CHAPTER FOUR

"Phillip!" David called, "Hurry up or you're going to be late for school." Phillip made his way downstairs. "What's taking you so long?"

"Nothing," Phillip said swinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I'm ready, let's go." Phillip made his way to the door and David grabbed his briefcase and followed him out.

David started pulling out the driveway and into the street. He put the car in drive and started forward. "Son, we need to talk. I want to know what's going on with you."

"Nothing's going on with me Dad, I'm fine."

"No, that's not true. Your attitude has changed and I want to know why. In particular your attitude toward your mother," David said. "I thought you liked Susan."

Phillip cringed when he heard David call Susan his mother, "I like her fine."

"Then why are you acting so indifferent toward her? She's your mom, you should treat her with respect," David said.

"I wish you would quit calling her 'mom'," Phillip answered. "At most she's my stepmom, not my mom."

"Mom, stepmom; it doesn't matter. She's my wife and the closest thing you have to a mother. Life is better for us since she came into our lives. She cares for you and you're acting like a jerk toward her. I want the attitude to stop," David said.

"Better for you maybe," Phillip said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" David asked.

"Right, like you don't know. You got everything you wanted, but you didn't bother to ask me what I wanted. You didn't ask me if I even wanted another mom. We were fine together and now you spend all your time with her."

"Phillip, we've been married for less than three months and during all that time, you've been in school. We haven't had time to do things together yet. Even Susan and I haven't been able to go on a honeymoon or anything. Phillip, I wasn't planning on stopping the things that you and I do, but I also would like for us to do things together as a family. Susan is a wonderful woman and I love her. I know she'll make a good mom if you'll just give her the chance," David said.

Phillip stayed silent and stared out the window. The school came into view and Phillip grabbed his backpack off the floorboard of the car. When David pulled up, Phillip unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. David put his hand on Phillip's arm, "Son, just because I married Susan doesn't mean that I love you any less. We'll still do things together, just us. I promise."

Phillip stepped out of the car without replying, shut the door and started walking toward the school. David saw one of Phillip's buddies from his baseball team walk up alongside and together they make their way up the steps. David watched his son walk away until the car behind him honked for him to move along. David pressed the accelerator and headed toward the University.

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"So what's wrong with you?" Jerrod asked.

"Dad was trying to talk me into liking Susan," Phillip said.

"Yeah, my dad was always doing that too when he married my stepmom. Fat chance of that happening, I hate her," Jerrod said.

"I don't hate Susan," Phillip said.

"Give it time, you will," Jerrod said. "Just wait until she starts telling you what to do or what to wear or who your friends should be. I wish I could go live with my mom right now, she was way cool. She didn't care about anything and most of the time she was gone all night and I could do whatever I wanted. It was great. This summer I'm going to tell my dad that I'm going back to live with mom. I'll be thirteen and the judge will let me decide what I want to do."

"Well, my real mom is dead so I don't have any choice about where to live like you do," Phillip said.

"That sucks man," Jerrod said.

"Yeah it does, my real mom was awesome."

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Wilson pulled up to House's apartment and got out of his car. He knocked and heard House grab his backpack as he made his way to the door. Together they walked out the foyer and out toward Wilson's car. "How's the jaw?" Wilson asked staring at the bruise he'd created on the side of House's face when he punched him the other evening.

"Healing, thanks," House said.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Wilson said.

"No you're not," House said looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "I deserved it," he said as he faced back forward. They got in the car and Wilson headed out.

"How are the car repairs going?" Wilson said. "Or are you finally going to junk that old heap and buy something new?"

"I can't replace that car, we've got history," House said. "She's got lots of miles left in her."

Wilson shook his head in disbelief, "You'd think you'd opt for a bit of change after everything you've been through in the last year. A new car would do you good, as would a haircut for that matter."

"What are you, my mother?" House said. "There's nothing wrong with my hair."

"Except that in the last year you've lost most everything on top and back and you're growing it long everywhere else to make up for it," Wilson said. "It looks ridiculous."

"You're just jealous," House said.

