Chapter 21

Cameron, Chase, House and Foreman talked in the hallway as House leaned against his cane, thinking. Cora was seated at John's bedside and Buffy had disappeared.

"He's stable on the ventilator, oxygenating well." Chase informed them.

"The IVIG made him worse, which means multifocal motoneuropathy was the wrong diagnosis. So, what's really wrong with him?" House mused aloud but Foreman let out a disgusted sigh.

"What's wrong with you?" Foreman demanded at House.

"Everyone knows what's wrong with me. What's wrong with him is much more interesting." House deflected.

"You tubed him when he specifically ordered not to be tubed! He has a legal paper saying just that." Foreman argued heatedly.

"To intubate or not to intubate, that is the big ethical question. Actually, I was hoping we could avoid it, maybe just practice some medicine." House retorted.

"There is no question. It's the patient's decision–," Foreman began.

"-if the patient is competent to make it, if his thyroid numbers aren't making him depressed." House finished Foreman's thought.

"No way do you believe that caused it." Foreman denied, looking at House skeptically.

"His thyroid levels were a little–," Cameron spoke up but Foreman cut her off.

"Don't defend him."

Ignoring them both, House went on speaking, "Why did he sign that DNR? Because he didn't want a slow and painful death from ALS. What was happening to him had nothing to do with his ALS."

"Exactly! It's the IVIG, you screwed up! He's going to die because you screwed up!" Foreman exclaimed.

"Technically, your case. You screwed up. Is that what this is about? Looking bad in front of your old boss?" House asked dryly.

"You assaulted him." Foreman said quietly.

"Fine. I'll never do it again, are you happy now Dad?" House sighed.

"Yes you will," Foreman replied.

"All the more reason why this debate is pointless." House answered and Foreman shook his head and walked away. House turned back to his remaining fellows and started for his office, Chase and Cameron following behind.

"His lungs are worse. Any theories?" House prompted but Cameron looked behind her to see where Foreman went. "Oh, I'm sure he just went to the little boys' room. Come on, people."

"Uh, vasculitis?" Chase suggested after a moment.

"Hitting both lungs?" House objected.

"It could be Wegener's granulomatosis." Cameron offered next and they all stopped when a woman approached.

"Dr. House?" She asked and House looked at her in surprise.

"Cuddy sent me a stripper again? Ah, love that woman, she's just so thoughtful." House answered and the woman smirked.

"Sorry." She handed House a paper and left again. Not even bothering to look at it, House handed the paper to Cameron.

"There are case reports of Wegener's hitting both the legs and the spine." Chase continued while Cameron scanned the paper.

"It's not great, but it's better than ALS. At least it's treatable." House replied, nodding once.

"This a restraining order saying that you're not allowed within 50 feet of John Henry Giles, and they've asked the DA to file criminal charges for battery." Cameron stated and there was a moment of silence while Chase and Cameron looked at each other then at House.

"Cameron, test the blood for C-ANKA." House ordered her.

"These are criminal charges, House; they aren't going to let you take blood to make more tests." She objected, lifting the paper to show him.

"He has blood left in the lab; just add on the C-ANKA." House replied and looked at Chase. "Does Foreman still have you doing bronchioscopic suctioning for the pneumonia?"

"Every four hours," Chase answered.

"Good, while you're in his lungs, grab a biopsy to confirm Wegener's. Also, move the patient to the second floor ICU." House said and Chase blinked slowly in confusion.

"Why?" He asked.

"It's right above the clinic. I'm pretty sure it's 50 feet in any direction. It's nice having a court order saying you don't have to work clinic duty." House answered and went into his office and shut the door behind him.

Buffy glanced up from House's desk where she was typing up her notes on the report and watched him sprawl in his yellow chair, rubbing his leg absently.

"Do you have a problem with what I did too?" He asked her gruffly and she thought it over.

"I'll get back to you." She answered finally and he cracked a smile.

"Had any more episodes?" House asked and she shook her head no. "Seeing a therapist helps or so I've heard. Personally, I think it's a bunch of crap."

"You think psychology is crap or just the seeing a therapist part?" Buffy asked.

"Hmm tough one, I'm going to say C, both." House replied and swallowed a couple of Vicodin.

"Maybe, anyway I'm not going there." She answered.

"Why not?" He asked, studying her.

"Go and talk to a complete stranger about my personal life? I've already been locked up once, not into repeat performances thanks." She said and he steeped his fingertips, watching her closely.

"About that..." He began and she aimed a sharp glare at him.

