part 2
As it turned out, Doctor Madeline Honors had already been moved to the ICU by the time House had arrived to take the case, so when Matthews; the neurologist currently on duty spotted him he sighed and said, "I know what you're thinking House, but don't bother. She's already begun to recover."
"Even better, I prefer talking to patients when they're not in comas, although admittedly some in comas are interesting too," he answered and added, "Did you figure out what caused her stroke?"
"It wasn't a stroke, it was a reaction triggered most likely by an allergy, nothing more nothing less. She wants to go home," Matthews answered.
"And then back to work right? Where there's a chance that something could happen again and this time super dog won't be there to dial 911?" House countered.
"How do you know so much about this case? It was called in only two hours ago," the neurologist exclaimed.
"Magical elves told me," House said blandly as he walked into the ICU, but Matthews stepped in his way and remarked, "As far as I'm concerned you don't have a reason to be here House." "Why don't you let her decide for herself?" he countered, to which he sighed and said, "Fine, Doctor Honors, this is Doctor House."
"Doctor House, it's been a while," Madeline admitted and then Matthews asked in surprise, "You know each other?"
"Wilson's old dog, Dustin was a regular at her clinic. I made the occasional check up myself," House explained and then added, "Although magical elves does sound more mysterious."
"Doctor House is one of my care providers, but I don't see much reason for you to be here Greg; I'm being released in less than half an hour," Madeline explained. "You know chances are you could have another reaction," he countered, to which she said, "It comes with the territory, believe me. I've been bitten, scratched, cut myself you name it. Sometimes I think being in a psych ward would've been safer."
"At least let my team check out the clinic, make sure that there isn't anything there which could cause something like this to happen again," House insisted. "Why if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually concerned about me," Honors commented dryly.
"Looks like your reputation proceeds you, House," Matthews stated dryly and then turned to him and declared, "Now if that will be all, I have a patient to discharge." "Yeah, sure," House said with a nod and then turned about to leave, deftly ducking the file he'd managed to snatch out of the doctor's lab coat into his underarm.
Whenever their boss returned to the office, he looked even more sour then before; if that was even possible. North stood out of the way as he walked in and passed him a file commenting, "Everything you need to know should be in there."
Scott opened it and paused, noting what was on the first page and declaring, "Like for example there's the fact she's being discharged?"
"If you'll notice, I circled that one, just in case you couldn't find it," House countered, to which Gabe asked, "I'm not sure I understand why we would be handling a case when we don't have a patient."
"People have a tendency to respond greatly to good news, no matter who the idiot is that gave it to them. It's our human instinct to accept the good and push aside the bad. In this case, Matthews told her she was fine and she accepted it. List of symptoms prove otherwise," House said.
Passing the file to Natasha, North said, "It could be a stroke. Underlying blood clot or nerve damage caused by some injury she received at work." "According to the ER admittance, she was unconscious when she got here; but not seizing. Can we rule out toxin or bacterium? Maybe some airborne virus that caused a blockage in the lungs," Gabe said as he looked over the file, to which Vale said, "The bigger issue has yet to be resolved. Cuddy told you to find a case that the board would be interested in. I don't think this fits the bill."
"What I find interesting is what matters," House countered and then added, "Besides, she's an old friend."
"Now that comes as a shock," Gabe said dryly to which North commented, "Could be lupus."
"Once again a moot point, because last time I checked; our patient isn't here. We're just bouncing theories off the wall, no way to prove any of them," Vale said.
"And here I thought you would be the forerunner in the butt kissing race," House quipped as he took the file and stated, "Blood samples were probably taken when she was admitted into the ER. We can use those to check for any kind of poison or abnormal entity."
"Matthews is going to notice this file is missing eventually," North noted. "He'll be too busy being full of himself," their boss said dismissively as he propped his feet up and began chewing some bubblegum.
"And what about environmental? For all we know it was caused by something one of the animals she treated at her clinic carried in," Vale countered. Blowing a bubble and then popping it House assured her, "Don't worry, already got that plan covered."
"Mister Morrison, I have good news about your scan," Wilson began, half expecting House to burst into the room at any moment. It was almost lunch and he hadn't seen his friend all day, which probably meant that he would be here soon touting some problem that was supposedly of life and death importance but only to him.
Surprisingly however, as his patient finished listening to his news about the tumor in his liver shrinking and then thanking him profusely, House didn't show up. As he stepped out into the hallway, he spotted him sitting there waiting and remarked, "Have I slipped into some alternate universe and I'm just not aware of it?"
"Julie likes dogs, doesn't she?" House countered as he stood up and followed Wilson into his office, as James shut the door he remarked, "We've talked about it… she wants a beagle. I think a schnauzer would be better."
"So why haven't you signed the adoption papers yet?" House inquired, to which Wilson responded, "We live in a two bed house right now. Not exactly pet friendly." "With that kind of attitude you'll never be a good father either," House commented as he sat down and remarked, "I seem to recall that last year on your anniversary you got into a big fight over a dog."
"That was about Bonnie's dog. Julie thought it was stupid that I wanted to take care of him while she was away," Wilson paused and then added, "I couldn't very well let him starve."
"It's possible she might've had puppy envy. Probably about time you thought about getting her a four legged friend," House decided.
"Why do you suddenly care?" his friend wondered in surprise. "No reason, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure it could serve as an excuse for you not to have to go the ballet next week," House replied, to which Wilson asked in surprise, "Wait, she talked to you about that? I thought she'd forgotten."
"I think she's already bought the tickets," House said with a nod and then added, "Getting a new furry addition to your dysfunctional family could get you off the hook."
"There's no way Julie would fall for that. She's been trying to get me to go to a ballet for months, despite my frequent and obvious lack of interest," Wilson remarked. "Then just tell her you can't go," House paused and then smirked and said, "That's right I forgot, you let everyone treat you like a doormat."
"She's my wife, she deserves a little happiness every now and then," he argued, to which his friend remarked, "Yes but if you don't want to go hunting for the fourth Mrs. Wilson, I think a dog is the least you can do."
"And you're saying this why? Out of the goodness of your heart?" Wilson countered.
"I seem to recall that when Sam wrote the divorce papers out you had a bit of a problem with alcohol for about a year or so," House said, then looked at him and remarked, "I don't want to have to be a caretaker for you again, Wilson." James looked down at his papers and then nodded silently and remarked, "I suppose just going to look wouldn't hurt." House nodded and then said, "I think I know just the place."