Story Title: Touch of Destiny
Chapter 21: Rules, Tests, and Realizations
Chapter summery: Fredrick starts his new job; House puts them to the test and finally realizes something about himself.
xXx
Disclaimer: Not mine, unless you don't recognize a character. Then it is mine, and you shouldn't take it. Such as….Dotty Myers, Kate Johnston, and Mark Fredrick are all mine.
AN: So I hope that this chapter meets all ya'lls expectations. And I hope that you like the new doctor. To be honest, I wasn't trying to make ya'll hate Kate. Oh well. There's one in every family…or in this case one in every fellowship…
Oh, and I now have an LJ site!
http:// miss-skittle . livejournal . com (no spaces)
I don't have any stories and such as of yet…but we're working on it. Any tips on how to have those nifty cool links for my stories/chapters….that would be helpful. I have no idea how to do that.
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Obsessedwithstabler: Lol. I can't count either. So I inspired you, did I? I can't wait to read it. And you will probably be dead after the next chapter of hide and seek. I hate you already for it.
Bellydancer: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think Mark Fredrick will work out. We'll see what House does to him….
LittleDragonfly23: I love inventing words. Haha! Thanks for the review!
Sweetgreuy: Lol! No, he won't. We'll have enough drama in the plot to come.
ShipperCrazed – FanFicCrazy: I think 21 pages on word is my max thus far. Whew. I'm glad you're liking it!
Dannielynn: Yes, yes you did. Thanks!
KyGirl03: Yeah, I actually didn't want to write out a whole dang trial. But, since Chase got off scott free….that leaves it open. MWAHAHA!
SilvaK: Glad you liked it! I try and make it funny, because I hate sad stuff…
whoKMH: She told him to apologize. House was being his stupid self and didn't really want to. As for his relationship with her mother, no, she really doesn't know the full extent of it. She will soon.
This-Family-Affair: I'm glad you like the new doc!
Emmy1512: I might throw some in…if that is the desire of the majority.
CameronSister: I'm glad you enjoyed it! That is a whole lot of reading for one day!
NM 42: Lol! I love it when people talk to me!
Boochan82: lol! Oops…I do frequently mistype many words, even names I make up spellings for… Thanks for pointing it out and thanks for the review! I love it when people love my writing!
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"Foreman, Johnston, here is your new co-worker." House pointed to Mark Fredrick before sauntering into his office. "Play nicely, now! No hazing allowed, except by me. Foreman, instruct the two new ducklings on my rules, will you?"
Foreman rolled his eyes. "Of course. It's what I do here, after all. I'm not a neurologist. I'm the headmaster of the school for brand new baby ducks."
"Just give them the rules, you whiner." House said with an annoyed expression as he disappeared from sight.
Foreman sighed before looking at the two newest doctors. The newest fellows in turn looked at the tall black man expectantly. Foreman hid an evil grin. This could prove to be quite interesting…
He began to write on the whiteboard, writing numbers 1-10 out on the board. "Rule number 1: Dr. Cameron is actually the goddess Aphrodite incarnate."
"She is?" House's voice could be heard through the glass. "She didn't tell me that!"
Foreman laughed. He couldn't help it with House and his eager sounding voice. "Oh she didn't? Guess she forgot that important bit of information. Rule number 2: Dr. Cameron only seems innocent. She is, in fact, quite the seductress. Just ask Dr. House."
"You're pushing it now, Foreskin! Give them the real rules." House ordered loudly. "As interesting as these rules could end up being…"
"Real rule number 1." Foreman interrupted with a small grin. "Dr. House is always right. Rule number 2: You are always wrong. Rule number 3: Don't question the first two rules. Rule number 4: Don't oogle Dr. Cameron."
"That is not an official rule!" House yelled from his office. "But we can always add on because if they do oogle Dr. Cameron, they'll be belching splinters for a month! Don't forget about my whiteboard, which you're lucky that I'm not beating you with my cane, Foreman."
"Rule number 5: Only House can use the whiteboard. Rule number 6: If you have to seek counseling due to this job, see Dr. Cuddy about the payment. There is a whole fund set aside for that."
"I didn't know that!" House hollered. "Why'd she do that?"
"Think about it for a minute!" Foreman hollered back before continuing the list. "Rule number 7: the moment that you accepted this job is the moment that you forfeited your right to a private life. Believe me, we found out the hard way. Rule number 8: Prepare to be unethical. Rule number 9: if the patient isn't interesting, we won't take it. And rule number 10: prepare to be mocked continually and frequently, usually with no preemptive action on the mock-ees part."
