Épisode Deux frères S03E21 - House Saison 3

[PPTH Clean Room (darkened). Camera focuses briefly on two signs on the glass of the clean room - "Mask Required" and "Hand Wash" - before focusing on the two people inside it. Matty, African-American, 10, wearing a sterile gown, adjusts his gloves. His mother, Claudia, behind him, wears similar attire.]

CLAUDIA: Try not to be scared when you see him, okay?

MATTY: [I'm ten, I'm fearless] Mom, I've seen him sick. I'm not scared.

CLAUDIA: This time's different.

[She adjusts his gown behind him.]

CLAUDIA: Doctors gave him an extra course of radiation and chemo...

MATTY: [irritably] I know.

CLAUDIA: [over his shoulder, quietly] And you understand how proud we are of you, right?

MATTY: [softly] Right.

CLAUDIA: [gesturing] Gloves, mask.

[They put on their latex gloves.]

[SLOW MOTION: Claudia presses a button on a wall. A loud hissing sound is heard as pressurized air sweeps into the room. Finally, the hissing subsides and the door to the Protective Isolation Unit opens. Claudia and Matty walk up to Nick's (Matty's brother) room door.]

[Nicks's Room. Claudia holds up her gloved hands outside the glass door, to indicate she's clean. The door opens. She enters. Behind her, with growing trepidation, Matty slowly enters the room and sees his older brother, Nick (14), lying in bed, looking really weak, but in good spirits. Nick doesn't have even the tiniest bit of hair on his face. Their father, Scott, and Wilson stand nearby, dressed similarly. The door slides closed behind Matty. Scott and Claudia look at Matty, who stands transfixed, staring at his brother. ]

SCOTT: [cheerful] Matty, you said you wanted to see your brother before the procedure.

NICK: [hoarse] I know I look like an alien, but... I-I promise not to eat your brain.

[That relieves a lot of tension in the room. Scott chuckles prompting Matty to do the same.]

MATTY: When this is done, will you be able to play out back with me?

NICK: I'll rip anything you put near the strike zone.

[That cheers up Matty greatly. Wilson comes over and puts his hand on Matty's shoulder.]

WILSON: Let your brother rest up while we take some of your marrow.

[Wilson leads Matty into the adjacent room. Claudia follows. Nick weakly rests his head up against his pillow. Wilson starts removing Matty's gown.]

WILSON: You don't need to be in an isolation room, but I pulled some strings so you could be next door to your brother.

MATTY: How many games will I miss?

WILSON: Well, you only have to be here overnight, but you do have to take it easy for a little bit.

MATTY: [complaining] I already missed two.

CLAUDIA: [admonishing softly] Matty.

WILSON: I know. It's okay. Musta been a drag. We just had to make sure you weren't exposed to any bugs. Because your healthy bone marrow is what's gonna cure your brother's leukemia--

[As if on cue, Matty sneezes. Claudia looks apprehensive. Matty stares at his brother in the next room, wide-eyed. Zoom into Wilson's worried face.]

[House's apartment. Camera moves through the bedroom window into House's bedroom and focuses on a sleeping House. Wilson sidles up in bed next to him - Hector Wilson, that is, Wilson's second ex-wife's dog. Hector places a paw on House's face. House stirs, grimacing, looking at the West Highland Terrier. He snarls at it. Hector barks in his face, making him jump back.]

HOUSE: [annoyed] C'mon.

[He shoves Hector off his bed and tries to go back to sleep. Hector jumps back on the bed, this time with one of House's Nike Shox in his mouth. He prods House with the shoe, jerking the curmudgeon awake again. House gruffly yanks the shoe out of the mutt's mouth and throws it on the floor. Hector barks and jumps off the bed after it. House jerks up to look at the mess on the floor. His other shoe has its stuffing chewed out. Books, papers and other stuff a canine can use his canines on lie on the floor in tatters. House gets up (in no particular hurry) to see Hector go to work on his other shoe. House sighs and picks up his cane. He makes a disgusted face on touching it and feeling a whole amount of doggy-drool all over it. Hector barks a couple of times. House closes his eyes in frustration.]

[Aerial shot of PPTH. Day.]

[PPTH, Diagnostics Office. House drums his fingers on his cane handle, while going over Matty's file. Chase, Cameron and Wilson are there.]

CHASE: He sneezed. Maybe it's just an allergy.

HOUSE: [reading] Not with an enlarged spleen and a fever.

WILSON: He's got one of ten thousand possible infections. Even if it's just the common cold, I do the transplant, he kills his brother.

CHASE: How long do we have?

[House gets up and makes his way towards the whiteboard.]

WILSON: Radiation obliterated his immune system. Even in a clean room, he's only got... four, maybe five days left.

[House starts writing "5 DAYS LEFT" (really big "5") on the 'board.]

CAMERON: No way we can solve this that fast. You need to find another donor.

WILSON: They're African-American. It makes it nearly impossible to find a full match.

HOUSE: [finishes writing] Tell me about it. I can't even find the one I've got working for me. Where is Foreman?

[The other two Ducklings look around, as if just figuring that Foreman's not among them.]

[PPTH Chapel. Foreman sits despondently in a pew, obviously contemplating his misdiagnosis of Lupe (see House 0320 - House Training). The chapel doors open. House, Chase, Cameron and Wilson stand outside.]

HOUSE: Ha! Nothing like a dead patient to send you back to your choir-boy roots.

[He shoves Matty's file in Foreman's face. Irritably, Foreman takes it. House sits down next to him.]

HOUSE: Hey! You're not gonna believe what happened. Wilson just killed a kid the same way you did.

[A lady sitting in another row turns, shocked.]

WILSON: He's not dead.

[The lady leaves.]

HOUSE: Five days are gonna fly by. He didn't look both ways before he nuked. [drums his cane on the ground] You done talking to your imaginary friend? Because I thought maybe you could do your job.

[Two other people, sitting behind, leave.]

FOREMAN: [reading from the file] We should start the donor brother on broad-spectrum antibiotics.

HOUSE: Great idea, if you're looking to save exactly one kid. Broad-spec will take at least a week to work. We need narrow-spec. [looks at his cane, then to Wilson] How old is Hector?

CAMERON: Our patient's name is Matty. His brother's Nick.

WILSON: Hector's my dog. He's about seventeen.

HOUSE: Seventeen? That's like...a hundred and nineteen in human years. Why's he still alive?

FOREMAN: Five days minus twenty seconds talking about Wilson's dog. We need to start testing. Stool samples for parasites, antibody tests...

CHASE: Blood panel was negative for all the usual suspects.

