It was too much early when Tara decided to join Cuddy on a run, too early for House's sake, who couldn't sleep after being awakened by the noises Tara managed to do opening and closing drawers.
" Why are you going to run at 6 am? Are you crazy? Who wakes up to sweat and get uselessly tired?" House asked his girlfriend, who was putting on a sports bra while he openly stared at her " Plus, you have the body people run for, why would you run ?"
" Love, I don't exercise for being hot. The hotness is a matter of confidence. I exercise to be healthy."
" Hey, your aunt sent me some pictures of you in a cheerleading uniform during your time in Hopkins. I'm finally putting a picture frame on my office."House said, still in bed and not looking forward to getting up.
" Damn it, I regret that they liked you so damn much."
" They are unusually nice for parents. Plus, your aunt sends me embarrassing pictures of you and your uncle tells me the stories."
" How lovely, three people getting together to make my life a living hell. Aren't you guys supposed to love me ?"
" I don't love waking up early because you are going off to run with She-Evil."
" Calm down, looks like Steve McQueen is replacing me." Tara joked after their cat jumped on the bed and started kneading next to House's head while rubbing its head on the man's beard.
" Shame on you, Tara. You left me for Cuddy."
" I will be back very soon, I still have work to do."
" Running around with your boss and she isn't even letting you have a free day. Sucking up after her didn't work ?"
" Keep saying this and I won't be sucking you anytime soon." Tara joked and pecked his lips as in saying 'bye', but House managed to turn the kiss into something hotter, soon they were making out, and his hands were inside her sports bra " No, sir. As hot as you are, I need to go. And Steve is looking at us, it's weird."
Steve was intently watching them from House's side. Tara made her way towards the door.
" Damn it, Cuddy manages to cockblock me even when she is far far away." House yelled from the bedroom.
" She lives six blocks away, that isn't far." Tara yelled back with a laugh and left.
House grinned and was about to go back to sleep when he felt something poking him on his side. Steve was kneading him.
" Go away, freaky biscuit-making cat." House muttered to the animal, who completely ignored him and curled up with its head resting on House's side. The limping doctor just rolled his eyes and started to stroke the cat's head, making him purr "Don't tell anyone otherwise you're becoming Asian barbecue."
Meanwhile, Tara was running towards a park nearby where Cuddy agreed to meet her.
Tara and Cuddy greeted and gossiped a little bit before finally setting off on a run. They ran for a long time when they finally decided to go back to Cuddy's place, where Tara could drink some water and Cuddy could take a look at how the fixing of her roof was going.
" A hole on your roof?" Tara asked out of breath, running alongside Cuddy.
" Yeah, the rain did it, but I'm sure Alfredo can fix it."
" Alfredo ?"
"He is my fix-it guy, he's quite nice but tends to take a little while to finish his job, which makes me breathe down his neck at all times."
" Careful to not leave a hickey." Tara joked and Cuddy playfully shoved her a little "C'mon hot Mexican repairman with his boss. All porns start with the repairman fixing something before fixing your plumbing if you get what I mean."
Cuddy simply got her a look before saying: "Porn? You are going through House's stash?"
" With him, some of them are completely surreal but others give us nice ideas. We never managed to ever completely watch one, I always jump all over him. "
" That's a very disturbing image on my head, please, stop. I'm confused and grossed out, but I somehow find it strangely cute in an alien way."
" Confused, grossed out, and finding it cute is everyone's reactions towards newborns. Greg and I are plainly hot." Tara joked with a smirk and ran off.
" You are both crazy." Cuddy yelled to her friend and ran after her.
They finally managed to get back to Cuddy's place, both panting a lot. Tara witnessed Cuddy having to convince Alfred to finish her roof before her party before they both entered the kitchen. Cuddy poured water to Tara and herself.
" He's cute, you should definitely try it."
" Tara, I can't just have sex with random people."
" It was having sex with random people that introduced me to Greg." Tara pointed out.