"Jealous? I have a full head of hair. I've got nothing to be jealous about." Wilson said.

"Just means you don't have as much testosterone as I do," House said.

"Hair loss has nothing to do with testosterone levels. It's your body's reaction to the testosterone that you have that makes you lose your hair," Wilson said. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with my testosterone level."

"How would you know? Did you have it tested?" House asked. Wilson looked away sheepishly. "You did! Why?" House asked, "Your girlish part taking over?"

"Because I wasn't losing any hair," Wilson said quietly.

House crossed his arms in front him and smirked.

"Jerk," Wilson said.

"Moron," House replied.

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"You can't be serious," Susan said.

"I'm afraid so," Foreman said. "If we're going to put a diagnostics department back together, the money has to come from somewhere, which means every department has to contribute – even the laboratory."

"Just what do you expect me to cut back?" Susan said. "I've already cut our operating budget 20% since I started. There isn't any room to maneuver."

"Susan, this isn't a negotiation. You have to cut your department's budget by another 5%. If you can't do it with supplies and equipment then you'll have to let people go…"

"I'm not firing anybody," Susan said defensively. "I have a good crew and they work well together. They're already pushed to the limit, if I let anybody go, that'll mean overtime trying to get everything done. You know that's more expensive and risks burnout for the employees that are left. It's not like lab techs and phlebotomists get paid much of anything anyway. You should cut those six figure doctor salaries before you cut people that are living paycheck to paycheck."

"Then you better find another source to cut back. As much as I regret saying it, we need House back here and in order for House to work, he needs a team," Foreman said.

"You don't regret having House back; you like that he's back and you like that you're his boss now instead of the other way around. You're also expecting House's presence to bring back some of the donors," Susan said. Foreman didn't reply. "OK fine, I'll see what I can do. However, when those donors start coming back, I expect the lab to get a piece of the pie. We need new and better instruments and equipment instead of limping along with what we have. Duck tape and string will only hold us together for so long." Susan got up and made her way out of the office just as House was walking in, "I hope you appreciate what everybody else has to do to get you functioning again."

House stared at her back as she made her way to the elevators, and then turned toward Foreman, "When is Park's hearing?"

"Couple weeks, the date hasn't actually been set yet," Foreman said. House turned back the direction Susan had gone and turned back around, "Just what are you asking Susan to do?"

"She needs to cut her department back 5%."

"The lab already operates on a minimal budget as it is," House admitted. "There isn't room for them to cut back."

"If you want a department, then everybody has to cut back, including the lab. If every department cuts back 5%, then we should have enough money saved up in a year for your department," Foreman said.

"A year?" House said. "It's going to be a year before I can get a team in here?"

"You have Park and Adams, well at least for as long as Adams wants to hang around," Foreman said.

"Assuming that Park doesn't get canned at the disciplinary hearing; which she shouldn't by the way," House emphasized.

"I can't discuss the hearing or anything related to it until it's over," Foreman said. "The board will make its decision when it hears all the evidence. Until then, the subject is off limits." The phone rang and Foreman reached to pick it up, "Go to work House."

House left Foreman's office, but he didn't go to his. Instead, he hit the down button on the elevator and made his way to the laboratory. Susan's office had a door to the hall and another door to the lab; he came in from the hall and moved a chair next to Susan to see what she was looking at on her computer screen, "Balance sheet," he observed.

"I update it every month so I can see where I am," Susan said.

"Where do you get all the numbers?" he asked.

Susan glanced at him, "You are kidding, right?" House shook his head. "I asked accounting to give me the numbers when I was first put in this position and I've kept it up on my own since that time. It's not rocket science. I know what I spend and what I have to pay for my people and how much of the hospital overhead I'm responsible for, so it's not hard to put together." Susan scrolled down the spread sheet, "I need to find where I can cut another two percent."

"I thought you had to cut the budget by five," House said.

