Hailie tried not to let the fact, she was the first of the interns to actually be assigned to a patient, go to her head. She knew if she screwed this up, it would be bye-bye dream job, hello clinic hours, but she did allow herself a small smile as she left House’s office. It wasn’t long before she discovered the nurses’ station and found out which room Kyle Madison had been set up in. A nurse also handed over a file on the patient that had been forwarded from his doctors in California. She gave her thanks and started in the direction of Kyle’s room, flicking through the file in her hands as she went.

It was certainly an interesting case; cancer cells that didn’t behave like cancer in a boy who seemed perfectly healthy, other than severe fatigue and a lack of energy. Along with the notes of the baffled doctors in California was a complete medical history and a copy of the form Kyle’s father had been asked to fill out at the door. With theories already running rampant through her mind, Hailie closed the file and looked up to find herself outside Kyle’s room. She snapped into doctor-mode and stepped into the room, pulling the sliding door shut behind her.

‘Hello Kyle, Mr Madison,’ she said, offering the boy in the bed a reassuring smile and his father a polite nod. ‘I’m Doctor Alexander. I work for Doctor House and I’ll be in charge of your care under him.’

She pulled his chart from the hook at the end of his bed and gave it the once over. His O2 levels were down and his white blood cell count was slightly elevated, but both numbers fell within the acceptable range for his age. Other than that, his chart told her that he was the perfect picture of health. His BP was normal, his heart rate was fine and his respiration rate was excellent, despite what the oxygen levels indicated. She snapped the chart folder shut and looked back at her patient and his father.

‘I know you must get tired of answering this, but is there any history of cancer in the family that you know of?’ she asked, directing the question at Mr Madison. Of course, she already had his answer in the file in her hand, but she had always been one to want to hear it from the horse’s mouth. ‘Anything at all?’

__________________