HOUSE: That's 'cause the infection is too small. We start testing now, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. We draw blood, odds are we're just gonna come up with hay. We need to grow more needles.

[Blank stares all around.]

HOUSE: Okay, that... probably needs further explanation. We make the donor kid sicker. We freeze him, we soak him, break down his immune system. Suddenly we're looking at some needle a camel can pass through the eye of.

CHASE: Making him sicker risks spreading the infection all throughout his body.

HOUSE: True, but who cares? Once we know what the infection is, we'll know exactly how to treat it. As long as he isn't dead yet, we're cool.

FOREMAN: We should do what we normally do - Go to the kid's house, check for sources of infection.

HOUSE: Waste of time. You think it's in the house. I know it's in the patient.

FOREMAN: Safer than intentionally making the kid sicker.

HOUSE: [beat] Fine. Go.

[Foreman raises an eyebrow at the rather immediate permission granted by House. He gets up. Cameron and Chase also seem bewildered.]

[Matty's room. Wilson explains the procedures to Claudia and Scott, while House blows gently on the glass window.]

SCOTT: So e-exactly h-how sick are you gonna make Matty?

WILSON: He could get quite ill. This certainly won't be a pleasant experience for anyone, but it's our onl...

HOUSE: [butting in] Ever get caught in the rain without an umbrella? That's all we're talking about here. Sign the form.

WILSON: It's a little more complicated than that. We'll also be doing leukopheresis. We run Matty's blood through a machine that filters out his white blood cells.

CLAUDIA: But without his white cells, how can he get better in time?

WILSON: We'll pump the white blood cells back as soon as we have a diagnosis.

[House checks out a stuffed frog.]

WILSON: Then we should be able to cure the infection in time to do the transplant.

SCOTT: But you can't guarantee?

HOUSE: We're not GM! No recalls, no rebates. Any more questions while your son's life slips away?

CLAUDIA: [to Wilson] You really think we should do this?

HOUSE: Yes! [to Wilson] Sorry, your patient. You tell them.

WILSON: [sighing] This is your family. It needs to be your decision.

[Scott looks at Claudia, who holds his hand in support.]

[PPTH Hallway. House chides Wilson as they walk.]

HOUSE: All you had to do was say, "Yes, I do." God knows that's a phrase you've used often enough in your life.

WILSON: It was a mistake every time. Give it a break. They said yes.

HOUSE: That's not enough for you. You need them to feel good about saying yes.

WILSON: [arguing] I treat patients for months, maybe years, not weeks like you.

HOUSE: [the argument-winner] I'm taller.

WILSON: If they don't trust me, I can't do my job.

HOUSE: The only value of that trust is you can manipulate them.

WILSON: You should write greeting cards.

HOUSE: Giving parents the chance to make a bad choice was a bad choice.

WILSON: At least it would've been their choice.

HOUSE: One they'd regret at their son's funeral.

[Matty and Nick's Home, Backyard. Day. It's time for the weekly House-ordered B&E. Chase and Foreman get to do the honours this time.]

CHASE: Kitchen and bathrooms were immaculate. Whatever the kid's got, he didn't get here.

FOREMAN: [examining a swing set] No-o, whatever the kid got, he didn't get from the kitchen or the bathroom. Nobody cleans swing sets.

CHASE: Yeah, because their kid's ten and hasn't used it since he was six.

FOREMAN: You obviously think your time could be better spent. Why'd you come along?

[Chase picks up a baseball from the bucket and walks over to a pitcher's mound.]

CHASE: Feel bad about what happened last week.

FOREMAN: I'm handling it.

CHASE: Family's gonna sue?

[He pitches the ball to a net. The ball rebounds off the net.]

FOREMAN: She only had her grandparents and they weren't close.

CHASE: Well, that's good. For you, I mean. A lawsuit makes it even harder to put behind you.

[He pitches again.]

FOREMAN: You put yours behind you?

CHASE: No.

[He tosses Foreman a ball and goes to collect another one from the bucket.]

FOREMAN: I woke up this morning, I-I couldn't remember what she was wearing when I admitted her.

CHASE: [pitches] Memories fade.

FOREMMAN: I killed her a week ago and I can't remember what colour top she was wearing.

CHASE: [pitches] I was grateful when I could wake up not thinking about her.

FOREMAN: I'm not like you. Your patient died because you were distracted over the death of your dad. I made a calculated decision. You acted like a human being. I acted like... House.

[He pitches rather weakly. The ball hits the bottom of the net and rolls away into the bushes nearby. Foreman seems a bit upset and demoralized. He looks down and inspects the pitcher's mound. Chase goes to retrieve the ball.]

FOREMAN: Could be mucor or strongyloides in this dirt.

CHASE: No pulmonary symptoms. He's setting well, breathing easily.

[Chase goes behind the bushes and finds an old, rather rusty-looking water pump. He takes out a vial from his bag and kneels in front of the pump. He pumps the handles a couple of times to get the water running. Murky water flows out and Chase collects a sample of it.]

[PPTH, Procedure room. A temperature gauge measures Matty's dropping temperature. A nurse dips a sponge in icy-cold water and then squeezes it over Matty's right shoulder. Matty recoils a bit as the freezing water splashes on his skin. Claudia stands nearby, an unsure look on her face.]

MATTY: [voice quivering] Mom, I'm freezing.

[Shot of the monitors. No beeping as yet.]

MATTY: How long do I have to...?

[Chase and Foreman enter, wearing sterile clothing, covering their mouths with surgical masks.]

FOREMAN: Hey Matty, we found an old water pump in your backyard. You ever drink from it?

MATTY: [shivering] Yeah, it was gross.

FOREMAN: We gotta test for mycobacteria, leptospirosis.

CHASE: When did you drink the water?

MATTY: L-Last summer?

[Chase and Foreman seem disappointed.]

FOREMAN: You sure? You haven't even taken a sip to cool off?

MATTY: It was really gross. My shoulder's bugging me. Does that matter?

[Chase goes to check up on him.]

CHASE: It could. Did you do anything to hurt it?

MATTY: Just threw the ball around the other day for a couple of hours.

FOREMAN: It's probably just a muscle ache. Let us know if it gets worse.

[Matty nods. Foreman and Chase start to leave.]

MATTY: So soreness and stuff, th-that's not 'cause I'm sick?

FOREMAN: Something else bugging you?

[Matty seems a bit apprehensive about saying anything. He looks at his mother.]

MATTY: Sort of.

[PPTH Hallway. House and Foreman emerge from a room, talking about Matty.]

FOREMAN: He has acute scrotum.

HOUSE: Adorable! Please, I thought you were dignified.

[That wisecrack earns him a sharp look from Foreman.]