"You know that lunch meeting I had yesterday?" Susan asked. House nodded, "It was with one of my major supply vendors. I haven't told Foreman yet, but I negotiated enough of a discount out of them to cut my budget by three percent, and got a free lunch out of it at the same time." Susan switched screens to her test menu and started scrolling through the tests. "I was able to promise him we'd buy the reagents for all these tests from him," she said as she was highlighting them, "and with the volume of these tests that we run, I was able to get bigger discounts."

"What about these tests?" House pointed to several that she left un-highlighted.

"They don't carry the reagents for those. They're pretty obscure tests and not ordered very often, in fact I may drop them," Susan said.

"You can't do that, they may be obscure but when they're needed, they're needed," he said.

"Then we can outsource them to another lab out of that department's budget. Look, I have to cut my budget five percent to keep you functioning. If it means I drop a few tests, then I drop a few tests. You've seen the numbers, I don't have anything else to pull from," Susan argued.

"You could drop a couple of employees…," House started.

"Don't even go there," Susan interrupted. "If you've learned anything about me at all, you know I'm not about to screw up people's lives if I don't have to. These aren't rich doctors in here; they are working as hard as they can from paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet. It's not their fault that Foreman sucks at soliciting donations." There was a knock at the door to the lab. Both House and Susan looked up.

"Oh, Dr. House, I didn't know you were in here, I'll come back," the tech started to turn around.

"Wait Jason," Susan said. "What do you need?"

Jason kept his eyes on Dr. House while talking to Susan, "We're out of large gloves."

"You're kidding," Susan said. "We just counted inventory yesterday and there were two cases."

Jason shrugged, "I've turned the supply closet upside down and there are no large gloves."

"Go to the nurse's station and see if you can borrow a box. We'll pay it back when our order comes in Friday," Susan said. Jason finally looked away from Dr. House and glanced at Susan. He nodded and then headed left to go track down some gloves. Susan looked over at House and got up, "I've got a feeling that more than just two cases of large gloves are missing." Susan grabbed her inventory sheet out of a pile on her desk and started out the door. She turned back around, "I just realized I don't know why you came down here."

"You mean I have to have a reason?" House asked looking at her intently.

Susan smiled, "No, but I know better."

House smirked.

"That's what I thought. Did you get what you came for?" Susan asked.

House acknowledged her by getting up and heading out the door. Susan turned and walked through the lab to the supply closet and went inside. She started comparing the numbers on her list to the inventory on the shelves. The only thing missing was the large gloves. It seemed a rather odd item to disappear, every department had their own allotment of gloves and purchasing hadn't said anything about shortages. She realized that money was tight all around, but there was no way that departments should be so tied up that they felt the need to steal supplies from each other. Susan made notations on her inventory sheet to order another two cases for Friday's shipment.

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The lunch bell rang and Phillip headed to the cafeteria stopping at his locker along the way to pull his lunch out of his backpack. He found a seat next to Jerrod, sat down and opened his bag. Inside was a chicken salad sandwich, a hand full of tortilla chips an apple and a bag of cookies. Phillip opened the bag of cookies first and Jerrod promptly took them away. "Your stepmom wouldn't want you eating your desert before your meal. I'll just hang on to these for you." Phillip looked his direction, but didn't say anything. This was the third day this week that Jerrod had stolen the cookies from his lunch. He reached down in his bag for his sandwich and started eating. As he took a bite he had to admit to himself that since Susan had moved in, his lunches had improved remarkably. She was a much better cook than dad; she could even make chicken salad taste good.

After lunch Phillip headed to his next class, math. He actually liked math and his teacher was really pretty, so he didn't mind going to class at all. He sat down in his chair and pulled his homework out of his bag. He pulled out his text and some fresh paper and started copying today's assignment from the marker board. Ms. Rogers came in and called for the students' homework. Phillip got up and moved to the front of the class. He reached Ms. Rogers desk and suddenly didn't feel well. He leaned over her trashcan and emptied his stomach. A collective groan came from the class. Ms. Rogers asked one of the students to get a cup of water and she went around and stood by Phillip with her hand on his shoulder until he was finished. The student arrived with the cup and she handed it to Phillip so he could wash out his mouth and then she handed him a Kleenex to clean his face, "Are you OK now?" she asked.

