Am I going to have to give a speech?
You're the publisher, can't you do it?
I can warm them up,
but you're gonna have to get over this fear of public speaking
before the book tour.
Everybody! Can I have your attention? Thank you.
Tim has a few words to say.
There you go, Tim. They're warmed up.
(PEOPLE CHUCKLE)
(SIGHS) Well.
What do you say at a time like this?
Seriously, what do you say?
You could thank people for coming.
Thank you, Nick.
Actually, I'm always thanking Nick.
A man famous not only for his ruthless editor's pen,
but his patient handholding of crazy authors.
You'd think that after three novels,
I'd start to develop a little confidence, but...
For a book like this, we are happy to supply the confidence.
Bestseller.
(ALL AGREEING)
Well, that's not going to happen.
What?
Come on. Short stories don't make money.
Short stories weren't making money back in 1908.
You'd have to be mathematically illiterate
to think they'd do as well as a novel.
Okay, Nick, let's step away from the champagne before somebody gets hurt.
You slaved over this book right next to me.
Why would Northrop even publish it if it's only going to tank?
Have you failed to notice you're our star author?
Obviously, Elaine wouldn't want to offend you.
Honey...
I'm sorry, I don't... I don't know why I said that.
He's joking.
Nick knows as well as anyone what you have done is art.
So is folding paper into animal shapes,
but you don't expect to make a living off it.
What the hell is wrong with you?
You really think someone who goes through 10 assistants a year
and doesn't return her own children's phone calls
would give a damn about the state of the American short story?
Please, be quiet.
(SNIFFLES)
I think something's wrong.
That title was a mistake, too.
People are going to compare you to Salinger.
(CHUCKLING) And boy, are you going to come up short in that one.
(GASPS) Honey?
Call 911. Help! We need help!
FOREMAN: Cameron brought this up from the ER.
Doesn't look like a friendship bracelet.
KUTNER: It's Phineas Gage.
The most famous case study in medical history.
You're telling me this patient got a rail road spike
drilled through his frontal lobe?
No, no trauma, but he does have frontal lobe disinhibition.
Just like Gage.
Gage was a different person after the spike.
Argumentative, impulsive.
Whereas our guy became a different person after chardonnay.
He was sober when they brought him in.
There's also the nosebleed, the collapse.
- MRI show anything? - Nothing.
Good. What fun would that be?
So the tumor's not in the cool neighborhood.
It's cool neighborhood adjacent.
A well-placed tumor in the nasal cavity,
eroding into the brain could do the damage.
Go stick a scope up Phineas' nose and see what you find.
Daddy, I'm always going to win if you keep telling me what your cards are.
Then suppose I tell you... While I tickle you!
Mr. Greenwald, I'm Dr. Taub and this is Dr. Kutner.
We're here for another test. Sorry about that.
You don't look sorry.
Um. No offense.
Although you do look kind of cheerful.
It's a little creepy. Should I want a doctor
who's excited about how sick I am?
- I'm not... - We're going to put this up your nose,
scan for any problems.
I can assure you that we are completely unexcited about that.
Excuse me, sweetie.
She has an auditory processing disability.
Marika Balika. You have to get off the bed.
This might be slightly uncomfortable.
Honey, do you mind if I step out?
I have to make sure the final arrangements
are in place for the breast cancer walk.
Yeah. You do that.
I'll pretend to be macho while a guy stuffs three feet of plastic up my nose.
It's too bad it's not your nose.
Lots more room to maneuver.
I guess the walk can wait 10 minutes.
Or in a sensible world, even longer.
Just how does tying up traffic for six hours stop breast cancer?
You know how it works, people donate.
Why not spend six hours building houses for Habitat for Humanity?
Or is it wrong to help two groups of people at once?
I'll bet there are those who have breast cancer and no home.
It's my job, Nick.
You walked yourself last year.
To be supportive.
Because I knew you wouldn't have sex with me if I didn't.
I'm going to make my call.
Make this go away.
God, that honker really is huge, isn't it?
Wednesday night.
Low-Down-Blue-Meanie versus the Incinerator.
I can't.
Let me rephrase. Low-Down-Blue-Meanie...
WILSON: I understand Monster Truck code.
Do you understand "can't"?
Not when it follows Low-Down-Blue-Meanie.
Is the world coming to an end Tuesday night?
- Otherwise, Wednesday... - All right.
