By Sara M
Nighttime. A car drives down a street. Inside, its passenger asks the driver whether his drunkenness led him to "say anything stupid." If you have to ask, you probably did. The driver exposits that her current pregnant condition automatically makes her the designated driver for nine months, and the passenger says he can't wait for their baby to arrive. Then all kinds of bad stuff happens in the woman's brain, making her temporarily lose consciousness and swerve into oncoming traffic. She regains control and pulls the car over without incident. Then a cop pulls up behind them and asks the woman if she's been drinking. Her negative response is slurred and slow, and the cop asks her to step out of the vehicle. She accomplishes this, and then collapses. The husband is worried about his wife and their baby. The cop is worried about all the extra paperwork he'll have to do now.
By the end of the opening credits, everyone has gotten to the hospital, where Foreman informs the couple that they've ruled out brain stuff as the source of her difficulties, but the bloodwork on her kidneys and liver show they're not working too well. Naomi the Wife is terrified that this means preeclampsia, something she's fairly familiar with, having miscarried three times (although never having been far enough along to get preeclampsia, I'm sure she read a little bit about it). Foreman tells her not to get ahead of herself, and orders a few more tests.
Outside, Foreman meets Chase, who's wondering where everyone else is. He hasn't seen House or Cameron all day. He'd better get used to not seeing Cameron around. I know I have.
House, on the other hand, is very much still around, and is currently giving Vogler the bad news that he has stage four cancer, and that it has spread to his liver. Vogler sincerely thanks him for being "so good" to him, and apologizes for treating him so badly. House gets up and walks behind Vogler to give him a reassuring shoulder massage, and -- this is a pretty awesome little detail -- he has no limp, telling us right there that we are in House Fantasy Land, as opposed to, say, Wilson Fantasy Land, where House still has trouble walking, but for different reasons. House tells Vogler that he ordered him an "extra-jumbo-size coffin" just in case the experimental drug treatment doesn't go well, and then he's pulled out of dreamland by Foreman's voice.
House wakes up on an exam-room bed. He apologizes for napping during working hours, explaining that he was up late looking at internet porn, which is apparently what having awkward conversations with Cameron drives him to do. Or maybe that part came before it. Or maybe I shouldn't have used the word "came." Anyway, Chase asks House why he isn't in his office, and Foreman figures out pretty quickly that House is hiding from Vogler, which is pathetic. Chase doesn't go quite that far, and simply says that Vogler's bound to find House sooner or later. "I'm okay with later," says House. Foreman gives him Naomi's chart and runs down her stats. The only drug she's on was for incontinence, which Foreman says they took her off, but that there was "no change." Well, I'm sure something changed, although it was probably more apparent to the janitorial staff than anyone else. Chase thinks it's preeclampsia. House thinks it's pregnancy-related autoimmunity, and says it's too bad the immunologist on their team quit last night. Wow, the one time Cameron's alleged medical knowledge might come in handy, and she's not even there! What are the odds? Foreman and Chase snap to attention at the mention of Cameron's quitting, although Foreman is the only one to actually ask about it. House orders some blood tests and an MRA to check for the vasculitis Naomi won't have, and then downs a few pills. Foreman uses the pause to say that he doesn't think Cameron quit at all, but rather was fired because House couldn't "swallow [his] pride" and deliver Vogler's speech. House responds by ordering a few more tests for Naomi and telling them to get to work.
In the elevator, Foreman calls Chase a pussy for not backing him up with House. Chase says he didn't see how yelling at House would make a time machine appear that they could hop into and change everything, so there wasn't any point. Foreman says that House is like a puppy who needs to be trained with negative reinforcement. Chase protests that House is more like an old dog who won't learn new tricks. Foreman calls Chase a coward. Chase calls Foreman a child. Then they both plaster fake smiles on their faces and enter Naomi's room. Hee.