" See, the risks of finding someone like House is far too big for me, no way. I'd rather die as a single woman." Cuddy said before laughing, but her laughter was interrupted because she started to choke. Tara quickly proceeds to help her friend by patting her back.
" Gosh, I bet 100 that Greg conjured something to make you choke the minute you said something about him." Tara joked.
Their mirth was interrupted by a small scream and the sound of Alfredo falling off the roof. Soon, they found themselves inside an ambulance and heading towards the hospital.
" No chances of pneumothorax, that's good, Alfredo. " Tara said while she examined the man inside the ambulance.
" Tara." Cuddy said from her side.
" What ?"
" His fingers." Cuddy pointed out.
" Your two little fingers are darker than the others." Tara said to the patient, trying to keep him aware of his state.
" They feel funny...like needles."
"How long have they been like that?" Tara asked him.
"I've never noticed before. Is bad?" Cuddy and Tara exchanged looks and they both knew that it was very bad.
" Judging by how it looks, he could lose his hand." Tara said to House and Wilson after they entered the hospital with Alfredo. Cuddy was next to her, retelling the story, she asked Tara to call House while they were inside the ambulance, if someone could figure out some medical mystery, it was him.
"How does falling off your roof do that to a guy's fingers?"
" Could have tweaked a vertebra in his neck. Could have pinged on the ulnar" House stopped talking to stare at Tara's sports bra and toned abdomen, "Sorry, trouble concentrating. That sports bra really absorbs moisture, you are all sweaty, hot and-"
" Shut up, Greg. Back to sounding smart and non-pervy. You can get some of this later." Tara said to her boyfriend, who smiled back at her with a boyish grin before going back to the serious, smart way he was acting before.
"Could have pinged the ulnar nerve, cut the blood flow. Or it could be
Disseminated intravascular coagulation." House finished " How smart does this sounds?"
" DIC.? Guy falls off a roof, the first thought is it's always a clotting problem." Wilson questioned.
" Trauma can activate the clotting enzymes. Guy could lose more than his hand. I'm so smart that I think of all the possibilities anyway." House pointed out before taking the patient's chart from Cuddy's hand.
"Thank you, very much. This guy's been working for me for a long time and I-" Cuddt said to the doctors and
"Do I get bonus points if I act like I care? At the moment all I care about is staring at Tara's boobies, if I can call something this amazing with a word that doesn't express its grandeur. Even the interns were staring at her ass. Back off!" House said to some interns, but the interns were indeed ogling Tara behind her back and they stopped doing so.
" They wouldn't do something like this in front of me, they like having a job." Tara commented to her boyfriend "I'm feeling kind today, I won't turn around to know who did this."
" Remember the gossip you told me about Nurse's Brenda gaydar beeping for that intern? That girl with long hair." House muttered the gossip to his girlfriend, who discreetly nodded to him " I'm 100% sure she is at least bi, she was staring at your ass. Not in a 'I want that ass' kind of way, but in a 'I want THAT ASS' kind of way." He said the first impression mimicking a jealous feminine voice and the last one with his own voice.
" I really have to stop spilling the tea with you. I created a gossip monster." Tara joked after laughing at his comments.
Some other interns spotted Tara and ran towards her, trying to get to participate in some surgery. They barely paid attention to House right next to her.
" I didn't know you were that famous." House commented and the interns started to stare at him open-mouthed, House was a legend around the hospital, he could be a pain in the butt, but a legend nonetheless.
" Looks like I am. Here, intern 1, you can take a look at the recovery patients, if someone needs a new surgery, you can scrub. Intern 2, you are going to chart the ER patients. Intern 3, you can clean up the wounds from that old lady in room 342. Intern 4, you are going to my place and getting me something to wear, don't look at me like that, I will let you scrub in in all of my surgeries today out of gratitude. " Tara said while looking at the inters and they started to offer themselves to pick up her clothes, the benefits of following any of her surgeries were bigger than the task. She forced them away before they bothered her again.
" You numbered them ?" House asked Tara.
" No. I know their names, but I just said random numbers and waited for them to identify themselves as such."
