You want me to Date You?

Chapter Twenty Two

Here's the next chapter everyone!

House and Cameron arrived at the hospital and rode the elevator up to the diagnostic floor in companionable silence. Although Cameron found herself stealing glances of the man beside her. When he caught her staring, he only smirked at her and placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked down the hallway that led them to their meeting room and House's office.

When they walked inside Chase and Foreman looked up at them both.

"Calvin is coughing up blood." Chase stated.

House furrowed his brow. "That's new. When did that start?"

"He started coughing a couple hours ago, but it progressed to him coughing up blood."

"Well, coughing is a new symptom, a blood vessel ruptured in his lung."

Chase nodded, "I closed the tear."

House walked over to his white board and Cameron sat down at one of the seats at the table. "Well it takes immune reconstitution off the table. What's it put on the table?" he asked.

"Could be Kaposi's Syndrome." Cameron suggested.

House shook his head as he played with his cane. "No edema or blood in his urine."

"What about KS?" Foreman questioned. "KS on his face could mean KS in his lungs, with bleeding from the lesions."

"I would have seen them when I repaired the tear in his lung." Chase clarified. "Wegener's granulomatosis?"

"If he had Wegener's it would have responded to the steroids we gave him." Cameron said. "I honestly think we need to revisit drugs and toxins."

"We know that he tested positive for drugs, it is not medically relevant." House answered as he leaned on his cane.

"You didn't hear me. I also said toxins; it could be tainted with anything from rat poison to battery acid."

House paused as he thought for a moment, "Find his pills and test them for toxins." He watched as his team all got up and filed out of the room, leaving him free to go into his office.

Cameron and Chase travelled to Calvin's apartment in search of his drugs. Once they were inside, they split and began to search throughout the home.

"There are no drugs in here, I'll check the bathroom." Cameron called as she finished checking a desk in the living room.

Chase looked after Cameron as she walked down the hallway and sighed. It would be now or never if he wanted to talk to her without anyone else overhearing them. He walked down the hall and leaned against the bathroom doorway. "So ... how has everything been going?"

Cameron glanced back at Chase while she bent down to look through the cabinets of Calvin's vanity. "It's been fine. Why?" she asked.

"I'm just curious. How're you and House doing?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. There's the question, she thought to herself as she dug through cleaning materials and felt against the walls of the small vanity.

"House and I are doing fine ... more than fine actually." She answered with a smirk. She shut the doors and stood before she turned and faced Chase. "Nothing in here, why don't you go and check the kitchen?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

Chase raised an eyebrow at her and stood his ground. "More than fine?" he asked.

Cameron sighed, "Yes Chase, we are doing very well and enjoy being together. Why are you being so nosey?" she questioned as she pushed him out into the hall and towards the kitchen so they could search in there.

Chase begrudgingly let her push him to the kitchen and he turned to look through the cabinets. "I don't know. I'm just showing interest I guess. I just find it weird that House has settled down a little."

"Settled down? He hasn't changed Chase ... just because we are a couple it doesn't change how he works, he's still the same man." Cameron said sternly as she searched beneath the sink.

Chase sighed and shut the last cabinet. "Defensive much?" he questioned. He was about to say more until he saw the glare that Cameron was giving him, so he held up his hands in surrender. "There's nothing here, I checked the bedroom when we first got here... the only thing I found were some old lightbulbs."

"Back to the hospital then, I'll let House know that the home is clear."

Cameron and Chase walked into House's office and Cameron placed a lightbulb on his desk. House looked down at it, then back up at Cameron and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Calvin is a photographer; the date stamp on the glass is from the nineteen thirties."

Chase nodded as he leaned against the wall. "Pre-World War II fluorescent bulbs contained large amounts of beryllium. Beryllium dust inflames the lungs, they get rigid, and the patient can't breathe." House furrowed his brows at Chase. "My father published a paper on acute berylliosis."

House snorted "Phew! For a moment there I thought you were smart. Cameron, get a biopsy of Calvin's lung tissue. Run a spectrographic analysis." Cameron nodded and turned to go towards Calvin's room, while House had Chase complete his clinic hours.

In Calvin's room, Cameron prepared to get the biopsy that they needed to test for berylliosis. "You're going to feel a sharp pinch." Cameron said gently, preparing to get what she needed as she inserted a metal instrument into Calvin's side to get a piece of lung tissue.

Calvin squeezed his eyes shut at the hard pinch from the biopsy tool. "What were you looking for at my home?" he asked after Cameron removed the tool from his side and proceeded to patch him up.

"We were searching for your drugs. Thought maybe you'd used toxic meth. We'll know if you're exposed to beryllium in a few hours."

Calvin smirked, "Well if you're still curious, it's in my bag over there on the chair."

Cameron looked at him with wide eyes, "You brought drugs into the hospital?! Glad I wasted my time at your hotel." She walked over to his bag and checked through some of the pockets until she found the drugs in a clear plastic bag.

"I told you I used; you didn't ask me for a sample." Calvin replied with a shrug. Cameron rolled her eyes and left Calvin's room.

Later in the day the alarm sounded from Calvin's room, causing nurses to rush in along with Chase and Foreman, all dressed in scrubs.

Calvin lay in his back, grasping at his chest. "Chest ... hurts!" he cried out.

Foreman looked up at his monitors. "Heart rate's a hundred and climbing, could be an allergic reaction."

Chase bent over him with a stethoscope, "Neck veins are out; must be pericardial effusion." He quickly checked his lung sounds, "No wheezing." Calvin continued to gasp for air.

"The tear in his lung has re-opened." Foreman stated.

"Calvin, you're bleeding into the area around your heart." Chase said, calmly getting his attention.

"I'm dying?" Calvin questioned. "I can't breathe!"

Chase grabbed some instrument to try help Calvin, while he explained to him what was going on. "The blood's crushing your heart, once we remove it, you'll be fine."

Calvin shook his head, "If I die, please... tell my dad—"

"You're not going to die." Chase replied firmly.

Calvin shook his head again, his eyes becoming glossy. "--tell... him... sorry." He murmured, before he lost consciousness.

Foreman grabbed the syringe that Chase gave him and pulled up on the plunger. The liquid was clear instead of red like they were hoping.

"Where's the blood?" Chased asked, "That's clear."

Foreman sighed, "Only one other thing could cause this; a tumor in his heart."