PPTH Redux
A/N: You know the standard disclaimers. I wish I could join the trio of Katie, David and Bryan in ownership of the show.
In this piece, Wilson started out married, Cuddy is married and House comes to PPTH and is initially misdiagnosed as per canon.
Part 1: Familiar Faces
Dr. Gregory House was in pain and tagged as a drug seeker. For three days, he tried to figure out what was wrong with his body. PPTH was supposed to be a premier hospital so why the hell was no one listening to him? His pain clouded his brain and kept the answer just beyond his reach. Then he self-diagnosed in a moment of clarity that made everyone scurry to confirm his theory. The doctors he saw over the three days were reluctant to face House and the job was taken by the Dean of Medicine as soon as it was brought to her attention.
When Dr. Lisa Cuddy entered the room, her first emotion was anger at seeing Greg House lying in agony even with the morphine drip attached to his arm. His blood shot eyes and general pallor was a far cry from the legend she knew. He recognized her even in the painful haze.
"Cuddy," he whispered, "your doctors suck."
With a slight smile she replied, "Same old House and you're right, they suck." By now she finished reading his chart and observing him. Cuddy sat in the chair next to the bed and held his clammy hand.
"The options are limited House. There is too much muscle damage. The best option would be to amputate," she continued.
"No Cuddy, please don't take my leg," begged House giving her hand a squeeze. "Promise me you won't take my leg. You will figure something out. I know you can."
"Everything I can think about will give you constant pain. House you will be in pain every day," she tried to reason with him.
"I don't care Cuddy. I like my leg. I will be OK," he pleaded.
Cuddy narrowed her eyes and adjusted the bed so that he could be in more of a sitting position. She handed him his chart and watched as House absorbed the details. She can see him fight the inevitable. He closed his eyes and said, "Think of something Cuddy. You have to." With that he took calming breaths keeping his eyes firmly shut. But he couldn't keep the tears from escaping.
She gently wiped them away and readjusted his bed, replaced his chart and left the room.
"Lisa, thank you for talking to him. That is the first time in days that he hasn't yelled at whoever is in the room," said Stacy in a strained voice.
Cuddy hugged the distraught woman and led her through the hospital as they continued talking. "He is in excruciating pain. And that makes him more charming than his usual self" added Lisa.
"Can you do anything for him?" questioned Stacy.
"Yes, but with amputation off the table, the alternatives will be of little comfort."
"What do you mean?" asked Stacy a little confused.
"Stacy his muscle damage is so extensive that amputation would be the best option. But House doesn't want to lose his leg. What I have as the best way forward will leave him in pain for the rest of his life." She saw the absolute horror on Stacy's face and continued, "Knowing House, he would pay little attention to therapy and pain management. That's what I'm worried about," concluded Cuddy.
By now they were in her office and she offered Stacy some coffee. Lisa watched as her friend absorbed all she was told and turned it every which way in her brilliant legal mind.
"So what do we do, Lisa?" was Stacy's inquiry. She felt so helpless.
"Muscle debridement," continued Cuddy with clinical precision. "We take out the dead tissue and hope that there is enough to support his weight when he wakes up."
"What if it doesn't? What if he can't even stand?"
"Then he would come to terms with that reality and we will go back and take the leg," answered Cuddy.
Even knowing that Lisa was a doctor, Stacy was shocked at her cold delivery of her plans. She was never sure what kind of relationship Lisa and Greg had when they were in college but she knew that if Greg House trusted anyone with his health it was Lisa Cuddy. She wondered if it would have made a difference had Cuddy known that from day one when House came to the hospital seeking help for pain.
Greg House continued terrorizing everyone in his immediate space and got worse as the days went by. His surgery was scheduled for the next day. It got so bad that the nurses refused to enter the room and the doctors were steering clear of him. Stacy was at wit's end with his attitude. The only person he managed any civility towards was Cuddy. Even Wilson kept his distance.
"House you need to behave," began Cuddy as she entered his room, "I do have a hospital to run you know. I can't drop everything because you can't play nice with the other kids."
House looked at her with mild surprise and grudgingly nodded. "Fine," he grumbled, "send more of your incompetent staff to exhibit their ignorance."
"They are competent enough to monitor your vitals and adjust your meds," she continued while performing the tasks.
"I can do that myself. We don't need them," he sulked.
"OK then, physician heal thyself!" remarked Cuddy.
"Meanie," said House.
"Big baby," replied Cuddy. House couldn't suppress the slight smile as she continued, "Ah, the meds are working. Be a good boy tonight and tomorrow we'll take you to the OR with all the shiny toys."
House's reply was to stick his tongue out at her. She smiled and left.