HOUSE: Come on, how am I not supposed to make that joke? The best thing about big honkin' gonads - well, one of the best things - is there's only a few infections that could cause it. Do urinalysis and cultures for E. Coli, klebsiella, TB and brucella; blood tests for enteroviruses and adenoviruses. Hopefully, the needles have grown as fast as his sac, and we can find it.

FOREMAN: Can Chase and Cameron cover that?

[House stops walking and turns to Foreman.]

HOUSE: Mind if I ask why?

FOREMAN: I want to recheck the national marrow registry for an alternate donor.

HOUSE: In case we're wrong?

FOREMAN: It's been known to happen.

HOUSE: Fine. Go.

[Foreman nods and walks off. House watches him as he leaves and limps off in the other direction.]

[PPTH Pathology Lab. Chase and Cameron run the House-ordered tests.]

CAMERON: Negative for E. Coli and TB. Why is House taking it easy on Foreman?

CHASE: He deserves a break.

CAMERON: Yeah, House is all about giving breaks to people in need.

CHASE: No on klebsiella. [looks at her] And it's Tuesday.

[She gives him a confused look.]

CHASE: It's got nothing to do with Foreman or House. It's just... It's the day I remind you I like you, and I want us to be together.

CAMERON: [here we go again...] Thank you. I'd forgotten.

[She looks back down, an annoyed look on her face. Chase takes the hint and focuses on the test.]

CHASE: No on brucella and both viral antibodies.

CAMERON: You're really gonna do this every Tuesday?

CHASE: You take the day off, I'll pick it up on Wednesday.

[He stops, as if something's just struck him.]

CHASE: What if we're looking for the wrong thing?

CAMERON: These are the only infections that cause swollen testicles. Why don't you just say it four times now and leave me alone for a month?

CHASE: What if it's not an infection?

CAMERON: His temperature's through the roof. There's mucus pouring out of him.

CHASE: I know he has an infection, but what if it didn't directly cause the scrotum issue? What if it just caused the thing that caused the scrotum issue?

[He picks up a file and starts to read through it. He tosses the file on the shelf separating them.]

CHASE: CKMB is elevated.

CAMERON: [picks up the file and reads it] Slightly. There's nothing wrong with...

CHASE: [interrupts] Indicates cardiac injury. We stuck him in that room, put his stupid little runny nose infection into hyperdrive. What if it went to his heart?

[Cameron looks at him.]

[Matty's room. Chase and Cameron are performing a transesophogeal echo on an unconscious Matty. Chase pushes the fiber optic camera through Matty's throat. Cameron looks at the screen.]

CHASE: Pulmonary valve looks clean.

CAMERON: [sees something on the screen] Wait. Stop.

[Chase pauses the image. A trapezoid forms on the screen.]

CAMERON: Mitral valve. There's a growth. [looks ominously at Chase] He'll need a month of antibiotics to clear that. His brother only has four days to live.

[Off Chase, we...]

[Matty's room. Matty's awake and sitting up in bed. Scott is with him. In the adjoining room, Claudia (in mask and sterile gown) sits with Nick. Scott strokes Matty's leg as they speak.]

CAMERON: [voice-over] The infection in Matty's...

[PPTH Diagnostics Office. House confers with the Ducklings and Wilson.]

CAMERON: ...mitral valve rules him out as a donor.

HOUSE: This is perfect.

CAMERON: We drove the infection into his heart.

[House erases the giant "5" off the whiteboard and replaces it with an equally giant "4".]

HOUSE: Okay. Perfect is too strong a word. But it's very, very good. Now we know where the infection is. All we gotta do is remove the valve, ID the infection, target and destroy.

FOREMAN: Remove the valve? He'll be fine on antibiotics. He doesn't need open heart surgery.

HOUSE: He'll be heart-broken on account of his dead brother.

CHASE: Either way, he's got a dead brother. The infection isn't just in the valve. Even with targeted medication, there's no way we can clear his system in time.

[House pulls a bottle of water from the fridge.]

HOUSE: We don't have to. We have to clear his marrow. After the surgery, harvest the marrow, marinate it in the targeted antibiotic, simmer and serve.

[He takes a swig of water.]

WILSON: Could work.

FOREMAN: It's insane!

WILSON: It is better than a dead brother.

FOREMAN: I'm running this by Cuddy.

HOUSE: [nods] Fine. Go. In fact, let's all go.

[He gets his cane off the 'board and starts to limp out.]

[Cuddy's office. Wilson and Foreman stand in front of Cuddy's desk, while House lounges on her sofa reading "Sewing Notions" magazine.]

FOREMAN: This surgery is dangerous and life-altering. And clearly not in the interest of our patient.

WILSON: It is if he likes his brother.

FOREMAN: We have a conflict of interest.

WILSON: The parents don't.

FOREMAN: Of course they do. They already sacrificed Matty's health to benefit his brother once.

WILSON: They made his cold worse.

FOREMAN: We screwed up his heart valve by making his cold worse.

CUDDY: [to House] Do you have anything to add to this debate?

HOUSE: [not looking at up from his magazine] Wilson's right, Foreman's wrong, and your shirt is way too revealing for the office.

CUDDY: [to Foreman] What do you want me to do?

WILSON: We should call Child Services and have them appoint a guardian for Matty.

CUDDY: No. [to Wilson] Go explain the choices to the parents. And don't let House bully them.

[Foreman rolls his eyes and leaves, followed by Wilson. House starts to get up.]

CUDDY: House. Did he really think I was gonna do that?

HOUSE: I didn't.

CUDDY: Then why did you let him...?

HOUSE: Tried to cut him some slack.

CUDDY: [yeah, right] Nice of you.

[House looks behind to make sure Foreman's not around.]

HOUSE: I think he's got the yips.

[Cuddy has no idea what that is.]

HOUSE: Steve Blass, Scott Norwood, David Duval. All got the yips. Great athletes. Lost their confidence, and immediately started sucking.

CUDDY: And you're... giving him time to work through it?

HOUSE: Mm-hmm! Four days, then he's fired. You don't get better from the yips.

[He leaves. Off Cuddy's face, we...]

[PPTH Children's playroom. Wilson, accompanied by House, explains to Scott and Claudia about the surgery.]

SCOTT: [softly] Open-heart surgery?

HOUSE: If you want both kids to live, it's the only choice.

WILSON: Due to the valve replacement, Matty will have to be on blood thinners to prevent potential clots.

SCOTT: For how long?

WILSON: Forever. He couldn't participate in contact sports because of the risk of haemorrhage.

CLAUDIA: [equally upset] What about the marrow registry? Maybe they'll find a match.

