Chapter 6: An Unexpected Acquaintance

Masters hung up her Doctor's jacket and moved out all her belongings into a medium cardboard box, courtesy of a cleaning lady. She sighed, ashamed. She had intended to see this venture through to her graduation, but her plans were scrapped before her eyes. She mentally kicked herself for not listening to Foreman, Taub and Thirteen. Even subconsciously, she knew. She thought he'd respond to strength –and he did. Just not the way she envisioned. She'd gone through almost an entire box of tissues she'd swiped from an exam room, and felt so troubled, she actually vomited and was petrified with a single thought.

What if House was angry enough to that he'd make good on his promise to get her barred out of every hospital unless she was a patient? She couldn't go home to her family; sure, they'd nurse her self-confidence and get her ready to face the world again, but she'd be too ashamed to crawl all the way home to admit she failed. Throughout her years of medical school, she hadn't made any particularly close friends. She took hold of her box and walked out of the locker room into the hallway, unsure of where to go. Why didn't anyone like her?

Once Masters dropped her box off into her car, she found herself walking around the maternity ward. All the joy of excited, expectant parents and families seemed normally contagious. She looked through the window to the newly delivered babies and felt a twinge of sadness. All the corruption and chaos, lies and half-truths, illnesses. She continued walking aimlessly in the walls of Princeton-Plainsboro and saw the exit to the atrium where expectant mothers and family members went to relax until the baby arrived if they were too anxious. The atrium was a small, man-made paradise that mixed concrete and nature. Trees and benches and white noise fountains, all meant to promote peace and tranquility. She sat on a concrete bench facing the fountain, under a wisteria tree and eyed the fountain facing her. It was a stone carving of a young maiden holding a vase that spouted fresh water. She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes with a new tissue.

"What are you crying for?" The girl sitting across from her, on the opposite side of the fountain stood up and came closer, ditching her cigarette butt on the ground.

Masters sobbed once more and sized up the girl. She was pretty and had a kind face and though she wasn't glamorous, Masters knew with her porcelain skin and soulful eyes, she must've turned a few heads in her life. Masters also noticed an IV pole beside her that's fluid was dripping slowly into a line that seemed to disappear up the sleeve of her white robe. Her long, champagne blonde danced in the wind about her face from a strong gust of wind as she sat beside her and wrapped her robe closer around herself. Masters' prayer to have someone to talk to, it appeared, had been answered.

"I just got fired by my boss." She sniffed and wiped an involuntary tear away.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The girl answered sympathetically. "But in all fairness, it was just a job. I mean, look around." The woman gestured with one hand around them. "You could just as easily be in this place." Masters sniveled and rubbed her nose with the back of her arm. She looked down feeling ashamed.

"But if I could've held on just a little longer…" Masters began to present an argument for her side and couldn't even think of how to finish that sentence. She tried to shake away the thought to keep from crying about it some more.

"Okay. Let's try looking at this from another view." The woman negotiated to Masters as she stretched. To Masters, she resembled an ice princess from how pale her skin was, but oddly, warmth seemed to radiate from her. She continued, "Was there anything you hated about your job?"

"Where should I start?" Masters almost instantly thought of a million reasons and sighed exasperated. The woman smiled and listened intently as she pulled another cigarette out of her robe pocket and lit it up. Masters narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the name on her hospital bracelet before she put her lighter away.

"That bad, huh?" The woman chuckled.

"Well first of all, they mock my clothes all the time. My boss and my colleagues lie to me all the time and keep me out of everything. I mean, how can I prove I can keep a secret if they won't trust me with anything?" Masters asked, fuming.

"I see what you mean." The woman nodded and took a drag on her cigarette.

Masters spoke at length about her beliefs, morals, and her constant struggle to be a good person every day. By the time she approached the topic of her work ethic, she found her anger and sadness had vanished. The woman barely spoke a word. She just leaned back and listened to Masters, completely at ease just to hear about her troubles. When Masters finally checked her watch, she was shocked. Almost an hour had gone by.

"You want my advice?" The woman offered. Masters became all ears at the prospect of this new friend's input. "For the clothes- well, there's nothing wrong to me about expressing yourself. But if you want to change, nothing a few issues of Cosmo won't remedy." She issued a quick glance at Masters' ensemble and shrugged. "For your colleagues, just be honest. The biggest piece of advice I can give you though, is this: Think about how badly you want this job. Sometimes to get what you want the most, you're going to have to do what you want the least. And if you can't put your whole heart into it- be prepared to take yourself out of it, understand?" She searched Masters' face for confirmation and was rewarded with a small nod. "Life's too short to be unhappy."

A look of panic washed over the woman's face as she ditched the butt of her cigarette and she began to attempt to portray innocence. Masters searched around the atrium for anything that would make her look frightened. Finally, Masters noticed an old, black lady heading straight for her looking quite cross in hospital scrubs.