It's not "can't," it's "don't want to."
The fact is, I just don't like monster trucks.
Yes, you do.
No, I don't.
You've always liked monster trucks.
No, you've always liked them.
I've tolerated them.
Seriously, I can only watch so many hyped-up dune buggies
crush so many motor homes without feeling the urge to go see La Bohéme.
And I hate opera, too.
What are you hiding?
I'm not hiding it, I'm saying it loud and proud.
Death to monster trucks.
No nasal cancer.
And no marriage either,
if our patient keeps saying everything that comes into his head
without regard for the consequences.
You always led me to believe you were one of a kind.
Luckily, jerkiness is a temporary condition for this guy.
No, it's not.
We may be able to fix his impulse to say his thoughts out loud,
but he's always gonna be the guy who thinks them.
But he's also gonna be the guy who doesn't say them.
If he spent his whole life constructing a nice-guy persona,
isn't that as much who he really is as anything else?
You would argue that. You're all persona.
I agree with Wilson. This guy's a Harry Potter.
The sorting hat was going to put Harry in Slytherin, based on his nature.
He refused, so he ended up in Gryffindor.
Through choice.
There's damage somewhere in his brain. Go find it.
THIRTEEN: Are you sure you understand?
No, I'm lying. Except, I can't.
You ask me questions.
While I talk, you look at my brain activity to see where it's screwed up,
then you're gonna cut the screwed up part out to test it.
It's depressing, but it's not rocket science.
I think he understands.
I don't mean to be abrasive.
Especially since you're such a pleasure to imagine naked.
- Again, sorry. - It's okay.
Thank you for understanding.
I'd do you, though.
Really, my apologies. This stuff just comes out.
- It's okay. - House paged?
Whoa. I would do her in a minute with fudge and a cherry on top.
Would someone please explain to this woman?
There's only so many apologies I can...
He has frontal lobe disinhibition.
I've already embarrassed myself with one doctor.
Whom I am at this moment
imagining with you in a king-sized bed with a mirror on the ceiling.
I am so, so sorry.
But if I couldn't have both of you together,
you would definitely be my first choice.
Where's House?
It's like trying not to think of an elephant.
Not that you're an elephant. Your breasts, in fact, are all Homo sapiens.
- House isn't here. - He wouldn't have paged me
if he couldn't watch and enjoy the...
Your tush is like the pistons in a Ferrari.
You're welcome.
That was for my benefit?
- You're 40 years old... - Thirty eight.
...and the administrator of a hospital.
Dean of medicine.
People don't get personal with you.
Except for me, and you dismiss me as a jerk who's jerking you around.
But that guy can only tell the truth.
And he prefers your body to that of a smoking young hottie.
So that was your way of saying I look good today?
You didn't get the slightest kick out of that?
Don't be ridiculous, House.
FOREMAN: I hope you know your pistons are second to none.
I'm okay. I'm not jealous of Cuddy's pistons.
Starting baseline activation.
You sure? You looked upset.
What he was saying was obnoxious.
You've never been called attractive?
He didn't call me attractive, he cast me in his mental porno.
That's what "attractive" means.
It means "I'm attracted to you sexually."
"Attracted" can also mean,
"I'm attracted to the whole package, to who you are."
Slight elevation at transaxial 60.
It could.
It never does. It's what women choose to hear, not what men say.
Actually, it's exactly what men say, if they have any brains.
All right, we have enough for a baseline.
What can we ask him that's indiscreet,
but that he won't hate us for knowing?
Nick, do you vote the same way as your wife?
God, no.
Good. He's spiking at 30.
She believes I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary,
and Obama in the general.
You're thinking I'm secretly Republican, right?
Wrong.
I secretly don't vote ever.
Wait, you're 46 and you've never voted?
Your voice is no longer attractive to me with that note of disapproval.
Although I'm sure that will pass.
Look at that.
There's a spot on the cingulate gyrus that's not lighting up.
One vote makes a difference?
Not mathematically...
Okay, Nick, we've got what we need.
We can't biopsy that, it's too close to the brain stem.
Could be neurosarcoidosis. At least it's treatable.
So we give him steroids and if we're right,
we should start seeing his symptoms improve within half a day.
What are you looking at?
I find your strong attachment
to a working democracy to be extremely sexy.
You smooth talker.
Do you think my nose is too big?
Relax. He also implied my bedside manner was a little off.
