Trust
House's pager went off right when him and Benji finished a sandwich in the cafeteria. Neither had said a word, House now aware of Benji's predicament in crowds. To get the boy's attention, House simply tapped his leg with his cane. The pair met Cameron in House's office, Benji still a little out of it.
"He's clean for all drugs," Foreman reported, "should I order an MRI?"
Benji looked quickly into House's eyes.
"No, no, it was a nightmare," House said and walked to his other office - the one with the TV. Benji followed and the ducklings left for clinic duty.
"Do you trust me now?" Benji asked.
House cocked his head, "don't you already know whether I trust you or not? I've been thinking about that for a good 30 seconds."
Benji laughed and sat down on the floor with the over-sized tennis ball. "I just want to hear you say it out loud," he admitted.
Oh marvellous. "Yeah, kid, I trust you." No sarcasm, no concluding joke, no funny face. He meant it. He was going to trust this kid.
"Thank-you." And Benji slumped to the floor.
House stood with a confused look on his face. Huh? "Uh, Benji, you okay?" People didn't normally just crash like that. People didn't usually read minds though, so who knew? Maybe this was normal for Benji. Either way, House stretched over to grab the phone and dialled Cuddy's number. Wilson would balance at 60% angry and 40% worried about Benji, and Cuddy would probably balance at like 10% angry and 90% worried. House was never one to argue with the numbers.
"Hey, Cuddy, it's House," he was speaking too fast. Crap, he was going to get Cuddy worked up.
"House?! What's wrong? Is it Benji?"
"Yeah, he just kind of passed out in my office. Wanna come up here? Calmly, preferably?" But Cuddy had hung up the phone and started running as soon as she heard 'office'. House figured while waiting for her, he should make sure the kid could still breath. His leg practically collapsed under him bending over to check for the kid's pulse, but at least it was normal. Airway was nice and open too. No immediate threat. But the kid sure did stink.
Cuddy practically flew to her knees beside House. "What happened?!" She screeched, the complete opposite of calm. Wilson would be no better, however.
"He just fell over and conked," House said helplessly. He had a suspicion Cuddy wouldn't buy that. "His pulse is normal and his airway is good," he offered, hoping that this had a shot at calming down Cuddy.
"Benji? This is Dr. Cuddy, can you hear me?" No, still panicky. "Did he trip? Hit his head or anything?"
"No, he was just sitting on the floor and then fell over like that," he sounded so pathetic and wanted nothing more than for Benji to wake up.
"Did he take any of your drugs?" Cuddy didn't want to ask that. She knew it would hurt House, but Benji's life was just a little more important than that right now. Just right now.
House shook his head. Why would Cuddy immediately jump to that? He liked to think she thought him just a little bit more…something. "No, he's clean."
"Are you sure? Maybe while you were sleeping or something?" If House was just being stubborn…
"I tested his blood this morning, okay? Ask the team, he's clean."
Cuddy quickly checked his pulse and airway again. Still good. "Why'd you do that? Wouldn't you notice if some of your precious vicodin was missing?"
Crap, crap, crap. Why wouldn't Benji just wake up already. "It was nothing. Just double-checking. Doing the responsible thing, making sure the kid wasn't getting high." Ugh, the stupid jokes. Cuddy wouldn't just let this go.
"Seriously, House, this is important!"
House cracked, "I know it's important, Cuddy! Last night when I was sleeping he was twitching and sweating and his eyes were bloodshot and he was all delirious! Kid said it was a nightmare, but knew I didn't trust him so said I should test his blood. And he was clean!"
Cuddy wanted to touch him, calm him down. She shouldn't have gone down the drugs alley. She should've trusted House to tell her if he thought it was drugs. If the kid was important to him, he would have admit it, and if the kid wasn't it would just be a diagnosis waiting to happen. Either way, House would've told her. She felt sorry and stupid.
"Thanks House," someone whispered. House and Cuddy's heads snapped down. Benji's eyes were slowly opening and he was lifting his hand up to House. Cuddy sighed with relief. "Didn't mean to scare you there."
"Well, you kind of almost gave Cuddy a heart attack, kid. She even suspected you were on drugs! Imagine!"
Cuddy once again resisted hitting House. Benji just laughed, "go easy on him, Cuddy."
"What happened?" She demanded.
"Sorry, House, kind of your fault," Benji chuckled, replying to a thought, "it's not bad though. When I find a really, really good radio station there's kind of an overload and I, well, that happens."
"What on earth is he talking about, House? What radio?"
"Uh, he's the radio. His thoughts. Everyone else is a TV. Try to keep up with the metaphors," House replied, distracted, "so, you literally passed out with joy?"
Still laughing, "yeah, I guess so," but then his face turned grave. He looked deep into Cuddy's eyes, "he trusts me now. He believes. You have to trust him Cuddy, if he's going to help me. Just, trust him."
