Here it is everyone. The first part of the sequel to ...and other family. This story will be done slightly differently than the last one, which means that there won't be a posting every day. or even twice a day. I've got most of the story plotted, I'm just making some final changes and trying to figure out what order to post them in, so it'll be more like once - maybe twice - a week. There might be a bit more medical drama to this one, and there will definitly be a more consistent plot line, but that's for all of you to read. I really welcome reviews this time (speaking of...is anyone else having problems with the 'alert' system? None of the reviews for the last chapter of the first story got to me, and I'm not being alerted when a new chapter of the stories on my story alert list is posted). Oh yeah, and this isn't a cross over, but to eliminate having to come up with names and having to keep them straight, I'm borrowing names from another show.
"Hey guys," Reed enters the room to see Chase showing Foreman and Cameron photos from his trip to Australia. "Welcome back, Chase. How was your vacation?"
"Just what the doctor ordered." Chase responds, his accent seeming thicker than usual.
"What are you doing here?" Cameron asks as the cardiologist gets a cup of coffee, "We don't have a case, do we?"
"I guess we do. I received a page from Cuddy to report here as soon as I finished with my last patient."
"Finally." Foreman replies. "Our last case was two weeks ago."
"That's a good thing Foreman," Reed responds, "It means that people aren't getting sick."
"But it puts us out of business." Foreman is prevented from continuing as House enters and grabs the cup of coffee from Reed - who continues to use his mug when she's in the office. She doesn't respond when she notices House come up behind Cameron, placing his hand on her waist for a brief moment. A small smile graces Cameron's face at that same moment, though it quickly disappears when she notices Chase look up, holding up a photo of the Opera House for her to see.
"Here's the photo that you wanted to see, Cameron." She pulls the photo from Chase's hands and takes a closer look.
"My god, that is gorgeous." She comments on the setting sun behind the structure. "I would love to take a trip there to see it in person."
"There's a conference held in Sydney every year, maybe we can convince Cuddy to send us this year." Chase informs her. Replies from Cameron are stalled when the Dean enters the conference room.
"Good afternoon everyone. Chase, welcome back." The intensivist smiles a reply as Cuddy hands the file that she's carrying to Foreman. "I've got a case for you, special request. A man sustained a head trauma. The only complaint that he had immediately following the injury was a slight headache. CT scan revealed slight swelling and fluid build up in the forebrain. Surgeon went in, drained the fluid, less than an hour later, the guy is has vision and hearing loss, nausea, vertigo, photophobia…oh yeah, and his new CT scan is crystal clear."
"There has to be something wrong." Chase states as he puts away his photos. Elliot beats House to the comment that he wants to voice.
"My god, Captain Obvious. Are you really a doctor?" She turns her attention to Foreman. "Is he having any heart problems?"
"Difficulty breathing, but that was immediately after he was extubated, so it could be a side effect of that. The nurse noted that his breathing returned to normal after an hour or so."
"Corpsman," Cameron corrects. "Not nurse, corpsman. The stamp has an enlisted rank, not an officer." She looks up and is met by stunned looks by Foreman, Chase and Cuddy. House and Reed are amused at the looks from the other three. "What?! My dad is retired military."
"Very well," Cuddy recovers, "He and his surgeon will be here in two hours." Cuddy turns to Reed. "Dr. Reed…you can be involved in this case until Dr. House removes you."
"Why wouldn't I be able to be involved in this case?" Before Cuddy can respond, a gasp is heard from Cameron. Every doctor turns to face her, curiosity evident on their faces. Cameron glances between the file and Reed, wondering what to say. "What is it, Cameron? I'm going to find out eventually."
"The patient-" Cameron falters slightly before resuming confidently. "Captain Jason Reed." Reed goes pale and wavers slightly on her feet. "It's your husband." Cameron gets out just as Reed collapses. House gets to her in time to break her fall, but his handicap prevents him from catching her completely.
Foreman and Chase rush to her side while Cameron gets her a glass of water. The two men lift her into a chair and Cameron kneels before her offering the water that is brushed off.
"I'm fine, just shocked." House speaks up next, concern evident in his voice.
"Foreman, Chase, get her on the couch in my office. Cameron, get your purse," he goes on when Elliot is in his office, being situated on the couch. "I need you to go to Princeton Academy and pick up Mackenzie."
"Absolutely," Cameron goes to retrieve her purse and quickly leaves, not even stopping to remove her lab coat. House turns to Cuddy when she's gone.
"Don't remove Reed from duty. In 10 minutes, she'll claim that she's fine and ask to get back to work. Put her in the clinic, have her runs gels in the lab, give her charting to catch up on…whatever you want. She's going to want to stay busy."
"Alright. Send her to the clinic. I'll page you when they get here.
Two hours later, House passes through the clinic on his way to the elevators, and runs into Reed, checking out from the clinic.
"Hey," House greets her gently.
"Hey, I just got a page from Cuddy." The Dean appears before anything else can be said.
