House, M.D. s05e06 Episode Script

HOU-506 - Joy

What time? Why so late? Make-up test in social studies.
Did you invite Shelby for Saturday? No.
Do you want me to call her? Yeah, that'd be great.
You calling a 12-year-old girl for a sleepover.
It'll be fine.
Make you a deal.
I'll call a friend when you call a friend.
It's your birthday.
Do what you want.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye.
What did you forget? Nothing.
Then why'd you come back? 'Cause I live here.
Come on, Samantha, you're gonna be late for school.
What are you talking about? It's 4:30.
Are you okay? I Tired, I guess.
What's wrong? I don't know.
Right.
That's all I need to know.
You're late! Okay, bye.
with recurring blackouts.
Tell him to switch from tequila to bourbon.
Worked for me.
The three doctors he's already seen already ruled out drugs and alcohol.
Then it's epilepsy.
Tell him to buy a hockey helmet and EEG's clean, so is the CT.
Relax.
Just because you got approved by an adoption agency doesn't mean you'll get approved by the birth mother.
You're a single mom.
That puts you somewhere below couples acquitted in day care scandals.
You're welcome, Dr.
House.
It is an interesting case.
What time are you seeing the mom? Are you having your guy follow me? I just trashed your social value as a mother and all I got was a little sarcasm.
It means you don't feel the need to defend yourself which means you're not worried about getting a kid which means you've already got one.
We're meeting at 11:00.
She's due to deliver a baby girl in two weeks.
Well, I'm sure the mom will be thrilled to hand her crack baby off to a doctor.
She's not a crack baby.
No, mother's perfectly healthy.
She just had to give up the baby in order to continue her work on the human genome.
She confessed to some past meth use.
What they don't confess to is almost always more interesting.
This is a mistake.
Because a kid you don't know may have some problems you don't know about that she may have passed on to a kid Because you're a control-seeking narcissist which is fine, good even, in some jobs but you're not equipped to handle a real kid, never mind a factory second.
Where are you meeting her? In a little place called, "Follow me "and your urologist will be buying himself a new yacht.
" They explained the returns policy, right? It's worse than video games.
I'm not changing my mind.
Could be post-concussion syndrome.
Not without a pre-concussion.
Pick a number.
For what? Cuddy pool.
She got the nod.
Little tweaker's due in fourteen days.
That's great news.
I think.
It's good news.
The great news is she insisted that she's not gonna change her mind which means she's actually thought about changing her mind which means she's not sure she's ready to be a mom which means she's not ready to be a mom which means she's gonna change her mind.
The only question is when.
$100 buy-in, less than seven means the next seven days.
But she's been dying for a kid for three years.
No way she's gonna back out now.
Not one of the options.
Mini strokes can cause blackouts and memory loss.
Nine hours is a lot of time to be out for a mini stroke.
And there'd be residual damage on the CT.
The guy works at home as a consumer product tester.
He could've been exposed to a toxin that caused short-term memory loss.
Wouldn't show up on imaging.
A cavernous sinus thrombosis could cause absence seizures and memory loss.
I'll take seven to fourteen.
We have a player.
You just said it was great news.
Now you want to bet against her? It's only great news if she wants it to be great news.
House knows her better than any of us.
I'd rather use a pseudonym.
Good thinking.
I say she's gonna meet the mom and bolt.
I'm going for the early fold.
Check his home for toxins, and his sinuses for thrombosises.
Maybe he OD'd on caffeine.
Apparently he didn't drink the coffee, just smelled it.
Wow.
Did they just move here? Six years ago.
This is no way to raise a kid.
He's a single dad.
I'm sure he's doing his best.
Which is why single people shouldn't have kids.
You got a problem with what Cuddy's doing? You think single mothers can't I think the traditional family is a fraud.
Even married moms are single moms.
Daddy just pays some bills and reads just enough bedtime stories to not kill himself out of guilt.
My dad was great.
After my mom died, he He might be the exception.
On the other hand, you are fairly screwed up.
No booze, no meds, no drugs.
And no view.
The building's half empty.
He'd rather a view of the turnpike than the park.
Park views are probably 50% more.