Later that night in bed with her husband, Cuddy was restless. She kept waiting for her beeper or phone to go off with complaints of another tantrum
"Lisa, will you settle down," admonished Jacob playfully.
"I'm waiting for House to go on the rampage again," she replied flipping on her back and staring at the ceiling.
"All reports confirm that the guy's a jerk. He could at least make an effort to be nice."
"House was never nice in the conventional way."
"What does that even mean?"
"He is brilliant, always was," replied Cuddy "and he never had a problem telling you like it is. We can describe him with every negative adjective because he at some time exhibited every one of them. But that doesn't make him wrong."
"Hmm," replied Jacob, "still that doesn't explain why you put up with him."
Cuddy sat up and gave him a hard look. She then smirked and replied, "You are one to talk. You are a doctor and when you get the flu you are convinced you're on your death bed. He is in pain and will suffer for the rest of his life. You wouldn't last a day."
Knowing not to argue with his wife too much especially about her friends and acquaintances, Jacob conceded defeat and watched her flop down on the bed and turned facing the wall. He was a bit jealous of her protectiveness of House. But then again, she was like that with all her patients. Still he felt somewhat insecure with House being around Lisa. He had met House once when they were newly married and after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance, House had called him a weakling and declared that he didn't deserve someone like Lisa Cuddy.
The surgery went well and soon House was back in the ICU and surfing on a morphine high. Wilson came by and they joked around a bit. Stacy fared worse since he blamed her for going ahead with the particular procedure. She left the room before he could see her tears. The nurses avoided him as much as possible and when Cuddy visited to do his check up, they engaged in an epic battle. No one could hear their conversation but they clearly saw the movements and expressions of the two doctors. House was in his element and the vitriol just kept spewing. Cuddy replied in kind and they ended when she reduced his morphine to start the weaning process.
House screamed and begged for more pain meds but Cuddy was unmoved.
"Damn it House! You know this is the procedure. Too much morphine will kill you."
"You've already done that. Muscle debridement Cuddy? What the hell kind of doctor are you?"
"The kind that saved your precious leg, you ungrateful ass. I didn't hear you coming up with any brilliant options."
"You filleted me," yelled House.
"Too bad we were nowhere near your vocal cords," snapped Cuddy.
House recoiled as if struck. He stared at her and she held her gaze.
"We will try different combinations of meds to find something you can be comfortable with."
"Comfortable…I have no thigh muscle."
"I know," she replied, "I took it out. It was dead and useless."
House knew she was right but he needed to take it all out on someone; his frustrations at not coming up with the answer earlier and the fact that she came up with an idea as crazy as what he would normally think of. It was so different when you are on the other side of the coin. They said nothing else to each other and he watched her walk away in barely contained rage. The sedative she administered was kicking in and House's final thought as he slipped into the world of sleep was that Cuddy is hot when she's pissed off.
Part 2: New Beginnings
Greg House was bored. Being jobless lost its appeal when he became a cripple. It hurt to do everything. Three months has passed since he presented with a thigh pain that ended up with him sporting a giant scar. He was bitter all the time and he kept pushing everyone away. Wilson would come by and they would hang out but he was still a bastard to Wilson. Stacy got the worse of it because she was the one trying to talk him into starting his physiotherapy. House claimed that he didn't need them; he could walk with a cane just fine. When intelligence and pride collided, intelligence always lost if your name is Greg House.
Cuddy stepped into her office and was mildly surprised at seeing Stacy sitting on the couch.
"I'm sorry to intrude Lisa, but I need to talk."
"No problem," replied Cuddy as she contemplated how much later she would have to stay. This conversation would not be easy or short. "How are you holding up?"
"Not good. I'm lost as to what I should do. Nothing I do is good enough. He is so angry all the time."
Cuddy sat next to her and placed a comforting hand on Stacy's shoulder. "Give him some more time. You know what a stubborn ass he can be."
Stacy nodded and continued, "It's not that. Sometimes I can't take his insults I have to leave the house. I go out to the car and just stay there for a while."
"I see," said Cuddy "Is he even going to PT?"
"Completely refused. He claimed that he doesn't need them to tell him how to walk with a cane."
"Maybe if he went back to work, the situation will get better."
"No one will hire him Lisa. He is too…House."
"I will give him a job and he will take it."
"How can you be so sure?" asked Stacy. She knew that Cuddy had a lot of power with the hospital's Board but maybe not enough for them to take on Greg House.
"Because I had already budgeted for a diagnostics department and House will know that this is his last best chance at doing what he likes."
"Diagnostics? And you think the Board will approve?" inquired Stacy skeptically.
"I would not inflict House on Nephrology or Infectious Diseases. I will give him the chance to shape his own department. The Board will sign off on this."
