Disclaimer: House MD is property of David Shore and Fox TV, only the plot is mine.

Haunted

Chapter 6: Rashinal Medical Decisions

Hour 7

Cameron drowsily opened her eyes blinking away the film of dried tears as she looked around her room. The last thing she remembered was Chase calling for Haldol then nothing. She had only been out an hour so they must have given her a very low dose just to calm her. She shuddered as she thought of the way Lily had been petting her hair. She had to find out what killed her so she could finally rest. An atheist she may be but she knew that there had to be some kind of after life.

The tingling itch came back, sitting up she grabbed the tube of hydrocortisone, watching this time so just in case Lily decided to show up again she wouldn't touch her. A relieved sigh issued from her cracked lips as she applied a liberal amount of the cream to her rash that was now half way up between her knees and ankles. The rash spreads fast, she couldn't think of many ailments with this rapid of a progression and the ones that came to mind had already been ruled out.

At the sound of the glass door being slid open Cameron raised her gaze to see who had was coming into her room. Nurse Brenda gave her a warm smile as she stepped into the room. "I'm glad to see you up Dr. Cameron, you had us worried there for a bit."

"Hi, Brenda." Cameron greeted as the nurse took a seat next to the bed. She was glad to have someone to talk to for a little bit, especially one that didn't refer to her as an idiot all the time. "Are you on break?"

"Yeah, just thought you could use some company." Brenda was always the more helpful of all the nurses and was able to take a lot of House's crap in stride. Cameron had always been curious about how she could deal so easily with him. "How are you feeling."

"I'm alright, except for the itching, if it wasn't for this hydrocortisone I would probably already scratched the skin off my leg." The women shared a short giggle but in the back of both their minds they thought of what was to come if the head of diagnostics couldn't come up with an answer. "Do you know how the case is going?"

"I don't know much but I do know the men are working their tails off, running back and forth getting all sorts of tests. Your case is considered the hospitals top priority." Cameron smiled a weak thanks to her as she brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her face, she almost cried as it fell onto the bed. Nurse Brenda looked at her sympathetically as she patted her arm. "Don't worry, hun. I'm sure it'll grow back."

The women were interrupted by the door being slid open again and in limped House with a piece of paper in his hand. "Goodbye." He addressed Brenda who said a quick farewell to Cameron and left the room closing the door behind her.

"Find anything new?" Hope sprang up in her dim blue eyes as she wondered what was on the paper. Pompously House walked to the end of the bed and leaned on his cane as he began to read the paper.

"Alison Cameron has been found to be mentally incompetent to make rashinal medical decisions. Therefor it is in her best interest that any and all treatments and or procedures be authorized by Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital by care of her attending physician Dr. Gregory House." Noticing the confused look on her face House rolled before breaking it down in simple terms. "Basically the courts say you are an...idiot... and that I don't need your consent for anything."

"House, what is wrong with you? Why would you get a court order, I'm not refusing anything?" She looked close to tears as she took the paper away from House and read it herself.

"Okay, how many more times am I going to have to say this?" House rolled his eyes again, tilting his head back in frustration. "You...are...an...idiot!" Cameron glared at him from behind the paper as she shook her head.

"What are you doing?" House started taking down her IV bags and unhooking monitors as a couple nurses came in the room.

"Taking you to surgery." The casual tone made her uneasy as she looked up into his cold countenance.

"Why surgery?" She asked as she was being wheeled out of the room. "I didn't consent..." She closed her eyes as she crumpled the paper in her hand.

"Wouldn't want you to be late for your amputation."

Her eyes snapped open as what he had just said registered in her mind. "Amputation!" House gave a playful yet condescending look to one of the nurses as they headed towards the elevator to take her to the OR.

"Don't you love it when we play 'repeat everything I say in question form'?" He sighed and gave Cameron a look that was as close to sympathetic as he could get. "If we stop the rash we may stop whatever the hell this is from spreading. So what, you'll be bald and legless but at least you'll still be alive. I bet the staff will even ship in and get you one of those electric wheel chairs that says 'idiot' on the back."

Hour 8

House and the team sat in his office waiting for the surgery to be over. No one approved of the procedure that was taking place, but they new it may be the only way to save her life. It had only been a short while since she had injected herself but already they felt the wait of fatigue hanging over them.

"What if it doesn't work?" Everyone looked up at Foremen as he spoke what they all were thinking. If it didn't work then they cut off her legs for nothing but if they couldn't find the answer it wouldn't matter anyway.

House mulled the question over in his head. If it still spread then that means that the rash wasn't the key or they didn't catch it in time. But at the same time it also ruled out the possibility that it travels with the rash, it was something new to go on and that was good. But this case wasn't like any other House had ever had, new didn't mean good, new meant one step closer to a painful death. "Get some rest, she should be out of surgery in about three or four hours. If it doesn't work we're in for a long ride."

Hour 11

The lights in the Diagnostics department was out as Dr. Cuddy rounded the corner, the only light was that coming from the computer monitor. She quietly opened the door to the office and stepped inside, the light coming in from the hall revealed the forms of four sleeping doctors. House was kicked back in his comfy yellow chair snoring quietly. Chase was sitting at the desk with his head down and Foreman and Wilson sat leaning against one another in the chairs up against the wall, Cuddy wished she had a camera to get a picture of this to use as black mail material later in.

"House." She said softly as she knelt by his chair, placing a hand on his arm. He grunted and shifted in his chair but remained asleep. "House, wake up." She spoke a little louder this time causing all four men to startle back to consciousness.

"What is it?" House groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "You usually don't appear until after I get off. You know its true what they say, Angelina likes to use knives in bed. She's all yours Chase, we know how much you love to be tortured."

Cuddy ignored him and continued on with what she had to tell them. "Cameron's out of surgery. They're taking her to recovery room one."

"How did the surgery go?" Chase wiped the sleep out of his eyes as he got up to stretch.

"She did fine, there was no complications." Cuddy was relieved to have heard that news when Dr. Burgen's head nurse had paged her.

"Did Burgen get the samples we asked for?" It Foreman had scooted over away from Wilson a little bit, slightly embarrassed that he had woke up drooling on the oncologist's shoulder.

"They are in the lab waiting for you."

"Let's hope this is all over with." Wilson sighed as he stood up placing his hands on his hips. "Otherwise more surgery is out of the question. One of the next symptoms is hypercoagualtion."

Tbc.