"Don't forget about the coffee!"
Foreman rolled his eyes again. "Number 11: if you screw up the coffee, House will berate you for the rest of eternity and you will be banned from the coffee maker. Either that or he will tie it to your feet and you will have a very abrupt meeting with Davy Jones."
House walked back into the main room. "Very good, Foreman. Now, students, write all this down. There will be a test tomorrow."
"What?" Kate seemed genuinely shocked. "A test? That's not fair!"
Mark rolled his eyes. "He's not serious."
"That's what you think." Foreman muttered with a hidden grin.
"He's serious?" Mark asked hesitantly.
"Rule number 12: Everybody lies." House scrawled the rule underneath everything else and smirked evilly. "I just said that to see your reactions. Nice to see that it takes more to set off Fed-ex here's gullibility than the Jackson the ditz."
Kate opened her mouth to defend herself but shut it again, settling instead for glaring at House.
"And she's slowly learning!" House mocked applauded and turned to Foreman. "Now, my last smart duckling, why don't you tell us about our next case?"
Before he could begin, Cameron poked her head in. "Greg, I need to…Oh, did you hire someone to replace Chase?"
"Yes. Twiddle-dumb is replaced here with a more intelligent life-form, though he has yet to prove himself as such."
"All in due time, Dr. House." Was all Mark said.
Cameron hmmmed in approval. He didn't seem to be too cocky or an idiot, which was a nice change from Chase who had been far to into himself to be healthy.
"Hmmm, this seems interesting, something I'd love to take part in. Too bad I don't work here anymore." She turned to leave but was halted when House chucked his oversized tennis ball at her back.
He gave her a faux innocent look and pointed to the whiteboard with his cane. "I give you permission to write the symptoms on my board, girly 'g's' and all."
"I do start taking on patients today, Greg." She rolled her eyes and read the list. "How about rule 13: it is okay to hire on strictly a looks basis."
"Of course it….wait!" House pointed at her, smiled, and said in a gossipy-teenage voice. "You just said that because…oh you! You almost got me there."
"I thought I already had you, Greg." She said innocently and walked over to the board. Ignoring the shocked looks of the two new fellows, she picked up and proceeded to use House's precious pens after erasing Foreman's rules.
"Aphrodite? I'm flattered, Foreman. And, please. No oogling me?" She questioned with an eye roll. "Kind of hard to avoid if I'm Aphrodite. I guess you break that one everyday, Greg." Before he could reply, she continued. "Okay, symptoms are…" She paused as she finished the list with a flourish before reading it with a slight frown.
"Man had brain cancer and having it removed rendered him brain dead 8 years ago. Is in constant pain due to leg muscles atrophying. Rolled himself into a pool in an attempt to kill himself." She grinned inwardly and turned to House. "Are you serious?"
He nodded slightly and winked at her subtly before heading into his office. "Foreman, follow me! Johnston, Fredrick, you have three hours. Here is the patient history." He pulled a box from under the table and dumped it onto the table. "Use only what's in here to diagnose the kid. Have fun!"
The two he mentioned glanced at each other worriedly. "I've been here for five minutes and he's already putting me to the test? These aren't…symptoms! They're…they're a description!" Mark asked, confused and flustered.
Kate sighed with a shake of her head, moving towards the coffee pot. "Get used to it. It only gets worse from here, or at least I'm assuming. You can make coffee, right?" She asked before she poured a cup.
House poked his head out of the door and pushed the record button. "I am both timing and recording you. Work!" He told them before locking the door and closing the blinds.
"You are seriously giving them a case we had two years ago?" Cameron spoke in hushed tones, staring at him with a gleeful grin on her face.
House shrugged his grin matching hers. "Why not? I did it to you guys."
Foreman sighed and Cameron laughed. He did have a point. He had given them false cases plenty of times to keep them on their toes.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Foreman questioned.
House looked up, pretending to think. "Play dumb, if it's possible for you to." He said with a raise of the eyebrows before heading back into the diagnostics room, Foreman and Cameron close behind.
"Was that a complement?" Foreman stage-whispered to Cameron.
"I'd take it as one." She whispered loudly back. They shared a grin before focusing again on House.
"I'll give you a hint." House announced to the confused pair. When he had their attention, he added unhelpfully. "Think abnormal. Very abnormal."
"Thank you." Mark said dryly. "That helps a lot."
