Épisode Dernier espoir S03E24 - House Saison 3

(Scene begins with Coast guards on a helicopter looking down. They're flying above the sea on a dark rainy night)

Rescuer1 (Fisher): Coming up to 50 feet.

Rescuer2: Roger that. We're light on fuel, 2 minutes to bingo.

[An obviously sick woman (Marina) loudly gasps for breath and shivers at the back of the helicopter]

Pilot: Come on, Fisher, we've got places to go, people to see.

Fisher: Working on it!

Pilot: So I've heard, what's taking so long?

[Down below a man is practically drowning under the waves but he is tightly gripping on to a plastic briefcase floating on top of the water]

Rescuer3: [in the sea with the man] Let go of the suitcase! Let go of the suitcase! You'll have to hold on to me!

Esteban: [says something in Spanish that translates to a refusal]

Rescuer3: Sir, whatever it is is not worth it.

Rescuer2: We're bingo fuel sir.

Pilot: Your hear that Fisher? Bingo. Keep it ____ and we'll handle it in both gears.

Fisher: I'll do that, sir.

Rescuer3: Ditch the damn luggage!

Esteban: [refuses again]

[Rescuer3 looks up and Fisher gives him a signal. Rescuer3 then approaches Esteban from behind and tries to haul him up. In the ensuing struggle under water, Esteban lets for of the suitcase and the rescuers finally manage to hoist Esteban and Rescuer3 up to the helicopter. Esteban looks back down in despair until he gets on to the helicopter and worriedly looks after his wife]

Esteban: Marina! [a conversation with her in Spanish, she smiles, he then turns around and scolds the rescuers]

Rescuer3: Tell him if he's so worried about his wife's clothes, he should have stayed in Cuba!

Esteban: [replies in Spanish]

Fisher: He says it wasn't her clothes; it was her medical records, that she's sick and needs to go home.

Esteban: No home, House! I need to see doctor House.


Cuddy is in the lobby trying to phone House futilely as he doesn't seem to be picking up. Behind her, Esteban is looking forlornly at a sick Marina lying on a bed)

(Scene shift to the cafeteria where House's silenced phone is vibrating on the table next to his cup of coffee. He is pretending to read a paper while actually watching Foreman's farewell party on the other side of the room. He's disguised with a cap on his head)

[Wilson walks in immediately spotting House and walks up to him]

Wilson: You don't answer your phone anymore.

House: I'm world famous now, press won't leave me alone.

Wilson: It's Cuddy.

House: I know. If it was the press I'd be answering.

Wilson: And since you're not taking her calls, I am. Your patient's been waiting for hours.

House: She didn't book an appointment.

Wilson: No, she risked her life.

House: You don't reach terra firma, you don't get any milk or honey.

Wilson: The woman has 10 different things wrong with her, including pains all over her body. [sits down opposite House] Admittedly not as interesting as staring uselessly at Foreman.

House: You know why I find the goodbye party fascinating? [he puts away the paper and rubs his stubbled chin] Isn't it kind of insulting to celebrate when someone leaves you?

Wilson: What are you going to do to keep him?

House: Nothing.

Wilson: He really is going to leave, you know that right?

House: Yeah.

Wilson: So what are you going to do?

House: Nothing I can do. He doesn't want more money, better working conditions, doesn't even want a better job. He wants to not be me.

Wilson: Because he thinks you're a cold-hearted bastard without any regard for anyone but yourself.

House: He's right. [bites into a bun]

Wilson: You need to show him that you really do care.

House: Don't. Foreman's not the only chocolate-covered cherry in the box.

Wilson: House, you play a guitar you got in 9th grade.

House: 8th.

Wilson: You're living in the same apartment for 15 years. You drive a 10-yr-old car, you are not good with change.

House: That used to be true, but I changed.

Wilson: He's not afraid to be you, he's afraid to be who he thinks you are. [He walks off and leaves House alone.]


(Cut to the conference room. Foreman is reading emails; Chase and Cameron are talking about the case in the background)

Chase: Rheumatic fever would explain the skin rash.

Cameron: Not the double vision or bloody urine.

Chase: They were lost at sea for 3 days; maybe dehydration caused the kidney problems.

[Foreman is laughing at his emails, House walks in]

Cameron: And the double vision?

Chase: Concussion during the shipwreck.

Foreman: It all fits as long as these symptoms started when you think it started.

