Chapter 54 : Moving in

Today was the day. They were off shift for the next 3 days. Enough to bring their stuff in their new home. As she closed the door of the small apartment, Claire could not help but feeling a twinge of sadness, even if she knew it was for the better. She took the last box at her feet and joined Neil in the lobby to give the keys back to their landlord. Less than 10 minutes later, they were in their car and drove to their new place.

Moving in the house was so easy. The place was so big, they had plenty of space to put the boxes. The truck with their pieces of furniture came a few hours later. The movers dropped them in the right rooms before leaving. Claire took some minutes off and sat in the swing seat on the terrace and looked around her. It was peaceful. She could hear the birds singing in the trees while enjoying the view over the city.

Neil joined later, handing her a cup of coffee. He sat in silence next to her. She bent over him and put her head on his shoulder. It just fitted right. He took her hand and rested his head on hers. Sometimes, you needed nothing more to be fine.

They kept opening the boxes later. They also reassembled their bed. Not easy because neither of them was good at DIY. But it had been fun. Anyway they had no other choice than succeeding if they wanted to sleep in there this night. After several hours of pain, it was all done. And they were hungry.

"I've ordered some pizza while I was downstairs." Neil told her.

"You read my mind!"

"And your stomach… Actually I've heard it growling earlier."

"Shaaaame."

It was for these simple moments life was worth living. If she had not fought for his life, he won't be there. And yet seeing her sitting on the floor surrounding by hammers, screwdrivers, screws and measuring tape made him happy. He loved when her hair was messy, where she was wearing her dirty overalls. He could never thank her enough for what she had brought him. Even her bad mood and their arguments were a blessing he didn't want to let go of.

Their days off spent quickly. It was already time to go back to work. House had made some breakthroughs while they were off. Fatima was still at the hospital but her head was less aching thanks to the corticoids.

"But it didn't solve her problem, it just made her life a little bit easier." House answered bitterly.

"That's the whole problem…"

As she was talking to House, she was called by Toni and Danny. Mrs. Nazir was going bad. Her case had worsened. She suffered from a severe hearing loss and her eyes were aching a lot. She couldn't stand the light anymore. Claire went to Fatima's room to examine her patient.

"Let me know what you'll find."

Claire nodded at House. Since she put him into place, he was less cutting with her. Not that he wasn't anymore, but he seemed to take some times to listen to what she had to say. And It was enough for her. When she arrived in the room, Fatima was crying.

"Hey Fatima, it's Dr. Browne-Melendez. Toni and Danny told me you have new symptoms."

She tried to mime what she was experiencing. She handled her a pad and a pen. "Write everything you're feeling .. Any detail can help us to figure out the truth." She put her hand over her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll find out what it is."

She came back to House 's office. Neil had joined while she was away, his splenectomy from this morning was over. "What about an auto-immune illness? I mean it could attack her organs and explains all the failure in her system?"

"No… Thin and Gummy checked this morning. Her numbers of lymphocytes are good, even too good for a person in this situation."

Claire let out a smile. He called Fatima "a person". It was a real progress. Cameron was right, he was a jackass sometimes, often to be fair but a part of him was good. He was just so secretive, he didn't want people to see he could be weak. He must have been really sad in his past. She looked at Neil and House sharing theories. Two proud men. Two opinions. It was like watching a boxing match on TV.

"I asked Fatima to write what she was feeling. She's presenting a severe hearing loss which comes and goes. And her eyes are burning. And she can't stop crying. All these symptoms make any sense…"

Claire lost in thoughts again, letting Neil and House analyzing the new data she gave to them. Days passed and Fatima had new symptoms: her kidney was degrading, She got feet and ankles oedemas. Her protein rate was exploding. And still they had no answers. Toni and Danny took care of the analyses. They all came to House's office to solve the case as soon as their surgeries of the day were over.

One week later, the case was still a mystery. Until House entered the office frantically. "Close your books and computers. I've got the solution. It just popped in my head. That's what I call genius or brightness. As you like."

"Or proudness. Hubris. Self-sufficiency."

"Ah ha ha ha, You're very funny this morning, Brownie."

"She often is."

"You're not fair, she's your wife. You just tell this to be alone at home."

"I won't. Not like this. Ask her what I told her the first time we met. And by the way, what's your fabulous idea?"

"Two words: Alport syndrome."

"Never heard of it." Neil answered before turning to Claire. Claire nodded no with her head to Neil. She didn't know about either. "Tell us more."

House couldn't help but act like a peacock. He was clearly the smartest people in the room and he liked this feeling. He kept the suspense for a few more minutes, just to see the impatience on their faces.

"Enough with torturing you, despite the fact that it is really enjoyable."

Claire rolled her eyes while Neil let out a laugh. He explained how the Alport syndrome was causing all the symptoms developed by Fatima. This disease was genetic and couldn't be cured but it could be treated. "I can't cure an alteration of genes but I know how to suppress some of her symptoms. I let you go and tell her, I don't like doing this but apparently you two are so gifted."

He took his cane, stood from his chair and got out of the office. "This man is really a character!"

"Shut up, you like him, I can see it by the way you're idiotically smiling."

