Chapter 10
"How are you feeling today?"
Kate had to close her eyes and count to ten in order to not throw her water bottle at the psychiatrist. Kate had had five different psychs come to see her over the last several weeks. This one, 'Amy Tran, but just call me Amy' had lasted now four sessions. It was the longest one yet. And every session she had started with "how are you feeling today?". Kate normally opted for the silent treatment but apparently it wasn't working on 'just call me Amy' as she trudged on ahead no matter what boring answer she gave.
"Kate?"
"I feel the same."
"Well, that's better than worse."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Well done."
"Your doctor told me you've been eating better, as in, well, eating. But we do always want to up your water intake."
"I thought you were my head doctor not my body doctor?"
"Personally I think they're linked. If you're body feels like crap, you feel like crap. You feel like crap, you're body feels like crap."
"That's a real catch 22."
"You do realize your sarcasm is a defense mechanism?"
"You realize I don't care?"
"You're angry and upset and stir crazy. I'm not expecting your to suddenly be okay with everything that's happening to you. But you can make the whole thing a little better if you-" Amy stopped herself.
"If what?"
"Nothing," Amy said looking at her notes.
"No come on, I can take it."
"It's unprofessional."
Kate shrugged. "I know Dr House, you can't be more unprofessional than him."
Amy smiled a little at that.
"Off the record?"
Amy took a breath. "You feel a little better if you felt a little bit less sorry for yourself."
Kate clicked her tongue. Leaned back in her chair. "So you think I should what? Annie myself into feeling better? "The sun will come up tomorrow" and all that crap?"
Amy shook her head. "Realize it is what it is and it can always be worse."
"That's a load of crap."
Amy shrugged. "I'm right. And I think a part of you knows that."
"Yeah, it could be worse, I could be dead. Is that what you mean?" Kate snapped.
"You're in one of the best hospitals in the country. You have your own room. You have natural light. Your own bathroom. You have a slew of incredible doctors that all care about you. Your abusive parents are facing charges. Your biological father is here every day and he cares about you. You have a dialysis every day to keep your kidneys and liver functioning. You've had no terrible side effects from brain surgery that may have literally saved your life. Need I go on?"
Kate scratched at the chair. She mumbled something.
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."
Kate looked up. "My parents aren't abusive."
Amy looked at her notes. "You keep telling yourself that."
"Hit me," Kate said
Toby raises his eyebrows at her 10 and 8 but puts a new card down. A 2. Toby whistles.
"You got some luck, girl," said Toby.
"Thank you."
Toby deals a card for himself. "Dealer breaks."
"Thank you again," Kate said and she took the small pile of fruit loops they were betting with.
Wilson came in with a nurse and looked a little shocked to see Toby there. "Blood test time," he said trying to play it cool.
The nurse smiled and came over to Kate's left arm for her cannula. "If I knew going every other day with dialysis meant that I had to have twice as many blood tests I may have said no."
The nurse ignored Kate and set up for the blood test. Kate looked the other way, which incidentally meant she was looking right at her father.
"The blood withdrawal takes five minutes tops, dialysis takes four hours. You would really prefer that?"
Kate made a face. "Maybe. At least with dialysis I get my blood back."
"This way saves you four hours," Wilson shrugged. "Probably."
"Comforting, thank you."
"Yeah, but Kate's still stuck in the hospital, isn't she?" said Toby.
Wilson glared at him.
"I mean, it's not like she can go anywhere in the four hours she's saved, right?"
Wilson shuffled his feet. "Excuse me?"
"It's not really saving here anything, is it? If she can't go anywhere."
"He heard you just fine," said Kate.
"Oh," said Toby.
"Haven't you got somewhere else to be?" Wilson asked.
Toby checked his watch. "Nah, I've got like an hour."
Kate closed her eyes.
"I'm so glad you have such astute friends, Kate," Wilson said.
"All done," said the nurse. She put the stopper back in to her cannula.
"Fantastic," said Kate.
"Time to go, Toby," said Wilson as the nurse left with the vials of blood.
"But-" Toby started but Wilson's face made him stop.
Toby and Kate said goodbye and Wilson looked down at Kate in the armchair.
