Chapter Nine:
Two days later, House was sitting toward the back of the student union at the university when he saw Laura enter the room and look around. He raised his cane up and she saw him. After she made her way to his table, she put her backpack down and sat across from him. "I was surprised to get your message, is everything OK with mom?"
"There's nothing physically wrong with her," he confirmed.
"Oh good," Laura said with relief. "So what brings you?"
"How long do you have before your next class?" House asked.
"I'm done for the day," she answered. "I have an exam to study for, but I already know the material, so I can wait before I review."
"I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat and we'll talk," House said.
House and Laura were seated by the hostess at the Olive Garden. They placed their order for drinks as they looked through the menu. After they had chosen their meals, House asked Laura what life was like at home.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "It was pretty normal I think. Mom and Dad both worked and I went to school. Mom encouraged me to stay busy with sports and music."
"Did both of your parents come to your events?" House asked.
"Mom came to more things than Dad, but they both did a good job of coming to my events. There were a lot of kids in my school whose parents didn't come to anything. I always felt very fortunate," she said.
"What about around the house?" he asked.
"Well, on the weekends we got caught up on our housework and stuff. I didn't really like weekends at home. I tried to find things to do as much as possible," she said.
"Because you didn't like housework?" he asked
"Well, not so much that," she paused as the waitress came to take their order and then continued. "Saturday mornings mom and dad were in their room for a long time and I would hear them talking. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but nearly every morning when they came out I could tell mom had been crying. She tried to hide it from me."
The food came and Laura took a bite of her food and swallowed, "Then all day long and into Sunday, Dad would spend the day griping about one thing or another. For the most part, I just went in my room to get out of the way unless I found a way to get out of the house, but sometimes I could hear him yelling at mom and insulting her. Sometimes she would talk back, but mostly she just didn't say anything and would try to fix whatever he was upset about."
"What kinds of things would set your dad off?" he asked.
"Not much of anything really, he had a volatile temper," she said.
"Did he ever hit your mom?" he asked.
"No, I don't think so. He just yelled at her a lot," Laura said confirming what Susan had said.
"Don't get me wrong, I loved my dad very much. We teased each other a lot and had a lot of fun, but I really didn't like the way he came down on mom so much. I really didn't think she deserved it. Sometimes I would ask her about it and she would brush it off saying that she had just disappointed him again, but everything would be OK and not to worry about it." Laura added.
When the meal was over House paid and took Laura back to the university. "Thanks for talking to me Laura," he said.
"Sure, and thanks for lunch. It was good." she said. "See you around." She got out and started to walk away from the car.
House rolled down his window, "Laura!" Laura turned back to find House pulling out his wallet. He handed her $100.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"Spending money," he said and pulled away leaving Laura to stare after him. Shrugging, she put the money in her pocket and headed to the dorm.
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"Where've you been?" asked Foreman when House walked in his office.
"Not here," he answered as he sat at his desk and turned on his computer. "Do we have a case?"
"Not yet," Foreman answered.
"Then why are you here? Go find us something, do your clinic hours or just go jerk off, anything that takes you away from here," House said.
Foreman rolled his eyes and walked out of the office.
House pulled up the staff directory and found Dr. James. He read his university bio and then using Cuddy's password broke into the personnel files. David James was a widower in his mid-forties with one son, twelve years old. His wife died of breast cancer three years previous. Most of the rest of the information was typical and boring. House couldn't see anything in his file that would make him a non-candidate for seeing Susan. He decided to fish Cuddy for information.
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"You've been rather scarce the last few days," Cuddy said as House walked in her office.
"I've been being brotherly and uncley," he replied.
Cuddy smiled at him, "Good to hear it."
"What do you know about David James?" House asked as he sat down.
"Nice guy, he's a widower. His wife died of breast cancer several years back, I think Wilson was her oncologist if I remember correctly. Why?" she asked.
