"If anyone asks," House muttered as they stepped into the hospital, "you're a family member visiting on vacation." Talia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact from all the patients and doctors milling around.

"Wow. You really don't want people to know that you have a kid, do you?" she frowned, following him from the elevator.

"No, I don't want people speculating that I have one without any form of solid proof to back it up. Gossip tends to run through these walls, but it's only fun when it's not about me," House replied with a grumble. He swung open the glass door to the consultation room and stepped aside. "After you." Talia shook her head briskly.

"No, you first. I don't…I don't know these people," she murmured uncomfortably, noticing three doctors already sitting in there and suddenly filling an abundance of nerves build up in her stomach. House rolled his eyes and his head lolled back lazily before limping in himself.

"Gooooood morning chimps," he saluted the group, making them glance up. Their eyebrows raised as they saw Talia follow in timidly.

"Who's this?" the pretty faced brunette woman asked.

"I'm Talia, I'm a family member-"

"On vacation," House quickly added in, resting himself on the desk. "Talia this is Doctors Foreman, Chase and Cameron."

"Oh?" Foreman raised an eyebrow. "How exactly are you related, may I ask?"

"Does it matter?" Talia shot back swiftly, cocking her head to one side. Everyone in the room appeared to be slightly taken aback at that point - House especially, who was actually reasonably impressed. At that point, he didn't even feel the need to see the results of those DNA tests - this must've been his daughter, there was absolutely no doubt about it.

"Alright, so the patient's scared of blinking," Cameron interrupted the building tension as Foreman stared Talia out. Talia was holding her own, though - clearly unfazed. "She's having stomach aches and multiple muscle spasms in her thigh. We've given her antibiotics but no effect yet-"

"Well that's because she doesn't need antibiotics anymore, she just needs antigens. Of course the antibiotics won't work unless there's something to actually fight off," Talia pointed out quietly, staring at all of them as if they were bonkers. House squinted his eyes slightly but stayed quiet.

"So you're suggesting to inject an illness that she doesn't actually have?" Foreman scoffed, looking incredibly sceptical.

"Uh yeah? If you do that then the antibiotics have no choice but to treat everything at once, so you're pretty much killing all your demons in one day," Talia explained simply, ruffling out her curly blonde locks.

"That…actually makes sense," Cameron blinked. "House, who is-"

"Sounds good to me! Get it done," House pitched in, before hobbling back out of the office. Talia smiled to herself slightly as the rest of the team filed out too. Foreman shot her a strange look, Cameron smiled at her as she slipped by and Chase didn't do anything. He barely even looked at her.

What a strange bunch.

"You have a crush on her," Cameron grinned over to Chase, as they stepped across the polished floors back to the patient's ward.

"Excuse me?" Chase scoffed back.

"You kept quiet and you only do that when you're shy - you have a crush on her," Cameron continued to smirk.

"Oh shut up, Allison. I barely saw her for more than a second," Chase grumbled, shaking his head. "We're not kids."

"Well I don't like her," Foreman came out with it without being asked.

"Why? Because she's just a female version of House and you can barely stand him as it is?" Cameron laughed slightly, finding this whole thing more than amusing.

"Ummm that's exactly why, yes," Foreman nodded. "Which means, Chase, you wouldn't be able to get within a mile's radius of her either. Since when has House been known for his interpersonal skills?"

"Oh god, you as well? Who said I wanted to get anywhere near her?" Chase pointed out before waking ahead of them to end the conversation. Foreman and Cameron shot each other amused knowing looks and said nothing more.

…

Talia was still in that consultation room a few hours later. She was flicking through a Merck Manual, eagerly soaking up all the information. She had a degree already, and she had completed medical school a little earlier than the regular person. Her face had been plastered all over the UK tabloids for weeks - they all adored her. 'Glamour Model Excels Med School', 'From Sexy Shoots To Scalpel Roots', 'Aspiring Model, 24, Shocks World With Advanced Learning In Medical Field'.

She'd seen them all, and she hated them all.

Chase suddenly breezed into the office, but when he saw Talia he slowed down. She glanced up at him, sensing his presence. "Hey," she smiled slightly, turning her attention back to the book. Chase swallowed and made his way to the coffee machine, almost dropping the empty cups on the way there. "You okay there?" Talia laughed lightly, turning a page without looking up.

"Y-yeah. Uh, d'ya want one?" Chase offered up as he finally started the coffee machine.

"No thanks. I'm allergic to granules," Talia declined politely with her eyes fixed on the text.

"Right," Chase nodded slowly, before Cameron, Foreman and House walked and hobbled in.

"Well Talia, your antigen idea worked…" Foreman began, sitting down opposite her. She glanced up briefly.

"Oh! Good," she shot him a smile.

"…but now she's vomiting blood," Foreman finished, giving her a knowing look. Talia cocked her head to the side, admittedly a little taken aback.

