"You don't work here." Chase remarked, surprised. Sitting at the table in the conference room was Amy House, wearing a lab-coat. She had a mug of coffee in one hand and three case files fanned out on the table in front of her. She looked up at him and smiled.
"As of this morning, yes I do."
"Amy? Hi!" Eric entered the conference room, jacket slung casually over his arm. Upon seeing Eric enter the room Amy stood. He set his jacket over the back of one of the spare chairs and hugged her. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just about to tell Chase; I work here. There was a spot for a research assistant, covering while someone's on maternity leave. Lisa Cuddy called me last week."
"Cool." Chase said, browsing through the files that were piled on the table. "These yours?"
"No, they're your next case. Three 9 year olds; cousins, all suffering fever, back-pain, nausea and vomiting, sore throats and headaches."
"Pretty standard for nine-year-olds. Why are they ours?" Foreman asked, taking one of the files from Chase. Amy shrugged, but before she could say anymore they were interupted by Amy's pager.
"I have to go sign some insurance papers before I can start work so I will see you guys later. Tell my parents I'll come up and see them if I get a chance. See ya!" And with that she downed the last of her coffee, handed her mug to Foreman; who was nearest, and headed out of the conference room, almost colliding with Wilson. After a few words and a brief hug she was off again, heading in the direction of the elevators. Wilson entered the conference room.
"House and Cameron not in yet?"
"The twins have a thing." Chase answered Wilson's question whilst examining the chart of one of the 9 year olds; a girl named Carly.
"Right." Wilson affirmed. "I'll find House later then." He left Chase and Foreman contemplating the case files.
"Good day so far?" Greg asked Amy as he cut up his son's meal. Amy nodded, her mouth full.
"Yeah, not too bad. I'm glad Lisa offered me the position; it's the best summer job I could have asked for."
"Have you thought anymore about med schools?" Allison asked, passing a plate of cut-up food to Lucy, who was sat swinging her legs contentedly.
"Hopkins?" Amy replied with a question. "I was talking about it with..." But Greg and Allison didn't find out who she had been discussing med schools with, because right at that second a cell phone went off. Lucy and Ben, who at two years old were in the middle of a phase where they found it absolutely hilarious to state the obvious over and over again, started bouncing in their seats saying "Phone's ringing, phone's ringing!" Amy tried to suppress a smile, and ducked underneath the table to find her purse. Glancing at the caller ID a steady blush crept over her face.
"Excuse me." She mumbled, leaving Greg and Allison trying to quieten down their noisy twins enough so that they could eavesdrop. As it was, over the incessant repetition from Ben and Lucy – who served to fuel each other on – all they could hear was; "Hi…no…I…chance…will…yeah…you…bye." Allison glanced at her husband knowingly and he rolled his eyes at her.
Amy slipped back into her seat, tucking her hair behind her ear in a small gesture of embarrassment. Using her other hand she waved the cell phone at her siblings.
"Phone isn't ringing anymore, guys. Phone is going back into Amy's purse." Illustrating her point she deposited her cell into her purse, trying again to suppress the overwhelming desire to laugh when Ben mumbled "Bye Phone," closely mimicked by Lucy, who finished off the skit with a wave at her big sister's purse.
"So…" Allison began, sluicing the sponge over her youngest daughter's back. Amy, who was helping her bathe the twins while Greg cooked dinner, blushed. Blushing was something that she had been doing a lot of over the past two days, usually whenever her cell phone rang, which was a lot. Each time she received a call her face turned pink, she went into another room and refused to say who the caller was when she returned.
"His name's Tom." She said simply, passing a rubber frog to her brother. Ben took the frog happily and splashed it into the bathwater. Lucy tried to snatch it from him, and was placated with an identical one from Allison.
"No last name? No age?" she pried with a smile.
"Tom Nesbitt. He's seventeen days older than me. Pre-med. Father's a lawyer, mother's a pre-school teacher. Two brothers and five sisters, he's the youngest. He wants to specialise in Oncology. He used to have a dog called Buster and his favourite colour is blue. Anything else you'd like to know?" Allison laughed, fishing Lucy out of the bathtub and wrapping her in an oversized towel. Amy followed suit with Ben.
"Big family," Allison commented, wondering how to word her next question. She needn't have worried, as Amy pre-empted her thoughts;
"…which we are not planning on adding to just yet." She said, rubbing Ben's arms. She picked up his pajama top and slipped it over his head.
"S'backwards." Ben said, outraged, pointing to his front, and the absence of the monster truck cartoon. He had been given the pajama set from Foreman and his wife for his third birthday and in the month since had had to be coaxed out of it every morning.
"I do apologise Sir Benjamin, please forgive me." Amy joked as she swiveled the top around. As she spoke the English accent which nowadays was almost unnoticeable, coming through clearly. After 8 years living in the States she had developed an American accent as natural as if she had lived there her entire life so for Ben and Lucy, hearing Amy talking in her 'real' accent was hilarious and they fell into giggles. Amy helped Ben into his pajama pants and picked him up, deftly dropping the damp towel into the laundry basket one handed. Allison hoisted Lucy onto her hip and bent to pull the plug out of the bathtub. Lucy, now wearing a buttercup yellow sleep set; nightshirt over pajama pants rested her head sleepily against her mother's shoulder.
"I can do the story if you want?" Amy said, leading the way to the twin's bedroom. Allison nodded her thanks, and after settling Lucy down onto her bed and kissing both the twins on the forehead she left their bedroom. Walking down the stairs she heard Amy's voice, soft and soothing, telling the twins the story of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'.
"He's called Tom. Her age, a few weeks older. Big family – youngest of eight children. Going into Oncology." Allison poured wine into three glasses, and fed these pieces of information to her husband as she placed the glasses on the dining table.
"And…?" Greg pressed, dishing up the food.
"And nothing. She'll tell us when she's ready."
"Exactly." Amy's voice came through the kitchen. She walked to the dining table and took a sip from her glass of wine. Greg and Allison, slightly stunned at being caught discussing their daughter, said nothing. "But seeing as you're so interested, I suppose I'm ready now." She took a seat at the table, bringing one foot up to rest on the edge of her chair. "What do you want to know?"
Et voila!!!