You're surprised the guy's a pragmatist after looking at this place? The guy's not a pragmatist, he's a flagellant.
Mmm.
Looks like mold.
Mom would have cleaned better.
Exposure to certain types of mold can cause short-term memory loss.
We're testing both of you.
I feel fine.
I'm sure you are.
We're just being cautious.
So, where do you guys go, other than home and school? Nowhere.
Dad works at home, and I go to school.
What about sports, friends, travel? Like I said, Dad works at home, and I go to school.
Must be hard not having your mom around, huh? I was only four when the accident happened.
Still, I'm sure you both miss her sometimes.
Not really.
You're strong.
No, I just don't get what the big deal about death is, you know? Yeah.
How is she? Physically, she's fine.
Mentally, she's weird.
I'm sure she's just freaked out about her dad.
Mr.
Harmon? Mr.
Harmon? Where are you going? I have an appointment.
I have to go.
We haven't finished with your treatment and we're still waiting on some test results.
I have an appointment.
I'm sorry, you're gonna have to reschedule.
I really have to go.
Mr.
Harmon, do you know where you are? Why are you trying to stop me? Look at his eyes.
Is he having a seizure? His pupils are responsive.
I think he's asleep.
He was just asleep.
It means no memory loss.
And sleepwalking doesn't kill, unless he walks out a window.
Sleepwalking's not a diagnosis, it's a symptom.
As long as we can't figure out why Stress-induced insomnia.
Lots of people sleepwalk.
Not in the middle of the day before they've even put their head on a pillow.
Could be some sort of narcolepsy.
Which is caused by There's usually a genetic history.
Or? If you know the answer, can you tell us the answer? I don't know the answer.
Which brings us back to "Or?" Some sort of environmental trigger.
Which means? It's a toxin.
So we are? Being led down an annoying path.
I honestly don't know where this is going.
Just following the clues.
We're right back where we started.
The mold we found doesn't cause these symptoms and there's nothing else at his home.
And? And you're obnoxious.
He never goes anywhere else.
Which we know because? Because he says so.
Because his daughter says so.
Because they have no reason to lie.
Which proves he never goes anywhere else when he's Conscious.
Oh, my God, you're right.
He said he had an appointment.
Next time, let him keep it.
Send him home, see where his dreams take him.
Becca? Dr.
Cuddy? Lisa.
Nice to meet you.
Oh! You want one? No, thanks.
I can't stop eating them.
I guess it's, like, a craving.
I must have, like, a dozen a day.
And this is decaf.
How have you been feeling? Uh You know, tired, fat, nervous.
Is there anything you want to ask me? Yeah, actually, I just have one question.
What are you going to call her? I'm not sure.
It's all been rather sudden, you know? I like Joy.
But as I said, I haven't really decided yet.
Well, is there anything you want to ask me? It's okay.
The agency website is filled with prospective parents.
There are their photos, their biographies.
There're so many wonderful people out there.
Wonderful couples.
Why did I choose a single mom? My grandmother was married for 37 years to a man that treated her like garbage and my mom would've stayed married to my loser dad that long but he dumped her.
You know, I never understood how you could fall for the same crap as your mother.
Then I met Tony.
When I read your bio, a doctor, a head of a hospital.
When I saw your picture I don't want her raised by a loser.
How long have you had that rash? I don't know, a few days.
Have you had any joint pain? Yeah, I'm pregnant.
All my joints hurt.
They shouldn't all hurt.
Have you been using? Not in seven months.
Not since I found out I was pregnant.
That needs to be checked out.
You sure you don't want children? You know, just because we're stuck here, and I'm lying down doesn't mean we need to get deep.
You're afraid you'll make the same mistake you made with your wife? Get caught taking some other kid to a ball game? I like my life as it is.
Alpha waves increasing.
Any change in demeanor? No, nothing.
He just got up.
Maybe it's a result of a blood pressure change.
Delta waves.
Out of nowhere.
He's now asleep.
Brain's supposed to turn off motor function.
If the brain was doing what it was supposed to be doing, we wouldn't be here.
He's leaving.
Come on.
She's 38 weeks.
You think it's Fifth disease? What's that? It's a viral infection.
It can infect the fetus.
