Oh look...Chapter 11! Hooray! I'm so pleased people are enjoying this story - I'm getting so many really wonderful reviews (past the 100 mark, oh my gosh) and it really makes my day. And I'm getting new readers which is always great. I have to mention one person though; Saz89 - my 'number one' fan - I'm so honoured!
Anyway, enough of my essay :D Hope you enjoy this chapter...
"What do you want?" House asked, indicating the array of food that was on sale. He was trying to decide between a bacon sandwich and an omelette; neither of which he was really hungry for but they were the only things which he had deemed edible.
"Only two things look safe to eat. What is it with hospitals and bad food?" Cameron replied.
"Underlying psychology; bad food deters people. What are you having?"
"Omelette." She decided, selecting a plate and setting it on her tray beside the cup of coffee she had already selected. House reached in front of her and picked up a bacon sandwich, placing it on his own plate. They slid the trays along the counter towards the cashier, a bored looking teenager who looked up from her magazine just long enough to ring up their choices.
"$6.90." she told them, and Cameron rummaged in her pockets for a ten-dollar bill she knew she had somewhere.
"Put it on the tab." House told the girl, who began to look slightly worried.
"I'm not really supposed to do that."
"Well if you get in trouble say Doctor Wilson forced you to do it."
"Doctor Wilson?" the girl asked, and Cameron looked at House with a puzzled look on her face.
"What are you doing?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Put the food on Doctor Wilson's tab. I'll pay up at the end of the week." The girl looked wary, but grabbed a notepad and scribbled something illegible on the first page.
"Enjoy your food." She told them, and returned to her magazine.
"Good?" House asked, noting that Cameron was almost finished with her omelette.
"No." she replied instantly, "But I'm hungry, so bad food is better than no food at all."
"Apparently so."
"Well, you've hardly touched your sandwich." Cameron polished off the last forkful of her omelette and set her fork down neatly on the plate, lining it up with her knife.
"Not really hungry. No food is better than bad food in that case." House shrugged, taking a mouthful of his coffee. Cameron smiled as she saw him wrinkle his nose in distaste.
"There's a reason you always make mine you know."
"Enlighten me." Cameron remarked. House saw that Foreman and Chase had just entered the cafeteria and were waving him over. He was glad Cameron was facing the window and couldn't see them. For the first time in days she was relaxed, and he leaned towards her conspiratorially.
"Cafeteria coffee has been officially recognised as the worst coffee in the world."
"Really?" she played along, and House tried to hide his annoyance as Chase and Foreman got bored with hand signals and started walking towards the table he and Cameron were sharing.
"Scientific fact." he nodded. "You're taking your life in your hands just drinking that." House watched as she sipped her own cup of coffee warily.
"We've been looking for you." Foreman said as he and Chase approached the table. Cameron turned in her seat to look at her male colleagues.
"We came in early and everything." Chase added, pointing towards House's sandwich as if to ask 'Are you eating that?' House raised an eyebrow cynically, and tipped the sandwich onto Cameron's plate.
"I can't eat any more." Cameron protested. "And we have to get to work."
"Decent coffee first, work after."
"How about decent coffee while we work?" Cameron said, handing the bacon sandwich to Chase as she stood and brushed non-existent crumbs off her lap. House stood with them and pushed his way through Chase and Foreman, leaning heavily on his cane as he hobbled across the cafeteria.
"An ear infection isn't life-threatening; she doesn't need to be in a clean room." Foreman commented, reviewing Hayley's updated notes.
"A fever of 105 that causes hallucinations can be life-threatening." Chase countered,
"Well yeah, when the patient takes a walk on the roof in the middle of the night." House drawled sarcastically and was surprised to see Cameron raise her hand to her mouth to hide a smirk.
"You're both missing the point." He continued, accepting his usual red mug from Cameron. She took her seat at the table and reached forward to take the remaining copy of her sister's notes.
"How?" Chase said, flipping through the pages to see whether what it was they had missed. House tapped the whiteboard with his cane; indicating the list of Hayley's hospital visits which were scribbled in black. He had added 'ear infection' in blue scrawl. Chase and Foreman looked blank. Cameron was trying desperately to look interested but her tiredness was betraying her and she yawned delicately.
"Read between the lines, people! These symptoms aren't just random incidences, there has to be something which is causing them. And we can't afford for Hayley to get something more life-threatening than fever-induced hallucinations before we figure out what it is, can we?" House raised his voice slightly. Foreman and Chase exchanged a look, which House ignored in typical fashion.
