"You've got a case," House announced as he entered the diagnostics conference room two hours, twenty-three minutes, and fifty-nine seconds after Cuddy's rather short ultrasound. He dropped two files on the table between Chase and Cameron then tossed the third one to Foreman, who caught it reflexively.
"You're in charge," he informed the neurologist before turning on his heels and walking back out of the door.
"That's it?" Foreman called after him, but House just kept walking.
"What was that all about?" Chase asked, thoroughly confused.
"Oh, no," Cameron said as her eyes scanned the file.
"What?" Chase questioned as she rose from her seat quickly and all but ran for the door. "What?" he called again, but she was already gone.
"House!" Cameron yelled as she spotted her boss in front of the elevators with his finger on the down button.
"See by throwing the files at you, saying as little as possible, then leaving again at an extremely rapid pace, I thought you might get the hint that I'm not in the mood for chit-chat," House replied as she came to a stop by his right side.
"What happened?" she ignored him.
"See that cute little folder you've got there? Everything you need to know is in it," House answered, obviously irritated, and pressed the down arrow again.
"But I don't understand. It's been over a month since his HGA. He hasn't shown any signs of complications. Why would he suddenly be deteriorating?" the young woman continued.
"Well, seeing how he's displaying completely different symptoms this time, I'm gonna guess that the two aren't directly related," House pressed the button several times in succession.
"But they could be. Delayed symptoms aren't unheard of –"
"Why are you telling me this?" House cut her off, his patience now nearly nonexistent. "I already know all of this. The people you should be talking to are your team. That's generally what a team does – work together, share information in order to reach a common goal. And since I'm not on your team for this particular case, you, therefore, have no reason to be out here spouting off useless information to me." A bell dinged and the elevator doors finally opened. House stepped in quickly and looked back at Cameron. "Now get back there and do your job," he instructed as he picked his floor and the doors began to close once more.
"But –" Cameron tried to say, but she was too late. Letting out an angry growl, she turned and headed back to the conference room.
"Did you catch him?" Foreman questioned as she re-entered the room.
"Yeah," she answered shortly, obviously annoyed, as she made her way back to her chair.
"He's not helping us this time?" Chase asked as she sat next to him.
"Nope," she replied in the same irked tone.
"Why?" Foreman inquired. Wasn't he supposed to be teaching them?
"Because he's House, and he likes to mess with us," Chase offered.
"Did you guys even read the file? It's Wilson again," Cameron said.
"So what? Last time this happened he fought us tooth and nail for the case," Foreman pointed out.
"Last time he almost had a mental breakdown," Cameron argued.
"Doesn't matte. Fifty bucks says he can't stay away," Chase chimed in.
"I'll take that bet," Cameron agreed.
"All right, you're on," Chase grinned and shook her hand. Foreman rolled his eyes and picked up the black marker.
"Let's just get started. House'll kill us if we screw this up. Differential diagnosis?"
Eleven hours, seventeen minutes, and forty-three seconds later, Cuddy stood outside Wilson's hospital room, watching House as he sat, hunched over, in the unbelievably uncomfortable visitor's chair, staring off into nothing.
"Hey," she said quietly, gaining his attention. He looked up at her slowly but said nothing. "How's he doing?" she questioned as she stepped into the room, coming to a stop beside him.
"He's in and out of it. We I gave him cyclobenzaprine, and it's pretty much wiped him out." House replied.
"I can see that," Cuddy responded, looking over at the sleeping man on the bed. "How much did you give him?"
"Enough," House answered vaguely. Cuddy glanced at him skeptically. "He was in a lot of pain." Cuddy nodded her head in understanding.
"Who'd you assign the case to?"
"Foreman, officially," House answered, resting his chin on top of his fist.
"And you're not going up there to help?"
"If I do, I'll never come back," House told her, surprised at his own admission.
"Did you call your mother?" Cuddy could tell he had not meant to say as much as he had, so she changed the subject quickly.
"No. She doesn't need the stress again," House explained.
"She's going to find out sooner or later," Cuddy pointed out.
"Later would be preferable," House warned, dashing any thoughts Cuddy may have been having about calling her for him. She nodded her head in acceptance.
"What about his parents?" she asked instead. "Planning on calling them this time?"
"I'm surprised you didn't – this time or the last," House replied.
"I did. They haven't answered," Cuddy told him.
"That's because they took a cruise to Jamaica," House informed her.
"They've been on a cruise for a month?" she questioned skeptically.
"No, they've been in Jamaica for a month. They were on a cruise on the way there," he corrected her.
"Why so long?" Cuddy asked curiously.
"They're old, retired, and Jewish. Do they need a better reason?" House answered. Cuddy gave him a look but said nothing to contradict him.
"Do you have any idea why this is happening to him?" she decided to inquire instead. However, before House could respond, Wilson made a small noise from the bed, and his eyes began to blink open. House reacted immediately, pushing himself up and standing next to the bed.
"House?" Wilson questioned, groggy from the drugs.
"The one and only," the older doctor replied, grinning. "How are you feeling?"
"Different," Wilson responded vaguely.
"Okay…is different good or bad?" House urged him to continue.
"Well, I'm not in agony, so I guess that's good," Wilson attempted a grin. House gave him one back.
