House, M.D. s06e10 Episode Script

HOU-611 - The Down Low

So, I'm thinking 35.
Seems high to me.
Uh-huh.
That's a fair price for quality like this.
I'll give you 30.
What? I thought you were joking.
Who am I dealing with here, Eddie? Him or you? Mickey, relax.
Now, if things move forward with Gorski, he lets us into Philly, then maybe I cut you a break.
You cut me a break now or maybe you don't get with Gorski.
Marco, I thought we had an understanding.
Whoa, whoa.
Tommy, don't be stupid.
Put the gun down.
First, he shows you some respect.
All right, just listen to your boss, all right, moron? Shut up.
Just relax, buddy, all right? What the hell are you thinking? I didn't shoot him.
You sure? Look at him, he's face down in the pavement.
I nailed myself in the foot! I don't think he's hit.
Well, then, what happened? Let's get out of here.
Come on, Mickey, wake up.
Mickey! Wake up! We almost done here? Assuming you did this shaving your forehead.
Okay, then.
I'm ordering a head CT.
No, I don't have a headache, I'm not dizzy.
Eddie, I gotta get back.
You gotta stay here.
We'll straighten out that mess with Marco tomorrow.
Let the doc do his job.
Actually, stitching you up is really the ER doc's job.
Yeah.
Too long of a wait.
Yeah.
Also, a lot of cops in the ER.
Not that you'd care about that.
So, how did this happen? Yeah, you're right.
It's a stupid question 'cause the answer's kind of obvious.
No scrapes on your hands means you didn't try to break your fall, means you were either out cold or totally disoriented when you went down.
No sign of trauma, other than the cut, means no one hit you in the head.
And powder burn on your jacket sleeve means someone shot a gun.
All right, Eddie.
Come on, let's go.
I don't care what you guys are into.
If you don't get this checked out, it'll happen again.
What will? This.
Cool.
Thirty-two-year-old man recently developed loud-noise-induced vertigo.
CT was clean, no internal bleeding, no edema.
Everything else is in the file.
Cameron get your hair in the divorce? This guy strained his back three years ago and that's it.
All the rest of these pages are blank.
Yes, he won't tell us anything.
Understandable, since he's a drug dealer.
So he's dangerous and withholding, which you find irresistible.
But guys like that, they never call.
He actually said he was a drug dealer? Not out loud.
But he was wearing a solid-gold Patek Philippe, his friend had a Rolex, but their phones were prepaid burners, so they can toss them as soon as they're done.
It doesn't matter if this guy's a drug dealer or not.
Noise-induced vertigo means ear or brain.
Head CT was clean, so I'm thinking acoustic neuroma.
We need to do an ABR to test his hearing.
Acoustic neuroma fits, so does lidocaine toxicity or benzocaine, depends what he's cutting the coke with.
So now he's not just a drug dealer, he's a cocaine dealer.
He seemed peppy.
You test his ears, I'm gonna go test his cocaine.
You think this guy is just going to hand over a briefcase full of illegal drugs because you ask nicely? I hope not.
So, the best coffee's at Geena's and the best pizza is at Gino's.
Yeah, and don't mix those up, 'cause the coffee at Gino's could kill you.
And how's the dry cleaner on the corner? Go two blocks over to EcoClean, the one on the corner used to shred all my boyfriend's shirts.
Good to know.
In retrospect, I should really thank those cleaners.
We broke up.
This is my stop.
So if you have any more questions about the neighborhood, I'm your girl.
Uh, favorite sushi place? Maybe we could get dinner sometime.
Sure, if you promise to bring that good-looking guy with the cane.
You mean House? Your boyfriend's name is House? He's not my boyfriend.
Oh.
I'm sorry.
What do you call each other? Husband? Partner? Lover? We're not gay.
Seriously? You're going to hear a series of clicks and hisses.
The sensors measure electronic activity to your auditory nerve.
How long is this gonna take? An hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half.
Or you could walk away with a tumor in your ear.
Guy's probably late to a stabbing.
Impedances look good, starting at at 50 decibels.
Check this out.
Thirteen's middle name is Beauregard? Wave 3 latency is 3.
8.
Slightly delayed, but nothing significant.