"It should." Cameron muttered with a wry grin at House. "Let me know if they solve it. I'm going back to my office to finish paperwork."
"I know what to do for the leg pain." Mark spoke up before Allison could disappear.
"And what is that?" She asked.
"Tendon surgery. Extending the tendons will make him more comfortable."
"Good." House said approvingly. "Keep going, there's more."
"More?" Kate echoed in confusion. "He's a brain-dead man! There is nothing more that can be done for him!"
"I think that I'll join you, Cameron. Maybe there is something that I can do to help." Foreman offered with a glance at House who was currently glaring at Kate.
House eyed Foreman for a long moment before nodding. "Be my guest. You'd give away all the answers anyway." He pulled out his gameboy and turned it on, kicking his feet up and relaxing. "You have two hours and 50 minutes remaining." He announced without glancing at the two new doctors. "Johnston, you're an idiot. You might want to look in to that."
She rolled her eyes again and flipped through the man's medical chart once more.
"There's way too much information here to remember it all." She groaned.
"I have an idea." Mark mused. "Dr. House, if I may use the glass between your office and the conference room?"
House gave a nod without looking up. "Be my guest. Another point for Fredrick's intelligence. Again, Johnston. Start trying to fix your idiocy. Start using your mind, if you even have one."
Mark grabbed a marker and wrote out 1998. "Okay, let's go over everything. Anything that could be relevant, we write down."
"But that is going to take hours!" Kate protested.
"Then we'd better get started." Mark said calmly. When she didn't move, he groaned. "You got a better idea?" When she didn't respond, he nodded. "Start reading from the beginning."
The pair spent two hours on the list of symptoms going over symptoms out loud after Mark wrote them down on the glass before Mark suddenly gave a yelp and dove for the bookshelf, yanking off one and flipping through it.
"Ah ha!" He said excitedly. "There! Addison's disease!"
He pointed to the words Addison's disease and Kate just rolled her eyes at him.
House looked up from his game, intrigued. "Explain please, Fredrick, how Addison's is an explanation for this case."
"It fits if you take in the fact that from his patient file you learn that he had a brain tumor removed 8 years prior to driving his wheelchair into their pool. The circumventricular system senses cytokines released in the early stages of the immune response, but CVOS releases prostaglandins that reset the hypothalamic set point upward unless it's countered by antipyretic therapy." At Kate's blank look, he explained further. "His brain is on fire. Literally, it's on fire. The suicide attempt was actually not a suicide attempt in the slightest. He drove his wheelchair into the pool because he couldn't regulate his body temperature and he was overheating. He had a hypothalamic dysregulation."
"But fixing hypothalamic dysregulation won't regenerate brain cells." House leaned back to see what his newest doctor would do. "How would fixing his dysregulation help him?"
"Ah, but if the scar tissue on his hypothalamus just happens to be resting against the pituitary gland, the adrenals would shut down, causing his apparent brain damage. Ergo, minimal brain damage. It's Addison's disease."
"No scar tissue on his MRI or CT scans. Addison's is presented with scar tissue that is apparent on both." House was enjoying this and was eagerly waiting for his answer.
"Judging from the file and the different tests already done, his brain is functional, and even though his temperature is normal and there appears to be nothing wrong with his hypothalamus or his pituitary, nothing is conclusive. The scans could be off and with a simple shot of cortisone he'll walk and talk again. If it isn't Addison's, then there is nothing more that any of us can do for him anyway. The cortisone won't harm him in anyway. Either way, we have nothing to lose."
House stared at him in shock, though through his carefully school features he gave none of his surprise away, instead keeping the same almost stern look on his face. The new doctor had done exactly what he had done and had come to the same conclusions without having to stand in a fountain before banging on Cuddy's door at 11 o'clock at night. "Good work. You get an A+. Your patient, after being injected with the cortisone and with the proper therapy and heaps of Viagra, was able to have sex with his wife once more."
"Wait." Kate said suspiciously. "You mean that this was all fake?"
"No." House said, offended. "I would never give a fake patient. It's also not what I said. We cured him over a year ago." He pushed stop on the recorder and removed the tape, marking it as evidence that I'm always right and put a sticky note on it with Cuddy's name.
Mark refrained from rolling his eyes. "Besides, if you took a look at the date in which the file was created, you would've known that it wasn't recent." He muttered ignoring the glare Kate sent his way.
"Don't worry, little one. You'll learn soon enough." House said in a patronizing tone, patting her on the head as if she were a small child that didn't understand why the leaves turn brown and fall off the trees. He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her glare shot now in his direction.