" Why did I bother to name my team? Numbers are so much cooler and nonchalant." House said playfully.
" You mock them enough as it is, let's go do our jobs." Tara said when they left the elevator, House was limping far
behind her, but not because he couldn't keep up with her pace " Stop staring at my ass."
" Damn it, you're no fun."
Tara finished showering and went back to her yard. The Surgical floor was very quiet today. Tara had no surgeries scheduled for the day and decided to spend her time down the ER in case a trauma emergency came up. She was standing there with four interns and her favorite resident: Dowsley, a gay red-haired man that everyone liked. She was playing checkers with Dowsley while the interns were betting on them while everyone expected an emergency.
" The ER is so quiet today." Steve, the intern, said and Dowsley shushed him.
" Don't say that, it brings bad luck." The resident, Dowsley, said and Tara couldn't help but agree, but even if they ended up unlucky, they at least would have work to do.
The moment Dowsley finished speaking four paramedics entered the ER rolling a gurney towards the surgeons. There was a woman with a lot of gauze around her leg and a pool of blood forming underneath it.
" Steve, I hate you." Dowsley said to the blonde intern.
" Mine." Tara said to the team and hurried towards the patient to analyze the wound.
She introduced herself and tried to calm the patient down before removing the bandages, the moment she removed the bandages, blood gushed all over her scrubs.
" Goldberg, Rashid, come over here and apply some pressure." Tara called the interns and the ran towards her, she turned to the patient and reassured the woman, who looked to be around her early 20's, that her team would do their best to take care of her, in the heat of the moment, Steve passed by and stated to the patient that they would save her leg before even looking at the woman's wounds, Tara shot him a pissed look before telling the interns to let go so she could try to analyze the injuries again.
The woman's leg was crushed, her femur, patella, and tibia were broken into many little pieces, nothing could save that part of the leg. Tara read the paramedics' chart again to learn the woman's name, it was Mary.
" Mary, I'm doctor Hamilton, I'm a trauma surgeon here. You broke three different bones in your leg in many different places, we can't mend them properly and this will require an amputation." Tara explained calmly.
"No, no, not my leg. I have a sports scholarship, what would I do without a leg ?"
" Prosthetics are more advanced than ever, you could have a nice life. If I don't amputate your leg, the tissue will start to die and it might turn into a very serious infection."
" But the other doctor said-"
" The other doctor is an intern, I'm head of surgery here. If he still has a career after this, he is going to learn that he isn't a god who can cure people before actually looking at them. I know you're nervous and this is a lot to take in. I'm asking for your consent, but if you lose consciousness before voicing your decision, I'm obligated to amputate your leg to save your life. I just want you to be able to have a say on what happens to your own body." Tara calmly said to the girl, who was about to lose consciousness due to the blood loss.
" Okay, do it." She weakly nodded her head.
And Tara spent the next two hours tending to the patient, she selected Rashid and Goldberg to assist the patient. She didn't even change out of her bloody scrubs before going on the hunt for Steve, she was going to yell a lot and lecture him, but she wouldn't take away his entire career over these mistakes, all surgeons committed mistakes.
" Where is Steve?" Tara asked a nurse passing by, she barely had time to see who she was.
" He is in the lobby talking to nurse Brenda."
" Thanks." Tara muttered and marched towards where the internt was.
" Steve, what the hell have you done ?" Tara yelled, many other doctors turned their heads to look at the pair, probably because they rarely witnessed Hamilton being angry to the point of yelling. The fact that she was covered in someone else's blood wasn't surprising at all in the ER, considering she was a cardio/trauma surgeon.
" I was trying to-"
" Yes, you were trying, TRYING, Steve. You can't make empty promises to patients before even looking at them, BEFORE EVEN BEING SELECTED TO TAKE THE CASE, you were a mere passer-by who took advantage of the fact that you were using a lab coat. Who in the name of Satan would promise something they don't know they are actually capable of doing ?" Tara yelled.
" I became a doctor to save lives." Steve had the guts to yell back.