House: This would be a lot easier if we had her medical records. Any of you certified deep sea divers?

Chase: She's from a dirt poor country in the tropics, infectious disease and parasites are the most likely cause of unexplained pain, fever and skin rash, we might as well start there.

House: [takes off his cap and puts it on a model of a brain] If there's one thing Castro knows is how to look great in green. [he gives pointed looks in Foreman's direction but the duckling has his back to the rest of the room and doesn't seem to see] And if there are two things Castro knows is how to look great in green and train doctors. Even without the medical records we can assume she was drowned in antibiotics before she risked drowning to see me.

Cameron: So what doesn't Castro know?

House: How to lay his hands on high-tech scanning equipment. [points to the list of symptoms on the board] Pain, double vision, point us towards the head. Cameron get an MRI, see what's cooking in the old cabeza. [she goes out to do as asked] Chase, check out the husband.

Chase: Why? He hasn't complained of any pain.

House: Basic math, take all her symptoms, subtract his sea symptoms, the remainder equals her original symptoms. [Chase walks out]

[House is left with Foreman who is still laughing at his emails; House gives him an awkward grimace-smile and walks out too]


(Esteban coughs, Chase is checking him out in another room)

Chase: You've pain?

Esteban: No, I'm just sunburned.

[Chase checks Esteban's eyes]

Chase: Any blurred vision?

Esteban: No. So my wife, she is with doctor House?

Chase: She is with another doctor who is part of doctor House's team.

Esteban: No, she's supposed to see doctor House. We have permission.

Chase: It's the way it works with doctor House.

Esteban: I came a thousand miles to see him!

Chase: He doesn't care. I'm sorry, but that's who he is, that's who you risked your life to see. And you made the right choice.


(Cameron in the MRI room with Marina)

[She hands Cameron a gold necklace]

Cameron: Any other metal? Must have been difficult on the boat. [She starts preparing Marina for the MRI]

Marina: When the storm came just... very much... I pray while my husband he um... [she says something in Spanish] with the paddles?

Cameron: You were on a boat without a motor?

Marina: No no, we start with the motor, but it break on the first night. My husband, he can fix anything. A washing machine, a car, a computer... but that stupid motor and me, these two he cannot fix.

Cameron: He got you to us.

Marina: He never gave up, no matter what happen, he kept saying to me don't worry, we will make it, I take care of you. He refuses to worry or pray, he believe if you don't have one, you don't need the other.


(Back in the conference room)

Chase: The husband has a pulled muscle in his shoulder but none of the pains or double vision. He does have a fever, fungal rash, cough and elevated bilirubin. Foreman's not going anywhere. [House turns around from checking something on the computer to face Chase]

House: He said that to you?

Chase: He doesn't really want to leave, and you don't really want to let him. You'll cave, just like you did with Cameron.

House: Foreman's not as easy as Cameron, but of course, who is?

[Camera zooms to Cameron sitting on the other side of the long table looking a little miffed]

Cameron: I'm in the room.

Chase: He may not want a date but he does want... something.

House: Maybe it's something I can't offer.

Chase: Then you'll just lie.

House: He'd see through it.

Chase: Maybe. Or maybe he'll just see what he wants to see.

[Foreman walks in]

Foreman: She has MS. Explains the pain, the fatigue, double vision, kidney problems.

Chase: Her kidney problems aren't connected. Her husband has the same issues.

Foreman: It is possible for two people to have the same symptom for 2 different reasons.

Chase: If we're going to take that approach then we might as well just throw out everything we got from the husband and start over.

Foreman: We could do that, or we could do something productive, start her on interferon for the MS, see if she improves.

[They both turn to House; Chase has a mocking look for Foreman's suggestion on his face. House ponders]

House: I do like being productive. Well done, do it.

[Foreman walks out]

Chase: Well done? Is that what you think he wants? A pat on the head?

House: Go do your job.


(Foreman in the room with Esteban and Marina, he's preparing to put her on interferon)

Esteban: She does not have MS.

Foreman: I know it's not a pleasant diagnosis to hear-- [Marina is very distressed and crying]

Esteban: No, the doctors in Cuba would have found MS. [alarms start ringing] What's that?

Foreman: It's alright, the pulse oximeter just came off. [he clips it back on to her finger] Marina, you can't--

Marina: It hurts!

Esteban: The pain is getting worse, your treatment isn't working because it's not MS!