"What?" asked Kate.
Wilson thought for a moment. "You got a jacket?"
"Not here, why?"
"I have a spare one in my office, come on."
"What?"
"Come on," said Wilson he put his hands out.
Kate frowned but took his hands. Wilson helped her to her feet.
"What the hell is taking you so long?" House yelled from the door.
Wilson ignored him as he did up the buttons on his coat that was now on Kate.
His office door opened and House barged in. "What the hell are you doing?"
Wilson rolled his eyes and stepped aside, revealing Kate.
"Well that is far less intriguing," said House.
"Nice to see you too," said Kate.
"You look like a homeless person swimming in that coat."
"It's mine," Wilson said, defensive.
"My point stands," said House. Wilson went to say something, but House turned and yelled, "Come on Wilsons!"
Kate and Wilson followed House out of the hospital and into the parking lot. Kate breathed in the fresh air deep. It was nice actually. Not that she'd admit it to House or Wilson. House lead them a motorbike and stopped. It's scratched up on one side.
"Well this, this is perfect," said Wilson.
"Invite me to diner Thursday night," Wilson and Kate said nothing. "Come on we haven't had a nice meal together since, oh…"
"Yesterday when I loaned you five thousand dollars to buy a new car," said Wilson, pointing at the bike.
"You loaned him five thousand dollars?" asked Kate.
Wilson shrugged at Kate. House tossed his cane up in the air, caught it, then handed it to Kate. "My treat," he said to Wilson. He limped to the bike.
"Two-wheeled vehicles that travel 150 miles an hour don't really go well with crippled, irresponsible, drug addicts," said Wilson.
Kate smiled.
House gets on to the bike, "Actually two-wheeled vehicles that go 180 miles an hour do not go well with healthy responsible architects who don't know how to separate breaking and turning. Good news is, it brings the price right down."
"You're taking it back," said Wilson.
"Moooom!" House mocked.
"Can I go for a ride?" asked Kate.
House grinned as Wilson said loudly, "No!"
"How about we talk about this over dinner," said House.
"Forget dinner, you're gonna kill yourself!" said Wilson.
"Nice bike!" Chase said, coming up with Foreman and Cameron.
"Thank you. See that's how you do it, compliments, dinner," said House.
"What do you do with your cane?" asked Cameron.
"If he buys me dinner, he'll find out," House said to Wilson. Kate smiled and handed House back his cane. House clicked it into place on the side of the bike into a special holder. "Evil Kineval had the same setup."
"And he broke every bone in his body."
"We went though all the imaging studies, and re-did blood cultures," said Foreman.
House turned on the bike and revved the engine. "I don't want hand-me-downs. I want brand new stuff."
"Well there's nothing," Foreman said as House revved the engine loudly. "There's nothing…" House revved the bike again.
"Sorry I didn't catch that last part!" House yelled.
Chase laughed and Kate smiled. Wilson looked at her in disbelief.
"There's nothing," Foreman starts again. House revved the engine again, loudly. Everyone but Foreman smiled. "There's nothing else we can do."
"You checked the police report?"
"On what?"
"On his mom's car accident."
"It was 15 years ago," said Cameron, "the kid wasn't even in the car."
"She veered off a straight dry road in broad daylight. That doesn't seem odd to you?"
"She probably got distracted changing radio stations or something," said Foreman.
"That's what the police thought. Of course, they didn't know that she has a family member who is frequently incapacitated by shock-like sensations."
"Genetic component seems unlikely," said Cameron.
"It's interesting. Type 2 neurofibromatosis could cause the shocks."
"You knew this was missing?" asked Foreman.
House shrugged. "I knew something was missing. Maybe this, maybe something else. Get a DNA analysis of the long arm of chromosome 22."
House revved the engine again but then turned it off.
"You'd rather have dinner with your wife?" asked House.
"Yes, I would. If she were speaking to me," said Wilson.
Kate frowned up at him, but he didn't notice.
"Unlike her, I could make it worth your while."
"Fine."
"Should I drive?"
Kate actually laughed at that.
"Uhh...no. And I'm not letting you in my car until I see your wallet."