"Good. I wanna check your reflexes. Do you think you can sit up if Cuddy helps you?" Wilson nodded the affirmative. Cuddy gave House a curious look but said nothing. Both House and Cuddy reached out to ease him into a sitting position, not wanting to set off anymore muscle spasms. Wilson was trembling with the effort, but he couldn't seem to get his legs to do what he wanted.
"Wilson?" House questioned, carefully as he felt the man shaking under his hands.
"My feet. I can't move them," he answered fearfully. "My legs aren't doing much better."
"Can you feel this?" Cuddy asked, letting House hold Wilson up for a moment as she took his left foot in her hands. James nodded. "But you can't move it at all." His head shook this time. Cuddy raised her eyes to meet House's. This was definitely not good.
Three days, seven hours, forty-three minutes, and seventeen seconds later, Cuddy stood by Wilson's beside yet again.
"What's the word?" she asked the older man sitting next to her. House was in the same position he'd been in every time Cuddy came for a visit. He never left the room even once. The Dean of Medicine had taken it upon herself to see that he was taken care of; bringing him clothes, food, toys, and anything else she saw fit to deliver. She knew his detachment from the diagnostics part of this case was his way of avoiding the reaction he'd had last time, but she also knew that it wasn't working as well as he'd hoped. So she'd come to offer him a temporary distraction.
"He's lost movement completely from his waist and below," House said quietly, sounding very tired. "If the ducklings don't figure it out soon, we'll have to bring in a respirator."
"What about you? Any ideas?" Cuddy questioned.
"Lots and lots of ideas," House confirmed. "Too many." Cuddy sighed and bowed her head for a second.
"I have to go see Dr. Isaac in a few minutes for my transvaginal ultrasound. I was wondering if you'd come with me," she said quickly, now feeling very awkward for asking.
"You want me to leave him now?"
"It'll only be for a few minutes," Cuddy explained. "It'll give you a nice break, and I'd really appreciate you being there. We're suppose to hear the baby's heart for the first time." House looked up at her and seemed to contemplate the situation for a moment. He then turned back to Wilson and laid a hand on top of the younger man's.
"Okay," he agreed quietly. Cuddy did a double take, surprised at his acceptance.
"All right, let's get going now. With the amount of medication in Wilson's system, he'll still be out when you come back." House nodded in agreement, and slowly rose from his chair.
"Hello, Dr. Cuddy – Dr. House," Dr. Isaac greeted as he entered the exam room twenty-four minutes, and thirteen seconds after they'd left Wilson's room. "Sorry to keep you waiting. A patient of mine went into pre-mature labor with triplets yesterday, and she decided to deliver not long ago."
"That's okay, Dr. Isaac. Are she and the babies all right?" Cuddy responded courteously.
"Oh, yes. The mother's pretty exhausted, of course, but the babies are doing fine. Two boys and a girl," Dr. Isaac smiled. "She was very lucky. Now, are you ready?"
"Can't wait," Cuddy grinned nervously. Isaac grinned back reassuringly.
"Okay, I'm going to place a blanket over your lower half, and than I want you to remove your pants and underwear," he instructed. Cuddy nodded her understanding as the blanket was laid over her. Dr. Isaac prepared the transducer as she removed the bottom half of her clothing.
"Okay, now I you'll just put your feet up in the stirrups here, we'll get started," Isaac explained. As she did as she was told, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, House slowly moving closer as if attempting to peer around the blanket. Cuddy stuck a hand out to clothesline his chest before he got too far.
"Not in this lifetime," she said in an annoyed tone, but she smiled at him. He was still the same old House.
"You may feel some mild discomfort as the transducer enters the vagina," Dr. Isaac warned. Cuddy nodded.
"Puh. If she had a nickel for every time she heard that…" House joked. Cuddy smacked his arm, but her smile never wavered.
Cuddy gave a small wince as Isaac inserted the transducer, but relaxed immediately as she glanced up at the monitor next to her. Looking over at Dr. Isaac, Cuddy noticed he seemed to be concentrating very hard on something. A small pinch of worry entered her mind, but she let it rest for now. Aren't doctors supposed to concentrate on their work?
"All right, Lisa, would you like to listen to your baby's heartbeat?" he finally asked after several minutes. She nodded eagerly, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. Isaac fiddled with the machine for a moment, and then it was there. Surrounding them, filling the entire room, was the rapid, peaceful rhythm of her unborn child's heartbeat. A smile crept over her face, bigger than she had managed in a very long time. Looking over at her oldest friend, the smile grew even more. House had closed his eyes, concentrating solely on the music surrounding them. He had a familiar look on his face. Lisa recognized it as the one he made as he played a particularly beautiful piece of piano music. Suddenly, she felt Dr. Isaac shift the transducer slightly, and a whole new beat began to play, mixing flawlessly with the first; beating on every offbeat. This drew Cuddy's attention away immediately.
"Dr. Isaac, is that –"
"Congratulations, Lisa. It looks like multiples are a theme today. You have two very healthy babies in there," the ob-gyn smiled. Cuddy instantly looked over to gage House's reaction. However, House was still sitting motionless in his chair, his eyes closed, still listening intently to the unchanging rhythm of their children's hearts.
Hello all you beautiful people! That's all for chapter 18. Hopefully, chapter 19 will be along very shortly. I don't have much else going on for the next week unless the pit orchestra for the musical I'm playing in decides to have some last minute rehearsals. (crosses fingers that that doesn't happen) Thanks for all the helpful reviews I appreciate them all very much!