invisible string . r chase

01 . a familiarity in returning

"And what do we have in common with them – that isn't my British accent and early life in London?" Alexis queried, snapping the file shut as her employer walked towards her. "I have a case for you."

"I don't do babies, no case you could offer me will be of any interest." House had already begun to walk away from them both. "What's Watson doing with you?"

"I gave her the case."

The diagnostician turned back towards the duo and questioned, "Why do you want me to treat this guy?"

"His blood pressure isn't responding to IV fluids, I think you-"

"I didn't ask how you were going to con me into treating him, I wanted to know why you want me to treat him over all the other sick people." House clarified.

Passing over the file, Alexis shrugged her shoulders, "He's a young adult - I'm a new mother – I want to protect anyone under the age of 25."

"He's sick, I care, I'm pathetic." Wilson explained.

House stepped towards the elevator, watching as his colleagues looked at each other hopefully, "Why none of ther other sick under 25 year olds?"

"Because this one is in our emergency room." Both Alexis and Wilson declared.

"This is why everyone thinks you're screwing each other." House's acknowledgement caused the duo to paint exaggerated grimaces on their face. "If this is a proximity issue, have we checked the third-floor stairwell?"

"I checked it on my way up, no sick people." Alexis retorted. "Looks like we're stuck with emergency room guy."

"Fine, emergency room it is." House declared stepping into the elevator closely followed by Alexis.

Looking towards his colleagues confused, Wilson asked, "Wait, how was that so easy?"

"You know why." House stated. "Blood pressure not responding to IV fluids, and that's just weird."

As the door to the elevator closed, the light atmosphere that had been created by the bubbly banter disaperated and turned colder. When there were other people around them or a patient file before them Alexis and House could put their incomplete history to the side and offer some normality to the situation. However, when they had been left alone and beside each other, they could not bring themselves to fake a friendly demeanour.

For Alexis she could not begin to let the man into her mind, she had learnt the way that he stung many times before as she watched him walk in and out of his patients and friends lives. She couldn't understand how Wilson had stuck by him for as long as she had, it had always astounded her that such a caring man could assist the diagnostician. For House, he was driven to silence by the inability to understand why it was he cared. The young girl had a part of his genetics running through her and – while that was enough for a regular person to care – he did not subscribe to the belief that you should care unconditionally for someone merely as they share your genes. Yet, the woman who infuriated him had somehow made her way into his mind and he had begun to question how he could be there for her as her life was torn apart.

As Alexis fidgeted – shifting her wait to the balls of her feet and back down again – the older doctor turned his attention to her noticing the needle point marks on her hands. Letting out a sigh, he mused, "I don't think children are supposed to depend on your blood after they're born?"

"It wasn't for Katie, little boy in the NICU needed a transfusion and neither parents nor siblings were a match." She pulled her lab coat sleeves down over her hands, forming small fists as she tried to hide the tell-tale signs. "I was just doing my bit by getting tested, I also wasn't a match."

"And I'm supposed to believe that you are still able to stay objective on our case?"

Gritting her teeth at the accusation, Alexis countered, "I can stay objective when I'm treating a patient, watching a child slowly suffer I cannot do."

"So, no more minors, damn that really screws with my plans to go into paediatrics."

As the elevator door opened, Alexis didn't waste a second getting out of the vicinity of diagnostician. She knew that the longer she remained the singular target, the more she could see herself taking a swing at him. That would not only risk her surgery performing hands, but her place on House's team. The only way to remove the risk was to remove herself from the situation that caused her anger to rise.

As she approached the office she would be confided to for the next few hours, Alexis begun to grow anxious once more. On the journey to the office she could convince herself she had just taken a moment away from the NICU – could have convinced herself that it was a moment to breath and not her abandonment of her sick daughter. Katie would not be made worse by her absense, she knew this logically, but her logical brain wasn't the side that was dominant when she thought about Katie.

Staring at her reflection in the glass, Alexis saw how tired she looked for the first time. The hospital chairs were not the most comfortable to sleep in and her rest was often interrupted by the sound of monitors and infant mortality. It wasn't the first time she had been awoken by this sound, but it was the first that it has caused her serious fear and for her stomach to drop. It explained why each of the nurses who approached her had been quick to question her wellbeing, she had expected them to ask about Katie but the questions about her had taken her by surprise. Those she didn't know how to answer.