Now, I can wrap this up pretty quickly, within about 2 more chapters, If I'm good. I'm debating doing so, it will depend on how many reviews I get for the next chapter or two. So review if you want the good ending! Hey, this chapter has an actual diagnosis in here! ;) Send me your reviews!
Cameron walked in bearing his cane almost a half hour later.
"I found this in my locker," she sneered, dumping it on the table in front of House. House smiled.
"You shouldn't hate Julia, Cameron, just…OK, hate her," he told her. Foreman rolled his eyes as Cameron opened her mouth to retort.
"In the meantime," Foreman said, forcefully.
"Yes, does anyone find it odd that our little slugger seems so convinced that she has to be having a miscarriage?" House asked.
"House, she could be terrified of it and wants us to come out and give her the truth," Cameron said.
"Violence, paranoia…. Could it be neurological? Or maybe psychological?" House mused.
"Psychological? You mean like stress or something?" Chase asked.
"No, she'd be in full miscarriage," Cameron said. "Unless you have some sort of opposite of pseudocyesis."
"Well, what did the tests I told you all to run show?" House asked.
"Her white count is a little high, but nothing else," Cameron said, sounding a little defeated. They sat in silence for a moment.
"Is there a type of pseudocyesis?" House asked Foreman.
"I'm not a psychiatrist, but I don't think so," he answered.
"Well, she has to be bleeding from somewhere because of something," House groaned.
"Well, since your girlfriend figured it out last time, why don't you ask her?" Cameron asked abruptly. Everyone stared at her in silence for a moment. As if suddenly realizing what came out of her mouth, she reddened and stared at her file.
"Cameron, now don't be upset just because someone else figured it out for us last time! Except that it was a slave nurse and she's better at pissing me off than you are?" House said. Cameron looked up and met his eyes. Foreman and Chase both cleared their throats and looked like they wanted to fade into the table.
"I think it's inappropriate that you're sleeping with her," Cameron said.
"Well, would it make it any different if I was sleeping with you?" House asked. Cameron's face turned from red to pale and she dropped her eyes again. She muttered something under her breath that he couldn't hear, but he was sure it wasn't flattering.
"While you three figure it out, I'm going to go get myself something to chew on, since my girlfriend isn't here," House said, standing. He thumped the leg of Cameron's chair with his cane as he left and she jumped a bit.
House's leg still felt like hell. He limped down the hall, almost dragging his leg behind him.
"House! I want to talk to you!" Wilson shouted from down the hall.
"What? I just want my licorice!" House whined.
"Julia…apologized. Did you put her up to it?" Wilson asked. He seemed shocked, almost upset.
"No, I didn't, why would I tell her to apologize to you?" House asked.
"I wanted to know if you thought she was sincere, or if you told her to say she was sorry, or –God help me- if she's apologizing in advance for something she's about to do!" Wilson babbled. "She seemed awful upset. Almost like she was absolving herself before going to the executioner, I've seen some patients do that when they're dying. Julia's not dying, is she?"
"Are you on drugs?" House asked.
"No, sleep deprived and over-compensating for no coffee," Wilson answered. "The coffee machine in the cafeteria isn't working and I didn't have time to stop before work because you and Julia gave me nightmares!" House's licorice thumped into the bottom of the vending machine. Wilson nudged him aside and inserted his own money.
"I think it's nice you're spending time with someone who makes you happy. I think it's nice that you're having fun. I just want you to be careful!" Wilson said. His candy got stuck.
"Why?" he grumbled at it, as if it would fall on his command.
"I think the world just hates you, Wilson," House chuckled.
"You got yours, it's the same damned thing! Why'd mine get stuck?" Wilson muttered.
"It's not the same thing, you got a candy bar, I got licorice," House explained, as if talking to a little kid.
"Damn!" Wilson growled, giving the machine one last kick of frustration. House looked at the candy, no, stared at it.
"Are you having one of your epiphanies?" Wilson asked. "Can I try to use your cane to get my candy before you race off to save the world?" House took off down the hall without answering.
"Thought so," Wilson sighed.
"Ectopic pregnancy!" he exclaimed as he hobbled into the room. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman looked up. Cameron turned red again.
"What do you mean?" Chase asked.
"She's carrying twins, but one got stuck in the wrong spot on the way down," House explained. "One fetus made it to her uterus, the other implanted in her fallopian tube. The trauma would cause bleeding, the pain would cause the massive irritability."
"We would have seen it!" Cameron protested. House motioned them to follow him and hurried down to Dianna's room.
"Not if it's up far enough." House told her. As they passed the nurse's station, House slammed his cane on the counter. All the nurses jumped.
