Thanks a lot for all your great reviews, guys! :D
The credit for the "3 girls" storyline goes to the incredibly talented allthingsdecent and big hugs go to LEfan77 for beta reading :D
To answer JLCH's question: Taub got the other 2 girls by stopping by the children's medical unit. The symptoms Rachel had are pretty common so it wasn't that hard to find 2 other girls with the same or similar symptoms. Usually the illneses that cause these symptoms are pretty harmless and easy to treat but in some cases the illness also can be fatal :(
What you should know before reading: The medical talk in this story was written with the help of aunt goolge and uncle wikipedia... I have no clue if it makes sense but I tried my best. ;)
Chapter 4
5:46 am
Girl 2 had developed a rash.
Masters immediately tested on Henoch–Schönlein purpura. Negative results. She suggested a heavy case of measles and House made fun of her.
6:04 am
Foreman reported that girl 1's visual faculty has gotten worse again and the she was suffering from a headache.
6:38 am
House drunk his 6th cup of coffee and continued working on his list ignoring the throbbing pain in his right thigh.
7:23 am
Chase and Masters wanted to know if they could ask Foreman who of the two girls Rachel was. House shouted at them and accused them of being as transparent as a fresh cleaned glass wall. When they knew which girl Rachel was, he would read them in no time. He told them to fuck off and to keep running tests.
9:44 am
House's leg pain got worse but he still refused to take a break. He didn't want to waste a second of the precious time they had.
14:23 am
Wilson tried to convince House to go home to shower and to take a short nap. House vociferously told him to either help solve the case or the leave him the fuck alone.
16:25 pm
House's leg got worse and worse with every passing minute. He had already taken tons of ibuprofen but they didn't even help a tiny little bit.
17:17 pm
House dropped down on his office recliner. He was fucking tired and his leg was hurting like hell. He fell asleep while paging through his old book of diseases he had studied with in Med School.
18:08 pm
When House woke up again Foreman was standing in front of him. He had an expression on his face that looked everything else but happy.
"What?!" House asked harshly.
"Girl 1 has indications of dementia..."
He looked up at Foreman and tried to hide how fucking worried he was. "Shit."
"I think it is an LSD."
Foreman's consideration made sense… It definitely sounded like a Lysosomal storage disease and House even thought he knew which one it was. "It is… It's Batten's."
"The symptoms would fit." Foreman agreed. "I'm gonna test her for it."
House just nodded and watched Foreman leave his office.
He put his head in his hands and let out a loud sigh.
Batten's couldn't be cured. It was fatal.
If it really turned out to be Batten's (and he was pretty sure of that) one of the girls would die!
One of them will fucking die and there was a 50% chance that this girl was Rachel!
Shit! Shit! Shit!
18:56pm
The test was positive.
Girl 1 had the Batten disease.
Foreman had wanted to tell him who girl 1 was but House still refused. He didn't want to know, not before they had diagnosed girl 2. It was the safer choice not to know.
19:04pm
After Foreman had informed him about the results of the test House escaped to the roof.
He needed a few minutes off.
He needed to cool down and to get himself together.
The thought that Rachel could be girl 1 almost made him vomit.
Even though he had never planned for this to happen, he cared about Rachel. He really did and he didn't want anything to happen to her.
He couldn't stand the thought that it was 50% possible for Rachel to be girl 1. There was a 50% chance that Rachel was the one that would lose her sight as well as all her motor abilities. She would get worse each passing hour and some day in the next few years her heart will stop beating at all.
He looked up into the sky and let out a long, worried sigh.
At the same time in room 335
"Mommy?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's Howse?"
"He is upstairs in his office trying to find out what's wrong with you, honey." The two Cuddy ladies were both lying in one bed. Rachel's eyes were closed and she was snuggled up close to her mom absorbing her warmth.
"He was no here for long time." Rachel murmured sleepily.
"Yes, that's true…" Cuddy kissed her daughter's forehead. She herself apparently wasn't the only one that missed Mr. Cranky.
"Can we go visit him?"
"Oh baby, I wish we could… but he really is busy and apart from that you are sick. You are supposed to stay in bed."
"Being sick is stupid." Rachel whispered before she started coughing heavily.
"I know it is, honey." Cuddy softly caressed her little girl's back and tried to hold back a tear that was daring to escape her eye.
She was scared… So fucking scared!
19:42 pm
House was still sitting on the top of the roof. He had continued going through the list of illnesses and was trying not to let the diagnosis of girl 1 affect his ability as a doctor.
He had to be professional. There was no time for anything else! He had another case to solve. A case that had a 50% chance of being Rachel's case. So he had to get himself together. He needed all his brains and all his concentration.
19:59 pm
House was taking down some notes when his cell vibrated.
He got a text from Chase: "girl 2: reddening and desquamation of hands and feet"
This new perception excluded a few other illnesses on House's list but at the same time it added tons of other possible diseases.
House ran his fingers through his hair and then leaned his head against the wall of the building.
He was tired, he was pissed, he was worried and he fucking was stumped.
20:10 pm
He just was about to get up from the ground to leave the roof when it hit him.
It was the Kawasaki-Syndrom! Girl 2 had fucking Kawasaki-Syndrome!
In light velocity he emerged his phone from his pants pocket and called Chase. "Test her for Kawasaki!"
House didn't even wait for his employee's response, he just disconnected the call. Formalities and greetings just stole precious time.
He shut his phone closed and put his head against the wall.
He fucking hoped his diagnosis was right… and hell he fucking hoped that Rachel was girl number 2.
20:37 pm
House's cell vibrated again. He was unusually scared to press the button that would allow him to read the text he just got.
When he finally managed to do it he noticed that the text just consisted of 5 words. Of the words: "You were right. It's Kawasaki."
House let out a loud and relieved sigh.
Thank God! Kawasaki can be treated! In the first two phases it can even be cured!
Now all he wanted to do was to fucking find out which one of the two girls was the little monkey of his girlfriend and hell, he hoped with every single cell of his body that it was girl 2.
TBC
Thanks for reading, guys :D