The sirens were getting louder. Were they sirens? What were they? God, please. Her feet had gone numb. They were stumps. She clenched her jaw against the cold. Where were they? Where was her mother? All the movies she had seen, all of them, the mother had come or was it the father? Someone would burst through the door with the police, the next door neighbor, someone. But that was in movies, God was she really that person? Really one of those girls that believed everything that she saw on TV or read in the paper? What is that? What is that in the snow? Her trembling fingers inched their way down the icy concrete and touched the object in snow. What was that? Oh God! Oh God! Was that her bone? Was that her leg bone sticking out? Oh God! Oh God! Where were they? Where the hell were they?
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"Clinic House! Clinic! Not the lounge! Not your office! Clinic!" Cuddy was fuming. They were running out of chairs, people had taken to leaning against the wall grumbling, coughing, glancing at watches and on occasion swearing.
"Do you mind taking a step back? You're gleeking all over me." House stuck out his cane in protest as he tried to make it past Cuddy down the hallway. She shoved the rubber foot out of her way and stepped directly in front of him.
"You know what I heard?"
"That Wilson's favorite movie is Xanadu? It's true."
"I heard, that your patient's getting better. Cameron said that his oxygen levels are within normal for the first time this week and that he's actually sitting up and eating."
"I'll alert the press."
"Which means that until he has another emergency," she stopped, rethinking her words, "on his OWN accord, you're ass is mine."
The waiting room was more full than House had expected as he begrudgingly limped across the floor to the nearest exam room and whipped the patient file out of the sleeve in the door. He sighed and began to read over it as he shoved open the door.
"Oh...my...God!" The sound was coming from the exam table, it was nasally, it was snot filled and it was sitting in front of him. The man sitting in front of Dr. House wore a stripped shirt that looked like it hadn't been laundered in weeks, with yellowed pit stains underneath the arms. His hair was thick and greasy and shoved back onto his head like a helmet. He snatched a pen from his pants and clicked the top of it nervously, grabbing the notebook from behind him that House hadn't noticed.
"I can't believe, it's you! It's really you! I mean I thought I would come in and get some degenerate right out of med school, but you...Dr. Gregory House, this really is kismet!" The man was in his early thirties, yet as he sat there looking at House he began to look more and more like a ten year old on Christmas unwrapping a brand new shiney fire truck.
"You read my letter in Penthouse I take it?" House sat on the stool and began to sift through the chart again.
"I've read everything you've ever written. I mean, you're the reason I wanted to go to med school in the first place." The man suddenly looked down at his shoes, looking ashamed, "I didn't get into Princeton, stupid bastards think that you can measure the level of someone's intelligence by standardize testing... but I got into pre-med." House stared at the man for a minute, he was awkward at best. Why did all the people that worshipped him have to look like this? Why couldn't they have nice boobs and a curvy butt?
"Well... Dennis," House had found his name, "as side from being obsessive, what's wrong with you?" Dennis immediately broke into an obviously fake laugh, making House jump slightly.
"Oh my God! It's amazing! Absolutely amazing!" Dennis flipped open the notebook he had out and began to scribble madly on it. "You're just like everyone says you are! That's incredible."
"Yes, it is incredible when people are actually honest, you know what else is incredible? When a person answers questions like... what the hell is wrong with you?" House glared at Dennis from the folder who was silent for a moment, taken aback.
"Ummm... my back has been killing me lately. It starts down at the base and then radiates down my leg. I can't sleep because every time I try to turn over it pulls. It's starting to effect my work, you know? I'm a programmer, I'm sitting for most of my day and it's..."
"Okay... okay, I get it." House sighed knowing that Cuddy wouldn't let him out of this death trap unless all of this kid's paperwork was filled out. "Lay down." Dennis set his notebook down and stretched out on the exam table.
"Tell me when it hurts." House grabbed Dennis's right leg and began to lift it slowly.
"I think that you're a genius, I mean all of the papers written about you. All the journal articles, they all say that you don't care about the red tape, you just do what you want. You know who you're like, you're like Andy Kaufman! I mean he was ahead of his time, he didn't care about his audience, or if they liked him or not, he just walked out on that stage and wanted the audience to feel. That's like what you do, you want people to feel and I get that... I totally get that I... SON OF A BITCH!" Dennis jerked on the table as pain shot down his leg into his back.
