Okay, since you are all dying to know what happens next... I will be nice and post the next chapter. I am also dying to know all of your reactions. However, there is a catch. I will not update until I figure out the conclusion to an upcoming problem... then the updates will slow down. tears. I know, I know, but I want to be sure of everything. Something is big is coming up, and I want it all to be perfect for you.
Chapter 9- Surprises and Symptoms
Chloe couldn't believe what she was hearing. She turned to face the direction the voice was coming from. "Robert?"
Chase ran to Chloe. He threw the folder on to the glass table, he didn't even notice a few papers fly out, some on the floor. "Chloe! Did something happen to you? What's wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong." She was trying to hold in a bit of a giggle. Chase was touching her face and checking her arms. He automatically assumed Chloe was at the hospital because she was ill.
Chase was very worried about Chloe. "Are you sick?" Chloe shook her head. "You didn't burn up the apartment did you?" A part of him still didn't trust Chloe at the stove.
Chloe started to laugh. "No, I'm fine, trust me." Finally, Chase let up. He smiled too- partly because he was glad Chloe was alright, partly because he realized he was making a big deal out of nothing. Obviously, if she had been sick she would've been in the clinic, not the conference room. "Why is she in the conference room?" Chase wondered, still holding Chloe.
During the little show Chase and Chloe put on, Cuddy had at first thought to retrieve the folder that had fallen askew, but then turned her attention to the couple, as had House. They looked at each other, and back at the two, who were now smiling at each other.
House looked back at Cuddy, who was in shock. "So... did Chase put you up to this? Hiring the sexretary?"
Cuddy broke out of her stupor. "House, I told you, you never do your paperwork, so I've hired someone to do it for you... and please stop using that term! Chase, you and Ms. Keene obviously already know each other, I'll leave it to you to introduce her to the rest of the team and show her around the hospital. And please remember, you are working, not taking a stroll in the park." Immediately the Chase and Chloe realized they were still touching, and let go, nervously smiling.
Cuddy continued on her little speech. "I'll get maintenance on that desk in a few minutes, after I check on the blood drive." Suddenly her tone became very harsh. "House, you still have 7 clinic hours this week! And quit harassing your new employee." With that, she slipped out the door, and into the hospital crowd.
House raised his eyebrows, and turned his attention back to his case. "Blood work, Chase."
Chase suddenly sprung into action "Right, well, she's a bit anemic, but other than that, things are looking fine."
"So, respiratory distress, muscle pain, fatigue, chronic headaches, IBS, depression and, anemia" House added the last symptom to the board.
All of a sudden, Cameron walked in. "The MRI was inconclusive." Then Cameron turned her attention to the black-haired girl next to Chase. "Who's this?"
"Hi, I'm Chloe Keene, it's nice to meet you." Chloe extended her hand to Cameron. "I'm House's secretary."
Cameron shook her hand. "Allison Cameron, it's nice to meet you. You're House's... secretary?"
"Yes, I just got hired today," Chloe said.
Cameron raised an eyebrow at Chase, who mouthed an "I don't know" to her.
House was still studying the whiteboard. "Well, we haven't found anything except a new symptom. Any ideas?"
Chase was the first to respond. "Fibromyaglia, the only problem is, we don't exactly have a way to test for it."
Cameron protested to Chase's prognosis. "There's no cure for that, and besides, the symptoms are so general, it could be a million other things. It has to be something else. It also doesn't explain the respiratory distress and the depression."
"She's in pain, chronic pain. That would make me depressed, and she probably experiences pain when breathing, making it hard to breathe, therefore, respiratory distress." Chase argued his point.
"I still think it could be something else." Cameron refused to believe that the patient had an incurable disease.
"Like what?" House had turned his attention back to his team. Cameron had no answer, House wasn't surprised. "Chase, run advanced blood tests and an EMG to test for Fibromyaglia. Actually, Cameron, you do that. Chase, give your friend that little tour that Cuddy wanted, and go find Foreman while you're at it." He headed back to his office and pulled out his Game Boy. Cameron let out a sigh of distress and left the room as well, leaving Chloe and Chase alone.
"This is going to be interesting." Chloe admitted. These office politics were certainly different than any she'd ever experienced.
Chase made his way to the door, opened it, and motioned for Chloe to exit. "You'll get used to it. For now, you can come with me, and I'll show you around."
The two found Foreman in the patient's room, making sure she got back from her MRI okay.
"Foreman, this is Chloe Keene, she's going to be working... um, around us?" Chase was unsure of the introduction he provided.
Foreman shook hands with Chloe. "Another doctor?"
"No, she's House's secretary," Chase explained.
"Really? Wow. Cuddy let him hire a secretary?" Foreman was surprised Cuddy would give in to such a request.
"Actually, I didn't know I was working for Dr. House until after I was offered the job. Dr. Cuddy interviewed me."
Chloe's response made Foreman laugh. "Well then, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then, but for now, I've gotta check the tox screen. See you two later."
"He seems nice," Chloe concluded.
"Yeah, right." Chase and Foreman were never really on friendly terms. However, Chase had noticed the Chloe had turned her attention to the patient, who was asleep. "The patient is Nora Tanner. Foreman found her in the Clinic this morning."
After the two left Nora's room, they made their way around the hospital, the Lucas wing, the Witherspoon wing, labs, the OR, ER, Clinic, etc, chatting about work along the way.
"So, how does this work? You get a patient, and run a bunch of tests until you figure out what's wrong?" Chloe had never been in a diagnostics department before.
"Basically, except House usually picks the patient. He needs them to be 'interesting'. Foreman, Cameron, and I find them in the clinic, ER, sometimes Cuddy brings them in, and in rare cases House finds them outside the hospital."
"How does an intensivist fit in to all of this?" Chloe knew that Chase's specialty was a rare one, but she expected him to be in an ICU.
"Usually, the patients we find are on the brink of death, or end up there right before we figure out what's wrong." Chase was checking Nora's monitors. "She seems fine right now, what do you say we head back to the conference room, Cameron should have the tests back, and I want to hear that I'm right about the Fibromyaglia."
Chloe laughed, as Chase led her out of the room.