"That's a shame," she frowned before going back to the book. "But her original problem is gone?"

"Well yeah," Cameron nodded. "But what's the core?"

"Mexophilia?" Chase considered, sipping his newly brewed coffee from across the room.

"I don't think so," Talia chewed on her lip, closing the book now. Chase squinted over at her in wonder. "Well. We know what antibiotics can do. It's probably-"

"With all due respect, and I don't have much for you right now, we're the doctors here, so could you just?" Foreman asked her loudly, making everyone wince. But Talia didn't look taken aback at all.

"Fine, but I'm gonna write down what I think it is," she muttered, scribbling something down and folding the paper in half. Foreman rolled his eyes and turned back to the group as Talia watched them all amusedly.

"Have you given her an endoscopy?" House asked.

"She's being prepped for it as we speak," Cameron confirmed tiredly.

"What, do you think it's severe gastro-oesophageal disease?" Chase suggested to House.

"No, there was literally no hydrochloric acid at all in her vomit," Foreman shrugged, completely stumped.

"But she did say that she was bulimic before this," Cameron reminded them, chewing on the tip of her pen.

"So..it's probably just a torn lining in the oesophagus," Foreman concluded.

"There you go. Prepare her for surgery," House told them. Talia rolled her eyes and stood up before any of them could so much as move, sliding the paper across the table toward Foreman in particular.

"Merry Christmas. I'm going to get food," she hummed with a stiff smile before leaving. Even House limped round to see what it said as Foreman unfolded it.

'torn lining in the oesophagus (mallory-weiss)?'

"Ya gotta give it to her. She's good," Cameron nodded, as even House looked briefly impressed. Foreman just rolled his eyes and crumpled the paper before chucking it into the bin, making Chase smirk.

…

An hour or so later, Talia was pacing the lengths of the hospital, peering through each window that she could. She noticed Chase was in one of them, talking to a little girl who had cancer. She couldn't help but smile slightly at the sweet sight of them. The little girl, Athena, glanced up and just in time to see Talia peering through. "Who's that?" she asked Chase croakily, lifting a wired hand to gesture towards the door. Chase glanced up from where he was changing then IV drip and saw Talia peering curiously through the class.

"Oh, that's Talia," Chase murmured before turning his attention back to the IV.

"She's pretty," Athena muttered in awe as Talia walked away again. "Really pretty, like a princess. Like the princesses I saw in Disneyland."

"Mmmm," Chase hummed unenthusiastically. Athena frowned at him and pouted her lips.

"Don't you think she's pretty, Doctor Chase?" she blinked up at him, looking rather disappointed at his lacklustre reaction. Chase glanced down at her, confused at where all these questions were coming from.

"I mean, yeah, I think she's pretty. But why would that make a-"

"Will you date her? OH! Will you marry her?" Athena giggled excitedly, her pale little face lighting up like a Christmas tree at night. "You two would be so wonderful, just like Cinderella! Then you could get married in a castle!" Chase found himself blushing slightly at the little girl's rush of excitement.

"That's sweet of you Athena, but I've only know her for a few hours," he dismissed quickly.

"So?" Athena blinked innocently, not understanding.

"So it's far too soon and I hardly know her! It's fine, I'll just admire from afar," smirked Chase, although deep down he was now desperate to get out of this conversation.

"But will you ask her out one day? You should totally do that," Athena pressured Chase, who was gradually beginning to look very uncomfortable.

"I barely know her full name," he sighed heavily, shaking his head. "In fact, I don't know anything about her. The real world isn't like the films, Athena-"

"Life is too short! Promise me that you'll ask her out one day? You look like a prince and she's like a princess, it would be a dream to know I helped you find a princess," Athena gushed, her eyes sparkling. Bless her, she was so deep in her dream. "Promise?" Chase chewed the inside of his bottom lip and nodded a little reluctantly.

"Fine. I'm gonna go and take a look at your results okay?" Dr Chase muttered, giving her a small smile before readying himself to leave.

"Wait, can I meet her? Please?" Athena perked up eagerly. She was clearly very taken with Talia already - reasonably strange but fair enough. Chase frowned in confusion but nodded anyway, not wanting to disappoint a terminally ill child.

…

"Talia?" Chase called out as he walked into the consultation office. Talia was sat on one of the chairs, sipping orange juice and reading a medical mag. She glanced up at the mention of her name in that beautiful Australian accent of his.

"Dr Chase?" she responded, mocking his uncertain tone.

"Um, a patient has requested to see you," Chase mumbled awkwardly. "Athena in room 21."

"Room 21? The little cancer patient?" Talia blinked, now pushing the magazine to one side.

"Yes - a-a-and anything she says may just be because the medication is kicking in so don't be alarmed," Chase quickly added, slowly realising why Athena actually wanted her there.

"Gotcha, thanks," Talia smiled, heaving herself up and making her way to Athena's ward.