HOUSE: [cynically] Maybe they'll ride it here on a unicorn.

[Claudia joins a whole bunch of patients' parents who don't like House's attitude.]

WILSON: I'm afraid finding a viable new donor isn't something we can realistically depend on.

SCOTT: [sits down heavily, dejected] Either we cripple one son or kill the other.

HOUSE: He won't be able to play baseball. But that doesn't make him a cripple.

SCOTT: [to Wilson] What should we do?

[House looks at Wilson. Wilson seems torn. Finally, he nods.]

WILSON: You should protect your family as a whole. You should do the surgery.

[House almost looks proud of his friend.]

[PPTH Hallway. House and Wilson emerge from a room. House seems ecstatic. Wilson, not so much.]

HOUSE: That was awesome!

WILSON: [quietly] Shut up.

HOUSE: I gotta start pretending to care.

WILSON: I did exactly what Cuddy told us not to do.

HOUSE: No, you didn't. You did exactly what she told me not to do. You're completely in the clear.

[Wilson says nothing. He goes to a nearby Nurse Station, and looks through some papers.]

HOUSE: You've gotta be kidding me. You're actually upset. You just said what you believed.

WILSON: I also believe in patients making their own choices.

HOUSE: Because it lessens your guilt if things go wrong. You're not protecting your choices.

[Wilson hands a couple of papers to a nurse.]

HOUSE: You're soothing your conscience.

WILSON: By that logic, a sociopath would make the best patient advocate in the world.

[He walks away. House remains in front of the 'Station.]

HOUSE: [calling out after him] Am I blushing?

[Matty's room. Scott stands, arms folded, wearing a sterile gown. Claudia is there as well. Matty and Nick (in a wheelchair) stand on opposite sides of the window separating their rooms, looking at each other. Cameron enters, in a sterile gown, removing a surgical mask from her face. A nurse follows, bringing in a wheelchair.]

CAMERON: [to Matty] You ready?

MATTY: [quietly] Yeah.

[He turns back to Nick.]

NICK: Thanks.

MATTY: You'd do the same for me.

[Matty and Nick slowly "bump fists" on their respective sides of the window. Cameron gently guides Matty to the wheelchair, where he sits. The nurse starts to wheel him out.]

SCOTT: [encouraging] Don't worry. You're gonna be fine.

MATTY: [hopeful] Think I'll be better in time to pitch in the playoffs?

CLAUDIA: [leaning towards him] Maybe next season.

[She kisses him on the cheek. Matty looks morose. The nurse wheels him out.]

SCOTT: [watching them go] We should have told him.

CLAUDIA: He loves his brother. But if he understood what we were asking of him...

SCOTT: [arguing] He loves his brother more than he loves baseball.

CAMERON: [interjecting] You did the right thing. Putting any part of this decision on him... it's impossible for you guys to deal with this. How's a ten-year-old supposed to do it?

[She leaves. Claudia slowly moves to the window to look at Nick. Nick closes his eyes.]

[PPTH Operation Room. Matty is on the operating table, unconscious. His beating heart is exposed. The surgeons perform the operation on him.]

SURGEON: Canula in place. Sutures are holding. [beat] We're all set to go. Switch him over to bypass.

[The heart stops beating. The bypass machine starts whirring, while a surgeon hands his colleague an instrument off the nearby table. Wilson (scrubbed up) watches the procedure.]

[Aerial shot of PPTH. Night.]

[House's apartment. House is asleep on his couch, while a Curling game plays on TV. The phone rings. House stirs awake. He answers the phone.]

HOUSE: [into phone] Yeah?

INTERCUT WITH:

[PPTH, Wilson's office. Wilson speaks on his phone.]

WILSON: [into phone] I didn't do the surgery.

HOUSE: [into phone] You woke me up to tell me that you're lazy.

WILSON: [into phone] We biopsied a piece before we started cutting.

HOUSE: [into phone] I'm tired. Get to the point.

WILSON: [into phone] We didn't replace the valve because the growth was fibrous tissue. It wasn't infectious. We gotta be wrong about...

HOUSE: [seeing something] Oh, God.

WILSON: [from phone] What? You know what's wrong with Matty?

[House slowly leans forward on the couch, looking at something on the floor.]

HOUSE: [into phone, mock-concern] I think Hector's committed suicide.

WILSON: [into phone] What are you talking about?

[Hector lies still on House's floor, a bottle of Vicodin open next to him, pills strewn around near him.]

HOUSE: [into phone] He took some pills.

WILSON: [into phone, humouring House] Is he alive?

[House gets up off the couch and slowly starts creeping towards Hector.]

HOUSE: [into phone] He ate half my stash. Of course he's...

[House prods the dog with his cane. Hector lifts his head up and lets out a groan. House sighs in disappointment. He picks up the empty, open Vicodin bottle and looks at it.]

HOUSE: [into phone] He's stoned. I'll be right in.

[He hangs up and looks at Hector.]

[PPTH, Diagnostics Office. Wilson glances anxiously at his wristwatch. Cameron, equally anxious, looks up to see House entering the office. Foreman and Chase are also present.]

HOUSE: Cut all the way into this kid's heart, and all we got was this lousy, non-infectious fibrous tissue.

WILSON: How did we miss this?

[House removes his jacket and hands his satchel to Cameron.]

CAMERON: Matty had a fever. Got sicker when we suppressed his immune system. That all points to infection.

HOUSE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[He puts a "<" sign on the left of the "4" on the whiteboard, signifying they have less than four days left.]

HOUSE: Not our fault. Fibrous tissue! Something is turning his healthy heart valve to gristle.

CAMERON: [recalling] Fibrous tissue, enlarged spleen, fever. Could mean autoimmune.

[Wilson and House look at each other.]

WILSON: [hopeful] Autoimmune diseases aren't passed along in bone marrow. He can still donate. We confirm, I do the surgery.

[Wilson starts to leave.]

HOUSE: Lupus and Behçets are our best bet. Do an ANA and a pathergy test.

FOREMAN: Or... it could be infection.

[Wilson stops.]

HOUSE: My memory's not what it used to be, but didn't we just rule that out eight seconds ago?

FOREMAN: Just because it's not what screwed up his valve doesn't mean it's not in his system.

HOUSE: Uh-huh, and it has the obvious advantage of making us right all along. A little disadvantage of making big brother dead.

FOREMAN: That's your argument? Better outcome?

HOUSE: [pointedly] It fits.

FOREMAN: The family has one kid with leukemia and one with autoimmune. Wouldn't stand next to them in a rainstorm.

HOUSE: That's your argument? It sucks for them?

