Chapter 10 Three days later—Princeton Plainsboro Hospital
Even as events pushed the four doctors in various directions, Princeton Plainsboro scrambled to fill the void created by their absence. While the facility's best resident, Ted Vagnory, stepped readily into Wilson's spot, finding replacements for House and Cuddy proved more difficult.
Consequently, the Board had put a motion for reinstatement into effect not knowing that they had missed their chance.
They say you don't miss people until they're gone. This definitely was the case….
House's team stared at the whiteboard in exasperated silence. Their latest patient, a teenaged girl, wasn't responding to treatment. She seemed to be showing signs to cancer but none of the drugs improved her condition.
Foreman scribbled some additions to the listing of symptoms already up there. As with the others, he tried to see what the condition beneath the disease. "That's everything. It just doesn't fit."
Chase suggested, "Cardiopathy?"
Cameron shook her head, folding her arms across her chest. "No tightness in the chest." She looked around the room at their boss' former effects. As with many others around the hospital, she had spent the previous week protesting the Board's decision. He has to come back. This mess is going to blow over….
Foreman glanced at her skeptically, trying to get her attention. "Hey, Cameron, the case, remember?"
"Sorry. I was thinking of what House would do," she sighed.
The heavy set African-American doctor sniggered, "You mean coming up with more pain in the ass theories and wasting precious time. Anyhow, he's gone and I say good riddance!"
"You don't seem to be doing too well in his place. Look beneath the surface, Foreman! Come on!" she admonished.
"You want to take the board, go ahead!" Foreman growled.
"Hey, guys! Chill!" Chase interjected, trying to stop the argument. Since returning from vacation, he had been scrambling to get caught up on everything that had gone down during his absence. The last thing he needed was a full blown fight.
Then a familiar voice sneered, "I never would have seen that one coming."
She fought to keep herself composed so as not to egg the others on. I knew it!
House limped into the room. While he didn't really want to be there, he agreed with Wilson and Cuddy that they needed to get their stuff out of there. With the jetlag, a bad headache and the usual leg pain wearing on him, he really wasn't in the mood for the playground argument developing in front of him. "Can't leave you kiddies for a week before all Hell breaks loose, can I?" He headed for his desk and looked around the room. "I thought I left some packing boxes in here."
"House, we're in the middle of a case," Foreman advised him pointedly.
The senior doctor arched his neck and threw the wide-eyed sarcastic stare at them. "Funny, it seemed more like a fight. Keep going and don't mind me."
Foreman rolled his eyes. While he didn't want to admit it, he knew that the reinstatement would happen any day. Consequently, they all needed to be onboard. "House, this is your department. Ergo, it's your case."
House scratched his chin. "For you to say that, Foreman, you must really be desperate. It could be my case." He eyed each member of his former team before returning to the leader. "Admit it, Foreman, you need me." The vulture grin spread across his face.
Foreman squirmed uncomfortably. He hated when House got like this. Dealing with the situation made his stomach feel like it was filled with broken glass. Yet seeing the others' insistent looks made him surrender the marker. "Fine." He shrugged. "Enlighten us."
Almost instinctively, House accepted the challenge, heading for the whiteboard to reassert his superior genius yet again. Then he remembered that it was no longer his place to do so. Why should I bail their sorry asses out? He tapped the writing utensil on the board before shaking his head and tossing the marker back to Foreman. "Tempting but no."
Even for them, this was beyond House's usual crassness.
"What? You want us to beg? House, it was the Board not us who kicked you out," she insisted.
He shook his head, eyeing Foreman as he did so. "Some people were so positive toward me last week. Sorry, Cameron, but watching you and Chase kiss ass will make me sick. As for Clueless Leader there, he's not exactly inspiring confidence."
"Which is why you should take charge. The hospital's going to reinstate you and Cuddy this afternoon," she argued.
House snickered wickedly. "Wrong on so many counts, Cameron. First, until I am reinstated, I can't touch this case or so they tell me. Second, even if I wanted to stop Foreman's pout fest as your so-called leader—which I don't—he is Big Honcho now. Third…." His cruel smile grew wider. "Who says I want to come back here? I accepted another position yesterday!"