"Susan mentioned meeting him the other day," he replied.
"Well, I imagine he wanted to meet the person I insisted on putting in place of Professor Hastings," she said. "What did she have to say?"
"Not much really, she just asked if I knew him. I guess he's shown some interest in her," he said.
"Well, she could certainly do a lot worse," Cuddy said.
"I don't want her to get hurt, she's had enough of that," House said. Cuddy looked at him inquisitively. "Between some things she's said and when I talked to Laura earlier today, I've gotten the impression that things between her and her husband were not as they should have been."
"All relationships have ups and downs House, you know that," Cuddy said.
"But not all relationships include berating your wife until she loses all sense of self-worth," he replied. "I should go meet him," House said.
"You should do no such thing. Leave it alone House; let her find her own way. If she's really as damaged as you think she is, she needs to find someone without interference," Cuddy explained. "Does Susan have any girlfriends?" she asked.
"Honestly, I don't think she has any friends," House replied, "I haven't ever seen her hang out with anybody and when I drop by to visit her at her apartment, she's always home."
"Maybe I'll invite her to go shopping with me and Julia when we go next time. A little female companionship might do her some good," Cuddy mused.
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Monday's class was over and Susan was sitting at her desk grading her student's exams from the previous Friday. She was about half-way through them. She had graded the first two pages of each exam and there were four pages total. So far, she was pleased with what she was seeing. The students had dealt well, for the most part, with the accelerated chapters. She hoped the trend would continue through the rest of the semester. As she was starting to grade the third page of the exam, a rather serious looking woman entered her lab carrying a laptop briefcase and a rather thick folder. "May I help you?" Susan asked.
"I'm here for the lab inspection," the lady said.
"What inspection?" Susan asked.
"CAP," the lady answered.
"Oh, well I hadn't heard anything about it. Let me find you a space to set up and then you can tell me what all you need to see," Susan said.
"The lab was informed two weeks ago that we would be here today," she informed Susan.
"I'm sure," said Susan. "Sometimes information doesn't flow well from the main lab to this one. This is a specialty lab in the hospital, so you know how it is."
"Well, the lab manager in the main lab made it quite clear that I needed to be sure to inspect this lab before the main lab when he confirmed the inspection dates with us," she said.
I'm sure he did, thought Susan to herself. "How many days do you think you'll be around for the inspection?"
"At least three," she replied. "The rest of the inspection team will be here tomorrow and we hope to finish up by the day after."
Susan finished clearing a space on the lab bench for the inspector to set up her laptop and then started gathering the materials needed for the inspection. After she had pulled down her maintenance notebook, procedural manual, and user manuals for the instruments, calibration reports and QC reports, she gave the inspector her phone number and told her to call if she needed anything and that she would return shortly. Susan made her way to Dr. Cuddy's office and knocked on the door, "Come on in Susan," Cuddy said.
"Did you know we had a lab inspection today?" Susan asked.
"Yes," she acknowledged.
"Is there any particular reason why I wasn't informed?" Susan asked.
"I thought you were, Chris said that he told everybody when he confirmed the date," Cuddy said.
"Stands to reason," Susan said and she turned to leave.
"Susan?" Cuddy said, "Is Chris giving you problems?"
"Nothing I can't handle. Don't worry about it," and then Susan left and returned to the lab.
"You still doing OK?" she asked the inspector when she walked back in.
"Yes," she answered and then returned to going through the various notebooks.
Susan sat back down at her desk and picked up her grading again just as Dr. House walked in the lab. He glanced at the inspector and then looked questioningly at Susan, "Who's the chick?" he asked quietly.
"She's the lab inspector for CAP," Susan answered.
"Lab inspector? I didn't know there was an inspection today," he said.
"Neither did I," Susan said. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Everything is in order."
"I'm not worried, I'm just surprised we hadn't heard about it," House said.