FOREMAN: It fits, and we can still help big brother. National marrow registry came up with a four out of six donors.

HOUSE: Six out of six is two better than four out of six, right? I mean, I know two is so small, but since it means that he's gonna get Graft vs. Host disease, the marrow will attack his body and he'll die a painful death. [to the others] Find out what autoimmune it is.

[Cameron and Chase get up and leave. Foreman sits a while longer, shakes his head and leaves.]

[Matty's room/Nick's room. While Nick lies in bed, Cameron performs tests on Matty. Scott and Claudia watch.]

SCOTT: Is this autoimmune better o-or worse than a new heart valve?

CAMERON: It depends on which autoimmune it is. With early detection, most are manageable.

CLAUDIA: [softly] How long will the testing take?

CAMERON: That's the other good thing about this. There's literally thousands of possible infections but only a handful of autoimmune conditions. We'll have the answer in a few hours.

[From the adjoining room, Nick calls out.]

NICK: Hey, doctor?

[Everyone looks up at Nick, who's holding up his right arm.]

NICK: Is this bad?

[Nick's arm has dark-red bruises, near the wrist and the hand.]

[PPTH, outside House's office/hallway. Night. House exits from his office and meets Wilson outside. They start walking.]

HOUSE: Wanna catch a movie?

WILSON: It's one in the morning.

HOUSE: I know a place. Although I wouldn't recommend wearing those shoes.

WILSON: How exactly does a dog unscrew a bottle of pills?

HOUSE: Is that a riddle?

WILSON: It requires an opposable thumb.

HOUSE: I must have left it off.

WILSON: On the floor?

HOUSE: I think he hopped upon to the bathroom counter.

WILSON: He has arthritis.

[Crash!! House's cane snaps and he crumples to the ground, bumping on the wall as he falls. He looks like he could wring a particular dog's neck.]

WILSON: Not me this time.

[House remains sitting.]

HOUSE: No! It's your damn dog! [holding up the top of the cane] He chews everything! I was missing a file. Found paper in his stool. An original Sun record '78 Elvis recording - gone! Who the hell chews vinyl? He's vindictive. [beat] And he's had a good, long life. It's his time.

[Cameron and Chase come from round the corner of the corridor. They see House still sitting on the ground.]

CAMERON: Are you okay?

HOUSE: I just tripped over Wilson's self-righteousness.

[Chase holds out his hand to help House up.]

HOUSE: [cold-shoulders the helping hand] What d'you got?

CHASE: Matty's negative for everything. It's not autoimmune. So we're back to infection.

CAMERON: Nick's starting to deteriorate fast. He's got bruising all over his arms.

CHASE: Capillaries are leaking blood. If it happens in his brain, he's dead.

CAMERON: We've got to go with the four out of six donors.

HOUSE: Hmm. Did I mention my concerns about four being less than six? Wilson's first wife ignored a similar issue. Of course, that time, it was only fatal to their marriage.

WILSON: It's either that or we start randomly testing Matty for infections. I know you hate the word random.

HOUSE: [getting up] Do it alphabetically. We're not doing that damn transplant. [looks around] Where's Foreman?

[Outside Matty's and Nick's rooms. Foreman speaks to Claudia and Scott.]

FOREMAN: We found a donor. It's not an ideal match. But four out of six still gives Nick a chance.

[The ecstatic parents hug each other, Scott kissing Claudia's head. Foreman feels like a heel though.]

[PPTH, Children's playroom. Wilson and House are trying hard to change Claudia and Scott's minds.]

WILSON: A partial match transplant is extremely dangerous...

SCOTT: [interrupting] Dr. Foreman explained...

HOUSE: Did he also explain what sort of pain your son will experience if he gets Graft vs. Host
disease?

SCOTT: Yes.

HOUSE: Apparently, he didn't explain it vividly enough. Let me give it a whack.

CLAUDIA: He also explained that if we did nothing, Nick could start bleeding into his brain.

WILSON: Matty is a perfect match. Just give us a little more time to figure out...

CLAUDIA: How much time?

WILSON: Dr. House is the best diagnostician...

SCOTT: [interrupting pointedly] How much time?

WILSON: I don't know.

SCOTT: [starts to choke up] And Nick can start bleeding into this brain without any warning.

WILSON: Yes, but the chances of complications from a mismatch are...

SCOTT: [softly] My boys have suffered enough. Get Matty better. And give Nick the transplant from the new donor.

[Defeated, Wilson nods.]

[PPTH, Hallway. House and Wilson walk. House is now using a four-pronged metal cane.]

WILSON: Foreman screwed us.

HOUSE: No! You screwed us.

[Wilson looks surprised at House.]

HOUSE: What is the point in being able to control people if you won't actually do it? 'S like training a dog and then letting him go on your rug. Which, by the way...

WILSON: [defensive] Once Foreman got his mitts on them, there was no way...

HOUSE: [arguing loudly] You don't explain chances and probabilities. You lie to them. You tell them Foreman's a moron - which isn't even much of a lie right now.

WILSON: You gotta to talk to him.

HOUSE: I got no problem with what Foreman did.

WILSON: [angry] He undercut us and he may have cost that kid his life!

[House stops walking and turns to face Wilson.]

HOUSE: [mad] Well, he did what he thought was right! You, on the other hand, sucked out! When the decision really mattered, you didn't have the guts to tell them what to do! 'F that kid dies, it's because Foreman was wrong AND because you're a coward!

[House limps away, leaving Wilson standing there with a stunned expression on his face.]

[PPTH, Procedure Room. A donor lies sideways (decubitus position) on a bed. Foreman (scrubbed up) takes out a rather scary-looking aspirate needle and pushes it into the exposed part of the man's backside.]

[CGI POV: The camera zooms towards the needle and into the man's bone. The needle pierces through the bone, sending small bone fragments around. The needle starts to aspirate the marrow. The marrow flows quickly through the needle, as we...]

[Nick's room. The scarlet-coloured marrow is being administered to Nick, intravenously. Foreman (still scrubbed up) adjusts the IV drip on Nick's hand.]

[House's apartment. The apartment is dark. However, the front door is ajar (big enough for, say, a pesky mutt to get out). House, returning home, comes to his front door and peeks inside.]

HOUSE: [top of his voice] Oh, goodness! I've left my door open! My poor dog must've run away and been hit by a car or... truck. [hopeful] Or train.

[He enters the apartment and switches on the light.]

HOUSE: [even more hopeful] Or an anvil.

[He looks around, almost sure he'll be free of Hector. No such luck. Hector's behind the couch, and apparently has found a new chewtoy.]