Usually in the first and in women who have trouble with their immune system.
History of drug use could have compromised her immune system.
I told you I haven't used anything in seven months.
It does look more like a heat rash to me.
Yes, well, maybe we want to look at the actual blood tests.
Of course.
Does she work for you? Yeah.
Everybody here works for you? When this happens for real, are you okay to deliver here? Yeah, sure.
Good.
Blood work's normal.
Test it again.
Tested it twice.
I'll get you some topical cream for that rash.
I'm admitting her.
There's nothing wrong with her.
There are dozens of other things this rash could indicate.
I want a full fetal workup.
You're losing it.
That's what happens when you have kids.
Ceaseless crying and nagging leads to irrational fears.
It's impressive that you didn't wait for the actual crying and nagging.
She had a lace-patterned rash, joint pain and a history of drug abuse.
You would've done exactly the same thing.
And I'd be an excellent father.
Hey, what are you doing? Baby barf.
Maternity ward was handing out free samples.
Well played, sir.
You leave me no choice but to change.
My clothes, not my mind.
That's exactly my point.
It's not gonna be me and a cup.
It's gonna be eight times a day.
If you can't handle wearing that stain, you can't handle a baby.
Why do you even care? It's not like I'm ever gonna ask you to baby-sit.
I'm a humanitarian.
We should stop him.
The whole point was to Let him plow into some innocent bystander? His legs are working.
Obviously his eyes are working, too.
His reaction time could be slower.
He's stopping.
Yeah, I see.
He's having sleep sex.
Maybe.
Pull up to her.
I know.
What'd that guy want? Piss off.
Go after him.
She's not a hooker.
How do you know? Do you want me to describe the clues or do you want to stop him before he finishes off the drugs he just bought? Apparently, Rip's a coke fiend.
So, Sleeping Beauty has a jones for Snow White.
Coke explains the narcolepsy narcolepsy explains the sleepwalking.
But it doesn't explain the rip in the space-time continuum.
Coke leads to sleepwalking, which leads to coke which leads to sleepwalking.
What caused the first sleepwalking? The coke he took while he was wide awake.
He says he didn't.
Wouldn't be the first time somebody lied about drug use.
He has no reason to lie.
He knows he's sick, his job doesn't drug test no relationship, his daughter wouldn't find out.
Maybe he just forgot.
Forgot he did cocaine? You're going with forgot over lying? It fits.
Cocaine explains the narcolepsy, narcolepsy explains the sleepwalking.
Whatever's in the cocaine other than the cocaine explains the memory loss.
Dealers cut that stuff with all kinds of garbage.
Great.
We'll start him on immediate treatment for "all kinds of garbage.
" You can narrow it down in the lab.
Not without a sample.
So get a sample.
You want us to score cocaine from a drug dealer? It's exciting.
It's a felony.
It's necessary.
There she is.
Amniotic fluid looks good.
Good fetal movement, heart's beating nicely.
What? It looks like pulmonary hypoplasia.
What's that? The baby's lungs are underdeveloped.
She won't be able to breathe on her own.
She might die? I don't know.
If she was born today, she'd be in trouble but we're not going to let that happen.
We'll put you on magnesium to prevent labor and steroids to grow the lungs.
It's a good thing Dr.
Cuddy brought you in.
How do you know what a drug dealer looks like? I'm not doing drugs, if that's what you're asking.
I just noticed that she had cash in her hand.
Obviously came from him.
Obviously didn't have enough time to perform any other services.
I didn't notice her holding any Mmm.
There she is.
We're not cops.
Cops aren't allowed to say that, right? Yeah, they can say it.
Oh! But if you were a cop, you'd know that.
What do you want? I'd like to buy some cocaine, please.
Definitely not a cop.
Thank you.
Wait.
It's good.
Glad you like it, Pablo.
Now can we go? No.
You gave us the wrong stuff.
What are you talking about? You got my best.
I know.
I don't want the good, "get the new customer hooked" stuff.
I want the stepped-on, "keep the old customer coming back for more" stuff.
Are you crazy, bitch? No, I'm just a bitch who knows what she wants.
Looks like this kid thing is really working out for you.
All of the shopping, none of the stretch marks.