Foreman: Does this hurt? [he experimentally twists her arm and ends up breaking her wrist, she screams in pain]


(Close up on an x-ray of the broken wrist)

House: Wow. Well either Foreman's way stronger than he thinks he is or... [he turns around, the ducklings are silent] seriously or?

Cameron: She's too young for osteoporosis that severe.

Chase: And too old for osteogenesis imperfecta.

Foreman: Which leaves bone cancer.

Chase: Cancer's a long shot.

House: Why? Because metastatic tumours don't explain the abnormal MRI, kidney damage, cotton mouth, double vision? Oh wait, they do.

Chase: Infection could do all that too.

House: It's not an infection.

Chase: Because you know the non-existent medical records confirm that the brilliant doctors in Cuba treated her for infection? Or because you're trying to kiss up to Foreman?

House: Because an infection would cause a fever and the brilliant doctors who work in my office have already crossed that off the list because the husband--

Chase: You were the one who said that it's possible for 2 people to have the same symptom for 2 different reasons. [to Foreman]

Foreman: And you're the one who said if we do that, we might as well throw out everything we got from the husband.

Chase: Right, and then you said we should do something productive like breaking her arm?

House: Foreman didn't break her arm.

Chase: Of course he didn't.

House: Cancer did. Put her on a PET scan, see what else is breaking. [He prepares to walk out of the room]

Chase: This isn't going to work! He's not a moron, you can't just agree with everything he says for 2 days and hope he forgets the last 3 years and now actually hates you!

House: Anything else? When you get the results for the PET scan, let me know.


(Chase walks into House's office to have a private chat)

Chase: I don't really care if Foreman stays or goes but--

House: You're fired.

Chase: Wha... what because I yelled at you?

House: Because you've been here the longest, learned all you can, or you haven't learned anything at all... either way, it's time for a change.

Chase: [hesitates for a moment] Fine.

[He walks out still looking confused]


(In the MRI room)

Foreman: No tumours in her arm, sinovial membrane's working fine.

Cameron: No hotspots, no bone cancer. Maybe we should be looking for something else.

[Chase walks in wearing his street clothes, umbrella and bag]

Cameron: Is it raining out?

Chase: House fired me.

Foreman: What?

Cameron: Because you yelled at him?

Chase: Time for a change was the official explanation.

Cameron: It makes no sense.

Foreman: Since when does House make sense?

Cameron: He always makes sense.

Foreman: He's angry.

Cameron: Yes, it's all about you Foreman. He's upset you're leaving so he fires Chase.

Chase: Excuse me, by the humerus [he points to the results of a scan], she's got a hotspot.

[Cameron and Foreman look at it, then turn around to speak to Chase but he's already gone]


(Next scene, House is listening to Slippery When Wet by The Commodores while pretending to play guitar on his flaming cane and singing along - think of the air piano from S1, now we've got air guitar!)

[The 2 ducklings walk in, House switches off the music]

Cameron: Why'd you fire Chase?

House: Sure thing, first you tell me the results of the PET scan.

Foreman: Did you fire him for me?

House: Would you stay if I did?

Cameron: You asked him to fire Chase?

Foreman: No!

House: Yes.

Cameron: You're frustrated with Foreman so you lash out? Kick the dog?

House: He's not gone 5 minutes and the name-calling starts. What's on the PET scan?

Cuddy: [walks in] Why'd you fire Chase?

House: Do you know what's on the PET scan?

Cuddy: You two out. [they exit]

House: Woah, wait! What's on the PET scan?

Cuddy: You can't dump your entire department just because you don't know how to deal with an issue.

House: Yes, they are all irreplaceable. _____ you think they'd figure out somehow to teach people to interpret PET scans.

Wilson: [bursts in] What the hell is wrong with you? You fired Chase?

House: I don't suppose you know what's on my patient's PET scan?

Wilson: I told you to show Foreman you have a heart, how does that translate to you being a bastard?

House: So that's a no?

Cuddy: Pick up the phone, and tell Chase you made a mistake. Un-fire him.

House: [reluctantly picks up the phone and dials] Chase. If you know what's on the PET scan, call me back. [put the phone back down]

Wilson: Cut the crap.

Cuddy: Chase is a good doctor.

House: Sorry, you're in the wrong room. My name on the door, my team, my decisions.

Cuddy: My building, my floor, my people.

