"Differential diagnoses for a runny nose, go"
House came into his office, where his ducklings were hanging out. They hadn't done any case for over three weeks, and when Cuddy had realized that they weren't doing anything, she had decided to give House and his team some extra clinic work to make up all the hours that House hadn't done over the past ten years. Cuddy had asked House to tell his team about this, but House had told his team the opposite thing: He had told them to stay away from the clinic, so they've been sitting in his office getting bored, and paid. Most of House's employees loved it, Foreman was the only one who didn't.
"Not answering" he said, while rolling his eyes.
"The flue" said Chase without even looking up from his crossword puzzle. He was listening to music on his iPod and he had already finished a whole book filled with puzzles. He had started with his second one.
"Does Thirteen have any clue for us?" asked House sarcastically, and he sat down at a chair next to her.
"Why are you asking this?" asked Thirteen, and she closed her laptop. She had already read all the newspapers that were made over the past weeks, and now she was surfing on the internet, what really wasn't her thing.
"Why don't you let us do our jobs? I'm bored, and your TV is broken by the way"
"I don't want Cuddy to get what she wants" House said, and he took a Vicodin.
"I never get what I want. And get that TV fixed then, don't let me miss an episode of General Hospital!"
"I'm going" said Foreman and he left. "And maybe I'll let Cuddy know about this"
"No, you're not!" yelled House and Foreman stood still. The phone rung, but everyone was looking at Foreman.
"How long do you think that Cuddy will accept this before you'll be in the clinic until your -"
"Who ever calls this number?" said House, ignoring Foreman, and Thirteen went to pick it up.
"- pension" said Foreman. He sighed, took his lab coat and walked out of House's office.
"Hello? Oh hi, yes, he is around, no, he's not busy at all, alright, here you go"
Thirteen gave House the phone. He was about to put it back down, but he changed his mind and answered.
"This is Greg…wait, what? That's incredible! Err…sure, when? Oh I'll wait for that then, alright, bye…"
House put back the phone and smirked. He grabbed his coat and started to run away...
"Who was it?" asked Thirteen curiously. She was doing something on her laptop, and didn't look up.
"Doesn't matter!" said House, who was obviously happier than he was before he picked up the phone.
"Why not?" she asked, but House was already gone.
"Shall we finally go to the clinic now?" asked Taub, and he looked at his watch.
"No" said Chase, but Taub and the rest of the team had already left.
House ran all the way to Wilson, ignoring the pain in his leg. He had to tell him about the phone call he just received. It must have been one of the best phone calls he had ever had, although he didn't get a lot, but it was.
When he got there, he didn't even mind to knock on the door, he just went straight in. Wilson was sitting on his couch next to a woman. She had to be on of his patients, because she was bald and she looked very ill. House sat down next to her and smirked.
"I'm with a patient, House, what could be so urgent to interrupt us?" he said annoyed.
"Wilson, you have no idea what just happened!"
"Do I care about what just happened?" he asked and he sighed.
"You should" said House.
Wilson sighed again and excused the woman. They went outside his office and Wilson stood against the door, with his hand on the door handle, ready to run back inside.
"Well..?" asked Wilson when it remained quiet for a while.
"I won a trip to Las Vegas, I may take two people with me" said House happily. "Got a phone call from the lottery five minutes ago, said my lot was the winning one"
"Are you lying?" asked Wilson, who looked at House in a suspicious way. "Is this another stupid idea to escape from your clinic hours?"
"No! It's no escape plan, although it could have been a really good one, but what do you think?"
"I…" Wilson hesitated. "For how long is it?"
"One week, in an amazing hotel with breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's in the middle of Las Vegas, surrounded by casino's, clubs, girls, everything!"
Wilson looked at the ground and said nothing, to House's annoyance.
"Wilson, do you really think your cancer patients are more important? Don't you need a little distraction once in a while? Free trip to Las Vegas, hello?" said House, waving his hand.
"No, of course I want to go, I was just…thinking about something, but we need to ask Cuddy for one week off then, don't we?"
House shook his head. "I may take two people, remember? I don't know anyone else to invite…"
Wilson laughed.
"House, I know what your plan is. You're asking Cuddy for a year off clinic duty in exchange for a trip to Vegas!"
"Wilson! I'm serious about this, believe it or not, and if you can't be, I'll just ask somebody else. So, are you coming with me or not?"
Wilson looked back at the door, and back to House. He went back inside and House rolled his eyes. He was just about to walk away when Wilson came back.
"I said fifteen minutes, fifteen, no more" said Wilson, and House smiled.
"What could make House so happy?" asked Thirteen when she got out of exam room one. She had just diagnosed the flue by a six year old, and was ready to take another kid when she walked into Foreman.