"Hey, I just sent Lieutenant Commander Thatcher up to Diagnostics. Your husband just got here."
"Thanks, I was just on my way up." The elevator ride passes silently. The two nurses riding with the trio takes note of the serious faces that the two senior doctors and the junior doctor traveling with them have and wisely keep silent. Upon reaching their floor, the trio exits and head to the department. They are brought up short by the sight of Cameron talking and laughing with a woman in utility trousers and combat boots. A utility blouse is thrown over the chair next to them. A look of recognition passes over House's face and he quickly moves to enter the conference room first.
"Attention on deck!" He bellows upon entering, causing the woman to come to attention. "I have always wanted to do that. Surprisingly being a military brat, I never got the chance." The woman immediately relaxes when she sees that the call for attention was a prank pulled by House.
"It's not a joke to call attention like that, Dr. House." The woman states quite seriously.
"How did you know that I was Dr. House? For all you know, I could have been Dr. Cuddy, or Chase, or Foreman." The woman shoots a glance to Cameron that clearly states Is he serious? Cameron merely shrugs her shoulders and steps back to watch this play out.
"Let's see. I know that you're not Dr. Foreman because I attended a neurology conference two years ago which he spoke at. I know that your Dr. Chase is the son of Dr. Rowan Chase, and you don't have an Australian accent, and I know that you're not Dr. Cuddy, because I spoke with her not 10 minutes ago." She nods at the Dean, who is standing just behind House, before turning to Reed. "You must be Dr. Reed. I want to assure you that the procedure on your husband was textbook. But if I did do something wrong, I will be the first to admit such. I want to find out what is wrong with him."
"Thank you. You might be a squid, but I know that the military doesn't accept morons, so I'm sure that it wasn't your fault. And I accept any information that you have to offer…" Reed trails off, not knowing what name to call the woman.
"Lieutenant Commander Angela Thatcher."
Reed eyes narrow slightly at the name, quickly spotting similar features between the doctor standing before her and the one standing just to the left. She glances at Cameron, who nods imperceptibly before Reed smiles broadly and extends her hand,
"Elliot Reed."
"Pleasure to meet you. Where are the other doctors? I'd like to get started so that we can figure out what's wrong as quickly as possible."
"Anxious to get back to your tin can above the sea?" Cameron teases. Thatcher merely smiles back at her to continue the banter.
"Awww…Ally, are you aware of the glowing tint to your skin? Now that means one of two things…either your in love, or…" She stops and her eyes grow wide before reaching out to place her hands on Cameron's belly, speaking excitedly, "There's going to be another Cameron on the scene soon! Mom will be so thrilled! Hello, baby," she speaks to Cameron's belly, "I'm your Aunt Angie."
Cameron spazzes out, smacking her sister's hands away from her belly. "Don't EVER do that! It's creepy!"
"Just returning the favor AllyKat." The familiar nickname causes the Cameron sisters to smile slightly before the older one continues on, oblivious to the other doctors in the room, including Chase and Foreman, who just entered. "Seriously though, Ally. You look happy, happier than I've seen you in a long time." She studies Cameron for a minute, just long enough for Cameron to become uncomfortable. "You do! You've got a new guy in your life! Oh, we have got to talk when we're done here." She notices the other doctors in the room and moves to introduce herself, her previous professionalism back in place.
"Dr. Foreman, it's good to see you again - don't bother asking, you never met me, but I attended a conference that you spoke at some years ago." She shakes his hand before moving on to Chase. "Dr. Chase, pleasure to meet you. I was sorry to hear about your father's passing last year. My condolences."
"Thank you, miss-"
"Lieutenant Commander Thatcher." Foreman speaks up at that.
"You're Captain Reed's surgeon."
"Yes. We just arrived 20 minutes ago."
"Good to meet you, now we can get started." Foreman moves to the whiteboard, but is stopped by House before he can write anything. Foreman takes a seat and opens the folder to recite the patient's symptoms and looks up to see House writing down the last of them, stopping him short. He quickly recovers and turns to Thatcher. "Could anything have gone wrong during the surgery?" He immediately delves in while the others take their seats around the table.
"Plenty. Carrier sickbays are designed to accommodate anything - including brain surgery - but even then, there's a limit to what we can do. And we can't forget that - no matter the size - we are essentially a ship on the ocean. Everything factors in. There was a storm the day Captain Reed had his CT, but we did another one when the seas calmed down, and I immediately put him into surgery when we realized that the swelling was getting worse than the first CT scan showed, before the storm got worse."
"Could the equipment have been faulty?"
"Yes. We're still a nation at war, and politicians will cut corners wherever they can to withdraw public support from the war. And the Kitty Hawk is one of the oldest carriers still commissioned-"
"With the exception of the Constitution." Cameron cuts in, causing her sister, Reed and House to smile.
"With the exception of the Constitution," Thatcher repeats, throwing her sister a warning glare before continuing. "But our equipment is kept up. Though I would recommend that we first redo the CT scan. Our equipment is old, so yours might be a lot clearer."
