Twelve Days, Day 7

[readingrat]

Duke Orsino:
Once more, Cesario,
Get thee to yond same sovereign cruelty:
Tell her, my love, more noble than the world,
Prizes not quantity of dirty lands;
The parts that fortune hath bestow'd upon her,
Tell her, I hold as giddily as fortune;
But 'tis that miracle and queen of gems
That nature pranks her in attracts my soul.
[Twelfth Night, Act 2 Scene 4]

May 22, 2010: Day 7
(Five days after the crane disaster in Trenton)

4 pm

A few lone notes, tentatively struck on the piano, drift out of the open window of Ward 6 over the grounds. They grow firmer, are joined by others - the left hand now chips in - and finally morph into a full-fledged tune, bluesy and heavy. The unknown player, Dr Nolan has to acknowledge as he sits on a bench enjoying the afternoon sun, is talented, too talented to be one of the present inmates of Ward 6 who haven't a musical bone between them. Besides, a quick glance at the group exercising in the yard tells Nolan that everyone is accounted for. Now one of his former patients ...

Nolan's heartbeat quickens slightly. Perhaps he's changed his mind and returned. It isn't his usual day, but it would be like him to announce his presence by 'borrowing' the key to the piano. Nolan rises to go inside, anticipation accelerating his movements.

When he reaches the door to the common room he peers through the glass pane in the door before entering. The figure seated at the piano with his back to the door is shorter than House and not as lanky while his hair is denser and uniformly brown. Nolan sighs in disappointment as he enters.

"Hello, Mr Douglas."

Douglas swings round. "Oh, hello. I was just killing time - I hope you don't mind. Nice instrument. Your inmates must appreciate it - if they can play, of course."

Nolan wonders whether he's imagining a slight stress on the last words. "My patients will be back soon, so if you don't mind?" He holds out his hand. After Douglas drops the key into it, Nolan closes the instrument, locks it and pockets the key. A deliberate provocation, he decides. The question is, why? The parallels to Greg in abilities and in bad-ass behaviour have not escaped his notice. The piano playing is an independent accomplishment, but what about appropriating the key from the nurses' room? Does Douglas recognize the similarities - has he observed Greg for long enough to adopt his idiosyncrasies - or are these behaviour patterns his own? If Douglas discerns the trademarks of House's conduct, why does he feel the need to rub his, Nolan's, nose in them? No sane person wants to be identified with a drug-addicted psychotic, which is what most people see in Greg. Maybe he identifies with his target the way Greg sometimes does with a patient.

He ushers Douglas into his office.

"So," he opens pleasantly, "what do you have for me?"

"There are deviations from normal behaviour patterns." Douglas says.

"Explain, please."

Douglas extracts a note pad and flicks it open. "He lived at Wilson's place for almost a year, but two weeks ago he moved back into his own apartment. It's said that Wilson asked him to leave. You heard of the Trenton crane disaster a week ago?" Douglas asks. Nolan nods. "House was at the site the whole night, attending to a woman who was trapped beneath the rubble. The EM technicians reported a major confrontation between House and ... his boss at the construction site that started off as a difference in medical opinions, but then escalated into something personal."

"And that's unusual?" Nolan asks, relieved. If the sum of Greg's misdeeds is a confrontation with Dr Cuddy then all's well in Houseland.

"Yeah. It seems that House has been kinda quiet and tame lately. This thing escalated to the point that the patient nearly died. Well, she died anyway, but it seems that was no one's fault." He's now studying his notes industriously.

Nolan decides to probe. Does Douglas identify so strongly with Greg that Greg's conflict with Dr Cuddy affects Douglas's mood? "Any quotes?" he asks.

"Everyone was kinda busy, so no one took notes, but the general gist of, ah, Dr Cuddy's words was that House was a miserable lonely loser and that she'd had enough of him and his bullshit."

Was there a hint of schadenfreude in Douglas's voice?

"One of House's fellows, a guy called Chase, has a pool going on how long House'll last till he gets fired. Now that is unusual, because till now it's been general consensus at PPTH that House can do as he likes without getting the axe. That's changed, so he must really have pissed Dr Cuddy off in Trenton. What is also odd is that he's taking precautions to retain his job. Normally he relies on L .. Dr Cuddy to cover his ass; now he isn't. He returned to work two days after the disaster, although he was," Douglas quotes from his pad, " 'visibly in great pain', he's taking on cases he normally refuses and he's been covering his clinic hours this week."

