Big chapter ten! I keep getting new readers on both sites that this is posted to, so I thought that I would give you guys a bit of a gift in the form of a long chapter. This is the longest chapter that I have written so far! I hope to continue to give you guys long chapters, but they will fluctuate as I'm sure you guys know. I hope you like the chapter and please follow and review!
The next day House walked into Mark's room and nodded towards Stacy. "Can I talk to you, would that be alright?"
Stacy nodded and looked towards Mark. "I'll be right back okay?" At receiving his nod, she followed House out of the room. "Is everything alright?"
House nodded as he continued to walk, Stacy walking beside him. "You two are good together. I'm happy to see that you're happy."
"You don't know anything about Mark." She clarified.
"He took you to Europe, a place that you have always wanted to go to, that's plenty good enough for me."
"We never went to Europe." Stacy answered, shaking her head as she walked.
"Your honeymoon… it's been your dream place to visit, he said that he took you when we did his memory testing."
Stacy shook her head again and stopped walking, causing House to stop and turn to face her. "No we didn't, I had to work. We spent the night in New York, and then we went back to Short Hills."
House furrowed his brows together. "When did Mark switch from mountain biking to yoga?" he asked.
"Around a month ago, the same time he started to act sick, why?"
"We have two more symptoms then." He stated, before he left and walked in the opposite direction, leaving Stacy in the hallway.
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House stood in his office, watching as Foreman sat back in his seat at the desk with a sigh. "The patient was presented with questions to test his memory and the function of his brain."
"All you did was grill the poor man about Stacy." Cuddy grumbled.
House sighed in return and sat down on the couch in his office. "Whatever. Yeah, the point is he told us everything we needed to know to diagnose him in the first place. That is if we use your fancy PET scan as a lie detector. See, it's a very creative process, lying. Now, telling the truth is a much simpler process. See here," he said as he looked over the questions he asked Mark in his notes. "Question nine; this is where Mark gives a long, rambling answer about taking Stacy to Europe. What does the PET scan say?" House looked up at Foreman, expecting an answer.
Chase, who'd been leaned against the wall decided to speak up. "There was minimal involvement, just the frontal and temporal lobes. He said that they went to Europe and the PET confirms it, so what?"
House grinned. "They didn't go. They never went to Europe, and yet Mark's brain apparently thinks that he really did spend two weeks there with Stacy." He stood up and walked into the meeting room, nodding towards Cameron who was sat at the large table. He turned to his white board and erased everything from it to begin writing something new. "So we have an intermittent syndrome that presents with abdominal pain, polyneuropathy, paranoia and delusions. Now, here's the thing about Acute Intermittent Porphyria. It'll jump you in a dark alley, beat the crap out of you, and leave you bleeding. But it uses gloves, so no fingerprints, it doesn't show up in blood tests, urine tests, nothing. Unless you catch it red handed in the middle of an attack."
Cameron furrowed her brows as she stopped working on the mail. "But there are more symptoms of AIP."
"Like?" House questioned.
Chase and foreman had followed House into the meeting room and took their respective seats around the table. "Light sensitivity." Chase stated, watching as House jotted it down on the board.
"Yeah, well, one of the true tragedies of this condition is it makes you want to keep your cool, ditch the new mountain bike in the garage and take up an indoor sport like, say, yoga." House turned to face his team. "Start the treatment: hematin and glucose."
"If you give him hematin and you're wrong, he will die… today." Foreman stated.
"There's only one way to confirm that he has AIP; urine sample made during the attack." Chase said.
"There's no way to predict when he will have another attack either." Cameron spoke up, causing House to grin.
"Sure there is." He said assuredly before he grabbed his cane off the white board and left the room. The team collectively looked at each other and moved to follow him. It wasn't long until they all arrived at Mark's room.
"What are you up to House?" Foreman asked. Stacy looked at all of them, puzzled.
"Acute Intermittent Porphyria has very specific triggers. Barbiturates, alcohol, high levels of protein set off an attack." He began as he walked over to the medi-cart and began looking through it.
Stacy looked at House and then his team. "Which trigger do you think set off Mark's?"
"Not the faintest idea, that's why I'm going to give him the combo," House answered as he opened various drawers of the cart, looking for what he needed.
"So if you do this and Mark has another attack, it will make him worse… right?" Stacy questioned.