"I need an ultrasound machine! As soon as possible, please!" he said loudly. Julia rounded the corner.
"There's one already in there, get it yourself!" she said, putting herself between him and the other nurses.
"You're assisting, slave-nurse!" House said, grabbing her arm.
"What are you doing back here?" Dianna snapped.
"We're going to play a game called "Count the Bouncing Babies"!" House told her as Julia readied the ultrasound. House studied the screen and waited. He heard a collective gasp as he found what he was looking for.
"Sure enough. You, ma'am, are carrying twins. One has implanted here," he said, pointing to the screen, "And one as implanted here. And it looks like the little bugger is about to
rupture your fallopian tube. Let's do a laparoscopy, we're going to have to take the second one out."
"Wait, I have two babies inside me?" Dianna gasped.
"Yes, but one is probably not viable and will probably end up endangering your life and your other child," Cameron said.
"Can't I keep both?" the patient asked.
"The incidence of an ectopic pregnancy carrying to term is very low. If you try, it could kill both you and the other baby, which has a chance!" Chase piped up.
"Listen to the wombat; trust me, it's better than bleeding to death or dying of shock when that thing pops your tube like a blocked garden hose," House told her. The patient turned pale and began nodding madly. House smiled and turned to Julia, who was staring intently out the glass door. He gave her a solid nudge in the back with his cane and she almost toppled over before she snapped out of her little trance. He gave her a puzzled look, but she just shook her head and rejoined the other nurses.
"Are you going brain-dead or was that a look of recognition I noticed today?" House asked several hours later. Julia was sitting on the balcony outside his office with a cigarette.
"No," she answered simply, dragging on her cigarette. As he stood and watched her, she lit a new cigarette off the old one, viciously snubbing the old one as she finished with it.
"You're not ok, so don't even say it. If you don't want to tell me what's the matter, that's alright, but don't kill yourself…" he trailed off. As she turned her head, he caught sight of bruises on the back of her neck. They weren't from him. He brushed his hand over one and she jerked away, almost burning him with her cigarette.
"What happened?" he asked, stepping closer.
"Get off it, House, I don't feel like letting you pick my brain," she said, irritably.
"Who did you see today?" he asked. "Or, who saw you?"
"What the hell do you care?" she snapped suddenly. "I'm nothing to you, I'm a cheap prank and a quick lay! You don't care about anything except your bike and your piano, so don't even pretend you're concerned about me!" He stood in silence, contemplating what she'd said.
"If I said I cared, would it make a difference right now?" he asked. She stared at him through haunted eyes, and for a moment, he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her.
"No," she answered, in a way that almost sounded like an obscenity. She tried to push by him and through his office when she was met face to face with Cuddy, who looked from Julia to House.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked Julia, though her eyes were on House. Julia nodded and the two began to head to the door. House followed.
"Did you find him?" Julia blurted.
"I'm sorry, Julia, security tried to catch him, but he got out," she told Julia, who paled and began to tremble.
"Am I fired?" Julia sputtered, yanking the door to House's office shut behind her. House followed them out in the hall.
"I can't fire you because someone else is being an ass, or Wilson, Cameron, Chase and Foreman would all be on the breadlines. But I think you should take a day or two off from work," Cuddy said. House frowned.
"What's going on?" he asked, hobbling straight up to them. Julia looked at him and he took a step back. He'd never seen her look so…hurt before. Hurt and angry, and he'd never seen Julia look like that before. It scared him in some deep part of himself that he hadn't accessed in a long time. She met his eyes for a moment.
"House…I…" Then, with a violent shudder, she took off down the hall. Cuddy tried unsuccessfully to grab her, but Julia was already gone. She sighed heavily and turned to House. She looked very upset.
"What? It was that wheelchair thing?" he asked. Cuddy wearily raised a hand to shut him up.
"Can someone tell me what happened? I'm not going to burst into tears and die! I'm not crippled, not fragile!" he shouted. She shrugged, sighed and shook her head.
"Julia's ex showed up in the emergency room today. He recognized her and started following her around the hospital," Cuddy explained.
"Has he caught up with her? I think she saw him today while we were with Miss Double Dip," House said. Cuddy nodded.
"He tried to grab her earlier and she got away from him, but no one was able to find him. She transferred here to try to find somewhere where he couldn't find her, but apparently, he checked all the hospitals in the area."
"Tell her that she can stay with me for a while and have her get her roommate moved. Likely, he knows where she lives too," House said. Cuddy stared at him.
"No offense, House, but you've never…"
"I know. Tell everyone it's because I want free sex all the time," he snapped.
"Oh my god, you have a heart!" Cuddy teased, walking away down the hall.
"Do not! Do not!" House shouted after her.