TOC is here.
Part 7:
The door to Adam's room slid shut easily behind Dr. Foreman. He barely glanced at Lois or Clark on his way to the equipment cart. Pulling out a syringe, he explained, “Adam has cerebral malaria. I'm giving him quinine through the IV. Once he comes out of the coma, we'll switch to pills, which have a lower incidence of side effects.”
“That's it?” queried Lois, almost unable to believe the fantastically simplistic solution to Adam's problems.
“Not quite,” Dr. Foreman cautioned. “Dr. House believes Adam has an underlying condition that caused the heart attack. Once the quinine clears up the malaria, we'll be able to diagnose and treat that condition.”
“How much longer do you think he'll have to stay here?” Clark asked.
Foreman turned slowly. “Honestly,” he answered frankly, steadily meeting Clark's eyes, “it's hard to say. It will take some time for the malaria symptoms to abate. Until that happens, it's unlikely we'll be able to accurately diagnose whatever it is that caused Adam's heart attack.”
Lois and Clark exchanged disappointed glances, which did not go unnoticed by Dr. Foreman.
“I'm sure you have plans for the holiday, but I'm afraid Adam won't be well enough to be discharged until after the new year.”
“He's right,” piped in a voice that was even more grating in the early hours of the morning than it was during normal waking hours. “Adam couldn't possibly leave for a while. It would be against physician's advice.”
Foreman looked askance at House, whose tone of voice could only be considered chipper.
“Foreman,” addressed House, “you should go home. Get some sleep so you can get back here later and start working on the rest of Adam's problems.”
Still suspicious, and rightfully so, Foreman did not move.
“I sent Chase and Cameron home too. Consider it your early Christmas bonus.” Standing at Adam's bedside, House's expression was inscrutable.
Experience told Foreman that House in such a state was immutable. With a slight shrug, Foreman relented. “Okay. I'll be back this afternoon.”
Lois, Clark and House watched as Foreman exited the room and disappeared down the hall.
“Get out,” House ordered.
“Excuse me?” Clark inquired incredulously.
“Exactly. You're excused. Get out. All of you. Make sure you take Sleeping Beauty there with you once he wakes.” He nodded in the direction of Adam.
Clark opened his mouth to protest, but Lois quickly laid a hand on his arm.
“Why?” she asked suspiciously.
“Everybody lies,” House asserted. “You're lying, he's lying, and now I'm helping you lie.”
“That still doesn't explain *why* you're evicting us,” Lois retorted.
“It's very simple.” Lois was certain she detected glee in House's tone. “Helping you substantiates my opinion of humanity. I help you, you get to leave, and I get to be right. Win win.” He reached into his sport coat, where he had been holding something next to his body with his arm. He dumped a small bag onto Adam's bed that clinked of glass as it fell. “Could you take that trash out with you? Thanks. The nursing staff makes regular rounds every hour, but you might as well take it since you're on the way out.”
By unspoken consent, Lois and Clark decided that the time had come for listening rather than speaking.
House limped over to the visitors' chairs and sat down heavily. He began to prate inanely, “You know, I should give you my card. If you're ever at a loss for ideas for that newspaper of yours, you should give us a call.” As he spoke, he pulled the small bottle of pills out of his coat. “In fact, you could probably start a regular column from the weird things we see around here.” He smoothly slid the bottle into a pocket of Clark's suit jacket which had been draped over the adjoining chair. Lois and Clark watched his every move. “Adam, for example,” he went on, “all kinds of strange symptoms, and all he needs is quinine. Take a couple pills each day, and when they're gone he'll be good as new. Of course, they're not all this easy to solve. But it would be interesting to read about every week.” Lois gave a small nod to indicate her comprehension of his dosing instructions.
“Anyway,” he rambled, “I sure am glad Adam will be feeling much better by Christmas. I mean,” House's tone of voice regained its normal edge, “seems to me he's like family to you both.” He stood and made his way to the door.
As Lois and Clark worked to analyze his last statement, House paused at the door and watched their faces. Both rapidly schooled their features and returned House's gaze with carefully blank expressions.
“Oh,” he added, as if in passing, “if Adam should experience any of the symptoms he was having in India, it's just his body growing accustomed to the...” he paused, “environment. You know, the water and the food and all. In fact, I'm sure he'll be feeling almost as super as either of you before too long.”
Without another word or even a glance, House exited.
*****
No sooner had House left the room than Adam awoke. Clark's superhearing detected the change in Adam's breathing in nearly the same instant as Lois urgently breathed, “Clark!” and rushed to the bedside.
Lois grabbed Adam's hand and squeezed. “I'm glad you're back with us.”
Adam gave her a small smile.
“They figured out what's wrong with you, and they started treatment,” she informed him. “But we have to go now.”
Matching words to actions, she unhooked the IV bag from the pole and handed the bag to Adam. “If you can hold it for now, then we can hook it to something when we get to the Jeep. Then she grabbed the bag House had dropped on the bed. “Tissue samples. Smart,” she commented, mostly to herself, as she glanced it over. She ferried the precious cargo over to the chair where she had left her purse and carefully secured it. Finally, she rummaged through the equipment cart, requisitioning an amount of cotton balls and medical tape, which she also stored in her purse. Mentally, she reflected that it was a good thing she had brought her work purse rather than her social event purse.
Straightening, Lois thrust her hands onto her hips and began issuing orders. “Dr. House said the nurses come by hourly. However, they'll certainly show up sooner if we disconnect these monitors and all sorts of alarms begin to sound.”
“True,” Clark agreed, “but there won't be alarms if the monitors aren't plugged into a power source.”
“Not bad, Kent,” Lois grinned. “Adam, are you feeling up to getting dressed?”
Adam did a quick self-inventory and then nodded.
“Okay, then I'm heading down to the Jeep. I trust I can leave you boys to get him,” she indicated Adam, “dressed, and then get yourselves out of here undetected? Great,” she answered herself. “Just don't get down there faster than I do because I have the keys to the car,” she advised. Picking up her purse and Clark's jacket, which she patted to assure herself of the medicine she had seen House deposit, she slid the glass door open, shut it behind her, and walked purposefully toward the elevator.
Less than five minutes later, all three of them drove out of the garage at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, headed for Metropolis.
*****
to be continued...
