A/N: Thanks once again to all my fantastic reviewers. You guys really rock.
Chapter 26
"Got a case for you," Cuddy pounced on House as soon as he entered the doors. She held out the file in front of him with a huge smile on her face.
"You're smiling," House said cautiously. "That doesn't usually mean good things for me."
"Despite the fact that you've convinced half the nurses here that the sun rises and sets at your command, the universe does not, in fact, revolve around you. I can smile for reasons unrelated to your existence," Cuddy retorted, completely unaffected by his comments.
"Wow," House half-laughed at her. "Who poured sunshine on your cornflakes this morning?"
"It's almost noon," Cuddy said, momentarily distracted from her joyous mood. The smile crept its way back to her face nearly instantaneously. It was making House nervous.
"Really? Rough night," House said as he made his way toward the elevators. "To what do we owe the pleasure of this mood and how long can we expect it to last?"
"It's a girl, and not long enough to get you out of taking this case and working your clinic hours," Cuddy chirped back at him.
"What's a girl?" House asked. Cuddy looked at him incredulously and then looked pointedly at her stomach. "Oh right. Sorry, I can't ever seem to look lower than the twins when you're facing me."
"You're disgusting," Cuddy said and she left House waiting for the elevator to take him upstairs. He and Cameron had agreed to wait until after work to see each other, unless hospital business demanded otherwise. That was fine with House, as he was still thinking over last night. The elevator opened before him and he entered.
House sauntered into the conference room and dropped the file on the table. Jasper and Foreman eagerly grabbed at the file and began looking over the notes. Price, on the other hand, watched as House limped to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He waited until House turned around to speak.
"Dr. House, I would appreciate it if you would please stop giving out my phone number to the male staff," Price said stiffly.
"Who called? Was it Chris?" House asked, eyes gleaming.
"No, it was Daniel and Patrick and … who's Chris? How many people did you give my number to?" Price asked.
"Just a select few," House said. "Or a dozen. It's so hard to remember. Don't you worry, Mr. Right is out there."
"I'm not gay," Price said, although he knew it was a waste.
"And Foreman's not black, just really tan," House scoffed. Price huffed and sat down. If one more man called him and said 'Greg' told him to call he was going to Cuddy.
"Okay kiddos, what have we got?" House asked, marker in hand.
"Twenty three year old male," Foreman said. "Fever, pallor, dizziness, vomiting," he reeled off the list of complaints. "Sudden onset after dinner with his girlfriend."
"Food poisoning," Price suggested.
"They ate the exact same meal and the girlfriend isn't sick," Jasper said. "He's not vomiting any more, now he's complaining of fatigue and labored breathing."
"Start with the basics and get back to me. I'm going to lunch," House said. He dropped the marker in the tray and limped in the direction of Wilson's office.
"Lunch?" Price asked. "He only just arrived."
"Get used to it," Foreman said, grabbing his copy of the patient file and exiting the room. Price and Jasper soon followed.
House walked into Wilson's office without knocking, as was protocol. If Cuddy's mood was any indicator of Wilson's, he wouldn't care. He might not even notice. Sure enough, Wilson was already grinning ear to ear when House walked in and even House's horrible manners couldn't squash it.
"Good morning," House said.
"You mean afternoon," Wilson quipped.
"11:53, just made it," House replied, sitting on Wilson's couch and waiting for him to start gushing. Better to get that over with before trying to eat lunch. "So?"
"It's a girl," Wilson said, once again his smile threatening to split his face in two.
"Figures," House said. Wilson cocked his head at House for an explanation. "Takes a man to make a man." Wilson gave House a condescending look. "Of course, Cuddy used to be a man ….guess once the surgery is done it doesn't count."
"Well, she's all woman now," Wilson said and House grinned.
"I remember," House said, dropping Wilson a wink.
"You know, it's so terribly unfair that you've slept with my girlfriend and I haven't slept with yours. As you so kindly point out to me constantly, I sleep with everybody. Maybe I could borrow Cameron some night …." Wilson let his voice trail off and took extreme pleasure in the murderous look that crossed House's face. "I won't talk about Cameron if you'll stop talking about Lisa."
"That's blackmail," House protested. "Buy me lunch."
"Blackmail and bribery?" Wilson questioned. "I'm going to hell," he muttered as he stood up from his desk to take House to the cafeteria.
"Fantastic," House said. "We'll take the place over in no time."
House returned to his office slowly from the cafeteria. Although his pain had been manageable for a few weeks on the new treatment Dr. Jessup had prescribed, it was slowly getting worse. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep and this always seemed to make his leg a little worse. He passed it off as just fatigue as he limped his way down the hall.
Hoping to catch a quick nap and give his leg a rest, House popped in his Ipod earbuds and settled into his yellow chair. Not five minutes later, the team walked into his office with results for his review. Sighing heavily, House shut off his Ipod and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"Randy has hemolytic anemia," Foreman told House.
"Randy? What kind of name is Randy?" House asked.
"The kind belonging to our patient," Foreman said with exasperation, "who has hemolytic anemia."
