"Wait a moment, PJ," Dr. Bergin said nervously. "Do you really know Dr. Elis Grey?" he asked, causing the other doctors present in the OR to once again stare at me ily.

  So I'm PJ now.

  "Yeah, I first met her st year, a couple of days after Dr. Thomas won the Nobel Prize, at his gratutory party," I said, notig that despite being 'distracted' talking to me, the doctor's work oable wasn't affected.

  "Dr. Thomas?" murmured the assistant doctor, Anderson, if I remembered correctly. "So the article was real?" he asked, raising his attention.

  Hearing the question, most of the doctors present, residents, and even those in the unusually crowded gallery, seemed eager for my response.

  "Well, most of it," I replied, recalling House's 'words.' "Dr. House ected me with Dr. Thomas, and I sent my own research to the tter. Apparently, it was useful," I added, slightly nervous from all the stares.

  "So it was real?" Dr. Bergin asked, surprised. "I thought it was just a damn bad joke by House," he added, incredulous.

  "That definitely would be a House joke," I said slowly, "but it wasn't."

  "I was so sure— I mean, those words from House— did Dr. Cuddy threaten him?" the doctor asked, being increasingly friendly. It was impressive how the doctors' attitudes ged when they saw you as 'their equal.' First Dr. Grey, and now Joe Bergin.

  "That was Dr. Wilson, long story," I said unfortably. "What type of vascur tie are you using for the mesoappendix ligation?" I asked, trying to ge the subject, even though I knew perfectly well what the doctor was doing.

  "Oh, great question, PJ," despite not being able to see his entire face, I khe man was now smiling— really unpleasant. "It's a simple ligation with sutures."

  "And why a simple ligation and not a transfixing ligation?" I asked, genuinely ied. The tter was theoretically the safest option to prevent any postoperative bleeding.

  "Anreat question from young PJ. Dr. Anderson, care to expin?" Dr. Bergin said cheerfully.

  "It's generally done for speed and efficy. A transfixing ligation is used wheissue is friable or infmed. In this case, it isn't, so a transfixing ligation isn't really necessary," the assistant doctor kindly expined.

  "Got it, thanks," I said, studying the tissue Dr. Bergin was w on. I had seen the same tissue hundreds of times, in a b or a , pletely dead and dehydrated. It was incredible to see how it really looked in person.

  "So..." Dr. Bergin said, moving his head slightly. "How is Dr. Grey in her everyday life? As excellent as in the OR? She must be," the man said eagerly.

  And all my fun using my 'retionship' with Dr. Grey vanished as quickly as it came. I immediately regretted my words.

  "Yeah," I replied after a heavy sigh, "we could say that," I added, murmuring.

  And with that, as if I had asked them to question me about Dr. Grey and Dr. Thomas, the remaining twenty-seven minutes and forty-two seds were filled with incessant questions from the doctors present about Dr. Thomas's and Dr. Grey's research.

  "Whenever you want to visit any other surgery, you're always wele in my OR, PJ," at the end of the surgery, with his hand on my shoulder, Dr. Bergin said, smiling exaggeratedly.

  "Sure, doctor, thank you very muo, definitely not.

  "Kid, I was looking for you, and look where I found you, with the surgeons," House said at the end of the hallway with disgust in his tone, eyeing the other doctors around and even going so far as to exaggeratedly distance himself from any doctors nearby. For the first and surely the st time in my life, I was truly relieved to hear his voice.

  "House, why didn't you tell anyone about the incredible talent you were cultivating?" ign the other doctor's words and behavior, Dr. Bergin asked amicably, patting my shoulder.

  "Bergin, if I told everyone what I 'cultivate,' I'd be in jail or in Mexicht now, you know it's still illegal," House said sarcastically, mimig smoking with his hand. "Let's go, kid, the hiccup guy is back," House said, strangely excited as he walked away.

  "Sorry, doctor," pretending to be sorry for having to leave, I said, separating myself from Dr. Bergin. "Thank you very much for today," I added, walking slowly towards where House was heading.

  "It's okay, PJ, duty calls," the man obviously swallowing my false act, replied calmly. "You won't keep him for long; surgery is calling him, and you know it," he excimed excitedly, clearly shouting at House.

  "Who's he talking to?" House asked me as we walked toward the exit of the surgery wing.

  "You, I think," I replied.

  "I tend to ignore surgeons," House decred sarcastically.

  "Just surgeons?" I asked sarcastically.

  "Huh," House excimed, widening his eyes exaggeratedly, "Did you say something?" he asked.

  "Did the hiccup guy really e back?" I asked, ign House's game and genuinely ied.

  "Yes," House said, smiling broadly and amused.

  "Jumping on one leg?" I asked.

  "While spping his face— I like it," House replied seriously, obviously excited by the idea.

  Sure enough, in the office House always used, the same man from st time, hicg happily, greeted me.

