A teenage girl who is impossibly devoted her brother and determined to live the life he can't due to his congenital muscular dystrophy collapses and is sent to PPTH. Unfortunately for her, she's under the care of the newly-tamed House, who is unable to stand up to Cuddy now that they're dating and thus won't perform any risky tests to diagnose his new patient. She goes from bad to worse, her kidneys failing and lungs bleeding. She refuses to let her doctors give her a marrow transplant from her brother because she thinks he has enough problems, and that mentality ultimately puts her at death's door, as she didn't tell her doctors or anyone about the cold-like symptoms she's been experiencing for the past year because she didn't think it was right to complain about not feeling well when her brother had it so much worse.
With this new information, House is able to diagnose her with sickle cell trait, but it's too late to save her life with anything except a partial lung donation from her brother -- which would then cut his life short. Cuddy orders House not to tell the parents about this option, but he does anyway, leaving them to make what is basically an impossible decision. Of course, they can't, which annoys House so much that he tells them off and then gets in a big fight with Cuddy about it, which the patient's brother overhears. He agrees to donate part of his lung to his sister and then convinces her to accept it, thus making the decision for everyone and showing House and Cuddy that their new relationship will only work if they're as honest with each other about it as they are with the Cottages, Wilson, and the HR guy.
House loves to play with cameras in its POTW opening, so this time we get a skateboard wheel cam as we follow a girl all over an indoor skateboard park as she performs for an adoring crowd, most of whom appear to be wheelchair-bound. Well, that's either cruel to the wheelchair people or a harsh warning to the skateboarders of what could happen to them if they don't land their tricks right. One guy says to another that his sister kicks ass. The proud brother brags that his sister even won in the boys division. With that, the girl, Della, walks up and offers to take the wheelchair crowd out for a spin. They all want to go, but she lets her brother go first. I don't know why she even asked for volunteers, then. She pushes him out and over various ramps. Their parents watch, and Della's mother is totally that chick from the Progressive commercials. Too bad I switched from Progressive to State Farm after finding out that they cost a lot less and provided better coverage. Progressive Flo is better than State Farm's smug guy. Suddenly, Della just lets go of her brother's wheelchair and he's out there on his own. Ah, that's more like the asshole siblings of the real world. Oh, but it turns out that she didn't do it on purpose as she collapses.
House waits for Cuddy to arrive in the Fox lot parking garage. He holds her hand as they walk to the elevator, and Cuddy says, while letting go of House's hand, that she's planning to inform HR about their relationship today. BORING. Now it's no fun at all. She asks House not to tell anyone about it until after they've talked to HR. House responds by grabbing her ass. "I just don't want our relationship affecting our jobs. Or the other way around," she says. Yes, I'm sure that'll take care of things. Cuddy has known House for years and is in love with him, so she knows very well that House always does what people tell him. They enter PPTH, and House makes a big deal out of pretending that he has no idea what Cuddy did over the weekend. Cuddy ignores him and hands him a new casefile. House accepts it immediately. Cuddy again begs him to keep his mouth shut about them until this afternoon's HR meeting, which promises to be awesome. House seems sincere when he says he will.
Cut to the meeting room. "I'm seeing Cuddy!" House cries to his Cottages (sans Hadley, for she is GONE! for now, but plus Wilson, just because). He then clarifies that she's usually naked when he does see her, and that she has a big ass. Wilson declares this untrue and leaves. The Cottages seem to believe House, though, and he changes the subject to their new patient and her heart arrhythmia. Taub changes it back to House's new girlfriend and what a bad idea this is. Foreman's opinion is that this is good and a long time coming. Chase concentrates on the patient. "In favor, indignant, indifferent," House labels the Cottages, at which point he notices that Hadley is missing. The Cottages inform him that she took a leave of absence and has disappeared off the face of the earth. House shrugs and says they'll just have to "wait" and see what happens with her. I agree. Now let us no longer mention her. He asks for a differential. Chase, the only person who was paying any attention to the case anyway, suggests that Della could have a late-onset form of the severe congenital muscular dystrophy her brother suffers from. House dismisses it, saying it wouldn't show up this suddenly. Foreman and Taub just want to know why House doesn't seem as curious about Hadley as they are. They think he knows something about her that they don't, but House claims he just wants a diagnosis. Chase speaks up again, suggesting something called long QT syndrome, which they can prove by frightening her and triggering another heart arrhythmia.
