The Knife and the Cane

Chapter 1- Happy Accident

The joke was funny at first. Some of Nora Graves' friends from medical school had sent her application to Princeton-Plainsboro, the best teaching hospital in New Jersey. Nora never
expected to actually get in, it was a harmless prank and much of what they'd done could be reversed if Nora wanted to take the application back. However, by some miracle, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro, had actually read her application and approved it, hiring her on. Of course, Nora was ecstatic. She'd wanted to work at Princeton-Plainsboro since she started medical school. Things didn't quite go according to plan, however.

It was only Nora's second day working in the hospital, and she'd been assigned to the diagnostics department, even though she specialized in Pediatrics and Psychology. She'd met all of her team members, and knew all of their specialties and some of their quirks already. Foreman, the only black man on their team, specialized in Neurology and sucking up, playing teacher's pet to Cuddy. Chase, the long blonde-haired Australian, was an intensivist, while Taub, the short balding man, specialized in plastic surgery. Finally, there was Thirteen. Her name wasn't actually Thirteen, it was Remy Hadley, and she specialized in internal medicine. There were only two doctors that Nora hadn't met, Dr. Wilson, and Dr. House. One she knew all too well and one she didn't know at all.

Nora entered the work room of the Diagnostics team and sat down in the chair that had been crowned as her spot.

"Good morning, Dr. Taub." Nora said, laying out her papers. Taub was standing at the kitchenette pouring himself a cup of coffee, and he was alone in the room besides Nora.

"Morning, Dr. Graves. Excited for your first actual day?" He said, sitting down two chairs away from her in his spot.

"First actual day? You all had me work off your clinic hours yesterday while you were out handling other things."

"Well Cuddy said we should be getting a case as soon as our lazy boss gets here."

"If he gets here." Chase teased, plopping down on Nora's other side in his chair.

"He took yesterday off for a reason, Chase, we have to respect that." Taub explained.

"He can take off whenever he wants, especially when there's a new recruit, but the minute we take off for something important, he rides our asses about it?"

"Who's riding who's asses?" Thirteen asked, entering the room.

"Long story." Nora sighed, happy that her new best friend was finally here. She'd begun to feel overwhelmed with the testosterone in the room until Thirteen took her spot in between Chase and Nora.

"It always is with you guys. Hey, where's Foreman?"

"He got paged to Neurology about ten minutes before Nora got here." Taub replied. "He should be back soon, he said it was just for a consultation."

"A consultation? In Neurology? He might as well transfer over there, it'll take so long." Chase groaned.

"I'm sure Foreman will be back soon." Nora laughed.
"Speak of the devil." The glass door opened and Foreman walked in, obviously annoyed at something.

"Hey, quick question, does anyone know where House is?" Foreman asked, sitting on the other side of Chase. Now that the team was assembled and their boss nowhere to be found, everyone was getting concerned, or at the very least, confused. The door opened again, and three doctors walked in.
One proud, one shocked, and one bored.

Cuddy, Wilson, and House.