Spring Fever

Chase skimmed over the test results in front of him as House approached the whiteboard. Cameron was slouching in her chair, and everyone in the room could tell that she'd rather be doing anything but this. Foreman appeared to be engaged in the happenings around the room, especially that of House and Cameron. House seemed nonchalant about the whole situation; it was just another patient. Cameron on the other hand was on the verge of a nervous break down.

"Well," began Chase. "Grace's test results came back."

House obviously saw this as a stupid statement seeing as they were all in their differential standings. Of course her results had come back.

Chase saw House's expression and continued on without even being asked to. "She has a low white count," he said.

"And a low platelet count," added on Foreman.

And though she didn't want to, Cameron contributed her knowledge of the test results. "And the liver enzymes are slightly elevated."

This surprised House, of course, because he thought that Grace had merely come down with a bad case of the flu. Elevated liver enzymes meant that there was something more going on in her body though, and he for one wasn't sure if he was eager to find out what. Sure, Grace was his newest puzzle, but could he handle putting Cameron's niece through a battery of tests? What if the results weren't good? What would Cameron do? What would Grace do? What would he do? No time for that now, though. There was a sick girl who needed his help. "What does that tell us?" he asked.

Cameron sighed. If this were any other patient, she'd be a happy little camper, but right now she just wasn't in the mood. "Can't it just be the flu?"

"The liver enzymes tell us something," said House, too quickly for Cameron's liking. Was he just going to sit back and act like this was any other patient?

"It could be hepatitis," said Foreman. "It would explain the low white count, the low platelets, and even the liver enzymes. Her symptoms even match."

"Test for Hep A, B, and C," said House as he observed the whiteboard:

Loss of Appetite

Vomiting

Insomnia (?)

Dry Cough

Chest Pain

Fever – 103

Low White Count

Low Platelet Count

Elevated Liver Enzymes

"All three?!" asked Cameron. "I highly doubt my 11-year old niece is a drug user, or sexually active for that matter."

House looked at the enraged Cameron, and in his calmest voice, he told her, "Better to be safe than sorry."

Cameron huffed and followed her fellow ducklings out of the room, leaving House all alone to stare at his whiteboard and do whatever it is that House does when he has a case.

&&&&&

After deciding that it would just be best to wait for the results of the hepatitis tests, House chose to play one of his newest PSP games. It really did help him think, no matter what anyone else said.

House turned on the game, and went to hit the start button, but found himself incapable of doing so. No matter how hard he tried, he could not lift his finger off of the power button. He tried to hit the start button with his other finger, and after doing so, tried to press the other buttons. He was, of course, unable to do this as well because his fingers were strongly glued to the buttons.

House didn't know whether to smirk and be proud of his cousin's use of a popular prank, or if he should be mad at the fact that she had probably just ruined his PSP. Not to mention getting his fingers detached from the thing wouldn't be too much fun either.

&&&&&

Grace was flipping through the channels on her very own hospital television when her doctors returned, hopefully with good news.

"Hey," she said cheerily, but with a coarse voice.

Cameron smiled in response, but wasn't really in the mood to talk.

"We learned some new things from your blood tests," said Chase simply. He knew the enzymes and counts wouldn't make much sense to her anyways; it was best to keep it simple. "We just need to run some more tests."

Cameron prepped her niece for another blood test.

"So you think you know what's wrong with me?" asked Grace.

"We have a few theories," said Foreman. "We're going to test you for Hepatitis A, B, and C."

"What if I don't have any of those?" asked Grace.

"Then we learned something else," said Chase with a smile. He always did love children.

Grace nodded and watched as her Aunt Ally silently took her blood. It was very obvious to her (and she assumed everyone else) that something was bothering her aunt.

&&&&&

House limped down to the research lab with a PSP still attached to his hand. Without knocking, as usual, he entered the lab.

Ray had to contain herself when she saw that House's swinging arm had a portable video game attached to it. "Why hello, Greg," she said suggestively. "What brings you to this gloomy little lab?"

"Oh nothing," said House nonchalantly. "I'm just here to see Whitner actually."

This alerted Whitner. She wasn't really fond of House's visits, and she was displeased especially by the fact that those visits had become more and more often since Dr. Grant had joined the staff. "Why do you want to talk to me?"

House raised his hand. "I somehow managed to spill super glue all over my PSP," he said with a shrug. "I was wondering if you had any fun little chemicals to break the bond."

