Author's Note #1- I would like to personally dedicate this chapter to my wonderful beta Ceciilee, who has patiently went through each and every chapters of this fic. You're truly a joy to work with! Your wonderful insights and quick turnaround is greatly appreciated by both my readers and specially yours truly.
***
House walks into his office about 15 minutes after nine o'clock. Foreman hands him all the test results. Meanwhile, Cameron drops a plastic bag beside Jake's feet and says "I thought you might want your clothing back."
Jake sporting a scrub is playing his Dad's Game boy at the lounge chair, nods at Cameron and mumbles "thank you."
Cameron walks over to join Foreman by House's desk.
House asks "where's the wombat?"
Cameron replies "he's at the lab. He thinks he can finish the blood work by tonight."
Foreman states "as I said, everything looks normal. Syncope (blackouts) can be cause by a lot of things from stress, pain, overheating, dehydration or exhaustion."
House looks over to his son and sees Jake putting on his motorcycle jacket.
Cameron argues "maybe Jake was correct. The previous blackout has nothing to do with what happened this morning."
House shakes his head and replies "it just doesn't make sense."
Few minutes after Chase walks-in with the results of the blood test, Jake collapses and has a seizure.
After the team stabilizes Jake, House calls Cuddy to inform her of what had happened.
"What's wrong with him Greg?"
"I don't know Lise. I'm working on it."
"I'm coming in."
"You don't have to. I don't want you to disrupt the twins' sleep."
"I'll call Lina. She won't mind keeping an eye on the twins for the night."
"Ok, I'm gonna get back to work."
"Greg?"
"Yes, Lise?"
"Please don't let anything bad happen to our son."
"Of course."
"And Greg?"
"Lise?"
"I love you very much. I forgot to say that to Jake this morning."
"Lise, he knows that and you can still tell him that every day."
"We almost lost him twice today."
"We're not going to lose him. And Lise? I love you too."
***
Cuddy is keeping vigil by Jake's bedside when he wakes up.
She asks her son "how are you feeling honey?"
"Tired," he sees his surrounding and asks, "did I blackout again?"
Cuddy nods and replies "you had a seizure. Your Dad and his team are working on a diagnosis."
"Mom?"
"What's wrong honey?"
"I can't feel anything. My legs…my arms… Mom, I can't move anything."
House and the team confirm that Jake just suffered from muscle paralysis.
After about five hours of going through all the results over and over again. Chase falls off his chair while dozing off. House yells at him "if you can't be productive, why don't you just go home."
Chase replies "I'm sorry. It's already three in the morning."
Cameron defends Chase and says "He's right. We've been looking at these results for awhile."
Before House can reply, Cuddy walks-in and tells the team to "go home. Thank you for staying late maybe a quick nap will help refresh everyone's mind."
An exasperated House replies "have you gone insane? Our son could be dead in a few hours."
Cuddy and House continues bickering back and forth while the team packs up to call it a day.
House looks over Cuddy and sees Chase putting on his jacket. Then House gets his "aha" moment. He shouts over Cameron and asks "you gave Jake his jacket shortly before he had seizure, right?"
Cameron nods and replies "yeah. Why?"
"It's the only thing that ties both incidents. He was wearing it during the accident and before the seizure" House immediately picks up the blood results, reads them and orders his team "test the jacket for poison. His RBC and plasma cholinesterase levels all points to organophosphate poisoning."
As the team tests the jacket, House orders the nurse scrubbed his son down to ensure that the poison is off his skin. Afterward, House and Cuddy visit their son's room.
Jake asks his dad "What's wrong with me?"
"You had organophosphate poisoning."
"Can it be treated?"
"Yeah, you'll have to take cocktail drugs but you'll be okay."
Jake breathes a sigh of relief "what's the treatment?"
"Atropine, 2-PAM and Diazepam."
"Dad, how did I get poisoned?"
"I don't know. Have you been doing a little gardening in Boston?"
"No, I don't even own a plant in my apartment."
Cuddy kisses her son and tells him "don't worry about it now. Your dad and I will think of something tomorrow but now we want you to rest."
Jake nods and says "thanks Mom."
"And Jake, your Dad and I want you to know that we love you very much."
Jake smiles at his mom and replies "You don't have to tell me that because I always know."
House stays with his son overnight, Cuddy goes home to the twins, while the ducklings are given rest of the weekend off.
***
As Wilson is walking into the hospital lobby to catch up with paperwork, he bumps into Nurse Brenda who informs him of what happened to Jake last night.