"Keep making that face and it'll stick." Wilson warned as he walked into the office. "I'm looking for Allison. I'm still wanting to give her a somewhat of a farewell bash this afternoon."
"She is in her office."
Wilson frowned. "She wasn't just now."
"Huh. Maybe she found out about your dastardly plan and is hiding from your insane ideas." House mused. "Where would she go?"
A beat, then the pair said in unison. "Lunch."
"I think that it's time for a break." House said with a finger in the air. "I am going to lunch."
"What about us?" Kate made the unfortunate mistake to question her boss and sighed when he tossed her his lab coat.
"You can be me in the clinic. Fredrick, you can frolic around the hospital and make yourself useful. I'm going to lunch to find my beautiful damsel. Let's hope she's not in distress. I'm really not into the whole rescue thing."
Wilson laughed and they disappeared down the hall.
Kate grumbled the entire way to the clinic.
Mark donned his own lab coat and headed towards the ER. He almost missed working there. Maybe they could use an extra hand.
xXx
Much to House's disappointment, Allison wasn't in the cafeteria. Though he did find Brenda sitting down at a table with an empty seat across from her. Leaving Wilson in line, he darted over to the empty seat and plopped himself down. "So, Brenda. How is your day going?"
"What do you need, House?" She asked tiredly. "I'm really not in a giving mood so it had better not be pointless."
"Why Brenda, I'm hurt." He said in a wounded tone. "I just wanted to know if you've seen Dr. Cameron."
"Clinic, last time I saw her. But that was about two hours ago. I'm unsure if she is still there."
"Thank-you." House got up as abruptly as he sat down, leaving Brenda stunned.
Did he just thank me? Brenda was sure the world was coming to an end. With an amused smile, she started to eat. For the first time since she had known him, House had managed to make her day a bit more bearable.
"So, any luck, Sherlock?" Wilson had held House's spot and handed him his reuben. "No pickles, I checked."
"Thank god." House grumbled. "They'll do it right when you order it. And no, Brenda had no idea where Allison was."
They reached the register and before Wilson could pull out his wallet, House threw down a 10 dollar bill and stalked off towards a table that was as far away from people as he could get. Wilson stared after him before picking up his food and darting off after his friend.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" House warbled over a bite of reuben, staring at Wilson over said sandwich.
"You…you paid for your food. And mine!" Wilson was in shock.
House scrunched his face up. "And you're complaining…why?"
"You never pay!"
"Fine, you can pay me back." House grumbled, taking another bite of food. He grinned at the look on Wilson's face. He loved it when he could render a normally blabby man speechless.
Wilson had just taken a bite of his salad when both men's pagers went off.
House was the first one to take a look at his. "Emergency…my office. Cuddy. The evil one needs to see me."
"You too?" Wilson wasn't surprised. "Guess we should head over there."
"Well, I guess we should ignore her until we finish eating." House took another bite and settled back into his chair.
Wilson froze halfway to a standing position. "Why aren't you getting up?"
House shrugged. "What's the point? It's more than likely someone trying to sue me, and they somehow want you too."
"Right. You getting sued is an emergency." Wilson wasn't convinced. He sat back down and took another bite of his salad. "I'm using a hostage situation as my excuse."
"Good idea." House agreed, his tone becoming mocking. "Lisa, darling. The big mean House forced me to stay seated to eat my horridly girly salad. He just wouldn't stand up and I can't be the only one to listen to you, oh master of the bedroom."
Wilson opened his mouth to retort but another voice interrupted him.
"What part of emergency didn't make sense to either of you?"
House glanced up to see Cameron standing at the table in her classic clench pose. "Hmm, that solves the mystery of the disappearing girlfriend." He muttered with a slight glare at Allison which soon was replaced with a mock frantic look. "Allie, darling. Meany-head Wilson just wouldn't let me leave. He kept me mesmerized with each bite of his girly salad. It was like he planned on eating it today just to put me into a trance that I couldn't break out of so I'd miss work!"
"Right." Allison said with an amused look on her face. "Cuddy needs both of you right now. She has a case that will interest both of you."
"If that's all it is, then why…"
"Because she figured that if she put it into the form of an emergency, you might actually go down there in a timely fashion." She interrupted him, a smile gracing her features. "I tried to tell her that it wouldn't work."
Wilson shoved the last part of his salad into his mouth and stood up with his tray, grinning when Cameron quickly sat down in his spot. "C'mon, House. Let's go."
