06x06 - Brave Heart

[bunniefuu]

[Open on a police car, sirens wailing, chasing a man. He is dressed all in black, including his knit hat. He bolts through a gate in a chain-link fence, followed by Donny and Brian. The man glances back at them for a second then jumps over a pile of tires in his way.]

Brian: Left! Left! He's going left!

[Donny and Brian both cut around the tires.]

Brian: I'm gonna have a heart att*ck.

[As Monotonix’s Set Me Free plays, the man dives head-first with his arms outstretched into an opening in a building. He lands, rolls, stands and continues running in one fluid movement. He’s a traceur, a practioner of parkour.]

[As more police cars pull up, the traceur runs down an alley. As he reaches a wall he jumps and pushes off the wall with his foot to turn. Donny, following at full speed, falls against a barrel and some pipes as he tries to slow down enough to make the turn.]

[As Donny frees himself, Brian catches up with him. Together they run down the alley and jump over some obstacles. The traceur vaults over a low wall, feet first and enters an open warehouse. He runs, jumps and rolls over the various pallets in his way. Donny follows, going around the bigger obstacles. Brian is behind him.]

[The traceur is on top of a tall stack of pallets. Donny pushes another pile into it, hard. As the first pile tilts, the traceur is thrown several feet forward, onto the floor. Donny and Brian both draw their g*ns and point them.]

Brian: Nowhere to go, buddy.

[They’re almost at the end of the building. In front of the wall of windows there is a tall platform. The traceur pushes off the side of the platform with one foot, takes a couple of steps up another pile of pallets and is on the platform. He grabs the top of the window frame and swings, feet first, through the only open window, which is about three feet high, and takes off.]

Brian: What the hell was that? What are we chasing?

Donny: [gestures] Go that way. [Donny busts through a door in the opposite direction.]

[Cut to the traceur. He jumps off the roof by the window. As Donny runs toward him, a police car pulls up. The traceur vaults across the hood of the car and continues running. Donny slides across the car and follows closely.]

[Cut to Donny following him around a corner. At the other end of the alley several policemen, led by Brian, appear.]

Brian: Come on.

Cop: Nowhere to go. Come on, give it up.

[The traceur looks back and forth between the cops on either side of him. He then grabs a pipe on the wall and climbs it quickly. About one floor up the pipe crosses the alley. He uses it to get to the building on the other side where he climbs more pipes.]

Cop: Go this way.

Cop 2: Come on. Let’s go. Let’s go. [They split up and run off.]

Brian: Up, Donny, up. He's going for the roof. He's going up, go.

[Cut to the stairwell. Brian and Donny are running up. Brian’s foot slips on a stair and he falls.]

Brian: Ow. Damn it. [Donny stops for a second.] Just go, go!

[Cut to the roof. Donny opens the trap door and climbs out. The traceur is on the roof, one building over. Donny looks over the edge of the building then backs up to the far side. He pumps him self up and starts to run as Brian climbs out of the trap door. He sees what Donny’s about to do.]

Brian: Donny, no! It's too far!

[Donny reaches the edge and pushes off, legs still pumping. Just short of the other building, he disappears from sight. He falls to the ground, several stories down, and lands on his back with a thud. Brian limps to the edge and looks down. Donny doesn’t move. From the other building, the traceur, who has been hanging around, waiting for Donny to reach him, looks down briefly then takes off.]

[Cut to Donny, lying on a wooden platform. He’s breathing shallowly and there’s a stream of blood coming from his mouth. A policeman runs up and checks his pulse.

[Opening Credits]

[Cut to the Emergency Room. Brian is on crutches. Donny is in a bed. His right leg and arm are in casts.]

Donny: I can rest at home.

Cameron: We can't release you for at least two days. You have two broken bones, a severe concussion, collapsed lung.

Donny: But you didn't find anything life-threatening, right?

Cameron: You fell 30 feet. You should have d*ed.

Brian: I think that was the point.

Donny: Could you shut up?

Cameron: You have suicidal thoughts?

Donny: Not once. Never.

Brian: He doesn't want to k*ll himself. He just thinks he's gonna die soon, so it doesn't really matter. [Donny starts to interrupt.] No, you shut up. I'm the one you're not covering when you pull your crazy stunts.

Cameron: [checking Donny’s eyes] Why do you think you're gonna die soon?

Donny: Well, my dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather all dropped dead of heart problems right after they turned 40.

Brian: Look who turns 40 next week.

Cameron: I can refer you to a cardiologist, if you —

Donny: Nah, I’ve been there. All of them. I spent my early 30s going from one doctor to another. Every single one says my heart's fine.

Cameron: And you think they're wrong?

Donny: I know they're wrong. But what can I do? At a certain point, you just got to live your life.

Brian: By live your life, you mean risk your life.

Cameron: If there is something wrong, I know a doctor who will find it.

[Cut to Wilson’s apartment. House is on the sofa, still under the covers, but awake. A door opens. Wilson stumbles in, rubbing his eyes. He sees House and cringes.]

Wilson: Oh, God! I'll be back in ten.

[He shudders slightly as he turns away. House’s hands move under the blanket.]

House: I'm picking lint out of my belly button.