"Hemolytic anemia…that's blood stuff, right? Now where would I get an expert on blood disorders?" House mused. Price merely rolled his eyes before responding.
"There are too many possible causes for hemolytic anemia," Price said.
"Too many, like we can't test for them all or too many like you can't remember them all?" House snarked.
"Dr. House," Price began stiffly, "we should run a Coombs test. Positive will indicate immune-related anemia and negative will eliminate it."
"What tops the list for immune related?" Jasper asked.
"Lymphoma, leukemia, syphilis, mononucleosis, systemic lupus erythematosus," Price rattled off. "Of course, it could also be drug related."
"Kid in his twenties, drugs and syphilis are higher on the list than cancer or lupus. Do the Coombs, and run a tox screen and an STD panel while you're at it," House said. Price, Foreman and Jasper proceeded to file out of House's office, leaving him to hope the tox screen or the STD panel told them something useful. He'd rather not call immunology for a consult; he knew who they'd send.
An hour later, having been unable to fall asleep due to the increasing pain in his leg, House limped down to the lab to check on Randy's tests. He stopped just short of entering, however, when he noticed Price in the lab, chatting rather animatedly with one of the lab techs. One of the male lab techs. Forgetting his leg for a moment, House quickly darted back from the glass wall just far enough to still see in without being seen. Price was flirting, there was no doubt in House's mind. He smirked to himself; why did they always make it so easy for him?
Pushing himself off the wall, he returned to his office, where Foreman and Jasper were waiting for him. He limped in and sat behind the desk, rifling through his drawers for a bottle of ibuprophen he knew he'd left in there.
"Tox screen and STD panel are clear," Jasper said, watching House rummage. "Can I help you find something?" House shot an annoyed glance in her direction and she backed off.
"We called immunology for a consult, they said they'd send someone up as soon as possible," Foreman added. House paused in his search for the elusive bottle of pain relievers and closed his eyes for a millisecond. Before he could berate Foreman for calling on immunology before all the tests were back, a voice floated in from the hall.
"Someone?" Cameron asked. "Gee, you'd think with the promotion I'd at least get a name," she said dryly. Foreman grinned; he liked the Cameron who had been coming out of her shell slowly over the last year or so. Of course, you'd really have no choice if you were to survive dating House, he supposed.
House didn't look up from his desk as he addressed her. "Twenty three year old male. Fever, pallor, dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, labored breathing, hemolytic anemic crisis."
"Coombs was positive?" Cameron asked and House grinned despite his pain and increasing frustration that the damn ibuprophen wasn't in his desk. She was good.
"Not back yet," he said tersely. He slammed his middle desk drawer shut and leaned back in his chair. One look at his face, couple with the tone of his voice, told Cameron all she needed to know. She quietly walked around the desk and pushed his chair back slightly. As he rolled away, she opened the bottom right drawer and reached in the back, withdrawing a bottle of ibuprophen from its depths. She handed it to him silently, and he thanked her in kind.
"Well, you might have waited until the tests were done before you called for a consult," Cameron remarked, knowing full well House wouldn't have called unless he was sure he needed someone else.
"Tell the dark one," he muttered, shaking two of the round, brown pills from the bottle into his palm. He popped them in his mouth and swallowed. The faintly bitter taste reminded him of how much he hated having to do that, which wasn't altogether a bad thing. He used to love doing that. Hating it was progress.
House rose from his chair and limped into the conference room, his 'team' following close behind. Without thinking, Cameron went to the coffee pot and fixed House a cup of coffee. It wasn't until she handed it to him and he locked eyes with her that she realized how quickly she'd slipped back into a role that was no longer hers. They shared a sad little smirk before he placed the coffee on the table and grabbed a marker. Facing the whiteboard, he crossed out drugs and syphilis.
"I tested for Epstein –Barr while I was running the tox screen," Foreman said. "It was also negative."
"Drugs, syphilis and mono are out. All the fun ways he could have gotten sick are gone, what's left?" House asked as he crossed mononucleosis out as well.
"Nothing good," Jasper said. "Lymphoma and leukemia."
"Price can check on those when he gets back from his date," House said. The three other occupants of the room exchanged confused glances before deciding it wasn't worth questioning him about. "What else?"
"How about Evan's Syndrome?" Foreman offered.
"No petechiae," Cameron negated him. House noticed her concentrated expression. "Just because its immune related doesn't mean it's autoimmune. How about alloimmunity?"
"Nice … but completely wrong. No transfusions, no grafts. In fact, no previous health issues at all," House said. "What about other drugs, legal ones? Antimalarial or sulphonamides?"
"He could have had gonorrhea and been treated with a sulphonaminde," Jasper said.
"There's no mention of gonorrhea in the history," Foreman said.
"Come on, Foreman. Nobody goes to their regular doctor for an STD. Do you know how many patients I see in the clinic who have health insurance? They come here because they can use a fake name to hide their crotch rot from the ones they love. It's almost romantic; if you consider itching and seepage romantic."
"I'll look into it," Jasper said, rising from the table.
"I'm afraid that would be rather a waste of time," Price said as he entered from the hall. "The Coombs test was negative. It's not immune related."