Return

AN: Okay, usually I try and use my medical research book in order to make DDX scenes accurate, but since I'm at school and my book is back in my bedroom, I'm going off of my own knowledge. (Which is somewhat lacking in the medical department currently.) But in this chapter, I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Summary: "But you know that I'm always going to be the one who screwed us up." He never expected her to admit defeat, but here she was. Lisa Cuddy was giving in.

House/Cuddy. AU-ish. post 8x04.

Part X

Jessica Adams twirled the red pen through her hair, her gaze cast towards where Lisa Cuddy sat across the glass table from her. She leaned back in her seat, watching the slightly older woman thumb through the case file on the desk, drumming her free hand on the table top.

"You know, it would be a lot easier if you just told me what tests you've run so far," Lisa Cuddy looked up from the file, her eyes meeting Adams, "It would make it a lot easier for me to actually be of use."

"That's not what the rest of the team had to do," Adams replied back quietly, "Besides, according to both Chase and Taub, you're good at picking up details, which, knowing House, we all missed." She crossed her legs under the table, straightening up to look back at Cuddy, "So why did you come back?"

"Excuse me?" Cuddy asked, thrown by the question. "I don't see how that's any of your business, unless of course, you're suddenly in charge around here."

"I never said that," Adams shrugged, leaning back in the chair, "But the rest of the team wasn't exactly secretive about your past with House. And if you ask me, crawling back to him isn't exactly what I expected of you."

"You don't know anything about me." Cuddy snapped quickly, her eyes narrowed, her gaze turning towards the door as it swung open, and she bit her lip. "Hi."

Chase, Taub and Park exchanged glances, still processing their internal shock of the fact that their boss was now working, not only with them, but with House as well. The first one to speak was Chase, and he dropped into the seat besides Cuddy, looking sideways at her, "Morning Cuddy."

"Morning," Taub's voice was mumbled, "Are you getting updated on the case?"

"Yeah," Cuddy nodded at the files, "I have to admit, it surprises me that with such an irregular heartbeat, you haven't tested for any heart disease yet." She pulled one of the papers from the file, "I don't know if you all missed it, but she made no previous reports of an irregular heartbeat until two days before she was admitted."

"You mean check for amyloidosis?" Chase cut her off, "That was usually Foreman's go to idea, and frankly, we never got anything when he suggested it. I've always believed that it was a waste of time if the patients got to House anyways." He took the paper from Cuddy's hand, skimming it, "I'm not saying we can rule it out, but we should definitely tell House that it's a possibility." Looking around, he stopped, "It's almost eleven, where is House?"

"Right here." Pointing, Park looked oddly proud of herself as House limped into the room, and she dropped into the only free chair besides Adams, "We were just talking about the case when you got here."

"Clearly," House scanned the room, his gaze lingering slightly at where Cuddy and Chase had their heads bent together over the medical files, "That's what you're all paid to do, isn't it?" He let his cane clatter against the side of the table and he took the open seat opposite Taub, his gaze on both Cuddy and Chase, "Have something you two would like to share with the class?"

"Amyloidosis." Cuddy looked up, her eyes meeting House's. "It fits." She looked from him to the white board, "Irregular heartbeat, that's self explanatory. Bruising, that can be a symptom that very few doctors pick up on right away, along with the hair loss and weakness. It also explains the obvious fatigue if there's cardiac involvement, along with the swelling." Stopping, she blushed faintly, aware that every gaze in the room was on her.

"Wh...where did you get all that from?" Taub stared at his former boss, "There's no way that all this could actually be amyloidosis. Besides, you must have missed the note in the file, but the patient had jaundice-like symptoms when she was admitted, that doesn't explain cardiac involvement."

"It can if other organs are involved," House nodded, looking up at Cuddy with a faint smile on his face, "Park, Taub - you two go get a cardiac and liver biopsy. Chase, you go see if you can get anything more from her. And Adams, you take this and call them." He passed her a sheet of paper, "He's the closet cardiac amyloidosis specialist, see if he's ever heard of our patient before." Watching both groups go, he waited until Adams and Cuddy remained at the table, slightly amused.