Post-ultrasound, Chase reports that there is no fetal distress, and Naomi is so relieved that she takes a bite of something from her food tray and immediately chokes on it. Whoops! Foreman jams forceps down Naomi's throat and pulls out the offending food matter as a tear rolls down her cheek, and then it's over. Naomi's a little concerned about her difficulty swallowing.
In the Clinic, House's latest patient is a baby. Her young parents say that their baby has had quite a few colds in her short life, but this time she seems especially bad and has a high fever. House says that's because she has pneumonia, although that is not the biggest of their worries. Apparently, the baby has gone from the top twenty-fifth weight percentile to the bottom third in less than a month. And House might not be a baby expert, but he's pretty sure they aren't supposed to shrink like that. The parents say they put their daughter on a "raw" vegan diet when she stopped breastfeeding, which House immediately makes fun of because he hates those tree-hugging hippie parents. His line about the raw food diet being sort of useless since our ancestors discovered fire is pretty good, though. He orders the parents to give their daughter necessary fats and proteins instead of sprouts and hemp. "Starving babies is bad," he says. He's going to admit the baby to give her IV antibiotics and food.
Naomi enters the MRI of DOOM. In the booth, Chase and Foreman snap at each other until they are interrupted by Naomi, who has cramps. They pull her out and figure out that she's going into pre-term labor. They inject her with labor-stopping medicine that is fortunately hanging out in the MRI room (of DOOM).
House checks to make sure that his office is empty, and then sneaks in to check his mail. He turns around to come face-to-face with a brick wall that has suddenly installed itself behind him. A brick wall named Vogler, who's looking pretty hale and hearty, meaning that House's stage four cancer dream isn't going to come true any time soon. House says that he realizes his speech wasn't what Vogler wanted, so House fired Cameron. They should be all set. Not so much, as Vogler says that House can either give Vogler his letter of resignation tomorrow and issue a public apology for that speech, or Vogler will "destroy" him. "Destroy"? Quit being such a drama queen, Vogler.
The Cottages who didn't quit because of their silly schoolgirl crushes meet with House in the meeting room, which they can use now that House isn't hiding from Vogler. Chase says that Naomi is responding well to the anti-labor medicine, and that her going into labor as soon as she had to deal with the stress of the MRA (apparently she has seen this show before) shows that he was right about the preeclampsia. House just says he wishes he had kept Cameron, since she knew where the sugar was. Apparently, her internal sugar-locating device worked better than her suitable mate-locating one. Foreman thinks that Naomi's muscle weakness, as demonstrated by her inability to swallow food, could indicate something else, and House agrees, pointing out that it's not easy to choke on a soft pear. I don't know about that: I had a friend who choked on the pineapple chunk in her fruit cup. Don't talk while you eat, kids. He tells the Cottages to check out Naomi's throat problems, and then Wilson enters the room to tell House that they have to talk. Right now. On his way out, House tells the guys also to check Naomi's eyelids. The Cottages look confused as they wonder whether uneven eyeliner application is a symptom of something now. If so, they sure could use Cameron's help. Oh well!
House and Wilson limp and walk down the hall. Wilson says that there's a special emergency board meeting today, and that the subject is House. House isn't worried, since Vogler needs a unanimous vote to fire House, and Wilson and Cuddy won't go with it. Wilson suspects that Vogler has already considered that and has a plan. You don't become a billionaire by backing down in the face of minor opposition, after all. House just hopes Vogler's plan involves candy.
Vegan Baby is doing better. Mom and Dad are relieved, and still wearing the same clothes they had on the last time we saw them, which I'm going to assume was at least a day ago. And it's not like those all-natural laundry detergents are that effective to start with, so I'm thinking those two smell not so great. House stops by to tell them that the baby is getting better and should be discharged soon, but his exit is interrupted by the entrance of a no-nonsense Social Services worker and a few cops, who promptly arrest Mom and Dad for child endangerment.