Whitner watched as Ray began to giggle. "I might have something," she said, the curiosity obvious from her tone. She rolled over to the chemical cabinet and began looking around. "You know, your little buddy Ray works here as well. Why didn't you just ask her?"

"Oh, she seems too busy at the moment."

"I was busy."

House shrugged. "I don't have a problem interrupting your work."

Whitner rolled her eyes. She reached out for a bottle and forced it into House's chest.

House inspected the bottle. "I'm not putting this on my skin until you tell me what it is."

"It's acetone," said Whitner dryly. She wheeled back to her post at the counter.

House inspected the bottle again. He was aware that Whitner wasn't his number one fan, and he had to make sure he wasn't setting himself up for yet another joke. Deciding that it was his safest bet, House applied a few drops of the chemical to his skin.

Moments later, House felt a burning sensation in his skin as Whitner and Ray burst out laughing.

&&&&&

Grace suddenly began to feel rather lonely since her parents were both gone, and her only companions were somewhere in the building running tests on her blood. She called the nurse in with the calling button and waited patiently.

Moments later, a skinny blonde nurse walked into the room with a smile on her face. "Can I help you?"

Grace nodded. "I wanted to call my dad, but I couldn't reach the phone," she said roughly from her hospital bed.

"Not a problem," said the kind nurse. She went over to the bedside where an older telephone lay. She picked up the phone and handed it to Grace. "What's his number?"

Grace dictated her father's cell phone number so the nurse could dial for her. The nurse waited during the whole conversation so she could hang the phone up for the child.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Finally, Grace's father answered.

Charlie: Hello?"

Grace: Hi, Daddy.

Charlie: Gracie, you sound terrible. How are you feeling?

Grace: I feel like I have a bad case of the flu.

Charlie: I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I'm on my way.

Grace: You are?!

Charlie: You bet. I left just about an hour ago.

Grace: Really?!

Charlie: Really! And guess who else is coming.

Grace: Who?!

Charlie: Ally. You remember Ally.

Grace (fondly): Your secretary? She was really nice! Is she coming to see me, too?

Charlie: You bet she is. She was worried about you when she heard that you weren't feeling too well.

Grace: I'll let you go then. I can't wait to see you, Daddy.

Charlie: I can't wait to see you either. Goodbye, Gracie.

Grace: Bye!

Line Goes Dead

The nurse took the phone from a now grinning Grace and hung it up for her.

"Thanks," said Grace with a smile.

"No problem," said the nurse helpfully. "If you need anything else, just ask for Katie."

Grace made a mental note to remember the name. She seemed nice enough.

&&&&&

House was eagerly awaiting the return of his ducklings in the Conference Room, Cameron in particular. He stood up quickly when they entered.

"We got the tests back," said Chase in an attempt to hand House the folder.

House ignored Chase's folder and existence. Instead, he turned to Cameron. "Do you have any nail polish remover?"

Cameron looked at House curiously. "What? Why do you need nail polish remover?"

"I accidentally chose the wrong pink," said House in his best valley girl voice. "These so aren't going to match my new top." House displayed his PSP-free hand with a wiggle of his nails.

Cameron rolled her eyes. If House didn't make his point, she wouldn't give him the nail polish remover.

House noticed the loss of Cameron's sense of humor and quickly made his point by holding up his hand. Still bonded to his hand was his PSP.

This made Cameron laugh for the first time that day. "Why is your skin all red?"

"I asked Whitner for some acetone," said House reluctantly.

Cameron eyed House curiously and was eager for him to continue.

"She gave me ammonia."

Cameron's jaw dropped. "Don't you think these little pranks are getting out of control?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said House with feigned ignorance.

"You guys mess with sinks, put paint on coffee cups, glue games to hands, and now ammonia?!" she exclaimed. "You guys keep this up and someone's bound to get seriously hurt."

"Out of my own defense, three of those four things Ray did, not me," said House. "Besides, I washed it off."

Cameron observed the red hand. "Yes, I can see that…."

"Relax," said House with a roll of the eyes. "It's just a little dry."

Cameron gave House her typical stern, but worried, glare.

"Are you going to give me the nail polish remover or not?"

Cameron rolled her eyes and walked out of the Conference Room (probably towards her locker).

House took this time to catch up on the latest news on his patient. "What's the news on Grace?" he asked casually.

Foreman and Chase's eyes were still glued to House's hand as they spoke.

"Grace tested negative for hepatitis," said Foreman. "Every…hepatitis."

Chase tilted his head as he observed House's hand.

House hid his hand behind his back. "Which means we're back on plain old Spring Fever."