Disclaimer: House and all respective characters do not belong to me. I am only borrowing them for personal enjoyment.
Also I am not a doctor so I have decided to borrow cases used earlier in the show for medical accuracy. My creativity comes in with building and developing character relationships as well as introducing original characters. Criticism and reviews are most welcome. Hope you enjoy.
A/N: My apologies for this update being slow. School has consumed all of my time and I have had little free time to work on this. Very proud of this next series though. As usual please read and review so I know how this grabs you. A new character Kaycee is played by the lovely Anna Kendrick.
It's a cold February afternoon in Princeton. A woman in her early thirties with blonde hair, wearing a black running suit named Julie climbs a couple of rows to the top of the bleachers, facing away from the field. Behind her are ten overweight men in red hoodies and black pants. They are climbing the stairs, going past Julie as she films a commercial.
"Do you want a lean body for summer," Julie says to the camera. "Well, the time to start is now. No gimmicks, no crash diets, and absolutely no drugs. Think healthy and be healthy. You can start now. Just pick up the phone and become the best you, you can be."
As Ted, a heavy man, reaches her, sweating profusely, he falls. The rest of the group in red keeps climbing. "Ohh," Ted shouts.
"Cut! Going again," the director of the commercial barks irritated.
"Sorry, did I mess up the commercial," Ted asks.
"No, it's fine. Are you okay," Julie asks bending down to check on Ted.
"Ah, I think it's cramps," Ted says. "Oh, I have burning on my side."
"Sit down, take a few minutes, and catch your breath," Julie says. "Everybody else keep running!" Some of the extras have reached the top of the stadium. They turn and pass Julie on the way down.
"We're not filming," the director says to Julie.
"We don't do this for the cameras. We do it for ourselves," Julie says loudly so the exercisers can hear her.
The director speaks quietly, to Julie. "We can't go again with him sitting there."
"Fine, um, but that felt phony," Julie whispers back. "At least let me get a little workout. Maybe if I'm breathing as hard as they are, I won't seem like such an evil task master."
"All right," the director says to Julie. "Take five, guys," the director calls out to his crew.
Julie pulls some of her hair back behind her ear. "How you feeling," she asks Ted, bending down to his level.
"I think I'm ready to do this," Ted says nodding and wiping his forehead.
"You sure," Julie asks. Ted stands. "That's it," Julie says. "That's the way to fight through." She gets into position and starts walking up the bleachers next to him. "All right, concentrate on those knees. Lean into it. And lift."
"Lifting," Ted says.
"Come on, push it," Julie shouts encouragingly.
"Lifting," Ted repeats as he continues to climb the bleachers.
"Come on, you're almost at the top," Julie says. "Those eight steps are the difference between fat and thin. Seven, six, five, four! One more! Nice job!" Ted reaches the top and throws his arms high in celebration. "You feel that burn? That's your body carving out its new shape."
"Okay," Ted says smiling and breathing heavily.
"Don't sit. Just take it slow on the way down," Julie says.
Ted whispers to himself. "Oh, boy." He walks down a couple of steps until he is abreast with Julie. She looks a little spacy. "Are you okay?"
Julie falls over and rolls down the bleachers. She comes to a stop where the camera crew is sitting. The lighting guy pulls a light stand away. The crew and Ted group around her. "Julie, are you okay," the director questions as he shakes her. "Julie. Julie!"
Later that day around midnight, Trzaska limps into a patient's room and closes the door behind him. He looks down at the woman in the bed in front of him and blinks back tears. He limps closer and watches as Amelia struggles to breathe. "I can't…sleep…" Amelia says. "It…hurts…" Trzaska nods and unlocks the morphine pump. He increases the drip rate and then shuts the door. As he slowly sits in the chair next to Amelia's bed, Trzaska notes how much weight Amelia had lost. Her cheek bones were prominent and her arms were frail looking. He sat next to her and held her hand as he watched her eyelids slowly droop and finally close. A few hours go by and Trzaska looks up at a clock on the wall, it reads 3:42. He closes his eyes and starts to drift as the sounds of the pulse monitor finally lull Trzaska to sleep.
Around nine that morning, Foreman arrives in the ddx room. He hangs up his coat and walks over to the corner making himself a cup of coffee. Taking a sip, he walks next door into his office and picks up a few files on his desk. As he starts to walk back towards the ddx room Chase and Taub walk in with cups of coffee in hand.
"You should stop complaining," Chase chastises. "Isn't this what you wanted? You get to have sex with more than one woman and you have children."
