I had clinic duty today, and I definitely wasn't excited about it.
"There's a patient waiting for you in exam room three," said one of the nurses as she handed me the file. I rolled my eyes, and didn't even bother looking at the file. It was probably just another over protective parent who brought their child to the hospital over a case of the sniffles. As I stuck my head into the room, I saw that this was no over protective parent. It was a woman, probably about her mid twenties to early thirties, just like me. Her dark hair bounced slightly as she turned her head towards me.
"Oh my God! Robbie!" The woman said, before she jumped up and hugged me. All it took was her voice for me to recognize her. Her thick Australian accent made me realize exactly who she was.
"Alex!" I said "What are you doing here?" I asked. The last time I saw her, she drove me to the airport so I could catch a plane to the United States.
"Well, "she said sitting back down on the uncomfortable table, "I came to America to work here, I had no idea you worked here too! Anyways, I'm here in this clinic because tomorrow is my first day here, and I've been feeling quite a bit under the weather, I just wanted to make sure nothing serious was wrong." She said flipping her hair back over her shoulder. I couldn't believe it, Alex and I were going to be working together. The girl who let me play doctor on her baby kitten would now be working in the exact same building as I would.
"So" I said pulling out a thermometer to check her temperature, "Where will you be working?" I asked sticking the thermometer in her ear and waiting for her temperature to appear on the little screen near my hand.
"Well, Dr. Cuddy told me I'd be working with a Dr. Gregory House. She said he's an insufferable, ignorant, self absorbed bastard, but I just told her that I could handle it after living with my dad for most of my life." She said laughing. I wasn't however. She may have thought that Cuddy was just exaggerating how much of a jerk House was, but words will never be able to describe how despicable House was. Then a beeping came from the thermometer. I looked down at the little screen and saw something I wish I could change.
"Euhm, Alex, you're gonna have to stay here at the hospital tonight." I said staring down at the little screen on the thermometer in my hands.
"Why? What's wrong with me?" She asked cocking her head slightly.
"Well," I said taking the covering off the thermometer and turning around to throw it away and put back the thermometer, "You have a temperature of about 105˚ so we're going to keep you here to make sure you don't start…" but I didn't get to finish my sentence. All of a sudden I heard something or someone fall to the floor, so I turned around to check and see what the problem was. As soon as I looked around, I saw Alex lying there on the floor, twitching and shaking.
"…Seizing! Damn, Nurse! I'm gonna need some help in here." I shouted, holding Alex, trying to hold her still. When the nurse came in Alex had stopped, but there was no way I was going to let her go now. The nurse helped me lift her up onto a medical bed, and I tried to get her to start talking to me, to make sure she was okay.
"Alex… ALEX! Come on, say something, ANYTHING." I started shouting at her. I quickly pulled out my pager and called Dr. House. Something was going wrong, and as much as I hated to admit it, I wouldn't be able to figure this one out on my own. Not too long after I paged him, the demonic old crippled walked into the room I was in with Alex.
"What's the matter? Your girlfriend shocked when she saw how small you are?" House asked.
"This is Alexandra Kelly, she came into the clinic this morning with," I said then checked her chart, "slight nausea and a fever of 105˚"
"So she came in with the flu what's the big deal?" House said turning around to leave. I kicked his cane out from underneath him.
"She started seizing right after I checked her temperature." I said glaring at the obnoxious thing that people called a doctor.
"I'm guessing you spent a little bit too much chatting her up and not enough time looking at her chart due to the fact that when you were telling me her symptoms, you had to check it again." House said, and right then, at the worst possible time Alex regained consciousness.
"Robbie? What just happened?" she said sitting up.
"Robbie? Things just got a lot more interesting. I'll take the case." The vile crippled said sneering.
"You must be the, and I quote 'insufferable, ignorant, self absorbed bastard' that I'm going to have to work for after I get out of this hospital bed." Alex said smirking. House turned to me.
"Aw, you said all that about me? I don't know what to say Chase." House said placing his hand over his heart and giving me a fake 'thank you' look.
"No, idiot, it was me." We all turned to see the Dean of Medicine, Lisa Cuddy, standing in the doorway to the hospital room we were all standing in. "Nice to see you Dr. Kelly, it's just unfortunate that it's under these conditions. " She said stretching out her hand for Alex to shake.
"Trust me there's no one who feels that way more than me." She said smiling, and shaking the hand of the normally friendly Dean of Medicine. House rolled his eyes and grabbed for his cane.
"You," he said pointing at me "follow me." Having no choice whatsoever I followed him back to the 'office' as I liked to call it.