" Save lives? YOU ARE AN INTERN, JUST AN INTERN AND A BAD ONE. YOU WOULDN'T BE THE ONE HOLDING A SCALPEL AND PERFORMING A SURGERY ON THAT WOMAN." Tara yelled back " YOU COMPROMISED ME, YOU COMPROMISED THE HOSPITAL AND YOU COMPROMISED YOUR OWN CAREER. Mary thinks that her life is over, do you think a 20-year-old is supposed to be hearing that she just lost an entire leg after having heard that said leg could have been saved? She was in a delicate moment and you took advantage of a weak person to sound like a hero to reassure yourself."
" I did the same thing you did."
" THE SAME THING I DID? OH, NO, YOU TRIED TO BE A FREAKING GOD BEFORE ACTUALLY DOING YOUR DAMN JOB. I PROMISED TO DO MY JOB THE BEST WAY I COULD, I WOULD NEVER PROMISE TO ANYONE SOMETHING THAT IS OUT OF MY GODDAMN REACH. YOU SUCK AS AN INTERN, YOU ARE LAZY, THE RESIDENTS COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU AND I HAD TO GIVE YOU TO FIVE DIFFERENT RESIDENTS, ALL OF THEM THOUGHT THAT YOU ARE USELESS." Tara yelled, some residents were proudly shaking their heads among the commotion " I won't end your career for this, everyone makes mistakes, even though you do them more often because of your negative IQ. You are suspended until further notice, WITHOUT payment." Tara said this as stormed away, leaving behind the stunned intern and other surgeons. Even Dr. Sheldon who hated her started to respect her after this, he thought she was too soft before.
And that's how Tara became the main gossip around the hospital today. Hamilton changed out of her bloody scrubs, showered again, and went back to her office to organize the interns' rounds to accommodate the fact that there was a suspended one. She got lost in time when someone knocked on her door, it was Stacy.
" Hey, I've heard about you and the intern." The lawyer said sympathetically and Tara sighed.
" Everyone has. I did the right thing, though. I am responsible for every single surgery here, one of the downsides of being the chief. The patient might sue me if she decides to do so."m
" Well, yeah. But it would easily turn into a settlement, and the fact that you have pictures and exams showing the extent of the wound would eliminate all your guilt. A very cheap settlement at worst." Stacy calmed Tara down and Tara ran her hands over her face in frustration.
" I know, but this doesn't erase the fact that we need to sort out the interns better. The internship program is taking a bunch of crappy interns based on what? Good recommendations?" Tara sighed " We are treating people in their most fragile moments, doctors can't be idiotic enough to make empty promises to someone who thinks there is over just to spare their own conscience. " Tara pointed out.
They talked more about possible legal issues and Stacy reassured the young doctor. Soon, Tara was calmer and they changed the subject to talk about House's patient.
" Cuddy gave him Protein C, she is hoping that it works and it saves his hand." Stacy explained the details to Tara.
" That is completely dangerous and reckless, the list of side effects are bigger than my arm. Greg prescribed it?"
" Cuddy did, Greg advised her not to, but she did it anyway."
" I love her, but she thinks all of this is her fault and is probably desperate to find a solution that will fix everything and make everyone happy again. Gregory House is crazy enough to go overboard while treating someone, but he is also a genius, and you never not take the advice from a genius."
" I had to be the mediator, at the end House just said to do whatever she wanted to do because he isn't the one getting sued for being an idiot and that he just wants to solve the puzzle before she kills the man."
" Yeah, that sounds like him." Tara smirked and talked a little bit more with Stacy before she left.
Tara focused on her work again when the door was open without anyone knocking previously, she knew that only Gregory House was close enough to her to simply barge into her office. She noticed that it was night already and probably past the time she was supposed to be home.
" Heard about your little riff-raff intern and how you yelled at him." House said to his girlfriend.
" That asshole is going to be the death of me." Tara mumbled back and House handed her a box of chocolates.
" They are stuffed with liquor, might help you to calm down." House joked.
