Chapter 4
"So how old do you think that she is?" Chase said to Forman.
"I know that she looks pretty young but with there is no way that she can have her reputation without a lot of experience and that comes with age."
"I don't think that we should be talking about her like this. She can walk in any minute." Cameron tells them.
It was the next day after meeting Dr. Harrington and the team was sitting around the table waiting for House and Dr. Harrington to arrive so they can start their new case. The other patient had been treated in record time thanks to the help of the new doctor, and they were now able to start another one right away. "The coffee better be ready."
The team looked surprised as a grumpy House limped into the room.
"It's 8:50am. What are you doing here?" a surprised Chase asked.
"I missed your sunny face so much I couldn't wait to get here to see it again." House quipped.
"Seriously, what are you doing here?" asked Forman.
"He's here so that he can check out the competition. Isn't that right Dr. House?"
Dr. Harrington strolled into the room with a confident air. She wore a suit as she did yesterday; the only difference was that the shirt was a royal blue as were her stiletto shoes. She walked to the table, set her black leather briefcase on it along with her handbag. She pulled a mug out of the bag that looked like a young child painted it and walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself some. She took a couple sips before turning to the team and stating, "This mug is mine. No one touches it." She eyed House as she said this.
House replied, "Don't look at me. I don't want girl cooties."
Dr. Harrington ignored him and turned to the others. "I hope you all had a good night. I appreciate that you are all on time. Now before we start on the new case, are there any questions that you have for me."
Chase, Cameron and Forman look at each other a little uncertainly before Chase speaks up. "Well, there was one thing that we were wondering about. How can you be so accomplished in your field and look so young?"
"Come on Chase, you know its taboo for women to give their age." House smirked.
Dr. Harrington ignored House again as she looked at the team and answered the question.
"I know that I look really young. And in normal circumstances I would be too young to have these accomplishments. I have a high IQ and good work ethic. I skipped a lot of grades while I was growing up. I graduated high school when I was 14 and I had taken all but one semester of college at the same time. I finished college that summer and in the fall I was in med school and by the time I was 22 I was a full-fledged doctor. I have been practicing medicine for 7years now and I'm one of the best in my field."
"You're 29?" said an astonished Chase.
"I will be 30 in a few months. Does that make you feel better?"
"Actually it does." Chase replied. Forman and Cameron rolled their eyes and House just snickered.
"Now can we get on with the case? Someone is dying while we're sitting here hashing out my qualifications in respect to my age."
"All right. Chickpeas. Neither chick nor pea. Discuss." House said standing up and walking to the whiteboard.
Cameron sighed, Forman and Harrington rolled their eyes and Chase laughed. House just looked at them. "I take it, that that means you want us to start diagnosis?" Harrington stated dryly.
"Ding, ding, ding. Rod tell her what she's won!" House rudely said.
"Stop being an ass." Snapped back Harrington.
"I don't think that is humanly possible." Forman put forth.
Raising her voice as she did her body from the table, Harrington walked to the whiteboard and said, "Stop! Let's just get on with our work." Harrington picked up a dry erase marker and started to take off the cap when House grabbed her hand and pried the marker from her. She looked at him in surprise.
"Let's get a few things straight. Only I get to use the whiteboard. Also, their job and now yours, is to make suggestions on the diagnosis that I will mock, dismiss and then tell you the correct one."
Harrington didn't miss a beat when she replied, "Seeing as your memory seems to be fading, grandpa, let me refresh it. I am co-director now. So I can write on the damn whiteboard all I want. Second, these are very talented and intelligent doctors on this team. Their input is valuable. Maybe they'd learn to do their job even better if they didn't have you shooting them down all the time. Now I am done talking about this. Let's get on with the diagnosis."
She gave House a challenging look and then turned to the astonished team. They could tell that House was about to retort something extremely rude but before he could respond to her, Wilson came into the office. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I need Dr. Harrington on a consult. It shouldn't take to long."
"I will be right with you." Harrington turned to the team and said, "Chase I want you to see if she has been to the tropics, Africa or Asia within the past 60 days. Cameron and Forman I want you to take a stool sample. Due to the inflammation, enlarged liver and her having gotten over pneumonia recently, I believe that she may have Ascariasis. It's worth looking into. And House, you can stay here and fiddle around with your precious whiteboard."
With that she turned on her heel and walked out the door with Wilson following after her. The ducklings started to go about doing as they were told before the wrath of House was unleashed. This was not a time to stick around.