[Scene opens in a factory. A factory worker (Doug) alternates between loading large sheets of metal onto a conveyer belt and making sure they are being fed correctly into a stamping/shaping machine. Another factory worker (Maria) is trying to talk to him as he works. It is noisy, they are speaking very loudly. They are wearing hardhats]

Maria: We're starting a fund.

Doug: Then you don't need me.

Maria: The man's injured. He can't work.

Doug: His fault.

Maria: We're family. We depend on each other.

Doug: We're not family. We're co-workers. He's not even that anymore.

Maria: I can't believe you just said that.

[A young woman (Sophia) approaches. She is appears to be in charge]

Sophia: Can't come between a man and his beer money. See the big, heavy machinery?

Maria: I'm sorry, but he should give. You gave.

Sophia: (to Maria) Go back to work. (Maria leaves, ostensively to go back to work)

Sophia: Paolo is the one who got you off the night shift.

Doug: It's not like I asked him.

[He moves away from Sophia to the other side of the stamping machine]

Sophia: Also covered for you Labor Day weekend. But hey, it's America. If you don't want to contribu — (She seems to be in pain) If you don't want to cont —

[The camera cuts to a microscopic view of Sophia’s heart. Sophia clutches her heart and collapses onto the conveyer belt. She is writhing in pain as the conveyer belt moves her closer to the stamping machine. Her hard hat falls off and is crushed by the machine]

Doug: (looking up and seeing Sophia lying on the moving conveyer belt) Oh, gosh!

[He immediately shuts down the conveyer belt]

Doug: (yelling) Get an ambulance.

[Sophia is thrashing around and has pink foam coming out of her mouth]

OPENING CREDITS

[Scene opens at PPTH. House (wearing his coat and carrying his backpack) is just getting off the elevator as Wilson is getting on]

Wilson: Good morning.

House: Don't wanna hear it.

[House steps into the hallway and Wilson prevents the door from closing so he can talk to House]

Wilson: So I take it you did not ask Cuddy out.

House: Yeah. (He stops and pulls his Vicodin bottle from his pocket)

Wilson: Yeah "I didn't" or yeah "I did"?

House: Whichever one means you almost had me convinced it was a good idea.

Wilson: Oh. (He lets go of the elevator door, which starts to close. House prevents it from closing with his cane]

House: Nothing to say?

Wilson: No.

House: No, you don't. Or no, you don't don't?

Wilson: Whichever one means no.

[The elevator door starts to close again, and again House stops it with his cane]

House: Is this some kind of reverse — ?

Wilson: No. (A buzzer starts going off in the elevator)

Wilson: House? (House reluctantly lets the elevator door close)

[House, looking puzzled, pops the Vicodin]

[Cut to House entering the conference room, his team is already present]

Kutner: 16-year-old girl with fluid in her lungs. No previous trauma, lung, or cardiac issues. Gram stain was negative. No bacteria, no pneumonia.

[House tosses his backpack into his office and turns back to the team]

Taub: She's a factory worker. Means she probably works close to a lot of recent immigrants.

[House drops his cane noisily onto the table in front of Thirteen, who looks preoccupied, and takes off his coat. Thirteen moves the cane out of her way]

House: Thank God some of those offshore sweat shop jobs are coming back to America. (He hangs his coat on the coatrack)

Kutner: She's an emancipated minor.

House: In a factory? Either an Olympic gymnast who busted her leg, a child star who blew all her sequel money on drugs, or she's just a lying runaway.

[Thirteen finally looks up and House picks his cane up off the table and goes to the kitchen area to get some coffee]

Kutner: Her parents died last year. No relatives. To avoid foster care, she got a GED and got emancipated.

Taub: Could have picked up a parasite from a co-worker.

Foreman: She'd be having GI problems. Pregnancy's more likely. Sparks a fluid overload, hits the lungs, causes the pulmonary edema.

Kutner: Her history says she's not sexually active.

Foreman: And our history says she could be lying.

Kutner: But not every teenager is having sex.

Foreman: But every teenager is stupid. Teenagers on their own are stupider.

Kutner: The girl's holding down a job, makes her rent.

House: (preparing his coffee) On the one hand, Kutner’s right. Maybe she's a sweet young thing, not a screw-up lying through her teeth. On the two hand, a pregnancy test only takes five minutes, and we no longer k*ll rabbits. So in conclusion, shut up, do the tests. What else?

Thirteen: Drugs could damage the heart. Pressure imbalance allows fluid to build up in the lungs.

Kutner: Tox screen's clean.

Thirteen: For drugs used recently. Not for drugs used before recently.

Kutner: 16 doesn't automatically mean a risky lifestyle.

House: Didn't we just have this conversation? Kutner trusts her. Someone else doesn't. So, in conclusion, shut up. Check her home and work for toxins or drugs. Kutner and Foreman, do an echo. Find the extent of the heart damage.

[House takes his coffee and goes into his office. Taub, Kutner, and Thirteen leave]

[The scene shifts to House rummaging in his backpack. Foreman walks into the office]

Foreman: Kutner can do the echo on his own.

House: Yes… But he'll be very lonely. So I have to ask why?

[He has pulled a book out of his pack. He now lays it on his desk]

Foreman: I've been asked to help run a clinical trial. That okay with you?

House: Good for your career. Great for your street cred. What's in it for me?

Foreman: You have four doctors and never more than one case. It means I have time to work on other things. And they'll have more chances to step up. Stand on their own.