House: [the phone rings] Hold that reprimand. [he picks up the phone] House. Doctor Chase, how are ya? [Wilson and Cuddy look on expectantly] Thank you, you are indispensable. Um, you're still fired, sorry. [puts down the phone] Wow, that was awkward. PET scan revealed a blood clot in my patient's arm which means goodbye. Still got 2 people working for me, got to get one of them to do my job. [he walks out]


(Foreman is speaking to Esteban)

Foreman: A clot means a heart problem, we have to do an emergency angiogram.

Esteban: But you know she has a blood clot.

Foreman: PET scan can't determine that with certainty.

Esteban: So you have no better idea what's wrong with her than when we first got here?

Foreman: We've ruled out MS.

Esteban: I told you it wasn't MS. Where is doctor House?

Foreman: Doctor House has left for the night; he'll be here in the morning to review the results if you sign the consent.

[Esteban signs]

Foreman: But you know, you could call him at home. He doesn't always pick up, so keep calling. [He writes down House's no. and gives it to Esteban]

Esteban: Thank you.


(At House's apartment, the house phone rings as he watches television, he ignores it and it goes to voice mail)

Esteban: Doctor House, it's Esteban Hernandez again, as soon as you get home it's very important you call me. [House is staring at an old acoustic guitar on the wall; probably the one Wilson mentioned earlier that he had since the 8th grade]

(We see Esteban kissing Marina on the forehead before she's wheeled into her angiogram, but the sound of House's home phone ringing again in the background and cutting to voicemail)

Esteban: Hello yes, doctor House, its Esteban Hernandez, as soon as you get home, if you can please call me?


(Scene cuts to Foreman and Cameron. Foreman's performing the angiogram on Marina, Cameron's sitting down and just watching him like she doesn't care)

Foreman: Catheter's in her femoral artery.

Cameron: Why are you telling me that?

Foreman: Because you're assisting.

Cameron: Do I look like I'm assisting?

Foreman: I had nothing to do with Chase's termination.

Marina: Is everything ok?

Foreman: You're doing fine, Marina. The dye will take a minute to work its way through your system.

Cameron: [finally gets up and walks to the table] Why would you tell House you're leaving because he's a jerk?

Foreman: Because it's the truth.

[The doors to the room suddenly open and House walks in]

House: Did you give an angry Cuban my home number?

Cameron: Why would you do that? You're not turning into House, you're worse than him.

Foreman: Let me get this straight, instead of picking up the phone and talking to a patient for 5 minutes, you gave up on sleep and you drove in here.

Marina: My chest. [she seems to have difficulty breathing and alarms start beeping]

Foreman: She's in v-tach.

House: What did you do?

Foreman: Nothing!

Cameron: You must have hit something, did you nick an artery?

Foreman: She has no pulse.

Marina: It hurts.

[House tries to feel for her pulse in her neck and looks shocked]

House: She has no pulse but she's talking. Cough.

[Marina coughs]

House: Cough again. Keep coughing, it'll push blood into your head, keep you conscious. [She obeys, Foreman is trying to help start her heart again through CPR] Push 1 mg epinephrine.

Marina: Will [cough] that [cough] help?

House: No, but it is amazingly cool.

[She drops into unconsciousness and Cameron brings an oxygen mask]

Cameron: We need to put her on bypass.

House: We need to keep her here, if this is a clot then forcing a bypass will blow it into her brain and kill her.

Cameron: If we continue CPR she'll lose blood flow which will cause brain damage.

House: What would cause the heart to stop? Let's assume it wasn't human error. [looks at Foreman]

Foreman: I didn't nick an artery, it just stopped.

House: Which is why I said assume.

Cameron: The only other option is electrical instability.

Foreman: No ST segment changes. We need to tell the husband.

House: Tell him what? We have no idea what happened. [he starts walking out of the room]

Cameron: House?

House: Keep going 'til I figure this out.

Cameron: House!!


(Next scene, Wilson is doing surgery with other doctors on a cancer patient)

Doctor: Geez, 47 I hope my colon looks better than this guy's. Isolating the first transverse...

[One of the screens filming the procedure is suddenly taken over by an image of House]

House: Help! I'm trapped inside a monitor!

[Everyone stops and turns around - House is lying on the operating table in the next OR videoing himself and sending the image to the TV in this OR]

Wilson: Not a good time, House.

House: My patient lost her heartbeat during a routine cardiac catheterisation so--

Wilson: Human error.