  "I tried everything you told me st time at home, it didn't work," the man expined, suddenly spping his face during the versation.

  "Don't worry about it, sir, we'll do our best," I assured the man with a smile.

  "Of course we will," with fake pride, or maybe slightly real, House said, smiling and putting his hand on my shoulder.

  After several minutes out fun ways to 'bother' the man, I decided to 'take pity' on him, him to stop, much to House's dismay. Despite that, we still had to 'observe' him, waiting to see if his hiccups would ge to something more serious.

  We spent several hours with the hiccup guy, whose er discovered I never learned. House used the time to kill off his ic hours debt.

  The rest of the day was as usual—training with Case, and then home.

  "PJ, son," the day, in one of the school hallways, Coach Cooper approached me, unusually suspicious. "I o know what you know about Sheldon," he murmured seriously.

  "I need you to be more specific, sir," I said, even though I already had a good idea of what it might be.

  "This m, before ing to school, Sheldon ed himself in bubble , 'ara yer of prote,' he said. Do you know from whom?" Mr. Cooper asked, nodding slightly.

  "It's not from school," I replied immediately, "which makes me think it's from our street."

  "How do you know it's not from school?" Mr. Cooper asked seriously.

  "I think I would know. There's not much time when I'm unaware of Sheldon's movements at school," I replied, slightly surprised by how my sentence came out. "We share all csses, so I'm always with him. During lunch, he's with Tam, and Tam would tell me right away if something happened."

  "So, not at school," the maed, thoughtful.

  "Yeah, I don't want to sound arrogant, but everyone knows that Sheldon is under my 'prote,'" I said exaggeratedly.

  "Yeah, even we know that," pointing to his chest, Mr. Cooper said, nodding his head. "What am I going to do?" he asked meditatively, sighing.

  "I ask Gabe to make inquiries with the other kids in the neighborhood. I'm sure some kid knows something," I offered, making Mr. Cooper immediately lift his head, ied.

  "Great pn," the man said, nodding slowly. "Thanks."

  "No problem."

  "Son, do you mind if I..." after a few seds of silence, Mr. Cooper started to say.

  "That's a great pn, sir, I'll make sure to ask Gabe as you requested," I interrupted, preempting what he was about to say.

  "That's why you're my favorite," the man said, patting my shoulder. "Let's make sure no one knows that," he added in a murmur, cheg the school hallway.

  Without saying more, Coach Cooper nodded once more, walking away.

  That day, just to be sure, I paid much more attention than usual to Sheldon, who, for some reason, remained distracted in css. Fortunately, the kid had a strange schedule that he seemed to never break, especially when it came to bathroom breaks during intervals between csses.

  Apart from preventing the crowd of students fring him through the school hallways a couple of times, Sheldon had a fairly quiet day, with no ohering him. At the end of the school day, Sheldon got on the school bus outside of my 'prote.'

  Entering the hospital, walking through the same hallway I alassed to reach the diagnostic lounge, one of the nurses from the internal medie wing, who seemed to be waitiedly, quickly approached me.

  "I knew you were about to arrive, e on, quickly," grabbing my arm, the ractically dragged me down

  the hallway.

  "Well, I usually arrive at the same time, so it's not very hard to figure out," I said with slight sarcasm, letting the woman drag me down the hospital hallway. "Oh, and do you think you could tell me where exactly I o be in such a hurry?" I asked a moment ter, as if it were an afterthought.

  "Sure," she said, drawing out the word as we arrived at one of the waiting rooms, "them," she added after a few seds, sing the seats.

  Luke and his mother, Mrs. Palmero, were sitting on the benches, with only the woman obviously in a wheelchair.

  "Betty, why am I here?" I asked, murmuring as I stopped o the nurse, Betty.

  "They've been waiting for you for a few minutes. Mrs. Palmero was finally discharged," Betty replied, still trying t me to the small family.

  "Waiting for me?" I asked, trying to resist being dragged further.

  "Yeah, Mrs. Palmero—" Betty was saying.

  "Ah, it's him!" Mrs. Palmero excimed, interrupting the nurse. "Luke, hoake me to him."

  Now with no way to avoid the iion politely, I forced a smile and approached the small family.

  "I'll leave you here; I've got things to do," Betty said cheerfully.

  Do you really have things to do? Weren't you just waiting for me in the hallway?

  "Luke, I heard you were looking for me?" I greeted the boy and asked the two people in front of me.

  "That would be me," Mrs. Palmero said, smiling from the wheelchair. "I just wao thank the person who saved my life," the woman added sweetly.

  "I don't— I think you mean Dr. House. I'll go get him for you," I said nervously.

  "Oh, nonsense, I already spoke with Dr. House," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "And if I remember correctly, he said it was your idea—no one would believe me; they thought I was crazy," she added, winking.

  "Wait, you remember that?" I asked, surprised. The excess copper in her brain should have altered her mind enough to block memories.

