Chapter 5

Diagnosis

"What…what happened?" Samantha asked, attempting to sit up, but finding she was still dizzy.

"What, you don't want to diagnose yourself?" House asked, "after all YOU are the attending physician."

Samantha bit her lip trying to remember what had happened, and was surprised that she had only certain memories. She remembered lunch with Eric, and walking back to her office, but other than that, she was drawing a blank. The diagnosis had to be simple or House would have asked for assistance, right?

"I'm…I'm not sure, I can't remember."

House tsked, and helped her in a chair facing her desk. Then he erased her whiteboard. Samantha would have protested, but she knew it was pointless so she said nothing, and watched as House scribbled away, writing down symptoms.

"well, go ahead doctor, diagnose yourself."

Samantha stared at the board for a few seconds, studying what he had wrote:

Symptoms

Fatigue

Convulsions

Different sized pupils

Dizziness

Fainting

Pale completion

Memory Loss

Samantha knew that those symptoms could be related to many different things, but luckily it wasn't that serious. It could have become serious, If House wasn't there. She could have eventually slipped into a coma, but thankfully she hadn't. The thing is, she wondered how House had figured it out so quickly. She hadn't mentioned her symptoms to him, though he would have mostly likely noticed the pale completion and fainting.

"I'm hypoglycemic."

"Right!" House declared, as if he was talking to a child. Then pointing his cane at her, he stated, "You are obviously aware of your condition, and yet you chose not to take care of yourself. It's almost like you wanted me to rescue you."

"That's absurd!" Samantha cried. "That would be absolutely stupid."

House smirked. Score one for him. "Right, well, seeing as how you're MY doctor now, I want to make sure that you are mildly capable of being called a doctor. I mean, after all, your taste in men sucks. I mean, Foreman, c'mon, that's questionable enough! I have to be sure I can trust you at least know your way around a needle."

Samantha started to protest, but House held up his hand. "Ahhh ahhh ahh…quiz time. What is the treatment for hypoglycemia?"

Sam considered her options. If she played along, House won, and he got to pick her brain. If she refused to answer, he was just going to annoy the hell out of her until he got what he want. The question was, which one was worse. She supposed that picking her brain wouldn't be so bad, because she really had nothing to hide now that House knew she had dated Foreman. Besides, Samantha had no doubt that she was good at what she did. She graduated in the top ten percentile of her class, and had confidence in herself. And, it would be nice to show him that women were more than just sex toys, or out to hurt him.

"Fine, fine, I'll play your little game, just to make you happy," Samantha said with a sigh. "The treatment depends on how low the blood sugar is. If its dropped and you're feeling weak, then juice or a snack is recommended. If the patient faints then you would most likely treat with a glucose injection. Otherwise, the patient could slip into a potential fatal coma."

House stared at her, his face a blank, and it was impossible to read his thoughts or gauge his reaction. "I'm impressed," He admitted, finally. "But you do have an unfair advantage, what with being someone whom was born with the diease. But, I'm still impressed."

"Nice to know you approve." She quipped, standing up. "Now, move your arse from behind my desk."

"Ooh are you gonna spank me mommy?"

"Greg, just sit down and shut up."

"Damn, you're no fun are you? First you have a seizure and its not even caused by something way cool, and now you refuse to spank me!" House retorted, but he sat down anyway.

The next half hour went by quickly, with House making his usual wise cracks while Samantha struggled to maintain a level of professionalism, which definitely wasn't easy. But in the end, she felt she had made some head way into learning about House's character and what had led to the scornful man he had become. In fact, it could probably be summed up in one word: STACY, Samantha would be lying to herself if, deep down, she wasn't worried that if she kept rejecting Foreman, that he'd turn out just as bitter as House. But that was something that she really couldn't focus on at the moment.

When the session had ended, House strode toward the door, lazily. He stepped out in the hall and Samantha was actually naïve enough to think that he wasn't going to try to get a parting shot in. But of course, she was wrong.

"Oh and by the way, doctor, I'd keep my sugar up if I were you," He warned, "Because the next time you faint in front of me, well, there's a possibility that you'll wake up to my hands all over your perky breasts. But I'm sure you'd enjoy that!"

Samantha stared at him with her mouth hung open, totally speechless for once.