" You are perfect, did you know that?" Tara said with a huge smile, she got up from her chair and hugged him. House was sitting over her desk, and after hugging, he kept her between his legs.
" Usually I'm an asshole, a motherless bastard, a bitc-"
" Yeah, but not today, not when I needed the most, and this is what matters to me. Wanna hear me complain and tell you some gossips ?" Tara said with a small smile and kissed his cheek.
" Wanna hear me complain about my Latin patient problems and gossip about our boss?" House shot back.
" Yep. I love hearing you talking about it, you sound passionate."
" Passionate? Does it means we are having S - E - X?"
" You're too tired, so am I. We are having S-L-E-E-P." Tara answered "Oh, and food."
The pair of doctors entered their apartment and were greeted by Steve. The tiny-legged furball rubbed around their legs before collapsing with his legs up, Tara was about to reach his belly when House advised:
" Don't, it's a trap. He is a son of a bich." House said to his girlfriend knowing that she would probably ignore everything he said and do it anyway. Much to his surprise, he started to hear the cat's purrs after Tara patted his belly, with more difficulty because of his leg, he went down and did the same. The moment Tara's hand left its caressing spot and was replaced with his, the cat bit him " Son of bitch!"
Tara laughed at the cat's antics before agreeing: " He is a son of a bitch, this bitch here is his mommy. That's why he loves me so damn much."
" You are mothering a pussy, can I nurture your pussy too ?" House joked and Tara laughed. House went to the bathroom to change out of his clothes and into something more comfortable while Tara looked for food.
" Damn it, we have no dinner." Tara was ruffling around the fridge and found nothing " I mean, we have huge ass paychecks and barely have food. The fridge has just beers, cheese, and a suspicious-looking ham that screams 'food poisoning' and is actually moving."
" We could just order a pizza or some Chinese." House suggested as always.
" No way. Love, we order this so damn much that they recognize my voice and I don't even have to order, they know our order already. We need food, real food."
" It is real food, we are skinny, we can eat anything. If anything you are actually looking thinner."
" You are a damn doctor and you know that eating a bunch of crap will kill us in a month's time. We are grocery shopping today." Tara decided and House, who came back from their room shirtless, wearing comfortable pants just shot her a look that yelled a huge 'no' back at her. He was too comfortable to go out again.
" I will cook for you." Tara tried to lighten him up after forcing him to drive them to the nearest.
" Hell no, I cook. I love you, I hate your food. Anything made by you that doesn't involve baking tastes like something brought and rolled by a dung-beetle. We are tired, going out, shopping, and making food will take an eternity."
" Damn. But I'm definitely cleaning the fridge this weekend. Someday we will get sick because of the new mold mutation that was born on that ham."
" Leave the ham alone. Just order that pizza we like and change into something comfortable like me. Shirts are optional."
After a while, their pizza came and they went to the living room to eat it.
" How's the case ?" Tara asked her boyfriend before biting a huge piece of pizza. She changed into one of his old band T-shirts, it was an old shirt because he was too jealous of the ones he like to use regularly.
" Shitty. Nothing fixes that guy." House replied as a matter of fact " And I also have to practice as a psychiatrist because Cuddy is going insane. Our situations don't look the same, but they sure as hell are. I have to deal with a person who thinks she can do something completely out of her reach while you have to deal with an intern who thinks he can do things completely out of his reach."
" Damn it, okay, they look the same, but I like Cuddy better than the intern and I'm defending her."
" Defending the most powerful one, so brave." House shot back with a smirk, almost taunting her.
" Love, if I ever have to pick a side between a guy and a woman, I'm definitely siding up with the woman."
" I was expecting you to say you would side up with me."
" Sorry, Honey. Sisters before misters."
" She can't give you dick."
" That's a low blow."
" A hard blow could help me. Anyway, she is going crazy and I need to do my job." House said to his girlfriend.
" I love you, but you know how to manipulate people. Use your gift, manipulate people into thinking that their actions are their own, when actually they were inspired by you. Make them do what you would have done if you were in their shoes." Tara said to House with a small smirk and his expressions told her that he liked her idea.
