Daily Drama (In American TV Shows)

Chapter 19

It seemed like Dr. Foreman wanted to say something, but after a few moments of tightly closing his mouth and biting his lips in annoyance while avoiding direct eye contact with me, he said, "Well, I'll have the thousand dollars tomorrow," and continued walking somewhat defeated.

"Friday, I won't be coming tomorrow," I said seriously, causing Foreman to stop for a moment. Without saying anything, he nodded and continued walking quickly.

With a friendly pat on the shoulder, Dr. Chase smiled and nodded, "Well done," he said under his breath as we moved forward. "You won't be coming tomorrow?" Dr. Cameron asked suddenly, intrigued.

"No, tomorrow is the first game of the season," I replied calmly as we walked.

"Oh, surprisingly, you're into sports," House said, walking slowly. "I didn't see that coming; I thought you'd be a bookworm," he continued sarcastically.

"Not at all, it doesn't seem strange to me; you're tall and look fit," Dr. Cameron said kindly.

"Watch out, Cameron, Duncan has a reputation for being attracted to older women," House teased. "Besides, if you want him, you'll have to win him over from the outpatient clinic nurse," he continued, leaning slightly with a smile.

Ignoring the first part of the joke, Dr. Cameron and Chase both smiled strangely at the comment.

Rolling my eyes, irritated by the constant teasing, I said, "Again, House, it's called being nice to nurses; you should try it sometime."

"Yeah, medical workers in a hospital are important too, blah blah," House said, feigning irritation.

Refusing to continue the discussion, I stayed silent.

A moment later, we reached the office, entering behind Dr. Foreman, who was walking ahead faster than the rest of us.

"So," House said when he entered, going to his desk, "Sub-acute Sclerosing Pan-encephalitis," he continued slowly, sitting in his chair and getting comfortable while staring at Dr. Foreman intently.

"I suppose you could make an argument that the kid's still in stage one," Dr. Foreman said, still defeated. "Once SSPE moves to stage two," he continued, but Dr. House interrupted him. "Boom!" he shouted, hitting his desk. "Stage two is universally fatal," he cryptically concluded.

"I assume it's impossible to tell when he might move into stage two," Dr. Cameron asked inquisitively as she took her seat.

"Kid," House said, urging me to respond as I took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"He's already started showing symptoms," I said disheartened.

"So it could be a month or tonight," House commented sarcastically.

"Can we treat it?" Dr. Cameron surprisingly asked me expectantly.

I didn't really know the answer.

"Intraventricular interferon*?" I said, unsure, turning to Dr. House for guidance.

"I don't know; let's ask the neurologist," House said, shaking his head with amusement.

"Yes," Dr. Foreman finally replied after a moment.

"We're not gonna shove a spike into his brain and drip interferon without confirming this diagnosis," Dr. Cameron objected.

"After all we've been through, you still don't trust the kid's diagnosis?" House said ironically.

"It's ok we need to confirm it," I quickly said, avoiding embarrassment for Dr. Cameron.

"We won't get a reliable result for measles antibodies in his CSF, not after everything we've given him," Dr. Foreman surprisingly directed to me.