Taub and Foreman head down to scare Della to death, with Foreman muttering about how this is a very extreme way to prove a diagnosis and Taub griping about how it's not as crazy as House sleeping with Cuddy. No, actually, I think trying to kill a patient is crazier. Sorry, Taub, but you're wrong. Taub says he's so against House and Cuddy because there's no way it will work and then House will be worse to them than ever. With that, he gets all creative and decides to shove some fireworks under a food tray and wheel it into Della's room. If you're going to kill someone by scaring them, you might as well go all-out.
House heads for Wilson's office, determined to make him believe that he's dating Cuddy. He doesn't get far before Cuddy walks in, saying "you told everybody, didn't you?" What? How does she know? Taub probably told on him. She's there to collect House for their HR appointment. House uses this as proof that they're in a relationship, but Wilson still isn't buying it, pointing out that House has to go to HR all the time for his various acts of inappropriate assholishness about the hospital. House leans in to kiss Cuddy, who pulls back and puts a hand up. Wilson is not convinced. "One peck, just enough to arouse him a little," House asks. Wilson stammers something about how he is not turned on by House and Cuddy being together, but House says he was actually talking about his penis. Ultimately, Cuddy strikes a deal with House that if she confirms their relationship to Wilson, he'll come to HR with her. "It's true," she then tells Wilson. He's skeptical. She kisses House on the lips. "I've been more passionate with my great aunt," Wilson shrugs. How long has he known House and he still sets himself up like that? Idiot. "Great Aunt Mabel?? Up high!" House says, offering a hand for Wilson to high-five. Cuddy offers a hand, too, placing it directly on House's crotch. Wilson looks at the hand, and then Cuddy. Once his shock wears off, I'm sure it will turn into disappointment followed by jealousy. "Are we done here?" Cuddy asks. Wilson gives her a slight nod, and she removes the hand and leaves. "I think you straightened out my limp a little!" House calls after her, so very pleased with himself.
They meet with Ernest Griffin, the director of human resources who needs his own web series at some point. He asks the new couple to describe the nature of their relationship. House compares it to insects that eat each other's heads after mating. Ernest takes some notes. Ernest also has a bunch of cardboard boxes stacked behind him that are no doubt full of notes all about House. In fact, House probably keeps him employed at PPTH. Which is good, because if anyone were to take a good look at Ernest's performance, they'd see that he really sucks at his job, both for being unable to deal with House and for hiring thieving sociopaths to work in the pharmacy. "It's a sexual relationship," Cuddy explains. "I believe that I can still supervise Dr. House effectively," she says. HA HA HA! She's never been able to supervise House effectively. Ernest says they want to make sure this doesn't become a liability, which House takes as an invitation to discuss whether or not Cuddy gives blowjobs. Ernest takes some more notes, than hands them "love contracts" to sign. House says something about crotchless undies. Ernest takes more notes. Cuddy assures Ernest that she won't be giving House any raises or promotions, and that there are no ongoing issues with House's current case. House stupidly speaks up to say they've figured out that Della has long QT and are about to scare her to death to confirm it. "No, we're not," Cuddy says, shooting him an icy glare. "Okay, no, we're not," House agrees.
Out in the hallway, Cuddy says she knows House is still going to try the scare test, even though Della isn't sick enough for something so extreme (so when Della is much sicker, that's the best time to stop her heart? Okay) and there are plenty of safer tests that will prove the diagnosis just as well. "Fair point," House says; "we're not doing the scare test." That was way too easy, so Cuddy doesn't believe him. To prove it, House calls Taub on speakerphone and tells him to cancel the scare test and do something else. Taub is livid, saying those other tests aren't as effective. I just thi
nk he's pissed because he already spent money on the fireworks and they're non-refundable. Anyway, House hangs up on him.And then we're supposed to think that Della's parents are also upset that her doctors aren't doing a "more specialized test" on Della. I guess they don't know that this "more specialized test" involves stopping Della's heart and hiding things that explode under a food tray like we're in a cartoon or something. Taub says House is only thinking about Della's safety, and then tells Della to go to the bathroom now because she won't be able to during the test. She says she doesn't have to go, which Foreman finds odd considering all the fluids they've given her. Della thinks about it and says she actually hasn't peed since last night. This automatically means that her kidneys are failing, which is a bummer, though not as bad as this show's usual indicator of kidney failure, which is bloody pee.
