Chapter 7

House was standing in front of the whiteboard, tapping his cane on the ground. He'd not changed his expression since her last previous words.

'What the hell it means that I can't upset her?' he thought.

"The most important thing that we can consider is heart failure. The immune system is weak but this is not the cause but the effect" Foreman said tiredly.

"What?" House turned to the neurologist, sighing.

"I said, the most important thing that we can consider is heart failure, because the immune system is too weak" he repeated.

House bit his bottom lip, thinking "Good, I like it. Prove it" he said before going to his office.

Chase finished his crossword puzzle and followed Foreman out of the conference room.

"He could even write epitaphs and he'd not have noticed" Chase smirked.

They saw Cameron turning a corner and approaching them quickly.

"Today is the right day to ask House to go on vacation, he doesn't think" Foreman winked to Chase.

"Edward is getting worse, the heart rate is unstable and the pressure is dropping" Cameron reported when she reached them.

Foreman leaned against the wall, thoughtfully "Great! Now we can't do any test!" he snorted.

"Sometimes, you're worse than him" Cameron said about his insensitivity.

Cameron went quickly to House's office as he took some Vicodin, his left hand clutching the back of his chair, eyes closed, his right leg slightly bent.

"What do you want?" he asked, looking up at her.

She came down to earth. It often happened that she was distracted while staring at him when she saw him sick. And she was certain that he interpreted it as a gesture of pity.

'When you're going to stop pitying myself?' House thought.

'When you are going to stop hurting yourself?' she thought.

"Edward is getting worse and he's not stable right now" she reported.

House closed his eyes tiredly, he hadn't slept during the night. That's why he had arrived early.

"I want a ECG" he ordered, almost whispering.

"We can't monitor him in these conditions, the parameters-" she started.

House shook his head, annoyed "Yeah yeah, I know, the parameters are out of the norm...I have to...Well...Just get out" he said, sitting on his chair.

She looked down and then back at him, his hands through his hair. He still felt her presence in the room and looked up at her. She opened her mouth to say something and half-smiled.

"Sorry..." she said and turned.

"You can't help it, right?".

Cameron turned to him, really smiling this time "I'm not-" she started.

"You always have to justify everything you do. No one will ever take you seriously, be more aggressive" he smirked.

"Are you plagiarizing me, House?".

"I'm molding you, Cameron".

She smiled, hand on the doorknob. She was hesitant for a moment and the smile disappeared. She turned seriously to him and he stared at her.

'Please...' she thought.

'Please...' he thought.

"The pressure has dropped again, he is cyanotic" Chase reported, entering the office.

"Intubate him and you go with him" House ordered.

Cameron left his office with Chase.

House sighed and fell back in his chair.


"Cyanosis and heart attacks in a five years old, a great life full of promises!" Chase exclaimed, entering the conference room.

Cameron shook his head while she followed him and Foreman in the room.

House was writing something on the whiteboard and then he deleted everything again and again. He turned to them.

"Ok, let's do a game, the same as ever: guess the diagnosis and go with it!" he exclaimed.

"Cardiomegaly" Foreman cut in.

"Interesting..." House muttered.

"No, it can't be, it makes no sense" Cameron stopped him.

"The swelling of the heart is very common in young children, and the fact that it has not been found before it matches. It must reach a critical threshold, in our case the infarction" Foreman explained.

"His heart is normal" Cameron reasoned.

"But we can't see it without a biopsy" Chase said.

"You were thinking about what kind of infection?" House asked after a while.

"Hello? Someone can listen to me? His heart is normal!" Cameron said nervously.

House turned to her, sighing "If his heart was normal, he'd not have heart attacks at the age of five and he wouldn't be cyanotic. Moreover, I'd not be here to discuss with you because the heart of the Little Lord is not normal, apart from that, hey? You're right!" House said loudly.

Cameron glared at him and crossed her arms.

"Now she is pissed with me, perfect. What were you saying Foreman?".

"Since his lungs are ok, it can't be pulmonary hypertension, but-" Foreman explained.

"I didn't ask the story of your life, just tell me the infection that you were thinking and then shut up!".

"He's hypertrophic, I think of a viral infection" Foreman finished.

House turned to stare at the whiteboard "We can't do an ECG, so you have to find something else" House said thoughtfully.

"You're rejecting my idea just because you can't prove it?" Foreman asked confused.

"Today he has this mood" Cameron muttered, bitterly.

House turned around and stared at her. She watched him carefully.

"You are unbearable this morning" he huffed.

"You're all days. So, this cardiomyopathy?" she asked.

House frowned, her attitude was getting him nervous "You're offending me and then you say 'so this cardiomyopathy?' What kind of reasoning is this?" he asked.

"You know, I have this absurd idea that the main problem is that I am a baby who is unable to separate work and feelings, so I think that the child's health is more important than your habit of making people nervous" she said bitterly.

"And you don't have the habit to spoil everyone?" he answered immediately.

"What? Are you jealous?" she smirked.

Foreman and Chase were staring at them, hating those kind of moments. They always hoped in some cataclysm or Wilson or Cuddy, or the three things together.

"If it were a restrictive kind, we could opt for a lack of vitamin B1 since he's a kid" Chase tried to interrupt them.

House and Cameron continued to look at each other.

"You can't answer a question with another question" House said.

"You have the monopoly of this attitude?" she asked.

Foreman and Chase wanted to find a way to stop that moment.

"A chest radiograph should not cause him any problem" Foreman said after a while.

House smiled and Cameron's eyes widened in amazement.

"God, do x-rays and take with you his teddy bear, otherwise they'll sue us for lack of cuddles for the patient" he said sarcastically, going to his office.

Chase Foreman followed Cameron outside since she had went away in a fury.

"Hey, you two need to reach a number of allusive jokes in a day or you just do it as a hobby?" Foreman asked, shaking his head.

"Please!" Cameron said exasperated.

Foreman and Chase stopped, staring at her back. Those situations were absurd and funny.

TBC...