House: And if there's an emergency with Annie, should she wait until you finish grooming lab rats?

Foreman: If there's a problem with Sophia or any other patient, you know I'll be there. The patient is my priority.

House: (definitively and dismissisvely) No. (Foreman does not move) Oh, do you want a reason? Clinical trials take time. Your time is my time. (Foreman walks out)

[Cut to a monitor view of a beating heart. Kutner is using ultrasound to look at Sophia’s heart]

Sophia: I told you, I don't do drugs.

Kutner: Still a good idea to check your heart. Something else could have damaged it. You find it hard being all on your own? Having to do everything without —

Sophia: Drugs to ease my pain?

Kutner: That's not —

Sophia: Teenager on her own? I wouldn't trust me either.

Kutner: I meant it must be hard. No one there to back you up.

Sophia: I know you're trying to be nice, but I'm not into the whole pity thing.

[Kutner removes the probe and gives Sophia a tissue to clean the gel off her chest]

Kutner: I was actually doing the "I get it" thing. I lost my parents when I was six. It doesn't go away. But it gets easier. You learn to deal.

Sophia: (Wiping off the gel) I still get nervous when there's a knock on the door. Always think it's the State Trooper… With more bad news.

Kutner: You already got the worst news and survived. That's sorta the upside. (He looks at the frozen image on the monitor) Your heart's healthy.

Sophia: Isn't that good news?

Kutner: For your heart, yeah, but it also means we still don't know what's wrong.

[Cut to Thirteen and Taub searching Sophia’s apartment]

Taub: Checkbook balanced, place spotless. Looks like she builds her own furniture. If you're this grown up at 16, what happens at 30?

Thirteen is searching the kitchen. Taub is in the living room]

Thirteen: You turn back into a kid. Like Kutner.

Taub: Kutner's not that bad.

Thirteen: He needs everything to be nice. He wants to see the best in everyone. Kitchen's clear.

[Thirteen moves into the bedroom]

Taub: Yeah, friendly is a dangerous thing.

Thirteen: There is such a thing as too trusting.

Taub: Corollary is there is such a thing as not trusting enough. Too much, you get hurt. Not enough, you don't live.

Thirteen: So the object in life is to get hurt just the right amount? Excuse me if I don't go out of my way to take relationship advice from you. And trust… (She holds up a water bong) Should be earned.

[Cut to a great camera sh*t of the bong and House’s cane sitting on the glass table in the conference room. A hand can be seen trying to grab the reflection of the bong from under the table. The hand, of course, turns out to be House’s]

Kutner: Bong means nothing. Drugs are irrelevant.

Thirteen: Relevant if she's taking them.

[The camera has panned up and out to reveal the team sitting around the conference table]

Kutner: Even if she is: Irrelevant. Echo showed no heart damage.

House: Would that be the echo that Foreman chose not to run with you after I dashed his new drug discovery dreams?

[House has now picked up the stem/bowl assembly of the bong. He looks through it like a monocle]

Foreman: You mad at me because you think Kutner screwed up the echo?

Kutner: I didn't screw up the echo.

House: I know. No structural heart damage.

Taub: So if it's not the heart…

House: It's the heart.

Taub: Didn't you just say it's not?

House: Not all heart damage has to be structural. Drugs could have caused intermittent tachycardia. (He gets up)

Thirteen: Irregular heart b*at would account for the pulmonary edema.

Kutner: The edema was acute. Vasculitis makes more sense.

Taub: There's no sign in her blood work. And if she had vasculitis, she'd be too weak to work in a factory.

Kutner: She builds her own furniture. You think she skips work because she's feeling a little weak? She needs steroids.

House: Steroids could cause an irregular heartbeat, making her current one irregular-er-er. Foreman. Start her on beta-blockers. (Foreman looks angry) The rest of you, do anything that isn't starting her on beta-blockers.

[House looks at Foreman as if daring him to challenge his authority then turns toward his office]

Foreman: (getting up) Start her on the treatment. Page me if you need me. (He leaves)

[Cut to Sophia’s hospital room where Kutner is hanging an IV bag]

Kutner: Irregular heartbeat causes blood to back up behind the heart and into the lungs. The beta-blockers keep this from happening.

Sophia: I thought the test showed my heart was fine.

Kutner: It's tricky. An arrhythmia can come and go.

Sophia: So you don't believe me or the test. You guys are more cynical than I am.

Kutner: We found the bong in your apartment.

Sophia: You went into my apartment?

Kutner: Extended drug use can damage —

Sophia: The bong belongs to my ex. It's why he's ex.

Kutner: That doesn't mean you didn't use it.

Sophia: No. You have no reason to trust me. You have to do your treatment.

Kutner: The other possibility is you have vasculitis. The treatment for that is steroids. If you've been using drugs, if they've damaged your heart and I start you on steroids, they could k*ll you.

Sophia: I haven't used drugs.

Kutner: (sighing, wanting to believe her) I'll get the steroids. (He takes down the IV bag)

[Cut to Foreman in the clinic. He throws a red patient file on top of the completed stack on the counter, and is about to take a new file when Cuddy stops him]

Cuddy: Why are you here?

Foreman: I owe clinic hours.

Cuddy: No you don't.

Foreman: I'm here because House doesn't want me to be here.

Cuddy: I'm guessing he said no to the clinical trials.

Foreman: He didn't need to say no. He just wanted to say no.

