"Cirrhosis of the liver."
"How would she get that?" Chase asked from the table as House jotted 'Cirrhosis of the Liver' down on the whiteboard.
"How would she not, living in conditions like that?" Cameron asked.
"Well students, let's look at what causes this little problem, shall we?"
"Wait, are you sure it's Cirrhosis of the Liver?" Foreman asked.
"Of course not." House replied, "But at the moment it's the only thing that matches all the symptoms. Unless of course you'd like to start reading through Webster's Dictionary of Medical Problems, start with the A's and skip the Z's. It's never anything that starts with a Z."
"He's right." Cameron pointed out as she flipped through the nearest medical dictionary to Cirrhosis. "It accounts for all the symptoms. The Abdominal pain, coughing up blood, loss of consciousness..."
"But the weight loss," Chase pointed out, "People with a liver cirrhosis don't lose weight, they usually gain."
"Her condition was fragile when she was brought in," Cameron replied, "She's been starved, her stomach couldn't handle the food we were giving her, no wonder she's been losing weight."
"All right, so suppose it is Cirrhosis of the liver," Foreman said carefully, "How did she get it? She doesn't look like a drinker..."
"Hemochromatosis or Wilson's disease?" Chase suggested.
"Neither of her parents has a history." Cameron replied, "What about acute Hepatitis B?"
"I thought you were trying to convince us that she was different from the rest of the teenage population." House said with a small gleam in his eye.
"It's not that unbelievable." Chase said quickly, "It can be acquired through swapping of fluids or by simply using the same tooth brush as someone who has it."
"If it's acute then there's really nothing we can do, except give her pain meds and hope it rides out." Foreman said.
"Her symptoms are too far gone, if it's acute then she can't fight it off any longer." Cameron said, "We need to get her on the transplant list for a new liver."
"What we need to do," House said, "is take a blood test and while we wait for the results, start her on Interferon, we need those results asap. And while we're running around like mad little ants, let's ask the loving parents how their little girl could have contracted it."
xXx
"...I have no idea," Daniel Corbin said from the chair beside his wife. "She's a very wild girl, there's any number of young men she hangs out with that could be carrying it."
"You mean the band members?" House asked, "Or do you actually allow her to associate with real people outside of her job?"
Daniel Corbin smirked, the smile of a man who was confident enough in his position in society to act suspicious and get away with anything. "My daughter lives a perfectly normal life for a teenage girl..."
"Right, apart from the bumps and bruises, the being locked in the basement and the performing in a bar every night. It's a pity too." House said, "She's got real talent, so did you think you could get extra cash for her voice by whoring her out after every performance?"
"You watch your tone doctor," Daniel Corbin said suddenly, "I would never do something like that to my daughter."
"Wouldn't do what? Lock her in a basement or sell her on the streets? You could get quite a little company set up..." House knew he was treading on thin ice but found himself even more amused by Daniel Corbin's reaction with each passing moment. "Sorry if I offended you, I was... well you know." House's sarcasm became apparent to Corbin as soon as he continued talking, "I was just trying to find out who made your daughter sick, but no worries, obviously I've treaded into the most perfect American family. How could anything in your home be wrong?"
As House limped out of the room, he caught a glance of Spencer, still hiding from Daniel Corbin.
"Hey kid, come on, I want to talk to you about your relationship."
"What?" Spencer asked as House gripped his elbow and dragged him out of view of Gloria Corbin's room.
"You and I, I'm worried about us, you never call me any more." House replied as stopped and stared at the young man, "Jenny, how long have you known her?"
"Since she moved here a year and a half ago." Spencer said, "Why?"
"And how many bases have you run?"
"What?"
"How far have you gone?"
"What are you talking about?"
House rolled his eyes, "You really are a prince charming, how close have you gotten to having sex?"
"What!"
"Trust you, this is relevant to getting your little girlfriend out of here and out of this city, How far have you gotten?"
"Not... far at all. We're both waiting, until she's ready. We've, y'know, kissed and stuff..."
"And the and stuff would include..."
"Holding hands,"
"You teens these days, no wonder there are so many teenage pregnancies, people like you need to be handcuffed to stop from jumping every member of the opposite sex that you see." House sighed.
"Why?"
"Huh?"
"Why is it important?"
"We think she contracted chronic hepatitis B from someone or somewhere, we need to find... What?" As House began explaining, the young man before him went deathly white.
"Hepatitis B?"
"Yes."
"What are you giving her to treat it?"
"...Interferon, why?"
"She's allergic to it!" Spencer hissed under his breath.
House gave him a curious look and opened his mouth to reply when his pager went off, he looked at the small device 'Jenny, Code Blue.'
"Come on." House said.
"She's going into anaphylactic shock!" Cameron said as she checked the monitor beside Jenny's bed. "Her O2 stats are dropping!" The young girl wheezed and struggled to get a single reasonable amount of air into her lungs.