"I mean, have you ever seen him this happy?"
"No, I don't know, you answered the phone, didn't she tell you anything?"
"No, she didn't. She asked where Mister House was, so it can't be anything medically relevant, she would have asked for doctor House then, I think he won a price or something…"
"Could be, maybe he won a year off clinic duty"
"Ha, no, that's medically relevant. Maybe he won a million dollars, he's a fanatic gambler"
"I don't know if he buys lots"
"Me neither, but I've seen him enter lots and lots of casino's over the past few years. Lot's aren't very expensive in first place, it wouldn't surprise me if he has won something. Winning a big price is very rare, but he wouldn't be so happy with winning a hundredth dollars, maybe not even with winning a thousand. A romantic dinner with two?"
"He ran towards Wilson, I don't think he would invite Wilson for a romantic dinner" said Foreman and Thirteen laughed. She reached out for a file, but it was the last one.
"Shall I take this one? You can go back to House's office" suggested Thirteen.
"And then read some magazine for the third time?"
"For example, don't make me open that laptop again" she said and she went to exam room four.
Foreman checked himself out and headed back to House's office.
House and Wilson were standing in Cuddy's office, where they had explained the whole situation. Cuddy was looking surprised and sat down on her couch, pointing the men to sit next to her. They did and it remained quiet for a while.
"So, who's the third one?" asked Cuddy curiously.
"Well, why do you think I told you this?" asked House.
Cuddy raised her eyebrows and gave him the same suspicious look as Wilson gave him when House had asked him to come.
"Are you serious? Is this some kind of reward for all the clinic hours you did without getting caught? Is this a deal for a year off?"
"Why doesn't anyone believe me?" said House annoyed. "This doesn't have anything to do with my job, and if you don't believe me, I can show you my winning lot"
"I do believe you, I just don't understand why you're asking me. You hate me more than you love me"
"That's not true! I -"
"Oh I'm flattered!" said Cuddy and she laughed. "Well alright, if you really want me to come, I will. But don't forget to give me dates and times" Cuddy said.
House and Wilson went to the door.
"And House?" House turned around and faced her.
"Thank you. It's very nice of you to invite me" she said and she smiled. House nodded and followed Wilson to the hall. Wilson went back to his patient, and House went back to his office. While going to there, he stopped and thought about the decision he had just made.
'This is going to be the best trip ever! A week with a beautiful woman and my best friend. We will take a gamble in the casino, drink beer, smoke cigars, and probably everything else that's possible. We got a budget of $5000! Plane ticket and Hotel room included! Cuddy would have been very stupid to not go, and a trip to Vegas is good for at least a hundredth years off clinic duty, so he'd better just make fun, and maybe she'll be so grateful that she'll thank him voluntarily, but this trip wasn't about that. But how am I going to explain this to the team? I don't want them to have a week off, this is my price, my reward! They're going go do clinic duty, then Cuddy will be happy too. Maybe this is just the perfect moment to tell her how I feel, to tell her that's she's just as beautiful inside as she's outside…'
When House was back in his office, he discovered that Foreman and Chase were sitting there.
"Hey, you were the only one who was enjoying those clinic hours, Foreman, and now you're sitting here on your lazy ass?" he asked annoyed.
"All the files were gone, there wasn't anything I could do, so I went back. Who was that woman on the phone?"
"If you did your hours, you can finish mine" House said with some sort of evil grin, and he went to get a cup of coffee.
"What did you win?" asked Foreman curiously.
"How do you know that I won something? You've been checking my voicemail or something?"
"Lucky guess, so, what did you win?"
"A trip to Las Vegas, and in the week I'm away, you're not going to sit here on your lazy ass again. I'll let you run the clinic, how about that?"
"I don't care. Who are you taking with you?"
"Not you" said House. He put his fresh cup of coffee on the table and walked to his little TV. He tried to start it, but it didn't. In an attempt to get it started, he kicked it. General Hospital was about to start in five minutes.
"I didn't expect you to invite me anyway. Let me guess, Wilson?"
"And Cuddy" House said. He kicked the TV once more.
"A romantic week with Cuddy in Vegas, that's what you're thinking, right?"
"Of course" said House, and with his final kick, the TV started, and he was just in time to switch channels to watch his favorite show.
Foreman looked up from his magazine, and so did Chase.
"Really? Do you have feelings for Cuddy? You're taking Cuddy with you because you love her, not because you don't have any other friends?" asked Chase.
"Yes" said House, and that was his final word. Foreman smirked and joined him with General Hospital, Chase continued with his puzzle.
"Wait, whad did I just say?"
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