Cuddy: House did something solely out of self-interest? That's freaky.

Foreman: Don't suppose you'd want to override?

Cuddy: No. What do you think this is gonna prove?

Foreman: Does it matter? (He picks up a new red clinic file) Just figured you could use some help down here.

Cuddy: And you spending two hours wiping noses will annoy House. If that is your dream, God bless. If you want to prove you can do his job and something more… (She hands him a blue file and leaves)

[Cut to Foreman examining a young boy (Jonah, 4 years old). His brother (Evan, about 7) is standing beside the bed]

Evan: His puke is red. That's blood, right?

Foreman: (to Jonah while pressing on the left side of his abdomen) That hurt? What about that? (pressing on the other side)

Melinda: (The boys’ mother) Four days he's been like this. It's just getting worse.

Evan: Maybe he just needs to poop.

Melinda: Evan!

Evan: What? Worked last time I had a stomachache.

Foreman: It's actually a smart idea. Which is why that's the first thing the other doctors checked. (to Evan) His insides are clear. (to Melinda) Anyone else sick at daycare?

Melinda: No.

Foreman: How 'bout his friends?

Melinda: No. No one. What's happening to him?

Foreman: Not sure yet. Don't worry. I've got an idea. (Foreman gets up to leave)

Evan: You can make him better, right?

Foreman: That's my plan.

Evan: You need to make him better.

[Foreman leaves and Evan scratches his brother’s forehead with affection]

[Cut to Sophia’s hospital room. She is out of bed, agitated, and defending herself from a nurse with the bedside table. Taub and Kutner run in. Taub heads for the drug cabinet and prepares a syringe]

Sophia: Stay the hell away from me!

Kutner: Just calm down. (to the nurse) What happened?

Nurse: I adjusted her IV, and she went crazy.

Sophia: Don't touch me! Leave me alone!

Kutner: Sophia, it's okay. We're here to help you.

Sophia: Just stay away from me! Don't touch me!

[Kutner grabs the table and pulls it and Sophia toward himself. He grabs Sophia and throws her onto the bed where Taub injects her with what is probably a sedative]

Sophia: I said, don't — Get your hands off of me! Get your hands —

Taub: Beta-blockers don't cause psychotic breaks.

Kutner: She's not on beta-blockers.

[Taub glares questioningly at Kutner who glares back]

[Cut to a short sh*t of Sophia sedated and strapped to the bed and then to a closeup of House’s hands popping open a Vicodin bottle. The team is in the conference room running a new differential]

Kutner: We started her on haloperidol. She's s*ab. Lab tests showed the delirium wasn't caused by a metabolic problem. Means we still don't know what caused it.

House: (popping the Vicodin) Yeah, we do. Nice job, Foreman.

Foreman: I didn't switch her meds.

House: But your decision to stick it to the man clearly inspired Oliver Twist. (He picks up a water bottle from the table and takes a drink)

Kutner: I treated her based on the symptoms she presented.

House: You treated her based on empathetic orphan syndrome, and almost k*lled her in the process.

Kutner: She wasn't on steroids long enough for it to cause the delirium — it's a new symptom.

Taub: One that rules out vasculitis.

Kutner: And arrhythmia. The psychotic break caused a surge of adrenaline, but no irregular heartbeat. Heart's not the problem. We're both wrong.

House: So what causes lung issues and delirium? And is not based on wishful thinking that she's safe and happy?

Foreman: Prinzmetal angina.

House: Silent and unhappy is better than vocal and unhelpful. If you'd run the echo that you didn't run before giving her the beta-blockers that you didn't give her — If you'd listened to what Kutner just said, you'd know it's not a heart problem.

Foreman: I'm not talking about her heart. I'm talking about her head.

Thirteen: Prinzmetal angina doesn't affect —

Foreman: No reason it couldn't cause an artery in the brain to spasm. Leads to the delirium and the pulmonary edema.

House: Foreman, give her ergonovine to cause vasospasms, and run an FMRI to see which artery's dancing. And when I say Foreman, I mean… Foreman. I want his signature on the paperwork. I want videotape. (House moves toward his office and points to Foreman with his cane) I want photographs of him with the patient on today's newspaper.

[Foreman leans over the table and talks quietly to the rest of the team]

Foreman: Set her up. When you're ready —

Thirteen: House wants you —

Foreman: To do the procedure. When you get everything set up, page me.

[Cut a monitor in to Jonah’s hospital room. Evan’s eye can be seen on the monitor because he is looking into a pillcam pill which Foreman wants Jonah to take]

[The camera pans back to show them gathered around Jonah’s bed]

Evan: That's really a camera?

Foreman: Pretty cool, huh? This can go places the other scopes can’t. Jonah, I need you to swallow this pill.

Jonah: Don't wanna.

Foreman: It doesn't hurt. Promise.

Melinda: Jonah, please. This will help make you better.

Foreman: I don't want to be mean, but, if you don't do this, we'll have to make you.

Evan: It's a power pill. It's not just a camera. It makes your muscles grow. Like the vitamins we take. (taking the pillcam from Foreman) Except this (holding up the pill) was made with a secret formula.

[Jonah opens his mouth and Evan puts it in. Jonah takes a drink of water and swallows the pill]

Melinda: (stroking Jonah’s hair) You did great, sweetheart. You're very brave.

Foreman: Jonah’s lucky. I was pretty cruel to my little brother when I was your age.

Evan: Why?