That's what sticks out to you? House is clearly screwing with us.
It's a fake pay stub.
Looks real to me.
There's no way she makes that much money.
I make that much money.
And apparently, you don't.
I need the drugs.
We're in textiles.
I need the drugs! Hmm.
Works for Jack Bauer.
Is this really necessary? The chairs in the hall are way more comfortable.
But way less genre-appropriate.
Okay, here's the deal.
I need information.
You have reasons not to give me that information.
So either I can force it out of you or I can't.
I wish I could tell you.
Okay.
Well, let's work with that.
Forget the drugs, let's talk about textiles.
What's your major product? Is it H? And by that I mean hosiery.
We deal more with culottes.
Is that with a "C" or a "K"? "C.
" Nobody wants K any more.
Does your friend cut the fabric? No, he's a sales guy.
Well, he must cut a culotte here and there.
No one touches the culottes.
Sorry.
Can I talk to you for a second? I'm interrogating a suspect.
Make it quick.
Everyone in our building thinks we're gay.
We're grown men, over the age of 30, who moved in together.
We're two tigers away from an act in Vegas.
They'll figure out we're straight, eventually.
"Eventually" is not when I want to go out with the cute girl in 3B.
Any chance I could get some water over here? If only there was some way to communicate that information to her, perhaps using, I don't know, sounds.
If only the larynx was capable of She didn't believe me.
She sidestepped my dinner invite.
And a woman would only reject you because she's worried you might not be interested in her.
We were chatting, having fun, there was definitely a spark.
When she thought you were gay.
You sure your friend isn't secretly trying What is a culotte, anyway? They're pants that hang like a skirt.
Just Mickey hates the stuff.
He's one of the few guys I trust to watch the product overnight.
They took him away an hour ago.
You think he's okay? It's an ear test.
I'm pretty sure he'll live.
Pupils are constricted.
Pulse is bounding.
Airway's clear.
We need a crash cart in here.
It's gotta be his blood pressure.
We need to get it down before he strokes out.
At least we know his ears are okay.
We put the patient on vasodilators, got his hypertension under control.
He got worse here at the hospital, means thug life probably isn't what's making him sick.
Which means we can stop The Bloodhound Gang routine and go back to being doctors.
But we're doctors all the time.
It's so boring.
Fine.
Could be sick sinus syndrome.
No chest pain, shortness of breath.
Brain aneurysm secondary to polycystic kidney disease? Normal urinalysis, kidneys impalpable.
Is that a new watch? I thought I'd give myself a little treat.
What if it's not his brain, but it's on the way to his brain? Carotid stenosis.
Get an ultrasound of his carotids, see if his arteries are clogged.
How much money do you make? I want a raise.
And I will be happy to talk about that at your next review, in August.
I know that you're paying me less than everyone else on the team.
I can't discuss other people's salaries.
You know that.
Now that they know I'm making less than they are, they'll never respect me.
And who told them how much you make? It's not fair for me to make less than the people I supervise.
Salary isn't about fairness.
It's about what you can leverage in a negotiation, which isn't much without a competing offer on the table.
And we both know you don't have one.
Ultrasound showed no narrowing or obstruction in the patient's carotid.
Not that he's worried, keeps asking when he can leave.
A place in the business of healing people, you'd think they'd have better chicken soup.
You bugged his room? Our patient sleeps in the building where they keep their stash.
Eventually, he'll say something that gives away where that is.
Then we'll find out what's making him sick.
But we ruled out environmental causes.
You ruled out environmental causes.
And you pretended to agree just so we'd take him out of his room so you could plant the bug.
Carotid stenosis was a decent idea.
But an even decent-er idea is that he's got toxins stored in his fat cells.
Every calorie he burns makes him sicker.
If we're going with toxic exposure, we should just start testing for the most likely suspects.
Bug's a better idea than blindly running tests for days.
Tell him it'll take weeks.
It'll be faster.
What do you mean, weeks? These tests take time, there are a lot of possibilities.
I can't sit here this long.
I got things I gotta take care of.
If you're worried about all the poor schoolchildren going without their drugs, I'm sure someone I want to be discharged.
I'll get the forms.
This is ridiculous.
Beats sitting in a lab all day.
