The Next Of Kin
She sits on the floor of the cramped room, rows of shelves line the walls above her, each filled with manila folders; heavy metal filing cabinets line the floors around her, all filled with the files of past and present patients. All around her she had the documentation for either the sick or the dying. Somewhere in the room was a file marked 'Kelly, A.' a single red line on a page of black ones. Somewhere in the room was a file that could, effectively, end her career. Yet she was sat with someone else's file on her lap.
Empty coffee cups are scattered around the room, the only full one being the one in her hand, as she sits crossed legged on the floor, reading the file in her lap. She scratches her bare arm, she didn't know when she started reading but given that she had been forced to switch to caffeinated coffee she knew it was a while ago. She continued to scratch her arm, the caffeine affecting her more than she'd like to admit to the point that she'd taken her lab coat on and off several times. It now laid in the corner of the room, thrown there in a fit of anger as she tried to make sense of the file in front of her.
She reads over the file for the seventh time, having finally deciphered House's handwriting around the third time she was now focused on understanding all the information presented. It wasn't much, Cameron made most of the handwritten notes, and her handwriting was pristine. Which doesn't surprise her, at all, knowing what she does about the woman. The patient, Gabriel Wozniak, had been in a vegetative state for ten years. His house had burned down and he went back in to get his wife, he was found him unconscious three feet from the bedroom, asphyxiated. He was woken with a combination of L-dopa by House, but only lived less than 24 hours. Looking over the cause of death she shook her head, he committed suicide by hanging and luckily his heart was saved and transplanted into his son. She knew there had to be more to the story but the only person who could answer that question was:
"So I was in the E.R. avoiding Cuddy and some clinic hours I owe her." He'd told her before the door had even banged against the wall. "For someone who doesn't like me or want anything to do with me – Cameron is very quick to tell me everything I need to know." Alex simply looks up at him in confusion, waiting for whatever he's going to say next. He rolls his eyes at her. "Why are you trawling through Cameron's anal record keeping?"
"She gave me some information that could help Marissa." She stands, showing House the file, pointing to the records. "You woke a guy up last year-"
"Don't go getting any ideas," he sighed pushing the file away, "I'm the only person in this hospital that gets to do dramatically stupid things around here."
"But it wasn't stupid, it worked!" She exclaims, overly excited and eager, her eyes wide and hopeful.
"But it shouldn't have done." He retorts.
"Are you showing humility?" Alex was forced to frown at him, confused by the situation she suddenly found herself in.
"I think I am, if only Wilson was here to witness it…" House stops, bored with the pretence. "You're right, it would totally ruin my rep -"
"Don't say rep." She interrupts him.
"Street cred?" She simply shakes her head. "Oh, but Homie gets to speak street, it's a whole race thing. It's all political."
"Is it just the sound of your voice you love or do you just hate silence?" She questions.
"Look you're going to need me in on your little fairy-tale kiss plan." She looks at him in confusion.
"You're going to help me? Why? What do you want?"
"Can't I just help an employee of mine, as a boss I feel its my duty to…" He stops himself once more, looking up to find her standing with her hand on her hip, her eyebrow raised, and a very dubious look on her face. He rolls his eyes. "Fine, I'm hoping she'll wake up and be very grateful. It will be like real life L Word."
"How do you ever get laid?"
"He pays." Thirteen looks up and House spins around to see Cuddy standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. "My office, NOW."
She sits behind the desk, resting her chin atop her hands. House is leaning on his cane and Alex is standing beside him, her hands in the pockets of the white lab coat she managed to slip on quickly as she left the room.
"No." Cuddy says frankly. Both Alex and House had presented the L-dopa argument to her, Alex somewhat more sensibly than House, and yet just that one word cut them off.
"Do you even know any other words?" House questions back.
"You are lucky you didn't get the entire hospital reposed to cover legal fees the last time you did this." She tells him, not looking up from Marissa's file.
"Yeah but its not me doing it this time, its Lesbian here." He casually throws a thumb in her direction.
"While we're here, can you get him to stop calling me that?" Cuddy looks at Alex, a look of utter disbelief covering her face. "Worth a shot." Alex shrugged, hands remaining closed in her pockets.
"That's it?" He looks at her, obviously appalled. "No 'We don't experiment on patient's lives', no 'You're risking her life', no 'You'll be torturing her and her family.'" He mimics Cuddy. "I am so victimised at this hospital."
"That's when it's you. Now that I know it's Dr Hadley, it's no longer an issue. She can be reasoned with, she can figure out on her own that no good can come from emulating your actions."
"Well how bout another trip to Atlantic City. That was fun!" House replies.
"Marissa will probably just want to go to a bar, maybe a club." Alex shrugs.
"Come on!" He gestures at Cuddy. "Now we have to do it; lesbians and alcohol?" Both women roll their eyes.
"Can I assume you've at least called the next of kin?" Cuddy asks Alex, ignoring House.
"I," Alex swallows as she considers what she's about to say. She clenches and unclenches her hands as she realises that what she's about to admit to Cuddy could most likely see her fired and with the confirmed diagnosis of Huntintons, regardless of the name she worked under, she would be hard pressed to find a job that allowed her interaction with the patients. "I was rather hoping we could do this without Julie."
She watched as Cuddy stood up, chair thrown back in the quickness of the action, hands literally slamming against the desk in front of her. She slams her eyes shut as she waits for Cuddy to control her anger long enough to fire her but just as Cuddy begins she's cut off by House:
"Who's Julie?" Her eyes snap open and she finds House directly in front of her, blocking Cuddy from view. "Please tell me she's another lesbian!"
"Well once, but that was during my Def Leopard phase and a lot of Jäger was involved." Alex and House both spin on their heels to find Julie Cooper clad in a power suit, standing in the doorway. Her arms are folded across her chest, her perfectly manicured nails tapping on her upper arm.
"Why do women keep sneaking up on us today?" House looks at Alex and questions.
Thank you for your responses, please read and review. Circus and crookedskyline.