Foreman: I guess I thought that's what big brothers did. Obviously, I was wrong.

Evan: Is he a doctor too?

Foreman: No. (He is watching the monitor as the pillcam makes its way through Jonah’ digestive system)

[Jonah starts giggling]

Melinda: Does the pill tickle, sweetie?

Foreman: He can't feel it. What's funny, your brother?

[Foreman looks into Jonah’s eyes with his light. Jonah continues to laugh]

Melinda: What's happening?

Foreman: I don't know.

[Cut to Chase and Cameron working their way through the cafeteria line. Foreman walks up behind them]

Foreman: How you guys getting along?

Chase: And you suddenly care why?

Foreman: House was asking questions last week.

Cameron: I assume Foreman needs us, and he's worried that if we're sniping, we might be distracted.

Chase: That's kind of insulting, isn't it?

Cameron: Very.

Foreman: You're obviously fine. (He hands Chase Jonah’s file) I need a differential for uncontrollable giggling.

Chase: (glancing at the file briefly) He's four. They laugh. (He gives the file back to Foreman)

[Foreman follows them as they look for an empty table]

Foreman: Yeah. Nothing like diarrhea and bloody vomit to put you in the mood to goof around. I've looked down one end and up the other. All the tests came back clean. I can't figure this out.

Cameron: You can't? Don't you work with three other doctors and a grouchy gimp?

[Chase and Cameron sit down at a table]

Foreman: This isn't House's case. (He again hands Jonah’s file to Chase)

Chase: (taking the file and handing to Cameron) Just so you know, whatever you're trying to prove, it won't be enough.

[Foreman’s pager beeps]

Foreman: (He reads the message) Gotta go. (He leaves quickly)

[Cut to Radiology where Kutner is running an FMRI on Sophia. Foreman walks in and enters the control room]

Foreman: (sitting down) Sorry.

Kutner: You didn't miss much. No spasms yet. Nothing in the anterior or posterior cerebral arteries.

[Camera focuses briefly on the monitor with the scan of Sophia’s head]

Sophia: How much longer?

Kutner: Just a few more minutes. Were your foster homes all around here, or did you have to change schools?

Sophia: Is chatting about lousy foster parents supposed to relax me?

Foreman: Left middle cerebral artery looks good.

Kutner: (to Sophia) My foster parents were great. I think most foster parents do it because they want to do something decent.

Sophia: Which is why you didn't get emancipated.

Foreman: Nothing around the vertebral artery. No sign of spasms.

Kutner: (watching the monitor closely) But that's odd. (to Sophia) How'd you find out about your parents?

Sophia: I told you. State Trooper.

Kutner: Look at that.

Foreman: Arteries are fine. You can stop.

Kutner: Not that. (to Sophia) I forget, did he come to your house or call you down to the station?

Sophia: Came to my house. I cried into the guy's shirt for an hour.

[Foreman now sees the same thing Kutner did]

Foreman: Wow.

[Kutner hits the button which stops the machine and slides Sophia out. Foreman and Kutner exit the control room and move toward the machine]

Kutner: (to Sophia) FMRIs tell us where the blood flow is. You were using your limbic region. It lights up when we use our imagination. It doesn't light up when we're telling the truth. Your parents aren't d*ad, are they? I risked my job, put you on a different treatment —

Sophia: I didn't lie about the drugs.

Kutner: Then why lie about your parents?

Sophia: Because I wish they were d*ad. I got emancipated because my dad r*ped me. And my mom pretended it didn't happen.

[Cut to the conference room where House and the team are running a new differential)

Kutner: No signs of spasm, impeded blood flow, or brain dysfunction. It's not Prinzmetal’s. All the FMRI showed is House was right. She was lying.

House: Only relevant if it can cause pulmonary edema and delirium.

Thirteen: We find out our patient's been r*ped, and that's your response?

House: Is she a psych patient?

Taub: r*pe could mean STD.

House: Thank goodness one of you doesn't have a heart. Maybe if we all stopped wringing our hands, we could solve this thing and let her live to have a few more nightmares.

Foreman: Gonococcal endocarditis would explain the pulmonary edema, the delirium.

Kutner: No sign in her bloodwork. Could be lying about the r*pe.

House: (leaning forward in his chair and placing his cane across his lap) Yesterday, you were all BFF. Now you think she's pathological.

Kutner: Yesterday I had no reason to doubt her. If she'd been honest with us from the beginning —

Thirteen: She lied about d*ad parents because it's better than r*pist parents. You find that unsympathetic?

House: That's it.

Kutner: What's it?

House: Her whole life's a mess. What rhymes with mess?

Foreman: It's not stress. She has none of the usual manifestations. No hormone imbalance, no cardiac —

House: Yeah, she's drowning in her own lungs, and she's delirious. She's a picture of emotional health. Severe emotional stress can lead to asymmetric function of the midbrain. Explains the delirium. Interruption of the brain-heart coupling could cause pulmonary edema.

Thirteen: Even if House is wrong, the treatment's basic all anti-anxiety meds. Hard to argue with.

House: Yes. I agree. It does explain everything. Thirteen, load her up on diazepam. Foreman, make sure she does it. (House gets up) Thirteen, make sure he makes sure.

[Cut to Wilson scrubbing for surgery. House enters]

House: I went to Cuddy's house. But I didn't go in. Went home without ringing either her metaphorical or actual bell.

Wilson: Huh.

House: You're processing.

Wilson: I'm scrubbing.