After the break, House asks for differentials on heart and kidney problems. Taub would rather discuss the fact that House allowed his relationship with Cuddy to change his mind about the scare test. House claims that Cuddy was right about the scare test and since they ended up not needing to do it anyway because the kidney problem rules out long QT, it's not an issue. For daring to speak up, House tells Taub that he's just jealous that even someone like House can be in a happy relationship when Taub is stuck in what House perceives to be a crappy marriage. Foreman goes with amyloidosis, and House decides that sounds fine and sends them off to give Della a transplant from her brother's matching bone marrow.
House reports to Clinic duty even though he thinks his relationship with Cuddy isn't changing him at all. His patient is a 102-year-old man with fatigue and weakness. House diagnoses him as being old as shit. The man is accompanied by another old man who demands that House run a full battery of tests and spare no expense, offering to pay for whatever the old man's insurance doesn't cover. Wow, very generous considering that he brought the guy to a free clinic. House says he's a good friend, and the not-as-old-guy informs him that he's the patient's son. His 80-year-old son. "You have a bad case of natural causes," House says. Father and son angrily and loudly demand that House run the tests. House agrees, but not without remarking that the blood draw tubes may well fill up with sand instead of blood.
Taub kicks brother Hugo (really, parents? You named your kids Della and Hugo? What century and/or country do you think you're in?) out of the room to talk to Della and her parents about using Hugo's marrow for the transplant. Della refuses, saying she doesn't want to put her brother at risk for any pain or complications since his life sucks enough already. Well, that's just foolish. The bone marrow donation procedure isn't pleasant, but it's pretty safe and painless as far as I know. There are always risks, but it really doesn't seem like enough to refuse to let Hugo donate. Especially without, like, asking the guy about it first.
Taub reports the news to House, who is still down in the Clinic voluntarily doing what Cuddy asked him to seven years ago. House says he thought this might happen, looking at Della's participation in sports and science clubs. "She's living his life, not hers," he says. Yes, because women never join science clubs. Or play sports. I know I always wished that I could join the science club, but my brother had to go and be all able-bodied, so I left that men's work to him and baked something. Actually, hold on -- what's stopping Hugo from joining the science club? I get why he can't skateboard, but science? I mean, Stephen Hawking is a scientist and he's not very mobile. House calls Della's selflessness idiotic and tries to leave the Clinic, only to find Wilson blocking his path with a big dopey grin on his face. Wilson says he's just happy that House is happy, although that turns back to worry when House informs him that Cuddy will still be his direct supervisor. "Nothing's changed," House says. Wilson says it kind of has -- the fact that House is doing his Clinic duty, for example. Also, Taub on House to Wilson. House assures Wilson that nothing is different just because he changed his mind about one test. "Stop worrying," he orders; "I can handle it."
Taub asks Della if she isn't trying to live Hugo's life for him with the skateboarding and the love of science. Della admits that she is, saying she started skateboarding after some of Hugo's friends picked it up since he could never do it. "We live through it together," she says. I'm sorry, but no. No one is like this. Especially not a 14-year-old. Taub asks if she might be taking this selfless thing a bit too far. Della says she's just inspired by her brother. Inspired to do what? Die young? I'll bet if someone told Hugo a bone marrow donation from his sister would save his life, he'd do it. It's hard to care about this girl when she's so unrealistic. Anyway, she's soon coughing up blood, which Taub says is a hemothorax and means it's not amyloidosis. Well. Good thing she wouldn't let them do that bone marrow transplant, then.