HOUSE: [oh, joy...] Thank God. You're still here. [top of voice again] He's still here!

[He looks around and sees an empty space in a cabinet. He jerks his head towards Hector.]

HOUSE: Where's my stereo?

[Hector whines a little. House sighs, barely controlling himself. He shuts the door with his four-pronged cane. He starts limping towards the bathroom. Hector follows. He reaches the bathroom, and slams the door shut (unaware of his pursuer). A thump is heard, followed by a painful yelp and whine. House smiles, finally having got his revenge on Hector.]

[Aerial shot of PPTH. Day.]

[Matty's room. Cameron checks up on Matty.]

CAMERON: How you feeling?

MATTY: [scratching his right ear] A little itchy.

[She hooks up a new IV bag. He stops scratching his ear and thinks.]

MATTY: It's weird, huh? You still have no idea what's wrong with me, but [points] those meds will make me better.

CAMERON: We put you on a variety of medications that'll fight all kinds of infections.

MATTY: Nick, you know exactly what's wrong with him, maybe he's gonna die anyway.

CAMERON: Hopefully, the new marrow will...

MATTY: I can't go in there, can I?

[She looks at him, sympathetically.]

CAMERON: [softly] Your infection would kill him.

MATTY: [morosely] So I won't be able to be with him when he dies?

CAMERON: [trying to be encouraging] You'll... be able to be with him when he gets better.

[Matty starts scratching his right ear again, but much harder this time. He hisses in irritation and leans forward in bed.]

CAMERON: What's wrong?

MATTY: [exhales heavily] It really itches.

[He stops scratching so Cameron can take a look. She sees his ear is dripping blood, staining his gown.]

[Tobacco Store. House stands at the counter, requesting service from the currently-absent salesman. Upbeat old-fashioned music plays in the background.]

HOUSE: [deep voice] Hello?

[Wilson enters from outside, not in the best of spirits. House, trying out a smoking pipe, turns around to see him. House puts down the pipe.]

WILSON: Why am I meeting you here?

HOUSE: Paying for my new cane. It was your dog.

[House tries on a pair of large green rectangular glasses and checks himself out in the mirror.]

WILSON: So that's it. You call me a coward, life goes on.

HOUSE: Apparently. Showed up.

[Wilson shakes his head and starts to leave.]

HOUSE: Hey.

[Wilson, pinching the bridge of his nose, turns around.]

HOUSE: [beat] I'm sorry.

WILSON: [nods, softly] Okay.

[Wilson walks up to House. House rings the bell for service.]

HOUSE: You're pathetic. I didn't actually mean that.

WILSON: [shrugs] Yes, you did.

[House's cellphone starts to ring.]

HOUSE: No, I didn't. To infinity.

WILSON: Yes, you did. You're pathetic.

[House answers the phone.]

HOUSE: [into phone] Yeah. [listens] When? [listens] What did the lab say? [listens] Uh-huh?

[House limps around, while speaking. Wilson checks out the store, looking at a porcelain mermaid.]

WILSON: Why don't you buy your cane in a medical supply store like a normal cripple?

[House, still on the phone, tries on a cowboy hat. The salesman finally shows up.]

HOUSE: [to Wilson] Fewer bitchin' choices. [into phone] Okay.

[He hangs up and calls out to the salesman.]

HOUSE: What do you got in bitchin'?

SALESMAN: Right this way.

HOUSE: [taking off the hat] That was Cameron. The kid that wasn't all that sick is now all that sick. He's bleeding out of his ears.

WILSON: Blood counts?

HOUSE: Down.

[They make their way to where the salesman stands. The salesman pulls out a cane with a skull handle.]

WILSON: Schistocytes on the smear?

HOUSE: His body's not making new blood cells. His bone marrow's crashing.

SALESMAN: This is one of our top sellers.

[The salesman hands House the skull-handled cane. House doesn't look at all impressed.]

HOUSE: It's a little too Marilyn Manson in a retirement home. [returns it; to Wilson] Meds are suppressing his bone marrow.

WILSON: Or the infection's doing it.

[Next cane - a glossy dark-brown arch-handled cane.]

HOUSE: [impressed] Very cool.

SALESMAN: Genuine bull penis stretched over a metal rod.

[House doesn't seem to like it anymore.]

HOUSE: Penis canes are murder. [hands it back, points] Let me see the one on the end.

SALESMAN: You got it.

HOUSE: [to Wilson] You need to stop Matty's meds. The marrow rebounds, it's the meds. If it doesn't, it's an infection.

WILSON: And if it's the infection?

HOUSE: Maybe I was wrong about which kid's gonna die.

[The salesman comes over, a cane in hand (off-screen). House is genuinely enthused.]

HOUSE: Bitchiiiin'.

[House smiles.]

[PPTH, Elevator/Hallway. The heavy-metal music continues in the background. The elevator doors open. Camera holds on House's and Wilson's legs and House's new cane - a black one with orange, red and yellow flames on it (Just call him Ghost Limper!). In slow-motion, they start walking/limping out of the elevator. Different camera angles of the cane are seen. They enter the Diagnostics office.]

[Diagnostics Office. H2H keeps playing. Cameron turns her head to see the cane, Chase (taking a sip of coffee) frowns, and Foreman raises his eyebrows. House stops and thumps the cane on the floor. A thundering sound is heard and the music stops abruptly.]

CAMERON: [might as well get it over with] Flames.

HOUSE: [swinging it up] Makes it look like I'm going fast. Now, how's our dying kids?

CHASE: [tired] Nick's developed blisters all over his feet and legs. He's got grade four Graft vs. Host.

WILSON: Increase his dosage of methylprednisolone.

CHASE: Already did. It's not working.

[Foreman looks downcast.]

HOUSE: [to him] Feeling guilty?

FOREMAN: I did the right thing.

HOUSE: Always a comfort. Okay, what's the other kid's status?

WILSON: We're done with Nick?

HOUSE: God is done with Nick. We know what he has. We know how to treat it. We're doing it. It's not working. Life is for the living.

CHASE: Matty's been off his meds for a few hours, but his blood count's still tanking. It means the meds aren't to blame. It's the infection.

CAMERON: If we don't get this under control, his blood will literally turn into water.

[House massages his forehead. Wilson and Cameron drop their heads.]

HOUSE: Cultures still aren't growing anything.

FOREMAN: Why not?

HOUSE: Because you did the right thing. Convinced the parents to treat the kid. All you did was yank the weed out of the ground. It's roots are still killing your beautiful lawn. We just can't see it. And if we can't see it, we don't know what it is. And if we don't know what it is, we can't kill it. You gotta wait for it to grow back again. [sighs] Now his soil is arid. So he and his brother will be dead by the time...