"Okay, okay. Fine." He muttered, shoving the last part of his reuben into his mouth. He chucked the wrapping onto Wilson's tray and leaned back, smiling gently at Allison.
She returned the smile and started to stand.
"Hey, where are you going?" House asked in an almost pleading tone
She sat back down and sighed. "I have just a few more papers to fill out so I can start taking patients. I want to get those done. You just go and find out what Cuddy has for you."
"Okay." He looked downright miserable at the thought of going the rest of the day with the 10 minutes this morning and the five minutes now being his only time to spend with her.
She read his look for what it was. "It'll calm down in a couple of days. I promise well see more of each other in a couple of days."
He gave her a sad little smile at the look of regret in her eyes and followed Wilson out the door.
She sighed again and headed back to her office, her mind wrapped around how sad he seemed right before they parted ways.
xXx
"So Dr. Scratchandsniff, what is this amazing case?" House wasted no time in asking as he and Wilson walked into Cuddy's office.
"You watch Animaniacs?" Cuddy asked, amazed.
"Of course I do. I'm just amused that you do, too." House laughed evilly at the look of frustration on her face. "And my job here is complete. Now, Cuddles, what do you have for us?"
"15 year old girl comes into the clinic with an apparent head cold."
"Bully for her. Boring." House groused.
"It's not a cold." Cuddy handed out the folder. "A head cold doesn't present itself with a rash with purple mucus."
House stared at the Polaroid picture before fixing his stare on Cuddy, a half smile quirking up one corner of his mouth.
"You're making this up."
She grinned. "Actually I am. I used a sharpie to make the mucus purple. The real case is here." She handed him another folder and he made a face at her as he took the folder.
"She's still a 15 year old girl that comes into the clinic with an apparent head cold." He said accusingly with a pointed look at his boss.
"Well, that part was real. The purple mucus wasn't." She pointed to the list of symptoms. "Her mom said that she's been losing weight, rapidly losing it, as well as a report from her teachers that she is sleeping through her classes."
"She's a teenager." House scoffed. "Of course she's losing weight! She's probably anorexic or something. As for sleeping, what high school student doesn't sleep through class?"
"I never did." Wilson piped up from his spot next to House.
"And that doesn't count if you're goody two shoes, which it just so happens that you are." House said impatiently before turning his attention back to Cuddy. "Where does this actually get interesting?"
"Her dad is a donor to the hospital. You're taking the case."
"Ah." House sighed resignedly. "Any chance of me not having to take it if I argue with you?"
"Not a spinsters chance in hell, House."
"Hmph." He grumbled, storming out of the office, leaving behind the oncologist who was slightly confused.
"Excuse me, Lisa, but why was I called here as well?" He asked.
She smiled at him, a light laugh escaping. "To insure that he would come. And it worked…to an extent."
"Ah." He smiled back at her. "Good enough reason for me."
He turned to leave but paused. Turning back, he hesitated before he spoke. "Are…you doing anything this weekend?"
She looked almost surprised at the question. "No, nothing. Why?"
He scratched his head. "Well, it's just that I read about a carnival in town on Sunday and I figured that you needed a break and do something completely random and I'll understand if you say no simply because it is a rather immature…" His words froze when she placed a finger on his lips.
"You're rambling. Of course I'll go with you. A break from the hospital would be lovely."
"Great!" His grin lit up the room and he turned to go again. "I'll pick you up at 8 on Sunday morning."
"Okay." She said with a smile as he left her office. She started to sort through the papers on her desk before she realized what she had just done.
I'm going on a date with James Wilson this weekend. Is it a date? Or is it just as friends? Or does he just feel alone since House is now dating Allison and doesn't have as much time for him?
She groaned and dropped her head onto her hands. She was liable to get a headache if she thought about this too much. Time would reveal if it were indeed a date and she was determined to let this take its course, no matter how hard it might be to do so.
xXx
"New case." House dumped the folder onto the table and picked up his pen. "Symptoms are as follows: 15 year old girl who comes into the clinic with a head cold that isn't a head cold. Mom claims that she's been rapidly losing weight and has a report from her teachers that she is sleeping through her classes."
"What teenager doesn't sleep through classes?" Foreman muttered as he grabbed the folder up to read it.
"That's what I said!" House rolled his eyes skyward. "Maybe she'll listen to you if you say it."
"And what teenage girl isn't losing weight rapidly?" The neurologist added skeptically. "Aren't most of them anorexic or bulimic and obsessed with losing weight?"