In the lab, there is significantly less chance of getting killed.
You're too close, slow down.
We're in a car in broad daylight, what's gonna happen? You honestly think he doesn't have a gun in that car? That he's gonna use to shoot doctors? Just back off.
Hey, well played with the watch, by the way.
Borrowed it from a friend.
How much longer are we gonna keep lying to him? Until it's no longer fun.
We all thought he needed to be taken down a few notches.
So, we're just having fun, not getting even? Oh, crap.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
He's gonna get away.
Shut up.
My roommate tells me you're the one to thank for all the tips about the neighborhood.
Greg.
Nice to meet you.
I hear you thought that Wilson and I liked to polish each other's swords.
And by swords, I mean pistols.
Of course he told you about that.
Don't worry.
Actually, I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more often.
We're both straight.
Oh, my God, that is beautiful.
We finally have the room to display it the way it deserves.
Would you help me get this upstairs? Absolutely.
Nice shoes, by the way.
Louboutins? Did you talk to Cuddy? Shot me down.
So, what are you going to do now? I'll wait for my review in August.
Oh.
What? Nothing.
That's what I would do.
But I'm a coward.
His friend brought him in Temp's 105, pulse is weak and thready.
He's not making any sense.
It's too much money, Eddie.
That wasn't the deal.
That wasn't the deal.
Is he gonna be okay? Eddie! We gave him anti-pyretics and soft steroids to reduce the fever and prevent organ damage.
He's no longer delirious.
Patient went out, came back worse than before.
Points us back to environmental, tied to wherever he went.
No, it doesn't.
Where's Foreman? He had a meeting with Cuddy.
What do you mean, no, it doesn't? We screwed up the tail, my car was impounded.
True, amusing, and irrelevant.
Foreman fall for the pay check thing? Yeah.
Mazel tov.
Should be fun to watch.
You're off environmental? Wherever he went, it wasn't for long enough.
Add in the fever and infection's way more likely.
And if it is an infection, his symptoms suggest it's moved to his brain, which means We'll do a lumbar puncture.
Next time you're tailing someone, take two cars.
You knew we were following you? I'm sorry, had to lose you.
I had business to take care of.
Right, because you're a businessman.
You know how many junkies come into the ER every week with their brains melting? I bet there's more drunks with their livers giving out, but a liquor store owner laying on this table, I'm guessing he doesn't get attitude.
I hit bone.
His old back injury must have flattened out his discs.
Sorry, but I've got to try this again.
Are you okay? Yeah.
An adult wants to get wasted, why is it anybody's business what substance they use? Because some of those substances are against the law.
So your problem isn't that it's immoral, your problem is that it's illegal.
I got the same problem.
I'm in.
Look at his heart rate.
It's normal.
I know.
I ran into Nora this morning.
She told me about your Evita listening party.
The London and New York recordings are so different.
You were supposed to tell her that we're straight.
She didn't believe me either.
You're doing this to mess with me.
Correction.
I started doing this to mess with you.
Now I'm honestly trying to hit that.
By pretending you're gay and in a relationship with me? We're in a relationship, but we're really unhappy.
Communication's never been easy for us, probably because we're so closeted.
I've got it all figured out.
Nora and I spend the next few weeks hanging out, become best girlfriends, I confide in her about our issues.
I can't decide if this plan is more despicable or illogical.
Then one night, we get drunk, backrub turns into a front rub, and the next morning, "I've never felt this way about a woman before.
" That's quite a commitment you've made to jumping the girl I'd like to date.
I'd like to date her.
In the sense that I'd like to jump her repeatedly.
I saw her first.
Seriously? You're invoking the Guy Code? We're guys.
It's a code.
You're only bringing this up 'cause you know you're going to lose.
It's not an infection, but it might be an autonomic nerve disorder.
The hair's still bumping me.
Did you get it cut because you're ready for the next chapter or We stuck a needle into his spinal bodies, twice, his heart rate stayed normal.
If we add that to his other symptoms That would be a mistake.
She's never gonna fall for it.
Well, then, you've got nothing to worry about, sweetie.
You're a wuss.
Say that when I'm better.
What, are you gonna beat me up? That sounds stressful.