" You're telling me to manipulate Cuddy?" Greg asked Tara with a smile " I mean, weren't you on her side?"
" I didn't say specifically HER, I said PEOPLE in general. Do not make me say names, Greg." Tara said with a small smirk.
" You are a genius. Explains why I'm so attracted to you."
" That's common sense, hon. And you're attracted to me because I'm hot, when it comes to females you have the same intelligence as a 13-year-old hormonal boy." Tara joked.
" Ouch. You can't judge me, you slept with stupid doctors before finding me. Rumor has it you slept with all attendings while you were an intern." House pointed out.
" All doctors are stupid, the only actual healer is the Lord." Tara said seriously but started laughing making him laugh along " And while I slightly approve you being manipulative for a twisted, but good reason. Try to be kind, she is sensitive right now."
" Exactly what makes her weak."
"It doesn't make her weak. Sure, her judgment is a little bit off right now, but feeling guilty or worried about someone is not a weakness, it is just human nature. You worry as much as anyone else, you just don't let it show." Tara said seriously and House rolled his eyes.
" I don't"
"You sure as hell do, what makes you angry about the patients' lies is that they risk their own lives to lie. You like lies yourself, only really smart people can lie."
" You should have become a therapist." House mocked but didn't disagree.
" I'm your therapy dog." Tara mocked and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"More likely a bitch." House mumbled and Tara gently slapped his arm.
The next day was very quiet and stress-free for Tara, no interns tried to annoy her after her little display of anger, they were scared and trying to do their best to avoid being punished like Steve. She managed to do her E.R rounds and was doing some office work when House, Cuddy, and Stacy barged into her office.
" What did you do?" Tara asked Cuddy and House.
"What makes you think we did something? Stacy might have embezzled money from the hospital." House joked with his girlfriend and she shot him a look.
" They want to amputate the patient's hand. They went to me, but I'm a lawyer, since the two are in disagreement over the proper medical course of action, it could make it awkward for my client in court. My client being this sorry pair of doctors. I don't know anything about gangrene, but I'm quite sure you do."
" I don't think Tara is impartial, she lives with him." Cuddy complained.
" That's why I'm, I know the little monster that lives with me." Tara commented "And I also know that guilt is eating up your brains."
" Little? You don't say that I'm little when you're moan-"
" Shut up." Tara said seriously, but she tried her best to contain her small smirk. House noticed this and grinned back, she just rolled her eyes and motioned for them to hand her the exams.
" He is a handyman, he won't be able to work without a hand." Cuddy explained and Tara told her that she knew it.
" This hand in this picture?" Tara exclaimed "Cuddy, you either kill him or take off his hand. This thing is yelling gangrene. If you wanted to reduce the damage, we could have amputated the tips of his fingers at the begging of the infection." Tara announced.
" His hand still has an arterial pulse." Cuddy complained.
" His hand is a cesspool. And the crap is spreading."
" Shut up, you two are annoying as hell. Let me think. We can try a less aggressive approach." Tara suggested and House shot him a look " Don't complain yet, Greg. It's less aggressive, but we are still going to remove dead tissue. A tiny amputation of those nasty purple dead tips and maggot therapy."
" Well, this satisfies both parties." Stacy agreed with Tara.
" As in we both don't get what we want."
" As the philosopher, Mick Jagger once said: you get what you need." Tara replied to her boyfriend.
" So chop, chop time." House said to Cuddy, who nodded sadly.
" It's not going to destroy his livelihood, Lisa. He is going to lose the tips of 3 or 4 fingers, with some physical therapy he will be able to fix many more ceilings." Tara reasoned.
" I should be the one to tell the family." Cuddy said this and left the office sadly, Stacy followed her and left House and Tara alone.
" See what I just did? I'm amazing and wise." Tara joked to her boyfriend.
" You cut-blocked my amputation."