House: It's not human error.

Wilson: Electrical instability?

House: Pre-procedure EKG was normal, no syncope.

Wilson: Ischemia?

House: Foreman said no ST segment changes.

Wilson: Human error is the only other possible--

House: It's not human error.

Wilson: [he finally turns around to face House on the monitor] Of course it's human error, you don't want Foreman to have made a mistake because then you'd have to mock him, and that would put a crimp in your brilliant plan of keeping him by having a breakdown and firing Chase.

House: Did you just spin on the monitor? You know I can't see you. [Wilson turns back to the surgery looking perplexed] Human error would not explain her symptoms.

Wilson: You mean her heart stopping?

House: I mean her foot pain, her back pain...

Wilson: House, I'm busy. You have a team, run your differential with them.

House: Foreman and Cameron are doing CPR.

Wilson: Then you shouldn't have fired Chase. Change is fun huh?


(Scene changes back to the room where Marina had her angiogram. There are plenty of hospital stuff surrounding her now, all taking turns to give Marina CPR to keep her alive)

Foreman: 5, 6, 7, 8.

Cameron: Go! [Another nurse takes over to pump Marina's chest] Someone's got to talk to the husband; he thought this whole thing was going to last 45 minutes.

Foreman: Half an hour more of this, nothing to talk about, won't be able to bring her back. We gotta get her on bypass.

Nurse: [walks in] House still isn't answering his phone.

Foreman: [points to another nurse] You, get in here. [he swaps positions with the nurse and then walks out]


(Outside, Esteban is talking to another nurse)

Esteban: Excuse me, my wife was supposed to be back an hour ago.

Nurse: Soon as we know anything we'll call you.

Esteban: Thank you.


(At the lobby, Cuddy walks to the reception and signs something, surrounded by a group of med students she seems to be instructing)

Cuddy: Human behaviour finals will also get into clinical presentations of mania and we'll touch on _____ PET scans.

House: [from the balcony above] Excuse me, professor.

Cuddy: House, when we're done with our rounds-

House: My patient has no heartbeat. Stopped when we inserted a catheter during a routine angiogram. Anyone tells me why her heart stopped gets an A in doctor Cuddy's class.

Cuddy: [turns to the class] Anyone?

Student1: Human error?

House: Yeah, I'm polling first year medical students because I hadn't considered human error.

Student2: Marfan syndrome?

House: Structural abnormalities would show up on the echo, you get a C.

Student3: Botox injections.

House: F.

Student3: If the injection was tainted with live botulism, it'd fit.

House: B+. Unfortunately, she missed her last botox appointment due to a boating accident, but send me your resume.

Foreman: [walks up to House on the balcony] House, time's up.

House: [looks at Foreman who is drenched in sweat] Good lord, you smell like muskox.

Foreman: Either our patient goes on bypass or I call time of death.

Cuddy: Your patient isn't already on bypass?

House: I was worried about a clot.

Cuddy: How long?

Foreman: 3 hours!

Cuddy: House. Bypass, now.


(Esteban is sitting pensively in front of the cascading waterfall walls)

[Suddenly a set of doors burst open. A gurney with Marina on it is racing down the corridor. There are nurses surrounding the gurney and Foreman is kneeling on top of Marina continuing to do CPR)

Nurse: Clear the hall!

Esteban: Doctor Foreman! My wife? What is happening?!

Foreman: Her heart stopped, we have to get her on bypass.

Cameron: You need to wait outside!

[They burst through another set of doors leaving Esteban behind]


(Next scene, House is in his office playing catch with his ball, Esteban walks in)

Esteban: Doctor House?

House: You can vacuum later.

Esteban: I am not the janitor; I am Esteban Hernandez, what happened to my wife?

House: Her heart stopped.

Esteban: Why did her heart stop?

House: If I knew that, I'd be coming to you.

Esteban: Tell me where you take her. Tell me what has happen to her.

House: Happening. Present participle. Not a particularly interesting form of speech, kind of like of this conversation.

Esteban: But... I risk my life to see you. I look you up, you fix people. When everyone else gives up, you don't and now you insult me? Ignore my wife?

House: [takes a vicodin] Helps my process.

Esteban: No, you do not ignore my wife, ok? She is everything to me.

House: Well then you do not ignore your wife.

Esteban: You just sit here... you don't talk to people. How do you fix something if you don't look at it?