You don't agree with that, right?
No.
No one's ever mentioned your nose before?
You're a plastic surgeon.
- They tell me it suits my face. - It does.
Maybe. Maybe that's just the social contract.
You tell me I look great,
I tell you you're a people person.
- How can you know the truth? - You could ask for the truth.
What do you think of my nose? Please tell me the truth.
It's fine, it's a nose.
Just proving a point.
Anyone sitting here?
Just my persona.
You know, it's amazing the way people cling on to insults.
Or what they think are insults.
So that wasn't an insult?
I'm not suggesting that like our patient,
you're hiding a dark, sarcastic core
beneath a candy shell of compulsive niceness.
I'm not always nice. I'm not nice to you.
Because you know nice bores me. Hence, still nice.
No, I'm suggesting that you have no core.
You're what whoever you're with needs you to be.
Okay, I guess that could be insulting.
But the interesting question is why.
Why do you think the world will end in chaos and destruction
if you're not there to save it?
Because when my parents put me in the rocket, and sent me here,
they said, "James, you will grow to manhood under a yellow sun."
And why did you lie about monster trucks?
I didn't.
I checked your appointment book.
You've got tomorrow night marked off,
but you didn't put down what you were doing.
So you thought someone might look at the book...
I'm playing racquetball tomorrow night with Taub.
Why would you hide that?
Because the world revolves around you.
I devote time to anyone else,
you'd end up stalking me and harassing them.
You say that as though it wouldn't be fun.
And maybe I didn't want to rub your nose in the fact
that we'd be doing something you can no longer do.
Because I'm nice.
I thought you said the steroids were gonna help him!
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
Is it his heart?
EKG says heart's fine.
It's gotta be the kidneys.
We need to get him on dialysis.
Oh, God.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
He's on dialysis and he's stable.
THIRTEEN: We know it's not systemic sclerosis.
Hey.
Cyrano de Berkowitz.
Let it go.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia could explain brain and kidney problems.
CBC showed normal white blood cells.
So how long have you been playing racquetball with Wilson?
Four or five times.
Could be diabetes.
Or a congenital metabolic disorder.
Congenital disorders generally don't wait till you're 46 to manifest.
So he's a late bloomer. His daughter has a neurological condition.
First of all, Wilson played tennis on his college team,
and you are a Jew.
You're not athletic.
Run to the end of the hall and back, I'll time you.
Sandy Koufax is Jewish. Greatest left-handed pitcher of all time.
Sandy Koufax is all you Jews go on about, Sandy Koufax.
And the Holocaust. It gets old.
There are dozens of congenital conditions that fit our parameters.
We can't spend time gene-testing for all of them
especially when we're only guessing it's congenital.
Is a Z-shot offensive or defensive?
It's both.
You suspected that was a trick question.
But I could have said neither.
Diabetes makes more sense.
We can narrow the testing down to 40 likely candidates.
Test for peripheral nerve damage.
He's got brain damage,
he's likely to have peripheral nerve damage no matter what the cause.
Yes, that's why we should not test him for it.
Test the daughter.
Kutner runs the nerve test.
Taub, you may be right about the diabetes.
Take supper away from our patient and run a glucose tolerance test.
Oh, and the nurses have been working so hard,
you can do the blood draws yourself.
They have to be done every couple of hours.
You're punishing me
because you're jealous that I'm spending time with your best friend.
That would be petty.
I'm punishing you because now you've joined my best friend in lying to me.
Let me know when you're ready to confess everything.
These can become either hot or cold.
As soon as it starts to feel uncomfortable, I want you to tell me.
But you don't think there's something wrong with me.
No, baby. They're testing you to help Daddy.
Yes. What you're doing is very important.
It's like the better you do,
the better we know your dad is.
It's okay.
I'll start with heat.
I know it's not his fault.
I know what he says is involuntary, but...
It doesn't help.
Inside he's still the same man.
Yeah, that's the problem.
Apparently he's been thinking this stuff all along.
Whoever that same man is, it's not the person I thought I was married to.
You Okay?
She should be feeling something by now.
What does that mean? Is she sick too? Marika?
Honey?
You're burned, why didn't you tell me it started to hurt?
I wanted to help Daddy.
You said the better I do, the better Daddy has to be.
I'm sorry.
I'm starving.
It's the only way we can do the test.
Good thing it's you and not Dr. Hadley.