Not a good time.
Right.
Kid's getting worse.
Blessing in disguise, although completely predictable.
If you take in strays, don't be surprised by the worms.
I'm still wearing the sweater.
I didn't say you weren't stubborn, I said you weren't maternal.
Thank you.
Go away.
You're getting crankier.
Baby's sick.
Sorry I'm not finding the fun in that.
Is it really worth it? Just for the pursuit of unconditional love? Only you could see that as a bad thing.
It's a fake thing.
There's no unconditional love, it's just unconditional need.
Don't make this child a victim of your biological clock.
Victim? You think she's better off staying Yes.
'Cause at least she knows she's not qualified for the job.
Let me guess.
I'm gonna tell her not to play ball in the house but she's not gonna listen.
No.
Actually, I was going for she sneaks her boyfriend in while you're sleeping and he wants to do it on the desk and at first she says no, but she has issues with self-esteem You know you're gonna pay for that.
I'm paying for it right now with wisdom.
Get out.
We found lactose.
The coke was cut with milk powder.
Makes it nutritious.
Not much of a toxin.
It is if he's allergic to milk.
He's not.
There's milk in his fridge.
How does he like his coffee? I don't know.
What does that What type of cereal's in the cabinet? Cocoa something.
Why? What does it matter? He likes his coffee black.
Milk's for the kid.
How can you be sure? Because if he drank the milk, he'd know that he's lactose intolerant.
Ask him, then treat him for allergic reaction.
If he gets better, we all get to go home early.
Steroids make you more prone to infection.
You'll have to stay here for the next two weeks, so we can monitor you.
The baby's lungs, is that because of the meth? Could be.
You must hate me.
If you had done everything right in your life, I wouldn't be getting a baby.
You're not scared? I am scared.
You got, like, this perfect life.
Not yet.
What's that? Heart rate's climbing.
What's wrong with her? It's not the baby, it's you.
I need two units of O-negative, stat! The mother had a Stage Two placental abruption, she's losing blood.
So, deliver the baby.
Lungs are So, deliver now, risk the baby.
Deliver later, risk the mom.
It's not your baby yet, it's not your call.
She'll do whatever I tell her to do.
Self-worth issues That's genetic, you know.
You should deliver now.
Right.
Are you serious? You're not? You just told me The wrong answer.
You can give the mom more blood.
You can't give the fetus more lungs.
The lungs might work.
It's the right decision, medically.
And yet, you're here.
To get your opinion, not to get jerked around.
See, this is what's screwed up here.
You're not sure that this is the right call but you are sure that this is what you want to tell her.
And that scares you because your motives aren't medical.
Some part of you doesn't want this baby and that part wants to tell her to kill it.
This is an impossible situation.
I'm advising her to take the safest route.
Right.
Doesn't explain why you changed your sweater.
I need your advice.
It's not cancer.
Wow! Can you remove spleens with your mind, too? You're here to talk about Cuddy.
The file is a pretext.
Why the hell haven't you come to talk to me about Cuddy? I've been doing all sorts of insane stuff.
If she can't handle your insanity, she can't handle a baby.
That's exactly my point.
No, it isn't.
You're feeling threatened because she's going on to high school and leaving you behind to repeat the 8th grade.
She's sleeping with her math teacher to get her diploma.
Adoption is cheating? Are they giving her a fake kid? That's the problem.
She gets to have a relationship with a kid but she can't handle one with an adult.
So she's gonna kill it.
That does seem cleaner.
I've seen the file.
She's making a judgment call.
Decisions are never made in a vacuum.
Just like your decision to make her miserable.
You're doing this because we no longer have inkwells and Cuddy doesn't have pigtails.
Why do you think I did that? How you doing? Not sure.
Been keeping an eye on the clock, like you said.
I don't think I lost any time.
The machinery agrees with you.
That means your problems were caused by the coke.
Can't believe I did coke.
You were asleep.
I chose to do coke.
In your sleep.
You weren't responsible.
Something inside me wanted to do it.
Something inside of me didn't think it was wrong.
It's like a dream.
We all do stuff in our dreams we wouldn't do when we're awake.
I don't.
What's that? Did I fall asleep and hurt myself? I don't see any cuts.