That news made the other jaws in the room drop.
House gave them a minute to digest the information. After everything he, Cuddy and Wilson had been through in the past week, he wanted to rub salt in the wound and for it to hurt. Badly. "Yeah! I'm out of here! Sayonara!" Then his face darkened suddenly like the desert sky before a monsoon storm swept across its dirt floor. "Considering how you're all acting right now, why would we want to come back? Look at you! Your patient is apparently really bad and all you can do is fight! Can't you do ANYTHING without me holding your hands or wiping your asses?"
Before the others could respond, their beepers went off in unison, signaling a Code Blue.
"That could be trouble," House indicated, surmising the obvious while dismissing them from his sight. As they rushed out, he leaned on his cane. "Worthless." He turned toward the bookcase and began pulling tomes from the shelves.
"So's your attitude," Cameron chided from the door.
He rolled his eyes and ground his teeth. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
She yelled, "You're such a bastard! How can you do this?"
He smirked. "Takes one to know one. Oh I'm sorry. That would be bitch in your case. Look, what part of canned don't you get? I can't touch that patient. Period."
She shook her head incredulously. "I don't believe this. You're arguing ethics and semantics while our patient is dying. When have you ever cared about ethics?"
He stared pointedly at her. "New rules and union card."
"And what about the oath we took? Do no harm?"
"Bureaucracy sucks, doesn't it?" He reconsidered her for a minute. "You're growing a backbone on me, aren't you?"
"You've taught me to stand up for what I believe in."
He exhaled deeply. "Then teach the Terror Twins that bit and leave me alone! Look, you have a patient downstairs who needs you. The world's a bitch, Cameron. Grow up. Now deal with the patient before the others really screw up." He turned his back on her, returning to his work.
She shook her head. "This discussion isn't finished." She stormed off.
"This discussion isn't finished," he parroted sarcastically while rolling his eyes. "Where does she get those lines?" He shook his head while taking out his vial and dry swallowing some vicodin. "You're not allowed to touch the ultra-sickie either, Wilson."
Wilson rubbed the back of his neck. "How'd you know it's me?"
"The eyes in the back of my head. I know everything that happens in this office," House retorted flippantly. "Besides only you would show up to lecture me right now."
"Cuddy would too."
House snickered. "If she were still the Evil Queen of Numbers, yeah, she would give me some crap about listening with underlings."
"She probably would considering she listened to you."
The diagnostican stared at his friend, clearly annoyed that he had been scored upon. "Did you just get one past me?"
"Everyone slips, House," the oncologist replied, letting his satisfaction clearly be seen on his face.
"Don't let it go to your head, Wilson. That was your freebie for the year." House started pulling books off the shelves more frantically. "So how's the job hunt? Word has it that it's close to ending."
"Yeah." Wilson ran his hand through his hair. "I start at St. Joes officially on Monday."
House nodded while considering their situation. "This is awfully convenient if you ask me." He stuck a few more books on his desk. "Looks like Big Lexie was busy."
Wilson stared incredulously at him. "I don't believe you! You can't deal with people trying to help, can you? House, have you considered that somehow you made a positive impression on Angie and the others last week with that stand against Vogler?"
"Yeah right." House laughed. "Meantime, her worst half went Pompeii all over my ass."
"Because you picked the fight with him!" Then Wilson snickered, considering the other's skepticism once again. "Oh I get it."
"Enlighten me, Genius. The audience is panting with anticipation."
Wilson explained, "It scares you that they're figuring you out before you can peg them. That's it, isn't it? For once, you aren't the one pulling all of the strings."
House turned and stared at his friend; the anger clearly seething in his eyes. "Dream on, Wilson!"
The other man nodded, receiving the affirmation he was looking for. "Maybe I don't but I know this. Frank Landers did me a very big favor which worked out for both of us. Julie and I get to stay in the area. He, Jolene and the kids get to be with their friends in Arizona."