"No." Kate said adamantly. "Not all girls are obsessed with that. Besides, she's a dancer. She doesn't need to lose weight."
"Hmm?" House questioned with a hum. "Gimme." He snatched the folder back and grunted. "Go get a patient history. More complete than this piece of crap." He threw the folder back at Kate and pointed towards the door. "Go forth, Johnstown. Just don't get comfy in there. This isn't the east coast."
She glared at him for the mockery of her name. "That's Jamestown, Dr. House." She corrected before leaving the department.
"Tomae-to, tomah-to." He said flippantly. "Now, as for you two…" House rubbed his hands gleefully together. "Fuddruckers, you can look up any and all possibilities for these meager symptoms. And no making any up symptoms!"
Mark nodded and settled himself in front of the book case, his laptop sitting next to him on the floor. "This should only take…oh, three days?" He said sarcastically.
"Then you'd better get started, hadn't you?" He said more than asked before turning to the remaining original duckling. "Freemason, you can go be me in the clinic unless you want to do some lab work."
Foreman gave him an annoyed look. "I'll go do lab work."
House nodded. "Great. Nice to meet you, Dr. House." He pointed in the direction of the clinic.
The black man just shook his head, his eyes rolling skyward. "I can't win, can I?"
House gave a small smirk. "Nope. Now go forth and heal people. I'm going to inform the little cat that she's doing the lab work as well."
"I thought you didn't trust her."
"I don't. Therefore, be prepared to be relieved from clinic."
"I'll be waiting in eager anticipation." Foreman said dryly.
"Hey, only Allison is supposed to be waiting for me eagerly!" House protested. "Don't try to hone in on my action, homeboy!"
"You're paranoid, House." Foreman groaned as he left for the clinic.
"You're just saying that because I'm white!" House cried after him, his indignant tone echoing through the hall. "Racist!"
House refrained from smirking at the faces on the two nurses who just happened to be walking down the hall at the time. It was about time a new rumor circulated the mill.
xXx
House was whistling a nonsensical tune as he sauntered down towards the patient's room. He was very pleased with his choices of new fellows, despite Kate Johnston's audacity and blatant dislike of her new boss. Mark Fredrick was already proving to be a wise choice and would quickly develop into a fine doctor. Johnston would need to have her attitude vastly adjusted but she had the makings of a good doctor hiding just under the surface. House grinned inwardly at the thought of knocking her down a couple of notches.
He turned the corner and slid open the patient room door to see the girl frantically trying to get away from Kate. The young doctor was holding a needle, trying to draw blood. The patient was shrieking so loudly that House winced at the shrillness of it.
With a groan of annoyance, he grabbed a syringe of a sedative and limped over to the flailing girl. Popping off the cap with his teeth, he grabbed the IV line and watched as the girl slowly calmed down into a medicated sleep.
"What the hell are you trying to do?" House accused.
"She freaked out!" Kate tried to defend herself. "I told her that I was going to draw some blood and when she saw the needle, she freaked!"
"Blood can be drawn only by a doctor or by an authorized person who has been trained in the procedure." House snapped angrily, snatching the syringe out of Kate's hand. "Go do something safe, like my clinic hours. Tell Foreman to get his black ass up here."
Kate appeared properly chastised and left the room quickly, House's angry glare following her until she disappeared out of the room. No sooner had Kate left then the girls' parent's rushed in. "Rachel?" The mom looked at House in fear. "Is she dead?"
The husband rolled his eyes. "Laura, she's asleep."
House nodded in affirmation. "She freaked out when a doctor went to draw her blood so we had to sedate her."
"Oh my god." The mom, Laura, started to cry. "What's wrong with my baby?"
House barely refrained from screaming in frustration. This was precisely why he didn't deal with parents. Apparently, her husband had the same thought.
"Calm down and let the doctors do their job, Laura."
"Lance, don't tell me how to feel!" The woman yelled at her husband. "I'll feel horrible that my daughter is sick because I love her! Don't tell me to do otherwise."
The husband, Lance, threw House an apologetic look.
House ignored the look and rolled his eyes upward. "Someone will be in to draw her blood."
"Who are you, then?" Lance asked suspiciously.
House gave him a humorless grin and waved the cane in the air. "I'm the crippled doctor that is in charge of your daughter's life."
He loved causing that look of pure and utter shock on patent family's faces.
xXx
Foreman had just finished telling a mother that her baby was not dying when Kate found him.