While Della's lungs are repaired in the OR, House and Cuddy observe from the observation balcony. House wants to fill Della's lungs with some kind of foam that will apparently stop the bleeding but could also, as Cuddy points out, leave Della with too little lung function to survive. House says they could also try to suture the hole that Della's lungs are bleeding out of, but that might take so long that Della will bleed to death first. Cuddy thinks for a minute before agreeing with House's faster but riskier foam option. She leaves immediately afterwards, and House orders Chase to suture the lung.
House then rushes off to talk to Wilson, admitting that he can't handle Cuddy being his boss after all. Even when she agreed to his lung foaming request, he could do it because deep down, he knew that she was only saying yes because that's what he wanted. Normally, he wouldn't even care why she said yes as long as she bent to his will, (and in some cases, he wouldn't even care if she said yes or no and just did it anyway), but now that they're dating, her feelings actually matter to him. And because of this, House fears, he's going to screw up his case. Wilson says this doesn't have to be a problem as long as House and Cuddy set some "ground rules." House takes that to mean he should find a way to avoid dealing with Cuddy at work entirely. "Thanks," House says. "No problem," Wilson responds, clearly counting down the hours until House returns to his office asking for help because that didn't work.
House enters his office, where the Cottages report that they were able to stitch up Della's lung without her dying. Taub cites this as another example of House letting his relationship with Cuddy affect his work. House tells him he doesn't respect his opinion and otherwise ignores him. Which is cold, but what did Taub expect? I don't know why people even bother to call House out anymore. Foreman comes up with a new diagnosis that works for House but that I don't see any reason to actually say the name of since we all know it's not going to be what's wrong with Della. House tells them to treat her for it while he leaves for the night.
He's nearly out the door and into Cuddy's pants when the old son from the Clinic flags him down. Without his father around, his attitude is a bit different. He says he knows his father is older than death and probably doesn't have anything wrong with him beyond being 102 years old, but he can't take living with and taking care of his father anymore. It's really cramping his active social life, I'm sure. He wants the guy to be put in a care facility, but he's too chickenshit to bring it up himself, as he fears that his father would be simply devastated to be rejected by his own son like that. Thus, he's hoping that House will do his dirty work for him and say that his father must go to a care facility. He's even willing to give House a whopping twenty dollars
for his troubles. House demands more bribery money, telling old son that he clearly hasn't taken the rate of inflation since the 50s into account. When old son coughs up another twenty, House seemingly agrees to his request.Post-sex, House and Cuddy lie in House's bed and Cuddy comments that she didn't see House all afternoon and thus missed him. Oh, please. Every time she did see him at PPTH she acted like she didn't want anything to do with him. But now she's inviting him to have lunch with her tomorrow. Okay. House declines, saying that Cuddy has a nasty habit of wearing a shirt during lunch and he much prefers to spend time with her when she's naked but tastefully wrapped in bedding due to this show being on Fox at 8 PM. House wants to go for round two, but his phone interrupts them. It's the Cottages, who report that Foreman's theory was wrong but along the way they tested Della for LAM (also known as lymphangioleisdfvgsljsitis) and she was positive, which means she'll need a lung transplant. Chase and Foreman already sent Taub off to deal with the Evil Transplant Committee in the hopes that he could somehow convince them to cough up one of their precious organs. "So this call is purely expositional," House says, getting kind of meta. And then he hangs up on them. But it's too late now, as Cuddy says she has to get home to that daughter she doesn't care about, as the nanny has to leave at nine. House says he paid the nanny forty dollars to stay another hour. Cuddy thinks that's really thoughtful and romantic of him because she doesn't know the money was gained through a patient's son's bribe.