  "Oh, I remember absolutely everything, from the first appoio the st," she said, taking Luke's hand auring to the hospital with her free hand. "Even, to my Luke's embarrassment, the things he told me at home," she added, smiling at her son.

  "Mom!" Luke excimed in a low voice, obviously embarrassed.

  "Oh, honey, don't be embarrassed. You telling me about your day was the best part of mine," she assured him tenderly, patting his hand.

  "Well, Mrs. Palmero, I'm very gd you're doing well now," I said with a slight smile to the woman, "but you should be at home resting, not sitting in a waiting room," I added seriously.

  "Oh, you really do sound like a doctor," the woman said, amused. "You look so young—what are you, one or two years older than my Luke?" she asked, seemingly ign my warning.

  "I'm sixteen, ma'am, turnieen this year," I responded, smiling at her still-embarrassed son.

  "One year older? You're like a genius or something?" the woman asked, obviously surprised.

  "I just read a lot of books," I replied, slightly embarrassed.

  "Remio buy you a lot of books," she said, squeezing her son's hand with mock seriousness. "But seriously, I wao thank you for what you did for me... Sorry, I don't even know your name; Dr. House only introduced you as 'kid.'"

  "Oh, where are my manners? I'm so sorry about that," I said, embarrassed. "My name is PJ Dun, Mrs. Palmero."

  "Dun?" the womaed, surprised, looking at her son. "Like Ted—" she began saying to him.

  "MOM!" Luke immediately interrupted, extremely embarrassed, his eyes widening dramatically.

  "Oh, sorry," she said, c her mouth but clearly nretful about what she was about to say. She smiled pyfully, raising her eyebrows as she gnced between me and her son.

  Just like in the previous days, Luke instantly avoided eye tact with me. This time, I could even see how he instinctively seemed to want to run away from where he was standing.

  "Yes, Dun like Teddy Dun, my sister," I said, smiling along with the woman, who was obviously amused by her son's rea to my words. "Who needs her b partner, so you o go back to school," I added, causing the boy to lower his head and nervously nod.

  "Oh, he's definitely going back," the woman said seriously. "So don't worry about your sister's b partner," she added, signifitly winking at me.

  I hoped Mrs. Palmero wouldn't get the wrong idea—Teddy wouldn't have a boyfriend until her thirties.

  "That was all; I just wao thank you for what you did," she said, squeezing her son's hand again as she winced, pressing the lower part of her abdomen.

  "I'm really gd you're okay, ma'am, but you really o go home and lie down. You had surgery a couple of days ago, and you 't be sitting for too long," I said seriously. "Luke, did Dr. Bergin expin how to help your mom these days?"

  "Yeah," the boy replied, cheg on his mother and holding up his notebook.

  "Good, I'm going to go now because you really o get home. Do you need me to call a taxi for you?" I asked.

  "Oh no, Luke hahat," the woman said casually. "I feel like I'm repeating myself, but really, thank you so much."

  "You're really wele, ma'am," I said, smiling slightly, still a bit embarrassed.

  "I hope we meet again someday," the woman said, smiling signifitly as she squeezed her son's hand.

  Yes, don't get any ideas—Teddy and Luke will only be friends.

  "Yes, ma'am," I said, f a smile. "Luke," I added, bidding farewell to the boy, who still couldn't look me in the eye. Nodding to the woma time, I walked away from the small family, immediately feeling really good.

  The day passed without much else happening. Recalling the surgery I had observed yesterday, I used all the practice materials avaible in the skills b to try to recreate the entire procedure—at least what I could do without permaly damaging any of the test mannequins.

  Bae, after my training with Case, I dragged Gabe out of the house to py catch. "Do any of the neighborhood kids know who's b Sheldon?" I asked after chatting about what had happe his school and in his music csses.

  "Someone's b Sheldon?" Gabe asked, surprised.

  "Yeah, how quickly you find out who?" I asked, throwing the ball.

  "Depends, what's in it for me?" Gabe asked seriously.

  "The feeling that you did something good for someone else?" I asked sarcastically. "It feels really good."

  Gabe snorted and raised an eyebrow.

  "You little— A new ic," I said, shaking my head slightly, amused.

  "Three id a new game for my GameBoy," Gabe quickly ter-offered.

  "Deal," I said immediately. It wasn't really that expensive.

  "Wha— usually in the movies, this sts labe said, strangely disappointed.

  "Well, usually in the movies, the other party's ter-offer asks for a lot more, and it escates until they reach a middle ground," I said, amused as I watched my brother's expression turn even more disappointed.

  "Ten id five games," Gabe quickly said.

  "Too te," I teased the boy, throwing the ball again.

  ---

  Author Thoughts:

  As always, I'm not Ameri, not a doctor, and not a fighter.

  A slightly shorter chapter, since school is ba session, woo Yeah! (I need help).

  With that said,

  I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

  Thank you for reading! :D

  PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.