Phillip nodded, "I think so. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for; go on down to the nurses office and she'll call your father to pick you up."

Phillip went back to his desk to get his backpack feeling every eye in the classroom on him. As he passed Jerrod's desk, he heard him whisper, "It's your stepmom. She's trying to poison you."

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Susan's cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and noted David on the caller ID. "Hey," she said when she answered it.

"Are you doing anything, can you get away?" David asked with a rather rushed tone.

"Nothing that I can't put off and yes if necessary, what's up?" Susan responded noting the tone of his voice.

"Phillip is sick at school and I'm stuck in a meeting with the academic dean."

"I should be able to get away. Let me call Dr. Foreman and I'll send you a text when I'm headed out," she said.

"Thanks."

Susan ended the call with David, picked up her office phone and called Foreman, "I need to leave. I need to pick up Phillip at school." She paused listening, "I don't know the details yet, just that he's sick and needs picked up." She paused again, "I can log in to the hospital system from home and finish the report from there. I'll email it to you when I'm finished," another pause. "OK, thanks." Susan hung up and grabbed her things. She walked in the lab and announced that she had to leave, but that she would be accessible by email and phone should any issues arise and headed out.

Thirty minutes later, Susan pulled up in front of the school and went into the front office. "I'm here to pick up Phillip James please," she said.

"I need to see your ID," the receptionist said. Susan pulled out her wallet and retrieved her driver's license and handed it over.

"Ms. Watkins, you're not on the list as approved individuals to pick up Phillip," she said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm recently married to David and I haven't had a chance to go to the DMV and have my license updated with my new name. I'm Susan James."

"You're name still isn't on the approved list," the receptionist said. "I'm afraid I can't let you take Phillip."

"Oh for crying out loud," Susan said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed David. She wasn't able to get through, so she called David's parents. They weren't home and then she remembered they were traveling this month and they didn't have a cell phone. "Where is Phillip?" she asked the receptionist as she put her phone back into her pocket.

"He's in the nurses office, but you can't go see him if you're not on the approved list," the receptionist said.

"What about if Phillip tells you who I am, would that be OK?" Susan asked.

"I'm sorry, but no," the receptionist said.

"I realize you have your security policies in place for a reason, but he's sick and if he….."

At that moment Susan heard Phillip in the hallway and turned toward the sound of his voice, "I want to go home, where's my dad?" The nurse was following him to the receptionist office.

"Phillip, you need to wait in my office until your dad comes, you can't be walking the hallways when you're sick," the nurse said grabbing his arm to take him back to her office.

Phillip jerked his arm away from the nurse, "Leave me alone, I want to go home." Just as Phillip made it to the receptionist office, he doubled over in pain. Susan realized what was happening and only just managed to get a trash can in place. She looked at the receptionist, "Would you please get me a wet rag?" Susan rubbed his back while Phillip heaved.

"I hate this," he said between heaves.

"I know, I'm sorry," Susan said. The receptionist handed over the rag and Susan wiped his face when he was finished. Susan looked at the receptionist and said, "I'm taking him home. Don't bother trying to stop me. Come on Phillip." Susan wrapped her arm around Phillip's waist and led him to her car. Phillip got in the car and leaned against the door. He was very pale and was shaking. Susan reached over and felt his neck with the back of her hand. He was burning up. "Let's get you home."