House marches right to Cuddy's office and asks if Vogler's plan to destroy him will involve arresting all of his patients' family members, or just those two. Cuddy says that Vogler had nothing to with that; the nurses called her because they were worried about the baby, and Cuddy called Social Services, which she points out that House should have done in the first place. House protests that the parents were merely stupid, not abusive, and accuses Cuddy of being a traitor. Unfortunately, his clever reference to Vidkun Quisling, Norway's WWII answer to Benedict Arnold, goes over Cuddy's head and loses its effectiveness. time, House, try someone more known to Americans, like...you know, Benedict Arnold. Cuddy says she didn't want to give Vogler any more ammunition to convince the board to fire House, which is kind of like saying you don't want to add a twig to a raging bonfire.
The Cottages ask Naomi's husband, Sean, whether he notices anything different about Naomi's eyelids. He says that her right one seems to be drooping a little, but that she is tired. Except that would make both of her eyelids droop, unless it's just the right half of her body that's tired, while the left remains awake and alert. Sure thing, Sean. Idiot. Chase sticks a viewer-thing down Naomi's throat and reports that he sees swelling, which is what was closing off Naomi's esophagus. Foreman says that they'll need to do an x-ray. They aren't advisable for pregnant woman, but this is so important that they have to do it anyway.
Wilson, actually acting in his oncologist capacity, takes a look at the x-rays. The news is bad.
Wilson shows the same films to Naomi and Sean, and says that Naomi has small cell lung cancer, which hasn't metastasized but is inoperable. Sean asks how lung cancer could have given his wife kidney and brain problems, and Wilson explains paraneoplastic syndrome. Her droopy eyelid is from something related to that, called Lambert-Eaton syndrome, which is associated with small cell lung cancer and was why House told the Cottages to check her eyelids. He's so smart. The couple asks about treatment options, and Wilson says that there really aren't any; small cell cancer is very aggressive, with a five-year survival rate of only 10%. They'll have to start chemo and radiation as soon as possible, which means that Naomi will have to have a C-section sooner than that. The chances that her baby will survive at twenty-eight weeks are 80%, which, while better than Naomi's chances, still aren't good enough for her, because an 80% chance that her baby will live means that there's a 20% chance that he'll die. Naomi asks what will happen if she waits on the chemo and allows the baby to grow, and Wilson says that the baby's chances of survival will improve, but that Naomi's will keep dropping. She only has two to four months to live without treatment, so she really can't wait two months to deliver a baby. Even so, Naomi wants to wait as long as possible. Yes, because I'm sure that her cancer-ridden, autoimmune-syndrome-having body makes for a healthy and nurturing womb. Sean tells Naomi she's not thinking right, and that he doesn't want her to die for their baby. Wilson agrees that putting treatment off, even if it's just for a week, could be the difference between Naomi's living and dying. But Naomi will not change her mind.
And now it's time for the bored -- oops, I mean "board" -- meeting. Wilson enters late, and Vogler says he hoped Wilson would skip the meeting. That Vogler certainly likes to make his intentions known. One of Wilson's seat neighbors offers him a Danish. He turns it down, which I don't understand, since he might as well get something good out of these meetings. The meeting continues, and Vogler lists off House's various infractions over the past season, neglecting to mention that they all led to the patients' lives being saved (except for the one where House got a Corvette, which only helped House). Cuddy and her awesome bright red suit sigh in resignation, because she knows what's coming. Wilson says that House has problems, but that his crazy methods have saved a ton of lives. Vogler says that House's crazy methods are a disgrace and an embarrassment to the entire hospital, and that the choice is very simple: either House goes, or Vogler and his hundred million dollars do. Cuddy snaps that Vogler shouldn't "personalize" this, which would have made more sense if she had said it BEFORE House very personally made that speech about Vogler's new drug. I didn't understand what Vogler's deal was with House before, but now his need for revenge seems reasonable.
