CHAPTER 3

Janice Rand was going into violent convulsions when Cameron, Foreman, and Chase rushed in. Mrs. Rand was frantic, "What's happening?" she posed but nobody bothered to answered.

Suddenly, Janice leaned over the side of her bed and vomited with such force, the doctors had to hold her to prevent her from falling over the side of the bed. She was gasping for air.

"Get her on respirators." Foreman ordered. When she was hooked up Cameron injected her with tranquilizers and Janice once again lapsed into sleep.

A moment later House limped into the room and glanced around.

"Did I miss it?" House asked in mock innocence. "Darn, I wanted to watch the show."

"Excuse me, who is this?" Mrs. Rand demanded, worry giving way to irritancy of the nonchalance attitude of this man.

"I'm the doctor, nice to meet you." House commented dryly.

"Why aren't you in uniform? Why haven't we seen you until now?" Mrs. Rand wasn't really sure why she cared, but she did.

"God, you're like that kid I just examined. First of all, the reason you haven't seen me is because I have much better things to do than sit by your daughter's bedside and hold her hand. You seem to have that covered. And my uniform, if that's what you want to call it, is ugly and it itches." House paused for a moment. "That answer all your questions? Good. 'cause I have one for you: what's this rash on your daughter's arms?"

Mrs. Rand let out a shaky laugh, "Oh, she had chicken pox a little later than most people at about 14. She scratched so much that it left huge scares around her arms. Put that with the exema she's always had and you've got some nasty rash." She gasped, "Why?"

"Curiosity," House replied enigmatically. "'Kay, bye." He limped out of the room but not before turning to his associates. "After lunch, meet me in the briefing room."

Foreman frowned, "It's not lunchtime yet."

"It is on my watch." House saw the disapproving looks and adopted a look of innocence, "What? I'm hungry."

An hour later, they met in the briefing room. House crossed the word rash off the list. "Okay, now we know it is not any type of skin disease. But, we have got an addition to the list, Cameron, did you notice anything funny about the heartbeat?"

Cameron paused, pulling that piece of information out of her brain, "It was unusually fast."

After a moment, Cameron spoke again, "It seems to be focused around the heart. I think it is Long QT Syndrome."

For a second, it seemed to House that his heart stopped beating. "Long QT Syndrome?" His voice was very different from what his colleagues were used to, soft and distant. They noticed it immediately, but did nothing except exchange befuddled glances. House seemed to regain his composure, "Okay, that's a possibility." He wrote it in a different section on the whiteboard. He turned, "Next?"

Foreman was next to speak, "QT wouldn't cause the rapid heartbeat; I'm gonna go with Atrial Flutter."

House nodded, liking that solution better, writing it up on the board. "Chase?"

Chase stared at the board, thinking, "Atrial Flutter," He stated simply. "It fits with all the symptoms better."

"Alright, I'm for Atrial Flutter." House connected the cap to the pen with a type of finality. "Prepare her for treatment."

With that, he limped to his office, leaving his assistants looking after him with bemused glances.

In the lab room, Chase, Cameron, and Foreman were busy preparing the treatment for Janice Rand. But that was not where their thoughts were.

"What was that back there?" Foreman wondered aloud.

"What, House?" Chase glanced up and Foreman nodded. "I dunno. That was weird though."

"Yeah…" Both men glanced at Cameron, who paused before answering.

"I think something happened to him," she replied, shaking her head. "I don't know what though."

Chase shook his head quizzically, "Who knows?"