The patient was carefully being laid onto the MRI board, while it began moving inside the huge surrounding magnet. Foreman and Asha were both sitting behind the glass wall, paying attention to the monitors. Foreman leaned slightly over the microphone and spoke after pressing the button.
"Mrs. Sears, we'd like you to stand still for a few minutes, so that we can get a perfect capture of the brain."
"Okay, I'll try." The woman responded simply, trying not to sound so scared.
Meanwhile, behind those glass walls:
"So…" Foreman began, his eyes narrowing for the first time upon the new figure that stood on his left, admiring the scanning. She tried as much as possible not to reveal her awe, since after all, this was the first time she attended a medical procedure. But hearing his voice, she turned around and smiled at him softly.
"I assume this is the part where you start asking personal questions, right?"
"How come House brought you here to work with us?" He continued, smiling back at her remark. Already, his impressions have been made.
"I would say that the two of us are friends. But then, House isn't the type to have many friends, probably has just one at most, so you wouldn't believe me, hm?" The girl replied, her eyes going back and forth from Foreman to the screen.
"That's pretty much how things work around House. But you also don't seem to know about his only friend, Wilson: which means you don't know him for long." Foreman detailed, while studying the picture the MRI was giving. For now, there was nothing to be found. "So, what are you to him?"
Catherine remained silent for a while. Perhaps she had blown a bit of her cover just now. But she wouldn't let him notice that. She looked at him, and so did he, wishing to notice her reaction, moment when she answered simply and calmly.
"A friend."
"Uhm… are the walls supposed to be moving?" Suddenly the patient's voice could be heard shivering.
"Mrs. Sears, is everything alright?" Foreman asked through the microphone.
"I want to get out of here. Now." She cried out for help.
"Just a little longer, Mrs. Sears."
But she started fidgeting, could barely stand still. She was getting distracted again, just like Cameron described. Foreman kept on looking at the screen, struggling desperately to find something, anything. He wouldn't give up, just like House usually acts, but Catherine interfered, when she heard the frightened sounds that came from the patient.
"There's nothing on the MRI. We've got to get her out of there." She stated firmly, stopping the MRI in an instant as she got up from her chair and went to help her get up. Foreman sighed and rolled his eyes. Just who exactly is she and what makes her thinks she can do whatever she wants?
"Can you stand, Mrs.?" Catherine hurried and went to hold her hand, as the patient's body shivered, barely getting off the board she was currently lying on. Her unsteady feet managed to settle against the cold floor, and even made a few steps. This seemed good, as Foreman walked in as well, watching her.
"So, the calcium is working after all. Seems you were wrong." He pointed out, priding himself in proving her the contrary.
Catherine ignored him, not letting herself get bothered by his words, as she studied the lady more closely. It was then when she noticed that she was walking wobbly, dizzily, as if she was drunk.
"The room's shifting back and forth!" Cheryl Atkinson noticed while she walked slowly some more. "My head aches. Can you give me something for the pain, please?"
The girl said nothing more. Foreman interfered. "Of course, just let us get you back to your room." And with that he called for a nurse with a wheelchair. He wouldn't let her walk all the way back. With the help of the nurse, he managed to settle her in the wheelchair, afterwards starting to push her around the hospital halls, with Asha behind him.
When they reached her room, Chase and Cameron had just finished talking with her husband. He, concerned, rushed towards her beloved wife and went holding her fragile little hand. A nurse came and helped her get back in her bed. The three doctors, along with Asha, went outside, walking towards House's office to reveal the further discoveries. Chase couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"How do you know House, mind me asking?"
"Give it up, Chase. Already tried and she has her lips sealed." Foreman explained, looking at his colleagues. Catherine, on the other hand, said nothing, letting them speculate all they wanted.
"But it's unlike House to bring assistants to supervise our medical care, unless…" Chase continued his theory, only to make a long pause, his eyes staring in blank. Everyone stopped their pace to look at him anxiously. "Unless you're either an undercover inspector or you're about to replace one of us."
