Chapter 41

Intuitives Converge

I was one of the groomsmen so I had to dress in a tux. Auri and Grandmom were surprised when Dad and I got home with a size 36 tux for me and size 8 shoes, in men's sizes. My Dad just shrugged and said that I was growing, big deal.

Auri and Dr. Cuddy spent several hours at the tailors before finally coming home. The wedding was at 5:00 pm with the dinner reception immediately afterwards. I tried to stay out of everyone's way. Grandmom made me lunch and we ate in the kitchen. When Dad got home, Grandmom fed him too.

At 1:30 pm, while we were driving over to get the boutonnières, Dad got a call. His team informed him that he had a patient, an important one, the Undersecretary of State, I didn't even know that the Secretary of State had an Undersecretary of State! He hung up and immediately called Auri.

"I've just been called in…Well, if Cuddy is there, ask if she minds if the Undersecretary of State dies?"

There was a pause as Dad rolled his eyes and made silly faces at the phone. "I'll be there. We get married at five, that gives me about four hours to figure it out…I'll dress at the hospital….He's here with me. Okay, I'll take him with me." Dad hung up, "You're with me bud."

We drove home, banged on the door, announced we were there so that Dad wouldn't see Auri and then got our tuxes and things. Driving to the hospital, Dad looked over at me, "Well, are you happy?"

I nodded, "She can be annoying, but I still like having her around better than not having her."

Dad started laughing, "You nailed marriage on the head. What about a new brother, you ready for that?"

I gave him a big grin, "Dad, this kid is already cool. He sends out waves of impressions. I can't figure them out yet, but they're loud." I turned off the radio.

"Why are you turning off the radio?"

"Dad, you wouldn't believe the amount of noise in my head right now. I bet Auri's having the same problem. There's a ton of Intuitives in close proximity and I guess none of them use a phone. Most of them are gossiping about you and me."

"Wait, go back, what are you talking about?"

"Some of Auri's friends that are here for the wedding are Intuitives and they keep talking about the fact that you're marrying your second Intuitive and that Auri is going to be mother to Teag's kid. They keep thinking that you must be some wimp, because Intuitives tend to fall for sensitive men." We both laughed.

When we got to the hospital the team was waiting by the white board for Dad. I'd sat through several differentials in my life so this was nothing new. But, everyone seemed anxious because they wanted to make the wedding on time. I knew that as soon as Dad sent his team to run tests, he was going to ask me what they had been thinking. He always loved figuring out a way to use their thoughts against them.

So, I sat there and listened to their thoughts. Thirteen no longer worked for Dad, she had left, but he had a new, pretty woman, about Auri's age, who had taken her place. Taub was no longer on the team either. He had switched to plastic surgery as soon as the Fellowship had expired. Dr. Cameron had also joined Dad's team again. So he had two women and one male, Dr. Spiegel. Dr. Cameron knew I could read minds, so she was always suspicious, cautious around me. But, today she was preoccupied and I could see why, she had feelings for Dad and it was making her sad that he was getting married. I felt bad for her; she apparently had loved him for years. But Dad didn't feel the same way about her. He was amused by her affection, flattered, and he liked her, but not like he liked Auri.

Spiegel was wondering if he could use an experimental diagnostic tool on the patient, something I'm sure Dad would love and Dr. Cuddy loathe. The new doctor, Dr. Karen Wilkes, was worried about the creatine levels, the blood counts and the MRI results. Strangely, she wasn't thinking at all about herself, Dad or anything juicy.

I was having trouble reading them because of the chatter going on in Princeton. I never knew Intuitives could be so noisy. It sounded like a busy restaurant in my head. I could hear them all talking about getting rides to the wedding, asking what they were wearing, who my Dad was, it was amazing and annoying. Two of them got into a fight over an old boyfriend that apparently one stole from the other. There was a lot of cussing going on.

"Hey Dude, you better go to the doctor's lounge and get a shower. You know where my locker is, there should be a couple of towels in there. Leave one for me."

I knew my Dad's locker combination which was my mother's birthday. I got out the towel, soap and shampoo and then took my shower. Dr. Chase showed up as I was getting dressed. He tested the water and got into one of the showers.

Yelling over the stall, he asked, "Furey? What are you doing here? Isn't your Dad getting married in a couple of hours?"