Well, a miracle has occurred and the Evil Transplant Committee agreed to give Della a lung. I think they booby-trapped it, though, as Foreman reports that the new lung started failing only an hour after the transplant. House says that either Della is rejecting the lung or the lung itself had something wrong with it. If they wrongly assume it's the former and give Della immunosuppressants, then it will make the lung infection worse. If they wrongly assume it's the latter and give Della antibiotics, then she'll reject the new lung that much sooner. House decides to go for the greater of the two evils (or as he puts it, treat "the worst worst first") and start Della on immunosuppressants. If there's no change, hopefully they'll still have enough time to go back and shoot her full of antibiotics. Chase and Foreman head off to do that, but Taub stays behind, saying that he's certain Cuddy will put the kibosh on this course of treatment and House will defer to her, so there's no point in wasting time. House knows this is true, so he sends Taub off to argue for their desired coursed of action, saying he should make a point about how it's easy for Cuddy to always choose the safer course of action when she's sitting on her "ample if well-formed bureaucratic ass."
While Taub is off doing that, a 102-year-old man shuffles into House's office. "Forget the tests," he says. House says his son wouldn't approve of that. At the mention of his son, the old man sighs "I love him but he can't let go." House takes a second to enjoy this before commenting that he'd bet forty dollars the son can totally let go. Old dad continues that he can't go anywhere or do anything without his son acting like he's helpless and senile. "You sure you won't warm up to him over time?" House asks. Old dad ignores him as he pulls a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and hands it to House, asking him not to bother with the tests and just tell the son that he has to be put in a nursing home. Yeah, because the people there don't treat you like you're helpless or senile or anything. "Private room," old dad adds; "make it a suite." Isn't that adorable? Old dad seems to be confusing nursing homes for hotel rooms. He's going to be in for a shock.
House happily accepts the guy's money, and suddenly Cuddy is rushing into the room, outraged to hear that House thinks she sits around all day on her bureaucratic ass. Taub is close behind, making sure to tell House that he was just doing as House asked. House protests that Taub never mentioned to Cuddy that he praised Cuddy's ass as "well-formed" while he was accusing her of sitting on it. Cuddy doesn't seem to care. She thinks they should treat Della for infection before rejection. House immediately agrees with her and scolds Taub for taking his problems to Cuddy instead of House. House is saying all the right things here, which should really stick out like a sore thumb to Cuddy, since he's never acted like this before. But she's too busy being all indignant about House's comment about her ass. "I said well-formed!" he repeats. It doesn't seem to make her any happier. She takes her ample yet well-formed ass out of there, and House hangs his head before telling Taub he can't judge him since he hasn't seen Cuddy naked. "She does have great cans," says old dad, who's been sitting there this entire time. I kind of love that neither Cuddy nor Taub noticed or cared that there's some random ancient guy hanging out with House.
Taub gripes to Chase about their pussy-whipped boss. Chase still doesn't care, so Taub somehow draws the conclusion that Chase must also have a new girlfriend. Chase says it's more like four of them. Well, yes. When you're a hot young doctor, it should be pretty easy to date whoever you want. Taub is annoyed about this because we're apparently going to start another story arc about how much he doesn't like being married, and then their pagers go off. Della's lung is getting worse, so the antibiotics Cuddy made them give her aren't working and they can assume the problem is organ rejection after all.
Wilson finds House in the cafeteria hovering over a bowl of salad. Wilson takes the salad to mean Cuddy is really screwing with House's head, as he usually hates salad because House is, after all, an 8-year-old boy. House says that his idea to send his Cottages to Cuddy and hope they could stand up to her better than he can didn't work. Wilson suggests that House's plan be one he develops with Cuddy, and helps himself to a bite of House's salad. Wilson loves salad because he is, after all, a 50-year-old woman. Taub and Chase walk up and say that the immunosuppressants aren't working on Della either, which means both of their theories were wrong. House says that means their positive test for LAM must have been wrong and Della's lungs were failing for another reason in the first place. The Evil Transplant Committee is going to be furious when they find out that they wasted an organ like this. With that, a cafeteria guy hands House his actual lunch order, a plate of fries. He asks if he can take away House's salad, but House explains that it isn't even his -- it just happened to be on the table when he sat down. Well, Wilson, that's what you get for trying to eat someone else's lunch without asking if it was actually his lunch first.
