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Thicker Than Water, Chapter Nine
by ParisWriter
Author's Notes: Even though I know they won't read this, I would personally like to thank the wonderful people at Hershey Mecidal Center's transplant unit for putting up with my e-mailing them various questions about procedure for testing living organ donors. The information I gained from talking with them (as well as the e-mails) will be invaluable to me when writing future chapters of this story.
House isn't mine, but the nice reviews people leave for me are. You know you want to leave one...
Chapter Nine
"How is the patient?" House asked Foreman as he walked up behind him in the clinic.
"Which one?" Foreman replied, looking around the crowded waiting area to emphasize his point.
"The one I told you to take care of."
"Mr. Jellinsky?"
"Have I given you any other patients lately?"
Foreman rolled his eyes as House grabbed one of the charts off the stack sitting on the nurses' station and began reading it over.
"I thought Cuddy let you out of clinic duty while Rachel's here," he observed as House made a face and set aside the chart before picking up another and looking it over.
"She did," House answered, "but I need something to take my mind off things for a while. I thought maybe there might be an interesting case down here, but it looks like a lot of the same old illnesses that a five-year-old could diagnose."
He tossed aside the chart in his hand and grabbed the next one on the pile, opening it but not looking at it, instead focusing his attention on Foreman.
"So are you going to answer my question or not?"
Foreman let out an annoyed sigh and closed the chart he had just been writing notes on, handing it to one of the nurses behind the desk before turning to his boss.
"He had a pulmonary embolus."
"You mean Chase was actually right?" House asked, sounding somewhat disappointed. "Damn. Did you treat him?"
"I put him on TPA and heparin. He seems to be getting better."
House looked at Foreman quizzically, taking in his current demeanor. The younger doctor was almost as cocky and arrogant as he was most of the time, but now he seemed more subdued than usual.
"What aren't you telling me?" House wondered aloud.
"There were no signs of a DVT on his veinography," Foreman admitted after a moment.
"And why didn't you tell me this?"
Foreman sighed and leaned closer to House, lowering his voice. "You already have enough on your plate right now. I can handle this myself. I've already ordered another MRI to check for other possible sources of the clot."
House nodded almost imperceptibly. "Make sure you get a head CT, too."
"Why?"
"Because you're a neurologist," House told him as he started to walk away from their conversation. "Check for tumors in his brain."
Foreman shook his head and went back to his charting while House made his way out of the clinic and headed in the direction of Cuddy's office. He had almost reached his destination when an all-too-familiar voice called his name. Turning around, her came face-to-face with Cameron, who was being accompanied by Wilson.
"What do you want?" he snapped at her. She was visibly taken aback by his especially rude greeting, which made him feel guilty.
"What do you need?" he rephrased his question in a calmer tone.
"Wilson just paid a visit to Rachel's room and noticed a rash on her back," she told him. "I thought you might want to know."
House turned his attention to Wilson, who was doing his damnedest to avoid eye contact with him.
"Playing hanky-panky already?" he mocking scolded him. "And you haven't even been on a date yet. For shame."
"What?" Cameron asked, looking perplexed.
"Nothing," Wilson blurted out before House could embarrass him even more with his pretend allegations. "Her gown was open in the back and I happened to notice it, okay? She said it's been coming and going for the last several weeks."
"Interesting," House mused. "Why didn't she mention it before?"
"She said it never really bothered her," Wilson replied.
"And I assume you consulted Cameron here because you think that the rash may be a clue to her underlying condition?"
Wilson rolled his eyes at House. Loosely translated, the question was an accusation that Wilson had brought Cameron along to 'comfort' him. Wilson knew House had a thing for her, and he had been trying especially hard to push them together since his divorce. House believed it gave his friend a perverse pleasure to watch him squirm around the young Doctor Cameron.
"It could be West Nile fever," Cameron piped up, placing her hands in the pockets of her lab coat as she looked up at House confidently.
"Not likely, but test her for the virus anyway," House ordered. Cameron nodded and set off to run her tests, leaving the two men alone.
"Did you convince her to do the treatments?" House asked once she was out of earshot.
"No," Wilson admitted with a sigh.
"Told you it wouldn't work."
"I assume that's your way of saying, 'Thanks for trying, anyway'? If so, then you're welcome."
House watched as Wilson turned and walked away, heading toward the elevator. With a heavy sigh, he again set out for Cuddy's office, not bothering to even knock before opening the door and walking in.
"How are you holding up?" Cuddy asked from behind her desk withoutlooking up from her paperwork.
"I need a favor."
She looked up at him, frowning. "Every time you say that, it means you're about to do something very, very bad."
"I need you to get Rachel bumped up on the transplant list," he stated bluntly.
"No," she replied, then went back to her paperwork.
"She's my--"
"I know she's your daughter," she cut him off, "and I'm very sorry she's sick. But I have pulled too many strings in your name with the transplant committee. Believe me, if I could do anything to help you, I would. But my hands are tied."
"She'll be dead by next week if she doesn't get a new kidney," he argued.
"Put her on dialysis," Cuddy told him.
"She's refusing the treatments."
She looked up at him and for the first time in a long time she almost saw a man capable of human emotion. He was holding himself up well, but she had known him long enough to know that this was tearing him apart inside, whether or not he wanted to admit it.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "You know I would do anything in my power to help you with this, but the committee won't bump her up the list just because she's refusing the dialysis."
"They'd rather let her die?" House asked her quietly. Cuddy was forced to look away from him before she lost her own composure.
"I'm sorry, Greg," she told him and she began filing away the papers on her desk. "I really am."
House continued to stand before her desk, staring at her. Cuddy still refused to meet his eye. He knew she was right. If she went to the transplant committee and told them Rachel needed to be bumped up the list because she was dying, they would refuse and tell her to put the patient on dialysis until a suitable donor could be located. House knew he couldn't be mad at Cuddy for that, but she was the only person with any pull over the transplant committee. He stood there a moment longer, silently challenging her to look at him, then turned on his heel and stormed out of her office.
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Legal Disclaimer: The authors published here make no claims on the ownership of Dr. Gregory House and the other fictional residents of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Like the television show House (and quite possibly Dr. Wilson's pocket protector), they are the property of Fox Television, David Shore and undoubtedly other individuals of whom I am only peripherally aware. The fan fiction authors published here receive no monetary benefit from their work and intend no copyright infringement nor slight to the actual owners. We love the characters and we love the show, otherwise we wouldn't be here.
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