"Yeah, he's got a new patient." I put on the pants to my evening suit, the white shirt and the satin, deep blue, tie. I had left the tuxedo coat in Dad's office.

"Well, I was just going to get ready and then grab a snack to hold me over until the reception, but maybe I could go and help him."

I shrugged, I wasn't sure. Dad was a little weird when it came to Dr. Chase. He liked him, but thought he was too nice at times. Yet, when Dad got stuck and his team was useless, he'd frequently ask Dr. Chase down to see if he could give them a jump start. Dad never said this out loud. Instead, he'd make up some silly reason to get Chase down to his office, but of all the team members Dad had trained, Chase was the one who Dad was proudest of. Dr. Chase could diagnose almost as well as Dad. I think Dad was a little surprised and amused by this. He had expected Drs. Foreman or Cameron to be better, but they weren't. It was the Australian doctor with the nice hair that ended up being more like my Dad, talent-wise, than any of them.

After putting on my socks and shoes, I followed Dr. Chase back to my Dad's office and took a seat while he read the white board. He picked up the chart just as my Dad looked up from his desk. Dad immediately charged into the room. I thought at first he was mad, but he wasn't. I could feel that he was glad to see him, relieved, like the cavalry had arrived.

"You have nothing to do?" Dad asked.

"I was just getting ready for a lousy wedding, but I heard the groom had a puzzle to solve before he could attend."

Dad stopped all pretenses; he really wanted Dr. Chase's help. He sat down and watched as Dr. Chase read the chart. I could hear the various diagnosis and checks going on in both Dad and Dr. Chases' mind. It was really interesting to watch the way they both thought. It wasn't that different. My Dad was bouncing thoughts around faster than Dr. Chase, rummaging through journal articles he had read. Dr. Chase was doing something similar, but where Dad was cross-referencing articles at lightning speed, Dr. Chase had to pull each article up, one at a time, from his memory. I got to see how my Dad's brain differs from others. I was really proud of him. His brain kicked butt.

Dr. Chase started to think out loud, reading the white board, "Syncope in a healthy man. Father is Korean War Vet, married a Japanese woman and moved back here."

"Dad? What's syncope?"

Dad looked up, a little disoriented by my question, "Fainting."

Dr. Chase continued, "Ends up in the emergency department. Wife says that they were talking in the kitchen when he complained of feeling dizzy and then nauseated. He slumped over the table and then fell out of his chair, hitting his head on the floor. He regained consciousness. No seizure like activity, no jerky body movements, tongue biting, or incontinence when he was unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he was fully awake, alert, and conversant; no period of confusion or garbled speech. He's had several similar episodes in the past several years, but he has never sought medical evaluation for them. The patient's family history is significant for an uncle who died in his 30s without apparent cause."

Dad looked at the white board, "His vital signs are stable, heart rate of 82, blood pressure of 135/85. His respirations are 12 breaths/min, and an oxygen reading while breathing room air is 100%. His ECG is slightly elongated, but nothing to write home about."

"Is that good?" I asked.

Dad raised his eyebrows and glanced up at me, "That's normal." He went to the computer and pulled something up, "CBC normal." He looked back at the computer, "Cardiac examination reveals a regular rhythm with no significant murmurs or gallops. Chest examination demonstrates easy, nonlabored respirations, with no abnormal breath sounds. The neurologic examination is also unremarkable, including normal cranial nerve inspection, normal gross motor and sensory function, no pronator drift, and normal speech."

Dr. Chase smiled, "He's on Limbitrol for depression."

Dad jumped up, "Where does it say that?"

"It doesn't actually, but it says that he saw Dr. Honeyman at Walter Reed. I met Honeyman, he's a psychiatrist."

Dad nodded and grinned, a light going on, "You see a therapist for therapy, a shrink for medication. You're right, that would explain it."

Dr. Chase nodded.

Dad grabbed his cane and started out the door, Dr. Chase followed. I ran after them. We went up to a room where a man was being guarded by a man with an earpiece! It was like an episode of 24. He stopped my Dad, who pushed his arm off with his cane.

My Dad snapped, "I'm his doctor, idiot."

"Where's your lab coat and hospital i.d.?"

"I left it on your wife's night table."