Wilson: This is ridiculous. I'm converting the study into a bedroom.

House: Six weeks. Longer than I thought it would take... For you to notice that I’m sleeping in your living room, and offer other options. [He sits up slightly but his hands are still under the covers.]

Wilson: I didn't expect you to be here this long.

House: True, but that's not why you didn't extend the invitation.

Wilson: Do you really need to deconstruct this?

House: You didn't want me to sleep where you and Amber slept.

Wilson: [resigned] Okay, yes you do.

House: After she d*ed, you converted the study to a bedroom and the bedroom to a study... Except it's not a study, it's a shrine. [pause] Can I tell you something? [Wilson gives him an inquiring look.] I wasn't picking lint out of my belly button.

Wilson: Okay. I am not ready to transition from my dead girlfriend's shrine to your... morning glory. I'll have a mattress delivered and set up for you in the tabernacle. I just need it Tuesdays for animal sacrifices. [He leaves, making a two-handed “stop” gesture and shuddering as he goes. House smiles.] Oh, man!

[Cut to Diagnostics Conference Room.]

Cameron: Patient's a genetic time b*mb.

House: [closing the file and heading for the coffee maker] There's no fuse. He's not a b*mb. Right now he's not a patient either.

Foreman: You saying we ignore three generations of cardiac problems?

House: I'm not ignoring it. I'm labeling it a coincidence.

Cameron: You hate coincidence.

House: We reconciled. [waving it off] It was a whole thing. Big country. It's statistically probable that someone has three generations that d*ed around age 40 with nongenetic heart issues. Dice have no memory.

Cameron: Genes do.

House: If we ran a battery of tests on every nonsymptomatic statistical anomaly —

Cameron: The guy goes every day assuming his life will end at age 40. Never got married, no kids, because he didn't want to die on them the same way his dad d*ed on him.

House: You want to take this case 'cause he's yet another lonely, sad puppy. You should have been a vet.

Cameron: It's a legitimate case.

Foreman: [being boss] Differential diagnosis for a genetic heart condition.

House: That sold you?

Chase: Marfan syndrome, brugada.

House: And you?

Chase: Emilio hypercholesterolemia.

House: He's only agreeing with you 'cause he wants to have sex with you. And by the way, I agree with you too, especially in those pants. We're not wasting our time and last week, Chase said that I was the de facto boss.

Foreman: Hospitals don't recognize de facto medical licenses. Let's start with genetic tests. Get an EKG, cardiac cath, and an echo to check the integrity of his heart.

[Cut to hallway. Cameron, Chase and Foreman come through the door to the ICU.]

Cameron: I'll start on blood samples.

[Donny is in a bed. As Chase looks at him, he becomes Dibala. Blood flows from Dibala’s mouth and the defibrillator is applied. Chase slips off his watch and puts it in his lab coat pocket.]

Chase: I forgot my watch.

Cameron: Could have sworn I saw you put it on this morning.

Chase: Must be in the locker room. I'll be right back.

[He leaves. Cameron and Foreman look at each other.]

[Cut to House’s office. He sits with his feet on his desk, reading a journal. Cuddy enters.]

Cuddy: I need to know what your plans are.

House: First we take Berlin. And then we circle around behind Poland and yell, "surprise!"

Cuddy: With regards to your employment.

House: I like things the way they are. I get just enough puzzle to solve without the scornful visits from you. Until now.

Cuddy: Pretend time's been going on long enough.

House: I don't have a medical license. All I can do is pretend.

Cuddy: And I’m gonna have payroll send you over some pretend checks starting tomorrow. You need to complete 120 hours of rounds to re-qualify. [She puts a clipboard on his desk and starts to leave.]

House: No, I don't. [She turns back.] I'm not saying you don't win. I'm just saying do you really need to punish me by making me carry a clipboard for your lackey of the week?

Cuddy: It's a state requirement. I have to certify that you've completed all your require —

House: Exactly. The requirement sets out what you have to do – certify – which you can do with one hand tied behind your back. Now, if you want to tie my hands...

Cuddy: Dr. Singh supervises rounds on Thursdays. Starts at 7.

[He picks up the clipboard and stares at it, then at Cuddy’s rear as she leaves.]

[Cut to the lab. Chase, Foreman and Cameron are reviewing something on a monitor.]

Chase: Nothing.

Foreman: So what now?

Chase: Send him home.

Cameron: To continue believing he's gonna drop dead?

Chase: When he turns 70, he'll believe us.

Foreman: There are other things we can check.

[Cut to the morgue. Three tables are in use with instrument trays in between them].

Foreman: Skeleton of great-grandfather's in decent shape. Subsurface genetic material from grandpa's fine, leaving one bowl of purified dad.

[He and Chase stand behind the third table, which contains a large, glass, mixing bowl containing what looks like pond scum, heavy on the algae.]

Chase: You do the dad. I take it he had a sealed casket.

Foreman: The watch story was crap, right?

Chase: I forgot it. It's no big deal.

Foreman: You were avoiding the ICU where Dibala d*ed. [Chase goes to the grandfather’s table, Foreman to the great-grandfather’s.] I'll sequence the gene for the cardiac sodium channel.