Catherine laughed silently. "Oh come on, you possibly can't think that, can you? He already told you that I'm not a doctor. I am simply assisting, nothing more." She tried calming them, because if she didn't, she felt as if they would all assault her in the near future.
"This means you're sleeping with him." Cameron finally spoke, sounding cold, bitter. This was a completely different person in comparison to how she acted when they first met.
Asha could almost feel jealousy in her tone. She looked at the female doctor, her smile fading shortly, before glancing at Chase that looked down. She tried joking around, deciding to ignore what she had just discovered. "Is that what he does with the girls he sleeps with? Names them assistants and shows them off around the hospital?"
"Well, it's the only explanation!" Cameron insisted, not paying attention to the fact that Catherine's remark made both men chuckle. "How did you know about the calcium then?" She begged to have a reaction from the other girl's side.
Catherine looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "I read it on the patient's chart."
"I haven't written it down yet. This means you were with him when we called him, and judging by the noises he was making, it's obvious that you're sleeping with him."
Asha remained silent. Everyone else around her began to raise an interest, wondering what she might come up with next. Cameron was winning this argument, and she couldn't let that.
"He informed me about the patient's medical history while we were in the elevator, coming up towards the office. Your affirmation lacks reasoning and justification. I'm not sleeping with House. But I can't say the same thing about you and Dr. Chase over here." Okay… perhaps she pushed the limit a bit too much, but judging by the reaction of all three of them, she knew she had hit jackpot.
And for the same reason, she dared go further. "Also, my guess is that you're only doing that to make House notice you, judging by your jealous reaction to the assumption that I'm sleeping with him."
"I do not like House. I'm over him."
Cameron's confidence faded, not saying anything more. Chase looked at Asha surprised, as if she were reading his mind. This, once again, boosted her confidence.
"Could be true, but you admit to having liked him once before. Which means that Chase is more concerned about the fact that you really are just sleeping with him to make House jealous."
And with that, she turned around and started walking towards their destination. The doctors couldn't just stand still and started following in her steps. Soon, they walked in the room, House resting his back against the table where he prepared his coffee. With his red mug in his hands, his eyes were studying closely the white board that until Catherine walked in with a smile, while everyone else looked grumpy, unsettled. He knew something was up; what he didn't know was if it had anything to do with the patient or with them four.
"She's experiencing vertigo and a mild headache." Catherine explained what she and Foreman had just witnessed in the MRI room, before letting the medical file fall against the glass table.
"But she walked, which means that the calcium is working." Foreman reminded her of her mistaken theory, explaining House how he was right. "You were wrong, Asha."
"What did the MRI reveal?" House asked, his look moving from within the mug, towards the two of them almost arguing.
"It was inconclusive." Foreman admitted, shaking his head hopelessly. House chuckled victoriously.
"How can an MRI be inconclusive?" Cameron asked suspiciously.
"It wasn't inconclusive, the MRI showed nothing." Catherine explained, hoping she wasn't making any mistakes.
"It was inconclusive because the patient couldn't stay still anymore. And because you interrupted it before we could get a hold of anything valuable."
"No, it didn't show anything because there is nothing there. You were just desperate to find something. It's not neurological." Catherine stood up, her tone although sounding feisty, was nothing close to being angry. House watched her, trying to hold in a proud grin: she was finally coming around.
"Chase, Cameron what did the husband say?" House continued acting as if he noticed nothing in the fiery conversation Asha and Foreman had.
"Both of them eat extremely healthy. They barely eat meat, always on salads, fruits and vegetables. Lots of water and always from a fresh source. They don't smoke and never did drugs." Chase informed, short and to the point, by this time Asha taking her seat back.
"That's what the husband told you. Of course he won't admit poisoning her food." Catherine was unstoppable, but House closing his eyes and biting his lip made her realise that she was going to get burnt. She gulped hard for the upcoming moment.
"Oh yeah, the husband's to blame. Didn't you see how desperate he was to hold her when you brought her back to the room? Surely that's the proper behaviour for one who poisons his loved ones." Cameron took Chase's side, completely crashing each and every single theory Asha came up with.
