Disclaimer: I do not own Leverage or House, M.D. nor am I associated with Dean Devlin, David Shore, the cast of Leverage or the cast of House. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 6
"He's a drunk. It's cirrhosis," Thirteen grumbled.
"It's sepa-"
"Don't you dare say separation anxiety!" House practically shouted, shaking two pills into his hand, still frustrated by the pressure from Cuddy, the mystery of his patient and his family and the fact that his utterly boring case had just become more interesting. Taub scowled, sitting back in his chair. "Go! Go do a biopsy!"
They were all quiet until they got to the elevator. As the doors closed in front of them, Thirteen asked, "He seem snippier than usual?"
---
"Just relax. You're going to feel a sharp pinch. Let me know if it gets worse though," Foreman said, fitting the biopsy needle. Nate lay on his side, gritting his teeth. He had never had a problem with needles but Sam had had plenty of biopsies and just the very thought put him on edge. Foreman leaned over, carefully inserting the needle.
Outside, Maggie paced, Sophie paced and the others glared at them. "It's just a test. He's not going to implode during a test," Parker said, only to have the men's glares turned on her. "What?"
"I'm worried," Sophie admitted. "And not just about Nate." At Hardison's confused look, she explained, "That file. That you deleted. It concerns me."
Eliot looked away, embarrassed at whatever trouble he might have inadvertently caused.
---
"I got it." Foreman walked into the office with a grin. "He has liver damage."
"And that makes you happy?" House snarled.
"It's our diagnosis, so yeah."
House spun his chair around, tapping his cane against the desk. "Diagnosis?"
"Yep." Thirteen came in behind Foreman, folding her arms. "The vanilla ice cream from Mexico? Not exactly FDA-approved. I don't even know how he got it in the country."
Foreman picked up the explanation. "The ice cream contained traces of coumarin which caused the fainting, the sweating, at least part of his apparent depression and… the liver damage."
"Damn." Without a reason to keep the mysterious group around, he would never know who they were.
---
"Miss Bening?"
Sophie spun around. "Yes? What is it? Is he okay?"
Foreman nodded, smiling. "Yes. And he's going to be perfectly fine but I'm afraid Mr. Baker is going to have to give up that Mexican sundae habit."
Parker ran down the hallway, skidding around the corner, using it for balance. "Sterling's in the parking lot!" she hissed, barely even taking in the finally-happy expressions.
---
Foreman and Thirteen hadn't been out of the office five minutes when House's thoughts were again interrupted. "Dr. House?" A rather short, British man stood in the doorway with four or five black suits behind him.
"I knew they were Mafia."
"Jim Sterling with IYS Insurance. You recently hired a PI by the name of Lucas Douglas to investigate Eliot Spencer?" The man stepped inside, ignoring House's quip.
"Cuddy sent you, right?"
"She directed us to the office. Your PI's investigation sent me. Eliot Spencer is a wanted criminal; he wouldn't happen to be a patient of yours, would he?" Sterling tapped his fingers on the edge of House's desk, leveling him with a straight stare.
"No, but he's family of a patient of mine, Nathan Baker." Something about this guy told even House not to poke too hard; something a bit too Tritter-like.
Sterling rolled his eyes. "Nathan B- That bastard. What the hell does he have?"
"Ice cream poisoning, basically. He's being treated as we speak; he'll be released tomorrow. Why? Who is he?" Maybe he would get his answers after all.
"He's a thief. One hell of a thief."
And, yet, because of an elevator 'malfunction', by the time Sterling's men made it down to the right floor, Nathan Baker, Angela Bening, Spencer Adams, Alice Parker, Alex Harrison and Maggie Collins were long gone, taking with them more than enough clonidine to treat the coumarin poisoning.
---
Sophie sat in the back seat with Nate, reading the back of one of the orange bottles. "This stuff treats alcohol withdrawal too."
"Don't start with me, Sophie," Nate growled, still grumpy that he had to give up his favorite ice cream. Sophie scooted closer and leaned against him, putting her feet up on the seat. "You should wear a seatbelt."
She ignored him but slid to the side, tilting her head so she could see him. "I'm glad you're okay," she murmured. Lightly tracing the lines in his face with a finger, she added, "I think I might miss Angela Bening. She was kind of fun. Or she would have been if she hadn't been so worried all the time."
"You just liked being officially attached to Nate," Parker began from her spot in the front, squished between Eliot and Hardison, before a hand was clamped over her mouth.
Nate chuckled, rubbing his thumb over Sophie's waist. "I liked her too. She had nice lingerie."
Sophie's brow knit before it hit her and her eyes widened. "But-"
"You don't honestly think you can hide something like that in a suitcase, do you, Sophie? Besides, if you hadn't hoped I'd find it, it wouldn't have been there."
The window between the front and back seat slid up before the three in front could hear any more. Eliot slipped his arm around Parker's shoulders. "See? I told you he would be okay." She nestled against him, nodding.
"And he's going to be a whole lot happier, too," Hardison joked, jerking a thumb at the back. Parker only giggled, leaning up to kiss Eliot's cheek, earning herself a smile. "And I'm only going to get a whole lot more uncomfortable," he tacked on, shuddering.
---
Each member of House's team was questioned individually. None of them knew anything. So Sterling personally sat down with House himself, prepared to do battle.
"Why did you take this case?"
"Cameron asked me to. And everybody knows I do everything Cameron asks me to, at least according to her. I wonder how her boyfriend feels about that."
"Why did you have Mr. Douglas look into your patient and his family?"
"They intrigued me. Good liars."
"You knew they were lying then?"
"About something. Everybody lies."