House nodded. "Yes. But then we will know what he has and we will be able to treat it."
"What if you give me that shot and I don't have what you think I have?" Mark asked. "What happens?"
House turned and shrugged at them both. "I have no idea. We don't know what is screwing with your brain, so we cannot be sure how you will react."
Stacy stood up. "I think I need a moment to talk to my husband." House nods and gestures for his team to leave the room before he follows them and shut the door behind him. They all wait outside the room while Stacy talked to Mark. House kept glancing over at Cameron as he stood beside her, letting his shoulder rest against hers.
It wasn't long before Stacy emerged from Mark's room and walked up to House and the team. "He doesn't want the trigger. He wants to wait, see if there's another explanation. If it is the AIP, how much time does he have?" she asked.
House let out a deep breath. "I honestly have no idea. It could be six months from now or five minutes from now. The next attack could be lethal."
Stacy nodded. "I want you to test him."
House nodded. "Fine. I'll send for a HMB synthetase mutation, genetic test. Lab will get back to us in a month."
Stacy shook her head. "I want you to give him the cocktail. Trigger an attack."
House shook his head in return. "No." This caused his team to all look at him.
Stacy stared at him. "Why not?" she questioned, tempted to raise her voice.
"He doesn't want me to."
Stacy rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" She questioned loudly. "I'm not going to sue you, I won't report you for doing this."
House sighed to himself. "He might." He said, gesturing towards Mark's room.
"He's paralyzed! Either you can cure him, or he won't be able to write any letters in the first place."
"I'm not going to do it Stacy."
"Why not?!" She half yelled.
"You keep asking me that question; my answer doesn't change. I gave him the parameters, it's his call." House said sternly as he leaned heavily on his cane. By this time, his team had stepped away from them both, even Cameron, giving them some space.
"You want him to die." Stacy said in a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest.
House took a step back and leaned against the nurse station's counter. "I did my job. I diagnosed him. You want somebody to tie him down and force him into treatment? Well, you're way better at that than I am." He said sternly.
"Is that what this is, payback for your leg? How many times have we been over this Greg; I saved your life." Stacy said angrily.
"Maybe." He replied.
"You're going to let my husband die to teach me a lesson?" she admonished.
"No, he's going to die because he's too stubborn to make the right choice for himself."
Stacy shook her head. "Oh, now were in your territory."
Cameron looked between the two as she sat on a nearby bench. 'I really want to step in and just shove her away… but he would be so pissed at me for thinking he can't handle her.' She thought to herself. She tapped her foot on the tile floor, hoping for the argument to end soon.
"I'm respecting your husband's decision; I don't see why you've got a problem with that." House said evenly. He was doing his best to keep his anger at bay, to be the doctor and not the ex-boyfriend. 'Quit pushing Stacy…' He thought as he tapped his cane on the ground a couple of times.
Stacy paced back and forth in front of House for a few moments before she stopped and stared at him and pointed at his chest. "It's crap! Because you browbeat patients, intimidate them, lie to them. If you think you're right you don't give a damn what they think. I did what you do all the time; the only difference is I did it to you."
"He will never forgive you if you do this." House said finally.
"Yes he will." Stacy answered before she quietly returned to Mark's room.
House sighed and looked down at the floor for a few moments before he made his way back to the elevator that would take him to his office.
Cameron looked at Foreman and Chase. "Don't look at me; I'm not going up there to him. I'll go do some clinic hours." Foreman said. Chase nodded in agreement before they both got up from their spot and left towards the elevator to go down to the clinic on the first floor.
Cameron watched them leave before she stood and looked into Mark's room one last time before she walked to the elevator and pushed the button that would take her to House's office. When she reached his office, she could see him sitting on his couch with his head in his hands. The lights in his office had been turned off, the only light coming from a small lamp that sat on the corner of his desk. 'Should I go in?' She thought as she watched him. He didn't move and Cameron wondered if he was in his right mind at the moment. After debating with herself, she slowly opened his office door and walked inside. "House?" she called out softly, once the door was shut behind her. She didn't get a response. She stood there a moment allowing her eyes to adjust, before walking over and sitting beside him on the couch. He hadn't moved. House sat still as stone, as if he hadn't heard her call out to him; the only sound in the room being the clock and the sounds of their breathing. Cameron swallowed hard before she took the chance and placed her hand on his back, resting it between his shoulder blades. "Greg?" she whispered.