House: "Huh" means processing.

Wilson: "Huh" means acknowledging. If you prefer, I could say "ha," or "hmm," or —

House: No insights? No opinions? (Wilson does not respond) You're disappointed.

Wilson: You made the decision. I can't tell you what's right for you.

House: Seriously? 'Cause last week you could. Last year you could. Seems to come pretty easy to you.

Wilson: Do you want me to tell you what you should do?

House: I want you to stop thinking that acting inscrutable makes you anything other than annoying.

Wilson: Interesting.

[Wilson has finished scrubbing and leaves the prep room with his clean hands in the air.

House: (Calling loudly as Wilson leaves) Holding things in can give you cancer!

[Cut to Chase and Cameron standing by a nurses station as Foreman comes through the doors. They continue around the nurses’ station and stop in front of Sophia’s room]

Chase: Kid's in daycare. Could be meningitis.

Foreman: No fever, no stiffness, no rash.

Chase: You check his thyroid?

Foreman: TSH and 3 t4 were within range. Ruled out all the usual suspects.

Cameron: Nothing's usual for a four-year-old, and as fun as this is, it feels like we're your goomah.

Foreman: Your feelings are hurt?

Cameron: Either you can handle both these cases or you can't. If you can't, it's dangerous and stupid.

Chase: On the other hand, stomach cancer. Leiomyosarcoma.

Foreman: Long sh*t. Altered mental status means porphyria's more likely.

Chase: No abdominal pain? Cancer explains the lethargy, the GI symptoms —

Cameron: Neither's perfect.

Foreman: Then we test for both.

Chase: And by "we," you mean the collective "not you."

Foreman: Thanks.

[Cut to Thirteen talking to Sophia and treating her with diazepam in her room. Foreman enters]

Thirteen: Severe stress scrambles the way the brain communicates with the rest of the body.

Sophia: I have a problem with my brain?

Foreman: Not exactly. The problem would be with your body chemistry.

Sophia: Where's Dr. Kutner?

Thirteen: There's four of us. It's my turn.

Sophia: I'm sorry I lied about my parents.

Thirteen: You did what you thought you had to do to protect yourself.

Foreman: If we're right, we should see a change in your lungs pretty fast. Then we can figure out how to manage your stress.

Thirteen: It might help to turn him in. File a police report, get closure.

Sophia: Won't help.

Thirteen: Not addressing what happened won't make it go away.

Sophia: Yeah? What do I have to do to make it go away?

Thirteen: I didn't mean that. I just mean that you —

Sophia: I addressed it. I got away from him. Reporting it just labels me. "Girl r*ped by dad."

Thirteen: It doesn't have to define you.

Sophia: It's how you see me. That's why you're treating me with tranquilizers.

Foreman: (looking down) Not anymore. Stress wouldn't change your urine color.

[sh*t of Sophia’s urine collection bag which contains brown rather than yellow urine]

[Back to the conference room for a new differential]

Taub: Labs show the brown urine was caused by shredded red cells.

House: (standing, his cane across his shoulders, his back to the team) So what messes with her lungs, her mental status, and runs her blood through a wood chipper?

Kutner: Factory lunch rooms aren't the cleanest places. Coulda picked up E. Coli.

Thirteen: Or shigella from the restroom. Either would account for the red cells, the delirium.

Foreman: But not the original lung symptoms. Legionnaire's could, and cause delirium.

Kutner: No, her sodium's normal.

House: What does her furniture look like? (He turns to face the team) Said it was homemade. Old boxes, what?

Thirteen: It was wood nailed together.

House: The wood have little dents or holes?

Taub: I didn't see any in the bookshelves, but they were painted.

Thirteen: The desk did. Looked like she had stapled stuff all over it.

House: Holes means that it was pressure-treated. Sawing or burning it releases arsenic into the air, into her lungs.

[Foreman’s pager has gone off. He pulls in out of his pocket to read the message]

Foreman: Tests didn't show —

House: Because it found a cloak of invisibility hiding —

Foreman: (getting up and moving toward the door) Arsenic gets absorbed in the internal organs so it doesn't show up in the blood tests. Test her hair. If it's positive, chelate it out of her blood. (He leaves)

[House shrugs and nods to the rest of the team who than leave to go perform the test]

[Cut to Chase and Foreman walking in the Pediatrics wing]

Chase: No cancer, no porphyria.

Foreman: You paged me with negative test results?

Chase: Yes, because it means we're done. Since we still don't know what's wrong, this kid has a real problem. Talk to House?

Foreman: Not his case.

[They stop in front of Jonah’s room]

Chase: There's a point when Cameron and I aren't enough.

Foreman: We're not there.

[Jonah’s mother has seen them and she approaches questioningly]

Foreman: (to Melinda) We need to run some more tests.

Melinda: A week ago, he was a happy little boy playing with his brother, and now he can barely lift his head.

Foreman: We'll figure this out. I just need —

[Buzzers start going off in Jonah’s room]

Evan: Mom! Help!

[Chase and Foreman run into the room]

Foreman: We need a crash cart!

[A nurse rolls in a crash cart]

Melinda: What's going on?

Foreman: He's in cardiac arrest.

Chase: Get them outta here.

[Chase grabs the paddles, and prepares to shock Jonah’s heart]

Chase: Clear. (He shocks Jonah)

Foreman: Nothing. Go again.