Maybe you should pop one of your beta-blockers first.
You have a heart problem? Medically, no.
He would've told us about that.
Metaphorically It's an effect from operating outside of the law.
Sometimes, I have to do bad things, and not always to bad people.
Last few months, that hasn't been so easy.
A guy got me the pills, and they control the stress.
Look, don't say anything to Eddie, all right? Last thing I need is the guys thinking that I've gone soft.
When was your last pill before we originally admitted you? Um The night before.
Then we stuck you in here and you went into beta-blocker withdrawal.
That's what caused the hypertension.
When he got out of here, he took another pill, and the hypertension went away, which means it was never a symptom.
We take that off the table, we've got vertigo, fever And stress.
He's been in this game for a while, either he grew a conscience over the last few months, or he's producing excess adrenaline.
Pheochromocytoma.
What? That's Greek for "you'll be back doing bad things to good people in no time.
" MRI his adrenal glands.
You're okay with that, right? You're not gonna put a pillow over his face? Oh, great, the cable guy came.
Hello.
Hi, James.
We've got some Kung Pao left.
Oh, God.
Right there.
We're having a picnic.
With wine.
I'll pour you a glass.
He doesn't drink.
Oh.
More for us then.
Well, I think I might have a little Kung Pao.
How did it go with Cuddy? She told me I needed leverage, so I told her about an offer I had to help run the neuro department at Mercy.
Wow.
Are you really gonna take the job? There is no other job.
I bluffed, she called it.
I'm not gonna beg to be underpaid.
I'm leaving when this case is over.
House is lying to you.
I know.
And so are you.
It's 2010.
I mean, nobody cares if you're gay any more.
I mean, you don't have to be in the closet.
I'm not.
Look around you.
Does this really look like a place gay men live? Apart from the poster.
Those stools are our only furniture.
There are no window treatments.
My ex-boyfriend didn't even know what window treatments were.
Is that Greg's Carpenters album, or yours? Look, House hates musicals and fashion and meringue.
This whole thing is an act designed to earn your trust in order to sleep with you.
I get it.
Finally.
You're jealous.
If you want to spend more time with Greg, you should just tell him.
You were wrong.
MRI revealed no sign of a pheochromocytoma, which means Mickey's stress is just stress.
We're back to vertigo and fever.
And environmental is back at the top of our list of suspects.
We're trying to narrow down the possibilities.
That receiver doesn't respond to manual stimulation.
Maybe if you took off your shirt Actually, I've resorted to something more exotic.
I call it reading the instructions.
Turns out, if you screw the antennae into the wrong sockets, it doesn't actually work.
We lost Mickey just outside of Trenton.
It's supposed to search for an open frequency.
Most buildings there were built between We compiled a list of toxins most common There's got to be at least one open frequency.
I need a few minutes with your friend.
Or stay if you want.
Rectal exam.
I'll check out the cafeteria.
Why the beta-blockers? What do you mean? Valium or Xanax actually reduce stress.
Beta-blockers just control the symptoms of stress Whoa.
keep the heart from racing, hands from shaking, and all those stage fright issues.
That's why some people take them when they perform.
What the hell is that? This is my bug.
And this This This is yours.
You bugged your own room? Are you an informant? An informant would've sold his pals out to us at the first sign of a sniffle.
This guy is a cop.
I don't see how this is relevant.
In the land of No Fun, you got a really sensible piece of property.
Give him a break.
Knowing this guy's an undercover cop doesn't get us any closer to curing him.
Good point.
You know what they say, information is not power.
Wait.
You're saying we should use the cop thing to force him to talk.
Force? I'm talking about the womanly art of persuasion.
I said womanly.
If you won't talk to us, we'll find someone who will.
I mean, you must have a supervisor, a handler.
Good luck with that.
You don't know my real name.
You don't know if I'm local or state, FBI, DEA, but by all means, get on the phone.
I get it.
These guys are lowlifes, you want them off the street.
Look, they're not just lowlifes.
Eddie killed a snitch three weeks ago.
Boss's orders.
The boss, he's one of the biggest cocaine importers in the entire state.
And he wants to expand down to Philly.
Tomorrow night, he and Eddie are meeting the big fish, and the cops are gonna bust it.
