Chapter 11. Rain Please Go Away

Even hugging the building as he walked back to the room that Chrissy was sharing with Pam, the wind-driven rain pelted him the entire way. He knocked on Room 11 and walked in.

Chrissy and Pam were chatting and giggling as young girls do. "Hi, Dr. House," Chrissy said when she saw him. "Pam's doing much better, and the rash is almost gone."

He nodded. "I figured as much since I didn't hear from you again." He walked over to the bed where Pam sat against a pile of pillows. She was a pretty child with big brown eyes and straight shoulder-length brown hair.

"We were just talking about school. She has the same third grade teacher I had, Mr. Monroe," Chrissy said.

"He's very funny," Pam said with a smile. "Kinda goofy."

"And he's a very good teacher," Chrissy added. "Have you talked to Dr. Cameron?"

"She and your father moved the other patients over from the clinic, since there's no electricity there."

"Where is she?"

"She's taking a little nap next door. At least I hope so. That's where we put a woman named Vivian who came into the clinic early this morning," House reported.

"Vivian Marshall? She's a math teacher at the high school. I had her for Geometry last year," Chrissy said. "She's very nice."

"She may be nice, but she's an idiot. She didn't come to the clinic early enough and now she may have developed pneumonia," House said. "At the very least, there's probably fluid in her lungs."

"Oh! Can you and Dr. Cameron do anything for her?" Chrissy's concern was much like what he associated with Cameron.

"Cameron's got her on antibiotics. That should fight any infection," he told the teen. "So, are you two gonna be OK here?" he asked.

"Sure," Chrissy said. "As long as Mom brings us some lunch later."

"Yeah," Pam agreed. "Cheeseburgers!"

Chrissy laughed at her. "You must be feeling better. Bet you never had Mom's cheeseburgers. They're so much better than McDonalds."

"Well, I'll be getting back to Pete," House said, but then he changed his mind. "I'll stop and see how teacher-of-the-year and Cameron are doing." He hadn't planned on it, didn't want to wake Cameron if she was sleeping, but somehow it seemed important.

Wondering about his own motives, he left the warm dry room and ventured out into storm. He knocked lightly on Cameron and Vivian's door, unsure whether anyone could hear it above the din of the rain, but the door was opened quickly.

"House," Cameron said. Taking one look at his wet hair, face and coat, she pulled him into the room, then went to get a towel from the bathroom. "Have you been wandering around in this deluge?" she asked, handing it to him.

"I was checking on patients," he said, rubbing his head with the soft white towel. "How's the math teacher?" he asked, indicating the woman in the far bed.

"Her lungs seem a bit clearer," Cameron reported.

"Did you get some sleep?" he asked.

"Since when are you concerned about my comfort?" she countered.

"Since we're the only two doctors within ten square miles, and I don't want to be stuck taking care of you AND the rest of the patients."

She smirked at him. "I took a hot shower and then slept for half an hour or so," she said. "Then I put on the last of my dry clothes." She did look a little better than she had before, now wearing a pair of dark slacks and long-sleeved sweater. "So, how are the rest doing?" she asked.

"Harry's talking about hitting on you, Kelly's beginning to bridle at Ralph's ministrations, Pete wants to play cards, and Pam wants a cheeseburger," he enumerated.

Cameron laughed. It was infectious, and House joined her. It felt good.

"I guess we've got this under control," she said. "I just hope there aren't too many people out there who never made it to the clinic."

"And we still have to find the cause of these respiratory problems," House reminded her.

"And you won't rest until we do," she said with certainty.

"Have you made any progress in finding out whether all the patients have been in the same place at the same time?" he asked.

Cameron shook her head. "It's highly unlikely. As small as this town is, we've got a fisherman, an insurance salesman who's only been here a week..."

"...is that what Harry does?" House asked.

"Yes. A high school teacher, a supermarket clerk and an elementary schoolgirl. There's not much they have in common, no places they all go."

"Maybe not usually..." House prompted.

"No, House. I asked Harry, Kelly and Vivian everywhere they've been recently. Nothing," Cameron said.

"Then they were exposed some other way," House said thoughtfully. "Chrissy told me Vivian is a math teacher, and you said a neighbor brought her in. She lives alone?"

"Yes. Two years ago, her husband ran off with Dr. Montgomery's dental hygienist. Vivian's family lives in Richmond. They moved there from Bethesda, Maryland when Vivian was sixteen. There's a sister who spends two weeks a year with her, and a brother she doesn't get along with."

House almost laughed. "You haven't changed all that much." Trust Cameron to delve deeply into every patient's history, he thought. It was comforting to know some things would never change.

"House, you taught me that no detail can be overlooked when you're treating a patient," she explained. But he continued to smirk at her. "I may not have changed much, but you have."

"So you're not angry at me any more?"

"Angry?"

"When you left, you accused me of destroying your marriage," he said.

"I guess I've realized it couldn't have been much of a marriage that a few words from you would convince Chase that he shouldn't leave with me," she said.

"You also implied that I corrupted him."

"You taught him that the end justifies the means, any means," she said.

"You're talking about Dibala now," he guessed.

She stared at him. "Let me ask you something. Given the situation, knowing that a live Dibala would have ordered the deaths of thousands, would you have killed him?"

He'd wondered that himself, but never known for sure. "I don't know," he said truthfully.

Cameron nodded. "I...I talked about wanting him dead, but I couldn't do it. As much as I understood Robert's motives, I would never have been able to take the steps he did. Does that make me weak?"

House shook his head. He knew the answer to this one. "It just makes you...you. You could assist in the suicide of a dying man, not because you disapproved of the research he'd done in the past, but to relieve his pain. But I could never see you taking the life of someone because you knew it would guarantee he couldn't harm another human being. You'd look for another way."

"Thank you," she said. Hearing him say that seemed to dissolve a nagging doubt she'd had. "It's strange, in a way. I guess we each learned something different from you, but it depended on the kind of person we were before. And while Chase and Foreman and the others were becoming more like you, you were changing, too."