Thank you for all the reviews! It makes me so happy! Someone mentioned that this was a change of style for me, and I have to agree that it is! I didn't write a House fic that had dialog until this one... It's odd for me to write like this, but I'm falling into the stream of things. I was going to write it as a stream of consciousness thing with House, but I don't like sticking to one character.
I've done some research on this story, actually, and before I go into the illness this guy has, I want to credit Wikipedia... I don't know what I would do without that site, so I want to give three cheers to Wikipedia! On with the story!
Pebble
"So, what is his condition?" asked Cameron, elbows resting on the table in House's office. Foreman sighed as Chase walked into the room, taking off his gloves, joining the two other ducklings.
"He's not at risk for another heart failure at the moment," Chase answered, "But we have him monitored right now. What's confusing is that he doesn't have any arterial blockages."
"Chase, if you think back from school, cardiac arrest and cardiac failure are two different things and one of them doesn't involve arterial blockages," House said, uncapping the dry erase marker and hobbling over to the white board. "What was he admitted for?"
"Fatigue," Foreman answered, pulling Mr. Deleyney's chart toward him and opening it. "It says that he was admitted yesterday afternoon for fatigue and tremors. He was going to be treated for exhaustion and released, but demanded he stay at the hospital."
"How do you treat exhaustion besides sleep?" asked House sarcastically, pulling his eyebrows together in a glare he then directed at Foreman.
"Anyway," Foreman continued, slightly phased by House, "He had no symptoms to lead to a cardiac episode like he did. After I took a blood sample, he-"
"Well, would taking a blood sample have anything-"
"Duh," said House, cutting Chase and Foreman off, mocking them. "Would taking a small blood sample really cause Mr. Rich-Guy's heart to cease a normal pattern? Would throwing a pebble into a river really cause the water to stop flowing? Think!"
Chase and Foreman exchanged a look behind House's back.
"Any other symptoms? What has this guy been doing the past 24 hours? Sleep? Cameron, have any suggestions or are you about to fall asleep yourself?"
Cameron, whose head had been drooping, sat straight up and thought carefully, nervous under House's gaze.
"Well, his appetite has been large, but I don't see-"
"Has he been losing any weight?"
"I could check-"
"Do that. Now."
Cameron, startled, gathered her things and left the office to find Mr. Deleyney's medical chart from the previous day. Foreman winced as he looked at the file in front of him. Cameron would be looking for something that was already in the hands of the medical legend; quite literally, Foreman thought, House snatching the file from him.
"But, Cameron was-"
"Yeah, I know. I wanted to get her out of the way," House said, interrupting Chase, glancing through the file.
"You just love doing that, don't you?"
"You saw right through me. Both of you, go check on the patient and report back to me on these things," House ordered, circling some things in the cart before handing it back to Foreman.
Silently, the two doctors left, leaving House standing alone with the dry erase marker still uncapped. House watched them leave, muttering to himself. He hadn't been able to think with Cameron in the room; he had to remember that sending her away would be his choice action in the future if he needed to think at all.
I'll update soon! I really found a medical thing to go along with this; I was so thrilled. Now, I just want to keep writing! Please read and review! Telling me what you think about it really helps in the creative process. (I love it when House cuts the ducklings off when they talk, so I used a lot of that in this chapter; I hope it wasn't too confusing or anything!) Thanks for reading and I hope you stick with the story!
