"It's not Cirrhosis of the liver and it's not..."
"Hepatitis B," House said as he walked into the conference, his stomach still queasy from his discussion with Spencer only an hour earlier. "So we're back to square one."
"How did you know it's not Hep B?" Chase asked, "We just got the results in a few minutes ago."
"My psychic powers," House replied as he erased every inch of the whiteboard and picked up a blue pen. "I was channelling you as you got the results. Let's start again shall we? Symptoms?"
"Abdominal pain," Cameron said, "Low BP, nausea, weight loss, fatigue."
"All right, so the Caspofungin has taken care of the Aspergillosis for now, her symptoms for that are under control. It's not Cirrhosis of the liver, we've got a biopsy to prove that. What else?"
"Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome?" Chase suggested.
"She started presenting these symptoms over a year ago," House replied, "WPW is an on again off again thing, besides, it wouldn't account for the abdominal pain. Did you get her stable?"
"We have her on the ventilator for now," Foreman said, "The adrenaline should help with the anaphylactic shock. Her BP is still low, fever still rising, in and out of consciousness... It's pretty rough."
"We don't have much more time," Cameron said swiftly, "If she continues this course then she'll be gone within a few days."
"What a quaint way of saying it." House said, "I would have used something more comical, like 'kick the bucket' or 'gone to the happy hunting grounds in the sky.' But I like your way, much more subtle. So what are we going to do to fix her?"
"We need to find out what's frying her brain and body..." Foreman said.
"Flambé," House said, "It's more fun to say. All right, how's Gloria?"
"Recovering just fine," Chase said, "She'll be ready to leave in a few days."
"Okay," House rubbed his weary eyes and looked at the whiteboard, "Start her on etodolac for the abdominal pain, I want you to run tests on her blood again, see what she's missing. Check her white blood cell count again, let's see if the levels can give us a hint at how big this thing is that she's fighting."
Chase and Foreman left the room but Cameron hung back, she had noticed the strange behaviour of House the moment he had walked into the conference room. There was something he had not told the other doctors and she knew it was important.
"So... how did her boyfriend know she was allergic to interferon?"
"She was tested for Hep B over a year ago." House replied as he sat on one of the chairs and continued to stare at the whiteboard.
"It wasn't in her file."
"Yes, well it was one of those curious little facts that wasn't really important enough for her parents to tell us about."
"Why was she tested for it?"
"Her father thought it was necessary."
"But why..."
"Because for the last god knows how many years of her life, he's been sexually abusing her."
"Oh my god."
"Yeah, apparently he was considerate enough to have some tests done and give her the medication even though she didn't need it. She told the doctor who took the first test, apparently no one believed her."
"Explains why she doesn't really trust any of us."
"Well, lets try to clear the general reputation of our practice shall we?" House said, "You guys fix her, I'm going to kick some butt."
"Don't you think calling the police would be a better option?"
"It would." House agreed, "Except she doesn't stay conscious long enough to tell anyone. And it will take time for her to tell any of us, let alone a cop. As she pointed out, by the time words turn into actions, It'll be too late. As long as we keep playing dumb, the caring father will stay around his daughter to make sure she doesn't talk."
"You sound like a mobster."
"No, if I was a mobster, I would have worked something about the godfather into that."
"So what? You're going to wait until she's awake before you have the sicko arrested? What kind of logic is that? He could..."
"The boyfriend's not leaving her side," House said, "For now... that's all we can do. Let's try to find what's wrong, then everyone can get what they deserve."
xXx
"She has low cortisol levels." Chase said as a glossy paper came out from the printer. "That's strange."
"There's about a dozen things that could give a person low Cortisol levels." Foreman said from the other side of the lab, "Her white count is still high, could be from fighting off the fungal infection, could be from whatever's hitting her."
"You think House is getting too emotionally involved in this case?" Chase asked suddenly.