"And your point is—besides the fact that you're being disgustingly happy, happy right now?" House complained.
"My point, House, is that Lex and Angie, I'm sure, spoke to Fishburne on your behalf. Nobody, however, twisted his arm to hire Frank, Cuddy or you. They're excellent doctors. So are you despite your hang ups. Face it, you're a miserable SOB but you've landed on your feet. You're going into a first class facility. From what Frank says, you have people around you who care but are willing to accept you on your terms. And you and Cuddy don't have to care about what people say about you anymore," Wilson continued, weighing his words carefully.
"That's if there's anything to care about," House debated.
"Think long and hard on that, House. Anyhow, I'm finished packing up." He held his hand out. "Good luck and stay in touch."
House grasped it, conceding, "Yeah you too. I'm going to miss seeing your sorry ass every day."
"And I'm going to miss your complaining," Wilson counterjabbed while pulling him into a hug. Take care of yourself and Cuddy."
"Hey! Watch the clingy crap!" When they had stepped back, he straightened the tweed jacket. "Better." He managed a smile. "Make sure they get straightened out."
"I'll do my best." Wilson smiled knowing how much effort it took for his friend to say that. Without another word, he left the area, heading for the elevator.
House set a few more books on his desk before the realization dawned on him. "Damn it, Wilson." Grabbing his cane, he headed out the door, limping for the ICU.
ICU
Despite the team's best efforts, the patient went into respiratory arrest, passing away within a few minutes of their arrival.
Around her, Foreman, Cameron and Chase bowed their heads in frustration, drowning in their sense of defeat.
"We should have been able to save her!" Foreman growled, shaking his head.
"What was with House?" Chase asked hesitantly. "I know it's tied to last week but…."
"He had a point to prove," Cameron groused while looking out the window.
"Damn arrogant….He just cost this woman her life." Foreman exhaled sharply, trying not to blow in front of the patient's family. "I need some air."
Meantime House observed the whole scene from the other side of the glass. Again, he was tempted to charge in and set things right. However, he wasn't in the mood for an argument. Despite his instincts screaming at him to get involved, he couldn't. "Bureaucratic bullshit," he muttered, tapping his forehead against the glass.
"You said it. Happy now, House? She's dead," Foreman lectured while coming out of the area.
House stared at him blankly, returning fire as only he could. "Ding, dong, the patient's dead. Kind of has a ring to it. Oh yeah, I'm really happy about that!" He scoffed at the other man, "Look, Foreman, sometimes people die, things go wrong and life just flat out SUCKS! Deal with it!"
Foreman looked around anxiously. "Can you say that louder? I'm not sure the family heard you."
House retorted flatly, "I'm not the one who's over my head and picking fights to soothe my ego, Foreman."
Foreman glared at him. "You just don't care! You deserved to get fired!"
House chuckled sarcastically. "From the mouth of immature babes….Actually, Foreman, given how you've acted today, so do you. I know I'm a really bad boy for not helping today. I'm sure I'm going to burn in Hell for it. But I don't quit when my first theory goes BOOM either! You're the one who's waiting for someone to tap you on the arm and whisper the answer in your ear. It doesn't work that way. Never has. Never will. You're always looking for the easy way and when some SOB like me pushes you, you play the race card. I want to help. I can't. That's what I meant by the bureaucratic bs. You can help but you're too busy whining. Quite a problem, isn't it?" He scratched his chin and arched his brow in quite the showy manner to emphasize the point.
"You're not funny."
"Was I trying to be? Believe it or not, I do care. Learn to go the extra mile, Foreman. THINK! You keep acting like you did today and this one won't be the last casualty to stupidity," House lectured, getting right in Foreman's face.
Foreman started to say something but thought twice about getting into it with his former boss. He slapped at the air between them. "You aren't worth the effort, House." With that, he stalked off.
House looked up at the sky and frowned. I tried. Some day, they might just get it. With that, he limped back toward the elevator and toward the packing job waiting in his office.