"Kids, play nice." House finally interfered, scolding them ironically, after that, taking a few sips of his coffee. Reaching for his Vicodin bottle in his pocket, he took the last pill and swallowed it dry. Catherine couldn't look at him in the eyes, not after feeling as if she had disappointed him. The three doctors felt like victors.
"It's not neurological, like I predicted. The MRI was just a waste of time. Gee, thanks, Foreman." House's voiced felt so profound, that everybody listened carefully.
"It revealed that the calcium treatment is working." Foreman defended himself.
"Not necessarily. Vertigos and headaches can still be signs of allergies." House backed Catherine's theory up, fact which made her raise her head from the pavement. "But it's not from the calcium." He continued, shaking his head, as if feeling slightly sorry for her.
Cameron puffed in annoyance. "Look at you. You've never felt sorry for anyone in your life. You two are obviously together."
Catherine looked at House, and House at Catherine. In their minds, their first meeting was flashing back, reminding them of how they 'were dating'. House looked then back at Cameron.
"Keep her on calcium. We have nothing else to prove that it isn't a calcium deficiency. Take her off the morphine, though, and give her aspirin for the headaches." He gave his new orders, ignoring Cameron's comment, that until he looked back at Catherine. "Did you tell them yet?"
Asha felt startled by his question. He couldn't be serious, could he? No, she was certain that this was just another one of his games, to annoy the doctors and this time, he needed her help in order to succeed. She figured all that out by the slight tremble of his lips that longed desperately to smirk. Everyone else failed to notice that, as they were more concentrated on finding out what the origin of their relationship was.
"I assumed we'd tell them together when the time felt appropriate." She joined in the game.
"What are you guys talking about?" Chase asked, dying of curiosity. Cameron felt even more nervous and angry.
"We're getting married!" House stated excited, with big blue eyes. Foreman rolled his eyes, smiling, knowing by now that he was just playing with Cameron. Catherine bit her lower lip, admitting to herself the fact that he was one hilarious guy.
"No, you're not." Cameron's words, even though struggling to sound confident and reassuring, were actually heard murmuring, lacking the firmness that Catherine owned in her own tone.
"Why of course we are." Asha supported his teasing, as she got up from her seat and dusted her shirt.
"Now, while you guys know what you have to do, Catherine and me are going home to make sweet and passionate love. Let's go, sweetheart." House said, grabbing his backpack and throwing it over his shoulder, while in his right hand he held strongly his flaming cane. And with his left arm extended, he invited his red-haired to grab it and walk away together.
"With pleasure, honey-bum." She ended, gladly accepting his arms, both of them exiting the conference room.
As soon as they were out, they knew they had to pass the glass walls, knowing that all three of them were watching closely. Cameron was unsure what to make out of all this. Foreman and Chase both comforted her, telling her that House was just messing with her. After all, where were the wedding rings?
When they were out of sight, more precisely in the elevator, just the two of them, they both started chuckling. House was thrilled to have an accomplice in his teasing.
"She's so into you. But you already know that." Asha pointed out with an evil grin on her lips. House watched her intently, studying her every detail in the moment she was smiling.
"Oh no, a double threat at stating the obvious competition." He replied ironically. Catherine ignored him, not minding his little mischief. She knew that he was doing that only as a safety margin, only to keep people from getting to know his true self. And he feared that she was actually beginning to do that.
"Although… don't ever call me sweetheart again." Catherine's voice became all serious, her green eyes piercing him with a threatening look. It was all part of the act; they were having just too much fun.
"It was a bit of an exaggeration, wasn't it?" House said, thinking of Cameron's reaction to that word. But then, he looked back at her, with the same serious look. "Don't ever call me honey-bum. That's just wrong."
Catherine laughed softly, her voice loud and clear, and for a slight moment it had almost reached happiness. The doors of the elevator opened and they were walking towards the parking space. She nodded at his remark and with a last breath she spoke.
"Deal."