Chapter 7

House limped through the apartment door he had already called The Dean and his team to let them know that he wouldn't be back in today. He did say he was at the end of the telephone if he was needed as they had a new patient in and he always liked to be there when that happened. They didn't have a number 2 yet so The Dean would have keep an 'eye' on things.

He immediately saw Stacy standing in the kitchen at the stove preparing something for dinner she looked up as she heard him come in and frowned at him. "What are you doing here?" she said with a smile. Leaving what she was doing and coming to greet him.

"Got the afternoon off" He said and sat on the couch

"Why?" She said still smiling but with a questionable note to her voice. "Playing hooky with Wilson?"

"No! He's out of town at a conference. I hurt my leg playing golf and it still hurts" He said all in one breath, closing his eyes and waiting for the comment.

She covered her face without laughing, as although she thought it was hilarious, she also knew he wouldn't take time off unless it was absolutely necessary. She composed herself "Did you go to the doctors?" She asked tenderly

House opened his eyes and stared at her " you can laugh you know, Wilson did" he said folding his arms and looking away "And yes I've been twice actually, once yesterday and again today"

She was now genuinely concerned. "what did they say?"

"Apply heat and rest"

"It didn't work"

"Nope, pain came back with a vengeance this lunchtime, which is why I went back"

"What did they say this time?"

"hmm, nothing really," He said lowering his eyes to the floor

"Greg, what aren't you telling me?" She said now suspicious

"I was in a lot of pain, I couldn't wait for them to do 'their' examination." He looked sideward at her and she raised her eyebrows for him to continue "I grabbed the syringe out of the doctors' hand and rammed it in my thigh and they mistook that for me being a junkie and chucked me out"

"Ohh Greg! You idiot!." She said annoyed and looked at him closely, she could tell that he was still uncomfortable. "Does it still hurt?"

"It feels odd, it doesn't feel like it's a pulled muscle or tendon, but I don't know what it is and they wouldn't do any further examination after that. Although the pain has gone now, whatever they had in that syringe worked, my leg feels like it's gone to sleep or if someone has given me a dead leg" he said rubbing his thigh.

"So, what shall we do now then?" She said now showing real concern

"Don't know, rest it again, apply heat and hope they're right" He said hopefully

"Why don't we have a bath while dinner is cooking, the heat may take it away."

He nodded at her. And she went off to run the bath.

As soon as he got undressed House saw the bruise on his leg and so did Stacy. "Is that from the syringe?"

"yep"

"Wow, you must have really jammed that in. What was in it?"

"I did and I don't know, but luckily I'm not allergic to anything" He said as he went to get in the bath, he had to lift his leg a little to get in.

The rest of the evening was spent on the couch, eating dinner and watching tv. His leg still felt a bit odd, it wasn't as asleep as it had been but the pain had begun to ebb its way back. He sat looking into space, going over everything he thought it could be, but was coming up with nothing. They went to bed early and although it was still there it wasn't like it had been earlier, he was a little relieved at that, maybe the heat and rest was doing it good after all.

The following morning he woke to the throbbing in his thigh, he massaged it again and hoped it would just go away. He got up and went to the bathroom and as he did the pain went through him again and he almost dropped to the floor. "FUCK!" he screamed.

Stacy immediately woke up and saw him "I think we better get you to the doctors again"

"Yeah right, they'll see me this time!"

"Yes they will!"

"It'll be fine, I'm going to the toilet and to get ready for work." He said deflecting

"Greg honey, come on, there is obviously something wrong, let's go get it sorted out" She said trying to persuade him.

He ignored her and continued his way to the toilet. When he pee'd he noticed that his pee was orange "Blood in my urine" He said to himself "An infection" he surmised. "Ok Stace, you got it, you can take me but just drop me off" He said trying not to worry her.

Stacy looked at him curiously but agreed. "Ok, I have to go to the satellite office for a little while, I'll drop you on the way" She said trying not to worry.