"Actually Rachel met someone else and when Ruby found out I got Rachel pregnant too, she stopped talking to me," Taub whined. Overhearing the conversation Foreman chuckles as he opens the door and walks back into the ddx room. Chase and Taub take their usual seats across from each other.
"We have a case boss," Chase asks Foreman.
Foreman nods while taking a sip of coffee and tosses the stack of files onto the table. "Thirty-one year old fitness trainer suddenly can't breathe, collapses and breaks her ankle."
Chase picks up one while Taub picks up another. At this time Thirteen walks in with her own cup of coffee and picks up a file from the table. "What's the case," she questions.
"Fitness trainer who passed out from exercising," Chase replies. "Normal CT means that her lung problem has the distinction of having nothing to do with her lungs."
Taub looks at a photo from the file, "Steroids. No one looks this fit without cheating. Anabolic steroids hack away at the immune system, leaves her open to a pulmonary infection."
"She's not on steroids," Foreman says. "Her program's all about getting in shape naturally, exercising, eating right."
"And you know this because," Taub asks.
"Unfortunately I'm up late a lot," Foreman replies. "She has infomercials to sell her DVDs."
"And you actually believe what you see on TV," Thirteen asks.
"The labs indicate no sign of steroid use," Foreman says. "Might help if you read the file before you make assumptions," he snipes sarcastically.
"What about allergies," Chase suggests. "She goes jogging every morning. Inhales car fumes during rush hour."
"Perfect, except that she was jogging half a mile from the nearest road," Foreman says. "In the cold. Cold air hits the lungs, sets off an attack. It's exercise-induced asthma."
"The only good way to test for EIA is to recreate the conditions in which the attack occurred," Thirteen says. "But we can't exactly make her run out in the cold on a broken ankle."
"Get creative," Foreman says. A moment later he looks down at his watch, it reads 9:48. "Has anyone heard from Trzaska?"
The group all shake their head, not knowing where Trzaska is. "Not a word," Chase answers. "Taub and I asked him to go out with us Friday night but he said he was tired and was going to call it an early night."
"That doesn't sound like Trzaska," Thirteen says. "He's usually the first to want to party. I don't think I could decide who's worse, him or Chase."
"Ouch, that smarts," Chase says.
Foreman walks over to the phone near the computer and picks it up dialing Trzaska's number. After a moment Foreman hangs up. "It goes straight to voicemail," Foreman says "Go recreate the attack." Everyone gets up and files out of the ddx room. Foreman picks up the phone again and dials the number for Cuddy's office. "It's Foreman, have you spoken to Trzaska this weekend?"
"No," Cuddy says leaning back in her chair. "He's not in yet?"
"Not yet," Foreman replies. "The rest of the team hasn't heard from him either."
"I'll see if I can find anything out," Cuddy says and hangs up the line. She picks up on a new line and dials Trzaska's number. It goes straight to voicemail.
As the team walks down the hall Chase pulls his cell phone out and presses four. He waits for the party to answer.
"Who are you calling," Taub asks.
"Adam," Chase answers while he waits for Trzaska's voicemail to finish. "If you were this late to work would you answer if your boss was calling you?"
"I wouldn't," Thirteen replies.
"Hey Adam it's Robert, call me." Chase hangs up as the elevator doors open and walks in behind his colleagues. "Hope he's all right," Chase comments. "It's not like him to be late let alone this late."
"Remember what happened the last time he didn't come to work," Thirteen says as the elevator doors shut.
Later in a refrigerated room in the morgue, Chase and Taub are wearing overcoats while Julie is wearing just her hospital gown. She is using an arm bike machine and is hooked up to a blood pressure monitor.
"Any shortness of breath? Tightness in your chest," Taub asks.
"Feeling pretty good actually," Julie answers.
"Not even breathing hard," Chase says sighing. "O2 stats and lung capacity are still well within range."
"Your cuff's slipping down. You want to stop for a moment," Taub asks.
"I'd rather not. Haven't had any exercise in two days," Julie responds.
"Take it you don't get a lot of fat in your diet," Taub comments.
"I take it from your tone you think that's a bad thing," Julie states.
"Do you ever indulge," Taub asks.
"Ha. There's more to life than indulging your every whim," Julie says.
"I didn't say every," Taub says. "But a whim every now and then can make life a little…"
"You okay? Trouble breathing," Chase asks a little worried.
Julie has the same spacy look she had before she fell. "No, I feel fine. Why?" She suddenly falls over. Taub catches her while Chase gets an Ambu bag.
