"So, we have a six-year-old boy with fever, headache, analgesia, and decreased movement. Differential diagnosis?" House asked his diagnostic team.
"Maybe the kid got it from the mom." Foreman offered, slapping the patient's file against the desk.
"Lemierre's isn't contagious." stated Cameron.
"It's not Lemierre's!" The team could tell by House's tone that he was impatient. "We ruled that out already."
Cameron adjusted her position after being yelled at.
"It has to be environmental then." Foreman insisted. "Both the kid and mom have the same symptoms."
"Start the kid on the same stuff as mom. We'll see if he's better." House said.
"And, what if he's not better? Those medications you want to give him are strong. Not normally given to little kids." The immunologist always thought ahead.
House sighed. "Assume that I'm not wrong for once and just do the treatment."
Under her breath, Cameron muttered, "Well, better safe than sorry."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing." Cameron rolled her eyes.
"Are you doubting my ability, Dr. Cameron? Because, if so, you should tell Cuddy if you think I'm doing something morally wrong."
Cameron backed up, wanting to leave the situation. "I just don't want to give a kid a large dose of a medication that could kill him."
House loathed Cameron's ethics. She cared too much about puppies, kittens, and rainbows. What she needed to do was grow a pair and do her job. "Go tell mom that she's gonna have to see her little boy dead in a few hours if you don't want to give him the medication. See which one she prefers."
Cameron sighed. "Fine, House." She followed her colleagues, dreading doing what she had to do.
"Chase, get a patient history." House instructed. "I hope mommy is a single parent!" He crossed his fingers.
Chase just rolled his eyes.
Foreman poked the young patient with a needle, to which he winced.
"Ow!" The boy rubbed his foot.
"Sorry, buddy, but I had to do that. It's a good sign, though. It means you can feel pain. It rules out some things."
"What do I have?" The little boy was inquisitive.
"We think it's the same thing your mom has." Foreman avoided a direct answer.
"What does she have?" The boy was relentless.
"We don't know."
The boy seemed anxious at the news. "Am I gonna get better?"
Foreman felt his heart drop. "This medicine should get rid of the pain caused by your headache."
"Okay." The little brown-haired child said with a small frown. It was evident that he was worried.
Foreman left back to House's office, hoping that the medication would help the little boy.
"His analgesia is getting better. So, it can't be dorsalis or syringomyelia."
"It could be a tumor." Cameron said.
"MRI was clear." Foreman sat back.
"What's the history?" House asked.
"There's a history of oropharyngeal infection and astigmatism, but otherwise, he's healthy."
House stopped in his tracks and turned around. "That's interesting."
"The head and neck are clear, there's so sign of-"
"Not that," House interrupted. "The astigmatism. How many changes in prescription has he had in the last year?"
Chase flipped through the patient files until answering, "Three, why?"
"And that didn't seem odd to you?"
"It's normal for a young child to have changes in eyesight." Cameron prompted.
"Maybe over his entire childhood, but not in one year." House picked up his cane. "CT the brain and check his heart and kidneys, kid could have organ failure." He limped out of the room, causing the three doctors to glance at each other.
Chase and Cameron sat in the CT room as Foreman conducted the examination.
"So, you really like the kid's mom?" Cameron asked, eyes focused on the screen.
"She's really nice, yeah."
"Are you asking her out?" Cameron said, promptly, catching Chase off guard.
"Why do you care?"
Cameron looked at him. "I don't, I was just wondering."
"Guys-" Foreman interrupted the awkward conversation, to Chase's relief.
They looked up at the screen. Chase's eyes widened. Cameron gasped, concern filling her face.
"So, enlarged ventricles and cortical atrophy tell us what?" House asked his team.
Foreman hesitated before answering. "Sensory deprivation."
"He's being abused. You only see this in children with severe emotional neglect." Cameron noted.
"He seemed fine when we visited him, no clue that anyone is hurting him." Chase said.
"Go talk to mom." House ordered.
Chase got up, seemingly offended. "You think his mom is abusing him? There's no way-"
"And that's why you're not going to talk to her." House turned past Cameron. "And you aren't gonna do it either."
"I am perfectly capable to talking to the mom." She defended.
"Okay. I'll be the mom, you be you." House stepped over to Cameron, raising his voice. "Are you accusing me of hurting my son? How dare you! I would never do that!" House got up in her face. "I can't believe this. It all started with his dad. I always knew he was hurting little Johnny."