Susan drove as quickly as she was able and pulled in the driveway 15 minutes later. She got out of the car and went around to the other side and opened the door. Phillip was still weak from his last bout of nausea, so she helped him out of the car and to the house. When they got inside she said, "Why don't you go lay down in our bedroom so you don't have to climb upstairs and a bathroom is close by. I'll go upstairs and get you a t-shirt and your pajama bottoms to change into." Phillip headed toward his parent's bedroom and Susan ran upstairs. She walked in his room and pulled open the drawers to search for his night clothes. In the first drawer she opened, she found his underwear. She decided to take a couple pair with her. If this illness was typical of the standard stomach flu, the nausea was just the beginning and there might be other unpleasant issues right around the corner. She found his pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and headed back downstairs. She walked in the bedroom and found Phillip already lying down. She pulled off his shoes and socks. "Do you want me to help you change?" she asked. Phillip didn't answer, so Susan took that as a yes and helped him out of his clothes and into his pajama bottoms and t-shirt. He didn't resist. She went to the bathroom and dampened a wash cloth with cool water while she located the thermometer. When she got back to the bedroom, Phillip had fallen asleep. She put the thermometer in his ear and listened for the beep; 103°F. Great, she thought to herself. She used the damp cloth to cool his face and neck then got up to get some acetaminophen to knock the fever down somewhat. She knew it was important to allow some fever as this was the body's way of fighting the bug, but 103° was too high for her comfort. She would feel better if she could get it down a couple of degrees. Her cell phone rang, "Hey," she said when she answered.

"How's Phillip?" David asked.

"Very sick," Susan answered. "He's asleep in our room at the moment. His temperature is 103° and his stomach is upset. You should know that I practically abducted him from the school when I picked him up," Susan said. "They weren't being very cooperative and if Phillip hadn't started heaving again right in front of them, I'd probably still be there arguing."

"I know. I just got off the phone with the principle. This was my fault, I didn't even think about the school pick up procedures and adding you to the list," David said. "It's fixed now, so there won't be an issue in the future."

Noise erupted from the bedroom, "Uh oh, gotta go," Susan said dropping the phone on the bed on her way through to the bathroom. "Hey kiddo," she said. She wet another rag and held his head and patted his back until he was finished. Another smell came to her attention just as Phillip realized another issue had occurred while his head was over the toilet.

He groaned, "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"There's no reason to be sorry. You can't keep everything under control when your stomach is heaving. Here, let's get you cleaned up." Susan helped him into the shower and washed him down. She brought him the underclothes she had brought down for him and let him change averting her eyes to give him a moment of privacy. She helped him back in bed and then picked up her phone speed dialing David. "When are you going to be able to leave work?" she asked.

"In about an hour or so," David answered.

"I'm going to call Greg. I want you to drop by the pharmacy on your way home and pick up some children's chewable Tylenol and whatever prescriptions are there. Oh, and run by the grocery and pick up some Gatorade and some pretzels or something like that."

"He can swallow a pill," David said.

"I don't doubt it, but he's not going to be able to hold anything down and a chewable tablet may stand more of a chance of staying down long enough to start working than a tablet or capsule," she explained.

David thought that was a good idea and agreed to pick up the supplies on his way home. He was so glad that Susan was there. He always felt so helpless when Phillip was sick, but Susan seemed to have a handle on things. He was glad to follow her lead. He pulled up the report he was working on and finished the last paragraph so he could leave.

MDMDMDMD

The phone vibrated in his pocket. House pulled it out and answered, "House".

"I need some help," Susan said. "Phillip's sick."

"I can't go anywhere, you'll have to bring him to the emergency room," House said.

"I don't think we need the emergency room, he seems to have just picked up a stomach bug," Susan said. "I was wondering if you would prescribe an antiemetic." Susan continued describing his symptoms and what she had done so far. She also told him that she was sending David by the drug store on his way home to pick up a few things.

"If he's not holding anything down, the antiemetic isn't going to stay in his system long enough to start working," House said.

"I know, but he has issues on the other side too, so I'm not sure how well a suppository is going to work either," Susan said. "Besides, I don't think he's going to be too amenable to having either of us giving him his medication that way."

House thought for a minute, "Have David come by my office instead of going to the drug store," and hung up. He got up from his desk and went to the hospital pharmacy and started rooting around for the items he needed.

"What are you doing House?" the pharmacist asked.

"Looking for your compounding equipment," House said.

The pharmacist pulled out her mortar and pestle, a glass plate, spatula, "anything else?"

House spouted off the ingredients he needed and the pharmacist gathered the supplies.

"You know, I can do that for you," the pharmacist said.