Chase: Clear. (He shocks Jonah again)

Foreman: He's back. (He sighs loudly)

Chase: Foreman. We're there.

[Cut to Sophia’s hospital room where Thirteen is removing the IV line]

Thirteen: Chelation's complete. You're arsenic-free.

Sophia: So I can get outta here?

Thirteen: In the morning.

Sophia: That's it? No advice? No "be careful out there, kiddo?"

Thirteen: You want my advice?

Sophia: Want is one thing, expect’s another.

Thirteen: I wish I could tell you what to do. But you're strong. You've make good choices. You'll be fine.

Sophia: Thanks.

[Sophia starts to twitch, machines start beeping, and Sophia starts seizing]

Thirteen: (holding onto Sophia) Need four milligrams lorazepam!

[Nurses run into the room and they administer the lorazepam]

[Back to House’s office for yet another differential. Foreman is not present]

Thirteen: After the seizure, we ran a new MRI. (putting a scan on the lightboard) This is Sophia’s brain three days ago, (putting up another scan) this is her brain today.

Taub: Lesions.

Kutner: Magical lesions, which appear out of nowhere.

House: She was cured, than she wasn't.

Thirteen: Lesions grew too fast for cancer.

Taub: Could be infection. MRSA.

Thirteen: WBC count would be through the roof.

House: Put the arsenic back.

Taub: You wanna treat a patient nearly poisoned to death by giving her more poison?

House: Just because we call something a poison doesn't mean it's bad for you.

Thirteen: It was k*lling her.

House: But since she's still dying, the arsenic obviously wasn't k*lling her. And since she's now getting worse, the arsenic was obviously fighting the k*ller. It's a hero. We should be organizing a parade. (He moves around to stand behind his desk)

Taub: So, what does arsenic treat?

Kutner: Syphilis. Before penicillin, the treatment was arsenic.

Taub: We already ruled out STDs, and even if we were wrong, that much arsenic in her system would've wiped out the syphilis.

Thirteen: Acute promyelocytic leukemia's still treated with arsenic.

Taub: APL explains the lesions and why they appeared after we took the arsenic out.

[Foreman enters the office]

House: So, put the arsenic back. (He pops a Vicodin)

Thirteen: We still have a problem. Arsenic slows leukemia, but it can't cure it. If she wants to see 17, she's gonna need a bone marrow transplant.

Taub: Best match would be a sibling or a parent.

House: Biopsy a lesion, confirm that she's dying, then load her up with arsenic. Keep her alive till you can convince her that r*pist marrow and r*pist-enabling marrow work just as well as the unleaded stuff.

[Taub, Thirteen, and Kutner leave. Foreman approaches House, who is reading his messages]

Foreman: We need to talk.

House: This about the case you didn't want me to know about?

Foreman: Cuddy?

House: Foreman. (Foreman looks puzzled) You didn't flinch when you found out about a sixteen-year-old who could be dying in the next few days. Means you're here about someone even younger dying even faster.

Foreman: (holding out the Jonah’s file) He needs you.

House: (ignoring the file and brushing by Foreman) But he has you. (House heads out the door)

[Foreman follows House out into the corridor]

Foreman: This boy is going to die. You selfish enough to let it happen?

House: Pot calling a kettle a pot?

Foreman: You're a hypocrite. If our job is to find out what's k*lling patients, you'd help this kid. But you'd rather play mind games to prove you're the only one with magical powers.

[They stop in front of Wilson’s office. House walks in without knocking]

House: Wanted something all your own? Now you got it.

[House closes Wilson’s office door, leaving Foreman standing in the Hallway]

House: Your disengagement won't work.

[Wilson closes his computer and appears to be packing up for the day]

Wilson: I can see that.

House: You think that when you tell me what I should do, my instincts are to push back, so that by not telling me what you think I should do, I'll do what you think I should do.

Wilson: I sound convoluted.

House: Disengagement is neither artful nor effective.

Wilson: So my not doing anything isn't causing you to do anything?

House: Right.

Wilson: I'm okay with that.

House: No, you're not. You are designed to have opinions and to force them on people.

Wilson: I'm starting to sound desperate.

[Wilson has taken his coat of the rack.]

Wilson: Don't screw with my stuff.

[Wilson exits, leaving House still wondering]

[Cut to the team performing the biopsy on Sophia]

Sophia: I just need a donor with the same blood type or something, right?

Thirteen: Actually, bone marrow's a little more complex. The best donors are immediate family.

Sophia: But those donor banks have thousands of names.

Thirteen: Your parents' similar DNA gives you a much better chance of —

Sophia: No. If I do this, I'll owe my life to them. It'd mean everything else that happened was somehow okay. They don't deserve that. They're not in my life. If that means I'm d*ad, then I'm d*ad.

Taub: I have Huntington’s disease. I'm dying. I don't know when it'll happen, but it'll be sooner than I ever planned. And I'd do anything to stop it. Because the only way to make anything right, the only way to make your life matter is to live as long, and as well as you possibly can.

[Thirteen looks outraged]

Sophia: Have you ever been r*ped?

Taub: No.

Sophia: Don't try to walk in my shoes and I won't try to walk in yours.

[Cut to Taub and Thirteen walking into the conference room after the biopsy. Thirteen is angry]

Thirteen: You had no right.

Taub: To try to convince her to do the right thing?

Thirteen: To lie to her.

Taub: It's a true story. Who cares if it's not my story?

Thirteen: It's my life.