[He stops, feeling the after-effects of an epiphany (which include quickened background music and the camera zooming towards his face). He tilts his head as he speaks.]

HOUSE: What if the dandelion was in fertile soil? [turns to the others] What if we take the roots from Matty and put them in Nick? Turn the kid into a petri dish? Only better. A petri dish can't tell you when it hurts.

CHASE: You want to give him his brother's infection? The very thing we've been trying to avoid since the brother sneezed?

HOUSE: Leukemia kid's got no defenses.

CAMERON: Which is why he'll die.

HOUSE: But before he does, the infection will spread, fast. Fast enough to tell us what it is. In time to save his brother.

[The Ducklings don't know what to say. Wilson sighs and looks at Foreman.]

WILSON: Do you see any other way?

[Foreman looks down and shakes his head.]

[PPTH, Random room. Wilson and House get the unenviable task of convincing the parents to let one of their sons die for the other.]

WILSON: [slowly and expressive] The infection is decimating Matty's bone marrow. But... if we give that marrow to Nick, his symptoms could let us diagnose Matty.

CLAUDIA: But it'll kill Nick.

HOUSE: Yes.

SCOTT: [shocked] You're... you're saying we should kill one son to save the other?

HOUSE: Nick is gonna die either way.

SCOTT: [angry] You don't know that! I mean, he's in pain right now, but...

WILSON: Nick's Graft vs. Host is not responding to medication.

SCOTT: [almost inaudible, pleading tearfully] It can change. May-maybe he'll-he'll rally. Hey, my Nick is a fighter.

HOUSE: Graft vs. Host is not gonna go away because of Nick's sunny smile and positive outlook.

CLAUDIA: [fighting to stay calm] Nick has survived three reoccurrences of his leukemia.

HOUSE: He's being torn apart from the inside out. His pain's gonna get worse and worse until he dies. You're just dragging it out. [beat] You have only one decision to make - to leave here with one dead son or two.

[Scott looks at him, tearily. Claudia can't control her tears anymore. Wilson looks at House.]

HOUSE: Tell 'em.

[Scott looks at Wilson, hopefully.]

WILSON: [nods somberly] You should let us do this.

[Scott wipes his face in sadness. Claudia can stay calm no longer. She forces herself to her feet and yells emotionally.]

CLAUDIA: NO!

[Scott steels himself and stands up.]

SCOTT: We're not giving upon Nick. [firm] Not!

[House and Wilson look at each other.]

[Diagnostics Office. House and Wilson enter. The Ducklings look up. House throws a file on the glass table in frustration.]

HOUSE: Patients' parents apparently don't want to be parents anymore. [to Chase] You're a sneaky bastard. Any ideas how we get around this?

CHASE: Court order?

HOUSE: [disappointed] That's hardly sneaky.

FOREMAN: We can still save Matty. Run more tests. Find out what infection is destroying his marrow.

HOUSE: Ten thousand possible infections. At least twenty minutes per test. Take you approximately eight years.

FOREMAN: Actually, four months, assuming the last one I test is the right one. If it's the first, it'll take me approximately twenty minutes.

WILSON: [wearily] He's right. It's worth a shot.

HOUSE: He's timid. Testing blindly is not gonna save this kid.

FOREMAN: [cynically] But standing around here will.

[He leaves, walking past House. Wilson follows half-heartedly. Chase goes as well. Cameron gets up and walks out too. House pops a Vicodin.]

[Clean room/Nick's room. House (in sterile gown and mask) limps (sans his Bitchin' cane) towards Nick's room. Nick's groans of agony can be heard. House limps inside his room. Scott is there, trying unsuccessfully to comfort Nick, who is lying on his side.]

HOUSE: Wow, he sure is hurting.

SCOTT: [choking] Nurses say he maxed out on his pain meds.

HOUSE: [pulling out his scrip book] If I had a nickel for every time I heard that.

[He starts to write out a prescription. Scott turns and gets up. House rips out the scrip and holds it out to Scott.]

HOUSE: Pharmacy's on the ground floor.

SCOTT: [leaning towards Nick] I'm gonna go get you some more pain medication, okay?

NICK: [in extreme pain] Thank you.

[Scott takes the scrip and runs out. House makes sure he's gone and removes his mask. He sits in front of Nick, who's agony get more piteous by the minute. House looks at him.]

HOUSE: It's not gonna help. You're dying. Nothing's gonna change that. Drugs'll just make you go easier.

NICK: [breathing heavily] I know.

HOUSE: Fourteen years on the planet. Most of them spent suffering. Dying before you even got to drive a car, take off a girl's bra, drink a beer. Believe me, there's plenty you haven't done. Really good stuff. [beat] Must make it hard to believe in God or... fairness, a larger purpose. [beat] But your life doesn't have to be meaningless. You can save your brother.

[Nick looks up at House and stops breathing heavily for a second.]

NICK: How?

[PPTH Labs. Foreman and Wilson run tests.]

FOREMAN: Negative for CMV.

WILSON: Negative for amoebas. House called you timid.

FOREMAN: He's called me a lot worse.

WILSON: To him, there is nothing worse. He's gonna fire you.

FOREMAN: [ignoring it] Even if we run a hundred tests, that only gives us a one percent chance of saving these kids.

WILSON: Better than zero. You don't care if you get fired?

FOREMAN: [still circumventing the topic] I don't know, there's got to be a way to better our odds from ninety-nine percent chance of death.

WILSON: You gotta know.

FOREMAN: It's not food-borne, because no one else in the family is sick.

WILSON: Either you care about your job or you don't.

FOREMAN: Matty's the only one who drank from that water pump in the backyard, but we eliminated pseudomonas and cholera.

WILSON: If you care, you fight to keep it. If you don't, you quit. [finally getting back to Matty's case] I thought they lived in the suburbs.

FOREMAN: They do. Why?

WILSON: They've got a water pump?

[Foreman thinks about it.]

[Nick's room. While Matty lies asleep in his room, A much-relaxed Nick tries to convince his parents to let him go, in order to save Matty.]

NICK: Please, I wanna do it.

CLAUDIA: [gently] No, Nicky. It's not your decision.

NICK: I'm dying. There's nothing that's gonna change that.

SCOTT: [barely keeping it together] Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey. Don't say that, okay? You can't give up.

NICK: It's time for me to go, dad. [beat] You gotta let me go.

SCOTT: [crying, pleading] No. Please, son.

[Tears stream down Claudia's cheeks. She sniffles.]

SCOTT: I can't. I can't. [fiercely] I can't!

NICK: [looking at his brother] I'll do it for Matty.