Neil laughed. "Yes… But you have to admit he's brilliant. While he was speaking, I searched on my phone about the Alport syndrome and the case is really rare. Only one case out of 5000 people and most of the sick people are men!"

Claire pouted. "I've to admit House is brilliant but he's a real pain in the ass."

They left the office some hours later. They needed to make some researches about the syndrome and the way of treating him. They visited Fatima later. They told her about the Alport syndrome.

"In the first place, we will prescribe you drugs to reduce the number of proteins. We'll try to avoid the kidney transplantation. They have been effective on most of the cases when the patient was a woman." Claire explained to her with a calm voice.

Fatima looked at them with big eyes. "So all of this is caused by some defective genes?! But how is it possible?"

"Someone in your family should have been suffering from this disease. Maybe it was never diagnosed. Or it has been misdiagnosed. It's very uncommon. But now, we know you'll be treated and checked on a regular basis. The move we have to do is to remove the benign tumor on your kidney and you should feel more comfortable. I'll take care of this tomorrow morning."

She nodded in agreement to Neil. It was a lot of information to stand in less than a few minutes. Claire came closer and put her hand over hers.

"I know it's a lot to process. But it's better you know…" Fatima once again nodded.

"There's a last thing we need to tell you…" Claire swallowed hard. "This disease often reveals when a woman is… Pregnant."

Claire had troubles to say the word. He hurt her. She glanced at Neil quickly before keeping telling about it to Fatima.

"So we did a pregnancy test and you're expecting a baby, Fatima…"

"What? But this is impossible… Oh God, I've slept with my ex-husband but it was months ago…"

"According to your blood test, you're about three months pregnant…"

Claire and Neil remained silent, letting her patient the time to analyze this new part of the puzzle. Claire knew she was happy when Fatima started to cry. "I'm… gonna be… a mom…"

"Congratulations. We let you alone to rest…"

"Thank you… For everything…"

Claire and Neil nodded and left the room. He could feel the discomfort in Claire's mind. "Soon, you'll be the woman who's told she's expecting a baby… Our baby is just a little lazy, that's all."

He squeezed her arm, to let her know he was here. She swiped some tears. "I can't wait for this moment to happen." She smiled slightly to him.

"Soon… Just be patient… And we can practice… I think I need more lessons, I'm not sure I'm at the top notch of my knowledge about this subject."

He glanced at her naughtily. She let out a laugh. "You're dumb!"

"And I made you laugh!"

She lowered her eyes. "Don't worry Claire, the moment will come. Just seize the day, enjoy our new home and our life together."

She smiled lightly. Her phone ringing stopped the moment. "Sorry, I've got to go the ER. Big trauma arriving. Won't be home early this night… Not convenient to practice…"

"Can wait for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Will be in my office working on my tomorrow surgery anyway. See you tonight."

And he watched her running through the corridor to reach the ER room before the EMT arrived. He came to his senses when he lost sight of her. He had work to do and it started by going to the hospital library to check on the Alport syndrome.

[…]

Fatima left the hospital three weeks later. House was already on two another mysterious cases. This time, he was collaborating with the nephrology and obstetrics services. Claire had been called once or twice to give them some advices but nothing more. Right now, current surgeries and visiting their patients gave the rhythm to their lives at the hospital. A rhythm that fitted them perfectly.

When they were off, they enjoyed visiting the area: hiking, visiting natural parks or eating at the restaurants Marcus had recommended them. The works in the house were doing fine. Slowly but surely. Wasn't it the best mantra even?

They had decided to renovate the house by their own. They were not specialists but they wanted to build it as they imagined it. They had talked a lot about it with Cameron who did it with her house and she was so happy with the result that she encouraged them to do the same. "You should see Greg complaining about the painting, this was hilarious."

If Greg House could do it, they totally could. They took advice from specialists and started with the painting. Almost three months later, they were almost done with the kitchen, the living room and the four bedrooms.

"This summer, we could invite our friends for some days, a week maybe or more…"

Claire rose her nose from the wall she was finishing painting. "Why are you laughing?"

"Your nose… It's all white…"

She wiped her nose to discover it was covered with white painting. "Damn!"

He came closer, still laughing. "Still not funny… How could I put painting on my nose… Really?!"

She rubbed her nose with a tissue she found in her pocket. But it was only getting worse. "Let me help you…" He grabbed another tissue and moisten it with his water bottle. He rubbed her little nose and dropped a kiss on it when it was done.

"All clean. "

"Thanks."

"Always…. And I was thinking about inviting Alex and Morgan, Greta and Shaun too… Great minds think alike."

She nodded. "We could call them tomorrow to ask them if they're ok. And Maybe ask Gabbi if she wants to come for some days here. I could go and take her. And Alex and Morgan could bring her back. Or the contrary."

"That sounds perfect. I can't wait to see them all again."

"Me too… "

"Indeed I was wondering… Maybe we could go to a shelter… Adopt a dog… House is big and we could have a new inhabitant with us…"

He smiled. "I was dying to ask you to adopt an animal for weeks!"

"As you said, great minds think alike."

"What about today? After all, it's only 2PM…"

She giggled. "Really?" He nodded. She let out a cry. "Let me five minutes to dress correctly."

They left just after and arrived at the shelter just 20 minutes later. This afternoon, Neil and Claire came back home with a dog and two chicken…