"Sorry, just trying to get you to feel... and shut up." Dennis let out another fake laugh, that was weakly covering up the outward pain.
"God, you're incredible." Dennis slowly began to sit up, straining slightly.
"You have a bulging disc." House scribbled his diagnosis on the file as a headache began to form behind his eyes.
" Oh my God." Dennis's eyes got big.
"Relax, it's no big deal, get into some physical therapy, I'll give you the number of the therapist here."
"Damn it, I told Debbie that I wasn't supposed to bend that way." House stared at the floor for a minute hoping against hope that Dennis would realize that his inner monologue was being heard out loud.
"You know, Dr. House, I'm all for women being liberal and trying new things, but when it comes down to it there are just things the human body is not meant to do. You know what I'm saying? I mean, she checked this book out of the library and..."
"So, we're all set here, right?" House shot out, the headache was nearly getting to the point where he thought that his head was going to explode.
"Well, I was wondering if I could bring her in and if YOU told her..."
House could feel his skull begin to expand, preparing for the explosion. And just when he could swear that the flame had moved all the way down the wick to the bomb, the door to the exam room swung open and another person entered the room shutting the door behind her.
"Oh... my.... God!" Dennis's eyes were huge again as he took in the new person in the room. "It's the girl from the news paper! Debbie's going to go crazy when she hears this! She's not going to believe this! Can I get both of your autographs?" Dennis began to get out his notepad, with a hand shaking with excitement.
"No." House didn't even look at the annoyance behind him. "Damn, Addison, Cuddy give you clinic hours too? Guess no one's safe from her dictatorship." Addison stood in the corner, wearing hospital scrubs and biting her bottom lip. House watched her for a moment wondering. On the other side of the door he heard the sound of shoes on the tiles and the sound of Howard and Chase's voice.
"Damn it Dr. Chase! You could have just cost this hospital over a million dollars in funding." Howard whispered as they passed by the door.
"I was getting her ready to go in and she bolted. She's fast." Came an Australian accent. Suddenly it became clear to House was the situation was.
"MRI day huh, Addy?" He had heard Chase and Cuddy talking about it when Cuddy had arrived with Addison at the beginning of the week.
House cracked the door slowly and watched through a one inch space as Chase and Howard began to question the nurses. He quickly shut the door and looked around thinking as a smile crept across his face.
"Desmond..."
"Dennis." The man corrected.
"Yeah, yeah... I think," House flashed a quick glance at Addy and then began writing on Dennis's chart, "that we really can't be sure about that back of yours unless we get an MRI. Someone as youthful and full of sexual ambition as you doesn't want to be playing with half a spine, am I right?"
"Uh," Dennis was obviously caught off guards with all of the "celebrities" in his midst, "yeah, yeah, of course, but I don't have..."
"Oh, don't worry about the bill. The new management around here wants to make sure that everyone has access to good healthcare, maybe it's because the guy lived in Canada for a week. Just make sure you ask for Lisa Cuddy if you should receive a bill." Dennis began scribbling madly again in his notebook and gleaming with excitement. Was he really going to spend more time with this man? The experience was overwhelming. Addison, feeling safe in this room, without Dr. Howard or, at this point, Chase had begun to relax slightly and was beginning to investigate her surroundings. She padded over to window, barefoot, still chewing on her index finger and watched a couple smoking down below. House waited a moment, watching her and then strode to the door, yanking it open and shouting,
"Dr. Chase! Do you mind removing YOUR patient from MY exam room? There are actually people trying to get work done around here." Addison jumped and turned, face already panic stricken, she had been betrayed. In a matter of seconds, both Chase and Howard were in the door way both wearing relieved, yet frustrated looks on their faces.
"Addison," Chase breathed sternly, "come on we're going." He began to advance on her, on hand out stretched, the other in his pocket, fingers closed around a sedative. Dr. Howard was already sticking his head out of the door, asking for nurses assistance. Addy didn't move. She stood in front of the window, eyes fixed on Chase's, unblinking, she was staring him down.