Taub: It's her life. Point wasn't I'm dying. Point was she should live. You should have told her. Instead you tell her to call the cops, give her stats on DNA markers. Everything's by the book. Nothing's ever personal.

House: (interrupting loudly from his office) Trying to sleep here!

Taub: Biopsy confirmed APL. She needs a bone marrow transplant.

House: (picking up his backpack) Run the donor banks. I'm going home. (He slings the backpack over his shoulder)

Thirteen: We need to track down her parents.

House: (approaching the doorway) I assume she's already said no to that idea, or there'd be no need to screw up your courage before saying it.

Thirteen: Children who've been through trauma can't think clearly. Children who've been through trauma and are dying —

House: Guess I'm the only one who cares about patient rights.

Thirteen: What she wants could k*ll her. What she needs could save her.

House: Our job is to find out what's k*lling patients, not treat them for chronic idiocy. (He turns back to his office)

Thirteen: Idiocy is what's k*lling her.

House: (picking his coat up off the chair) And since we can't cure that, I’m going home. (He moves toward his office door)

Thirteen: We could save this patient, but all you care about is getting your answer.

House: (turning back and looking at Thirteen) Your point being?

Thirteen: Taub and Kutner can check the donor banks. I'm gonna find her parents. (Thirteen leaves)

[Cut to Chase and Cameron sitting opposite Foreman at a booth in the cafeteria. The lights are low and the room is mostly empty]

Cameron: Can't see why you're surprised. You push against House, he's gonna push back.

Foreman: Against me, I get. His ego's k*lling my patient.

Cameron: You liked this case because he wasn't looming over you. The decisions were yours. Only difference now is he decided not to loom. Doesn't change the fact that your patient's dying.

Foreman: What are we missing? What's not in the file?

Chase: The mother, over burdened at the end of her rope. Makes her kid sick so someone else will take care of him. Sympathize with her.

Cameron: Munchausen by proxy?

Chase: She brought him into the clinic, was with him when he went into cardiac arrest.

Foreman: The brother would have noticed, said something. Evan's even more protective than she is.

Chase: Then maybe it's the brother.

Cameron: He's eight.

Chase: Could be jealous.

Foreman: He's the opposite of jealous. He includes Jonah in everything he does. Makes sure he eats, brushes his teeth.

[Foreman has an epiphany and leaves quickly]

Chase: Think we gave him an idea?

Cameron: Either that or he's off to k*ll House.

[Cut to Thirteen standing if front of an apartment door in a urban area. She knocks and a man answers the door]

Thirteen: Mr. Valez?

Valez: Yeah?

Thirteen: I'm Dr. Remy Hadley from Princeton Plainsboro hospital. We're treating your daughter, Sophia, for leukemia and we need to test both you and your wife for bone marrow donation.

Valez: I'm sorry, you said you were from Princeton Plainsboro?

Thirteen: I know this is unexpected, but time is short and —

[A young girl appears behind Mr. Valez]

Girl: What's going on?

Valez: This doctor says you have leukemia.

Girl: I don't have leukemia.

Thirteen: Sophia Valez?

Girl: Yeah?

Thirteen: Sophia Isabel Valez?

Girl: Yeah. Do you know something I don't?

Thirteen: Just that liars lie.

[Cut to Sophia’s(?) hospital room. Thirteen is talking with Sophia and is clearly upset]

Thirteen: You stole her identity.

Sophia: To protect myself. So they can't find me.

Thirteen: We can protect you. But we need to find your parents.

Sophia: Why? You have my blood. You don't need my name to find a donor.

Thirteen: You're a minor. You obviously forged the emancipation papers. Even if we had a donor, we'd still need your parents' consent to treat you.

Sophia: Can't you just pretend you didn't go to that house? That you didn't find that girl?

Thirteen: Calling your parents doesn't mean a family reunion. You don't even have to see them.

Sophia: (stubbornly) When I get sick enough, it'll be an emergency. You'll have to give me a transplant. Even without consent.

[Cut to Jonah’s room. Foreman is sitting on Jonah’s bed treating Jonah]

Melinda: (who is sitting by the bed) An iron overdose?

Foreman: From his vitamins. If I'm right, we can treat him tonight. He'll be back to his old self in the morning.

Melinda: But… They're children's vitamins. I — I only give him one.

Foreman: I know. (He looks over at Evan who is curled up in a chair with a blanket and a pillow)

[Melinda follows his gaze and also looks at Evan]

Evan: I thought more would make him strong. I didn't mean to make him sick.

Foreman: He's gonna be okay.

Evan: He's gonna hate me.

Foreman: Well, that's the great thing about brothers. You can make mistakes, and they'll still love you.

[Evan lays his head down on the pillow looking sad, but hopeful]

[Cut to an aerial view of PPTH in the morning. It is a sunny autumn day and many of the trees are a beautiful red, orange, and gold]

[The scene changes to the front doors of the hospital where House is seen entering. Thirteen, Kutner, and Taub are waiting for him. They join him as he heads toward the elevator]

Kutner: Donor list turned up a partial match.

House: So treat her.

Thirteen: It's only a three out of six.

House: So don't treat her.

Kutner: She may not last the week. Partial's better than nothing.

House: So treat her.

Thirteen: She'll reject it. And she'll be too weak to try again when a better match turns up.

[They have stopped in front of the elevator. House pushes the button]

House: It's my turn now, right?

Kutner: If a better match turns up.

