A/N: No reviews for chapter two!? Was it bad, was it good? Please let me know! Errgghh.. I guess flames can be accepted...
and then will promptly be used to bake cookies - which will be given to reviewers. Comprende?
"Is there any other pain?"
"No," House's latest patient, Charlie Harrow, replied. "Only a headache."
House, Lis and Charlie sat in the small room, with the lights dimmed; House had the file in his hand, examining it. His eyes not leaving the page, he reached for the banana shaped instrument from a bench, and handed it to Lis. "Stick the piece in his ear," he instructed.
She pushed it into his ear, and seconds later, pulled it out again as it beeped. "96.7. That's normal, right?"
House nodded. "It's only when it goes up into the hundreds that we have a bit of a problem. Such as…?"
"Fever, delirium?"
"Bingo." House shone a torch in Charlie's eyes. "Pupils reactive…" he muttered.
"How long have you had this headache, Mr. Harrow?" Lis asked him.
"A few days. It started out as a dull ache here," he pointed to his left side of his forehead, "but now it's just too painful to ignore any longer. It's one of the worst headaches I've ever had."
House turned to Lis, "I need ideas."
Lis paused, "Err…Migraine?"
House nodded, "It's plausible. What else?"
Lis wracked her brain, she couldn't think of anything else that would explain just a headache. It was just ONE symptom. It wasn't enough. Unless…
"If his only symptom is a headache, it could just be the onset of something else, like the flu, but it could be a bleed…" She quietly answered. When House gave her a look that said, 'Go on' she added, "in the brain. A brain hemorrhage."
Charlie Harrow looked at both in surprise and horror. "My brain is bleeding?" he exclaimed. "Can you fix it?"
House ignored Charlie and spoke directly to Lis, "Well, what should we do, Lis?"
She took a deep breath, "A CT can detect bleeds in the brain, so I would schedule him for a CT scan." She glanced from House to Charlie's terrified face.
House nodded his head, "Phone's over there. Tell them that Dr. House requires the CT scan for a Charlie Harrow."
Lis nearly ran over to the white phone hanging on the wall. She grabbed it, and dialed the numbers that House called out. It only rang a few times before somebody picked up. "Err…Dr. House needs to schedule the CT scan for Charlie Harrow," she stammered, her hands shaking.
She was surprised that House didn't look worried; he actually looked quite calm. On the other hand, Charlie Harrow looked like he was about to soil himself in the thought of his brain bleeding. And herself? She was scared. Or was it nerves that made her stomach feel so wound up?
After she hung up, it was only a few minutes until some nurses came and Charlie had been put onto a gurney and been taken out of the room.
Lis and House followed closely beside the bed. Lis gripped onto the side rails and House barked information at the nurses that seemed like jumbled words to Lis. She stared down at the patient; his eyes had closed. It didn't surprise her, she, too, wanted to close her eyes and block out everything.
Charlie's head rolled on the pillow, leaving a trail of crimson fluid in its wake.
Lis tugged at House's arm, heavily.
"What?" House snapped at her, not impressed at being interrupted in his tirade on the nursing staff.
She pointed to the fluid on the pillow, "That's not normal, is it?"
A look of recognition crossed House's face. "No, it's not."
Seconds later, the rapid beeping of the heart rate machine, that was hooked up to Charlie Harrow's finger, filled the room.
House announced, "I need a crash cart!"
Dozens of nurses filled the room, and Lis got shoved behind the hustle, staring in horror at the scene unfolding in front of her.
House was even more infuriated with his calls to the nurses, "Get him stabilized on transit to theatre! It's a lateral aneurysm, left cortex, temporal lobe!"
The gurney trailed up the hall at a fast pace, swarmed by doctors and nurses. It swung round a corner, leaving Lis standing, alone, in the hallway.