A/N: Ok so this is my 1st House fic and I'm not 100% happy with it yet but I couldn't get the idea out of my head! Please let me know what you think =]
Bright, florescent hospital lights burned her corneas when she opened her eyes. She was lying on an uncomfortable mattress in, given the quietness of it, must be a side room somewhere in the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. What she didn't know is why she was there? Well she worked downstairs in the ER that was why she had came here this morning but she was at a loss as to how she had ended up in this room. She lifted her hand to rub her stinging eyes but found her movement hindered by a drip line running into the back of it. She groaned and sat up in the bed.
"You're up!" A cheery voice sounded in the door. The blonde ER doctor known as Allison Cameron stepped inside the room and began recording her vital statistics. "That's good I was starting to worry about you."
"What the hell am I doing here Allison?" The red head said, her Irish accent sounding huskier than usual.
"You don't remember?" She sounded concerned as she replaced Cate's newly updated chart. Cate shook her head and waited for an explanation. "Do you know where you are?"
The irritable girl in the bed glared at the head ER doctor.
"I just called you Allison so I'm pretty certain my memory loss isn't that severe so why don't you just fill in the blank." She rolled her eyes. "Or do I have to call you Dr Cameron when I'm lying in one of these beds?"
"I see your sense of humour hasn't been affected." The blonde quipped. "You were downstairs working and you collapsed." Cameron said watching her colleague's face for a reaction; mostly she just looked embarrassed. "What do you remember?"
"I remember coming to work this morning...it is still Tuesday isn't it?" She checked just to make sure. The other doctor nodded and perched herself on her bed. "I came to work and I remember everything up until lunch time then it gets a bit fuzzy."
"What did you have for lunch?" Cameron asked, both checking her memory and making sure she hadn't just fainted because she hadn't eaten.
"Club sandwich, no tomato." She said assuredly. "And I stole some of A.J's chips."
'Fries.' Cameron couldn't help but correct the girl inside her head. "Do you remember flirting with Thirteen when you came back from lunch?" The blonde smirked, her friend glared at her.
"I remember talking to Dr Hadley, yes, and then we got a call, MVA 2 casualties. The first patient arrived, multiple lacerations to the face and a pretty deep cut with glass in it on the right forearm. Then...then...that's it." She sighed, frustrated that she couldn't remember anything more.
"That's good." Cameron encouraged. "You collapsed just after the second patient arrived, so you haven't lost a lot of time."
"I can't believe I collapsed in the ER." Cate winced, pushing her head back into the pillow wishing the bed would swallow her up.
"I can't think of a better place to collapse." The other doctor joked. "Has anything like this ever happened to you before?" She asked, getting into the medical history.
"Nope." She shook her head.
"Have you had any other symptoms lately? Blurred vision, dizziness or breathlessness?"
"Not that I can remember." Cate shook her head. "Look Dr Cameron I'm fine. I fainted; I probably just stood up too fast or something." She said dismissively. She just wanted to get out of this bed. Cameron was staring at her with concern as she tried to get out of bed. All the colour drained from her face and she stared at Cameron with wide blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" The blonde doctor asked frantically, rushing to her side in case she fainted again. Cate grabbed the disposable bedpan from the table by her bed just in time as she violently vomited into it. Gasping for breath she noticed what had cause Cameron's mouth to fall open; she had just vomited blood.
"Cate. You're not fine." Allison helped her back into bed.
-
"25 year old, female, presented with syncope, headache and vomiting blood." Cameron held the file out to House, hoping to catch his interest. He needed a case and she wanted to make sure her newest friend in the ER was alright.
"Oh wow!" He said sarcastically. "This must be the mysterious case of the tiny ER doctor with the extremely rare and difficult to diagnose vasovagal syncope."
Cameron opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.
"The vomiting blood I'm going to guess is a result of a peptic ulcer caused by taking NSAIDs to get rid of her headache. She's the Irish one right? Probably taking the NSAIDs to get rid of her hangovers then."
"Or it could be something else." Thirteen, who had been silent until this point, chimed in. "She has a fever it could be encephalitis." She suggested. Cameron nodded in agreement.
"I'm sure there are tons of other doctors in this hospital who can diagnose encephalitis. I bet at least half of them even know how to spell it!" He rolled his eyes and limped towards the elevator.
"Yes but all those other doctors all have other patients too. You need a case House." Cameron argued, sounding a bit like Cuddy.
"I do! I need an interesting case, a worthy case. Not a 25 year old with vasovagal syncope and a peptic ulcer."
"If you take the case I'll do your clinic hours for a week!" Thirteen offered. The bell chimed and the doors of the elevator opened. House turned around, distracted, and looked between the two female doctors in front of him.
"Interesting." His brow furrowed as he thought about what had just happened.
"So you'll take the case?" The brunette doctor asked.
"No I mean what's interesting is why you want me to take this case so badly. I mean I know why she wants me to take the case; she's bestest best friends with the new ER doctor." He motioned towards Cameron with his cane. "Stands to reason that she would want the bestest best doctor in the hospital to treat her. But why do you care?"
"I...just think you should take the case." She shrugged. "We need a case. Any case!" She tried to make it sound convincing that that was the only reason she wanted him to take it. The last thing she wanted was House poking around in her private life.
"Alright." He nodded and pressed the button on the lift again.
"So I'll do an LP." Thirteen said decidedly.
"No!" He shook his head and stepped inside the elevator. "You'll do a tilt table test to confirm vasovagal and then you'll do my clinic hours!" He smirked. She glared at him but the doors shut before she could argue. She sighed heavily and turned to the blonde doctor, seeking back up in her anger. Cameron however just looked at her quizzically.
"He has a point you know." She mused.
"What? You think it's vasovagal?" Thirteen rolled her eyes.
"No I mean about why you wanted him to take the case so bad." She watched the brunette's face for reaction.
"I'm just tired doing his paperwork and the crossword puzzles in the medical journals in his office." The blush creeping over her neck betrayed her. The blonde doctor eyed her friend suspiciously.
"If you say so." She smirked. They reached the doors to the ER where they would part ways.
"It is! That's all!" Remy said firmly, Cameron had a slight suspicion she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. The blonde chuckled quietly as she returned to the ER; did the two doctors think she was blind or just plain stupid not to notice the way they acted around each other?
"That's all." Remy repeated on her way to Cate's room.