2005
The next week, House and Cameron entered the conference room. Reilly sat reading a medical journal and Chase was eating breakfast. Both looked up at him.
"Cameron decided to take a referral from one of the thousands of idiot doctors who try to send us their cast offs," he told them as he tossed patient files on the table.
Reilly pulled one over and flipped it open. "A ten year old had a heart attack?" she asked in surprise.
House tossed his backpack in his office and moved to the whiteboard. "Cool, huh?"
"It says here she's morbidly obese," Chase said as he closed the file and pushed it away. "If I was that young and that fat, I'd be tempted to knock back a bottle of pills."
"No," Cameron told him. "It's not a drug overdose. Three CKMBs were positive and the EKG shows classic signs of elevation. It was a heart attack."
"She's been experiencing fatigue, muscle pain and difficulty breathing for over a year now," Reilly told him.
"All classic symptoms of depression and obesity," Chase commented.
Reilly looked up at him and House smiled. He recognized that look.
"Get ready for it," he whispered to Cameron.
"I take it you'd give her an antidepressant and send her on her way," Reilly said evenly.
"That and a copy of a diet and exercise routine," he said with a shrug.
"Really?"
"Yep."
"Well, it's a good thing for Jessica you aren't in charge. Because I imagine her mother, who told all the other doctors that Jessica watches what she eats and exercises already, would sue your sorry ass and the hospital for negligence. Stop letting your petty prejudices cloud your medical judgement, boyo." She looked over at House who grinned widely at her. "It could be something genetic or a tumor. And stop grinning like that."
House wrote the words genetic and tumor on the whiteboard. "Just glad to see you can still put someone in his place," he commented.
"What about Metabolic X Syndrome?" Cameron asked.
"Insulin resistance?" Chase asked skeptically.
"I don't think so. I think we should check for tumors. She could have one on her thyroid or pituitary," Reilly said. "I'm going to go get some more information from her mom."
"Aw, jeez, Reilly," House groaned rolling his head back. "We don't talk to the patient or the patient's family. Can you guess why?"
"I know you think everybody lies but I want to talk to her mom again," Reilly persisted. She stood up and walked past House. "So I'm going to."
"I can fire you, you know," he told her.
She looked at him over her shoulder and smiled sweetly. "But you're not going to."
Once she left, House went into his office and sat at his desk. Picking up his oversized grey and red tennis ball, he began to rub it against his forehead. Cameron came in and sat down.
"I'm not telling you anything about her if that's why you're in here," he muttered.
"No," she told him. "I looked over Jessica's file and I think McGrath-"
"Her name is Reilly or Doctor McGrath," he cut in sharply. "She doesn't like being called by her last name. I figured she told you two that."
"Reilly may be correct," Cameron continued. "She's a good doctor."
"May?" House asked. "She may be correct?" Sarcasm dripped off each word.
Reilly popped her head in the door. "Doctor Cameron? Would you come with me to talk to Jessica?"
Cameron looked at House with questioning eyes. He waved his hand and she got up.
They walked in silence to Jessica's room. Reilly smiled at her. "I'm Doctor McGrath but you can call me Reilly. And this is Doctor Cameron. May we talk to you?"
Jessica looked from one to the other. "Sure," she said hesitantly. "I guess that would be okay."
Reilly pulled a stool up and sat down next to Jessica's bed. Cameron came to stand beside her. She looked out the glass walls and saw House slip behind a column at the nurse's station. He looked around at her and widened his eyes. Cameron turned her attention back to Reilly.
"-and if you've been taking anything, we really need to know," she finished.
Jessica swallowed. "You'll tell my mom."
"Nope," Reilly told her. "You're our patient. We won't tell her anything unless it's something medical."
Tears gathered in Jessica's eyes. "I stole some diet pills and took them. But they didn't work. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. Is that why I'm sick?"
"No," Reilly assured her reaching out to smooth her hair. "I'm glad you told me, though. Now we can cross that off our list."
"You won't tell my mom?"
"No, not me."
Jessica narrowed her eyes. "Is that why she's here? So she can tell my mom?"
"No, Jessica," Cameron assured her.
"You're lying bitches!" she screamed as she began to thrash around in the bed and tried to pull the heart monitor leads off.
"Lorazepam," Reilly said calmly to Cameron. "Jessica. Look at me. Now!"
Jessica turned to look at her, reaching out to grab Reilly's throat as Cameron inserted the needle into her other arm. Her hand fell to the bed, her eyes fluttered and then closed.
"Psychotic outburst," Reilly commented. "Doctor House, we need you in here!"
House came out from his hiding place and limped into the room leaning heavily on his cane. "You haven't changed," he commented. "I never could sneak up on you."
"She was taking diet pills and I suppose you saw the outburst," Reilly said as she got up and smoothed her dark grey skirt.
"I don't do full body scans," he told her defiantly.
"Did I say anything about a full body scan?"
"Well, then what? An MRI? A CT scan?"
"Both. Then we can do an image fusion. I think we should start with her head."
He looked at her and then nodded. "Cameron, you and Chase do the tests. Reilly, you can get her mom's permission."
Once Reilly got the mother's permission, House called her into his office. She walked in and sat down in his Eames lounger and put her feet up. House sat at his desk tossing a ball in the air. He tossed it to her, she caught and then tossed it back. They began to throw the ball back and forth to each other..
"Tell me what you think it is," he said.
"Cushing's. Her mom is tall and so is her dad. Jessica is short. Combine that with the other symptoms and you get Cushing's."
"Yeah, but her mom is heavy, too."
Reilly caught the ball and held it. She narrowed her eyes and shot him a look of anger. "No she isn't. She's a normal sized woman. She's built like Mom. Are you saying Mom's fat?"
"There's nothing I can say that won't piss you off more, is there?"
"No. This stupid society we live in forces an unnatural ideal on women. I hate it."
"Yet, you're thin," he commented and then ducked when she threw the ball at his head.
"I've started running again," she told him. "And I lost a lot of weight after the divorce."
"Are you saying you got fat?" he teased.
"You're a jerk. I had kids and then had fibroids. I had a hysterectomy and gained some weight."
"Smug is an idiot."
"Yes he is."
"Who did he cheat with?" he asked her as he turned his chair around and picked up the ball.
"Who didn't he cheat with is a better question," she responded. She rolled her eyes. "He cheated even before we got married."
Cameron walked in with Chase on her heels. "She has a tumor on her pituitary gland. It's small but she's got Cushing's."
Reilly smiled broadly.
House rolled his eyes. "Get her scheduled for surgery," he said to Cameron. He pointed at Reilly. "You go remove the tumor."
"Aye, boss!" she laughed as she jumped up.