"Definitely," replied Foreman, "But he won't listen, as long as he keeps taking his Vicodin we should be fine."
"Really though, you don't think his judgement has become somewhat compromised by it?"
"I think he feels strongly about patients that suffer abuse when they shouldn't have to, it makes him passionate about his work, you can hardly argue with that."
"Yeah, but with Corbin threatening him, don't you think that maybe he's a bit... I dunno, worried?"
"Worried? House? Let's look at this logically for a moment, do you want to face House in a dark alley in the middle of the night?"
"Good point," Chase muttered, "All right, lets take these results back to him."
xXx
"My... boys feel wrong."
House raised an eyebrow at the middle-aged man sitting in front of him in exam room one. Larry Johnstone was forty-eight years old, balding and slightly portly.
"Your...boys?"
"Uh, yeah, you know. My-..."
"It's okay Larry, I know what you mean. I'm just not sure why I got stuck with you."
House turned and looked out the window to the nurses' station in the clinic, where three nurses and Cuddy were leaning against the counter, smiling and waving at House.
"Ah..." He muttered, "Tell me Larry, how's your wife?"
"What?"
"Your wife, you have a wedding ring, I'm assuming you didn't just dip your ring finger in molten gold for fun."
"She's fine." Larry said, slightly shocked at being asked such a personal question, "Why?"
"You're forty-eight Larry, slightly balding, not exactly in pristine condition. I'm guessing your boys don't feel wrong because you've just experienced three hours of wild sex with your wife. Let me guess, the magic's gone? You've hit the mid life dry spell? No juice left?"
"Well..."
"Forget it," House said, "I don't want to know. I'm going to recommend you see a doctor who has far more patience and actually specializes in this area... literally." House took out a pad of paper, "I'm also going to give you the address of a good gym, getting out and breaking a sweat once every few decades might do you some good."
House glared at Cuddy who was still laughing as he walked out of the exam room.
"Funny, like a fork in the back of the hand." He muttered, "Doctor House, left at five twenty-eight p.m., write that down." He told the nurse. "So what are you doing here? Or have you come to bask in my misfortune of having to deal with some man and his boys?"
"Actually," Cuddy said as she wiped a tear away from her eye, the laughter still in her voice, "I came to ask you how the Corbin kid was doing."
"Not good." House replied grimly, "Fever is still rising fast, BP is low, she has to be on the ventilator because of the reaction she had to the Interferon."
"Any closer to finding out what exactly is wrong with her?"
"I had Chase and Foreman run some tests, still waiting for the results, listen I need to talk to you about her actually. In private."
"All right," Cuddy led him into her office and offered him a seat, House shook his head in decline and wondered where he should begin.
"Well?"
"There's more to her history than we thought..." House said slowly, "She's been sexually abused."
"What?" asked Cuddy, her voice was deathly quiet.
"Her boyfriend told me..."
"Well... he could be lying."
"Right, so the boyfriend just decided he would make up a story for her...why? To protect her? To add a bit more spark to all our lives?"
"Daniel Corbin is a great donator..."
"Oh I don't believe this, he got to you too!" House exclaimed, "How much did this guy pay you to ignore his blunt indiscretions?"
"Oh relax." Cuddy said sharply, "He just donated some money, I didn't know about any of this..." She paused and heaved a great sigh. "What do you want me to do?"
"Don't call the police just yet," House replied, "If you do, and they arrest him but Jenny isn't willing to say anything, then it won't matter. The guy will be out of prison and he'll be able to come back and get his revenge."
"So, what, you plan on convincing her? Last time you got near her you ended up yelling at the poor kid..."
"I'll have Cameron talk to her when she wakes up."
"If she wakes up." Cuddy corrected quietly, "Fix her House, no kid deserves this life."
A/N: Alas my friends, our time is nearing an end, or is it? I don't know, maybe. I'm trying to figure out a way I can stretch it out a bit. But don't worry, there are at least three chapters left. Maybe more!