Chase: I felt like I was gonna have a panic att*ck. [sigh] I've crossed some line... and I’m having trouble getting back to the other side.

Foreman: I can move the patient to another room.

Chase: Cameron will ask questions.

Foreman: You should tell her. She's your wife.

[Cameron enters.]

Cameron: How'd you get a court order to dig them up so fast?

Chase: Don’t we just need the guy's consent?

Cameron: Find anything?

Chase: Not yet. But you're just in time to do the dad.

[He hands her gloves as she heads for the bowl on the last table.]

[Cut to House’s office. He’s putting on his coat to go home. Cheryl enters.]

Cheryl: Doctor House?

House: He'll be back in the morning.

Cheryl: I read in the paper you're treating a police officer. Donny Compson?

House: Second floor. A nurse will help you find him.

Cheryl: I don't want to see him. Donny and I used to go out a long time ago. He doesn't want to see me. I don't want to see him.

House: So did you come to see me for personal advice?

Cheryl: You're looking for genetic conditions, which makes sense, with what happened to his dad and grandpa.

House: Unless you were his girlfriend and his sister, you got nothing to worry about.

Cheryl: I'm not worried about me. Donny doesn't know this, but he has a son.

House: [picks up the phone and hands it to her] Dial extension 742. Tell Dr. Foreman you got some cool information. Good night.

[Cut to the shrine, House’s new room. House lies on his back, awake. There’s just enough ambient light that when he turns his head to the left he sees a large portrait of Amber on the wall. There are framed pictures of her with and without Wilson, on various surfaces in the room. A whispery, wooshy sound can be heard. House sits up somewhat. He turns on the light. He props himself up on his elbows and looks around.]

[Cut to the hall outside House and Wilson’s bedroom. House’s door opens and he comes out. He walks slowly down the hall, listening. He opens Wilson’s door. Wilson is lying on his side. He turns to look at House.]

Wilson: You okay?

House: Yeah, fine.

[He closes the door and goes back to his room. He sits on the bed for a moment and glances at the room. He gets back under the covers and turns off the light. As he settles down, the whispering starts again. House’s eyes pop open and he stares at the ceiling in the dark then looks around.]

[Cut to the Diagnostics Conference Room. Chase comes in, followed by Foreman and Cameron.]

Chase: Couldn't find any consistent genetic mutations across 15 areas between Donny’s ancestors, possibly indicating there isn't one.

Cameron: But the son gives us a new data point.

Foreman: And undegraded DNA.

Chase: I thought he didn't want kids.

Cameron: He didn't.

Foreman: Where's House?

Chase: [reads] "Dear bleeding hearts, since your patient's med history is a coincidence and he isn't... [The note is on Post-Its. Chase looks at the back, which is blank, then flips the Post-It up to reveal the rest of the note.] … sick, I've gone back to school. Back in 120 hours."

Cameron: Charming. I'll get a blood sample.

Foreman: If we're looking for something as subtle as a mutation, it makes sense to get the DNA where it's most pure.

Chase: You're gonna ask the mom to consent to a bone marrow biopsy?

Cameron: She wants to know if there's something wrong with Donny just as badly as we do.

Chase: Right. Spike a ten-year-old's hip because grandpa was sick.

Foreman: If she's right... we save two people. [He nods to Cameron, who leaves.]

[Cut to Michael’s room.]

Michael: I don't want to.

Cameron: [to Cheryl] Can we speak outside for a moment?

Cheryl: Yeah.

[They go into the hallway.]

Cameron: You need to tell him.

Cheryl: I can't.

Cameron: His father is down that hallway through those double doors.

Cheryl: I've been lying to him his whole life. What's he gonna think of me?

Cameron: You're trying to protect him.

Cheryl: [shaking her head slightly] Donny never wanted kids. He certainly doesn't want to meet him.

Cameron: If Donny does die, this could be Michael's only chance to meet his father.

[sh*t of Michael, sitting in the room, looking at them. Cheryl nods and goes back in.]

[Cut to a patient room. House is on rounds with Dr. Singh, Dex, Marta and Nona.]

Nona: After administration of immunoglobulin, patient had no further pain, and overnight liver function tests are now normal. Patient's ready to be released. [A monitor alarm goes off.] Stats are dropping.

Dex: Doctor Singh?

Nona: [hand in the patient’s mouth] She's choking.

House: On your fingers.

Nona: She can't breathe.

[Marta passes her an oxygen mask. Marta prepares to do a tracheotomy.]

Singh: House... Please take your finger off the test button.

House: Oh! I see. Wow, sorry about that.

[All three residents back away from the patient as House does as Singh asked.]

Marta: I could've slit her throat.

House: Well, we're all here to learn.

Singh: You know, Dr. Cuddy warned me about you.

House: She tell you how to stop me?

Singh: Look, I’m asking you as an adult to please stop.

House: Well, that obviously didn't come from her. But fair enough.

Singh: Excellent presentation, Nona.

[She smiles and removes her gloves as House uses his cane to pull the catheter bag off the bedside hookup.]