" Your method was aggressive and antiquated, while Cuddy's method was just pathetic. Both ideas are idiotic. We do need a quick diagnosis to find the underlying cause, though. Otherwise, we will need your method." Tara replied.
" You look hot acting all doctorish." House complimented his partner.
" No, no, no, we both have jobs to do."
" Some studied have shown that sex boosts the brain cells function in areas linked to short-term memory."
" You haven't read any medical article in a month's time. It's not a short-term memory you will be using." Tara replied wisely.
" You stole my Nephrology Journal, I'm a nephrologist and you stole my journal."
" They have an article mentioning some valves." Tara defended herself " Wanna grab some lunch while my interns slash minions prepare your patient for surgery?"
" Thought you'd never ask." House limped after her and asked: "by lunch you mean me ravishing you inside some on-call room?"
"Duh, of course." Tara rolled her eyes and they made their way towards the opposite direction from the cafeteria.
Tara performed the procedure she suggested successfully, the only issue was that she found out that his other hand was already turning purple. She announced this to Cuddy and went back to the Surgical floor.
Meanwhile, House's team was brainstorming the possible diagnosis to their case. House was discussing possibilities when he just thought about Tara and the fact that she was a cardiologist, this gave him a eureka moment and he focused on all possible heart issues. His analytical mind quickly excluded many possibilities and left him with only one answer: endocarditis.
" Little bacteria cauliflowers clinging to his bowels. Except sometimes they can't hold on. They go swimming in his bloodstream. Thursday, one breaks off, goes to his right hand. Black fingers, gangrene. Friday's child heads for the kidneys. We all know what Saturdays are all about. Party with the left hand. Also explains the fever." House reasoned with the team and Cuddy, who was bundled inside his conference room.
" It's perfect. Except for the little fact that we're already tested for endocarditis and he was negative." Cuddy answered.
" Which either means he is negative or what infection could cause pneumonia and culture-negative for endocarditis? Prize value goes down with every clue."
" Psittacosis." Chase answered and Cuddy protested that Alfredo had no pet parrots.
House suggested that his night job on Saturdays was related to birds, more specifically a cockfight arena. He simply told the team to look around Alfredo's neighborhood to find out. The team headed towards the place while he stayed back with Wilson and Tara, who were about to go back home but decided to wait for him. House and Tara were throwing a ball to each other, making basket hoops with their arms, and scoring.
" This is definitely a 3 points' shot." House joked with Tara when she accidentally threw the ball inside the wastebasket behind him.
" Shut up, and play." Tara said in her usual competitive manner.
" Who snuck a cat photo here?" Wilson asked the pair.
" Me." Tara grinned " He tried to take it off but I superglued it."
" a naked picture of you, that is really more interesting, you don't glue over my desk. Although I'd be quite distracted by it, can you work with only one hand? The right one would always be busy, anyway." House joked.
" You can yo-yo one-handed."
" Stop saying one-handed puns, the guy has his hand. Yeah, he lost some tips of some fingers, but he can completely regain function."
" Like your leg." Wilson pointed out to House, who rolled his eyes.
" But he has a third leg to spare the limping one. And I guarantee that this third one is far far from limp." Tara defended her lover.
" I am completely disgusted and will be getting back home after hearing this." Wilson joked before he left.
" Please, let's go home, I need sleep."
" You look tired."
" Thanks, I love you too." House shot back with his usual sarcasm.
" We could go back home and have a nice and long bubble bath together to relax from this exhausting week." Tara suggested before grabbing her bag and getting up.
" I'd be dead before I refuse any opportunity of seeing you naked." House said with a small smirk and followed his girlfriend out of his office "Wanna bet that he will be suing the hospital soon?"
" He wouldn't. Come on, you saved his life, I saved his hand and Cuddy saved him from not being hospitalized."
" He will. Come on, do you know how much his medical bill will be."
" Considering all the meds and surgeries and doctors involved, I know it's too much. A consult with me is more than 500 dollars."
" Now I know why you choose to be a doctor instead of a hooker."
" I'd gain way more if I were a hooker."