew that things would never be the same between them again. ~
"There does that sound like someone who hates him?" Cuddy asked.
Rush and Valens had borrowed the local PD's AV room to look at the hospital security camera. They had seen one hospital personell after another enter the closet with nothing that struck their minds. "We're coming up to the time," Rush said.
Valens shook his head. "I don't know Lil, all we have is House's word that he didn't do it."
"I know he didn't do it," Rush said. "Why would he give us the information about the morphine? If he did it, why would he be so adament against Foreman's diagnosis? He could have just gone along with it, but he didn't."
Valens shrugged. "Who knows maybe he's some genius who delights out of playing games with people."
"I think you watch too many movies," Rush observed.
"Come on," Scotty said. "The guy is slick. He's clever, observent. He probably is giving us a
false trail."
Rush shook her head and kept her eyes on the tv screen. "I know he didn't do it." She said. Suddenly, something on the tv caught her eye. "Scotty!" She said. "Take a look!"
Valens looked at the screen and the person that she was pointing to. The person could barely be seen in the fuzzy camera angles, but both Lily and Scotty knew exactely who it was.
Valens cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered. "Valens," he said.
"It's Jeffries," the rich voice of their fellow detective rang through the phone. "Vera and I found out something?"
"Yeah," Valens agreed. "So did we."
House sat in his office holding his cane close to him. For once he was alone with his thoughts and didn't want to be. Because his mind kept drifting back to the day of Adrien Kingsborough's death and something that had been on his mind ever since his earlier discussion with Rush that day. It grew like a sprig of a thought in the back of his mind, but now it was unavoidable.
A knock made him jump with surprise. "Come in," he said. Foreman appeared at the door. "Just the lackey I wanted to see." He said. "You know Foreman, I still haven't quite forgiven you for your little 'talent show.' But I do have one way of falling back on my good graces."
"What is it?" he asked.
"Both you and Cameron are off duty at the moment," he said. "Chase is in pre-OP. I want you to go here and pick up what I write at the bottom of the address." He wrote down the address and item on the paper. Foreman skimmed it and then his mouth dropped open with surprise.
"You're kidding right?" he said.
"Did my voice go up?" House said. "Because that was not a question. Go."
Foreman rose and put the address in his pocket. "Oh and Foreman?"
"Yeah," Foreman asked.
"Have you told her yet?" House asked.
Foreman shook his head. He knew what he was asking. "Not yet."
House shrugged. "Consider it your first date then." Foreman smiled lightly and walked out of his office. He pulled out the address not believing his boss would send him there.
_____________________________________________________________________
Chapter Six: Part of the Cure, or Part of the Disease
Lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
You've put me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead (singing)
Come out of things unsaid, shoot an apple off my head (and a)
Trouble that can't be named, tigers waiting to be tamed (singing)
You are, you are
Confusion never stops, closing walls and ticking clocks (gonna)
Come back and take you home, I could not stop, that you now know (singing)
Come out upon my seas, curse missed opportunities (am I)
A part of the cure, or am I part of the disease (singing)
You are You are
You are You are
You are You are
And nothing else compares
Oh no nothing else compares
And nothing else compares
You are
Home, home, where I wanted to go
Home, Home where I wanted to go
Home, Home where I wanted to go
Home, Home where I wanted to go
~ "Clocks" by Coldplay
Rush and Valens stepped aside and pulled out seats to let Jeffries and Vera sit. "Show and tell time," Rush said. "You show us yours and we'll show you ours." Oh god, she thought, I've been here too long. I'm starting to talk like House!
Jeffries showed the duo an old police report. "Vera and I investigated any rapes in the area around the time of Cameron's to see if we could find a link and we found one. A young university student, Julia Baum was raped outside here in Princeton about a month after Cameron. Same bruisings, same story even. The guy claimed he was having car trouble and Ms. Baum offered him her cell. He grabbed her and when she ran, he caught up to her and raped her."
"Did she get pregnant too?" Rush asked.
"Nope," Vera said. "But that's not the only difference. This particular rape was reported to the police by Baum's then fiancee, James Wilson."
Rush and Valens exchanged surprised glances. "Julia Wilson." Rush said. "Another motive."
"What did you learn?" Jeffries asked.
Valens nodded over to the tv screen in front of them and Rush pushed the fast forward button. "This camera shows 11:45 a.m., before Kingsborough was murdered," he said. As the four detectives watched they saw Wilson enter the room. He glanced out the door looking left and right as if to make sure no one would see him. He then closed the door and approached the closet. The doctor stood in front of the closet door not moving for a few seconds and then stuck something out of his pocket and pushed it at the door. Wilson then took a small bottle out of the closet and then closed the door. He pocketed the bottle and then walked out of the room.