Could you keep her away from me?
I have a rich imaginative life.
- I'd rather not share it. - We all have thoughts.
I know we all have sexual thoughts.
We have ignoble thoughts.
I just don't want those to be who I am to people.
Especially not to my wife.
I understand, I don't think it would be fair to define me
by my passing thoughts.
My real choices are my actions.
And I've never done anything to hurt her, I've never cheated.
You're kidding me, you've cheated?
What?
No.
Why would you say that?
Because you look guilty as hell.
Are you serious?
Of course you're serious.
Yes, everyone knows.
God, they must think you're a creep.
They might not know, they might be idiots.
I just say these things.
Why'd YOU page me here?
I need you to update me on the patient's condition.
He seems to be dead.
Why'd YOU page me here?
I need you to update me on the patient's condition
while hitting this against the wall.
This is the only place we can do both.
I finished the last blood draw.
I expect the people who work for me to rise to a challenge.
Unless they don't expect to work for me.
(SIGHS)
Last blood draw was at 6:00 a.m.
His sugar levels never rose above 120 all night.
So the glucose was normal.
It means you were wrong about diabetes.
I still think it's the endocrine system,
maybe I just got the wrong gland.
You were going for thyroid instead of pancreas? It makes sense.
(CLATTERING)
Fine! I'm not playing racquetball with Wilson!
I was never playing racquetball with Wilson!
I have never played racquetball with Wilson.
I thought it would be helpful if a department head owed me a favor,
but it's not worth this.
Not bad. You put on a good show.
You studied up, Wilson actually booked a court.
If you were really a racquetball player,
you'd know that you're holding a squash racquet.
Tell Kutner to do a thyroid reuptake scan,
then go grab a nap in one of the on-call rooms.
KUTNER: We're taking you to do a thyroid reuptake scan. We think your...
I'm not going anywhere until you explain
why my daughter has a bandage on her hand.
You just said you wanted to run some test.
If I'd known it would involve pain, I'd have said, "Hell no."
It's a mild burn.
Since Marika has a neurological disability, like you,
- we needed to make sure. - She has no disability.
Nick, you know about her problem with auditory processing.
Auditory processing?
That's code, for "I can't stand thinking my daughter's not perfect."
The therapist said Marika's test scores...
Were indeterminate.
She doesn't have a disability. She daydreams.
She gets below average marks in school because she's below average.
Every parent thinks their child is above average.
- Nick! - Do they have any idea
what the word average means? Somebody has to be under it.
Nick, shut up!
Honey.
I'm not saying you're stupid.
Your mother's not the sharpest crayon in the box,
and she does great.
See, this is why I told your mother to keep you at home.
Didn't want you here.
Marika.
Marika, wait.
(MACHINE BEEPING) Get her...
You're burning up.
(COUGHING)
Your lungs are full of fluid, we need to get it out.
I need 200 milligrams of furosemide
and two milligrams of morphine, stat.
- His temperature is 103. - Infection.
The steroids must have forced it into the open.
What kind of infection? It could be anything.
Staph aureus, tuberculosis, strongyloides.
Go back to Phineas and get a history.
We got a history. He hasn't been out of the country.
Get a detailed history.
No one at home is sick, no one at work is sick,
there's no sign of ticks or mosquitoes.
Get a more detailed history.
Ask him again. And again, until he remembers something.
Not you. Kutner can do it.
You're going to be busy with something else.
I'm here to invite you to lunch.
Why?
I've been made. House sent me back to you as a double agent.
Anything wrong?
Eyes are a little red.
There's a shocker.
I haven't had a good night's sleep since this thing started.
You should get some rest yourself.
That's a good idea.
This is going to take some time, it will be pretty exhaustive.
Are you afraid of what you might say while I'm here?
Yes.
Are you telling me there's something worse than what I've already heard?
No, I don't know what I'm going to say.
I don't know how I'm going to hurt you next.
I think we should be around each other as little as possible right now.
This is pathetic.
I know.
Tell Marika I love her very much.
She understands that.
I don't think she does.
You're just saying that to make me feel better.
Yeah.
Guy leads a boring life. They stay home a lot.
No travel, no exotic pets. No nearby standing water.
You sound pleased about something. Can we get to that part?
His wife rescues dogs.
Among others, a big Rottweiler, who's taken over the house.
Our patient hates it.
- Was the wife there to hear this? - No.