When he felt Cameron's hand rest on his back, he slowly let some tension out of his shoulders and let out a long sigh. 'She always has to be there for people. At least that pertains to me too.' He dropped his hands to hang limp from his lap and continued to look at the floor. "Here to take care of me?" he asked quietly.
"You know I care about you. How could I not come up here after what she said to you." She answered, automatically beginning to rub his back.
"I figured you lot would have left at the first sign of trouble." He grumbled.
"Chase and Foreman kept pretty far away, but I was nearby. I almost intervened, I'm not gonna lie."
"That would have gone over so well."
"Which is why I didn't. I wanted to, but I know you can handle her." At that comment, House scoffed and tilted his head to look at her.
"Really now?"
Cameron let herself grin. "Yes… whatever you decide I know that you will be alright. It was just such a low blow for her to mention about what happened between you two. But It is unlike you to also want to do the right thing like this."
House smirked and moved to sit up, Cameron's hand moving to rest at his lower back. "Well it's clear that she hasn't changed. She's trying to do something without his permission that could kill him. Yes the condition he most likely has could also kill him at any time, but it is just the fact that she would rather do this than let the man decide. She didn't let me decide, did what I didn't want while I was in an induced coma after my surgery."
"You're going to do what she wants aren't you?" She asked softly as she played with the end of his shirt.
House took a deep breath and nodded. "Not because she wants me to. I really am curious if the cocktail will save him."
Cameron nodded in response, letting it become silent in the room. House moved to wrap his arm around her and pull her to him, letting her arm stay against his back. He felt as she wrapped her other arm around him, embracing him and resting her head on his shoulder. "When are you going to do it?" she whispered.
"Give it a couple hours. Let her cool off."
Cameron nodded and cuddled against him. The time seemed to both drag by and move quickly as they sat there. Nobody bothered them and they just sat there, content with being in each other's arms. An hour had gone by before Cameron realized and she glanced up at House to see that his eyes were closed. "Greg?" she whispered as she nudged him in his ribs. "Are you asleep?"
"Mmph." House replied, pulling away from her touch.
Cameron smirked. "Are you ticklish?" she questioned as she poked him in the ribs again, only to have him squirm away from her and let out a small chuckle and open his eyes and meet hers.
"Knock it off." He mumbled his voice raspy from dozing off.
"You are ticklish!" She exclaimed before she began to tickle him repeatedly. House began to laugh, sounding like music to her ears. She smiled wide and hugged him tighter so he couldn't get away from her, even though she knew that he could easily over power her.
"Allison!" he hollered in between laughing and trying to gasp for air. It wasn't long before he maneuvered himself to where he could easily grab her wrists without hurting her and pulled them from his side. He was still chuckling when he turned to fully face her. "Don't you dare exploit that." He said with a wide smile.
"Now that's not fair." She chuckled.
"Oh, yes it is, or you will rue it."
"I will rue it? Really?" she laughed. "Clever vocabulary Dr. House."
"You know it… I can be a lot more colorful with it if you'd like?" he asked as his voice dropped an octave, becoming husky.
Cameron smirked and leaned towards him and placed a small kiss on his lips before barely pulling away. "I don't doubt it." She whispered. House grinned wryly before he gently pulled her back to him and kissed her back, but quickly deepened it, causing Cameron to slowly wrap her arms around his neck. House ran his tongue across her bottom lip, asking for permission and smirked into his kiss when she parted her lips for him, letting his tongue run against her own. When they pulled away from each other for air, they let their foreheads rest against each other.
"I'm guessing were okay?" House asked softly, his ocean eyes meeting forest green.
Cameron chuckled. "We've been okay since you called and apologized." House nodded and pulled her in for another lingering kiss before he slowly pulled away and tucked a stray hair from her face behind her ear.
"Let's go see if we can save this guy or not."
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House and Cameron arrived inside of Mark's room and saw that Foreman and Chase were already there, standing with Stacy. "Any change?" House asked.
Chase shook his head. "No, no change."
"That's consistent with AIP, right? Until he has another attack his condition's stable?" Stacy asked.
Cameron nodded. "Yeah."
