A little while later, House had finally had an idea, so Chase and Foreman were busy testing samples in the lab. Watching his colleague adjust the centrifuge, Foreman smirked. "You've been grinning like a moron for an hour now. What's up?" The intensivist looked away, smiling quietly. Foreman rolled his eyes. "Come on. You're like a second grader who's got a secret to share." Chase relented. "I've...I've got a date." The neurologist looked at him with something resembling pity. "A date? A date gets you this excited?" he chuckled. "Man, do you need to get a life!"

Back in his office, House was relaxing in his lounge chair, the theme song of "Animaniacs" playing quietly, if – by its very nature – not soothingly. Suddenly, though, the diagnostician was startled by the sound of his team noisily entering the conference room. "I mean – " Foreman was using his most patronizing tone – "Chase will have to prepare. You know, with hair like that..." Cameron giggled despite herself, shooting the intensivist an apologizing look at the same time. Chase glared. "Shut up, Foreman." he hissed, pointing at the glass door to House's office. Too late. The diagnostician was already limping towards the group. Chase looked as if he'd just been forced to swallow a wedge of lemon. He sat down at the table, keeping his gaze on Laura's file. House studied him for a couple of seconds. Then, he turned around. "Cameron!" The brunette looked up at him. "Yes?" "Tell me what Chase is doing tonight." Cameron bit her lip. "I think you should ask him yourself..." she suggested quietly. "Riiiight..." House said, facing his youngest employee again. "Chase. Tell me." The Australian tore his eyes away from the file reluctantly. If he disobeyed now, House would be on Cameron's case, blaming her since she refused to ask in the first place. "I have a date." House smirked. "I knew that. I want a name, time, and place." Chase rolled his eyes. "So you can show me up. No way." The threatening glare he got in return was enough to make the intensivist gulp. "Actually, I think you should make way. Because it's entirely possible we'll be much too busy for you to leave tonight. Meaning...tell me, or there won't be a date." Chase didn't look his boss in the eye, but he did force himself to scoff – quietly. "Cuddy won't let you single me out again, House." "Oh, I won't," The older doctor went over to the coffee machine, "I'll just make all of you stay. Sounds fair, doesn't it?" Cameron and Foreman looked at Chase, Foreman angrily and Cameron pleadingly. The blond doctor reminded himself that working for House, the most important thing was to know when you'd lost the battle. He sighed. "Janie. At eight. Trattoria." House looked like a satisfied cat. "Thank you, Dr. Chase. Maybe we can get back to the patient now?" Foreman jumped in, he had been waiting. "She said she's been having heartburn for a while now, rigth? What about Budd-Chiari's?" "No ascites..." Cameron disagreed, and House rested his chin on his cane. "Come on then. Add liver failure to everything else, what do we get?" Chase shrugged. "Something metabolic? Wilson's? Hallucinations would fit." Foreman scoffed. "Her billirubin level was normal, remember?" The group was silent for a minute. Finally, House looked up. "Go run it again. Chase, take another history, Foreman and Cameron, you search her place. We missed something." The ducklings were unconvinced. "Like what?" Foreman asked, annoyed, and House glared. "If I knew, it wouldn't be relevant. But maybe you'll find out as soon as you leave and do your job!" Recognising defeat, the team filed out without another word. House turned to the board and stared at the list of symptoms.

"You're going to make her better, right?" Chase was standing in front of Laura's room, holding her son's hand. He had gone through all the standard questions again, but Laura had stuck to her original answers. Since she seemed completely tired out, the young doctor had left her to rest for a while, when Nicky had pounced on him. "I hope so, Nicky." the intensivist said, patting the little boy on the head to make up for the only marginally reassuring answer. Nicky frowned. "My mom said she's sad because she doesn't like hospitals. I tried to make her better at home, I brought her my bear and cookies and a blanket. But she didn't want cookies. When I'm sick, she tells me I have to eat a little bit to stay strong for getting better, so maybe that's why she's so tired?" "Well, yes, the body needs energy to get better." Chase agreed, and Nicky nodded. "I brought her the pills, but they don't work anymore, she said..." The Australian faced the boy. "Pills? What pills, Nicky?" The kid shrugged, "I don't know, they made her better and then they didn't..." Chase waved a nurse over. "Will you keep an eye on him for a minute?" he asked, and she nodded. "Sure. Come on, Nicky, want to keep me company in the nurse's lounge again? Another hot chocolate?" Nicky smiled. "Yeah. But cold milk, ok? 'Cause I'm hot." The nurse laughed. "Sure, hot chocolate with cold milk." She tool his hand and the two of them walked off, Nicky waving at Chase happily.

In the patient's room, Chase touched Laura's shoulder gently. "Laura?" he said quietly, "I need you to wake up again, Laura..." Slowly, her eyes opened. "Ah, Dr. Chase..." her voice was hoarse, and she sat up slightly with an obvious effort. "What is it?" Chase filled a plastic cup from the nightsstand and passed it to her. "Sorry for disturbing you again..but I just spoke to Nicky, and he was telling me about pills you were taking?" Laura nodded. "Oh, that. Yes, I took some Nexium, but that was days ago, and it didn't help. Sorry, I guess I forgot all about it." Chase nodded, trying not to groan out loud. Another patient not mentioning important details, House would love that. "Okay then. I'll let you get some rest." Laura nodded, relieved. "Thanks." she mumbled, letting her eyes close again.

Chase went straight back to the diagnostic department, but House was nowhere to be found. He paged him and went over to the table, poring over the chart again. Shortly after, House entered, followed by the other team members. "She was taking Nexium for her heartburn." Chase announced in response to House's inquiring look. House just looked at him. "Right. If only I'd sent someone to get a patient's history. Oh wait, I did, didn't I? Cameron, Chase? Care to explain?" "We asked her about medications!" Cameron protested, and Chase nodded. "Yeah, of course we did. She told me she'd forgotten about mentioning it." House didn't look convinced. "Or you screwed up. But stick to your story, works better if we get sued. So. Nexium. Side effects?" He started scribbling on the board. Chase spoke up, "She could be allergic to esomeprazole. Rash would fit, diarrhoea and auditory hallucinations." "What about the weight loss?" Cameron cut in. "Heartburn. She'll have been eating less..." Foreman responded. Chase nodded. "That makes sense, Nicky said she was hardly eating." House raised his eyebrows at his intensivist. "Does your precious Janie know about her competition?" he asked. Chase snorted. "Right. Want us to treat the patient now?" House smiled. "Sure. Do a scratch test to confirm. Also, maybe we should explain the liver failure. Liver's important, isn't it?"