"Why isn't she doing anything?" Adams asked, not bothering to budge from her seat, and both House and Cuddy stared at her. The rest of the team stood in front of the door, looking at the three seated at the table, and Adams went on. "I'm certainly not going to spend my time running tests for diagnoses that I don't even believe in when she's sitting around here doing nothing. I have much better things to do around here, and if you start playing favorites just because she's back means that I can use my time to head down to Foreman's office."

"Listen," House began, his anger obvious, "You work for me. And unless you want me to tarnish your reputation like I've done to everyone else who's worked under me, I'd suggest you get a move on to make those phone calls. If not, then I will make sure that you don't find another job."

"House...I can do something," Cuddy cut him off, knowing his threats, though seemingly harmless in the end, would actually worsen the situation. She glanced to where Adams was glaring at her out of the corner of her eye, "It's not a problem." Nodding at the papers in front of Adams, "Besides, it would go a lot faster if I took half of those contacts and made some calls too." Biting her lip, she paused, knowing her argument was useless; when House didn't want anyone involved, he made sure of it.

House leaned over, picking up the papers and placed them unceremoniously in Adams' lap, looking between the two women. "Look Adams, I gave you a job. You can either go do it or go run to Foreman and complain while our patient gets worse." He narrowed his eyes, "Besides, unless you think it's a good idea to sit around and do nothing, I suggest you do your job."

Adams sniffed irritably, rising and shoving the papers under her arm, "Don't be surprised if Foreman finds out about this." She stood in the doorway, her eyes darting between House and Cuddy, a glare in her eyes. "You may have the rest of your team already wrapped around your finger," she stopped to stare at Cuddy, "But that doesn't include me." Striding from the room, both House and Cuddy watched Adams brush past the rest of the team, who lingered by the elevators, ensuring that she was the first person on.

"She's going to talk to Foreman about this," Cuddy stood, collecting her file under her arm, "But she's right, I need to go do something useful around here. And frankly, sitting around your office all day isn't exactly what I have in mind." She stopped as House rested his hand on her arm, and she tensed, waiting, "Yes?"

"I have something for you to do." House began, nodding to the medical textbooks on the shelf, "I need you to go through the books, track down the highest ranked cardiac hospitals along the east coast. Call up the departments, and see if there's any chance that our patient decided that she could double-dip her treatments." He pulled the file from under Cuddy's arm, opening it, "Her protein levels are high enough to indicate amyloidosis, but there's no way, assuming she's telling the truth about how long she's hand her symptoms, that she has been able to reduce her numbers."

"You think she's falsifying medical records at two hospitals?" Cuddy raised an eyebrow, "That's unlikely, unless of course she has help from someone here or at another hospital." She glanced to the medical textbooks, "And why should I bother going through the textbooks? The internet is much faster these days, especially with her location. If there's any possibility that she's going between two hospitals, there's no way she'd be likely to go anywhere that takes more than a certain amount of driving time per day." She set the file back on the table, "And why me?"

"Because you're good," House nodded slowly, "You don't make mistakes like the rest of my team do."

"That's not true." Cuddy began, pulling the laptop towards her, "I've had my fare share of screw ups as a doctor, you know that." She resettled herself in the chair, hoping to change the subject, "And why haven't you told the rest of your team about your suspicions?"

"Because I don't trust them," House began, "They're going to follow the rules, even if it means ratting me out to Foreman." He paused to look at her, "I know you, and I trust you. You're not going to risk ratting me out to Foreman, especially when we both know what that could lead to."

AN: Okay, this chapter was incredibly hard for me to write, just cause I have a specific case file from Dr. Rodney Falk at Boston Medical Center's Cardiac Research Center that I'm using for information on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac amyloidosis (as well as personal experience). But I hope it was good enough anyways!

Reena x