She dropped him off at Princeton Plainsboro Hospital and went on her way to work, saying that he should call her when he was done and she would come pick him up. He nodded, not even really hearing what she was saying. He looked around the clinic rather than go to the reception, he knew they would throw him out. He noticed the doctor he had had the day before had taken a patient into an exam room, so waited just outside the room. 15minutes later the doctor came out, directed the patient out of the clinic and turned to go, House immediately stood up to block his pathway "It hurts again" he said through gritted teeth.

"You again" Said the Doctor "I'll call security"

"This is the 3rd day running I have been into this clinic with the same problem, this is not a pulled muscle, do you seriously think I would keep coming back if I was a drug seeker" He said rubbing his thigh.

The Doctor ignored him and walked round him. House went to walk after him but the pain shot through his leg again and he fell "FUCK!"

The Doctor turned around to see House on the floor and gripping his leg. "Nurse, can you get me a gurney or a wheelchair please" He instructed to one of the nurses at the reception desk. She gave him a blank look "NOW!"

They took House to another room. "What are you doing?" Enquired House

"Urine Test" Said the Doctor and got out a catheter. Houses face didn't change, he knew what they were dong and if truth be told he would do it himself to a patient too.

"I already told you I am not a drug seeker" He said trying to be more pleasant

"That's not what we are testing for" Said the Doctor as he left the nurse to insert the catheter "I'll be back in about half an hour, that should give us time to get enough urine to see what's going on" He said sarcastically through a fake smile.

House lay back on the bed and let the nurse do her job, he knew that there was definitely something wrong and if this was the way that the doctor wanted to play then so be it. He could handle a rod in his penis for half an hour. They had been kind enough to give him some mild pain killers to take the edge off, which was helping to keep his mind clear. He was going over the all the possibilities of what it could be. He had said his pee was orange but had it been orange? He couldn't actually see that closely in the toilet to be sure, how would he get an infection? From the syringe? Unlikely. What else messes with the kidneys? As he was running through a list of possibilities, his watch said he had been there for 15 minutes…seemed like hours, he looked down at the catheter bag and was immediately taken back when he saw the color of his pee. This was definitely not an infection. He lay back again going over and over a mental list of things. "Oh FUCK!""

He pressed the call button on the bed furiously until someone appeared. "Get the damn doctor back in here now" He shouted. This could not be happening. The nurse hurried away as she could tell by his manor that he was not joking.

The Doctor came back in very slowly "What's the problem Mr House?"

"That" He said pointing to the catheter bag "Is the problem, do you see what color it is?"

The Doctor looked at the pee "hmm, it looks darker than orange"

"You moron, get me a fucking MRI now! " He bellowed

"An MRI? Oh now you're a doctor too?" Said the man sarcastically

"Yes I fucking am, my pee is Tea coloured, which indicates more than an infection, it indicates MUSCLE DEATH!" He said breathing hard and trying not to panic.

The doctor seemed to catch on immediately to what House was saying and without another word rang to make the arrangements and get an orderly to collect House to be taken to radiology.

Dr Cuddy sat in her office signing off files when her phone rang "you think it's worth bumping an RTA victim for?" She replied "Well I'm not so sure let me review the patient notes" She said putting the phone down. She entered the patient number onto the system and started reading "Day 1, pain in thigh, Day 2 further pain and grabbed syringe, file marked as drug seeker, patients name Gregory House, What?" She grabbed her phone and dialled radiology and told them to do the MRI Stat. She looked back at the file on her computer "Day 3 patient returned with extreme pain, urine test given and shown to be Tea Colored, MRI suggested by the patient and adhered to by the Doctor"

Dr House huh, in her clinic, diagnosing himself, this was not a good situation for her hospital to be in. She knew of him when she was in Med School and he now had a reputation as big as the world.

She made sure that the Attending Doctor came to see her as soon as the results were in. This had incompetence written all over it and she wanted to do as much damage control as she could and not only that she was intrigued to see what Dr House was like these days.