This is still day nine of the story, date is uncertain, but I think we are about a week behind from real time, so I think the date is probably December 18th. House's parents ought to be around for a little over a week still. I may jump a day or two later but I will make a note of it if I do.
Thank you for the reviews and keep asking questions if I have not explained something to your satisfaction.
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"Right then, Brenda," House smiled widely at the nurse. "Who is my first victim?"
"You mean patient?" Brenda tried to emphasise in the vain hope of reminding House that he was about to deal with sick people who actually might deserve some compassion and care.
"Patient, victim, tomahto, tomayto" House shrugged. "Same difference. Just give the file to ... Soo, yes, that was it, and we'll get started."
"Why her?" Brenda found it quite odd that House was being followed by a medical student. He had to be up to something, and that probably boded ill for the poor student. "Why do you suddenly have a medical student with you?"
"Oh, this is ..." House pretended to forget her name again, and Soo told it to him, again, with resignation – she had been right, she was already wishing she had never been named at all. "Right, Soo Park, she is with me today to get acquainted with the wonderful world of charting."
"You never chart," Brenda pointed out.
"Is that any reason to assume I cannot teach it to somebody else?" House wondered.
"Fine," Brenda said rifling through her pile of files. "If he gets too impossible, come tell me and we'll see what can be done about it," she told Soo.
"I will," Soo reassured Brenda, but she didn't meet Brenda's eyes. House smiled gleefully.
"Oh, I'm sure she will be happy to run to you the moment the big, bad doctor gets too impossible, won't you, Soo?"
Before Soo could say anything though, there was a commotion at the door. Four people, three adults and a child about five years of age, barged in. Or actually two of them barged in; the young lady carrying the child was tagging along with some reluctance.
"We need a doctor immediately," the first woman said. House estimated her to be in her late twenties, probably an accountant very career driven and married to the equally obnoxious young VP of one of Daddy's companies that was standing next to him. House wasn't quite sure if the Daddy was hers or his, probably his. "Our Nanny is abusing our child."
House looked at the Nanny in question with some astonishment. She didn't look the type, and the child certainly was resting his head quite happily against her shoulder as she was carrying him.
"And what makes you think he is abused?" Brenda asked, not sounding very convinced either.
"Look, at that bruise!" The mother – presumably she was the mother – turned towards the child and seeing that the Nanny was hanging back, ordered: "Come closer! See right there, on the chin." The mother pointed at a red mark on the child's chin.
"It's a rash," the Nanny said. "He does need a doctor, but not to confirm abuse but to find out why he has a rash and why he has been vomiting since early this morning."
"You are in no position to tell us anymore what our child needs," the man found his voice and admonished the Nanny. House decided that these two were perfect candidates for his first victims today. So he intervened.
"Enough!" He stated firmly. "Stop yelling, there are sick people in here." He limped over to the child and took a brief look at his chin. "Right, Soo, take this child and sit somewhere with him while we sort out these so called adults. Tell him a story of whatever, but make sure he can still see his Nanny." Soo was a little puzzled, but did as she was told. She took the boy to the seats and sat down with him on her lap. House went after the parents.
"So, you believe your Nanny is abusing your child?" House asked, at the affirmative answers from the parents he went on: "And you are sure you have the right child with you?" The couple looked at him astonished then they quickly looked at the Nanny and then turned back to House with indignation.
"Of course we have the right child with us!" the mother insisted. "Do you really thing we wouldn't know our own child?"
"Well, you are her mother," House started, at which point the Nanny immediately intervened and corrected him: "HIS mother, he is a boy." House nodded in thanks. "As I said you are the mother, but I seriously doubt you could pick up your son in a line up."
"That is so not true!" the mother huffed.
"No? Just now, when I asked if you had the right child with you, you did not look at him. You checked the Nanny, trusting that if you have the right Nanny, you must automatically also have the right child. Then when I got the gender wrong, it was the Nanny who immediately and automatically corrected me, not you. I bet you don't even remember half the time if you have a boy or a girl. If only you had named him something gender specific; that might have helped."
"How do you know his name," the Nanny asked intrigued, "I don't remember having seen you before."
"Just guessing," House admitted. "But these two look like the sort of idiots who would name their son something like Sid or Kelsey. Probably not Sid, that sounds a little too plebeian to appeal to them, Kelsey would be my guess."
"Kelsey Harrison," Brenda said, giving him a file. "I remember him from previous visits."
"Show off!" House flipped at her with a devilish glint in his eye.
"Me?" Brenda glared at him. "I have at least seen him before. I'm not the one pulling names out of a hat like rabbits."
"Hello!" Mr. Harrison got impatient at being ignored. "We are the parents, here. Now is Kelsey going to get to a doctor or not?"
"Exam room three?" House asked Brenda, who nodded. "Soo! Room three. You," he pointed his finger at the Nanny, "follow her. You two," again the finger pointed, now at the parents. "Shut up and sit down. I will come back once I've seen your son, and you better be right there or I will be the one who calls child protective services. And I will not be turning in the Nanny but you two; for gross negligence."
"You cannot do that!" Mrs. Harrison sounded horrified. "What would our friends say?"
"I want to see the head of this hospital!" Mr. Harrison demanded. "You cannot speak to me like that."