House: Now I’ve done it. There's urine everywhere! Gosh. The great thing about the teacher-student relationship is the teacher can often learn more from the student. [He picks up the sheet for recording his hours and shows it to Singh.] Have you learned anything yet?

[Cut to Donny’s room.]

Cheryl: You have a son. I was pregnant when we broke up. I'm sorry I never told you, but I knew how you felt about having kids.

Donny: You had no right.

Cheryl: Maybe. It's a little late for that. [She looks at Michael who is standing in the hallway.] He's here. He wants to meet you.

Donny: I don't want to meet him.

Cheryl: I've never asked you for a dime. He's here to help find whatever's wrong with your heart.

Donny: I didn't ask him. I didn't want him.

Cheryl: Just say hi to him.

[She opens the door and puts her hand on Michael’s shoulder as he enters.]

Michael: Hi. I'm Michael.

Donny: [stares] Hi.

Michael: I'm your…

Donny: Yeah, your mother told me.

Michael: When you get better, maybe we could do something. See a movie?

Donny: No. My dad d*ed when I was your age. It was the most painful thing I ever went through. Trust me, as much as I’m sure this hurts right now, it's better. Please take him out of here.

[They leave.]

[Cut to Diagnostics. Cameron brings a mug of coffee and a tin of mints to the table.]

Foreman: Chromosomes for 28 cardiovascular conditions are normally numbered in structure. No translocations, deletions, or inversions.

House: I did notice that the kid's D-A-D-D-Y chromosome has been severely damaged by someone else's bleeding heart chromosome.

Cameron: It was the only way to get Michael to do the marrow biopsy.

House: I'm sure there are plenty of lies would've worked just as well, except without the years of therapy.

Cameron: Don't you have school?

House: Recess. So where does that leave us? Chase?

Chase: Sorry. What?

House: I was saying, "do you think these shoes work in this color?" Send him home.

Cameron: He's not gonna believe he's healthy.

House: You're not very good at your job. You don't deserve candy. [He grabs the mints from her.]

Cameron: He's been preparing his whole life to die at age 40. He's had dozens of doctors tell him he's fine. You think you can change his thinking?

House: Yeah, I do. Chase, walk with me.

[Cut to House and Chase in the elevator. He takes Cameron’s mints from his pocket and shakes the tin next to his ear. He hears the rattle of the remaining mints, just like he used to do with a bottle of Vicodin. He takes a couple of mints from the tin.]

House: Great contributions back there.

Chase: There's no case. I had nothing to add.

House: You had nothing to add... because you were distracted. A little devil on your shoulder told you to k*ll a guy, and now the little angel won't shut up, telling you you're gonna burn in a lake of fire.

Chase: I'm fine.

House: You shouldn't be. [The elevator arrives. Chase follows House down the hall.] Talk to someone. Docs fixed me up in seven weeks. You're... ten minutes, tops.

Chase: Thanks.

House: Glad we had this little moment. Come on.

[They enter Donny’s room.]

House: I'm Dr. House.

Donny: You couldn't find anything, could you?

House: You have Ortoli syndrome. [Chase’s eyes open wide as he stares at House in surprise.] Dr. Chase?

Chase: You sure?

House: Tests don't lie.

Chase: Right. Ah. [He clears his throat.] Well, it's-it's a... It's a very rare disorder that short-circuits the adrenals, which short-circuits the heart.

House: Blah, blah, blah, blah. Who cares about medical mumbo jumbo? Tell him the treatment.

Chase: It's... weh-well, it's-it's complicated.

House: [pouring a glass of water] Doctors always want to make everything sound so complicated. It's Nabasynth.

Chase: What?

House: Nabasynth.

Chase: [nods pompously] Yes. So all we have to do now is write a prescription and, uh, have him pick up the pills.

[House opens his hand under Chase’s nose, revealing the mints he took from the tin. He gives them and the glass of water to Donny.]

Donny: That's it? I take some pills, and I’m gonna be okay?

House: The real tragedy here is that the Tiburon swab technology didn't exist to detect Ortoli back in your dad's day.

[Chase ducks his head and turns away.]

Donny: He could've lived. [House nods somberly. Donny sighs.] Thank you.

[Donny washes the mints down with some water.]

House: If you'll sign these discharge papers, I'll get you a bottle of meds. Take one twice a day for a week, you'll live a long, healthy life.

[House signs them and gives them to Donny, who signs. House looks at Chase who keeps his head ducked down.]

[Cut to House’s bedroom. He closes the door and stands at the foot of the bed, staring at it. The wall behind him is covered with pictures of Amber and her diplomas. He hangs his cane on a wall sconce by the door. In bed, he turns off the lamp. As soon as his head hits the pillow, the whispering begins again. He scrambles to turn on the lamp. He’s semi-sitting up, looking around and he hears pounding. As the pounding becomes more pronounced, he looks around at all the Amber-related memorabilia in the room, clearly spooked.]

Wilson: [voice over through the wall] Answer the door, House. It's got to be for you.

House: Are you watching TV? [The pounding continues.]

Wilson: [voice over] It's the door!

[Cut to Foreman pounding on the door. House opens it.]

House: Were you on the phone?

Foreman: No.

House: Just now, were you talking?

Foreman: No. I'm alone. You okay, House?