Too bad. Keep going.
The dog marks its territory all over the living room.
I asked what the odds were
that he would've put down food or drink where the dog could reach.
He said he put a glass of juice on the floor
while he was fixing the television.
- The dog was fixing the television? - Yes.
Patient's eyes red?
Yeah. I'm thinking Weil's.
Bacterial. You lucked out.
Start him on doxycycline.
If he improves, we'll know we were right.
I told Wilson you sent me to get information.
And now you're telling me.
What does that make you, a quadruple agent?
He let me print out his e-mails.
Wow. Excellent.
Information he wants us to have.
Did he let you print out his deleted e-mails?
- No. - Go back there...
As long as I was sitting there,
thought I'd print them anyway. Top one's the one you're looking for.
"I confirm Wednesday at 7:00 p.m."
It's outgoing to JGonzalez@NYMercy.net.
There's a Joan Gonzalez in oncology. It's a consult.
Secret consult at 7:00 p.m.?
Oh, Joan is perky.
You're wrong, there was a patient file attached.
Where?
It was password protected.
No.
Wilson doesn't password protect his patient files.
I'm the only one he'd expect ever to look there,
and he knows there's only one patient I'd want to check on.
You think Wilson's sick?
If Wilson had cancer,
there'd be no reason for him to drive three hours to Manhattan.
He knows he could pull strings here to get the best treatment.
Six articles by Gonzalez.
"Managing suicidal thoughts in oncology patients."
"Suicidal ideation in children with leukemia."
I don't want to ask this,
but have you ever had reason to think he might be depressed?
No. Get out of here.
KUTNER: Your fever's down and your lungs are clearing.
How long before this brain thing goes away?
Infection's gone.
The damage the infection did, you'll have to live with.
You telling me you can't fix this?
There's got to be a way...
We'd need to remove the damaged area in your cingulate gyrus,
but it's too close to the brain stem to risk surgery.
You can't risk it?
But I could shop around,
and maybe some better doctors at a better hospital...
The brain stem controls the body's involuntary systems.
The slightest mistake could kill you.
Even if you survive,
you may never be able to breathe on your own again, you may never...
I get it.
I know this seems like a lot to deal with right now,
but people have adapted to living with all kinds of neurological deficits.
Hey, at least we can promise you it won't get any worse.
Get the hell out of my room.
(SIGHS)
Your assistant said that you were out of the hospital taking a walk.
- Is there an emergency? - I don't know, is there?
You never take a walk unless you got something you need to think about.
Maybe you just don't have a good statistical sampling of my walks.
The other thing you do when you need to think is you come to my office.
Apparently, this is something
you can only discuss with Gonzalez at New York Mercy.
Taub. Another graduate of the House School of Being a Dick.
Private dick.
Look, I'd love to stay for the full inquisition, but I need some hot coffee.
Of course you need hot coffee, it's 45 degrees outside
and you left your coat upstairs. Why?
You're going to tell me why I forgot my coat?
Once you get outside, the cold would have reminded you.
Could have gone back, but you didn't.
You chose to be uncomfortable.
Now why would someone choose that?
Because they hate themselves?
Has it ever occurred to you that when I don't share something,
it might not be meant as a challenge?
It might just mean that I'd like there to be
one molecule of my life that goes unexamined by Gregory House.
Nick Greenwald. I hear you're the guy in charge.
I'm the patient with the disinhibition.
If you're here to say thanks, you're welcome. Now go away.
I'm not thankful. I'm pissed.
Oh.
All the more reason to go away.
They're talking about sending me home.
To what? A life where I'll continually drive away anyone who might,
for a second, care about me?
Those are the breaks.
You could operate.
You could die.
So I'm either better or dead? I'm okay with that.
I've always been kind of an impatient guy.
But I've worked hard to keep my mouth shut.
I've made my wife happy. I've made my little girl happy.
I want that back.
Otherwise, it's no life.
I want you to remove a small problem.
I'm not a neurosurgeon.
Your boss is. You could assist,
I'm sure you'd like to add to your resume.
It's too near the brain stem. Nobody's going to touch it.
Your boss would. He's an egomaniac.
I know 'cause I keep seeing him at the club.
He just needs a little push.
I'm sure by now you've kissed his ass sufficiently.
(CHUCKLES)
Would you like me to phrase it as "you're politically gifted"?
I could do that.