"Miss Richardson!" The nurse's shrill, stern cry echoed throughout the high building walls that surrounded the isolated sanctuary. "You're not supposed to be out of bed! The whole staff's been looking for you! How many times do I have to tell you how dangerous it is for you to be running off like that!" The nurse concluded her rant and waited infront of Masters' new acquaintance with her hands on her hips and tapping one foot. Ms. Richardson smiled innocently and held onto her IV pole with a vice.

"I'm sorry Nanny Nurse." She said. Just before her nurse could retort, Masters' looked over at her friend with sudden realization.

"Erin Richardson?" Masters asked, astonished. She earned a small smile.

"Yeah. The secret patient, that's me." Erin extended her arm and shook hands with Masters.

"I'm-" Masters began her own introduction but was cut short by Erin.

"I know who you are."

"How do you know that?" Masters was really curious considering she wasn't wearing her name tag. Erin got to her feet and walked behind her nurse, with her IV pole at her side. Erin's nurse got the doors open while Masters trailed behind them both.

"Because Doctor Wilson and Doctor Cuddy showed me your picture. Actually, they showed me your photo and a bunch of others." Erin chuckled a little to herself. "Never been to a hospital where I had to be warned about the staff before/" Masters rolled her eyes and knew it was true. They reached the room quickly. Erin's nurse helped her out of her robe and chided Erin angrily as she lied down in her revealing hospital gown. Once the nurse was gone, they deemed it safe to speak again.

"So, how do you know House?" Masters inquired boldly. Erin sighed.

"If it's okay with you, I'd rather not talk about that to people I don't know. I just don't think he'd appreciate it." Erin answered honestly.

"No. Sure thing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Masters apologized and looked at the floor tiles.

"You just wanted to know." Erin winced, quietly. "No harm done. " Masters bit her bottom lip and revised her tactics.

"Can I ask you something?" Masters looked hopeful that she'd answer this one.

"Sure."

"What was House like before?" Masters question had taken Erin off guard, who thought hard about its answer. She didn't have an after to compare him to, so she answered the simplest she could.

"Happy." Erin reminisced in her mind. "He was happy." Picturing a happy and content House to Masters, was like trying to remember someone she never met. It just wasn't something that occurred or that she'd seen or ever would.

"Alright. Well, I'll let you get your rest." Masters got up and started to heads towards the door when a small voice stopped her.

"You can stay." Erin answered, barely audible.

"No, no, you're here for treatment and that's wha-" Erin suddenly grabbed her stomach and curled into a ball, breathing deeply. Masters rushed back beside her, alarmed. "Erin, what's wrong?" Masters demanded an explanation. "What hurts?"

Erin had gone from feeling a small stomachache to full on stabbing. "Stomach." She winced and crossed her hands over her stomach and pushed inwards as hard as she could. She began feeling very nauseous and light-headed. She threw her body the opposite way from Masters and vomited onto the floor. Masters held Erin's shoulders back to keep her from falling off the bed. She hit the call button, quickly.

"Front desk, how may I help you?" Came the calm, monotone voice of a young man at the nurse's station.

"This is Doctor Masters." She said loudly over the retching and coughing Erin was doing in the background, but Masters still held her firmly. "I need someone to page Dr. Wilson. Patient is unable to breathe, having severe abdominal pain and," Masters watched as Erin fell back to her laying position crying and holding her stomach. Masters' eyes caught a glimpse of bright red on the side of Erin's mouth. She walked to the other side of the bed where she'd vomited just to give it a cursory glance. It looked like a crime scene. "She's vomiting blood."

"We're having Dr. Wilson paged and giving her her next course of pain medication and Zofran.

"Thank you!" Masters bellowed back to the intercom as she dashed across the room to fetch a bed pan from a nearby cabinet and handed it to her. Through red, puffy eyes Erin looked questioningly back at Masters as she gasped to catch her breath. It reminded Masters of seeing a fish out of water. "It's to throw up in." Masters answered with a smile. She padded Erin's back as she hung her head over the bed pan and threw up nothing but blood. Erin would look pitifully up at her whenever she could. Once Erin laid back down again, Masters connected her to an oxygen mask and tried to soothe her.

"Shh. It'll be okay. It's all going to pass, you'll see." Masters whispered encouragingly as Erin's cold skin clinged onto her in a desperate grasp for contact.

"House." Erin moaned the word so softly, she wasn't sure she'd actually heard it.

"He'll be here soon. Don't worry." Once Wilson arrived and took her place with another nurse, she quietly excused herself once Erin was under sedation.

Masters had every intention of going to sleep that night once she arrived back at her apartment, but the image of Erin and how alone and afraid she was stuck with her. How could such a seemingly kind person have anything to do with House? Why would she want him at such a critical hour? Surely some friends or family could be reached. Masters knew for a long time what kind of a man her boss was; he would never have a connection to her outside work.

Maybe she misunderstood when Erin said 'House'. Maybe she just wanted something from her house. Maybe she just thought of something in her house that was making her sick. Or, at the very least, maybe she knew they weren't expecting her to make it. Maybe all she wanted was to die at home.