[House gives that a thought then grabs his cane and walks out of the room]


(In the OR where Marina is in surgery)

Surgeon: Turn on the bypass please. Good, good distal flow.

[House bursts into the OR not even wearing the scrubs properly.

House: Need to look at the heart.

Surgeon: Why?

House: Can't find my wallet. Pick it up, turn it over.

Surgeon: I don't see anything physically wrong with her heart. [He picks it up and turns it around, examining it]

House: Hearts don't stop for no reason.

Surgeon: Ok, take your look. [House takes a closer look] Do you see anything wrong?

House: Give her a jump start.

[A nurse passes the surgeon the paddles]

Surgeon: Clear. [the jolt is delivered to her heart, but she is still flat lining] Clear. [another jolt] Clear. [another jolt]

House: And again,

Surgeon: Clear. [and another jolt] Clear. [another jolt] Clear. [another jolt, all of which have had no effect on the flat lining heart]

House: Again.

Surgeon: Yeah, 7th time is the charm. [he hands the paddles back to the nurse] Sorry, I'll keep her on bypass until the husband has a chance to say goodbye.

House: I'm not telling her husband anything until I can tell him why his wife--

Surgeon: Doesn't matter, the heart can't start. She's dead.


(Cut to Foreman in the conference room putting his stuff into boxes)

[Cameron enters with a present]

Cameron: I got you something.

[Foreman unwraps it to find a framed page of the Midwest Journal of Experimental Medicine where Foreman's article on Andie's "autopsy" (the girl from 2.02 Autopsy) and which Foreman and Cameron argued on both writing up (in 2.18 Sleeping Dogs Lie) has been highlighted to show his achievement]

Cameron: I'll miss you. I know you won't miss me but I just thought it'd be nice for you to have that.

Foreman: [gets up] I will miss you. [he hugs her]

House: [walks in] Can I have a hug too? Surgeon found nothing, can't start her heart. [looks at the present] What a thoughtful gift. Nice reminder of intellectual theft to hang at your new place of employment. You two can go, say hi to Chase for me. [He looks at Cameron] You're wearing lipstick.

Cameron: We can stay. We can run another differential.

House: You two have no theories about why the heart stopped. Which means I don't need you, go.

Foreman: It's too late for theories; we need to tell the husband.

House: Tell him what?

Foreman: That it's over.

House: Why?

Cameron: Because her heart won't start!

House: How can we tell him there's no hope if we don't know why there's no hope? He's not going to pull the plug on his wife, he risked his life to get her to me. If he pulls the plug it means he's failed.

Foreman: If he pulls the plug it means you failed.

House: And you're ok with that? Go.

[the ducklings leave]


(At a bar/restaurant, Chase is having dinner alone, Cameron walks in and sits next to him)

Cameron: Hey.

Chase: Hey. You look great.

Cameron: You know House firing you has nothing to do with you?

Chase: The why doesn't matter.

Cameron: Foreman will end up staying and House will call you and probably yell at you for not showing up.

Chase: Its... its okay. He's right; it's time for a change. You were right too, the whole it's Tuesday I like you... it was silly. Oh, don't give me that look, don't feel sorry for me. Getting this job was THE best thing that has ever happened to me, everything about it. And losing it? Well I... think it's... gonna be good too.

Cameron: I'll miss you.

Chase: Have you got time for a drink or something?

Cameron: I think I should go.

Chase: [shrugs] Yeah.


(That night - in Marina's room, the bypass machines keep going, cut to another room where Esteban is sitting alone holding a white flower in his hand, cut to the next room where House is staring at the whiteboard in his office)

Cuddy: [walks in] How's it going?

House: The way the security light hits your legs... looks good.

Cuddy: Thank you.

House: If you're here to yell at me about the Foreman-Chase situation, it can wait.

Cuddy: When do you plan on telling the husband it's time to say goodbye to his wife?

House: Haven't put a clock on it.

Cuddy: Other than your curiosity, do you have any reason to keep her on bypass?

House: Patient's husband prefers her not dead.

Cuddy: Well you're on a storybook ending for the young man who crossed the ocean for his wife.

House: This is not an act, I don't care if--

Cuddy: Then pull the plug.

House: What if I can fix it? Maybe I just don't know it yet.

Cuddy: I know you care--

House: I don't care. I really don't care. My motives are pure - if we do an autopsy, you'll see... oops... if I'd thought of that crazy idea, we could have saved her. And then the husband might be upset.