Vogler says that House is a symbol of everything that's wrong with the health-care industry these days. I had no idea that House had anything to do with the millions of people who can't afford personal health insurance, and so must remain helplessly sick. Really, if anything, all that money House spends on Vicodin might actually allow drug companies to lower their prices, which would help everyone. Oh, I'm sorry -- Vogler was talking about how doctors all act like they're the kings of their hospital fiefdoms and are never held responsible for their actions, which I guess is almost as bad as not being able to afford a doctor at all. I guess. Vogler moves to vote to revoke House's tenure. One board member protests that they should discuss this, and Cuddy follows that up by saying they need time to consider this, but Vogler says they've done all the discussing and spent all the time they need. The vote is now. All in favor? The board members take turns looking at each other and their own hands, and then one raises his hand. The rest of the board members quickly follow suit, leaving Cuddy and Wilson as the no votes...until Cuddy slowly raises her hand as well. Ouch. Wilson sticks to his guns, though, and the motion to fire House is defeated.
Vogler asks Wilson to leave the room. Wilson protests that you can't just send the opposition out of the room and then vote again to make things unanimous, but Vogler says that this is for a brand-new vote: to dismiss Dr. James Wilson. Obviously, Wilson's involvement with the issue of his own job makes him biased, so he doesn't get to vote. Wilson stares at Vogler, while the woman to his right totally starts snickering. Apparently, Wilson isn't everyone's friend after all. The rest of the board make "uh oh," "this isn't good," or "what's going on?" faces as they realize that Vogler's hundred-million-dollar donation is going to be held over them every time he wants to get his way. Wilson gets up and leaves the room. Cuddy glares at Vogler and realizes that she can't let her hospital run this way. Nor can she let $100 million go.
The Cottages update House on Naomi's decision to save her child and kill herself. Foreman says that this would have been the perfect case for Cameron, since she's all about sacrificing herself for the greater good. Unfortunately, she already did that, so she's gone. And can I just say that this show has not suffered in the least little bit in her absence? Because if anything, it's better. More screen time for Wilson and Cuddy, hooray! More screen time for Vogler too, but he had plenty of screen time before Cameron left, so that hasn't really changed. Foreman thinks that Naomi is making the right call, and that it's very noble of her to go against her own self-preservation instinct to give her child a better chance to live. House tends to agree, although he thinks it's less about being noble and more about the biological instinct to propagate the species at all costs. But Naomi, not her baby, is House's patient, so he'll be treating Naomi. He wonders aloud whether there is a way to increase Naomi's odds against the cancer, and then wanders off to find an oncologist, having already paged the absent Wilson twice with no response. Foreman snarks that House's plan to cure cancer and save Naomi is fairly sound. Why didn't anyone think of it before? Honestly, that's probably what Cameron is doing at home right now.
The Vegan parents, still wearing the same clothes, chase House down in the hall. They made bail and they want to see their baby, but they're not allowed near her. They say they had no idea that their baby was starving, since they fed her all the time (apparently, they never picked her up and noticed that she was losing weight, though), and went to a nutritionist before they started the raw baby diet. "Raw baby diet" sounds wrong, but I'm keeping it. House scoffs at this, thinking that by "nutritionist," they mean the clerk at Whole Foods, but they say that it was actually Mommy Veg's uncle, who "went to college and everything." "And everything"? He does sound pretty knowledgeable. House thinks so too, and orders a CT scan for baby "Olive," but not before he makes fun of Olive's name. As far as hippie kids' names go, though, Olive got off pretty well. She could have been named "Lemon Jello," after all.
