2007

Reilly sat on a bench outside the hospital room of their patient, Richard. His wife and son were talking to one of the nurses who pushed him in a wheelchair. She reached into her lab coat pocket and grasped the syringe of cortisol. Pulling it out, she got up and walked over to Richard. She smiled at his wife, Arlene.

"I just want to give him a little shot before he goes," Reilly told her. "It's cortisol. It will keep him from overheating." She pulled up the sleeve of his shirt, rubbed his arm with an alcohol swab and injected him. Letting his sleeve fall back into place, she stood back and looked at him. He continued to stare off into space.

"Call us if you need anything," Reilly told her with a forced smile. House was wrong. She felt as if her heart shattered in her chest. Arlene smiled and said something she didn't hear but nodded.

Arlene pushed the button for the elevator when Richard gasped and jerked in the chair. His wife, son and several nurses converged on him. Reilly pushed past them and pulled out her penlight to look into his eyes. He blinked rapidly at the brightness. She looked down and saw his hands fumbling with the waist strap on his wheelchair. He unlatched it and tried to push himself up.

"Arlene," he rasped.

A sob escaped his wife as she hugged him. He held her and tried to stand. His son grabbed him and helped him to his feet. Richard reached out and pulled his son close.

Reilly stared in disbelief. Arlene looked at her over her husband's shoulder.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she sobbed.

Reilly nodded and turned on her heel. She nearly ran into Cameron. Cameron grasped her shoulders to steady her. Reilly looked at her in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Cameron smiled thinly and pulled a syringe out of her lab pocket. "House came to my apartment early this morning. He was soaking wet. Told me about the cortisol. I was coming to administer a dose."

"Let's go see those two manipulative doctors who think they know what's best for our Greg," Reilly told her.

"What do you mean we can't tell him?" Reilly shouted.

She and Cameron stood in Cuddy's office facing her and Wilson.

"He's not God!" Cuddy shouted back. "He came up with that diagnosis by jumping in a fountain! There was no medical basis at all! Next time he could kill a patient!"

"He has to learn," Wilson told them.

Reilly stared at them in disgust. "And who are you two to teach him? He's smarter than both of you. And he's a better doctor."

She spun on her heel and slammed out of Cuddy's office. Cameron looked over her shoulder and then back at Wilson and Cuddy. "You better hope she doesn't quit because if she does, House will."

She left the two of them and quietly closed the door.

"I'm going to write McGrath up," Cuddy seethed. "She gave a patient an unauthorized treatment. She should be fired. House won't leave. No one else will hire him."

Wilson sighed. "He's had offers from about ten other hospitals. He turned them down because he wants to work with Reilly and he likes his team. Maybe we shouldn't upset the balance. PPTH has the only Diagnostics department in the country. House and his team are known worldwide. They all have their pick of jobs if they left. And if House and Reilly left, so would they. His department keeps this hospital in the black with all the donations from grateful patients and their families."

Cuddy sank down behind her desk. "I know. But I can't let her get away with it. She'll tell House." She stared at her desk. "Maybe she should. I wasn't comfortable keeping it from him." She pulled a syringe out of her lab coat pocket.

"So, you were going to try it, too?"

She nodded. "Reilly just beat me to it." Putting the syringe on her desk, she looked at Wilson. "What now?"

Wilson shrugged. "I don't know."

Reilly stomped into the office she shared with House.

"I gave Brain Cancer Guy the cortisol!" she ground out. "It worked. But those two Machiavellian assholes didn't want you to know. He's not God!" she mocked in a perfect imitation of Cuddy. "They say you have to learn. And I'm probably going to get fired for doing it."

"I was right," House breathed. Then he looked up at Reilly. "She fires you and I quit."

Cameron walked in. "So will I."

Wilson walked in and looked at Reilly. "Cuddy won't go to the board or write you up."

"How nice of her to send her flying monkey to deliver the news," House sneered.

Wilson looked at him. "One of these days you're going to kill a patient."

Reilly walked up to him until they were nose to nose. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?" she sneered. "You always were jealous of my relationship with Greg. Is that why you cheated on me, Doug? Because you thought I was cheating on you with Greg?"

"I'm not Doug," Wilson said softly.

Reilly shook her head. Her tongue darted out and wet her lips. "I didn't say you were."

House walked up behind her and gently turned her to face him. "You called him Doug," he told her.

She pulled free and ran from the office. House started to follow her but Cameron grasped his arm.

"I'll go after her," she said softly and left.

House steadied himself on the edge of the door. "Get out, Wilson."

Wilson slipped past him and left.