[House looks around and sighs.]

House: Why are you here?

Foreman: Donny collapsed four hours after we discharged him. He's dead.

[Cut to the living room.]

Foreman: His apartment manager found him on the floor in the laundry room. Said he wasn't breathing. He called the EMTs, but it was too late.

House: I sent the guy home with mints.

Foreman: Whatever it is, we all missed it.

House: I missed the fact that there was something to miss. What is wrong with me?

Foreman: You had good reason. Patient presented with no symptoms, and all his tests came back negative.

House: What's the official cause of death?

Foreman: Autopsy hasn't been performed yet. EMTs brought him to General, but I requested they ship him back to our morgue for the postmortem.

House: Good.

[Cut to Cameron and Chase’s bedroom. Chase is sitting on the edge of the bed. Cameron is asleep.]

Chase: Hon. Wake up.

Cameron: Why are you dressed? You can’t sleep?

Chase: I want to go tell Cheryl that Donny d*ed.

Cameron: [looks toward the bedside table] It's 4:00 in the morning.

Chase: They're nearly two hours away. I figure by the time I get there, she'll be awake.

Cameron: Babe, come back to bed. Call her in a few hours.

Chase: It's the sort of thing she needs to hear face-to-face.

[He gets up. She looks worried.]

Cameron: Is everything okay?

Chase: Everything's fine. Why?

Cameron: Last week, I understood that you were stressed out about the Dibala M&M and I gave you your space. But that's over now, and you're still acting... [He gives her a puzzled look.] I'm worried about you.

Chase: Don't be. [He comes back and sits on the bed] I'm fine. Really.

Cameron: And you'd tell me if you weren't? [He nods.] Promise? [She gives him a look.]

Chase: [quietly] Yeah.

Cameron: [quietly] Okay. [He gets up to leave.] Hey. [He stops.] I love you.

Chase: I love you too.

[Cut to the morgue. Foreman turns on the overhead microphone. Donny is stretched out on the table, naked. The cast on his arm has been removed.]

Foreman: Donny Compson, age 39.

[Foreman takes a swab from Donny’s ear. He clips a toenail. House sits and watches. Foreman looks under Donny’s eyelid and swabs a finger. As Foreman seals the specimens, a motor starts up. House is testing a rotary saw.]

House: Can we cut to the money sh*t? It's his heart, so let's look at his heart. Nice Y-incision ¬— [He starts the saw again. Foreman puts his hand between the saw and Donny. House turns off the saw.]

Foreman: You can't perform an autopsy without a medical license.

House: Really? 'Cause I don't think there's anything I could screw up that we haven't already screwed up.

[Foreman holds out his hand and House gives him the saw.]

Foreman: Opening postmortem incision. Beginning at the midline of the sternum. [He slices down the center of Donny’s chest, starting at the lower rib cage and moving up. There is some spattering. House leans over. He looks puzzled. Foreman stops the saw and looks too.]

Foreman: That's odd. It almost looks like he's... bleeding.

[They both stare at the incision, which has a dark fluid coming from it for several seconds. Donny’s eyes open and he roars in pain. On one side of the table, House jumps back with a little cry. On the other side, Foreman makes it all the way across the room in record time, knocking things over on his way. He screams shrilly, like a little girl. On the table, Donny blinks his eyes hard and makes a few choking noises. His leg twitches. Foreman looks terrified and House is pretty spooked, himself.]

House: [balancing himself against the sink] I think the autopsy's gonna have to wait a little bit.

[Cut to Donny, lying unconscious in bed. He has new casts on his arm and leg. Cut to Diagnostics.]

Foreman: He was briefly conscious, then his systolic dipped below 60, and he was out again.

House: Differential diagnosis for resurrection. Go.

Foreman: Obviously he wasn't dead. His heart slowed enough that the EMTs —

House: Yes, the fact that he's not dead means we did absolutely nothing wrong.

Cameron: There's several documented cases where tetrodotoxin ingestion caused apparent death.

Foreman: It wasn't something he ate. It's something he already had.

Chase: And his dad, and his grandpa, and —

Foreman: Extreme bradycardia could be caused by sick sinus syndrome.

Chase: Sinoatrial block.

House: What if it's not his heart? [They all look at him.] Let's work from the tenuous assumption that we're not idiots who've spent days examining a heart up, down, sideways – declaring it healthy just a few hours before it basically shut down. So we need to think about causes in places you didn't look.

[House starts as he hears murmured whispers.]

Chase: Could be metabolic. [He sees House looking at people passing the office.] You okay?

House: Yeah.

Foreman: What about a genetic predisposition to an autoimmune disease? Isolated anti-ro antibody could cause complete heart block.

Cameron: Could also be passed through four generations.

House: Autoimmune it is. Start him on steroids.

[Cut to Donny’s room. He regains consciousness.]

Cameron: Hey. How you feeling?

Donny: My whole head is k*lling me.

Cameron: [checks his eyes] You just came through a severe trauma. What do you remember?

Donny: [thinks for a few moments] I was changing my laundry over to the dryer.

Cameron: That's it? You were declared dead. You made it all the way to autopsy.