"Alright," House cuts in. "Redo the CT scan, and draw some blood," House falters slightly, sending an apologetic glance toward Reed before continuing, "Test him for all STDs, especially syphilis and gonorrhea - they're the most popular in the ports-"
"No need to, Dr. House." Thatcher cuts in. "The Kitty Hawk is a war ship. There haven't been any liberty calls this tour. If Captain Reed has an STD than he got it here, before he shipped out. And since Dr. Reed doesn't seem to have any symptoms…"
"The only way that I rule something out is when a blood test tells me that I can…and even then I don't always believe it. Run the tests. Also check for any toxins." He turns to Thatcher, "Have there been any problems on board lately?"
"Did you not hear a word of what I just said?" House doesn't comment on the sarcastic tone, causing Thatcher to sigh before continuing. "We had a gas leak in the carrier bay a few weeks ago. A couple pilots were sent to me with respiratory problems. They were put on oxygen and grounded for a week. Captain Reed was one of them. He was cleared by a flight surgeon to be put back in the air. There were some problems with refueling the oxygen tanks, but those were found to be leaks in the o-rings of the tanks…repaired, no one was hurt except for a few airman with O2 burns. Fuel tank on a bird ruptured after a hard landing, just after the gas leak. Captain Reed was standing too close, slipped, got a concussion. Once again, he was grounded. He was cleared two days before this incident. And that CT scan was clear, because he was sent to Aviano for it. Our CT was broken at the time, all of his scans and medical records are in the file," Thatcher motions to a thick file on the end of the table.
"And problems that could have occurred during the surgery…"
"As I said, Dr. House, the procedure was textbook."
"I wasn't referring to the procedure." There is a stare down between the surgeon and House; Cameron makes a noise to interrupt, but is cut off by her sister raising her hand before responding.
"I might be a Navy trauma surgeon, but I'm still a surgeon. I've gone through a surgical residency… in fact it was done a Seattle Grace - perhaps you've heard of it? I'm well versed in all aspects of the body and it's systems, even though I often don't get to focus on my specialty-"
"Which is?" House interrupts.
"Orthopedics." She willingly supplies.
"Messing up there has slightly fewer consequences than messing up in the brain."
"Civilian doctors screw up, you get sued, you settle, your malpractice insurance goes up. I screw up, and I go before a Competency Review Board and get court-martialed. Best case scenario: I'm demoted in rank and given a scut job at Bethesda or Pensacola for a few years until I prove myself again. Worst case: I get a dishonorable discharge and I can't even get a job at the free clinic back home. Screwing up is screwing up, regardless of the part of the body that you're working on. I didn't screw up Dr. House." The tone of the young doctor in front of him slowly lowers throughout the speech, though it started out dangerously low, causing House to glance between her and Cameron several times before turning back to the whiteboard.
"You sure the two of you are related?" He asks once his back is turned.
"Until the DNA tests prove otherwise," Thatcher states, causing Cameron to snort in laughter at the response that is always given to similar versions of that question. The two women allow their gazes to meet briefly before breaking out in laughter. Foreman and Chase glance between the two disbelievingly. Foreman finally speaks.
"You two are related?" He motions between his colleague and the surgeon temporarily assigned to the team.
"Sorry, guys." Cameron composes herself to respond. "Lieutenant Commander Thatcher is my older sister."
"Right," House breaks in, causing the two women to return to their professional appearances, "Foreman, you and Thatcher go redo the CT; Chase, draw the necessary blood to run an STD and toxin screen, then run the tests; Cameron, you get to go through Captain Reed's medical records for any clues. Dr. Reed," he turns to his niece. "Your job, is to retrieve your daughter from Wilson's office and go see your husband." He gives her a small smile, which Elliot warmly returns before getting to her feet and leaving. The others quickly follow to go about their tasks. Cameron stays behind, pulling the records closer to her to go through them, not noticing when House sits down beside her and leans over, bracing his elbows on his knees.
"I hope that your sister being here doesn't ruin our plans for tomorrow night."
Cameron looks over to him and smiles. "Nope. Angie's more obsessive about her patients than I am. The only time she'll leave the hospital while Captain Reed is here is when I force her to go home and get a real night's sleep. Otherwise she'll camp out in surgery's on-call room, shower in the locker room, and live in scrubs."
"Good. I'll pick you up at six."
"Can't wait." Cameron smiles sweetly at him before he gets up and returns to his office, turning on his iPod and Gameboy before relaxing back in his chair with his feet up on his desk.
yes, there will be a progressing relationship between our favorite couple, but not quite as serious as some of you reviewers hope (at least not now, maybe later if I feel the desire to).
Oh yeah, here's your history lesson: The USS Constitution was this country's first commissioned ship of war, and even though it is no longer used, it has retained is commission, making it the oldest commiossioned ship in history. I think it's in dry dock in Boston...I forget. If anyone knows, let me know, I think I might use it more in the story.
You know the drill: Hit the purple button below and let me know what you think.