Cuddy: You've done all you can do. It's time to let go. [she walks out]


(Esteban is crying and praying by candlelight in the chapel)

[House walks in and joins him]

House: I was told you didn't believe in God.

Esteban: I don't. I promised my wife I do everything I can to fix her, if I don't pray, then I don't do everything.

House: It's not working, she's not coming back. If you want to say goodbye, come down to the ICU, then I'll take her off bypass. I'm sorry, I should've-- [Esteban turns to House and clings to him for comfort as he cries]


(Back in Marina's room later, Esteban is saying goodbye to his wife)

Esteban: Marina, I am so sorry. [he strokes her arm lovingly] When you turn the machine off, that's it?

House: [nods] Yeah.

Esteban: Right now is her brain working?

House: Probably. Just not her heart.

Esteban: She seems like she's just sleeping.

House: She's not sleeping, we double-checked.

[Esteban quietly nods and House slowly turns off the bypass machines button-by-button]

Esteban: [says something in Spanish and kisses Marina's forehead, then puts his head on her chest as he cries]

[Suddenly he gets up]

Esteban: Her heart... beat.

House: No, it's residual flow from the bypass.

Esteban: No, I can feel it, look.

[He takes House's hand and puts it on his wife's chest above her heart. House is startled and turns on the heart monitor which shows Marina's heart to be beating normally]

Esteban: That is her heart, no?

House: QRST wave, that's a normal normal.

[Marina wakes up]

Marina: [something in Spanish]

Esteban: Marina.

House: Holy crap.

Marina: Is this heaven?

House: No, it's New Jersey.

Esteban: God send you back to me. [he kisses her again] It's a miracle.

[House looks up at the ceiling with a look of "why, god?" on his face]


(Next scene, Esteban is helping Marina to drink by giving her an ice cube to suck, cut to House and Cameron in the conference room)

House: It's impossible.

Cameron: Apparently not.

House: Live hearts don't stop for no reason. Dead hearts don't start for no reason.

Cameron: Apparently they do.

Foreman: [walks in] She's 3 hours off bypass and still stable. And the pain is gone.

House: No it's not.

Cameron: You think she's lying about feeling better?

House: Just 'coz it's not there now doesn't mean it's gone.

Foreman: Just because it was there before doesn't mean it's coming back. Chase was probably right, she had some sort of tropical infection that cleared when we put her on antibiotics during the bypass.

House: Antibiotics did not bring her back to life.

Cameron: Other than a miracle, it's the only explanation for her symptoms.

House: How come God gets credit whenever something good happens? Where was he when her heart stopped? What if it wasn't human error? What if it was God's error? A congenital defect in an artery making it susceptible to inflammation. We need to do another angiogram.

Cameron: We've looked at her heart a hundred different ways, there was no evidence--

House: The one time we looked inside her heart we stopped before we could see anything.

Foreman: Because it stopped.


(House walks into Marina and Esteban's room)

House: Good news, we think we know what the problem is.

Esteban: You mean was.

House: Hey, it's my first language, not yours. If she wants to outlive Castro, we need to fix her heart.

Marina: [asks something in Spanish]

House: In case no one's filled you in, today is Monday, which means you've been dead for a day. That kind of symptom comes back it can get serious. I need to do another angiogram.

Esteban: Wait, wasn't that what caused her heart to stop before?

House: No, God caused that. He's all powerful you know.

Marina: [agrees in Spanish] He was watching over us in the ocean and he's watching over us now.

House: Your rescuers didn't have wings, they had a helicopter.

Marina: ______

House: You know how many little boys are praying for jet packs? How many priests are paying for... uhh, that one actually works.

Marina: You didn't bring me back to him

House: I'm not going to take you away from him but if we don't do this test, God will.

Esteban: You said there was no chance, no hope, which means--

House: Which means I was wrong. But I'm wrong all the time, my mistakes don't prove there's a God. You came a long way to see me, you going to put her life in God's hands or in mine?


(Back in that room, House is now performing the angiogram on Marina)

House: Ready?

[Marina raises her head, Esteban is watching the procedure from an upper deck window, they smile at each other]

House: [to Esteban] I better not see you praying! I don't want to have to fight for credit on this. Exiting the femoral, entering the aortic arch.

Foreman: This is where--

House: Where we stopped to have a picnic last week.