"Dr. Foreman, Dr House wants you to take care of the patient." Kate sounded depressed at the thought and Foreman refrained from grinning.
"Thank you. You can take over here for me." He left Kate standing at the door with her gaze on the patient information for the mother and baby sitting in front of her.
Foreman knew that she would come to relieve him because he knew that House didn't particularly like the new female doctor.
His footsteps echoed through the strangely quiet halls as he walked to the patient's room. As he grew closer, he could hear the soft sobs of a woman and the low rumblings of a man comforting her. With a mental bracing for the emotions about to come, he plowed forward towards the room, one goal in mind: draw the blood and get out. However, he should have learned after all these years from working with House that life hardly ever goes the way you wish.
The moment he made his presence known, Foreman knew instinctively that he wouldn't be leaving without mass hysteria. The mother was instantly by his side with questions about her daughter and instructions on exactly how he should be doing a job that he had been doing for longer than she had been the mother of a teenaged dancer.
He forced himself to remain civil as he somehow managed to make it to the girl's (Rachel?) bedside to draw the much needed blood for the tests, though somehow, he automatically knew that he'd be making another visit to the room for a spinal tap, a biopsy, an MRI, or more blood. It's how they worked.
"What can you tell me about Rachel's condition?" At least the father sounded grounded in reality, while in stark contrast the mother seemed to focus only on making Foreman's job impossible.
"All that we know is that she's sick." Foreman said wearily, holding up the three vials of blood. "However, with this, we hope to either find out what she has or to eliminate possibilities until we can deduce what she does have."
The father looked confused at what Foreman said. "In other words, you don't know."
Foreman gave a wry grin. "Exactly."
The mother gave him an angry look. "We brought her here so you could fix her, not so you could 'deduce' what was wrong with her."
"Ma'am, that's what we do." Foreman said, his patience waning quickly. "No one here, not even Dr. House, can look at a case such as this and automatically know what is wrong."
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.
"You mean to say that it's something unknown?" The mother was sounding hysterical again.
Foreman groaned inwardly. "What I mean to say is that we are unsure what is wrong with her. We got her case 20 minutes ago. We aren't God. We're doctors. If you wanted an immediate diagnosis, you should have brought her directly to the throne of God."
The looks on the parent's told Foreman that they weren't amused with his snide remarks but Foreman could really care less. He needed to get to the lab with these samples before they were worthless. "We'll talk later, sir, ma'am." He nodded cordially to the pair and strode quickly to the lab, leaving behind the parent's who were unsure how to react to the black doctor.
Somehow, Foreman knew that the blood tests would tell them nothing.
xXx
"You can stop looking." House announced to Mark Fredrick as he and Foreman strode into the diagnostics department. "I need you to do something more…productive."
Mark glanced up from the book with relief. "Thank god. What is it?"
House gave an evil grin. "Breaking and entering."
"What?" He sounded flabbergasted.
House rolled his eyes and held out a key. "Go check out for anything environmental or anything interesting at their house. Foreman has the directions."
While the pair left the room, House hollered after them. "Don't come back unless you have something that'll interest me and pick up Johnston as you leave!"
The moment the pair disappeared, he pulled up his email, re-reading a strange email from Allison's mother.
Don't be afraid of change.
He was confused by the one line she had sent. It was probably both the simplest and the most complicated email he had ever received.
Don't be afraid of change.
He frowned deeply as he thought about the cryptic line.
Don't be afraid of change. Why would she send that to me? How would she know about my inward struggle?
He sighed at the ding of his watch signaling 6:00.
Allison will be leaving soon.
House watched through his window as, true to form, Allison left the hospital at precisely 6. She hadn't even stopped to say good bye, though he could reluctantly understand why. While she hadn't received any patients today, he and his team were busy working on their patient who was ill with what both he and Foreman suspected to be amyloidosis, though it was probable that he could be wrong. Probable, but not possible. Greg House was never wrong.
Except for recently.
More specifically, about one recently thought through idea.
For all his thoughts about never needing anything or anyone, he was on his way to being unable to function without seeing her constantly.
Yes, he realized that he was involved in a case.
Yes, he was deeply aware of the fact that he was cranky when he was disturbed in the middle of a differential, something in which he knew she was fully attentive to.
But that didn't mean he didn't want her to interrupt his differentials to kiss him and say good bye.
He would let her interrupt.
He wanted her to interrupt.
He would let her present her ideas about the case because he wanted to hear her thoughts.
He wouldn't shoot down her ideas about the case with the harsh sarcasm he usually used because her input was important to him.
