Well, after a great weekend in New York City, it's back to reality for House, Cameron, Gretchen and their friends.
Chapter 57. RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN
It was Monday, but to make matters worse, it was raining. The kind of
light rain that the wipers only smear but never clear. The kind of
rain where the sky is just one uniform gunmetal gray cloud.
House dragged his wet self in Monday morning to find that Yen was
alone in the conference room, her head bent forward and her straight
black hair swinging around her face. She looked up as she heard
him approach.
"Dr. House," she said, as if she didn't expect him.
"How's fever boy?" he asked.
"You were right. The Atovaquone seems to be working and his fever's
down," she told him.
"And?"
"Oh, and we think it's Babesiosis."
"You think? You don't know?"
"Well..."
He shook his head. This one still lacked the confidence to commit to
a diagnosis. She had to become more decisive.
"What makes you THINK it's Babesiosis? I assume Sullivan and
Sheffield agree with you."
"Well, he responded to the Atovaquone."
"And?" he prompted again.
She took a deep breath. "He spent a month on Long Island this summer
and the parasite that causes Babesiosis is found primarily in the
Northeast U.S, mostly the islands off New York City and Massachusetts
so that fits."
He nodded. "Now we're getting somewhere."
"And Babesiosis mimics Malaria, only with a slightly different
signature in the red blood cells."
"Good. You should have said that in the first place, but that's
good. OK, continue the treatment, oh, and check for Lyme's disease.
The deer ticks that spread Babesiosis also carry Lyme's. And find the
dastardly tick and remove it."
Cameron stood by her office window. It hadn't been raining yet when
she'd driven to the hospital earlier, but now big drops were falling,
wetting the pavement below.
They'd had such a great weekend. But spending Saturday night and
Sunday morning with House made her miss him even more on Sunday
night. Well, soon this would be over. In just a couple of weeks
they'd be together, the three of them.
She sat down at her desk and began to go through her messages and
the files left for her to review. Her staff had reported three more
cases of the Brazilian flu. At least they had a protocol to follow
to identify and treat it. If only they could find a way to prevent
it so no more kids would get sick.
Since this was a children's hospital, all their patients were kids,
but Cameron couldn't remember seeing online reports of cases among
adults. She pulled up the CDC website to see if they had any
demographic statistics. Could it be that adults were immune to the
Brazilian flu?
"Wait until everyone sees the pictures I took this weekend," Emily
told Gretchen as they went to lunch. The gloomy weather that would
keep them indoors at lunchtime didn't dampen the high spirits the
two girls shared after their adventures in New York City. "I even
have a few of you and your dad on the piano. Now no one can say we're
making him up."
Gretchen smiled at her friend. They sat down at a table with Jared,
Adam and Debbie. As they ate their sandwiches, Gretchen and Emily
told the others about the huge ones they'd had Saturday night, then
Emily took out the photos.
"Whatcha got there?" Meredith taunted as she and her friends walked
by.
Emily held up the photo of House and Gretchen playing 'Heart and
Soul'. "That's Gretchen and her dad on the giant piano at FAO Schwarz
in New York City," Emily said. "See, he does exist."
"That old guy is your father?" Meredith said snidely.
"Yup," Gretchen said. "Bet your father would never do that. We had
the most outrageous time last weekend."
"Who's this?" Debbie asked. She was looking at a picture Clair took
of the three children in front of the museum.
"That's Tommy. He's a friend of ours. Well, he's Gretchen's friend,
but I think he's mine now, too," Emily said hopefully.
"Of course he is," Gretchen agreed.
"It figures you two would have a friend who's crippled," Meredith
said.
"Yeah, figures," DeeDee echoed.
"He's a lot nicer than you!" Gretchen said.
The three girls sneered and walked away, leaving Gretchen and Emily
and their friends still looking at the pictures. Jared stopped at
one of the three mothers. "Did you say your moms were doctors?"
"Yeah, and so's my dad, and Tommy's parents, too," Gretchen said. "My mom's
gonna work with them when we move to New Jersey."
"And we may be moving there too, so my mom can work at the same hospital," Emily
said. She so hoped it would happen.
"How's your dad?" Gretchen asked Jared.
"He's not getting any better," he replied. "They don't seem to know
what's wrong or how to make him well."
"Oh." Gretchen frowned.
"Maybe Gretchen's dad can examine him," Emily suggested. "He's a
di-ag-nos-ti-cian, right Gretchen?"
"What's that?" Debbie asked.
"Someone who figures out what's wrong when you're sick," Gretchen said
but she was already thinking of a way to ask House to take the case.
Chapter 58. HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER
"Mrs. Cassandra, we've found out that Michael has Babesiosis," Yen
told the patient's mother. "It's a parasitic disease transmitted by
deer ticks. You can thank Sophia for bringing him in to be treated."
The girl blushed at the compliment. She'd been dealing with all sorts
of accusations from her mother.
