Infertility Wars
Disclaimer: Sometimes I wish I owned Hugh Laurie's brain. It's got to be more impressive than Einstein's. But, alas, I own nothing. Not nobody, not no one, not no how. And all that jazz.
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Chapter Six
Areflexia
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House was pouring himself a cup of coffee in his favorite red mug. He looked up to see Foreman walking in and sitting down at the table. House looked at his watch; Foreman was a little early today.
"What rules are you going to make me break today?" Foreman asked, out of nowhere.
House grabbed a spoon and stirred in some sugar. "I have no patients for you to go and poke, so maybe - hmm - maybe you can set off some fireworks in the parking lot."
Foreman snorted. "Child's play."
"We could play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas all day," shrugged House. He blew at the top of his mug and then took a quick sip.
"I get to play first."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-huh."
House was about to go 'Nuh-uh' again, but he caught sight of something. Something very strange.
"Or... you know," started House as he followed the sight. "We could make fun of Cameron."
"Don't we do that already?"
"We're going to be doing it a lot more." House turned around and moved towards his board as he heard the door open. He waited for Foreman's shocked gasp.
"Cameron?"
There it was.
"Do you like it?" Cameron's voice filled the room.
"It looks nice." Foreman stated, plainly. There was a pause, which House thought was Cameron giving Foreman one of her looks. "It's really nice. I like it."
House figured it was his turn to turn around. He couldn't believe that Cameron had cut her beautiful long hair. It was short now. Cut into one of those bobbed styles. It was about an inch above her shoulders. It suited her well, but he preferred her with longer hair.
"So?" Cameron looked at House as she sat down beside Foreman.
House placed his mug carefully on the table. "It'll take some getting use to."
"You don't like it?"
"It suits you," said House. "But, it's weird."
"Oh," she said.
"Well, I like it," said Foreman.
"What are we doing today?" Cameron asked. She was a trooper, that was for sure. Kick her down and she'll fight her way back up to the top.
"Nothing," shrugged Foreman, as he leaned back in the chair.
Cameron's eyes widened. "Terri's been released?"
"Sure has." Foreman nodded. "Chase has been working with the nurses and prepping her to leave this morning."
Cameron nodded, "Well, it wasn't steroids."
"It wasn't Hantavirus either," said Foreman. "She wouldn't have gotten better that quickly if it had been that."
"So, she just got better?" Cameron asked.
"Like magic," said House as he joined them at the table. "Poof!"
"That's good-"
The door opened quickly, causing a slight whiff of air to ruffle some papers on the desk. Chase was standing at the door.
"Slow down Sally," said House, his eyes reading Chase's worried expression.
"Raye's been admitted back in!" Chase huffed, trying to catch his breath.
Foreman stood up, "What happened?"
"You couldn't page us to tell us the joyful news?" House asked, plainly.
Chase blinked, wondering who he should answer. "Well-"
"Or do you just enjoy dramatic entrances?" House took another sip of his coffee, stood up, and then made his way to his board.
"I was-"
"What are the new symptoms?" interrupted House.
"Areflexia," Chase said as he took a seat. "I've got the nurses readying her for an LP."
"What happened?" Foreman tried again as House was writing down everything on his damn board. He hated it when House butted in on conversations.
"Her husband was signing her out when she just fell down." Chase took in a breath. "I thought maybe she had just fainted or something, but she can't control her muscles. I checked her eyes and the pupils aren't dilating like they should."
"She might have Parkinson's?" Cameron asked.
"Or Tetanus," offered Foreman.
"It's amazing what one more symptom will do to the medical team. We'll come up with fifty brand-spanking new diseases for her." House said as he topped his marker. "It could just be severe spasticity or SMA."
"I thought Spinal Muscular Atrophy, myself." Chase said. "Especially when her pupils-"
"I figured that out with you setting her up for an LP, Doc C." House interrupted as he rolled his eyes. "I don't pay you to state the obvious. I pay you to think and give patients their LP's."
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Diana Drew took the file out of the basket on the door. She flipped through it and opened the door.
"Hey, Mickey," she said. "How are ya?"
"Fine, I guess." The little boy said, looking up and watching Drew cross to the sink. She placed a large stuffed Stitch on the counter, then looked back at the boy. "Stitch!"
"And..." Drew pulled a disk out of her pocket. "I even got the movie."
"COOL!" The little boy gasped, then he started to cough. When his cough calmed down, he smiled at her. "Can you put it in?"