"You already knew about that didn't you?" She accused and he smiled in reply. She sighed and went back to typing. "Go ahead; ask whatever it is I know you want to ask."

"Did you really see vampires?" He asked curtly and her fingers froze over the keyboard, her brain going slack in surprise.

"I plead the fifth." She evaded once her mind kicked back into gear.

"Why claim to see vampires and demons only to recant two weeks later?" He asked her, not missing the way she'd hesitated.

"I was a teenager; it's one of those things." She answered with a half shrug.

"Seeing vampires and burning down your school gym is just 'one of those things'?" House pressed, not buying a word of it.

"My parents were fighting; I wanted their attention to shift to something else. I didn't expect them to admit me to a psych ward." She said, giving him a half-truth instead of a fabricated lie. "When I couldn't handle being in there, I said it was nothing and they let me out."

"Obviously your brilliant plan failed because they still got divorced." House commented and she paused again to glare at him.

"Are you always an ass?" She said.

"Usually, haven't you noticed that before now?" He returned mildly and she made a face at him.

House watched her as she went back to typing, her bottom lip between her teeth as she studied the screen, her hair tucked behind one ear. She looked almost ethereal in the soft light of his computer screen, he was almost afraid to touch her.

"What would you have done?" He asked her and she shifted her gaze from the screen to meet his.

"About what?" She replied.

"Say someone you know wants a DNR because they're sick, would you disobey it to save their life or allow them to die?" He asked her and her head cocked to one side as she considered his question.

"Hmm, I don't know. I've got more experience with saving people's lives when they weren't aware of it, not when they asked me not to." She said finally and his eyes narrowed at her answer.

"Why do I think there's more than a grain of truth in that?" He commented and a ghost of a smile flashed across her face. "Okay, another scenario, same question. When Faith was in a coma, the doctors tell you that she had a DNR, would you honor it?"

Buffy forgot her reports entirely to stare at him, her breath catching in her throat. "How did you know about Faith's coma?"

House raised an eyebrow as if to remind her who exactly she was talking to but didn't say anything, waiting for her reply. She thought it over, picturing Faith lying still and pale in her hospital bed. The doctors had said there was a chance she wouldn't wake but she had. What would she have done?

"Faith and I weren't always close, she fell in with a bad crowd and when I tried to help her, we fought. She fell off a balcony and landed on a truck that was passing by. The doctors claimed she wouldn't wake, that her coma might be permanent." Buffy said quietly, reliving the memories and the battle.

"Pretty lively coma," House commented dryly and she smiled a little.

"Yeah well they were wrong. If she'd had a DNR I probably would have honored it. She and I are…" Buffy searched for the right word. "Special, and back then even though she wasn't the most approachable person and tried to kill me and my friends on more than one occasion, I think I would have respected her wishes."

"How'd you end up admitted the same night for blood loss, just a few rooms over?" House asked and she fought surprise again before she remembered that he'd been her doctor which meant that had been in her medical records.

"I got bit by an angry puppy." She lied and went back to her reports. He scoffed and leaned his head back until his phone rang. He looked over at her as she answered, and smiled at the uncertain expression on her face about answering his phone. She spoke into the receiver for a moment and then hung up.

"That was Cuddy, she wants to see you." She told him and he got to his feet, twirling his cane in a circle.

"Very nice, I'll grade you an A on answering the phones," He said as he walked over to her, in no rush to find out what Cuddy want. No doubt it was to lecture him about disobeying the DNR.

"Why thank you, boss." Buffy smiled at him and turned the chair to face him as he came closer. "What about the rest of the exam?" She asked, batting her lashes.

House gave her a thorough once over and smiled, "Hmm how about a B+?" He answered and she scrunched her nose in disappointment.

"Only a B+?" She asked and got to her feet, taking the one step that would bring her into his space. She let her gaze roam over his unshaved face to his half-smile, then brought her eyes up to meet and hold his own as he gave her the same treatment.

"You haven't finished the reports yet," he said in a gruff whisper and she stuck her lower lip out in a pout. His eyes fixed on that lip and he almost leaned down and kissed her but his beeper went off.

"Back to the real world, doctor." She said and she let her hand rest on his arm, just above the elbow. He smiled and walked away, breaking the intense mood and he felt a small grin of triumph when she let out a shaky breath behind him. Whistling under his breath, he went off to find Cuddy, in a better mood now that he'd gotten some idea into the Buffy mystery and that he didn't have to do Clinic duty.