Wilson and Kate were walking back into the hospital when Kate finally got up the courage to ask.
"Why is Julie not talking to you?" she asked.
"It's…complicated," answered Wilson.
"Is it me?" she asked.
"No," he said. "Definitely not."
"How can you be sure?" Kate asked and Wilson pressed the elevator call button.
"Because she would've said."
"Really?"
Wilson realized his mistake too late. "Uh, yeah."
"Does she complain about me a lot?"
"Uh…" Wilson stammered. The elevator arrived and they stepped in. "Not for a few weeks." Wilson hit the button for the floor of his office.
"My favorite part is that she complains about me when I'm not even in her house."
Wilson smiled.
"I must be very powerful and important to cause so much distress when I'm not even in the same zip code."
"All the best people are."
Kate frowned as she tried to work out what that meant but they arrived at the floor and Wilson stepped out. Kate followed him down to his office again and Wilson without even thinking began unbuttoning the coat for her.
"Why did House buy a motorbike?" asked Kate.
Wilson laughed. "He has a death wish?"
Kate smiled. "Probably."
Wilson carefully pulled the coat sleeve over Kate's cannula. "Ow," she said.
"That didn't hurt," Wilson said and took the coat and hung it up.
"It's the principle of the thing."
"Next time I'll be sure to completely rip the sleeve down your arm then your 'ow' will be justified."
Kate bit her lip in thought. "No thank you."
"Ah."
Kate looked around the office. She had only been in here briefly once. It wasn't exactly what she imagined, but it was big. Was her father that important? And smart? She noticed the desk.
"You have three feet worth of paperwork on your desk," Kate said.
"Uh…yeah," said Wilson going towards his desk. "I'm a little…behind."
"Three years behind?" asked Kate.
Wilson shrugged. "I think about two months."
Kate opened her mouth but then shut it. "Oh," was all she managed.
A moment passed.
"I should get back to my room," said Kate. She seemed to try and think of something else to say but came up with nothing and went to leave.
But there was a knock at the door before she got to it. Kate froze.
Wilson frowned and gestured for her to move back. Kate moved as Wilson called, "Come in."
It was an intern. "Doctor Wilson, I'm so sorry Doctor Finch told me to come find you – we've lost Kate. We can't find her I swear I've looked everywhere…" the intern kept talking, fast paced. Wilson waited, patiently, but the intern didn't stop. Kate stared at Wilson, he noticed and shrugged at her. The intern was still going. "…her liver function still isn't great and it's not time sensitive or anything but Doctor Finch wants to get Kate on dialysis today just to be safe but like I said, we can't find her and it really should be done. I'm so sorry to disturb you Doctor Wilson but do you have any idea where Kate could be?" The intern, despite not pausing talking for a solid minute wasn't even out of breath.
"Yeah, I do," Wilson said with a small smile.
"Oh thank god. I mean, I was so worried about losing a patient. Not like, dying, but like, that definitely was a fear of mine. Oh I'm so glad you have an idea of where she could be. Where?"
Wilson was taken aback at the response. "She's standing right there," he pointed to Kate.
The intern looked over, Kate waved awkwardly. He laughed. A forced laugh. "Oh wow. If I'd just looked over I would've seen her there. That's so funny. And unprofessional. I'm so sorry Doctor Wilson. And Kate."
"It's not a problem," said Wilson. "I think. What's your name?"
"My name? Doctor Woods. Uh, Garth Woods."
"Wonderful. Thank you, Doctor Woods, you can bring the dialysis machine in here."
"In here? Are you sure? I mean it's quite heavy and large and loud and you know, it takes a long time to do its job."
"I'm sure, thank you, Doctor Woods," Wilson said again, indicating to his door.
Doctor Woods mumbled many versions of thanks and of course before he was finally out the door.
"Why in here?" asked Kate.
Wilson shrugged in what he hoped was nonchalantly. "Change of scenery can be good," he said. He went to his desk then thought of something. "Wait here," he said and left.