But if you guys get caught poking around there, the whole thing gets called off.
That's noble, but you can't put your life at risk.
I've been undercover for 16 months.
I haven't seen my wife, my house, my dog.
I've put far too much into this, and I will not let it fail.
So, just Just keep me alive for another 24 hours and I will tell you everything you need to know.
Hey.
Can I come in? Nurses out here can't keep their hands off of me.
Casanova, huh? You bring me my sandwich? No, because, guess what, I don't read minds.
You okay? He had a GI infarction caused by a clot in his superior mesenteric artery.
We had to remove a foot of bowel.
Any more clots keep forming, he may not last 24 hours.
And the moron still won't talk.
Bad guy, cool, good guy, moron? Pretty much.
Guy's a hero.
He's risking his life to put these dealers in jail.
Well, I'm sure the dealers who take their places will be very grateful.
So, vertigo, fever, and thrombosis.
We already ruled out cancer and infection.
He got worse on steroids, which suggests it's not autoimmune.
So we're stuck with environmental.
But what kind of environmentals? Toxins? Parasites? Allergens? We should just pick the top 10 possibilities and treat for all of them.
Except that treating for everything could kill him faster than whatever's killing him.
Got a better idea? Sort of.
Chase is right, our patient's holding out for noble reasons, protecting his bust.
Anybody else in that crew got sick, I'm guessing they'd be a little more self-serving.
Thanks.
Surgery went well.
You'll be able to see him soon.
Used to be all about Ferberizing your kid, now they're saying it could mess them up.
Mine's six-and-a-half.
Mickey's getting worse.
The clot is a very bad sign.
We really need you to tell us where he's been.
I do that, a very good chance that I could end up John Doe at the county ME.
Look, Mickey got sick because he had the most exposure.
Other guys are at risk, too, you don't want to Are you okay? I feel dizzy.
Are you diabetic? No.
When was the last time you were at your office? Whoa.
Did you drug me? What? You're trying to make me think that I'm sick so I'll take you to the stash.
Of course not, but if you are sick I don't feel sick, I feel drugged.
Trust me, I know the difference.
You didn't even drink half of it, you'll be fine in an hour.
You think Mickey could die? It's just a deal.
I'll take you.
You couldn't have given us a heads up that he was living in a dry cleaner? It's like living in a vat of poison.
Is that it? Can we get out of here? I've got to cover all our bases.
Okay, fine, look.
Back there.
Hurry up.
What are these? More chemicals? Not exactly.
If this stuff was the problem, there would be a lot more sick people.
Did you call the cops? No.
No one's supposed to be here.
Come here.
I said no kissing.
Eddie, I didn't know you'd be here.
Look, the deal was just for you.
This guy wants to watch, it's an extra 50.
Yeah, private party, man.
I got it covered tonight.
Nice.
The jealousy is killing me.
Well, he clearly cares about you very much.
Why can't he show it in a normal way? I'm so tired of all the silence and the resentment.
I don't know if I can go back there tonight.
I need some time.
Come stay at my place.
Really? Mmm-hmm.
It'll be fun, like a sleepover.
That would be such a help.
Thank you.
House.
What are you doing here? I'm here because Nothing you can say is going to change anything.
I love this man.
And I am not wasting another moment of my life denying that.
Gregory House, will you marry me? Wow.
This is unexpected.
Say yes.
I'm going to go.
No, no, no.
You two obviously have some talking to do.
Excuse me.
How's it coming? So far, nothing.
Carpet, paint, insulation, even the gross food in the fridge, everything's coming up clean.
Which leaves the dry-cleaning chemicals.
Should have the results in a few minutes.
Foreman's already started him on inhaled albuterol.
Chances are this case is over.
We have to tell him.
We can't tell him.
It won't change the fact that Cuddy let him walk.
It'll just let him know it was all because of a stupid prank.
We have to tell Cuddy.
We confess and beg her to take him back.
If begging worked, he would have a raise and we wouldn't be screwed.
Albuterol's not helping, patient started coughing blood.
What about adding ipratropium? That might Don't bother.
We assumed this place was using perchloroethylene.
Turns out, petroleum solvents.
The drug dealers are running a green dry cleaner.