Wilson pops his head in Jake's room and sees Jake sleeping while House is reading a journal at a bedside chair.
Wilson greets his friend "hey," while House nods back.
"I heard what happened. Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah. He'll need just a few days to recover but he'll be fine."
"You should have called me last night. I would have been able to help babysit the twins or something."
"I didn't need you last night, but are you up for a road trip tomorrow?"
"Huh… Where? Why?"
"Boston. We need to retrace Jake's steps and find out where he got poisoned."
"How do you know that he didn't get it here in Jersey?"
"Because he had two other blackouts a few days before he came home."
"How did it cross state lines?"
"It was on his jacket."
"Is Lisa okay with the trip?"
"Why not? I saw the symptoms, diagnosed the problem and recommended the treatment. The only missing piece is where did he get the poison?"
Wilson rolls his eyes and replies "you and your puzzle."
***
The duo arrives in Boston on Sunday morning. Their first stop is the Shattuck house, they visit Jake's old apartment unit. Since the semester hasn't started, the unit is still empty.
Wilson looks around and says "damn! This is bigger than my apartment."
"I know and the rent is higher than my previous mortgage for my townhouse too."
"Seriously?"
"Yup! More than two grand a month."
"Whatever happened to those rinky-dink single rooms where you have to share bathrooms with 20 other people?"
"They're still available but we wanted Jake to experience apartment living so..."
Wilson shrugs his shoulder and says "I don't see anything in here that would need pesticides."
House nods and replies "I think we need to interview people."
"Whatever happens to everybody lies?"
"People lie about themselves but they love to dish out the dirt on someone else."
"You're going to ask people to rat on your son?"
House smirks and replies "think of it as a fact-finding mission."
House first 'informant' is Jason the football guy. They chitchat for awhile then House mentions Jake's condition. Jason immediately offers "if there's anything I can do to help Jake, just let me know."
"I greatly appreciate that. Walk me through Jake's daily routine."
"He's usually in class by eight and I know his work doesn't start until around three and he's usually back in his apartment by eight-thirty at night."
Wilson asks "how do you know all these things?"
Jason replies "Dr. House asked me to keep an eye on him. Beside, Jake is a creature of habit. He has a set schedule so it's not like I have to follow him around."
House encourages Jason "go on continue."
"Well, that's his normal schedule Mon-Wed-Fri. He doesn't work at Dr. Church's lab on Tue-Thu since he has class at MIT."
"What does he do on weekend?"
"On Saturday mornings, rain or shine he rows by the Charles River. I know that for a fact because he borrows my pick-up truck to haul his rowboat. Meanwhile, he spends most of his Saturday night down by Wally's Café. He jams with local musicians."
Wilson asks "what type of music do they play?"
"It's a jazz and blues clubs. Jake usually jams in on the piano but I've seen him played the guitar during blues night."
Then House inquires about Sundays.
"Jake and his girl attend Mass, and then they do grocery, laundry and stuff like that."
Wilson raises his brow at the thought of the son of an atheist and a Jew going to mass on Sundays.
House asks Jason if he noticed anything different about Jake's schedule in the last two weeks.
"Yeah, he moved out of his apartment two weeks ago."
Both House and Wilson look at each other. House asks "you mean a week ago?"
"No, semester ended last week but he moved out two weeks ago."
"Did he move his stuff into a storage place?"
"Not this summer. He and his girlfriend just got an apartment a couple of blocks from here."
"Really? The girlfriend's name is?"
"Marie, she's the hot Swiss blond girl that used to live next door from him."
"Yes, I remember her. The one Jake was helping with her English?"
Jason smirks and nods "her English is just fine, but she's really hot. Jake is like every guy's hero around here."
House can't help but smile. He asks "are guys envious enough to harm him?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Maybe slip a mickey on his drinks or something?"
"No! Jake is the cool dude who rides a bike, dates the hottest babe on campus and yet, he's very approachable. You know what I mean?"
House nods "do you know if Marie is here for the summer?"
"Yeah, she works at the University's arboretum."
As Wilson is driving towards the arboretum, he begins laughing.
House asks "what's so funny?"
Wilson replies "this whole thing. I bet you're now wondering if you really know your son?"
"I know my son fine. Didn't you keep things from your parents when you were in med school?"
"Yeah, but not about moving in with my girlfriend or changing my religion."
"I practically moved into Lise's dorm room shortly after we met and I haven't been to church since I left home for school. And I'm certain that my parents still don't know those two facts up to now."
Wilson smiles and replies "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, indeed."
"However, how Lise is going to take this will be another story."
TBC