"Right then. The haemorrhage we know about, so let's ignore that," Using the rubber end of his cane he scrubbed through that line on the board. He ran his cane from bottom to top, pointing at each symptom in turn. "Microfracture surgery…why would a seventeen year old who hasn't been engaging in heavy physical activity need surgery to relieve extreme joint pain?"
Again, Chase and Foreman looked blank. Cameron kept quiet; House had already told her to listen rather than talk; something about personal involvement, bias. She had thought it would be difficult to listen to the differential and not participate, but in reality it was quite easy to sit and listen to House fire sarcastic comments at Chase and Foreman. She knew he had a point, and while she usually found it slightly irritating when he did this kind of thing, she trusted him to get to it eventually.
House sighed at the incompetence of his two male employees. He turned to Cameron, who had her elbow propped up on the table and was resting her head in her hand. She looked exhausted and he almost felt bad for calling on her.
"Cameron." She sat more upright in her seat, alert at the sound of her name.
"She's always had pain in her joints; knees, shoulders and elbows mostly. About ten months ago her boyfriend had to take her to the ER 'cos she couldn't extend her arms. And then in October last year she was in phys. ed. and the teacher had to call 911 cos she couldn't stand." The female doctor recited, not even stopping to stumble over dates.
"Joint swelling can be a symptom of rheumatoid arthritis." Foreman commented.
"She had an Ortho consult when she went in with the pain in her elbows. He said that it was a possibility but she was too young; didn't bother to follow it up." Cameron fired off, followed by a yawn. House wandered over to the sink unit and rummaged around the cabinets.
"Ok, so possibly-unexplained joint pain." He said, clanging a spoon into a cup. "Next symptom…?"
"Chest infection developed into pneumonia." Foreman answered. "Nine months after a hospitalisation for a serious kidney infection."
"Vulnerability to infections." Chase observed.
"Congratulations, Captain Obvious." House said in a voice heavy with sarcasm as he set a fresh cup of coffee on the table in front of Cameron. The action wasn't lost on Foreman and Chase, who exchanged curious and amused looks. Cameron however seized on the cup gratefully.
"So we have joint pain, susceptibility to infections, which by the way have a tendency to develop into serious illnesses before she can get treatment, what else?"
"April 2005…" Foreman began; eyes on the file in front of him. House noticed how Cameron's fingers tensed around her coffee cup.
"Anorexia's not a symptom." Chase said as gently as possible.
"She wasn't anorexic." Cameron half-snapped at him.
"She was in an eating disorder's clinic for almost a month." Foreman pointed out and Cameron swivelled in her seat to face him.
"Read the dietician's report – they put her on steroids three days into the treatment and she only gained six pounds in the whole time they kept her. The weight loss wasn't her fault."
"Two ER visits for sudden collapse and weight loss of 20 pounds in three months isn't just a random incidence."
"The weight loss wasn't her fault." Cameron repeated and Foreman leaned back in his chair. "Look, don't you think that I would have kept her in the clinic if I thought she needed to be there? She was there for a whole month having daily counselling, protein supplements, three full meals a day plus the steroids. She couldn't put any weight on."
"Unexplained weight loss." House said, diverting a situation which he sensed would have Cameron in tears within minutes.
"Plus general fatigue and malaise." Chase added, glad that House had stopped Foreman from continuing. Cameron was blatantly upset and there was no need to make it worse.
"So we've got joint pain, susceptibility to infection, unexplained weight loss," House paused to shoot a look at Foreman, "fatigue and malaise. What does that sound like?"
"Autoimmune." All three doctors replied.
"Chase, go run a CBC and check her neutrophil count. Be nice with the needles, she already hates you. Foreman, you get the great pleasure of my clinic hours." Foreman opened his mouth as if to object, but a single look from House was enough to stop him from speaking. Both male doctors stood up out of their seats and left the room, turning different directions to head to their respective assignments.
"Thanks for the coffee." Cameron said to House, who was facing the whiteboard again.
"Couldn't have you falling asleep in the middle of a differential, could we?" he remarked over his shoulder.
"What are you thinking?" she asked, noting his careful study of the board. It was a few seconds before he answered her.
"I'm not sure yet." He said, and turned around when he heard the resounding chinking of her ceramic mug being placed unceremoniously onto the glass table-top. "What?"
"How can I know what's wrong with her? I'm an immunologist! How could I not put this all together and come up with auto-immune?" She ran a hand wearily through her hair, frustrated with herself. Again, it took House a few seconds to answer her.
"Sometimes we don't see what's right in front of us."
Did you like it? I hope you did but even if you didn't you have have have to TELL ME. Please. Especially since I went all out with as much House/Cam fluffiness as possible...for all those who so desperately wanted it :D