"We need to get her intubated!" Chase said as he grabbed an endotracheal tube and carefully began forcing it down the young girls' throat. "She's swelling shut..."
"Get ten cc's of adrenaline!" Foreman said swiftly, "Anything?"
"We're in, bag her."
Spencer and House had just approached the room as Chase had gotten the tube into Jenny's throat, the young man remained frozen to his spot, gazing through the glass as the doctors worked to desperately keep her alive. House entered and relaxed as the sound of the heart monitor began to even out into a less than rapid pace.
"She had an allergic reaction to the Interferon." Cameron said as she stepped away from the bed and allowed Chase to pump the air into Jenny's lungs.
"I know." House replied, "The question is, how did the kid know?"
"What do you mean?"
"He knew she would have an allergic reaction even before my pager went off."
"Well, he is her boyfriend..."
"Even bigger question is, how did she know, unless she already has Hepatitis B."
"There's nothing on her chart," Cameron said as she flickered through the papers that were held on the clipboard, "Up till a few days ago she was perfectly healthy."
"Right, well, I'm going to have another talk with the boyfriend and see if I can get his little horny mouth to tell me something that might be helpful."
xXx
"I told you, I don't..."
"Oh cut the crap!" House exclaimed. He had successfully dragged the young man away from Jenny's room and down to the clinic where he took refuge in one of the exam rooms. "You and your girlfriend have this all planned out don't you? Tell no one, say nothing and you can get out of here without having to cross any lines or run any risks! It makes perfect sense! But guess what, you've given yourself away, either you start talking or I'll start siphoning your blood pint by pint so I can do a billion unnecessary tests until I find what the hell is wrong with you!"
"I'm not trying to make trouble for you!" Spencer protested, "I just want to get Jenny out of here..."
"Well, until we start getting some genuine answers, we're going to keep guessing wrong and she's only going to get sicker and sicker so you'd better start giving some answers. I'm not asking for her darkest secret, I'm asking you, how do you know she's allergic to Interferon?"
"I can't... I promised."
"This has something to do with her father doesn't it?" House asked, "I assure you, it won't leave this room, I just need to know, does she, or does she not have Hepatitis B?"
"No, she doesn't." Spencer said icily as he began to stand up, "Now can I go?"
"No," House whipped out his cane in front of the young man and poked him back down onto the chair. "How do you know she doesn't?"
"Because... she was tested for it."
"When?"
"Before she moved here, I wasn't there but she told me a few months ago. That was when we decided to leave."
"Why was she tested?"
"I really shouldn't..."
"We'll you've started the story dad, it's not fair to leave a kid like me hanging just as the noble prince rides up on his white steed to rescue the damsel in distress..."
"Will you cut the sarcasm for just a minute?" Spencer asked, "This isn't a joke, you can't... you can't joke about things like this."
"Like what?"
"There were incidents..." Spencer said quietly, "Before they moved here, he had been doing it for years and... she started getting sick just before they came so he got her tested."
"Who's he?"
"Her father... son of a bitch..."
"He... hurt her?"
"He more than hurt her." Spencer said bitterly. "It started with abuse, getting knocked around, then it escalated, Jenny started fighting back."
"So he... raped her?"
Spencer nodded glumly.
"Did she tell anyone?"
"She told the doctor who was taking her blood for the Hepatitis test... Daniel Corbin had such a great reputation where they were as a donator in the medical community that the doctor didn't believe her."
"And the tests?"
"They came back negative, but Jenny kept getting worse so they took her to another clinic run by one of Corbin's friends. They gave her Interferon and she had an allergic reaction, it almost killed her."
"And then they moved here." House finished. Suddenly the world of Jenny Corbin became very clear to him, and her harsh words earlier seemed perfectly justified.
Spencer nodded, "My band and I were performing at the bar, Corbin hooked it up with the manager so she'd perform with us. Within a few weeks we all knew about her, I think she was so grateful to have someone actually believe her. We'd all been saving up to get out of Jersey, we decided to ask Jenny along."
"And she's had these symptoms, the fatigue, nausea, weight loss... since you met her?"
"Since I met her."
"Wow." Was all House could say.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know yet." House replied, "Get her better, heal all the wounds."
"Are you going to have them arrest Corbin and his wife?"
"Corbin, sure, there's enough pointing at him. Gloria will probably get off scot-free."
"Why? She knew all about it."
"I don't get to decide who gets arrested, for now, don't leave Jenny's side. She said Corbin would work fast..."
"He would," Spencer agreed, "He knows all the right people."
"Right," House muttered, "Well this puts a rather unpleasant spin on the whole day, I should have listened to my horoscope, It told me I'd be getting an unexpected surprise at work today. For now, we don't do anything, there's one more thing and I think I finally understand." House looked over at Spencer's shocked face, "Don't worry, He'll be arrested, people like him always get what they deserve."
A/N: Bet you thought that was the climax, just wait another chapter or two...