Donny: My jaw aches. And obviously I don't have Ortoli syndrome. It's hard to get too excited about coming back from the dead when anything I do, anything you give me – It all ends the same way.

[Cut to audiology lab. House has headphones on and is raising a pencil when he hears a tone. Anne Ayala, the audiologist, marks down the results. She enters the booth and he takes of the headphones.]

Ayala: Outer and middle ear respond well. Hearing thresholds are normal at all frequencies. Eardrum is perfectly healthy.

House: What if I, uh... If I sometimes hear whispering?

Ayala: Then you're probably hearing someone whispering.

House: I had some dental work done in the Philippines when I was a kid. Adjoining metal fillings could corrode and pick up AM radio signals.

Ayala: Open your mouth. [She looks.] Your fillings don't touch.

House: So there's no reason for me to be hearing things.

Ayala: I can only tell you that you're hearing sounds as you should. If you're also hearing sounds that you shouldn't, well, that would be psychosis. You'd have to talk to someone who does brain. I only do ears.

[She leaves. House taps the pencil as he thinks.]

[Cut to Cuddy’s office. She’s packing up for the day. House enters.]

Cuddy: Bravo! It's amazing how you did 120 hours in one day.

House: I wasn't on my best behavior. I admit. [He picks up the form Singh signed.] Allow me. [He rips the form in half.]

Cuddy: From now on, I’m gonna supervise your practicum requirements.

House: That won't be necessary.

Cuddy: You want to annoy another doctor first? Eventually...

House: It's not necessary, because I’m not ready to be a doctor again. I'm sorry.

[He leaves and she sighs.]

[Cut to the apartment. House is lying in the dark, awake. A door opens. Wilson is home and he flips on the light. House is on the sofa. Wilson drops his briefcase and coat on a chair. He turns and starts violently when he sees House.

Wilson: Are you sleeping out here?

House: Just... dozed off in front of the TV.

Wilson: With bedding?

House: Maybe! I can't sleep in there. The heater's screwed up.

Wilson: If you need to talk... If-if you need more help —

House: I'm just tired.

Wilson: I'm right here.

House: Great. Can you be right here somewhere else?

[Wilson heads toward his bedroom. House lies in the dark with his eyes wide open.]

[Cut to Donny’s room. He’s holding his jaw.]

Donny: My jaw still hurts. My tooth… actually, a lot.

Nurse: I'm sorry, you're maxed out on your pain meds. Try to sleep.

[She leaves. Donny continues to wince as he holds his jaw. He pulls off his nasal cannula and gets out of bed. He hops over to the medicine cart. He finds a long pair of pliers in the top drawer and sticks them in his mouth. He tugs and groans for several moments. Blood starts coming out of his mouth. Finally he pulls out the tooth that is bothering him.]

[Cut to the hall outside Diagnostics. Chase leans against the glass wall. Foreman and Cameron sit on the benches opposite him.]

Chase: Dentist looked at the tooth the guy pulled out. There was nothing wrong with it.

Foreman: So aside from him being an idiot, what else have we learned?

Cameron: The pain is real. It's coming from somewhere. What about bone cancer?

Chase: You can't connect bone cancer to the heart. House figure this can wait till the morning?

Foreman: Actually, he told Cuddy he wasn’t ready to work.

Cameron: He quit?

Foreman: Apparently.

Chase: It's a power play. He'll be back tomorrow.

Foreman: Bone cancer could trigger a paraneoplastic syndrome, which shuts down the heart.

Chase: Primary bone cancer isn't hereditary.

Cameron: Li-Fraumeni syndrome. It's hereditary, and it increases a person's risk of having bone cancer. [Chase takes a sip of coffee.] You have another theory?

Chase: My theory is it's not bone cancer.

Foreman: Gamma survey would locate the tumors.

[He gets up and leaves. Cameron looks at Chase then follows Foreman. Chase leaves in the opposite direction.]

[Cut to Wilson’s living room. House is on the couch, not sleeping. He sits up and listens. There’s a faint sound of a dog barking, but no whispering. He goes into the shrine and turns on the light. He can hear the whispering again. He cocks his head, listening and looking around. By the wall he pushes something out of the way and finds a heating vent, half-hidden under the rug.]

[Cut to the hallway. House is outside Wilson’s bedroom. He opens the door quietly. Wilson’s lying on his side, facing away from the door.]

Wilson: I had pea soup today. You'd love my breath right now. I didn't get a chance to run tonight. House is... is having issues. I missed you a lot today. All I want to do is... [sighs] You know.

[House quietly closes the door.]

[Cut to Foreman and Cameron doing the gamma survey on Donny. They watch the computer monitors as he slides into the machine.]

Cameron: No cancers on the lateral cuneiform bone.

Foreman: Navicular's also clean.

Cameron: Chase is lying to me. And I know you know. Tell me what's going on, please.

Foreman: I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told him... Talk to your spouse.

[Cut to Wilson’s kitchen. He comes in. House is sitting on the couch in the living room.]

Wilson: No breakfast?

House: Not today. I'm hallucinating.

Wilson: [turning, worried] What happened?

House: It's nothing visual this time. I hear whispering.

Wilson: Is that why you've been acting so weird? Is that why you quit?

