Chapter Four
Tuesday was a long day. Susan spent her day split between working on the review worksheet for her students, providing updated chemistries for their case and clinic duty with Dr. House. The team was focused on keeping the baby alive, treating symptoms as they arrived. The baby continued to provide a plethora of symptoms and answers eluded the team. The white board in the conference room was nearly full of symptoms and signs of multiple organ failures. The baby was dying and the exhausted team was helpless to stop it. It seemed that everything was on hold until the results from the mitochondrial DNA test was complete. Susan called the lab every few hours for an update. Once the lab finished the PCR step, she knew it wouldn't be long before they had an answer. At the end of the day, her phone rang. "Diagnostics Lab, this is Susan," she said as she answered. It was the lab, they were beginning the PCR step and they should have enough material for the actual analysis in about 6 hours. "How long will the analysis take once the PCR is finished?" she asked. Giving them her cell phone number, she told them to call her as soon as the analysis was complete. When they argued that it would be very early in the morning, she told them she didn't care to please call her.
The phone rang and Susan reached to her nightstand to answer it. "Thank you," she told them and asked them to email her the results. Susan sat up, squinted her eyes to see the time on her alarm clock; it was 3:00am. She got out of bed and slipped on the clothes she had laid out the evening before knowing she was going to make an early entry into work. She grabbed her glasses, and forgoing makeup, ran a brush through her hair and rushed into work.
In the lab, Susan pulled up her email. She opened the attachment and printed out the diagram and results page. She knew somebody from the team was here as House had ordered 24-hour monitoring of the patient. She walked up to the conference room and in his adjacent office she found Dr. House sleeping in his lounge chair. She walked in quietly and grabbed his reading glasses off his desk and then sat down beside him before she nudged him on his shoulder. "Hey," she said.
House opened his eyes and looked at her as he awoke. He sat up and took his glasses from her as well as the print out that she held out to him. He studied the results and then the diagram, his face grim. "What is it?" she asked.
"There's a large deletion area," he said.
Just as Susan was getting ready to ask him what that meant, Chase walked into House's office and House handed the results to him. Chase looked at the diagram. "Well that explains the varied symptoms," he said. "Pearson's Syndrome."
House nodded. Chase said, "I'll go talk to the parents," and walked out the door.
"Pearson's Syndrome?" Susan asked.
"Bad news," House said. "The baby will likely die before she turns three and her life will be marked with continued organ failures, comas and mental retardation. She'll probably never learn to walk and most likely will be completely deaf before she dies."
"We can't do anything?" Susan asked.
"No. All we can do is treat the symptoms as they come," he answered. "I'm going home, I'll see you later."
Susan didn't see much point in going back home; she'd have to be back here in just a few hours anyway, so she went back to her lab and started her daily QC routine to prepare for the day. That complete, she cleaned the lab scrubbing down the countertops and sweeping the floor. She made a note to call maintenance later today and have them strip and re-wax the floor over the weekend. When she was finished the lab looked much better. It was still early, so she decided to go to the cafeteria to get some breakfast.
Dr. Cuddy walked in the cafeteria when she noticed Susan in line. She went up next to her, "You're in early this morning."
"We had some results from an outside lab come in during the night, so I came in early to retrieve them. Once I was here, I didn't see the point in going back home," Susan explained.
Susan got her food and headed to a table. Dr. Cuddy followed behind and as she approached the table she asked, "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all," Susan said. The two women chatted for a while sharing stories about Rachel and Laura and other female subjects unrelated to work. It wasn't long however before Dr. Cuddy was called away to put out another fire. After she left Susan thought that Cuddy might be a decent friend someday. She was practically her sister-in-law and it was nice having someone around that she could talk to, though being her boss – she didn't feel that comfortable just spilling her guts.
When Susan entered her lab, there was a young lady waiting on her. "Professor Watkins, I'm Candi and I'm in your nursing chem class."
"What can I do for you Candi?" she asked as she went through the files in her brain for a student named "Candi".
"I wanted to find out what my grade is in class," she said.
"Oh, well it's irrelevant, Candi. It's apparent to me that Professor Hastings didn't teach anybody anything. I can't trust any grade in his grade book, so we're starting over," Susan explained. Noticing the look on Candi's face she said, "This is actually a good thing Candi, nearly everybody was failing. This gives you the chance of starting over – a clean slate."
"I don't think I was failing," Candi said.