[The elevator dings and the door opens]

House: Well, when you decide, get back to me.

[House enters the elevator seeming surprised when the team follows him]

Taub: She's scared.

[The elevator door closes and the scene shifts to inside the elevator]

House: Not scared enough. Tell her the thing about emotional reactions is they're definitionally irrational. Or stupid. Might wanna phrase that in your own words.

Taub: She wants to deny her parents the satisfaction of saving her life.

[The elevator door opens and the team follows House toward his office]

House: That's your rational explanation of her emotional response.

Thirteen: That was her explanation.

[House stops and turns around to face them]

House: That makes sense. How long did it take her to come up with that?

Taub: It was her immediate reaction.

House: That doesn't make sense.

Kutner: The fact that it makes sense doesn't make sense?

House: Emotional is immediate. She went to rational first. Means there was no emotional to process.

Taub: You're saying she's lying about being r*ped?

House: Wouldn't be her first.

Thirteen: She lied about one trauma to cover a worse trauma.

House: So… what's worse than r*pe?

[Cut to Sophia’s hospital room. House enters, still wearing his coat and carrying his backpack. He throws the backpack onto a chair]

House: Hi, I'm Dr. House. (He stands to face her at the bottom of her bed) What did you do?

Sophia: I don't —

House: Something happened, but it wasn't r*pe.

Sophia: Believe whatever you want.

House: You're scared, and stubborn, and you don't like people feeling sorry for you. Why not?

Sophia: I don't want pity. I just wanna be normal.

House: But you know you're not. (He moves to the side of the bed until he is standing right over her) You need people to see how independent you are, how well you're coping. So they won't see the lost, hurt little girl. (He leans down and is now right in her face) Because that's not what you see. You see someone who did something terrible… Who deserves to suffer. Who doesn't deserve to live. (pause) What did you do?

[Sophia does not answer. House is still in her face]

House: Eventually, we'll find your parents… If only to deliver the body.

Sophia: Then they won't care.

House: (frustrated) You're an idiot. You'd rather die than face your parents because, what, you broke their Faberge egg?

Sophia: I k*lled their son. (House looks stunned) I k*lled my brother. (pause) I was supposed to watch him. (pause) He was in the bath. (pause) I could hear him laughing. (pause) Every time they look at me, it's like I k*ll him again.

[House sits down slowly in the chair beside the bed, not sure how to respond]

House: (quietly now) If you don't take your parents' bone marrow… You'll be k*lling their other child. If they don't hate you now, they will then.

Sophia: I don't care.

House: Sure you do. You want someone to tell you it was just an accident. That it's not that bad, well, it is that bad. And you know it. There's nothing you can do to change that. (pause) But there is one thing you can do, to not make it worse.

[House pulls his cell phone out of his pocket, flips it open and hands it to Sophia]

[The next few scenes are filmed without dialogue. In the background Alexi Murdoch can be heard singing Through the Dark]

[Kutner escorts Sophia’s parents into the hospital. Sophia’s mother grips her husband’s arm tightly]

[Cut to Jonah’s room, where his mother is zipping up his jacket. Evan watches, his jacket already on. Melinda grabs her purse and they leave the room. Foreman is standing outside of the room. Melinda gives him a big hug and follows her sons down the corridor. A close-up shows Jonah reaching for his big brother’s hand. As they walk hand-in-hand down the hallway, the camera focuses briefly on a satisfied Foreman]

[Cut back to Sophia’s parents. They enter her room tentatively. Sophia does not look at them at first. They pause and approach her bed. Kutner is watching through the glass door. They both stroke her hair and Sophia finally breaks down, needing and wanting their forgiveness. They hug her, apparently offering, at least the beginnings of, a reconciliation. Kutner leaves them alone]

{Cut to Foreman entering House’s office from the conference room. House has his coat on and is packing his backpack]

House: If you're here to celebrate the kid's bone marrow transplant working, you missed cake.

Foreman: I want to do clinical trials.

House: Already had this conversation.

Foreman: I've proved that I can work two cases at once. I can do this. And I'm doing it.

House: Okay.

Foreman: Okay? Just like that?

House: Can I give my reasons later… or never?

Foreman: Three days ago you said no.

House: Three days ago you asked me. Now you told me. (He grabs his backpack and cane and heads toward the office door) Can't say no if it's not a question.

[Cut to House getting into the elevator. He pushes the down button and the doors begin to close. Wilson grabs the door before it closes and steps in beside House. He looks at House for second, than there is a long pause as they both look forward before Wilson breaks the silence]

Wilson: Nice thing you did for Foreman.

House: He speaks.

Wilson: He deflects.

House: I almost cost a four-year-old his life.

Wilson: Well, you knew Foreman would figure it out.

House: Did I? (He looks at Wilson)

[The elevator doors open and they exit and walk toward the main desk]

Wilson: You just needed to prove it to him. You're an ass. But, a noble one.

House: I sound clever.

Wilson: Thank you.

[They reach the desk and House pulls the clipboard toward himself to sign out]

House: Your little game didn't work. I'm not Foreman, and you're not me.

[They both look through the glass doors of the clinic where Cuddy can be seen standing by the desk]

Wilson: You wanna talk about her?

House: Nope.

Wilson: Alright.

[They walk toward the main doors of the hospital]

Wilson: You're gonna be okay, House.

House: Good to know.

[They walk out into the night together]

THE END
{"type": "series", "show": "House", "episode": "05x08 - Emancipation"}