House plays with one of those finger skateboards that were cool about a decade ago. Since Hugh Laurie is good at everything, he is able to do tricks with his. He thinks for a while, then stands outside Della's hospital room to glare at her and think some more. Huge wheels up and says he wants House and his team to do "everything" to save Della. Personally insulted and probably frustrated anyway, House sarcastically says that now that Hugo gave them the go-ahead, he'll be sure to do everything. Hugo says he's the one who's supposed to die young, and Della doesn't even get colds. She's always healthy, while he's the "damaged" one. No one ever talks like this, let alone 16-year-old boys, but okay. House accuses Hugo of wasting his time with his own problems instead of letting House focus on making his sister better. Ouch. But it's all okay, because House then picks up on what Hugo just said about his sister "never" getting colds.
House marches in and asks Della when the last time she got a cold or even just cold-like symptoms was. Progessive Flo answers for her that it's been years, but House says what Della actually felt and what she told her parents she felt could be two different things. Indeed, Della weakly answers that she's had aching ears, soreness in her chest, and some congestion, although it wasn't really noticeable until after a skateboarding tournament in Denver last year. Meanwhile, her parents are all "we had no idea! She didn't tell us!" That's not an excuse. My mom can tell by my voice on the phone if I'm hungry, let alone not feeling well or congested. Maybe my mom should be House's new fellow. She can diagnose the extremely obvious that everyone else seems to miss. Della's been feeling like this for a year now and her parents didn't pick up on it at all. Della didn't complain about it to them because her brother has it so much worse. And soon as she starts in with the saintly selflessness, House plops the oxygen mask back on her mouth to shut her up.
He heads outside, and Taub runs after him, still having no idea what House thinks is wrong with Della. House says Della has "a nasty case of sickle cell trait." That's different than the sickle cell anemia we always hear about and usually much more benign (or so Wikipedia tells me) but it can have complications in rare cases. Those set in for Della after the condition was amplified by her trip to a city at a high altitude. This also caused that false positive test for LAM. House says if Della had just told them or her parents about her symptoms sooner, they could have done something. At this point, though, she has no lungs and the Evil Transplant Committee will never agree to give her a new one. So, House concludes, Della's selflessness has gotten her killed.
OR HAS IT? For House has figured out a way to save Della -- by asking her brother to donate part of his lung and some bone marrow. Unfortunately, while House was waiting for the test results to confirm his diagnosis, Cuddy got wind of his plan and refuses to allow him to ask Della's parents to take a lung from Hugo and thus cut his life span down that much more. House points out that Cuddy is basically dooming both kids to die young, then. "We don't compromise one life for another," Cuddy insists. House nods and agrees with her. Cuddy finally realizes that House might only be obeying her orders because of their relationship. House admits that he is. Cuddy says it's influencing her decisions, too, as she would have never given him the go-ahead to foam Della's lung. She says she'll call HR to get someone else to supervise House ASAP.
House has made no real effort to make his argument to the old father and son as to why the father must go to a nursing home seem convincing. Instead, he just wrote "TEST RESULTS" on a yellow sheet of paper. He says he must recommend that the old guy go to a nursing home. Both father and son pretend to be upset about this news while also giving House big obvious winks to continue this charade. When the old son mentions that his father can't feel hot and cold, though, House suddenly asks to see the guy's teeth. Sure enough, the guy has a set of decade-old dentures, which he uses copious amounts of denture cream on -- enough to give himself zinc poisoning. The old guy admits that he uses about a tube a day of the stuff, which he buys online because he's just that cool. House tells him to get better-fitting dentures so he'll be able to cut down on the denture cream. That will take care of his symptoms, which means that, "medically," the old dad doesn't have to go to a nursing home after all. Old dad and old son greet this news with sad faces. House hands the old guy back his hundred dollar bill (he doesn't give the old son back his money as he already spent it on nanny sex time) and recommends that they spend it on "couple's therapy." I think the old son needs to use it on some kind of net nanny protection for his computer so his father won't secretly buy cases of something seemingly harmless but capable of poisoning him.