He needed her opinion about the case.
He missed hearing her voice during the differentials.
He ached to hear her ideas and call his new fellows idiots along side with him and Foreman. Though Foreman had yet to call his new co-workers idiots, House could read it in his eyes.
He longed to see her smile when she finally figured out the puzzle.
He thought about when he was sick earlier in the week. He was loath to admit it, and he'd shoot himself before he said it out loud to anyone aside her, but he had enjoyed her attention. It was the first time since he was a small child that he had felt that someone truly cared about how he felt.
He wanted that feeling again.
He wanted to reciprocate that feeling in her. He wanted to make her feel cared about, loved, desired.
He wanted…no.
He desired her and her alone.
He needed her to know that.
He needed her to understand how much he desired her.
He longed for her to know how much he was beginning to depend on her strength and love.
It wasn't like she would be waiting at home for him where he could kiss her and love her and cook dinner for her or with her and just be with her.
His heart felt heavy at that last thought and he realized that regardless of how she might answer the question, he needed to ask it. Screw the possibility of rejection. It was time to act on what he wanted for once without thinking about all that could go wrong.
He frowned and looked at his watch. It would take her 15 minutes to get home. He could be patient until then. No use in causing his girlfriend to have a car accident simply because he wanted to talk to her about something that would only change their lives forever.
xXx
Cameron had only been home for 30 seconds before the phone rang. She groaned and picked up the receiver. "Hello?" She said tiredly, not bothering to look at the caller ID.
"Move in with me."
"Hello Greg. Thank you for asking how my day went. It went just splendidly." She said sarcastically before what he said sunk in. "Wait, what?"
"I miss you. Move in with me."
"Are you serious?"
"As death."
"That's more than a little morbid."
"It is my middle name."
"I thought your middle name was Daniel, or more specifically, Daniel-the-Bastard?"
"It is Daniel-the-MORBID-Bastard."
"Ahh, it all makes perfect sense now."
There was a lengthy pause before House broke the silence. "So…whaddya say?"
She smiled even though he couldn't see her. "We need to talk about this first, Greg. I'll come over in a bit."
"Goodie!" He mock squealed.
"No sex, Greg. We need to actually talk about this." She admonished firmly.
"Did I say anything about sex? I was excited about painting toenails and doing each other's hair." He said sarcastically. "Besides, what's there to talk about?" He demanded, his mood somewhat deflated. "I ask you to move in, and you answer with a 'Yes, Greg.' It's that simple."
She laughed. "It's not that simple. I just don't want you to regret asking me come tomorrow morning."
"When is the weekend?"
She frowned at his change of topic. "Tomorrow's Friday, so…."
"Good." He interrupted. "There'll be a moving truck there Sunday. You have all day Saturday to pack, and tomorrow too, if I can get Cuddy to let you off."
"What?"
"I can help if you want me to. I'm not sure how much help I can actually be, but…I can try." He sounded sincere.
He really does want me to move in. She grinned at the thought.
"Yes, Greg."
"Huh?"
"You said all I have to answer with is a 'yes, Greg' so there it is. Yes, Greg."
"Really?" He sounded stunned.
"Really. I'll see you tomorrow unless you call me before 8 to tell me that Cuddy's giving me the day off. I love you."
"I'll call." He promised. "Love you, too." They both hung up the phone and House slumped against the counter, a certain glad light in his eyes.
He wished that she could see the huge grin that beamed from his face. It was a good thing that there was no reason for Wilson to drop by tonight because it was going to be awhile for the glow to fade.
She hadn't said no.
She hadn't demanded that they get married.
She hadn't gotten all girly and screamed in his ear in a high-pitch giggle that most teenaged, high-school girls possess.
She was moving in. On Sunday.
They wouldn't be parted.
He'd be able to see her everyday.
He wouldn't have to long for her when she was away from his side.
He could desire her and she'd be right there for him to feast upon whenever he needed her.
Oh, happy day!
It never dawned on him that the feeling he was currently emitting usually accompanied engagement or marriage.
It never even entered his mind that their relationship would be cemented if he would only look past his previous experiences to realize that marriage to her would bring him the greatest happiness that he had only dreamed of, had never touched, had never fully imagined possible.
xXx
AN: Do you want to read about Wilson and Cuddy's outing to the carnival? I wasn't planning on writing it, but if you want it, I will.
I have about six pages of the next chapter written. Not as many as I had hoped…but I wanted this out sooner than later.