Chapter 2
The beeping of his pager woke him that morning. House had slept fitfully, Nicky had completely thrown him, what was she all about? He got dressed and hurriedly made his way into work. Most of his team were waiting for him in his office, Foreman pacing the floor as usual, Chase was slouched on one of the chairs by the table, he assumed Cameron's absence was due to her being with the emergency that had just come in.
"Okay, people, what have we got?" House said walking over to the coffee percolator.
As Chase quickly explained brought him up to speed, he watched House's facial expressions change as he digested the symptoms thoughtfully.
"Where's the Brit?" House asked suddenly, looking around the room. He was yet to refer to her by her name.
"With Cameron, why?" Chase asked.
"No reason." House quickly reeled off a number of tests he wanted carried out and exited his office to fill his Vicodin script.
An hour later, Cameron and Nicky caught up with House and gave him his new patient's family history. He'd noticed that since Nicky had started taking notes, he could now actually read them. He smiled to himself remembering the old saying about doctors having to take a bad handwriting exam at medical school before they could graduate, and his team must have passed that one with honours.
When he finished, he handed the file back to Nicky, their eyes locking momentarily.
"Thanks," House said.
"What tests have you ordered?" Nicky asked him as he turned away and headed for his office. He loved this game. He would rattle off everything in full and watch the panic on Nicky's face as she tried to scribble everything down, although it wasn't as much fun today. Today he wanted to give her a break.
"Follow me," he said, glancing back at her. "Cameron, go and find Chase and Foreman."
Nicky closed the glass door behind her and sat at the table, pen poised, waiting for House to reel off the tests in quick succession, but before he could, his beeper went off.
"Patient's crashing," he said to her as he got up and hurriedly made his way out of the office and down the corridor.
They didn't catch up with each other for the rest of the day, Nicky finally saw him get into the lift at the end of the day, safe in the knowledge that his team could cope. In her own way, she understood where he was coming from, she'd heard about his leg, how the hospital had screwed up by not diagnosing his aneurysm in time so that it had led to an infarction. He'd tasted near death and was now living each day as it came, no more, no less.
Wilson seemed to appear from nowhere, "Gone for the day, huh?" he said smiling, following her eyes to the elevator door.
"Yep, and I still haven't got a clue what tests he ordered today," Nicky replied. "Or what treatment he gave either," she added.
"Come on, I'll sneak the test results and find out for you," Wilson said, still smiling.
"Great, thanks," Nicky said appreciatively.