Taub checks her neck. "No pulse. This isn't asthma."
Chase picks up the phone on the wall and dials the nurses' station. "Page Dr. Hadley," Chase says just before hanging up.
After several minutes Thirteen arrives, the three doctors get Julie stabilized and back to her room. On the way out Chase checks his phone. "Still no word from Adam," Chase says.
"You guys got this right," Thirteen asks randomly.
"Where are you going," Taub questions.
"To go check on another patient," Thirteen says. "A friend of mine was in a car accident a couple days ago. I just want to see how she's doing."
"Ok, we'll meet you upstairs then," Chase replies. He and Taub walk down the hall towards the elevator to go back upstairs.
Thirteen turns down a different hall and walks towards the other end of the ICU. She checks in with her friend, a blonde twenty-six year old, who is making a good recovery. "Hey Victoria, how are you doing," Thirteen asks with a big smile on her face.
"Great," Victoria replies with an equally large smile. "No broken bones, and no internal injuries. Dr. Regan says I can go home tomorrow. You'll come and see me off right?"
"You know it," Thirteen says putting her hands in her pockets. "Glad you're okay. How's Ben doing?"
"He's good, got a new job recently," Victoria says. "Better benefits, larger salary, and a lot more free time to give Momma some lovin'," she says winking at Thirteen.
"I never thought I would see you with a man," Thirteen says chuckling. "You used to know your way around a woman's body like no other. But I'm glad you're happy."
"Yeah, I am," Victoria says.
Thirteen nods and smiles, "I'll see ya tomorrow." Thirteen leaves the room and walks down the hall towards the elevator. On her way she glances into a few of the rooms as she passes them. Upon passing one room she stops suddenly and turns around. Looking in the room again she sees something she never expected to see, Trzaska. Thirteen presses the button outside the room and waits as the electronic sliding door opens. She walks into the room and tries to understand what's in front of her. Trzaska is leaning back in a chair holding the hand of the patient in the bed. Thirteen quietly walks over and shakes Trzaska slightly trying to wake him up. He begins to stir. "Adam, Adam wake up," Thirteen whispers.
Trzaska rouses and blinks trying to see who is in front of him. He then covers his eyes with his hand, shielding them from the bright light.
"Are you ok," Thirteen asks.
Trzaska recognizes the voice and nods. "Yeah, I'm all right. What time is it?"
"It's after eleven," Thirteen replies slightly concerned. "Is everything ok?"
"Shit, did you say after eleven," Tzaska asks his head jerking up suddenly.
"Yeah, why don't you go shower upstairs," Thirteen suggests. "I'll cover for you."
"Thanks Remy," Trzaska replies. His eyes now adjusted to the light, Trzaska grabs his cane, looks at Amelia for a moment. Satisfied that she's sleeping well he, limps out of the room and down the hall.
Thirteen stares at the woman in the bed. She picks up the chart and is about to read it when she stops. She remembers how little privacy her coworkers have given her over the years and realizes she doesn't want to be like them. Thirteen puts the chart back at the end of the bed and looks briefly at the woman's vitals making sure she is stable. When she was satisfied, Thirteen leaves the room and goes back upstairs to meet her colleagues. She walks into the ddx room and over to the coffee pot in the corner. "Got a phone call from Trzaska," Thirteen says pouring a cup of coffee. "He said he's fine and will be in soon."
"Glad to hear it," Foreman states. "Can we talk about why the patient's heart stopped?"
"We shocked her back to sinus rhythm. She's stable," Taub says. "Test didn't set it off. Her EKG was normal."
"Well, she's consistent," Foreman states. "The lung problem's had nothing to do with her lungs. A heart problem that has nothing to do with her heart. Something is strangling her system."
"Carcinoid tumor," Chase suggests.
"Find it, cut it out," Foreman says.
The team gets up and leaves the office.
Trzaska is steps out of the shower and dries his face off. With another towel around his waist, Trzaska takes a seat on a bench that is against the wall. He leans back and wipes his face with the towel.
"So this is what you do instead of treating patients," a female voice says from several feet away.
"Jesus," Trzaska shouts startled and almost falls off the bench. "Kaycee? What are you doing here?"
Kaycee, a tall medium built woman crosses her arms and looks at Trzaska. She has brunette hair that is cut short to frame her face, and has a nose ring in her right nostril. She's wearing an unzipped hoodie and jeans. Trzaska can see the red tank top she's wearing underneath. "I haven't seen you since college and that's all you have to say to me," Kaycee asks a bit perturbed.