"That's not all," Rush said as she fast forwarded the video. "This shows Wilson returning a half hour after Kingsborough was murdered. See the difference?" She pressed the video play button as they watched. Wilson was obviously very shaken as he walked in. He gripped the closet door as if to catch his breath or keep his balance. Then suddenly he became more business like as he once again pushed the card on the door and put the bottle back in. Rush paused the tape and Vera and Jeffries looked closer but didn't have too look long.
"He isn't wearing his labcoat," Jeffries said. Sure enough Wilson was dressed in trousers, a long shirt, and tie but no coat.
Vera shrugged. "He's a doctor, any patient could have gotten some pretty messy things on him so he changed."
"In the middle of a busy day, he planned to change his clothes," Valens said suspicously.
"He had a reason to remove it," Rush said. "But without the coat we have no way of finding out."
"You do now," a voice interrupted them. The four detectives turned around to see House standing by the door. He leaned on the door gripping on to the side and holding a shopping bag with a white coat sleeve sticking out. "My people found this--in the hospital laundry room." He said quickly. Lily stared at him quizzically as he moved forward and showed them the coat. "Well what does it look like to you?"
The four smiled at each other. "I think you get to play bad cop again," Rush said.
Dr. James Wilson walked to his car ready to unlock the door. He couldn't wait to go home after a slightly trying day. "Wilson," a voice said interrupting his thoughts. He looked to see House standing next to him.
"Hey House what's up?" he asked. He looked at his colleague and friend's face. He seemed stony and serious, but that wasn't a big deal. He was always like that.
"I want to talk to you," he said.
"We all do," Valens appeared standing next to Rush and a gray haired local police officer who introduced himself as Crabtree.
Wilson felt nervous. "What about?"
"We know what you did to Adrien Kingsborough," Rush said. "And we know how."
"I didn't do anything to him," Wilson replied simply as he tried to get back in the car.
House pulled him back out. "Wilson apparently my motto holds true still."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Wilson said desperately. "House how can you accuse me?-"
"We saw you on the security camera in the closet room to get the morphine," Rush replied.
"Yes, I mean- it wasn't morphine," Wilson stammered. "I had to give something to a patient."
"We also know that you took House's I.D. to get it," Valens said. "You didn't want to risk using your own so you used the next best thing."
"This is ridiculous," Wilson said. "I'm not lying. House tell them!"
House shook his head. "Wilson, you are a terrible lier. Remember, Rachel Rebecca Adler?"
Wilson turned extremely pale. "I don't have to hear any of this. You have no proof that I did
any of this!"
"We saw the second time you entered the closet room without your lab coat," Lily said. "What happened to it?"
"Blood spills, patient's vomit, I don't know, I don't remember!" Wilson snapped.
"Maybe this will remind you," House said. For the second time, he pulled the coat out of his
shopping bag. He pointed to the sleeve which had a faint, but distinct line of blood around it.
"Foreman and I did a match," House replied. "The blood on the coat is the same as Kingsborough's."
"Didn't think to wash it did ya?" Crabtree asked gruffly.
House grinned and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "You forget one of the amazing things about the Wilsons, both Dr. and the Mrs. They hate to do laundry more than anything. They either wait 'til the last minute or put it away and don't even bother. Isn't that what you told me, James?"
Wilson sank down on to the parking lot as if his legs had lost all their usage. He felt defeated. I'm sorry Julia, he thought. "I had to do it, for her," he said.
"For your wife," Rush said. Wilson nodded~
~ December, 2000- Wilson drove his car through the Princeton dormitory parking lot excited to see his fiancee again. It had been a rough courtship mostly because of Wilson's nervousness about getting married again. Well that was what one messy divorce will do to you. But luckily Julia held out and it was going to happen.
Wilson was about to put the car in park, when he saw someone race in front of the car. Wilson stopped it severely and saw the guy run in front of the headlights. Dark thinning hair, black overcoat, looked nervous. The guy stopped for a second and then ran off to the night. "Watch where you're going," Wilson remarked. Jerk!
He parked the car and stepped out just as he heard a woman's loud scream. Suddenly, Wilson's heart sank It came from right outside Julia's dorm room. Please don't be her, he thought. He ran through the woods pushing past tree branches and bushes concerned when he couldn't hear the scream again. The woman screamed again."Julia!" he yelled. He fought his way through two large bushes and his worst fears were confirmed.