House: I'm losing it.

Wilson: I'm sure there's a rational explanation. The wind? A neighbor's TV?

House: I checked everything. What's really scary is that I hear whispering while not on Vicodin. I'm gonna check myself back into Mayfield.

Wilson: Okay.

House: Okay? You don't think there might be a logical explanation? Something I missed?

Wilson: You're the smartest guy I know. If you haven't thought of it, it doesn't exist. I'll drive you over. I just need to make some tea first. [He turns to the counter.]

House: You know.

Wilson: [dropping something on the counter and turning back, annoyed] That you're an ass? Yeah. You overheard me talking to my dead girlfriend and thought to yourself, "what kind of fun can I have with this?"

House: Why are you talking to her? You run out of living people? You can talk to me. I'm right here.

Wilson: I miss her. Talking to her makes me feel better. You don't.

[House thinks about this as Wilson walks out.]

[Cut to rounds with Cuddy and the same three residents.]

Dex: Patient Lauren Maybaum, 27, presented two days ago with severe abdominal pain.

House: [entering] Sorry I’m late.

Cuddy: Yesterday you said you weren't ready.

House: Yesterday I wasn't. Today I am.

Cuddy: And tomorrow? Is it possible for me to get a five-day forecast?

House: Feeling much better. Thank you for not asking.

Cuddy: Either you did have a problem – which I can't ignore. Or you were jerking me around – which I can't ignore.

House: You are a woman. You can do anything.

Cuddy: For example, I can talk to you outside.

House: [Checking out her ass as he follows her into the hall.] Are you sure you're only one woman?

Cuddy: [through the glass of the closed door] This is the part where you play the employee, and I play the boss.

House: I can see your nipples. Your turn.

Cuddy: These kids are trying to…

Marta: [to Nona] No wonder she hates him.

Nona: That's not hate. It's foreplay.

Cuddy: It's inappropriate.

[Cut to Diagnostics. Cameron and Foreman are studying the scans. House enters, whistling.]

Cameron: Gamma survey revealed no tumors.

House: So it's not bone cancer. Where's Chase?

Cameron: Don't know.

House: Two mysteries, cool. Theories? [pause] Did I come in too soon? Okay, I’m gonna take another lap. And I want three new ideas by the time I come back. One of them's got to be not stupid. [He starts to leave, then stops.] Where there's pain... there's nerves. Hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy, type one.

Foreman: Miscommunication in the brain stem mistakes nerve pain for tooth pain.

Cameron: It would explain the bradycardia too.

House: And I like the word "hereditary" in the title.

Foreman: Carbamazepine fixes him.

Cameron: I'll get him started on the medication.

House: Nope, Chase specifically asked if he could do it.

[Cut to a lounge. Chase is asleep on a couch. He wakes when House hits the couch with his cane, making a loud THUD.]

House: Sleep at home.

Chase: So I didn't do the gamma survey. Is it bone cancer?

House: No.

Chase: You should congratulate me for not wasting your time.

House: Are you getting some help? Or is this the way things are gonna be from now on? What's pathetic is you haven't gotten help because you want to feel bad. You want to suffer, 'cause if you feel guilty, then you're not a psychopath. Patient needs some carbamazepine. Now, I don't care how much that room scares you, you're doing your job.

[Cut to Donny’s room. Chase is fixing Donny’s IV. He looks down and sees Dibala with blood pouring from his mouth. He continues working even as he sees himself scoping Dibala.]

Donny: How long before you cross this one off the list?

Chase: A couple of hours. [He starts to leave and turns back at the door.] You ever sh**t anyone?

Donny: Twice.

Chase: You ever k*ll anyone?

Donny: No. I know a few guys who did, though.

Chase: Did they ever get over it?

Donny: A captain I know compares it to taking out the trash, like it's nothing. Other hand, I got an ex-partner who nearly drank himself into oblivion.

Chase: Did he get help?

Donny: Yeah. Help didn't help. [Chase stares at him, then heads back to the door. Donny groans loudly.] Oh, God!

Chase: What is it?

Donny: I went to the bathroom.

[Chase pushes the button for the nurse on the console over the bed.]

[Cut to Diagnostics.]

Chase: Patient's lost bowel control. Means we were wrong about H-SAN, and it means he's getting worse. Fast.

House: Wouldn't want to be the duty nurse assigned to his floor. Get it? "Doody" nurse? [Chase and Foreman ignore him. Cameron turns away with a “look.”] Fine. Do the doctor thing.

Chase: An autoimmune disorder could explain —

Foreman: We put him on steroids. He didn't respond. It's not autoimmune.

Cameron: Could be Wilson’s disease.

House: A disease that advanced would've hit the liver.

Foreman: It is possible the liver's so far gone, the labs look normal. It's worth a sh*t.

House: [nods] Go treat with penicillamine. And when he doesn't get better, come back quickly, so we can get one more sh*t at it.

[Cut to church. Chase is in confession. The door between the priest and the penitent slides open. Chase makes the sign of the cross.]

Chase: Bless me, father, for I have sinned.

[He sighs loudly but doesn’t say anything else.]

Priest: Take your time. How long has it been since your last confession?

