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Chapter 27.
It took me a half hour to systematically tell Wilson what I knew about Petey, including the 'spells' Jess had described, the car accident that killed his mother, and his attitude about his son.
"You think being heartless is a hereditary trait?" Wilson asked when I was done.
"If he's heartless, and I'm not sure he is, not completely, then it's a trait he inherited from his father, so why shouldn't it be part of what he passed on to his son?" I reasoned.
Wilson nodded. "I just never heard of that as a symptom of anything."
"Maybe not," I said, resting my chin on my cane. "I'm running tests on the samples I got from Petey in Florida. They'll take some time, but meanwhile I'd like to put him through some psychological testing."
Wilson nodded.
"Foreman thought the kid might be suffering from Degenerative Central Nervous System Disease but he hasn't been able to prove it," I added. "At least we've ruled out my first guess, Hunter's Syndrome."
"Ouch!" Wilson said. "That would have been really bad."
"Yeah," I said nodding. "But it could still be something even worse, something that would kill him outright before his second birthday."
"That's what you're afraid of, isn't it? House, I think you've abandoned the ranks of the heartless yourself!" Wilson said with mock amazement.
"You don't think I care?" I protested.
"About your patients? Not usually. But there have been times, and I'm thinking this is one of them," Wilson said, having his own epiphany. "What is it about this kid that's getting to you?"
I narrowed my eyes at my friend. It was actually a good question, maybe even one worth pursuing. I'd gone after this case to prove to myself that my life had meaning and yet, somewhere along the way I developed a real interest not just in the case but in the people involved. What was it about Christopher especially that got through the shields I kept around my emotions? And did it have anything to do with what was wrong with him?
I left Wilson's office without another word, lost in my thoughts. I didn't even notice Jess standing outside my office looking in until she saw me and called out, "House!"
I stopped in my tracks and turned to her.
"I think you should know. Petey and Ellie had words and he stormed out."
I frowned. How was I going to do the tests I wanted if he took off again? But he hadn't gone far. Chase was escorting Petey off the elevator before we even reached it.
"Caught up with him in the lobby," Chase said, letting go of the elbow he'd been holding onto as he propelled Petey toward us.
"And where do you think you were going?" I asked.
"Back to Florida," Petey replied with a belligerent glare. "I knew it was a mistake to come here! But Lester bullied me into it, saying I was being as bad a dad as mine was."
"Petey, as long as you're here, you need to help the doctors find out what's wrong with Christopher," Jess pleaded. "I promise, you can go right back to the land of sun and fun once they've figured that out."
I noticed she didn't call on his paternal feelings. It was probably as obvious to her as it was to everyone else that he didn't have any.
"What was the argument with Ellie about?" I asked.
Petey didn't answer, but Chase was quick to tell me, "I think she wanted him to understand what she'd gone through after he left, and he didn't want to hear anything about it."
"I never told her to stay away from her parents," Petey objected. "I knew they'd be happy to take her and the kid in."
"The kid has a name," I told him. "Your son's name is Christopher."
"Yeah, well, I wanted to call him Peter the third, or Trey," Petey said. "But Ellie insisted."
"So that means you won't use his name when you talk about him?" Jess asked in some disgust.
Petey sighed. "Alright, Christopher. But he's no saint! He used to cry all the time, not a real strong cry either, just a kind of whimper, you know." He shook his head. "It took me months to get that sound outta my head!"
I studied him, not because of what a jerk he was but because something like that could bother him that much. "What other sounds annoy you?" I asked.
"Huh?"
"Besides the baby's whimpering, what's the most annoying sound you know?" I pressed.
He actually thought about it. "It's a toss-up between a dripping faucet and those insect things, what're they called? The ones that go all night in the summer."
"Cicadas?" Jess asked.
"Yeah, them."
Those were pretty annoying sounds, but why did those bother him more than, say, a ringing alarm clock, or my personal least favorite, the sound of a police siren? And was this another symptom? These thoughts led me to ask Chase, "How has Christopher responded to different sounds?"
"We've been concentrating on his reactions to sight, but I did notice he started whimpering when we turned on some of the monitors," Chase said.
I nodded. The constant beep could be annoying. "What about the CT scan machine? How'd he react to that?"
"He screamed twice, I think," Thirteen said.
"Well, folks, I think we have ourselves a new symptom," I said with a smile. "There's a hearing test that they've perfected for kids who can't talk yet. See whether Finnegan can run it on Christopher for us." I looked at Petey. "And let's run one on Father of the Year here, too."
"You're thinking hyperacusis." Chase jumped on the idea.
"Maybe. People with autism also have hypersensitivity to certain frequencies especially when they're loud."
"I'll go order the tests," Thirteen said, already halfway out the door.
"What was that first one, hyperacu-something?" Jess asked.
"Hyperacusis. It's a lack of tolerance for ordinary sounds," I explained. "And it can be quite severe. But there are treatments." I guess I was beginning to hope that was all that was wrong with Christopher.
"There's nothing wrong with my ears," Petey said. "I can hear just fine. In fact, maybe too well." He'd finally realized what we'd been talking about.
"Maybe, but we can do an easy test to find out," Chase told him. "It won't hurt, and won't even take a lot of time, especially since we know what we're looking for."
The young man looked around at all of us watching him, then sighed in resignation. "Alright, I'll take your stupid test. But I'm telling you. There's nothing wrong with my hearing."
Thirteen was back already with the news. "Finnegan will run tests on Chris a little later today, and he can see Petey in a half hour."
Jess took her brother's arm. "C'mon. I know where I can buy you a cup of coffee. They may even have some apple pie," she told him, then gave us a look that clearly said 'I've got this under control' and led Petey out.
'Do you really think that's what it's been all along?" Chase asked.
I shrugged. "It's a better diagnosis than any we've come up with so far. But don't go racing off to tell Ellie yet," I said, knowing full well that's what he intended to do. "Wait until the tests confirm."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. No sense getting her hopes up."