Occam's Razor - House M.D.

Part 17- Frozen

That weekend, Madelyn spent her time frozen in her thoughts, ruminating over all the possible reasons what that moment with Wilson meant, and if it ruined the reputation House held of her. 

On Saturday and Sunday, Madelyn managed to get herself dressed, out of bed, and completed grocery shopping for the week and cleaned the apartment. However, she didn't accomplish much else other than making herself anxious for the week ahead. 

Madelyn woke up extra early Monday morning, and arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 7 AM. Sleep hadn't left her eyes yet, but she looked like a fresh bouquet of flowers; her hair soft and clean, her black dress iron-pressed, and her skin as radiant as ever. She was hard to ignore. 

She made herself a fresh pot of coffee, dressed it up with vanilla foam and hazelnut, then took a seat at the group table. The steel seat was cold on her bare thighs, but the coffee warmed her up quickly. Typing away at her laptop, Madelyn began editing her research proposal before a meeting she had with Cuddy at 8 AM. Details needed refreshing and refining and time was ticking. 

Focused on her laptop screen, Madelyn didn't initially notice House had arrived and come to the coffee station, so she was surprised to see him when she looked up. 

"You scared me!" she gasped. House pretended to look surprised,

"Sorry, I forgot to announce myself." House mocked, in a sleepy-sounding voice. 

Madelyn didn't respond, partly because House was still being obnoxious and partly because she needed to concentrate. The office was silent except for the clacking of the laptop keyboard and the bubbly sound of coffee being poured into a ceramic mug. House turned around and strode back to his desk without a glance in Madelyn's direction. 

Over the next twenty minutes or so, the rest of the team arrived one by one and took their seats at the table. Eventually, the sun seeped through the blinds alerting everyone that it was near the time of morning where the busyness picks up. 

House stepped into the group area and began passing out file folders for a new case. He started with Chase and ended with Madelyn. House licked his finger to flip through the pages to get an idea of what they were going to be dealing with. 

"Enema gone wrong. Woman has Crohn's, so we know one definite thing: she's an idiot.", House told the team, who more or less agreed. 

"How long has she been diagnosed with Crohn's?", Thirteen asked.

"Not long enough to know the dangers of enemas..." Taub replied. 

"Foreman. Taub. Run a CT scan and confirm the current intestinal state." House instructed. The three other team members asked what they were to do in the meantime, 

"I want you guys to study the file more closely, and pretend that her Crohns diagnosis is wrong. Figure out what else it could it be."

As Taub and Foreman readied to go to radiology, Madelyn got up as her meeting with Cuddy was in five minutes.

"Where are you going?", House asked. Madelyn turned her eyes to him, finding his eyes already frozen on hers. 

"I have a meeting with Cuddy. Excuse me.", Madelyn excused herself and left the office. Chase and Thirteen looked at each other and shrugged. House exhaled heavily, sounding aggravated. 

About three minutes later, Madelyn entered Cuddy's office who greeted her with a warm smile. The two women sat at Cuddy's desk and began. 

"Dr. Cuddy, I've revised my research proposal for the Northeastern Medicine Association conference, and I wanted your professional opinion on its validity." Madelyn stated, trying her best to sound confident, but humble. 

"Sure! You've made progress quickly, good for you." Cuddy praised, her pristinely curled hair springing up and down. 

Madelyn scanned Cuddy's office while she looked at her full-fledged proposal that had only been an idea a few weeks ago. Madelyn took notice of the many plants Cuddy had potted throughout the room, and the ever-glowing sunlight that flooded through her picture window. 

"Dr. Gilmore," Cuddy spoke, "your proposal reflects your intelligence, empathetic capacity, and of course your mission as a doctor. I see a lot of promise so far, and while I know submissions aren't for another month, I think you have a solid start." 

"Really?!" Madelyn shrieked a bit. Cuddy nodded. 

"You're proving to be quite the asset.", Cuddy said with certainty. 

"Well, what better a judge than Dr. Cuddy.", a voice asserted from behind Madelyn. 

"House, this is a private meeting." Cuddy clarified. House didn't care. 

"Dr. Gilmore, get back to the office." House ordered. 

"Like Dr. Cuddy said, we're in a meeting. I'll be done soon." Madelyn pleaded, her body feeling all twisted. 

Cuddy held out her hands in a gesture that communicated she was out of explanations, and that House needed to deal with it. House inhaled deeply, and slammed her office door shut behind him. 

"Can I just have a moment to clarify this with him?" Madelyn asked as if she were about to cry. 

Cuddy returned a sympathetic look, her lips pursed and her eyes sincere, 

"Okay". 

Madelyn got up from her seat and fled the office. She found House storming towards the elevator. 

"House!" She shouted so he could hear. 

He, indeed, heard. House snapped around and saw her short stature approach him. 

"Oh no!" House yelled, "You don't get to be mad. I get to be mad! You directly defied me, I am your boss. You do as I instruct, and you don't sneak off to meetings with the dean of medicine behind my back!" 

"It wasn't a secret meeting, she was advising me on my research proposal!" Madelyn shouted back. 

"I don't care what it was, you do your job when I tell you to!" 

"Well, it'd be a lot easier to if you showed me some respect." Madelyn replied. House forfeited the elevator, and guided Madelyn towards a less public area of the main floor. 

"I don't have to respect you! You have been a doctor for point-two seconds, you don't get to make any calls here!" House snarled, finally hitting her where he knew it would hurt: insulting her competence. 

Madelyn charged towards her boss and held nothing back. 

"I've shown you nothing but respect and an unwavering work ethic! What have I done that has turned you so incredibly sour and apathetic towards me? For the last five days, you have been awful to me, and I know it's different from your usual awful attitude. You've been dismissive, ignorant, and passive aggressive any time we've interacted, and I have done nothing to fucking deserve it!" 

House was pissed. He wasn't mad at what Madelyn was saying, but at her tone. Her words stung like ice and set him off like dynamite. 

"I think you would quickly realize your shortcomings if you would take a minute to to focus on your work instead of fucking Wilson during your lunch break." House cursed. Madelyn stood appalled and speechless. She began crying: 

"Go to hell! You know damn well I do my job and do it well! Before you decide to throw stones, take a hard look at yourself and what you've sacrificed to live the way you do: the lack of relationships, the lack of empathy, and your pathetic, diminutive perspective of the world." 

Madelyn huffed off, returning to Cuddy's office, and she left so quickly, her heels might as well have left steam. House was both frozen and put in his place by the woman he was falling for. He couldn't help himself from watching Madelyn walk away from him, from his cowardliness, and far, far away from his heart.