Dr. Chase jumped in, "This is Dr. House, thee Dr. House, the one that your boss was brought all the way to Princeton to see."

The guy thought about it and then nodded for them to go in, but he stopped me. My Dad turned around and looked at the guy.

Dad narrowed his eyes at the guy, "What are you doing? Let him in."

The guy screwed up his face, "He's a kid!"

My Dad rolled his eyes, "Haven't you ever seen Doogie Howser? This kid is a world famous cardiologist." Dad looked at me, "Come on."

I smiled at the guy and walked inside. My Dad was hovering at the bottom of the bed, almost yelling, "You've been holding back on us. You saw a shrink and he gave you a prescription didn't he? But, to keep it from ruining your diplomatic career, he didn't mark it in your chart did he?"

The man looked scared. I read him and he was really nervous because his wife didn't know about his depression, neither did his boss, the Secretary of State. I could tell he was depressed because his girlfriend left him. I didn't think that would go over well with his wife.

I cleared my throat and everyone looked at me, "Dr. House, could I talk to you?"

My Dad started to crack up because I was so serious, "Yes, Dr. Furey, let's step out for a minute."

We all stepped outside, "He's taking the drug you asked about, but he's going to deny it because he was depressed over his girlfriend leaving him. She worked with him so now, not only does he miss her, but he's working extra hard now that she's gone."

Dr. Chase pulled back and stared at me, "Girlfriend? I wonder how his wife feels about that?"

Dad started smirking.

"Dad, don't do anything bad. They've just made up after being apart. Kind of like you and Auri."

Dad stopped and looked at Chase to see if he caught what I said. He looked a little embarrassed. I guess my little speech took the wind out of his sail because he said, "Oh God, come on."

"Mrs. Thompson, can you please leave the room, we need to do some tests and he can't have any distractions."

Mrs. Thompson left and Dr. Chase closed the blinds.

My Dad sat down in a chair and leaned forward, "My son says you nailed your assistant, she got tired of your sorry ass, left you, you got sad, you took drugs and one of them just happened to be, Limbitrol."

The man looked shocked, scared. I thought he was going to throw up. He just stared at us, saying nothing.

Dad got up, "I take it that's a yes. You're lucky we found that out." Dad sounded really sarcastic.

Dr. Chase took over, "Your Limbitrol was masking the classic ECT waves we look for if you have certain diseases. If you weren't taking Limbitrol, we could have diagnosed you sooner. Your own physician might have caught it."

The man looked at Dad, "Dr. House, what is it? What do I have?"

Dad looked up, "You have Brugada syndrome. Your thirty year old uncle probably died from it."

Dr. Chase nodded, "It's genetic, found at a higher rate in people of Japanese descent. We'll have to implant an automatic cardioverter defibrillator, in case your heart stops. We need to stop your anti-depressants so that we can check your ECT again without the drug in your system. Dr. House will turn you over to the cardiologist."

Dad looked at the clock, "Crap! It's three-forty-five!" He jumped up and ran out the door. Dr. Chase made some notes and then called in the nurse and told her what to do. He nodded for me to follow him and we went up to a lab where the team was working over microscopes.

Dr. Cameron saw him and immediately I felt this tension. She and Dr. Chase used to date and I guess she cheated on him and things got ugly. Dr. Chase simply said, "You guys can stop and get ready for the wedding. He has Brugada syndrome."

"What?" Dr. Cameron was blown away.

The team desperately wanted to hear how they reached that conclusion, but Chase turned and we left. "Dr. Chase? They want you to explain it to them."

"They can read the chart; we need to get you and your Dad to the church."

I went in and found Dad showering. When he got out and was drying off I saw the large scar that formed a crater in his thigh. I always hate seeing his leg because I know how much it hurts him. But, I noticed for the first time as I sat on the bench that he has a longer penis than Uncle Jimmy. I guess that makes sense because he's taller, but then my penis looks different than Uncle Jimmy's and I'm not sure why.

"Dude, why are you looking at my tackle?" Dad was drying off.

"Dad? Are we different than Uncle Jimmy?"

"How do you know that?"

I could feel Dad get a little anxious, wondering how I had seen Uncle Jimmy's penis. "Daaaddd. We went to the lake and were fishing. It was hot, so I took off my clothes, jumped in, and so did he."