[Claudia starts sobbing.]

NICK: [choking] I'll do it for you guys... so you won't be alone.

[His parents can't take any more. They break down, sobbing inconsolably.]

[Operating Room. Nick is wheeled into the OR. Cuddy looks at the consent form, while Scott and Claudia follow sullenly.]

CUDDY: Are you sure?

SCOTT: [sighing] No. But he is.

[They look at their eldest son. Foreman barges inside.]

FOREMAN: Get Nick back to the clean room!

CUDDY: The parents agreed to infect him.

FOREMAN: We figured out what's wrong with Matty.

[Cuddy waits for it.]

FOREMAN: Histoplasmosis.

SCOTT: W-what is that? I mean, why did it...?

FOREMAN: Fungal infection. Grows in chicken feces. The dirt that Matty used to build his pitcher's mound must have sat under a chicken coop. Your whole neighborhood was built on top of farmland. We didn't test for it earlier because we...

CLAUDIA: [interrupting with newfound hope] Can you fix him?

FOREMAN: Full course of amphotericin, and he should be fine.

[Scott squeezes Claudia's shoulder in renewed optimism. Claudia smiles for the first time in a long while.]

SCOTT: [still hopeful] And Nick? I mean, can you clean Matty's marrow, um, just like you were talking about doing it, but do it fast and-and get it into Nick?

[Foreman doesn't answer. He looks at Cuddy.]

CUDDY: I'm sorry. The reason Matty is so sick is because the infection is attacking his marrow. He doesn't have enough left to safely take from him and give to his brother.

[Their hopes crushed again, Claudia starts to weep. Foreman looks at Nick.]

[Procedure room. Foreman checks up on Matty's meds.]

MATTY: [incredulous] I'm going to get better now? That's it?

FOREMAN: That's it.

MATTY: And what about Nick?

[Foreman looks at Matty. He removes his surgical mask.]

FOREMAN: Your brother was willing to risk his life to save you. Are you willing to do that for him?

[Matty nods, apprehensively.]

FOREMAN: I... can't sedate you. You're too sick.

[Matty nods again. Foreman hesitates only a fraction of a second, before turning around and hastily dragging a cart up to Matty's bed. Matty looks fearful. Foreman pulls out an aspirate needle and prepares to insert it into Matty's skin. Matty looks terrified now. His fear is only compounded by Foreman quickly strapping him to the bed, keeping him from moving. Foreman takes a decisive look at Matty and pushes the aspirate needle into Matty's thigh. Matty screams to high heaven as Foreman hurriedly starts to collect his bone marrow. Finished, Foreman pulls the needle out. He moves for another needle.]

MATTY: [beseeching] Please, please stop. [crying] Please, please. You're done, right?

FOREMAN: [not ready to stop now] Sorry. I need a lot more.

[Matty tries to break out of his restraints, but Foreman pushes him down and moves to insert the next needle.]

MATTY:No! Stop! [screaming] Stop!

[Foreman inserts it into Matty's side. Matty scream can be heard even as we...]

[Aerial shot of PPTH. Evening.]

[House's office. House is at his desk. Wilson enters.]

HOUSE: How much heat are you taking from the parents?

WILSON: They're calming down. I think it has something to do with both their kids being alive, awake, and eating. The marrow transplant took.

HOUSE: Welcome back, Foreman.

WILSON: You should talk to him.

HOUSE: Tell him how proud I am?

WILSON: Hey, if you're ashamed of him, you can tell him that.

HOUSE: Pride and shame only apply to people we have a vested interest in, not employees.

WILSON: How many hours a day do you have to spend with someone before they're basically family?

HOUSE: Good point. [gets up] But first, I gotta tell Cameron and Chase that they're violating God's will.

WILSON: I'm just asking you to have an adult conversation to let him know...

HOUSE: ... he did a good job? He knows it. Adults don't need adult conversations. Just like I don't need this conversation.

WILSON: [sighing] Have you killed Hector yet?

HOUSE: Obviously not.

[He looks past Wilson, near the door. Wilson turns to see Hector, lolling about on the floor, chewing something.]

WILSON: Oh. He's quiet. He's... [recognizes the new chewtoy] Is that my stethoscope?

[Sure enough, Hector is chewing hell out of Wilson's stethoscope.]

HOUSE: [sarcastically] Bad dog!

[Hector seems to take it seriously and whiningly puts his head on the floor.]

WILSON: Listen, Bonnie joined her home owners' association and staged a coup. Pets are now allowed. If you want to keep him, she wants a new puppy anyway. She'll understand.

HOUSE: Why would I want to keep him?

WILSON: You're sure?

[House gives him a "are-you-kidding?" look and picks up Hector's leash.]

WILSON: [turns to Hector] Come on, boy.

[Hector stands up - on three paws. His right forepaw is held above ground, probably due to the door-slamming incident, if not others following that. House looks sheepish. Hector limps forward towards Wilson. Wilson looks back at House, more accusingly than questioningly.]

HOUSE: [shrugging] Accidents happen.

[He tosses the leash to Wilson. Wilson doesn't look mollified. He crouches and attaches the leash to Hector's collar. House advances from behind his desk.]

HOUSE: Candy?

[He tosses a small white pill (no prizes for guessing what it is!) towards the damaged dog, who immediately rears up and swallows it.]

HOUSE: Good boy.

[Wilson gets up and, with a pointed look at House, walks out.]

[PPTH hallway - Continuous. Hector limps slowly besides an expressionless Wilson. Behind them, House comes out of his office. Hector stops limping and turns his head to look at House. House looks back. Hector looks ahead and resumes limping. House throws up a Vicodin in the air and catches it in his mouth on the way down.]

HOUSE: [bites] Good boy.

[He limps away.]

[Matty's room/Nick's room/PPTH Hallway. Matty and Nick (both walking) come to the glass partition between their room and "bump fists". Foreman watches them from the hallway. House limps up to him.]

HOUSE: [sighs] You did good.

FOREMAN: I did what you would have.

HOUSE: Well, maybe I'm biased, but--

FOREMAN: I tortured the kid.

HOUSE: Because you knew it was right. You knew you were saving his brother.

FOREMAN: [pensively] I know. I don't like that I know. I hate that I can listen to a kid screaming in pain and not even take a moment to question whether I'm doing the right thing. I hate that in order to be like you as a doctor, I have to be like you as a human being. I don't want to turn into you.

HOUSE: [smirks] You're not. You've been like me since you were eight years old.

FOREMAN: [turns to face him] You'll save more people than I will. But I'll settle for killing less. Consider this my two weeks' notice.

[He walks away. Off House's expressionless look, we...]