Cameron rolled her eyes at having to act that out. "I'm not accusing you of anything, Ms.-"
"Yes you are!" House yelled, breaking out of the act. "You're so gullible. Foreman, go talk to the mom."
Cameron sat back down in mock defeat.
"I just need to know about his dad." Foreman knew that Addy was uncomfortable with the topic.
"He's always been in Eric's life. He was angry with me a lot, but never hurt Eric. He would never do anything to harm him."
Foreman asked a following question. "Did he ever hurt you?"
Addy sighed and avoided eye contact. "Sometimes, he-uh- he would grab me. Tell me that I was being stupid. But he always apologized." Addy's eyes were glistening with tears.
Foreman knew what he had to ask next. "Did Eric ever see his dad hurt you?"
She shook her head. "No, no. He couldn't have. Jim made sure that we were behind closed doors."
Foreman nodded. "Thank you for answering, Ms. Dorane." He left the room.
Several hours later, a tall man with dark hair was banging on the glass door to House's office.
The team of three jumped, unexpectedly.
"Probably one of my fans." House remarked and headed toward the angry man.
"What's going on?" He was yelling.
"What, no happy greeting?"
"What's wrong with my son?"
House widened his eyes. "He's sick."
"No shit." The man was threatening and stepped towards House. "Why didn't anyone tell me he was here?"
"How come you didn't know?" House countered.
"I was at work! I get a call from the hospital that my son was admitted."
"I think you need to talk to your wife." Cameron stepped up. "Don't blame House for this."
"Sit down, Dr. Cameron." House ordered.
"No," Cameron kept talking. "You're yelling at the wrong person." She was accusatory already. When the man stepped closer to her, she quipped, "What are you gonna do, hit me life you hit your wife?" She didn't know where this sudden influx of bravery was coming from.
"Back up, bitch."
House threw his cane in between them. "Hey!" He wanted to punch him. "You're not making a great case for yourself there, pal."
Cameron backed up, heart racing.
"Show me my son."
Cuddy came in at the perfect moment. "Mr. Dorane," She greeted. "Come with me, your son is admitted down the hall."
When Cuddy left, House stared at Cameron. "As cute as it is that you stick up for me, it was extremely stupid."
Cameron protested. "I couldn't just let him talk to you like that!"
"I can handle angry parents. Dr. Cameron. Don't step in where you don't belong." House was aware that what he was saying may sound rude, but he honestly didn't want his youngest team member to go and get herself hurt. She was so strong-willed and it could cause her to get herself into a situation she wouldn't be able to get out of.
"House, I can handle myself, too." She insisted.
After talking to Ms. Dorane, Foreman found out that her husband had been very abusive. However, he there was no evidence that he was hurting his son, Eric. They had a social worker come in and talk to the young boy, and he didn't seem scared or worried about his dad. In fact, he seemed genuinely shocked that they would insist anything.
"It can't be the dad." Cameron stated. "He's not hurting the kid. There's absolutely zero physical or emotional evidence that suggests it."
House knew what he had to do. He limped to where Addy's room was. He was on a mission and it was not going to be enjoyable.
"Eric can be kind of loud sometimes, can't he?" House pretended to be sympathetic.
Addy nodded. "Yeah, he's a pretty wild kid." She laughed.
"I understand- he gets a little loud and you might yell at him. Sometimes the wildness is so bad that you can't take it and you lock him in the closet." House stared into Addy's eyes, no longer joking.
Ms. Dorane was taken aback. "What?"
"Oh, stop playing innocent. You get angry and you try to get the kid to shut up. You didn't want to be like your husband, but you can't help it. We see it all the time in victims of domestic abuse. He reminds you too much of your son. You take the anger out on him."
Addy was completely breaking apart. "I'm s-sorry! I just can't-! I'm so sorry, Eric. I'm so sorry."
House sighed. "Have fun in jail."
At the end of her shift, Cameron was in the locker room, about to change into her normal clothes. She heard the door open. House was the only one to walk in on her like that. "House, get out. I'm changing." There was no response. "House, I'm serious."
"They're taking me in." The voice was that of Eric's father. "They think I hurt him."
Cameron felt her heart racing again. "Mr. Dorane- I'm sorry, but-"
"It's your fault," He stepped aggressively toward her. He grabbed Cameron's wrists. "Screw you."
Cameron screamed as she got pushed down, blacking out as soon as head contacted tile.