Stacy looked at Lisa's determined demeanor and hoped that she never have to do battle with her because Cuddy would be a formidable opponent. Maybe she had underestimated Lisa all along. House needed someone who understood him and would put up with him. She used to believe that she did and could but it seemed that Lisa Cuddy was way ahead on both those scores. Feeling a lot better, Stacy left Cuddy to her mountain of work.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" asked Jacob.
"He is a brilliant doctor. The best candidate for this project," answered Cuddy.
"But it's House! Nobody wants him around because he's more trouble than he's worth. He will destroy your career Lisa."
"Stop being melodramatic Jake, I can handle House."
"I don't like it. Everyone who has worked with that guy is scarred for life. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I won't, OK. I've known House for a long time and I can take care of myself." She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her purse and car keys.
Jacob Cohen watched as his wife pulled out of the driveway to go offer Greg House a job. He doesn't want that to happen, he knew something bad will be the end result. Jacob doesn't trust House but maybe it would work out to his benefit after all. If Lisa has to deal with House she will have less time to suspect that anything underhanded is occurring in his life. Still it made him jumpy.
Cuddy pulled up in front of House and Stacy's apartment building and parked in Stacy's marked parking spot. They lived in one of those buildings with resident only parking. She knew Stacy would be out. Finding the door unlocked, Cuddy entered.
"House," she called.
"Go away," replied House from the couch.
She followed the sounds of the TV and took in his scruffy appearance. Wearing a t-shirt and shorts with his hair long enough to cover his ears, he looked a little bit like he did in college only the humour was missing from his eyes.
"It's nice to see you too," she continued.
"You ignore me for three months and just pop in when your busy schedule allows. I am so humbled to be in your great presence."
"Some people actually have work to do House. How is your PT progressing?"
"Cuddy don't play dumb. You bloody well know I am not doing PT. I'm sure the counselor told you in your frequent girl chats about what a bastard I am."
"I don't need Stacy for that. I knew you long before she did. What I don't understand is your masochism."
"I'm in chronic pain. That doesn't make me a masochist. Don't go projecting your kinks unto me," he yelled.
"You don't do anything to alleviate the pain, you like it and that makes you a masochist. You wouldn't know what to do with me in kinky mode. So shut up and listen to what I have to say."
House was surprised at Cuddy since they saw each other again. He was in too much pain in the hospital to appreciate her ability to argue with him. She held her own against him in college but she was never this good. He studied her for a moment and re-focused on the TV. The next thing he knew was the remote control being snatched from his hand and the sudden silence of the TV switching off to the clank of the remote bouncing off the wall.
"Fine Cuddy, what the hell do you want?"
"I want you to come work for PPTH as the head of diagnostics."
"You don't have a diagnostics department."
"When you get there, we will have one. You will hire three fellows who will be your principal students. You will conduct workshops and seminars for other students. There will be conferences to attend, papers to write and clinic duty when you have no case."
"Change your dealer Cuddy. The weed you're smoking is obviously low grade."
"Very funny. As I recall, weed was your thing."
"I don't want your pity offering Cuddy."
"I have never pitied you House and I won't start now. This is a firm offer."
"I don't do stuff like clinic duty Cuddy and conferences so forget it. Go home, it's Saturday. Don't you have Shabbat to observe?"
"Only the cases that no-one else can solve will come to you. It is what you thrive on, that kind of insanity. Clinic is required for all the in between times. Neither myself or Jacob are practicing."
"Speaking of the hubby, is he excited about me working at PPTH?"
"We weren't speaking about him. He does not work there and no he is not excited."
"Hmm. Well I want an office with a balcony."
"Fine. The pay is 300K per year with 30 vacation days."
"You have to pay me more than that."
"This is not a negotiation House. It is your last chance at practicing legitimate medicine."
"Hey, I don't have to practice. I know what I'm doing."
"Right, so get off your lazy ass and do it then."
He studied her while she used the time to study his apartment. He was excited at her offer but he will never let her know. She was so damn self assured, he wished he could turn her down but she was right, he needed to go back to what he was good at and regained direction in his life.
"OK, I will be there on Monday but I'm warning you. All that other crap you want me to do, I don't know."
"Monday it is then." With that she got up and held out her hand. He gripped it firmly and was reluctant to let go but quickly released it at her raised eyebrow.
Just before she reached the door he yelled, "Can I have back my remote control? A wrestling special is coming on with the ladies."
She gave him a nasty look and retrieved the instrument while House appreciated her ass hugging jeans. He smirked as he thought about what working with Lisa Cuddy everyday will be like. He will have to start plotting from day one. Maybe get Wilson in a bit of a sauce. James played the nice guy to the hilt but House knew he was just a wolf in sheep's clothing. Another reason he liked Wilson; the man was a study in proper overt social mores.