I hate to push past the irony, but our patient's bleeding into his lungs and we've got nothing.
The V/Q scan last night showed a pulmonary aneurysm.
Explains the coughing blood.
Did an embolization and stopped the bleeding, but then it started up again this morning.
Three more aneurysms.
These look like mycotic aneurysms, indicates a fungal infection.
That'd be consistent with his other symptoms, the vertigo, the fever I didn't see any fungus at the location, and none of the samples Looks like somebody missed something, which is embarrassing for somebody.
And the steroids we gave him would have suppressed his immune system.
If that was a fungus, he'd have 30 aneurysms.
Somebody's got a good point.
One bleed to four in less than 12 hours seems like an uptake to me.
We need to start him on antifungal meds before he drowns in his own blood.
Do it.
How long till it starts working? Give it a few hours.
I'll be back to check on you.
There you go.
Take it easy.
You shouldn't have taken her there, you imbecile.
They found nothing, and you could've got your brains blown out.
I had to do something.
I couldn't just sit and watch and You're my friend.
Thanks.
You'd do it for me.
Ah! I should get going.
Got the big man from Philly coming in tonight.
You want me to stay, I'll stay.
I mean, Jimmie knows everything that we know.
No.
For the six months we put in on this, you gotta be there.
I'll swing by tomorrow.
Hey, Eddie.
Yeah? I'm sorry.
You know, that I can't go with you.
It was all our fault.
We were screwing with Foreman, trying to make him think he made less than we did.
Obviously, things got out of control.
Someone does something stupid and insensitive, I always figure it was House.
Good to know it's catching.
Look, there is no other job.
He was just trying to get a raise.
Even if you gave him a little more money, I know he'd stay.
I'm not giving Foreman a raise because the three of you decided to amuse yourselves.
We know.
And that's why we want you to take it out of our pay checks.
You two okay with this? Is there any other option? We're okay with it.
Foreman is a good team leader.
He deserves it.
Okay, then.
That is what I will do.
And just so you know, I have no idea what you're talking about.
I haven't seen Foreman in three days.
The phrase "Who's your daddy?" comes to mind.
You wanna grab some coffee? Kind of a bad time.
Sorry.
You told me to drop by, so this is when I could make it.
Right.
Come in.
This whole thing with Wilson, it's all my fault.
We're not closeted because we're not gay.
For real.
Wilson thought you were cute, I was just yanking his chain.
Maybe that's not the best phrasing.
So you were only spending time with me to screw with him? God, no.
I was spending time with you because I want to touch your boobs.
Enough to listen to Evita, twice, and I really hate Evita.
That's how much I like your boobs.
Wait.
Wait, wait.
Wilson, he's a really good guy and he really likes you.
Well, it's really It's sweet of you to stick up for your friend like that.
And you're still trying to sleep with me.
Maybe I will call him, it would serve you right.
Wilson's a jerk, too.
At least he tried to do the right thing.
He's been divorced three times, he slept with a dying patient.
Sure, he looks like a Boy Scout, but that The aneurysms look mycotic, but they're not, they're inflammatory.
Because it's not a fungal infection.
The hypertension was a real symptom.
You've been unwittingly treating it with beta-blockers.
You stopped taking them and your blood pressure went up.
It's Hughes-Stovin.
Okay, so how do we treat this? We don't.
Hughes-Stovin is an autoimmune disease.
Once it's this advanced, there's not much we can do.
The aneurysms keep multiplying.
Eventually, one of them will rupture.
Are you sure? If you die in the next day or so, I will be.
Even if you had told us everything we wanted to know, it wouldn't have made a difference.
You did the right thing.
I think I should call my wife now.
I'm sorry about your patient.
He died a hero in his own mind.
I guess it's better than nothing.
Ran into Nora in the elevator.
She no longer thinks we're gay, now she thinks we're mendacious dirtbags.
Mendacious dirtbag comes much more naturally to me.
At least we can get rid of that.
I kind of like it.
Unlike this sofa.
It's 500 bucks.
And it reclines.
One singular sensation Every little step she takes I will punch you in the face.
I'll stop if you get rid of the sofa.
No chance.
One thrilling combination Every move that she makes One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
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