Julia Baum lay on the ground squirming. Wilson ran closer to his fiancee and picked her up in his arms. Insanely his doctor instinct kicked in first as he examined her. Her lip was bleeding probably from biting it to keep from screaming. Her face was tear stained, her blue eyes were terrified, and her long curly blond hair was a mess with tangles and leaves in it. The green sweater that he bought her for her birthday the previous year had been ripped with one of her sleeves almost dangling off her shoulder. Her gray ankle length skirt was off an hung by her side. Wilson examined her fingers. Her nails were cut and bleeding obviously from trying to scratch the assailant before he finished his job. Her left hand was bare obviously her engagement ring was stolen.
Wilson felt anger and fury rising out whoever did this to her, but he didn't want to show it. Not in front of Julia at least not now. He had other matters to attend to. Instead he rocked her back and forth to comfort her. " Shh baby, it's all right, it will be all right," he soothed. "I'm right here, Jim's here. It's all right, I'm here."
~ July, 2004- He knew it was him the moment that Foreman had him wheeled in from the parking lot. Wilson couldn't forget that man's face as he ran in front of his car that night in 2000 and he couldn't forget Julia's description of him: Her rapist.
Oh he reported it to the police, but they couldn't find him: He left town apparently. He failed her once before, by not catching the guy and he wasn't going to do it again. How many nightmares and night terrors did she still wake up from thinking about that night? He had to protect her and this was his chance. But how to do it?
The fight between House and Cuddy had finished. He had already thought about giving the John Doe morphine, but this gave him the oppurtunity. As they left the candy striper ran into them as Wilson pulled House aside to help him stand, he snuck into House's jacket pocket and pulled out his colleague's I.D.
He walked into the patient's room, the morphine in his pocket bearing by his side as thought it were burning. Wilson didn't want to accuse House but he had no choice in the matter. He couldn't use his own. He saw the patient sleeping. Wilson stood on one side of his bed. He was very thin obviously ill. Perhaps he should just let fate take its course since he was on his last legs anyway.
John Doe woke up. He looked directly at Wilson his gray eyes confused and bloodshot. "You're not my doctor," he said.
Wilson gulped but kept his composure. "I'm a friend of someone who remembers you rather well." He leaned over and whispered. "Julia Baum."
The man's expression never changed. "That name means what to me."
"You don't remember what you did to her, in December 2000," Wilson asked feeling angrier by the minute.
The man relaxed leaning against the bed. "Could be? I have had a lot of women and men since then. You can't expect me to remember every single one."
"What I expected to hear," Wilson whispered harshly. He then turned to the bag that pumped medicine into the patient's system. He took out the bag and then replaced it with another. He injected the needle in his arm. "You will remember her name because that is the last name you will ever hear."
The man struggled realizing that this was his last chance. He tried to get out of the bed and coughed in front of Wilson. Specks of his blood fell on Wilson's coat sleeve. But the man was so weak that he struggled back into his bed. The John Doe shook and convulsed in his bed as Wilson sneaked away.
Wilson threw the labcoat into his office room and locked the door. If anyone caught the blood on the sleeve, he was in for it. He sighed inwardly feeling like he was about to be ill! He just committed murder! What could he have done? But now what he did. He hung on to the door for support and tried to catch his breath. He struggled to compose himself as he returned to the closet room and replaced the morphine.
He walked up to House. The older doctor was walking up and down the hallway. "What happened to your coat?" he asked.
"One of the patients left an impression on it," Wilson remarked. "I had to change it. What happened to your John Doe?"
"Died," House replied. "Seizure or heart failure apparently."
Wilson nodded in sympathy. "Sometimes you lose them."
House then checked his pocket. "Hey, my I.D.'s back. Always in the last place you look," he
said. "Now at least I can get my medicine. About time too."
Wilson listened to his friend's complaining absently, recalling his deed.~
~ "So you killed him and was willing to let House take the fall for you," Rush said.
Wilson wouldn't look at his friend's face. His eyes began to fill and his voice wavered with emotion."He couldn't remember her name. She tried to commit suicide a month after it happened, it affected her so much. No matter how happy we are, I see her every once in awhile and in her eyes I know she still thinks about that day. I don't think there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't remember it and that bastard couldn't remember her name!"
"Well you get a good lawyer and a sympathetic judge you might get off with a lighter sentance," Valens said kindly.
"But at the very least your career here will take a serious beating," Rush said.
