Olivia felt like her head was going to burst. She'd been talking to Amy through Dr. House for hours and had gotten nothing she didn't already know. Amy had spent most of the abduction blindfolded and locked in a car and gave her no leads to follow. Dr. House spoke to the little girl as if he were talking to an adult; in more than one case using language even Olivia found objectionable and certainly not being nice to her. But the child obviously liked him. She said she thought he was funny, although Dr House seemed to take that almost as an insult. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. Dr. House took notice and motioned at her with his cane.
"Want a break?" he asked, almost as if it were a challenge. Olivia shrugged. Dr. House shrugged in answer and, without another word or goodbye for the girl, turned his back and moved for the door. With a sigh and a quick wave at Amy, Olivia followed.
"Well, are you done being pointless so I can do my job?" Dr. House asked as they walked across the crowded pediatrics ward, batting aside toys with his cane. Olivia shook her head.
"It wasn't pointless. I can call back and ask them to check her uncle's car for signs she'd been in it," she offered, although she'd already done that even before she'd made it to New Jersey. Dr. House seemed to sense she was grasping and smiled, putting a toy car across the room. The nurse who had been trying to clean them all up glared at him. He sneered at her and popped a pill. Olivia had seen him to that several times during the conversation with Amy and wondered what it was and how much he was taking. He swallowed the pill dry and continued on, roughly smacking a toy so it slammed into the nurse's ankles.
"Oh, don't feel bad. I'm sure that the return of the little girl will make everyone feel good enough to forget how much time you wasted, Detective…Bennett?"
"Benson," Olivia corrected irritably.
"Don't care," Dr. House replied. His foot caught an errant toy and slid to the side. He crashed into Olivia, knocking her off her feet and taking them both to the floor. Olivia felt a sickening jolt of pain shoot up her left arm as she tried to catch herself. House had landed across her, his long legs entangled with hers. Some of the children laughed at the fall, but were quickly silenced by the swarm of nurses who hurried over to help. House shook them off, curling himself into a tight ball, clutching his right leg.
"Dr. House?" Olivia said, clutching her injured arm to her side. A nurse helped her to her feet and was trying to examine her arm. Another nurse tried to help Dr. House up, but he jerked away from her.
"Get me out of here and away from these idiots," he gasped, looking up at Olivia. She gently disentangled herself from the well-meaning nurse, and used her good arm to haul Dr. House to his feet. He grunted in pain as she did, but said nothing else. Once he was on his feet, he gave her directions, shooting acidic glances at the nurses, who now stood back and away from him.
"You should have let them help you! This wouldn't be necessary!" Olivia snapped as they hobbled into the hall.
"Those idiots wouldn't know their ass from an aspirin. Turn right here," Dr. House snarled.
"Then where are we going?" she asked.
"Someone who knows what they're doing," he said. His breath was sharp gasps of agony and sweat was rolling off his forehead.
"What happened?" Olivia asked as they got on the elevator. House leaned back against the handrail and chugged down another few pills. Olivia was beginning to figure out why the cops had come after him before.
"Other than the fall caused by those imbeciles downstairs? My girlfriend was an idiot," he answered, gasping. Olivia gave him a look and he sighed.
"I had an infarction in my thigh ten years ago. It clotted and destroyed the muscle and my girlfriend decided to cripple me for life because I wanted to keep my damn leg," he snarled. Olivia was taken aback by the bitterness in his voice.
"Why are you a detective in SVU, of all places? Get diddled by a stranger with candy, did you?" he asked nastily.
"No, that was my mother. That's how I came along," she snapped. The elevator dinged as House stared at her, evidently at a loss for words at last. He had obviously not expected her to answer the question at all, let alone with the answer he'd gotten. As the doors slid open, Olivia took House's arm again and assisted him out of the elevator.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I'm over it," Olivia lied.
"Yeah, and I'm over my leg. That's why I have these yummy candies," House quipped, rattling the pills in his pocket. He suddenly noticed her arm.
"You're hurt?" he asked.
"No."
"Liar. Here." He whipped out the pills, dropped two into her palm, and motioned to an office at the end of the hall.
"What are they?" Olivia asked, suspiciously.
"Vicodin. It's not illegal; they give it for toothaches, body aches, etcetera, so just take it and shut up," House replied. There was no water nearby and Olivia couldn't dry-pop pills, so she jammed them in her pocket. House shouldered his way into the office he'd indicated before without knocking.
"Wilson I…" he began. A younger doctor with a boyish face sat behind the desk with Elliot sitting across from him. They'd been laughing, although the laughter died as they entered. Elliot took in Dr. House with his arm around Olivia's shoulders with narrowed eyes, which came to rest on Olivia's injured arm, which was beginning to swell unpleasantly.
"What happened?" he gasped.
"Wrestling. Detective Benson found out she should leave the elbow drops to Shawn Michaels, and I found out that Jeff Hardy is a lot crazier than I give him credit for!" House quipped. Olivia knew enough about wrestling from a former boyfriend to find the joke funny, although she stifled her laugh when she saw Elliot looking from her to Dr. House with an expression that he usually reserved for suspects.
"I tripped over some toys in Peds. I knocked him down," she answered. House's eyes momentarily flickered to her, but she ignored him. The younger doctor, Dr. Wilson from what it said on the door, had come around his desk to examine them.
"You know, there are these lovely people called nurses down in Pediatrics and they could have…" he began.
"If they can't keep the floor clear, then they aren't competent. If they aren't competent, then I don't want them working on me!" House snarled.
"Well, what about Liv? You let her practically carry you here and she's hurt worse than you are!" Elliot said.
"I'm really not…" Olivia started.
"I'm where I need to be. Get out," Dr. House ordered. Elliot bristled, but backed out of the room, obviously not eager to stay anywhere the surly doctor was. Olivia slipped out from under House's arm. House hissed as he let his weight on the offending leg.
"Are you ok?" she asked, surprising herself with her concern. House looked up at her, also surprised at her concern and Dr. Wilson gave her a puzzled look.
"I'm fine. I've got my babysitter here. Go get yourself checked. You probably sprained your wrist. It's got to hurt like hell," House told her. Dr. Wilson's jaw nearly hit the floor.
"Benson! Come on, let's get you checked out," Elliot called from the hall. Olivia turned to join him.
"Were you just nice to her?" Wilson gasped as he helped House to the couch. House's complexion was chalky; judging from Olivia's wrist and House's obvious agony, it must have been quite a fall.
"She didn't trip on the toys. I did and I took her down with me by accident. She just defended me against her partner. I figured I…"
"No, no, no, you don't figure anything that way. You like her!" Wilson chortled. House gave him a withering look.
"She's a cop!" House snapped.
"She's a pretty cop," Wilson teased. House rolled his eyes and set himself to ignore his friend.
"I have to call my team and get them to check Amy Culler more carefully. I noticed something while I was talking to her," he said, changing the subject.
"And you didn't mention it to the detectives?" Wilson asked.
"No. I want to keep them in the dark as long as possible. If we come up with a diagnosis and it's wrong, I don't want them jumping the gun and killing her by accident by taking her to New York with the wrong answer," House answered. Wilson raised an eyebrow.
"That's not it. You wanted her out as soon as possible before. You want Detective Benson to stay…"
"Forget Benson. When she was talking to the girl, I noticed Amy's eyes were moving when there was nothing moving for her to be following. What do we know causes pathological nystagmus?"