"You shouldn't be," Susan said. "It's right up his alley. Not only did he not tell us about the inspection, he told Cuddy he told everybody and he also made sure that the inspector would come to our lab first so that we wouldn't hear about it through the grapevine."
"I need to see your MSDS notebook," the inspector said interrupting their conversation.
Susan got up and went over to the book case to get the notebook and took it over to the inspector. "Did you need something?" Susan asked House when she returned to her desk.
"Nah – I'm hiding," House said.
"This isn't one of your more original hiding spots. Who are you hiding from?" Susan asked.
"Cuddy, she's trying to get me to do more clinic hours this week, and since we don't have a case right now I don't have any excuse not to do it," he explained.
"Well, if you're going to sit down here, I'm going to put you to work grading, so this is your choice, either go to clinic duty or grade homework papers," Susan said.
"Evil women conspiring together, that's all I need. I'll go find another hiding place," House said and left.
Susan went back to grading when the inspector spoke up, "Was that Dr. House?" she asked.
"Yes," Susan answered. "This is his lab."
"I notice you have a lot of unique procedures that I don't normally see in a clinical lab," she said.
"Well, Dr. House has a rather unique department, so uncommon procedures are not so uncommon in here," Susan said. Susan's phone beeped. She looked down and read the text, "I need to slip out of here a moment; will you be OK for a while?"
"Sure. I have your number if I need anything else," the inspector said.
Susan left and headed to Dr. Cuddy's office. Cuddy's assistant stopped her at the door, "I'm sorry Susan, but Dr. Cuddy has someone in her office right now. You can't go in."
"She paged me," showing the message to the assistant.
"No, that wasn't from her. She's been in that meeting for the last hour," the assistant said shaking her head.
Susan looked the message again and shook her head. She decided to go back to the lab and detoured through the clinic when she saw Dr. House coming out of an exam room with Martha, "Shouldn't you be down in the lab with the inspector?" House asked.
"Dr. Cuddy paged me to her office, but apparently she didn't page me to her office," Susan said showing House the text. "Her assistant insists that she didn't send that text to me. Anyway, I'm heading back to the lab." Susan headed off to the lab while House and Martha entered the next exam room.
When Susan arrived in the lab, the inspector was looking rather grim, "What's wrong, do you need me to get more records for you?" Susan asked.
"No," she said. "I need to see your credentials," she said. Susan went to her desk, opened her file drawer and pulled out her credentials file. Inside the file were her transcripts from her bachelor and master's degrees in chemistry, her ASCP certification in histology, her training certifications for the instruments in her lab and multiple completion certificates for continuing education. Also inside the file were her skills and competency exams and the required test for color blindness as well as a copy of her job description as required by CLIA all of which were signed by Dr. House. Susan handed the file to the inspector who took the file and added, "I also need to see a picture ID and a copy of your birth certificate."
Now that was odd, nobody had ever asked for that before in any inspection that she had ever been through. Susan took her ID badge from around her neck and handed it to the inspector, but she shook her head, "No, I need a legal photo ID like your drivers license," she explained.
Susan went back to her desk and opened her purse to get her drivers license. When she brought it to the inspector she said, "I don't have a copy of my birth certificate here, not that it would help you. I changed my name when I married."
The inspector didn't say anything as she looked at Susan's driver's license and then handed it back. "If I can ask, I have never been asked to prove my identity at an inspection before, what is that all about?"
"I can't say," the inspector said.
"Is it OK if I bring my birth certificate to you tomorrow?" Susan asked. "I'll have to bring it from home."
The inspector nodded her agreement and went back to examining the credentials file.
Susan sat back at her desk and continued to grade exams. She was getting hungry. She'd already skipped lunch not wanting to leave the inspector for any length of time in case she needed something. Finally the inspector got up from her chair and started her physical inspection of the lab. She opened the refrigerator and made sure the reagents were all in date and were properly labeled with receipt dates. She checked each cabinet for reagents and supplies making sure that everything was labeled properly and hadn't expired. It wasn't long before she was finished and she packed up her laptop and other inspection documents. "I'll be in the main lab tomorrow. Bring me those documents as soon as you get in," she said and then headed out the door.