"Dr. Cuddy is unavailable right now," Nurse Brenda informed them and then went on: "Besides, she has better things to do with her time than to deal with idiots."
The Harrisons looked stunned and House turned to Brenda with admiration: "Brenda! I think you got it! By God, I think you really got it!"
"And you, shut up and go see your patient," Brenda told him blushing slightly.
House smiled, but did as he was told.
Soo, Kelsey and the Nanny were waiting for him in the exam room.
"So, what is really going on with this young man then?" House asked.
"He got the rash a couple of days ago," the Nanny explained. "I didn't think much of it, as nuts give him a rash and as his mother loves them, there are nuts all over the house. It's almost impossible to keep him totally away from them."
"I assume you have informed the mother of this allergy?" House asked with irony.
"Several times!" was the answer. "She just tells me it is my job to see to it that he doesn't eat them.
"And you are not very good at doing as you are told, are you Kelsey?" House turned to the boy. Who nodded and smiled as best he could, though he did seem somewhat miserable.
"Anyway, the rash started a few days ago, and it was mostly on his legs. Now he has a few blotches on his chest and the one on his chin that his mother noticed and the rash on his legs has turned funny, it looks more like bruises than a rash now. He is also feeling pain in his abdomen and in his knees and ankles. The joints started hurting last night and he started vomiting this morning. I was just getting him ready to bring here, when his parents came to see him."
"Ok, let's have a look at the legs, then," House decided. "Would you take off your trousers, Kelsey?" The boy complied with the help of his Nanny.
The legs were indeed black and blue and purple. Soo had never seen anything like it, yet they did seem a little off to be actual bruises.
"Right then, Soo, tell me what it is. It is a text book case," House looked at her expectantly.
Soo swallowed. She had not expected to be put on the spot like this, but then probably she should have expected it. She was here for House's amusement after all. She desperately searched her memory for anything that might fit this case. "So he has pain in his knees and ankles, there is the rash that turns purple, abdominal pain and vomiting. Does he have any other symptoms? Fever?"
"No. He did have a cold a few days ago, but that was over before the rash appeared," the Nanny explained.
"It is still possible that it had something to do with this," Soo mused. Something at the back of her head started to nag at her. "Purple rash, abdominal pain, arthritic pain in joints especially knees and ankles. And the patient if male, five years of age, had a cold..." She bit her lip and concentrated. She could practically feel House drill a hole in her head with his laser-blue eyes. "Henoch-Schönlein Purpura."
"Are you sure?" House asked mildly.
"Yes. You said it is a text book case," Soo faked confidence the best she could. "The age of the patient, gender and symptoms are right from the text book for Henoch-Schönlein Purpura."
"Correct," House admitted. "What is the treatment?"
"There isn't one, so mainly the patient needs bed rest and adequate hydration. The symptoms can be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs or if the abdominal pain is very bad then corticosteroids can be tried. There are some other drugs too which might help, but basically the illness just has to run its course. Normally that takes four to six weeks."
"Is that all?" House prompted.
"Close observation of the patient is also needed as Henoch-Schönlein Purpura can cause kidney problems even to the extent of kidney failure, though that is very rare."
"Would you recommend hospitalization?"
"Normally, no," Soo bit her lip, "but in this case..."
"With no responsible parents?" House guessed. "Yes, I think we better take Kelsey in. Not that I doubt your abilities," House turned to the Nanny, "but there is no saying what those two will do next, so we'll play it safe. Soo, go get the boy admitted. No drugs at this time, but we will monitor him carefully. Once you have admitted Kelsey and charted his file you can go and meet your Father. He ought to be arriving in a few minutes."
"Thank you, Dr. House," Soo said and left with the boy.
"So what brought the sudden parental concern on you? Were they watching The Hand that Rocks the Cradle last night or was there some documentary on about abusive Nannies?" House asked the Nanny.
"I believe it was a documentary latish last night," she answered.
"I see," House sneered. "So after a good night's sleep, a hearty breakfast and possibly an hour or so of morning exercise they decided to descend on you and see if you were abusing their child? And having found their proof, they ask YOU to bring the baby along and you all drive to the nearest free clinic to establish your guilt?"
"That pretty much sums it up." She nodded.
"Tell me, if you know, what on earth made them think they wanted a child?"
"When I first started there, that was the question I asked myself about million times!" She sighed. "Finally I got the answer. It was an accident. She meant to have an abortion, but before she did, her father-in-law found out, and was ecstatically happy. So no help for it, they had to have it."
"I'm presuming it's the Daddy who has the money in the family?"
"Damn straight he has, and he is not letting go of it until he is dead. If even then."
"Does he dote on his grandson?" House asked.
"He is the only one in the family who cares," she said.
"In that case I think you better inform him that his grandson is in the hospital," House suggested.
"I think I will," the Nanny agreed.
"Right, I have other patients, too, so why don't you accompany Kelsey to his room," House said. "You can naturally visit him as often as you want, as you are practically his only real parent."
"Thank you; I will do that, too."
The Nanny left to go with the boy and House followed a moment later to have a word or two with the parents. The words were short, to the point and pithy. The Harrisons left the clinic without trying to see Dr. Cuddy, so House still had his five-patient-pass intact. However, he deemed that a break was in order so he went to the diagnostics department to give Foreman his instructions about Mr. Park.