"I just, I never expected to see you again," Trzaska says.
"Oh ye of little faith," Kaycee says smiling at Trzaska. She takes her hoodie off and starts fanning herself with her hand. "Geez, you always did like hot showers."
"Yeah," Trzaska says frowning and looking down.
"I see you're kind of busy right now but I'll see you around," Kaycee says. "I'm in town for a few days. Maybe we can get dinner. You still have my number?"
"Yeah," Trzaska says chuckling to himself. "How could I delete it?"
Kaycee smiles and gives Trzaska a flirty wink just before turning around. Trzaska watches her leave and his eyes are drawn to her exposed shoulders. He sees two parts of a tattoo on her back over her shoulders, but can't make out what it is. Kaycee quickly disappears from his view as she rounds the corner past a row of lockers. "Kaycee! Wait!" Trzaska shouts getting up from where he was sitting and chasing after her, but as he rounds the corner he sees nothing. Trzaska squints his eyes and begins looking down the other rows of lockers. He doesn't see Kaycee anywhere, so Trzaska slowly and confusedly goes back to his locker where he begins changing into a spare set of clothes.
Meanwhile Chase and Taub are performing a scan on Julie.
"Small intestine looks clean," Chase says. "Moving into the pylorus." He continues staring at the screen. "Nothing in the bile duct."
"Wait, what's…" Taub exclaims.
"That's her stomach," Chase says looking at the screen. "It's the size of a shot glass."
"Because our patient's a big, fat cheater," Taub says angrily.
A half hour later, Chase and Taub meet the rest of the team back in the diagnostics office. Trzaska is there talking with Foreman and Thirteen. "Our patient's a cheat," Taub announces as he enters the office.
"What," Thirteen questions.
"Look at this," Chase says handing Foreman a picture of Julie when she was fat. Foreman looks at it and makes a surprised expression before passing it to Thirteen who does the same before passing it to Trzaska.
"Gastric bypass surgery.," Taub says. "She had her stomach stapled. Then had the records from her files pulled so it wouldn't ruin her DVD sales."
"Her gastric bypass procedure could cause…" Chase starts.
"Forget the bypass," Foreman says. "Treat her like a fat girl."
"Should we treat her like a 60-year-old Asian man too? She's not fat," Taub argues.
"Not on the outside. But on the inside, she's still tons of fun," Trzaska says.
"When she was obese, she probably had type two diabetes," Thirteen suggests. "Could've left her with permanent nerve damage."
"If this was diabetes-induced nerve damage, it would've kicked in years ago," Foreman states.
"Sleep apnea explains…" Chase starts but is interrupted by Trzaska.
"Apnea would've disappeared when she shrank," Trzaska says.
"Not if it destroyed the musculature of her trachea," Taub says.
"Apnea cuts off oxygen to the brain," Chase says. "The resulting neurological damage…"
"She been snoring," Trzaska asks.
"She didn't mention it," Taub replies.
"Did she mention feeling tired after a full night's sleep," Trzaska asks.
"No, but…" Chase starts to answer.
"This isn't apnea," Trzaska says throwing the photo down on the table.
Thirteen looks over at Foreman. "We need to consider side effects from her gastric bypass surgery."
"Forget the bypass," Chase says.
"No no, let her finish," Foreman says.
"You said forget the…" Chase starts but is cut off by Foreman.
"Dr. Hadley has the floor," Foreman says pretentiously.
"Bypass could create malabsorption issues," Thirteen says. "Leads to low potassium."
"Her potassium's fine," Foreman says.
"But her intestines aren't," Trzaska interjects. "Gastric bypass could cause malabsorption by creating a blind loop of bowel. It ulcerates during exercise. Bacteria get loose in the bloodstream. Migrate to the heart and lungs."
"Bacteria in the bowels means there's bacteria in the feces," Foreman says thinking aloud. "Get some and test it."
The team gets up and leaves while Foreman stares at the symptoms on the whiteboard.
"Everything okay," Chase asks Trzaska while they're walking down the hall. No response comes.
Chase looks behind him to see Trzaska's not there. "Where'd he go?"
"I don't know," Thirteen says shaking her head. "He was right behind me."
"I hate when he does that," Chase says.
"I say we punish him by making him get the stool sample," Taub suggests.
"No, let's just do it and get it over with," Thirteen says stepping into the elevator first followed by a confused looking Chase and Taub.
"You're okay with him skipping out on this case," Taub asks.
"Yep," Thirteen replies. The elevator doors close with Chase and Taub sharing mutual confused expressions.