Susan headed upstairs to the conference room, "Well she's finished with our lab," Susan announced when she walked in.
"How'd it go?" asked Martha.
"Fine I think, but I won't know until the inspection of the rest of the labs are finished. I still have to prove my identity with her, but I was able to provide her with everything she needed to see. Still, it would have been nice to know about the inspection when the hospital was informed," Susan said. "I would have had everything sitting out for her in advance."
"Since when do you have to prove your identity for a lab inspection?" asked Foreman.
"Must be something new," Susan acknowledged. "Every other inspection I've been through the inspectors were satisfied with the credentials files and work IDs. This was the first time I've been asked to provide my driver's license and a copy of my birth certificate. I'm going to have to look for my birth certificate when I get home if I even still have a copy."
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Chris smiled to himself as he thought about his conversation with the lab inspector when he had lured Susan out of the lab with a 'page' from Dr. Cuddy. At first the inspector was resistant to what Chris was saying because her lab seemed to be in such good order that she couldn't imagine there was anything illegal about the lab, but as the lab manager for the main lab at the hospital, his word carried quite a bit of weight, though he made it clear that this lab was not under his purview, and so any issues she found were not his responsibility. While he didn't say anything specific, he implied that Susan did not meet the CLIA requirements for human testing and he also implied that Susan regularly diagnosed and treated patients. Of course, he had no evidence of this, but he'd heard enough from his partner, to know that it was true. He wished Jeffrey still worked at the hospital; he missed his lunchtime liaisons with his lover.
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Back at the apartment, Susan was rummaging through her personal files. She came across Laura's birth certificate and immunization records smiling slightly as she read through them with images of her baby running through her mind. After a moment she set them aside and kept looking through the file. Next she found her marriage certificate. She read through it again word for word and as she read the witness signatures, she wondered what had happened to Chad and Lisa. They had been their best couple friends before and after the wedding and they used to get together to play cards or watch movies together on a fairly regular basis, but after a couple of years they quit coming over and eventually moved away. Susan hadn't heard from them in years. She decided to take the marriage certificate with her to work tomorrow so she could show the inspector her name change since her married name was on all her work documents. Finally after several more minutes, Susan came across a copy of her birth certificate. She sat it with her marriage certificate and re-filed all the other documents back into the box.
The phone rang and Susan answered, "Hey mom," Laura said.
"Hi sweetheart, how are you doing?" Susan asked.
"I'm fine. I was just calling to see how you were doing. Last time we talked, you seemed really depressed," she said. "I was so worried after I got of the phone with you that I called Uncle Greg."
"Well that explains all the extra attention I've been receiving of late," Susan said. "I'm fine Laura, I've just been thinking about your dad a lot. February is a hard month you know."
"I know mom, but you know dad's been gone for a year now, I think you need to get back in the game," Laura encouraged.
"Laura, I'm far past my prime at this point, there isn't much 'game' left in me anymore," Susan said.
"Baloney," Laura said. "You know I'm just teasing you when I say that you're old, don't you? You have plenty of time to find someone and fall in love again. Heck, you could probably still even have another baby if you wanted," Laura argued. "I know you always wanted more than just one."
"Oh, Laura, I know I'm not old and yes technically I could still have another baby, but it's highly unlikely at this point. I am middle-aged, and men aren't looking for middle-aged women. They want young hotties, and young-hottie, I'm not."
"No, but you are a good catch, dad realized it – I'm sure other men would too," Laura said.
Susan sighed to herself; at least she had done a good job hiding her father's disappointment in her from their child. "Maybe you're right," Susan said without conviction, mostly just to satisfy her daughter. "So how are things going at school?" she asked shifting topics.