Chapter 3: The test
Cuddy was very late. She glanced at her watch again before she stepped out of the elevator and it was already twenty past seven. She was up late yesterday evening and forgot to set the alarm. Now her whole day would consist of running. She was so preoccupied with this idea that she almost missed the new blonde slave waiting for her at her office door.
"Good morning, Doctor Cuddy" he greeted her respectfully.
"Good morning…" she hesitated for a second because she couldn't remember the slave's name.
"Chase" the young man provided quietly.
"Oh, yes, Chase. Wait a few moments until I put down my things and then we can start."
She put down her bag, looked through the mail that Janey left on her desk and signed a few bills. When she finished the morning routine she pushed the call button on the phone.
"Janey, please send Chase in!"
Seconds later there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
The young slave came inside, closed the door and then stopped at the edge of the carpet. For a moment she inspected the boy: he was wearing hospital srub-pants with a new T-shirt, and she could see that Jay gave her a new collar too. His face was impassive and his eyes were trained at some point over Cuddy's shoulder. It was the perfect posture for a slave while waiting for orders.
"Well, I was thinking about you and I think it would be a waste not to use your abilities. I already have something in mind but before I make the final decision I want to see how much you really know. To start with, we check on one of my patients, she needs a basic metabolic panel. Can you do that?"
"Yes, Doctor Cuddy."
"Then tell me what it measures" she asked.
"Level of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, glucose and calcium."
"Correct. Follow me!"
They walked to a store-room and Cuddy ordered Chase to collect everything they would need for taking a blood-sample. He vanished inside but was back very quickly with the set in his hands and then they went to the patient's room.
"Good morning, Patricia! How are you today?" Cuddy greeted the young woman who was sitting up in bed and looked to be well, or at least much better than a few days ago.
"Good morning, Doctor Cuddy! I'm much better, thanks."
"Good. We need another blood-test to see if everything's really all right and if it is, you can go home in a few days."
"I can't wait! Don't get me wrong but this bed isn't very comfortable…"
"I bet, it isn't. Chase here, will take some blood from you."
The young woman threw a suspicious glance at the slave.
"Really?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes, don't worry, he's trained and I'll be here, supervising every move he makes. You can start now" she stepped away to give room to Chase.
Cuddy watched closely how Chase worked. First, he pulled a chair next to the bed and laid out the equipment in easy reach.
"Am I allowed to touch your arms to search for an adequate vein, Ma'am?" he asked and Patricia nodded, still obviously nervous a little bit.
Chase carefully patted down both her arms and then said:
"I'll take the blood from your right arm, okay?"
"Sure."
He put on the tourniquet, held the arm hanging, waited some, then swabbed the arm with alcohol, waited some more and inserted the needle quickly but carefully. Patricia turned her head away after the swabbing. Chase then applied the vacutainer blood vial that filled up quickly. He released the tourniquet and pulled out the needle.
"It's over, Ma'am" he said while putting on the pressure gauze.
"Really?" Patricia looked at him surprised and smiled. "I didn't feel anything, you're better than the nurses!"
'Thank you, Ma'am."
Chase was already cleaning up the used swabs and needles, dropping them in the biohazard refuse bin.
"I'll come back when I know the results. Have a good day!" Cuddy said and led the way outside.
"Thank you, Doctor Cuddy."
In front of the room, she turned to the slave:
"You did well in there" she said and then took out a small notebook from her pocket and scrabbled down a few words.
"Go to the lab on the third floor and run the test. Give this to the head technician, he will let you use the equipment. You ought to be ready by nine with it. I want you to meet me at the great auditorium then. I'm having two lectures today and I want you to take part in those. Be prepared that I'll ask you questions! Can you find your way?"
"Yes, Doctor Cuddy."
"Okay then, I'll see you at nine."
Two minutes before nine Cuddy arrived at the auditorium's entrance and it was a miracle in itself that she wasn't late again. Chase was waiting for her standing next to the wall. She waved him over and saw that he had a piece of paper with him.
"What are the results?"
"Creatinine level is somewhat increased, everything else is normal."
She held out her hand and he gave over the results. After a glance she could see that he was right.
"What does this indicate?"
"Her kidneys don't function perfectly" he answered without hesitation.
"Yes, Patricia had a kidney infection, but she's definitely on the mend. Get in there and find a place in the first row!"
She watched as Chase waited until all the students went in and sat down, only then did he follow them, found a free spare chair and used that to sit down. Some of the students threw curious glances at him but most didn't acknowledge the new face at all.
Cuddy liked to ask questions during her lectures and today she decided to ask Chase first, turning to the med students only after he didn't know the answer. It wasn't a good plan, as it turned out, because the slave seemed to know everything. It was quite impressive, actually and she realized that asking him to take blood and doing a basic test was not really testing his abilities. So she changed her method and asked the students first and asked Chase only when the students couldn't answer. To her amazement, he was able to answer those questions too.
Her second lecture was a practical one. They practiced lumbar puncture in both lateral and sitting position. Cuddy made Chase do it first and he didn't need any instructions, actually he did it perfectly. She could easily use him as demonstration and every time someone did something wrong, she asked Chase to show the right way.
After the lectures she made him perform some other procedures, like intubation on a practice dummy, administering an IV on a patient and asked theoretical questions about a bunch of lab tests – what they were used for, what diagnoses you could confirm with them and how you performed them.
She also monitored his overall behavior. Despite the fact that he was very obedient, polite and submissive, just like a properly trained slave had to be, he was surprisingly confident when it came to medical questions. He obviously picked up things quickly, as after only one day he found his way around the hospital easily. The idea that had come to her yesterday sounded better and better. Taking into consideration that Chase spent his whole life serving a world-famous, genius doctor, who was also quite arrogant and self-righteous, he was probably more than perfect for the task on Cuddy's mind.
It was quite late by the time they got back to her office, there he turned to Chase again.
"You did very well today" she said.
"Thank you, Doctor Cuddy."
"So, I made the decision about your job."
For the first time she glimpsed some nervousness in his eyes.
"You are going to work for the Diagnostics Department and your main supervisor will be Doctor Gregory House. If you are not needed there, other departments can use you as well. I'm going to announce this opportunity in our next stuff meeting."
When she mentioned House's name, she saw that every pretence of indifference vanished from Chase's face and his eyes went wide with something that looked definitely like awe.
"You've heard about Doctor House before, haven't you?" she asked.
"Yes, Ma'am. My former Master thought it important for me to read medical journals and I read a few of his articles. It will be a real honor to follow his orders."
"Just don't tell him so" Cuddy said dryly. "I warn you, he's not an easy person. On another topic, I'd like you to continue your readings and studies. The hospital has a great library, I'll get you a free card there, so you can use it when you have some time."
"And now I'd like you to meet Doctor House" she finished.