Kate clicked her tongue finding herself standing alone in her father's office. She saw the couch and sat down. She tapped her feet. Looked out the window. No, door. He had a balcony? Fancy. And…was that House? Kate realized then that Doctor Wilson and House's team shared a wall and a very short wall on their shared balconies. Interesting. She saw her father then, talking to House. They argued momentarily and Kate could hear their muffled voices through the wall. Eventually House rolled his eyes then moved out of view. And her father followed. He returned a few moments later.
"Here," said Wilson.
Kate looked at what he was holding. "Portable TV?"
Wilson shrugged as Kate took it. He went to his desk and pulled out some headphones as Doctor Woods arrived wheeling in the dialysis machine. Kate rolled her eyes at it.
Doctor Woods rattled off as he set it up and as Kate referred to it, 'plugging her in'. Kate drowned out Doctor Woods' prattle; it was so constant it was almost white noise. Wilson plugged in the headphones for Kate as the machine started. |
"I'll be back in 30 minutes, you know, to check it's all working and doing it's job and everything and then it should be about four hours, that's how long it normally takes, yeah?"
"I can check it," Wilson said.
Doctor Woods looked at Wilson. "I'm sorry?"
"I can check that the dialysis is working myself."
"Oh, yes, of course. But you know, it's already out of the ordinary to do dialysis in an office and not somewhere you know, more sterile in the hospital but when I asked Doctor Finch, he said it was fine but you're also the head of oncology which is very important and I'm pretty sure Kate isn't your patient. I mean, she doesn't have cancer, does she? From my reading of her chart, she just has white matter on her brain, but also had a tumor but that was benign, well at least, that's what the chart said."
"I'm sorry," said Wilson, "was there a question in there?"
"Kate's not your patient?"
Wilson shook his head. "No, she's not."
"Well then, isn't it unorthodox for her to be in here getting treatment even at the okay of my attending? I mean I know it's just dialysis but it's still a medical treatment and you're not her doctor and Kate has the big purple sticker on her chart saying that she's meant to be on careful watch because of her mother and stepfather…but I did also hear that her stepfather is in jail at the moment but her mother isn't and how I can I be sure her mother won't come wandering in here without me knowing and then I haven't done my job properly, have I?"
Kate had to stifle a laugh. She didn't do very well as both Doctor Woods and Wilson turned to her.
Wilson took a breath and rubbed his face. "It's fine, Doctor Woods."
"You're sure? I don't want to lose my job or anything or get Doctor Finch in trouble, you know?"
"You won't, and I won't let Kate's mother in here either, I can assure you."
"You can? Really?"
"Oh yes."
"Oh wonderful. Thank you, Doctor Wilson. Have fun with your dialysis, Kate, I'll see you in four hours."
"Super," responded Kate.
Doctor Woods finally left.
"Oh my god," said Wilson, sitting on the couch next to Kate. "How long has he been on your case?"
"Couple of days," said Kate, "he's…a lot."
"I'll say."
"I think Doctor Finch assigned him to me as punishment."
"Punishment?"
"He says it's not good I've gone through so many psychiatrists and I need to learn to talk more. I think he found Doctor Woods and thought he'd won the karma lottery."
"I thought you were only on your fourth psych?"
"I am," said Kate, surprised Wilson knew that.
Wilson shrugged. "It's less than I thought you'd have gone through by now."
"Amy is stubborn," Kate said.
Wilson laughed. "Ah. Amy Tran. She's…yes. Stubborn is a good description."
"You really loaned House five thousand dollars?" Kate asked, still in shock.
"He said he needed it for a new car."
"But five thousand dollars, Dad. That's a lot."
"Yeah."
"You know, I think I need a horse."
Wilson laughed. "I think you're fine. And also I'm sure you'd end up with internal bleeding if you rode a horse."
Kate bit her lip. "Probably. Never thought about it before. What about a car?"
Wilson laughed again. "Show me your license and I'll buy you a car."
Kate grinned. "I'm going to hold you to that."
Wilson nodded. "Okay."
Kate frowned at him but he was already getting up and going to his desk. He was enigma to her. Kate couldn't think of a time where her father had lied to her or not kept his word without good reason. So her immediate thought was that yes, he would buy her a car in a few years. But her next thought was, of course he wouldn't. Parents never say what they mean.