And then Susan realized that "Candi" was Patricia C. Smith in her grade book; the only female in the class with a high grade. "Tell me Candi, why do you think were you the only female in the class with a high grade?" already having a fairly good idea why that was.
"I know what you're thinking and I haven't done anything," Candi said. "Professor Hastings was a pig. He was always making passes at me. He was 'taking care' of me grade wise and he expected me to reciprocate, which I had managed to avoid so far. I've worked hard to get into nursing school and I don't need any 'favors'" she explained. "I just don't understand why this keeps happening to me."
"Seriously?" Susan asked incredulously. "Try looking in the mirror. Candi, everybody in my class has the same opportunity to do well or do poorly. If you apply yourself, you'll do fine." Susan paused for a moment not sure if she should continue, "Candi, if you want people to take you seriously, it wouldn't hurt you to make a few changes."
"Like what?" asked Candi.
"Well, first of all – quit going by 'Candi'. It's a cute name for a child, but as an adult it's not going to be taken seriously. Your first name is Patricia, start going by that and if you're not comfortable with that, try 'Candice' instead. You might also try letting your hair go back to its natural color instead of bleaching it and start dressing more conservatively. You're a lovely young lady and you don't need all that," she said as she gestured towards her outfit which was borderline slutty. "While it shouldn't matter what we wear or how we fix our hair, the fact is that it does. There are a lot of pigs out there who'll jump to the wrong conclusions at the slightest hint, intentional or not."
Professor Watkins had given Candi something to think about. She'd never really had much of a chance in life, her mom was a call girl and she never knew her dad. She dressed the way she did because that was all she knew. She decided to take her instructors advice. She'd worked hard to get into nursing school. She wanted to make something of her life. "Thank you," she said sincerely as she got up to leave.
As she left Susan made a mental note to remind her students that she wasn't technically a Professor. You had to have a PhD or MD to have that title. She was simply an instructor. She needed to decide if she wanted the students to refer to her as Ms. Watkins or just Susan.
Chase started to walk in the lab. He turned and watched Candi pass by, smiling as he watched her walk away. He turned to follow her when he heard a voice, "Dr. Chase!" He turned toward the voice in the lab, "Don't go there. Haven't you learned your lesson?" Susan asked. Properly admonished, Chase turned bright red with embarrassment. "What did you need?" Susan asked.
"I think we should write up this case we just finished, I was wondering if you would give me the entire set of lab data so I can start get started," he said. "I could go through everybody's charts, but thought it would be easier to get started this way."
Susan didn't mind and gave him what he needed. By the time he left, it was time for class and Susan headed to the lecture room. "Good morning," Susan said as she entered the class.
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"So this was Susan," he thought to himself. He'd heard a lot about House's sister and decided to come to one of her lectures to see her. She was attractive, but he wondered if she was as abrasive as House was. She seemed normal if her lecture style was any indication. After observing her class for a while, he got up and left through the back door.
Susan continued her lecture as she saw the man leave her classroom, "…..so using differential analysis how do we solve this particular problem?" she asked as she moved to the white board to work out the problem with the assistance of the students.
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After class Susan returned to her desk in the lab to find the same man who had left her class waiting for her return. "Hi, is there something I can help you with?" she asked.
"No, I just wanted to introduce myself, I'm Dr. David James," he said as he held out his hand. "I'm the head of basic sciences for the allied health department."
"It's nice to meet you," Susan replied as she shook his hand. "I haven't had opportunity to meet any of the academic staff yet."
"I don't ordinarily bring on teaching staff without interviewing, but Dr. Cuddy was insistent that you would be the perfect fit for Professor Hastings' class. After observing you this morning, I'm inclined to agree," he said.
A little embarrassed with the complement Susan said, "That's very kind. Were you aware that Professor Hastings had fallen behind?"
Fallen behind, he thought, that was an underestimate if there ever was one. She was just trying to be polite, definitely not like Dr. House. "We had suspicions and so Dr. Cuddy made arrangements to confirm and rather than create controversy around the school, we opted to retire him early before the students were adversely affected," he explained. After a few more minutes of idle chatting about her plans for the rest of the semester, he left. Susan didn't feel much like being alone, so she headed to the conference room to check on House's team.
When Susan entered the room, Foreman and Taub were making arrangements to transfer the baby to the care of a pediatrician who specialized in genetic diseases now that she was diagnosed. Chase was sitting at the computer working on the case study and Martha was studying. House was nowhere to be seen, "He's hiding from Cuddy," said Taub when she asked.
