Cameron rushed into the patient's room, which was now overrun with nurses, and joined the frantic mission to stabilize the boy. "Get them out," she called to one nurse while tossing her head toward the boy's panicking parents. Everything that had been bothering her in the day was forgotten as she concentrated on saving the patient.
Seconds later, the Joe was stabilized and Cameron was checking his vitals. She ordered the boy off of his current medication and onto a new one before slowly making her way into the hallway to reassure the parents. She had just stepped out of the doors when she heard a shout.
"You're fired!" House shouted.
Cameron froze as she watched him approach, Chase and Foreman keeping pace on either side. They had gone to the elevator with him while she had run down the stairs and were just arriving. At his words, both Chase and Foreman's stride faltered as their faces fell in shock. Cameron turned horrified eyes from them to Joe's parents, whose faces were a mixture of shock and panic. "He'll be fine," she assured them. "He had a bad reaction to the medication. It happens sometimes. I switched—"
"Take care of him," House snapped to Chase and Foreman. He had stopped several feet from the patient's room and spared it a quick glance. Now, House turned his anger on Cameron, his eyes burning into hers. "That was out of line. Go home."
Cameron's cheeks flushed a bright red as House turned and rapidly moved toward the elevators.
"What did you do? What happened?" asked the boy's mother from beside her.
Cameron turned her startled gaze toward the parents. "Nothing," she answered them. The shock began to fade as humiliation and anger took over. "Joe is going to be fine. He just needs a different medication, which I already ordered. Doctors Chase and Foreman will confirm that. He'll be fine. Excuse me."
She dashed down the hall after House. The elevator doors opened while she was several feet away and House jumped in and reached for the "Door Close" button. Cameron ran at full speed, fueled by her anger, sliding through the doors just before they closed. House looked up in surprise and anger and let out a curse. An elderly couple stood to one side and pushed themselves as far into the elevator corner as possible. Cameron ignored them as she yelled, "What was that?"
"Exactly what it sounded like," House yelled back. "That was me firing you!"
Cameron's jaw dropped and she took a step closer. "On what grounds?"
"For giving them hope!" House shouted.
It was an absurd statement, and both of them knew it. Cameron's stunned stare was met by House's glare of embarrassment. Neither noticed as the elevator came to a halt and opened its doors for the elderly couple to dash through. And neither noticed Wilson standing in the hallway with a fascinated stare of his own as the elderly couple rushed past him. Wilson stood still and silent, afraid to break the tension that pulsated from the elevator. He would take the next one. A small smile flicked at the tips of his mouth as he looked at them. A fight could be good, he thought. He hoped.
The elevator doors slid back shut and its movement jarred Cameron out of her silence. "What?"
House stared for another several moments, his mind racing. "You ran to the patient's family to give them the good news before confirming the diagnosis with me."
"The test confirmed the diagnosis!" Cameron shouted. "He had a bad reaction to the first medication, that's all! I already ordered an alternate medication and he should be fine! That's not uncommon and it's not grounds for firing me, especially coming from you!"
During the exchange, the elevator opened on the destination floor and closed again, reversing course. It came to a halt and opened its doors as Cameron finished her rant. Wilson's face lit up with interest as the arguing couple once again stood before him. He took a quick glance at the colleagues in the hallway who had stopped what they were doing to stare. While he didn't want to disrupt the argument, he decided to come to their rescue. And besides, he had work to do.
Wilson didn't bother to hide his smile, but he did have the grace to add a bit of embarrassment to his look and concern to his tone. "Ahem." Inside the elevator, House and Cameron both turned towards the interruption and Wilson locked eyes with House. "You might want to move this to your office."