"Well, the only tackle I want Uncle Jimmy demonstrating is the fishing tackle."

"Daaad."

He started laughing as he put on his pants, shirt, tie and then his socks and shoes. Most women think Dad is handsome. They like his blue eyes, long fingers, square jaw. I'm always getting told that we look alike. I hope so; I'd like women to find me handsome too. When he looked at me, I thought he looked like James Bond, really cool

"Your Uncle Jimmy is Jewish which means when he's a baby a funny man with a beard takes a whack at his willy with a knife, cuts a piece of skin off and throws it to the dog. It's call circumcision. Jews and a lot of the hospitals in the USA do it, but it's not necessary as long as you keep your willy clean. You and I didn't have anyone brave enough to start whacking at our massive members. It would have taken too long." He looked at his watch, "We need to get our coats and get going. Auri is probably having a cow. We're just going to make it."

Dad looked around for Dr. Chase as we walked towards the car, "He left Dad; he needed to go get ready for the wedding. You look nice Dad."

He ruffled my hair, "You look pretty spiffy yourself."

We didn't say much on the way over. Dad was thinking about Auri and the wedding. He was a little nervous. I was trying to turn down the volume in my head. By the time we got to Lambertville Station a half hour later, it was really loud. Psychics can be really noisy! We turned into the parking lot and I saw Uncle Jimmy pacing on the sidewalk. As soon as he saw us, there was a look of relief. Pulling out his phone, I could tell he was phoning Auri to let her know that Dad had showed.

We jumped out of the car and surprisingly, Uncle Jimmy said nothing about us running late. He knew that Dad didn't have a choice.

"Did you get him diagnosed?" Uncle Jimmy asked.

Dad nodded.

Two cars pulled into the parking lot, one with Dr. Chase, the other with Dad's team. They all walked over to us.

"Can we help?" Cameron asked.

Dad shook his head, "We just have to get in and put on our flowers and get going. Go take your seats."

As we walked to the side door, Dad looked at his watch; it was five minutes to five. As soon as we entered the building, Grandmom pinned the flowers on Dad and me and the minister gave us instructions. We walked into a little side hallway where Uncle Jimmy and Grandmom were waiting. Grandmom combed my hair then turned to straighten Dad up. Some guy was snapping photos right and left. Dad actually bent down and gave Grandmom a kiss which startled her. He wasn't usually so spontaneously affectionate.

He looked over at me, "I hope you know what you got us into." He shook his head, "You and your Star Trek Conventions. Are you ready to get married?"

I nodded and couldn't help but grin. He smiled back.

"Dad, I love you."

"Same goes for me. Now let's get this party started." He threw open the door and walked to the corner of the room where they were to be married under one of the chandeliers. The place was really pretty with the sun low over the rivers which you could see from three walls of glass. I stood by Dad and Uncle Jimmy stood by me as we waited.

The music started, classical music. We all looked door at the end of the aisle. One of Auri's friends who lived in New York entered the room and walked down the aisle followed by Dr. Cuddy. They took their places and then everyone turned to look again at the door, we were waiting for Auri, but she didn't walk down the aisle. There was no one. I looked at Dad and Dad looked at Dr. Cuddy. Dr. Cuddy shrugged her shoulders. I saw Dr. Chase rush out the door and Dad started to go towards the door, but Dr. Cameron held up a hand from the back.

"It's okay! She just felt woozy, she's alright. Get back in place. Give her a few minutes and then start the music."

A few minutes later the music began again, but I could barely hear it from all the conversations going on between the Intuitives. "I thought she'd come to her senses." "What is she doing getting pregnant and married at her age?" "That's what she gets for taking on so much responsibility." "I hope she's okay." "Her fiancé isn't bad for being so old." "So that's Teagan's son? Hmmm, he looks like his Dad."

It was non-stop until we actually saw Auri enter the room on the arm of Dr. Chase who walked her down the aisle. She was so pretty and so pregnant! I felt like jumping up and down. She sent me a huge wave of love and I returned it. She was nervous, but really, really happy. So was Dad. Everyone stood up and watched, the mental voices were mostly quiet except for the occasional exchange of how beautiful and happy she looked. When she got to us, she stepped over and gave me a kiss and everyone said, 'ahhhh.' I blushed.