"Kind of silly since he'll see her tonight," Susan replied.
"But tonight, she won't be able to send him to clinic duty," Foreman noted.
"I was thinking of going out for lunch today, anybody want to join me?" Susan asked.
Everybody declined her invitation citing other duties they had to attend, so Susan went back to the lab alone. She pulled out the class text and began making notes for Friday's lecture when she felt a presence at her side, "I heard a rumor you were looking for a lunch date," House said.
"Yeah, but everybody's busy so I came back here," she said dejectedly.
"You buying?" House asked.
"No," she replied. House just looked at her a little confused.
"If you pay, I'll go," House teased.
"Just go on," Susan said, "If I can't get anybody to join me without having to bribe them, then I guess I'm just better off alone."
Unsure of how to deal with this side of Susan that had started to appear recently, House turned and started out the door. He stopped suddenly and turned back, "Come on, I'll buy your lunch," he said.
"I don't need your pity either – just go," she replied.
Totally confused, this time House did leave. Susan put her head down on her desk and wept silently.
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"Something's wrong," House said as Cuddy sat down on the couch having just finished cleaning up from dinner. She looked over at House with Rachel curled up on his lap, something Rachel had only recently started doing. House was still uncomfortable with Rachel, but he was learning to relax around her and Cuddy was enjoying watching him become fonder of her with each passing day.
"What are you talking about?" Cuddy asked not sure of what he meant.
"With Susan," he said. "I thought at first she was just missing her husband, but in talking about it with her, I realized that she really doesn't think much of herself. Now she seems distant and is moody. She argued with me and lost her temper the other day, and today she practically pushed me away."
"Another puzzle for you to solve," Cuddy replied as she got up to take Rachel from House. It was 7:30 and Rachel's bedtime.
"I bet she's started menopause," House said when Cuddy returned. "That would explain the moodiness."
"She's a little young yet, although it's certainly not that uncommon at her age," Cuddy said. "Maybe she's pregnant."
"Not hardly; she hasn't had sex in over two years," House replied.
"How would you know that?" Cuddy asked.
"I asked, she told me," House replied.
"Why would you ask something like that? It's none of your business," Cuddy said.
"Don't preach to me sister – it was just part of the conversation," House said indignantly.
"Fine, you work on solving this latest puzzle, I need to prepare for the budget meeting tomorrow," Cuddy said as she got up to get her laptop.
Soon Cuddy was engrossed in her report and House turned on the television and flipped channels for a while. Frustrated with that, he finally he got up and told Cuddy he was headed to his own apartment for the night. He needed some alone time and Cuddy was going to be up late working on her report anyway.
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House walked in his own apartment, it almost seemed strange to him. He'd been spending a lot of time at Cuddy's instead of at his place. He looked around, it needed dusting. He went to the kitchen and got out a can of furniture polish and a rag and went over to his piano. Carefully he dusted his piano and after he was finished, he cleaned the keys. The rest of the apartment could wait. He would call the cleaning service tomorrow and have someone come by for a more thorough cleaning. He'd been thinking of just moving in with Cuddy, but he wasn't ready for that and he didn't think that Rachel was either. He was just starting to see Rachel as more than just Cuddy's kid and as much as he denied it, he really did care for her. He still was unsure of his relationship with Cuddy and he didn't want to hurt Rachel by moving in and then moving out should the relationship go sour.
House sat at his piano playing random tunes as his thoughts turned to Susan and this sudden shift in her personality. He thought back to the other day during their conversation, she seemed depressed which was unlike her after the team solved a case. Of course, she'd only had one night of sleep after pulling a 36 hour long 'day' so she'd been tired. Sure she'd referred to missing her husband, but House didn't see Susan as the type of woman that needed a companion; she was independent and was comfortable being alone. Since then, she had been assigned the chemistry class and discovered her students were way behind – that was stressful, but he'd seen her under stress before and she hadn't acted like this. He remembered she was disappointed that she didn't know how to interpret the bone marrow biopsy, but he didn't really expect her to. Her knowledge of histology was just a bonus as far as he was concerned. She lost her temper with him and she'd never done that before, something had to have set her off to lose control like that and then today she was feeling rejected. Something wasn't adding up and House was determined to find the answer. He stopped playing, went over to his computer and flipped it on.