Stacy turned and faced Mark. "You have to do this Mark,"
"I'm not going to take the shot, not until they are sure." Mark interrupted.
"You don't know Greg…"
"Not like you do. I only met him when he badgered me for a test."
House walked up to the cart and pulled out a syringe. "It's cocktail hour. Just because you can't hoist a few doesn't mean you should be left out."
Mark shook his head. "Get away from me."
Stacy moved to stand beside Mark. "Greg thinks this is what is wrong with you."
"You trust House's judgement over mine?" Mark questioned.
"His medical judgement."
"You'd base my life on that?"
"I would."
"I don't."
House sighed. "Smart. Too bad you're paralyzed." House uncaps the syringe and moves towards Mark only for Foreman to step in front of him.
"You need consent from him to do this." Foreman said.
"But doc, he's not right in the head." House said sarcastically.
Chase moved to stand beside Foreman. "Then you'll need to get a court order."
House smirked. "Okay, then get one. We'll wait here. I won't do nothin'."
Chase and Foreman looked over at Cameron, who stood against the wall of the room. "You're not going to stand up against this?" Chase asked.
"Just because you are with him doesn't mean you have to agree with everything the man does Cameron." Foreman argued.
Cameron sighed. "He's just trying to do what he thinks is right." She walked up to House and looked between them both.
Chase rolled his eyes and looked back at House. "Give me the syringe."
Stacy looked at everyone with tears in her eyes. "Please… this could be Mark's only shot if he is right."
House shrugged at Stacy. "So what's your plan? You take the big, dark one, the aussie will run like a scared wombat if things turn rough... I can't do it." House turned and looked as if he was going to walk off, which caused Foreman and Chase to relax, when he suddenly spun around and forced himself between the men and jabbed the syringe into Mark's leg.
"You son of a bitch!" Mark yelled. Cameron walked up to Mark in an instant and began to look over his vitals.
Stacy began looking at the doctors then back at Mark. "When will the reaction happen?"
"If he has AIP it should have already happened." Chase said.
House shook his head. "Everyone is different."
"This is not good. He could have embolism, tachycardia, stroke –"Foreman began when suddenly Mark began to thrash on the bed.
"What's going on?" Stacy questioned.
Cameron tried to keep Mark still. "Two milligrams of Ativan!" she called, taking it from Chase as he gave it to her and moved to inject it but was stopped by House.
"Don't! you'll pollute the sample that we need to test, Chase, get urine from the catheter."
Foreman began to panic. "He needs Ativan! It's not an attack, he's stroking!?"
House stood his ground. "This is not a stroke! Delta wave bursts just at the base of the spasm." He said. Just then Mark's catheter removed itself from his body.
"The catheter is out, there's no way to retrieve the sample."
"Hold him down." House called out as he grabbed for an empty syringe.
"Heart rate's in the 40s, bradycardia, we're losing him!" Foreman yelled.
Stacy put her hands over her mouth a moment, tears running down her face. "Please, give him something!"
"No pain killers!" House called out as he readied the syringe and stepped forward and jabbed Mark in his lower abdomen and began to pull up on the plunger. "You can't get any better than that, straight from the bladder, give him the Ativan, the man doesn't need to be awake for this." House turned and quickly left the room along with Foreman and Chase while Cameron quickly administered the medicine into Mark's IV.
"He'll rest now." Cameron said softly before she too left.
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House stood in the lab, looking over the urine sample while he was surrounded by his team. He swirled the sample for a moment before he added a chemical to it and put it under a small light.
"It's still yellow." Chase said.
House tilted a lamp to join in on the light he already had under the sample. "Move." He said, getting Chase out of his way so he could put the sample under a more direct light. He continued to swirl the sample.
"You think another light is going to change things?" Foreman questioned.
House glanced up before he continued to watch the sample. "Organic chemical more lights mean more oxidation. Ring any bells?" he said. Suddenly the sample quickly turned black and House smiled. "Start the patient on 150 milligrams glucose, 75 milligrams hematin." He heard his team quickly turn and walk out of the room as he sat the sample in an empty tray. He was suddenly grabbed from behind around his waist. He didn't have to look down to know it was Cameron, which made him smile wider.
"You did it." She said softly before she placed a kiss to his back. House nodded and patted her hands a couple of times before he rested his hand on top of hers.
"Case closed."