Chase: I k*lled a man.

Priest: Oh?

Chase: But it was the right thing to do.

Priest: Who lives or dies is not your decision to make.

Chase: Sometimes in the operating room it feels like it. I'm a doctor.

Priest: Well, then you should know more than anybody that every human life is sacred.

Chase: Why? Tell me what's sacred about a dictator that kills hundreds of thousands of his own people.

Priest: What is sacred about a doctor who kills a patient?

Chase: Is it just the slippery slope you're worried about? Afraid that forgiving me for k*lling the worst person on earth sets a bad precedent? I promise... I won't tell anyone. [pause] Just forgive me.

Priest: Saying ten Hail Marys isn't going to do you any good.

Chase: [on the verge of tears] Then what do I have to do? What does God need me to do?

Priest: You can't have absolution without first taking responsibility. You have to turn yourself into the police.

Chase: What, and… and go to jail for the rest of my life? What's just about that? I did the right thing. There has to be another way.

Priest: You want absolution, I’ve told you how to get it.

[Cut to House’s office. He’s looking out the window and idly rolling the big ball up his leg. Sometime later he’s toying with a paper clip chain. Later still, he’s sitting on the floor, flipping pencils into the trashcan. Cuddy enters.]

Cuddy: Send this into the state licensing board. [She holds out a piece of paper.] I've signed off on all your hours.

House: Why?

Cuddy: Because it's easier this way.

House: You're uncomfortable with me.

Cuddy: No. Going by the book was pointless. You were gonna learn nothing.

House: Good, I thought it was because of the sexual tension.

Cuddy: There was no sexual tension.

House: There was tension. And... it made me feel funny, so...

Cuddy: [hands him the paper] Here.

[She starts to leave but turns back when he talks.]

House: That's too bad. I was kind of getting into the whole hot-for-teacher thing.

Cuddy: You sure you're okay?

House: Yeah. False alarm. [pause] What about us?

Cuddy: We're good... Just like this. You press my buttons, I press yours.

House: By buttons, you mean... [He stops mid-sentence and thinks.] Huh. [He gets up to leave. As he passes Cuddy he pauses and leans in close to her.] You do make me feel funny.

[Cut to Donny’s room. House enters.]

House: You're not gonna die.

Donny: I've accepted it. It's okay.

House: In addition to high arches and some crystal bowl in the shape of a tuna, you also inherited a self-destruct button. It forms in the brain stem. Technically, it's an aneurysm. Presses on the nerves that control everything from tooth pain to heart rate. As you get older, it gets bigger, until finally... The button – which I’ll call intracranial berry aneurysm, 'cause I had a friend in high school with that name – stops the signal from your brain to your heart. And bam!

Donny: How do I know you're not still lying to me? Saying I’m healthy just to make me feel better?

House: It does sound that way, doesn't it? But this time, no sugar pills. I'm gonna cut into your brain to make you think that I’m fixing it. And if our fake tests confirm it, I'm gonna be cutting into your son's brain too, [laughs] 'cause I’m just that committed.

Donny: Michael's gonna be okay?

House: Unless he walks out of here and gets run over by a bus, in which case, I will reconsider your fate argument. [at the door] You want to give him a call? Visiting hours don't apply to my patients.

Donny: Yeah... In a bit.

House: Yeah. That's what I thought. The "saving the kid from pain" stuff was crap. You just don't want anything in your life that won't let you do whatever the hell you want to do whenever the hell you want to do it. You've had it easy. Sorry to screw you up.

[Montage to Ben Harper’s Faithfully Remain. Cheryl is in Michael’s room. He has a white stocking cap on so he must have had his surgery already.]

Michael: Mom?

[She turns and holds his shoulder. He smiles and nods.]

[Cut to a nurse wheeling Donny down the hall. He also has a post-neurosurgery white cap on. They enter Michael’s room. The nurse leaves.]

Donny: Maybe when we get out of here... What kind of movies you like?

[Michael smiles slightly and Donny sort of smiles back.]

[Cut to Cameron and Chase’s apartment. Cameron is on the phone in the bedroom.]

Cameron: He's been missing for eight hours. Robert Chase. [Chase opens the door.] C-H-A-S-E.

Chase: Hey!

Cameron: [dashes into the living room] Never mind, he just walked in, sorry. [to Chase] You could've called me.

[He takes off his jacket.]

Chase: Oh, I-I forgot.

Cameron: To call me? It's 2:00 in the morning. Where were you? Ooh, you're drunk.

Chase: All right, I... I needed to get wasted. I did. And now I’m better.

Cameron: [worried] What aren't you telling me?

Chase: Nothing.

[He starts to put his arm around her. She frowns and pulls away.]

[Cut to House’s bedroom. He puts earplugs in and waits a moment to make sure he can’t hear anything. He lies down and closes his eyes. After a few moments, his cheek twitches slightly in an almost smile. And again. House opens his eyes.]

House: [quietly] Hi, dad. I think I’ve been... focusing on the wrong thing. There were some good times. [long pause then, loudly] Wilson. This is stupid.

[Wilson, in his bed, smiles.]

Wilson: [to Amber] You see, he really is getting better.