Those of you who have not seen season one of West Wing must go see it now and see the glory that are Sam and Laurie.
Hospital Lobby
Dr. Cuddy paced nervously in the hospital entrance way. Wilson sat in one of the lounge chair looking first and Cuddy and than at House and back again. He seemed to have given up on trying to control or even understand the situation. House leaned against the wall waiting for the Bartlet's car to pull up. Cameron rushed towards him with Josh's chart.
"Are they here yet?" Asked Cameron excitedly.
"No answered House pulling the chart out of her hand, "Now scram"
"House!" Cameron begged, "Come on."
"Stellar argument, Cameron" House sneered, "Now run along. If you're a good girl I'll let you keep updating the family, which includes them." House motioned to the driveway as a car pulled up and the Bartlet's stepped out. "I'm sure Donna's getting lonely, now go!" House waved Cameron off and limped towards the door. Abigale Bartlet walked into the door ahead of her husband who lingered outside, taking in his surroundings. He held a cane remarkably smiler to House's.
"Dr. House," Abby said nodded a hello and reaching out to take Josh's chart from House. "I can't tell you how glad I was to hear that you took the case."
"Interesting case." House nodded as Abby put on her reading glasses and opened the chart reading aloud. He appreciated her no nonsense style.
"Brucellosis... should have stuck to the diet Donna had him on." House said "You've got him on rifampin and doxycycline?" Abby said, satisfied with what she found in his chart. Should clear his system in a day or two. Any idea if the damage will be permanent?" Abby asked House
"We won't know for a few days." House answered honestly. Heavy silence filled the room.
"Where is he?" The former president spoke for the first time since entering the room. His presence still commanding respect. "Where's my boy?"
Sam watched as Donna sat in a chair next to Josh's bed, holding his hand. She was telling all of the tiny details about there upcoming wedding that he would have never listened to if he was awake. Every once in a while she would lean towards his a whisper in his ear.
"I love you. Wake up for me. We've still got work to do." The tears never stopped falling and he worried she would get dehydrated. Sam stood up swallowed a lump in his throat and let his mind wonder to Laurie. He almost laughed to him self when he thought about how pissed Josh would be if he knew Sam was thinking about Laurie while he lay in a hospital bed. He couldn't watch this again.
"Sam?" He heard President Santos call.
"Sir. I'm sorry I was just... thinking about. You know it doesn't matter. How are you sir?" Sam babbled.
"Alright, considering." the President turned to look at Donna, who seemed to still be in shock at Josh's condition. "Donna? How are you holding up?" the president walked towards her.
"We almost lost him 7 years ago." Donna spoke softly, her eyes never leaving Josh's face. "Did you know that?"
"I read about it. Josh and I weren't close than." Santos said a silent prayer as he walked over to take a closer look at Josh.
"He got through it than. He will pull through now." Former president Bartlet stood in the doorway. "Donna, you know Josh would never leave so much unfinished business behind. He'll come back from this." Bartlet seemed to be saying the last sentence more to himself than Donna.
"Where are the doctors?" Santos asked, looking into the adjoining room and seeing no one.
"Gave Josh some medicine and left." Sam answered, "Said the nurse could page them if we needed anything or had any questions. Probably had other patients to see. They're doctor's, they've got to be busy, right?"
A Duckling Interlude
Chase and Foreman tossed a ball back and forth while simultaneously trying to complete the crossword puzzle they had started earlier in the day. They had given the patient the meds and now all they could do was wait. A few years with House had turned them all into people who wanted a buffer between them and their patients especially during times like now, when they didn't have any answerers to give.
"This coffee is terrible. Who made it. Did you make it? Chase asked while reading over his crossword puzzle.
"It doesn't seem to stop you from drinking it."
"What are you doing?" Cameron asked, interrupting a budding argument.
"Chase is bad at crossword puzzles" Foreman responded, tossing the ball back to Chase who than tossed it to Cameron
"Does anyone think that House, Cuddy and Wilson have risen to a new level of weirdness today?" Asked Caught the ball and tossed it to Foreman without thinking.
"What do you mean?" Asked Chase holding up his hand to get Foreman to throw his the ball.
"You haven't noticed that House has been acting strange? Foreman asked surprised. "Took the case with no bitching before he knew it was interesting." He ignored Chase and tossed the ball back to Cameron.
"Trying to find Cuddy instead of avoiding her." Cameron offered. "Wilson is following House around like a puppy dog. I think they made up." She tossed the ball to Chase who finally caught it after shrieking in surprise.
"Hey," Chase said suddenly, "We've been tossing this ball around for an hour without dropping it!"
"Why did House page you?" Asked Foreman reaching out and catching the ball from Chase and tossing it to Cameron
"He needed Lyman's chart to talk to the Bartlet's" Cameron said excitedly catching the ball. "They just got here."
"And you didn't stick around to meet them?" Foreman asked incredulously
"House wouldn't let me stay." Cameron answered while pouring herself a cup of coffee and tossing the ball back to Foreman.
"I thought you were all bad-ass, take no shit from anyone Cameron." Chase teased her. "How long to you think we could this up?"
"God this coffee is awful." She spit the sip she had taken back out into the cup. Chase laughed.
"Fine." Foreman shouted. "If its so bad than you make it the next round."
"Already on it." Cameron said while pouring the rest of the offending coffee out in the sink and tossing the ball back to Foreman. "Keep what up?"
"How long do you we can keep throwing the ball around without someone dropping it. You think there is some kind of record?" Chase asked while Cameron and Foreman tossed the ball back and forth between them and rolled their eyes.
"Well thats a relief. Cameron is making more coffee while Chase and Foreman attempt to break the world record for lame sports" House said walking in conference room. "For a second I thought you were going to focus your attention of curing the patient."
"House!" said Cameron warningly. "Do you want me to go into Josh's room and watching the meds drip into his IV?"
"No." House answered honestly. "Ever since you poked a hole in Foreman's brain, he makes terrible coffee. I just updated the Bartlet's. More people are arriving every minute. Our patient seems very popular. Cameron, will be answering any questions that they have."
"But I wanted to..." Chase interrupted. Foreman groaned, displeased. Cameron smiled to herself as she put the carafe back on the coffee maker and turned it on. Chase and Foreman continued to bicker and toss the ball around until there pagers went off. Foreman grabbed it off of his belt and read the message out loud.
"President Santos finished his meeting and would like an update on Josh's condition." Everyone stopped and looked at House, waiting for instructions.
"Fine." House relented. "Foreman, Chase go with Cameron. And try not to act like idiots" Foreman tossed the ball of House who caught it in his right hand and beamed Chase in the back of the head
"House!" Chase yelled while rubbing his head
"Don't quit your day job" House yelled back while tossing a few pills into his mouth.