"We've given him an antiparasitic, found and removed the tick, and
confirmed that he doesn't have Lyme's disease" Sullivan added.
Both the mother and Sophia breathed sighs of relief.
"But how did he get it?" Sophia wanted to know.
"It's rare. But most documented cases occurred on the islands off
of New York City and Massachusetts" Yen replied. "You told us that
he spent July on eastern Long Island. That's probably where he
picked up the tick."
"When can he go home?" Mrs. Cassandra asked.
"At his current rate of recovery, tomorrow or the next day."
"Thanks, Dr. Yen, Dr. Sullivan" Sophia said. "I'm more determined
than ever to be a doctor like you two!"
The small Asian doctor smiled at her. "It was a very interesting
case. I'm just glad we could find out what it was and that it was
treatable."
"Have you thought about volunteering at the hospital?" Sully asked.
"Stop off at the hiring office before you leave and ask about some
of their programs" she suggested.
Wilson wasn't in his office, but House found him in the cafeteria
sitting with a middle-aged man wearing clean but well-worn clothes.
Well, Curious Greg wasn't about to stay away, despite the fact that
they were both intent on their conversation.
"There you are!" he announced, dragging over a chair to their table
and plopping himself down.
Wilson looked very annoyed by the interruption. "House, we're trying
to have a private talk."
"Go right ahead. Don't mind me." He began to eat, but it was obvious
that his eyes and ears were ready to take in everything.
Wilson gave up in disgust. "Marty this is my FORMER friend, Greg
House. House, this is my brother, Marty."
"Ah, the prodigal son, or in this case brother."
Marty gave him a perplexed look.
"Ignore him," Wilson advised. "So you say you've been clean and sober
for the last couple of years?"
"Yeah, I just need a better job than the one I have at Garcia's,"
Marty said.
"You work at Garcia's?" House said without swallowing so that it
came out as 'oo urk ah gahthes'. He swallowed before continuing.
"They have the best chile rellenos east of the Mississippi. Oh,
sorry, carry on, you were saying?"
Wilson rolled his eyes, and Marty went on. "I just bus tables. Pays
not too good, but I get some free meals. I've got a small apartment
nearby, an efficiency really."
"Did you talk to Ben?" Wilson asked.
Marty shook his head. "Wouldn't give me the time of day. Our
brother's still as hard-headed as ever."
"So you came to soft-touch Jimmy," House commented, then pressed his
lips together and mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.
"Do you think there are any jobs at the hospital?" Marty asked.
"I guess I can check with the administrator," Wilson reluctantly
offered.
"Yeah, he has a special in with her, if you know what I mean," House
blurted.
"House! That's enough," Wilson said angrily.
"Well, whatever you can do. Thanks Jimmy. And thanks for lunch."
Marty got up and left, with a curt nod at House.
"I'm surprised you didn't offer to take him home," House said, after
a minute's silence.
"It's one thing to give him a chance to prove himself, but quite
another to expose my son to him."
"He said he was off the sauce, off drugs."
"But for how long?" Wilson speculated.
"You've never kept me away from Tommy," House pointed out. He was
curious about Wilson's distrust of his brother. It only accentuated
the fact that he'd remained House's friend through everything.
"Marty is weak. He always was. You, you're too driven to ever let
your addictions rule your life." Wilson looked hard at his friend,
as he thought. "Yeah, you've experimented, and once or twice it's
gotten in the way of you being a brilliant diagnostician and
excellent doctor and occasionally decent human being. But Marty's
going to have to prove himself to me for a while before I'll let him
anywhere near Tommy."
"And you talk about Cuddy being overprotective."
"We'll have a quick dinner tonight," Cameron said as she and Gretchen
arrived at their place. "How about some chicken and macaroni and
cheese?"
"Yum."
"Mr. Thompson said he'd be bringing some potential buyers at seven to
see the house."
"Do you think they'll buy it?" Gretchen asked.
"We'll see."
As they were eating, Gretchen suddenly stopped and said, "Mom?"
"Yes, Sweetie?"
"Are you and Dad going to get married?"
Cameron put down the forkful of macaroni she was about to eat. "I
don't know. Why do you ask?"
"Well, Tommy's parents are married, right?"
"Yes."
"And Em's mom and dad were married, too, before he was, you know,
killed." Clair's husband had been a photojournalist and had been
killed by a roadside bomb in the Middle East when Emily was two.
"That's right," Cameron confirmed. "Gretchen, your dad and I haven't
talked about it. I guess we've just been concentrating on other
things." She certainly didn't want to commit to anything when she
didn't know what House thought about the subject. If he even did.
But she felt she had to say something more. "If we ever decide
to get married, you'll be the first one we tell. Deal?"
Gretchen thought about it, then answered "OK, deal."
They finished their dinner in quiet and were putting the dishes in
the dishwasher when the realtor rang the bell.