Leaning back in his chair, Nolan stares at the ceiling. He'd like to toss a few ideas at Douglas, but patient confidentiality forbids that. The likeliest explanation for the information that Douglas has gleaned is that Greg, having relapsed before the Trenton crane accident, was confronted by Dr Cuddy in Trenton, who probably threatened to fire him unless he proved cooperative. House's relapse might have been a one-off - his compliant behaviour at work indicates this - but his situation is precarious. Losing his job would be the ultimate humiliation that could drive him back into a full-blown addiction.

"Dr Cuddy hasn't fired him yet?" Nolan asks. The longer she delays the matter, the less likely she is to carry through with it.

"She's been absent a few days. A conference. She's expected back in, let me see, three days."
There is something odd in the way he mentions Dr Cuddy. He pretends to check his notes, but Nolan can see that he isn't really looking at them. He has the information on his fingertips.

"Do you know Dr Cuddy?" Nolan asks casually.

Douglas looks at Nolan sharply. "I've seen her around the hospital. Forty-ish. Smart. Very attractive. They say House has the hots for her." The way he says the last sentence is very unattractive.

So he likes Dr Cuddy, too. Another very unfortunate similarity to House. The last thing Nolan needs is for Douglas to mess this up because he's more intent on tailing Dr Cuddy than keeping an eye on Greg.

Time is running out, his next patient probably twiddling his thumbs in the waiting room already.
"Is there any evidence that Dr House has been procuring drugs?"

"No," Douglas admits. "He hasn't seen any physician or gone to any pharmacy other than the hospital pharmacy, nor has he contacted any known dealer. He's been going straight home from work without passing Go or collecting vicodin. The evening after the disaster, medication was ordered from the hospital pharmacy for House." Douglas hands a photocopy of the pharmacy logbook to Nolan.

"Anticonvulsants, muscle relaxants, a mild sedative. No opiates," Nolan observes.

"No, but I fished the vicodin bottles out of his trash a day later, so he probably took those at the same time."

"Alcohol?"

"He's got a stash in his office. If he's emptied any more bottles of Jack Daniels at home, then he hasn't taken them out with the trash lately."

"Dr Wilson?"

"He left work together with House yesterday, but they went their separate ways. It all seems amiable enough. His girl-friend has moved in with him and House is said to hate her."

On the one hand all this is not very reassuring, especially the coolness between Greg and Wilson and Greg drinking on the job. On the other hand there are no hard facts to support the theory that Greg is in a steep downward spiral. Indeed, if Douglas's assumptions are correct, then Greg is for once in his life actively engaged in preserving his job. That would be a definite improvement on Greg's fatalistic destructiveness. Previously, he'd push and push until something gave, covering himself with the debris of failure and strengthening his innate belief that he's hard-wired to screw everything up. In Trenton he's brought down more than rubble from the destroyed building onto his head, but if he is now prepared to dig his way out, then the process of the last year will not have been in vain.

Nolan considers whether having Greg observed was a wise move, the more so since Douglas makes him feel uneasy in a way he can't quite put his finger on. There is something about him that irritates him, like the buzz of a mosquito penetrating his sleep on a warm summer's night; there is some association that refuses to surface to his conscious thought processes.

Yet Greg is apparently in acute danger of getting fired. Nolan would like to see that danger banned before he takes any further steps, such as the inevitable one of informing Greg's employer that he isn't meeting the conditions for his employment any more. Should Greg have short-circuited Dr Cuddy to the point that on her return her main fuses are liable to blow, timely intervention on Nolan's part might prevent a total blackout for his former patient. Nolan debates intervening with Greg before Dr Cuddy's return, but knowing Greg, chances are that such an effort will be counterproductive. As far as he can make out, all of Greg's measures other than the alcohol are steps in the right direction. Should the situation between him and Dr Cuddy escalate, then that will be the right time to intervene, possibly with Dr Cuddy rather than Greg, pointing out to her what she may have failed to observe, namely the enormous rate of progress that Greg has been making.

From what Greg has said or implied, Dr Cuddy is quick to flare up, but as rapid in cooling down again. Even if she was bent on firing Greg after the Trenton incident, it is well possible that she'll return prepared to give him another chance. Once Nolan is sure that Greg's job is secure, he'll try to talk him into resuming his therapy with some other therapist, and then he'll let him go.

"Okay," he says aloud, "stop all surveillance of his personal life, please." Now that there is no hard evidence of a prolonged relapse, this is the least justifiable part of Nolan's interference and the aspect that will, if Greg ever finds out, cause most damage to the trust between them. "Restrict your activities to the hospital. Report to me when Dr Cuddy returns, please."

Pleased with the compromise he's made with himself, Nolan nods a dismissal at Douglas.

---

Continue reading here
(preferably after commenting)