(CLEARS THROAT) You want me to help you?
Tell me why.
Why what?
Why you care?
The puzzle's solved, the guy's alive.
And the odds of coming out of this surgery
with that same status aren't that great.
My patient has a quality of life issue.
He says awful things. Hardly a medical condition.
When he leaves here, he's going to lose his family.
He's going to alienate the people he works with.
And if he ever finds a friend who's willing to put up with his crap,
he'll be lucky.
Until he drives them away, too.
I'll see what I can do.
You've apparently got this whole coat thing backwards.
I may have overreacted.
You definitely overreacted.
I knew you'd meet me halfway.
But it made me think.
You only snap on one subject, losing people.
So I went back to the Intel.
It's true there's only one doctor named Gonzalez at New York Mercy,
but there's a Javier Gonzalez who's a nurse in the psych ward.
Now who could you lose who'd end up there?
Maybe the reason I don't always open up to you is because it's redundant.
Daniel Wilson.
Once you've got a name,
it's amazing how much stuff you can learn on the phone.
I mean, if you're a doctor and you lie freely.
They found your brother sleeping in the lobby
of an office building in Manhattan.
He got aggressive when they asked him to leave,
and the cops took him to the Mercy psych ward.
There've been new anti-psychotics developed since he ran away.
He's been on them for a couple of days. And by tonight,
he should be in shape to talk to me.
But you're not sure if he wants to.
I'll be in New York in a few hours, I guess I'll find out.
Why wouldn't you tell me this?
House, you and I,
we don't have the normal social contract.
I don't expect you to tell me the lies that...
I'm fully capable of lying to you.
I've lied plenty of times.
I mean collaborative lies.
Giving someone a hand who maybe needs to deceive themselves, just a little.
For two days, I've been thinking about
how Danny's going to react when he sees me.
If I said that to anybody else, they'd say,
"Don't worry, it'll all be all right."
You wouldn't.
Because it might all go horribly wrong.
(CHUCKLES)
Yeah.
Yeah, it might.
In which case, you might want some company.
FOREMAN: Your heart's beating. First hurdle passed.
Now we need to know if you can breathe for yourself.
(COUGHS)
(GASPS)
Oh, thank God.
Now, do you know who you are?
Nick Greenwald, former S.O.B.
(LAUGHS)
Thank you.
Now I can go back to my beautiful life with my beautiful wife.
Maybe she'll stop whining and cut me some slack
now that I've risked my life.
It doesn't make sense. We removed the problem.
We removed the damage. Maybe we were wrong about the problem.
I need to believe we can get through this.
FOREMAN: Temperature's 94.5.
Do you really think I'm stupid?
Honey, you're not stupid, you're just... Please don't do this.
Could be the effect of the surgery.
Do you at least respect me, Nick?
What do you think of what I do for a living?
I think people who publicize important things
are people who can't do important things themselves.
Honey, stop. Don't.
Do you regret marrying me?
- 94.2. - Sometimes.
- Everybody wonders. - Get me a heating blanket.
Do you even love me?
Yes.
I don't know why.
Aud...
Wait. Let me...
(MACHINE BEEPING)
V-tach! Get me the paddles.
FOREMAN: Clear.
Echo says his heart is structurally fine,
but his temperature is still dropping.
He's headed for hypothermia.
I can't reach House. It just goes to voice-mail.
Means we were wrong about infection.
His temperature's just going up and down
because something's playing with his thermostat.
Which means the brain damage is spreading.
What causes brain damage and nosebleed,
and involves the lungs, heart, and kidneys?
Cancer. We could text him.
It's not cancer.
Normal PSA, normal blood smear, colonoscopy normal.
Do a full body scan.
House hates full body scans.
- House isn't here. - House is right.
Everybody's got three or four meaningless anomalies
that'll come up on a scan.
Chasing each one will take time we don't have.
Feel free to send him an IM.
(SIGHS)
You told me you saw your brother once, after he disappeared.
Thirteen years ago.
I used to go to Princeton whenever I could.
I must have hit every homeless shelter in town.
Then one day, I'm just sitting at this deli having a sandwich,
I look out the window and there he is.
He was gone by the time I got outside.
That's why you were so eager,
when I told you there was a job in Princeton.
I thought it was just my charm.
(CELL PHONE RINGING)
That's the team, shouldn't you answer?
They've already texted me to say they're doing something stupid.