"But then it wouldn't have my magic touch," House said. The pharmacist rolled her eyes and went back to her computer to check on any new orders.

House finished the cream, put it in a jar and labeled it. Leaving the mess behind, he walked out.

David was already standing in House's office watching the orthopedic doctor remove somebody's cast when House walked in his office, "Susan said you wanted me to come by your office."

House handed him the jar and explained how to use it. "It has both an antiemetic and an antipyretic in it, so you won't need anything else for the fever."

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Half an hour later, David walked in the house and gave the jar of cream to Susan and took the rest of the supplies to the kitchen. He filled a glass with Gatorade and put a handful of pretzel sticks in a plastic container and headed to the bedroom. Susan had put some of the cream on the inside of his arm just above the hand and told Phillip to rub it in. David tried to get him to drink, but Phillip refused, "You need to drink Phillip, you'll get dehydrated."

Phillip shook his head, "I don't want to throw up anymore."

"That's what this medicine is for," Susan said. "House mixed it up for you." Phillip looked at his arm where he had rubbed in the cream. Susan noted the question in his eyes, "it absorbs through the skin. It'll help with the nausea."

"House said it had something in it for the fever as well," David added. "I'll tell you what, let's give the medicine about a half hour to start working and then try to drink something." Phillip nodded his agreement and then lay back down and closed his eyes.

Susan looked at David, "Can you stay with him? I need to finish a report for Dr. Foreman." David nodded and Susan left the room.

When Susan walked out of the room, Phillip opened his eyes and looked at his dad, "Dad," he whispered.

"Yes son," David sat down next to Phillip on the bed.

"I think Susan got me sick," he said.

"Why would you think that?"

"I got sick right after lunch," Phillip explained.

"Did you have the chicken salad sandwich?" David asked. Phillip nodded. "Then that wasn't it, I had it too and I'm not sick."

"Maybe she put something in mine," he said.

"That's nonsense. Susan would never hurt you on purpose. She cares about you."

"She cares about you," Phillip said. "I'm just in the way."

"Phillip that's crazy," David said. "I don't want to hear any more talk like that. You've just picked up a stomach bug, that's all. You'll feel a lot better in just a few hours."

"Will you stay with me?"

"I'm not going anywhere," David brushed Phillip's hair away from his face. "Try to rest." Phillip closed his eyes. David got up and sat in the chair in the bedroom. He sat back and watched as Phillip drifted off. Hopefully he would sleep for a long time so his body could concentrate on fighting the virus. Why would he say something like that? David thought to himself. He thought about their conversation in the car. When he dropped Phillip off at school, he was pretty sure that it was just a jealousy issue and in time it would resolve itself. Now he wasn't so sure. What could possibly have happened to make Phillip think that Susan was trying to hurt him? He heard Susan walk in and he looked up. She handed him a glass of tea.

"How is he?"

"He just fell asleep," David paused with an odd look on his face.

"What is it?" Susan asked.

"He has some crazy notion that you made him sick," David said.

"I made him sick? Why would he think that?"

"Because he got sick right after he ate lunch," David explained.

"Oh, well the first thing that popped in my head when you called was food poisoning, but I knew that wasn't it because I had the chicken salad too and I'm fine. Did you eat yours?" Susan asked.

"Yes."

"I'm sure he's just picked up a stomach bug, it is that time of year," Susan said.

"Oh, I'm sure that's what it is as well. It just bothers me that he would consider the possibility that you would do something to him on purpose."

"He's been really standoffish to me since we got married. I really just figured that he was trying to adjust to my continual presence. After all, you guys have been bachelors for 10 years," Susan said.

"And after our conversation this morning, I just thought he was jealous that I was spending time with you and not with just him," David said. "There is more going on here than either of these things. Maybe I need to set him up with a counselor."

Susan nodded, "That might not be a bad idea." Susan leaned down and kissed David, "I need to finish that report." She turned to leave the room.

"Susan?" Susan stopped at the door and looked toward David, "Please don't take this personal; we'll figure it out."

"It is personal David, but I'm not worried."