"Dr House. Need a consult..."
House's complete team turned towards the glass door at the rude interruption of their differential, staring at Dr Morgan as if he was some sort of alien creature.
House looked at him for a moment before finally just grimacing slightly. "Don't… think so! Bones and joints – not really my area of expertise."
"Funny. I thought just about everything was your area of expertise," Morgan immediately countered.
An almost-smile briefly crossed House's face before the mask was once again firmly in place. "Already got a patient, sorry."
But the other man wasn't so easily deterred. "It'll only take you a minute." With that, he simply waited.
Hesitating another few seconds, House finally rolled his eyes. "Okay. Just let me finish this here."
Nodding slightly, Morgan retreated back into the corridor.
House's team synchronously turned back towards their boss, seemingly speechless for the moment.
It was Chase – newly back with them – who finally voiced all of their thoughts. "Okay…?!" he echoed dully, eyeing the older man skeptically. "Since when do you take consult requests at random times from random doctors?"
"Why Chase! It's our job to heal people! – Whyever wouldn't I take such a request?" House gave a comic expression, voice dripping of sarcasm.
Taub now joined in as well. "Seriously, though... Who the hell is this guy?!"
"He's from the orthopedics department," Park commented quietly when House remained silent.
"Got that from the bones and joints, thanks."
She simply continued as if Taub hadn't spoken. "Though last week, I got the impression that we were trying to get rid of him…"
Chase's eyes suddenly narrowed at that. He fixed his boss with a knowing look. "He the guy who's been treating you for your leg?"
House looked a little uncomfortable, but eventually confirmed with a small nod.
Then, obviously intent on putting an end to the unwanted discussion: "Soo… Since I think we're all agreeing that there's a tumor somewhere – go! Find." He gestured them all towards the door.
Morgan joined him a minute later placing a patient chart in front of him, before sitting down in one of the chairs.
Taking just a cursory look, House immediately closed the file again. "He's already been diagnosed." Then, sarcasm once again firmly in place: "Diagnoses happen at the end of what I'm doing…"
Morgan smiled slightly at that. "I know. You're also a nephro-guy though, right? Need a therapy recommendation."
House just stared at him. When nothing more was coming, he finally explained with exaggerated patience: "And for that, we've got an actual nephrology department."
Another slightly weary half-smile. "Conners is at a conference in Hawaii. And the rest of them don't seem to know their… pituitary from their adrenal gland."
When House finally opened the chart again, once more quickly scanning the numbers, Morgan took the time to study him for a moment. "So, how's the PT going?" he finally threw in casually.
House didn't even look up from the patient file. "PT-ish."
Silence briefly; then: "I've read your therapy notes, House. You've barely been getting through any of the exercises."
"Yeah, well, those exercises are stupid!" He sounded immediately defensive.
Morgan just smiled patiently at him. "I also saw you yesterday on your way back up here. You could barely keep yourself upright." When House didn't reply anything, he continued somewhat more carefully. "I don't think you're not motivated to do the exercises, I think you actually can't do them. And since I specifically set up your plan with the reduced muscle tone in mind, that basically leaves only one explanation..." If he expected House to reply, he was once again disappointed. "You haven't filled the prescription, have you." Not really a question.
When House still stoically ignored him, he leaned forward slightly.
"Why not?" He kept eyeing the other man intently, until House finally looked up at him again, almost slamming the file shut.
"Because I can't!" he suddenly returned loudly; angrily.
"And why's that…" Morgan concentrated on not matching the other man's tone, instead focusing on keeping it calm, keeping it simple.
"Foreman doesn't – "
"Foreman's not the one treating you for this injury."
"No, but he's the one keeping me out of jail right now," House immediately replied testily. "And it's not actually all that funny in there…"
"What does – "
He was loudly interrupted.
"Not taking more pain meds than he prescribes is one of the rules he set for this." House sounded openly disgusted at the notion. Almost hurt. Definitely frustrated.
"Okay…" Morgan finally replied carefully. "But I don't think he had an additional injury in mind when he gave you that rule."
House rubbed his forehead wearily, once again averting his gaze. "Doesn't matter. I'm not gonna discuss this with him."
Morgan sat back slightly at that. "I see. – And will you allow me to discuss it with him?"
House threw him a surprised glance, before immediately looking away again. "No," was all he finally replied.
"Dr House…" Once again half-word, half-sigh. "Without the physio, there's a significant risk that you're gonna do more damage to your knee."
"I know."
The orthopedist looked surprised by the sudden concession. "Okay, so… May I talk to Dr Foreman?"
"No."
Morgan rolled his eyes. "Then what?"
"I'll do the physio."
The orthopedist frowned at that. "But how…?"
"Doesn't matter. I'll do all the exercises you want, so… You can back off now."
Somewhat hesitantly, Morgan finally stood up again and turned to leave, an unhappy expression on his face.
Once he had reached the door, House's voice stopped him.
"Hey!"
He turned around to find the other man holding the patient file out for him.
"He's gonna need dialysis." House somewhat hesitantly met his gaze. "May not seem that bad right now, but it's gonna be. Also, you should try 200 mg of furosemide, single dose, to help correct the oliguria. And needless to say you need to stop the Streptomycin, which most probably caused the ATN in the first place..."
Nodding slightly with a minute smile on his face, Morgan took the file back. "Thanks, House. I appreciate it."