Small abdominal aneurysm.
Irrelevant. What else you got?
A cyst in the pleura around the lungs.
Also irrelevant. Couldn't cause any of the symptoms.
There's a density in the liver,
could be a vascular malformation.
If he's got multiple AVMs, screwed up blood flow would explain everything.
We can only spot them with angiography.
We'll have to do targeted scans with contrast,
and then embolize each one.
Can we do that before he freezes?
We'll find out.
The spell-correct on Kutner's phone has got a hair-trigger.
Either that, or the patient has a "cyclone"
in the "floral" of his lungs.
You took a walk in 45-degree weather and you left your coat behind.
Go ahead.
I think you were punishing yourself.
I think you wanted to feel what it would be like to be homeless
in a New Jersey winter.
That tells me guilt.
That tells me something happened.
The schizophrenia started when he was a teenager.
When he was in college,
he was on meds,
but he'd still think a professor was out to get him because he got a B,
or he would fight with his roommates because he never showered.
Where were you?
Med school.
He called me every day, talked for hours.
I didn't have hours.
Interesting.
Later for that. Go on.
I was tired of being the guy that everybody counted on.
So one night Danny called...
One night Danny called, crying, upset about something.
I had to study for an exam. So I hung up.
Took my things, I went to the library
where I wouldn't have to hear the phone ring.
I wonder how that turned out.
My mother called me the next day,
Danny had run away and left his meds behind.
Which I knew meant that he would never be able to choose to come back,
because he'd be so detached from reality.
So you made your one effort to live a normal, selfish life,
and the universe immediately smacked you down.
And because we're wired to find meaning in semi-random events,
you decided never to be that careless again.
You don't think that's a little facile?
Actually, I don't. I think you did it consciously.
You developed your people pleasing talents
the way an Olympic athlete develops his muscles.
Talk about an overreaction to a single event.
It was a pretty big event.
Hanging up the phone? That's what you're blaming all this on.
That's the behavior you've been trying to correct.
As though nothing else went wrong in your brother's life.
Of course he overreacted, too, but...
His glucose was normal.
We're not talking about my brother anymore, are we?
(CLEARS THROAT)
It's House. AVMs don't explain his glucose.
Since this is a significant moment in my life and all, I'll...
Yeah.
I think I'll just go in and...
Explain that.
Right.
We have given him steroids. His glucose should have been elevated.
That wannabe cyst you found in the whole body scan,
without the glucose, it's an irrelevant cyst,
with the glucose, it's a relevant fibroma.
He has Doege-Potter Syndrome.
His fibroma is secreting human growth hormone
which acts like insulin, lowering his glucose.
That doesn't explain the organ failure, the brain damage.
This whole thing is an overreaction.
That one small fibroma, it's benign,
but his body's acting like it's an invader.
His antibodies went to war against it and got carried away,
attacked his other systems. Take out the fibroma,
he'll be a happy hypocrite again in no time.
NICK: Maybe I should call a cab.
Your wife's probably just late.
Yeah.
I'm sorry about,
you know, things I said.
I have a conspicuous nose.
It suits your face.
I'm sorry I'm late.
Traffic.
I have some good news.
I was going to tell you, and then you got sick,
it didn't seem like the best time.
I've been offered a better position.
I'd be coordinating cancer awareness walks in three cities.
That's great. Congratulations.
I know you've worked hard for this.
Thank you.
Is Marika okay?
I'm sure she's moved on.
Kids are so resilient.
You Okay?
I'll be seeing Danny again next week.
I'd like you to meet him.
Sure.
Sounds interesting.
Go on.
I thought seeing him again would change everything.
It'd be wonderful or terrible. Instead...
We're just strangers. It's kind of anticlimactic.
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
Which is better than terrible.
Go on.
Does it bother you that we have no social contract?
(SCOFFS)
My whole life is one big compromise.
I tiptoe around everyone like they're made of china.
I spend all my time analyzing.
"What will the effect be if I say this?"
And then there's you. You're a reality junkie.
If I offered you a comforting lie,
you'd smack me over the head with it.
Let's not change that.
Okay-
No. See, this...
If you were implementing a social contract, you'd say that,
but only because it makes me feel better.
It's kind of fun watching you torture yourself.
Do you think things will work out with my brother?
No.
But when it does go wrong, it won't be your fault.
Thanks, House.
You do actually like monster trucks?
Absolutely.