'Cause there aren't any.
I think you're sweating blood.
The guy is bleeding out of his pores.
What does that tell us? Other than you don't want to play basketball against him, and he's dying.
That neither cocaine or allergies are the answer.
It's gotta be systemic.
Hemorrhagic virus maybe? You think it's Ebola? His white blood cell count would be through the roof.
It's not an infection.
DIC? Coags are normal.
It's cancer.
Leukemia explains everything.
- No fever.
- The bleeding.
- No weight loss.
- The rash.
No headaches.
The fatigue.
Leukemia would be obvious from the CBC.
Leukemia has false negatives all the time.
So, we have four reasons for leukemia, four reasons against.
You only need one against.
Yeah, if we had one reason for anything else.
Go do a bone marrow biopsy.
What would you do? I think I think you should wait.
But if I wait, I could die.
There would be more danger for you, but Is this your opinion as a doctor as a mother? It's my medical opinion.
It's my personal opinion.
I don't I don't wanna wait.
It might only be one week.
We will keep you on plasma.
This is not my baby.
I already sacrificed nine months for this stupid mistake.
I don't wanna sacrifice any more.
Becca, you asked my opinion because you wanted to do the right thing.
You are giving up this baby because you don't want to make the mistakes your mom made, her mom made.
You have a chance to break this cycle, to do something great for this baby.
No.
I need you to hold still.
Wait.
You been testing any tanning creams or sprays? No.
It's not a tan.
Means it's not leukemia.
Chem panel confirms kidney failure, end stage.
Got him on dialysis? BP's too low.
Too bad.
Would have been nice to have more than an hour to solve this thing.
Haemachromatosis? He have tiny testes? No.
Scleroderma.
His skin's darker, not lighter.
As much fun as 20 Questions tends to be he's blowing blood out of every orifice.
You think it just might be vascular? Vasculitis? If I said it might be vitas gerular, would you have said Vitas Gerulaitis? Test him for vasculitis.
Angio and blood.
Even if we're right, he's going to need a kidney transplant.
Test the daughter.
She's 12.
Small kidney? It just means he won't pee as much.
Great for road trips.
I meant she's a minor and Daddy has a conflict, so we're gonna need Cuddy's sign-off.
So get it.
She's kind of busy.
Clamp.
Suction.
Entering the abdominal cavity.
There's the head.
Got a minute? Get out of here.
Who's that? - Dr.
Gregory House.
He's the one you'll be suing when you develop sepsis.
Well, why is he here? Better question is, why is she here? You're an administrator, administrate.
My patient's daughter needs a guardian ad litem.
- That's it.
- Tests are inconclusive but either way, he's gonna need House, get out! This doesn't need you, I do.
Head's out.
Later.
Later's too late.
And there she is.
Come on, cry.
There we go.
Come on.
Come on.
Joy, cry! Cry, Joy.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
That's a sound we like to hear.
Apgar's 9 out of 10.
You hear that? You just got your first A.
She's yours now.
Mazel tov.
Now it's time to say those magic words you will be telling her for the rest of her life "Mommy's gotta go to work.
" Have the risks of the transplant procedure been explained to you? Damn it! I was hoping you weren't going to ask her that.
Of course she knows.
Can you just sign the paperwork? Dr.
House explained to you that all surgeries carry risks? You could die.
And if you don't do it, Daddy will die.
Stop pressuring her.
Sorry.
Daddy's perfectly healthy.
But we want you to give him the kidney anyway 'cause it'd be cool if he had three.
Shut up.
Do you understand the risks of living with one kidney? Yeah.
And you still want to proceed with the transplant? Yeah.
Okay.
Go ahead.
No.
I'm saying you can proceed.
And I'm saying I can't.
Whatever he has, she has, too.
She's sleepwalking.
If we don't give him a new kidney, he's dead in a week.
We have to transplant.
When your remote has a dead battery you don't replace it with another dead battery.
Whatever's killing the dad's kidneys is going to kill the kid's, too.
It is possible the sleep issues aren't medically related.
Maybe they're both insomniacs due to the turnpike noise maybe they both drink too much coffee, maybe House is right.
How do you know? Because the daughter is sweating blood.