"Sure," she said as she handed him the stuffed animal. Drew, then, busied herself with the DVD player and finally got it to working, all the while talking about their favorite Disney movies. Drew always liked to bring movies from her DVD collection to work for the long-term patients. It made the time pass by quicker for the patient and it made the constant poking and prodding easier to stand. Mickey had been here for a long time, according to his chart, and she was sure that the constant finger pricking was getting old.
Right when she was about to prick his finger for some blood, a knock came at the door.
"Think it's my mommy?"
Drew shrugged. "Maybe."
The door opened and Wilson popped his head in. "Anyone need a consult?"
"No," Drew shook her head. "Wrong room."
Turning her attention back to Mickey, she was about to take some blood when she noticed that the door hadn't shut. She looked up at the boy who was looking at the door.
Drew rolled her eyes and turned around. "What?"
"It's important."
"Give me five minutes." Drew said as she stood up. She walked to the door and came face to face with him.
"Come see me in my office." Wilson said, then looked back at the boy holding on to the stuffed Stitch toy. "I like Stitch too, by the way."
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"Okay," said Drew as she sat down in one of the chairs in Wilson's office. "What is it that is so important to pry me away from a patient?"
"I have a question."
"Just one?"
"Yeah, I-"
The phone rang and he sighed, then picked it up. Drew watched as he said, "Yeah" about ten times, then he finally hung up. He shook his head, then stood up and walked around the desk towards Drew.
"Sorry about that." He sighed, then tapped his fingers on the desk. "Anyway, I was hoping that maybe you would like to join me for dinner on Friday."
Drew stared at him for a second. "Business?"
"Yes and no."
"Give me a percentage."
"Of what?"
"Of how much business will be in this dinner."
"I would hope a very low percentage, Diana."
"Then, no." Drew said as she stood up. "I don't date in the work place."
"It's not a date."
"Then what is it?"
"Dinner."
"That's a date."
"If I let you pay your half, would you consider it not a date?"
Drew sighed. "Look, Jimmy, I like you. You're a nice guy. I'm just not into dating right now. I just moved here and all that. I'm not really looking-"
"Well, then, consider it your welcome to the area." He said. "I'm sure you haven't really had a decent welcome."
"No, I haven't."
"See?" Wilson crossed his arms, confidently. "I promise I won't do anything. A date between friends."
"Okay."
"What time's okay with you?"
"7:30? You going to pick me up?"
"If you want me to."
"Wilson, I-" Cuddy opened the door and saw the two of them and smiled. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt."
"No, it's okay, I was just leaving," said Drew. She turned towards Wilson and held out her hand as if they had just been in a meeting. "I'll call your office later and give you more information, if you need."
Cuddy watched as Drew left, then turned towards Wilson.
"You need to leave her alone. If you scare her away, I'll make your stay here as miserable as I make House's." Cuddy said as she crossed her arms.
"I didn't-"
"Why do you think I interrupted?" Cuddy said. "I could hear you outside. I think you need to look into a quieter voice."
"Now I know why House calls you evil."
"And you are all my minions," she said with a smile. "Speaking of House, I'm going to need you to go question him about what happened in the Neo-Natal Unit."
"What? House was there?"
"You didn't know?"
Wilson leaned against his desk and laughed a little. "You know, he was grilling me about what happened down there. He must think he's in trouble..."
"He might be. You never really know with him."
Wilson nodded knowingly. "I guess I'll ask him about it at lunch."
"Good boy." Cuddy said as she turned to leave. "Sucks being on so many committees doesn't it?"
"No kidding."
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House was fiddling with his marker and staring at the board in front of him. His ducklings were out doing their thing and he was in his office doing his. Biting on his lower lip he wrote down 'Areflexia.' He capped his marker and sat down, staring at all of the symptoms. Before he could even start to really think, a strange noise started coming from his FAX machine. Crossing the room, he watched as a sheet of paper slipped into the tray.
7/3/06
Dear Dr. Gregory House,
Here is the first court date, in which you need to appear:
7/27/06 -- Plainsboro Court House.
I can be reached during the day at (203) 555-1818, or in the evening at (203) 555-5067 if you have any questions regarding the above date.
Sincerely,
Hank Bomar, P.A.
"Well, that's quick and to the point." House said to no one, but himself. He crumbled the paper up and tossed it in the trash.
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After Thoughts: If you read, I like to hear what you think. So review. Thanks to all of my reviewers. Hearts.
Okay. Everybody go see Dead Man's Chest because I said so. It rocks.
Look forward to Chapter Seven entitled:
Night at the Rock's Berry