Wilson nodded and stood as Officer Crabtree put handcuffs on him. The doctor couldn't
resist. He looked straight at House. His former colleague just stared at him, very cold and
unemotional. "I didn't want to do that to you," he said. "But I had to."
"I know that," House said his voice hollow.
"I hoped you wouldn't find out," he said.
"I know that too."
Lily tapped House on the shoulder. "Rachel Rebecca Adler?"
"Long story," House said bitterly as the police read the rights of his friend.
Julia Wilson drove up to the hospital parking lot, just as police were taking away her husband! She parked the car and ran up to the site. "Jim," she yelled as they put him in the police car. She tugged on to a police officer's arm. "What's going on! That's my husband," she yelled. "What are you doing to him?" The police officer pushed her away as she ran up to House. "House! Greg!," she yelled. "Why are they taking Jim?" But the doctor turned away from her, his expression quiet and stony. Julia had no choice but to follow the police car.
In her office, Cuddy signed the paper that the officers offered her. She shook Vera and Jeffrie's hands thanking them for coming. As they left, she sat in her office alone with her thoughts.
Chase had just finished delivering the letters and emails that Adrien Kingsborough had sent him to the police. Maybe they would help Wilson's defense, he thought. He didn't know why he kept them in the back of his closet for so long. Perhaps somehow he felt he deserved them, but as he handed them over he felt lighter as though he really were over Adrien. But there was one other thing that he had to do before he could ever truly be over Adrien. He greeted Cameron in the rec-room. At first they made small talk, discussed cases, and the dramatic events. Cameron said that she would even speak in Wilson's defense at his trial. Finally Chase got right into it. He told her about his relationship with Adrien and how he heard from the police that she had been raped. "I don't know," he said sadly. "I can't help but think that maybe if I stayed with him. He wouldn't have come after you or Dr. Wilson's wife."
Cameron put her hand on his shoulder. "Chase, after it happened , I blamed just about everyone for it, the Clinic, myself, him everyone until I realized that I can't blame everyone for what he did to me. He did that to me, not you. You don't know that he wouldn't have done it anyway," she said. "I'm sorry for what he did to you."
"You too," Chase said.
There was a light tap on the door as Foreman walked in. "I'm sorry but Chase can I talk to Cameron alone?"
"I seem to be the most popular girl today," Cameron said lightly.
"I guess this is where I came in," Chase said as he closed the door. He waited outside the door for a few minutes, but when his curiosity couldn't be satisfied. He opened a couple of the venetian blinds on the window and peered in. Through the window he could see Foreman hugging Cameron. She seemed to be crying but her expression was happy. Chase smiled and closed the venetians feeling lighter and freer for the first time in a long time.
Vera, Jeffries, Valens, and Rush walked out of the hospital into their cars discussing the cases and talking about how glad they would be to get back to Philly. "I have to talk to Christina," Valens replied. "I have some unfinished business with her."
"Just be careful around her okay," Rush teased lightly shoving him on the shoulder. She looked up by the door of the hospital and saw House leaning against the wall alone. "Excuse me boys," she said. "There's something I have to do."
She walked up to House. "Would you like to talk to a girl with a really big gun," she teased.
House smirked. "Ah it's you again, coming to bask in my greatness." He said but the comment was without it's usual caustic zing.
Rush guessed whom his mind was on. "You two friends long?" she asked.
"Almost 14 years," he replied.
"I'm sorry and I'm sorry for accusing you,"she said.
"What's a little accusation of murder between friends," House asked smartly.
"You going to be okay?", Lily asked.
House nodded. "Yeah I have been described by various people as 'a heartless bastard.' We are notoriously resolute for getting over such things." But his voice was sad and bitter.
"You know you can be a nice guy when you want to be," Rush observed.
House put a finger to his lips in a sushing motion. "Don't let it get around. I have a reputation to uphold."
"Your secret's safe with me," she said and stuck out her hand. He hesitated but then shook it.
"So do Philly cops drink when they are off duty?" he asked.
Lily shook her head. "Can't got to get back tonight. But tell you what, why don't you hang on
to my card?"
"Sounds pretty good," House said. "I wouldn't want my reputation with the ladies to be spread
to - What the hell?"
She noticed that his gaze was on the opposite wall. "What is it?" she asked.
"Well, it's crazy," House tried to laugh. "But I thought I saw someone over there and he disappeared. You're going to think I'm crazy but it looked kind of like- No just my eyes playing tricks on me or one of the meds. They must have hallucinogenic properties that they don't tell us about!"
Rush smiled warmly but didn't say anything. She saw him too looking at them; just as she had seen many of them before.
The End
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Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of Fox Television, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
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