But if they have the same thing, it means there has to be a common cause which means it has to be a toxin, infection or genetic.
And since we've ruled out infections and toxins It narrows it down to any one of a dozen genetic disorders each of which takes more than a week to run.
Call Foreman, get to work.
Cuddy is positively aglow.
What's your theory, she's only acting happy to make you miserable? I need a genetic disease.
I'm sure you're carrying a few.
Symptoms are kidney failure, bleeding and insomnia.
You paid off the pool? Technically, anyone who didn't enter is a winner.
It's not over yet.
Everyone's happy until they unwrap that pretty present and find they got a wall clock in the shape of Africa.
Adoption's a cheat, remember? There's no real pregnancy, so there's no stranded dopamine receptors so there's no post-partum depression.
Cuddy will be the happiest new mother you've ever seen.
I've just given you the answer, haven't I? And now you're going to walk out of here without saying a word.
Nope.
Good news.
I know what you have and you're both gonna be fine.
What? Are you serious? Yes, and no.
So you do know what they have? Yeah.
But they aren't going to be fine.
No idea.
They might be.
Why the hell would you say they were? To make them happy.
For two seconds? Technically, to see if they can be happy.
I should have seen a grin, a twinkle, a sigh of relief, something.
They're sick, they're tired.
They're anhedonic.
Incapable of experiencing pleasure.
Something's bushwhacked their dopamine receptors.
They're depressed.
Mom's dead, Dad's dying.
You should know that being bummed isn't necessarily a pathology.
Being bummed doesn't explain their lack of friends or their indifference to each other.
Why their place had no music, no view, no decor.
But if you can't feel pleasure, what's with the cocaine? Really? Is that why you do drugs? 'Cause you're happy? Most people do them 'cause they wanna be happy.
His subconscious craved it, needed it.
The most common cause of anhedonia is schizophrenia.
Sure, in white folk.
They're black? They're liars.
What's your name? Jerry Harmon.
Your real name.
Hosarian? Herzog? H'Ali-Baba? Hammoud.
Jamal Hammoud.
Changed it when we invaded Iraq, the first time.
How did you know? You and your daughter have Familial Mediterranean Fever.
It's a genetic disease contracted by people of Mediterranean descent.
Sephardic Jews, Armenians, Arabs.
Causes anhedonia, seizures, kidney failure, even lactose intolerance.
Symptoms are set off by age and stress.
Kid couldn't get happy, but she could get stressed by Daddy dying.
You don't know if we'll get better? Treatment tends to be hit and miss, once you reach the sweating blood stage.
Start them on colchicine and melphalan.
His kidneys are fried.
If he doesn't have FMF, the colchicine will kill him.
Boy, I sure hope I'm right.
Mr.
Harmon? Mr.
Harmon, I need you to open your eyes.
Feeling better? How's Samantha? Healthy enough to toss you a kidney.
Dad? Sammy.
Baby's doing great.
I I can't imagine how hard this must be for you.
I was stupid and selfish.
You were scared.
Yeah.
But you wouldn't have been.
That's not true.
Well, I mean, you would have been scared but you would have done the right thing anyway.
And I wanna be like that.
I don't wanna be a loser.
You're not a loser.
When I saw you hold her, and the look on your face it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
And that's when I realized I can't Becca.
My life, it's always been about pain and anger and disappointment never about love.
And that's when I realized, you know, it could be.
And I can't give that away.
Becca, don't do this.
What you're feeling is natural but you're filled with hormones and emotion and fear.
And you just can't make a huge decision like this right now you have to give it some time.
I'm so sorry.
It's a decision that changes everything.
Changes the rest of your life.
I hope so.
It's really not the greatest time for gloating.
There's more than one baby in the sea.
The world is full of teenage boys riding bareback.
No.
I'm done.
I can't go through that again.
You're quitting? Just like you quit IVF? Yeah.
Just like that.
There, you just did it again.
It's too bad.
You would have made a great mother.
You son of a bitch.
When I was getting a baby, you told me I'd suck as a mother.
Now that I've lost it, you tell me I'd be great as a mother.
Why do you need to negate everything? I don't know.
Good night.
Good night.

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