[alarms start beeping]

Cameron: Her blood pressure's rising.

House: Mine's rising too, 'course I am doing battle with a deity. [continues to concentrate on the procedure] In the heart, injecting the dye.

Cameron: Right coronary flow isn't obstructed, left coronary flow looks normal.

Foreman: Looks like you're wrong.

House: Either I'm right, or this test is about to go very bad.

[They continue to intensely watch the screen]

Cameron: What's that?

House: She has one... two... third ostium. How many is she supposed to have? [turns to Marina] Dos. [That's two in Spanish] All the third one's doing is causing inflammation, throwing off clots, giving away the angiogram. No human would screw up that big! [he directs that at Esteban] Don't worry, just one more surgery and you'll be fine.

Marina: Thank god.

House: [in jest at another reference to thanking god] Don't make me slap you. [Marina laughs, Esteban looks relieved]


(Monday night, Cameron is waiting outside Chase's door when he opens it)

Chase: Hi.

Cameron: Its Tuesday.

Chase: Uhh... no, it's Monday.

Cameron: I know, it's just... I didn't feel like waiting.

[they smile at each other and share a kiss]


(In the staff room at the hospital, House is preparing some sandwiches)

Wilson: [enters] I hear you got another satisfied customer.

House: One more and I get a set of steak knives.

[Foreman walks out from the lockers in a suit and carrying a couple of bags of his stuff, there's an awkward silence between the 3 men]

Foreman: [shrugs] Well, this is it. I appreciate the opportunity you gave me.

House: Didn't do it for you, not sure you were the best guy for the job.

Foreman: Thanks, I guess.

House: Which is why I want you to stay. You're an important part of the team, I need you.

[Wilson looks back and forth between House and Foreman]

Foreman: I know. But I don't need you, and I definitely don't want to be you. You're miserable.

House: I just solved a case by predicting a never before seen heart defect, a case you couldn't solve, a case you gave up on; I couldn't be happier.

Foreman: For 2 minutes maybe, until the next case comes along, until you're jonesing for your next fix. This woman talks while in full cardiac arrest and you're more excited about the talking than the heart dying.

House: The two were connected.

Foreman: I don't want to solve cases, I want to save lives.

House: Do you think she cares? Do you think the husband cares? Do you think the children she can now have because of me are going to care why I saved her?

Foreman: I care.

House: About yourself. About your own ego!

Wilson: [warningly] House.

House: You're the selfish bastard, not me. It's why you took so much pleasure in drawing out this little goodbye of yours for the last 3 weeks, wasn't for me, wasn't for anyone, sure as hell didn't help anyone.

[Foreman smiles a knowingly smug smile and then walks out without a word]

Wilson: Nice try.

House: Nice tries are worthless.


(House's office, Cameron is waiting in his chair when he walks in)

House: You now have a bigger office than I do, why don't you go enjoy it.

[Cameron hands him a folded letter]

House: Better be naked pictures.

Cameron: My resignation letter.

[House looks surprised at first but seems resigned as he puts the letter down]

Cameron: I've gotten all I can from this job.

House: What do you expect me to do? Break down and apologise? Beg Chase to come back?

Cameron: No, I expect you to do what you always do. I expect you to make a joke and go on. I expect you to be just fine. I'll miss you.

[she walks out]


(House smokes Cuban cigars with Esteban in the room adjoining Marina's - not sure how that happens since I'm pretty sure they must have smoke detectors)

House: Genuine American cigars, you guys can't get them in Cuba, one hundred percent healthy.

Esteban: [pours a drink and passes it to him] Shouldn't you go home?

House: Patient follow-up, very important.

[They clink glasses and drink while watching Marina]

House: She looks great, like she's sleeping.

Esteban: She is sleeping, I double-check. So, they all quit.

House: Two of them quit, I fired the third.

Esteban: It's very hard to lose your people. Must be very upset.

House: Yeah, I must be.

Esteban: But you're not.

House: I don't think I am. I think I'm okay.

Esteban: What are you going to do?

House: God only knows.


(Back at 221B Baker Street)

[House arrives home, discovers a huge box waiting for him, inspects it and smiles. He drags it into his apartment and takes out the contents - a brand new guitar. He takes down the 8th grade guitar off the wall as that is now to be the space taken up by his new guitar, a sign of the changes he's willing to make and accept. The episode ends with House playing his new guitar.]