"Addison," Chase's voice rose on the end, indicating he was being serious. "It won't be bad I promise." Addy's eyes didn't move. It was the first time both House and Chase had seen her like this. She was a wolf attempting to move from Omega. Her eyebrows were lowered and even though she bit her bottom lip nervously, her feet were planted and she wasn't going anywhere. It was her mother standing in front of her and as a tear rolled down her cheek she wouldn't let her mother win, not this time. Howard watched from the door, glancing at his watch and then impatiently back to Addison.
"Dr. Chase we are on a very strict time constraint, we have several other tests to conduct today after this one."
"And I need the MRI." House quipped, leaning on his cane, not taking his eyes from Addison.
"What?" Howard breathed.
"I need the MRI. I know this may seem like a shock to you Dr. Howard, but this hospital has other patients other than golden girl here." House broke his captivation of Addison only to say this and then went back to his "TV".
"Impossible Dr. House, we have it booked all day." Howard threw his hands on his hips after shoving his glasses harshly back up the bridge of his nose.
"My patient is in pain, it's annoying the crap out of him, much like HE is the rest of the world." There was a fake laugh from Dennis which made everyone jump.
"I'm sorry, it's going to have to wait." Dr. Howard addressed Dennis now. " A simple back pain, House? You don't need an MRI for that."
"A herinated disc in a twenty eight year old? Could be a tumor, or disc degeneration. How would I ever know without being able to utilize that very expensive, very important piece of machinery." Dennis licked his lips nervously.
"Could I really have all of those things?"
"Yes, you could." House swiveled on his heel. "You're spine's a ticking time bomb Donald."
"Dennis," both Howard and Dennis stated in unison.
"Ah, see? Even YOU, a cold heartless bastard, have started to invest interest in the time bomb." House quipped at Howard, who stood hands still on hips, beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow. Howard started hard at House, much like Addison stared at Chase and through gritted teeth finally breathed,
"After. You can have the MRI at two o'clock."
"Great! See how nice compromise is?" House turned back to the stand off by the window.
"Come on Addison, let's go." Howard yelled from the door. The sudden new sound caught Addison's eye and in that brief moment, Chase lashed out, gripping Addison's wrist. Addison instantly went into panic mode and pulled. She pulled so hard she was on the floor.
"Shhhh, you're okay. It's going to be okay." Chase gripped the sedative in his pocket tighter and lifted his hand out. Addison knew the way that felt. She had been stabbed before by the clear cylinder and the moment it emerged from Chase's pocket her foot shot out and kicked him hard in the wrist, causing the syringe to fly across the room.
"Addison, it's okay." Chase breathed, amazed and frustrated at the same time.
"We need some nurses in here now!" Howard yelled out the door and rushed forward, reaching down and hauling Addison from the floor. "Come on let's go." He muttered and holding Addy tightly around the waist began to drag her towards the door. Tears were streaking down Addison's face and she threw herself back and forth against Howard's grip, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was then, during the midst of all of the screaming and rushing around that Addison moved from Omega. It didn't come from staring Howard down, or from biting him. It didn't come from breaking free and bolting again. It came in the form of Addison's heel having a chance meeting with Howard's crotch. It was full force. House watched from the other side of the room, almost as if in slow motion. Addison's knee bent, her leg flew up and her foot came down with it. Howard buckled, his eyes bulged and House wondered if he even saw a small bit of mist fill Howard's left eye. Every man in the room gritted his teeth in almost solidarity, even House himself sensed mild sympathy pains. Howard released Addison, collapsing to the floor and nearly rolling into a ball right there in the middle of the exam room.
"What is going on in here?" Cuddy filled in the doorway, hand on forehead looking utterly confused. Addison bolted from the room into Cuddy's arms. "She's shaking." Cuddy held the girl tightly to her, hoping to make her feel safe. But then House broke the illusion as he casually limped forward and, pulling the right side of Addison's scrubs down, stabbed a sedative into her cheek. Everything went blurry. She had lost.