House finds Della and Hugo's father in his office. He knows the Evil Transplant Committee will never okay a second lung for Della and wants to tell her what the other options are. House refuses to name them, but Della's dad begs him, saying he'd do anything to save his daughter's life. House admits that they could get a lung and bone marrow from Hugo, and that this will cut Hugo's remaining life expectancy in half. And the parents only have one night to make this impossible decision before it'll be too late. Hugo, apparently, doesn't get a say in it at all.
Sad music plays as they spend the night fighting and crying. Taub goes to check on Della, who wants to know why her parents aren't in the room and why she saw them yelling and crying earlier. "They care about you a lot," Taub says. He thinks that'll tide her over, but Della is in the science club, and so she somehow puts it together that if her brother was a bone marrow match, then he could also donate a lung. She asks if that's what her parents are fighting over. Taub lies that it isn't, and then he walks away.
Meanwhile, the parents wonder how they'll be able to live with themselves no matter which choice they make. Suddenly, Chase and a handful of PPTH staffers rush past. Yes, Della disconnected herself from everything and took a walk down the stairs without anyone noticing until she collapsed on the landing. Taub explains that Della figured out what was going on and must have done this to die and spare her parents and her brother any more pain. Well, except the pain of losing their daughter and sister, although I guess Della either didn't think of that or just figured they'd be better off without her and with Hugo for five extra years and no guilt over having to choose between their kids.
Della is hooked up and sort of breathing again, but she's in worse condition than ever. Her parents will have to make their decision now. Meanwhile, Cuddy tells House that HR can't find House another supervisor, as everyone they asked would rather quit PPTH than deal with House. As well they should. Although, isn't Wilson a department head? Why not him? Or that neurosurgeon guy from last week? He seemed cool. House says they'll just have to find a way to work and sleep together. Cuddy says she thinks House should tell Della's parents about Hugo and the lung after all. House is happy for that, as he admits that he did that several hours ago. He says the dad came to his office and begged, so House felt like he had to do it. Cuddy pouts, then says she should be more angry at House than she currently is. And then, the parents walk up and tell House they made their decision not to let Hugo do the transplant. Um, did they even ask Hugo about this, by the way? You'd think he'd want to be consulted. And then he and Della can have a race to see who can kill himself first in order to save the other.
Cuddy steps forward with reassuring words for the parents, but not House, who expresses his displeasure with their decision by accusing them of sucking on a crack pipe. "Our daughter doesn't want it," Flo says. House says their daughter is a "mindless teenybopper," so her opinions don't matter. Unless they are House's opinions, in which I'm sure he would say they were very important. Cuddy spins around and tells House to stop antagonizing the parents and their "impossible choice." House begs to differ, saying they have just a "crappy choice" and they just chose the crappier option, trading decades of Della's life for four or five more years of Hugo's, in which he won't be able to move anyway. Cuddy argues that Hugo is a human being, not part of a mathematical equation. House says they have to make decisions like this all the time in their job, although not so much Cuddy since she's more of a paper-pusher than a doctor. Cuddy starts in with him now, calling him a bully, and then everyone turns around and notices Hugo sitting there. Oops!
The only adult in the room despite being legally a minor, Hugo springs into actio
n, wheeling into Della's room and tearfully telling her to take half of his lung. Della refuses. Hugo says that Della gets to do great things, while he can only watch her. "If you take this piece of me, carry it with you, then I really can share in everything you do. This is the great thing I can do with my life. Don't make me live without you," he says. Aw. I'm not sure why, but that interaction between the siblings felt more true to me than any other. Everyone hugs and cries.House and Cuddy walk away. "We got lucky," House says. I don't know if "lucky" is the word. Because House and Della's parents missed her original symptoms, she almost died and will spend the rest of her life with a half a donated lung, which isn't ideal. And her brother will die early, too. No one seems particularly lucky to me here. Cuddy doesn't care about whatever's going to happen to Della and her family, though, saying that the fight they just had was the first "honest interaction" she and House have had at work since they started sleeping together. Honesty, Cuddy says, is the best policy for them. "You've got a big ass," House agrees. And as the elevator arrives, he grabs it. Cuddy makes him hold her hand instead.
You can read more from Sara Morrison at L.A.me, follow her on Twitter, or you can email her at saramorrison@gmail.com.
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