House enters Wilson's office and asks whether there are any clinical drug trials going on in the hospital for small cell lung cancer. Then he notices that Wilson is packing his office away in boxes. Uh oh. "I got sacked," Wilson says, and I was not aware that anyone in this country called getting fired "sacked." That and the Quisling reference makes me think this episode's writer is English. That, or a homesick Hugh Laurie is sneaking more familiar terms into the script. House jokes that Wilson shouldn't have made a pass at Cuddy, who only has "thighs" for House. Shockingly, Wilson isn't in the mood for fun, especially since, as he says, he was fired because he voted to keep House employed. And since he was the only one who voted against Vogler, Vogler now has the unanimous board support he needs to finally fire House. House clears things up by saying that Wilson wasn't fired -- just removed from the board. Wilson says that doesn't do his career any favors, so when Vogler gave him the option to resign instead, Wilson took it. As he angrily continues packing, Wilson says that there are only two things that matter to him in his life right now: his job, and his friendship with House. And neither one of them was enough for House to make that stupid speech. They look at each other until House looks away and softly says, "They matter." But no, not enough for him to go against his principals and make that speech. Wilson says that House will be fired soon too, so maybe they can hang out together during their unemployment vacation. House gets back to business and asks again about those clinical drug trials. Wilson says he'll make some calls, and takes Naomi's chart. "Thanks," says House, looking like the Guiltiest Man in the World.
Cuddy has her latest patient bent over the examining table while she inspects the ins and outs of his ass. The diagnosis is hemorrhoids. The patient protests that there sure was a lot of bleeding for hemorrhoids, and wonders if it's cancer. Does he want cancer? Otherwise, shut up and go buy some Prep H. House walks right on into the room, giving the Clinic's staff and visitors a chance to weigh in on the hemorrhoids/ass cancer debate themselves. Fifteen people voted for hemorrhoids, while one desk secretary voted for the ass cancer. This was followed by a second vote, in which everyone voted to have the desk secretary fired so that their armchair diagnosis would be unanimous.
Back in the examining room, House tells Cuddy that her method of protecting his job has thus far been wholly unsuccessful. Cuddy says that's the way things go when you actively speak out against the man who signs everyone's paychecks. Vogler gave the hospital a lot of money that will save a lot of lives and, more importantly, buy a lot of plasma TVs. And while House is a great doctor, he's just not worth $100 million. Meanwhile, Mr. Bloody Hemorrhoids struggles to get his pants on over the lumpy mess of his ass.
House talks to the small cell lung cancer treatment clinical trials guy that Wilson apparently tracked down for him. The guy says that Naomi's case looks too advanced for his drug. House says that if he wanted easy cases, he probably should have picked a different specialty. It's an earnest attempt at jocularity, made with little of the usual dry sarcasm and even a genuinely friendly smile, but clinical trials guy just frowns at House. House crosses him off his mental list of Potential New Oncologist Friends and sighs. Clinical Trials Guy asks if Naomi is in otherwise good health, and House says that she is, which is true, except for the part about her being seven months pregnant. House and the trials guy agree to start Naomi on the treatment in two days.
The Cottages follow House down the hall. Foreman less-than-patiently explains that pregnant women cannot participate in clinical trials. House says that Naomi won't be pregnant when she starts, because she's having a C-section. Chase points out that people who have had major surgery less than thirty days ago are also not allowed to participate in clinical trials. Those clinical trials sure have strict guidelines! House says that the definition of "major" is relative. Both Foreman and Chase have problems with this. House says he'll let Naomi know about the risks of starting an untested drug right after surgery. Clinical Trials Guy, on the other hand, can be left in the dark.
House tells Sean and Naomi about the new drug and how its success rate gives her a much better chance than she had before. Naomi still doesn't want the C-section. Sean still does. House patiently explains that the hospital has the best neonatal care unit in the state, conveniently forgetting to mention that whole fatal epidemic thing a few months back. Sean says that their baby will most likely be fine if Naomi has the C-section, and now, Naomi could be, too. "You don't know what it's like, raising a sick child!" Naomi says. Fortunately for her, Sean appears to be colorblind and does not notice the sudden proliferation of red flags all over the room. He begs House to convince his wife to get a C-section. House orders him out of the room.
Husband gone, House and Naomi can now talk about her secret past. You see, he noticed Naomi's use of tenses when describing having to raise a sick child, and asks her what happened to her first kid. Naomi says that she got pregnant and married at eighteen. Her baby had infantile Alexander's disease, and she and her first husband spent the two years watching her die. After that, Naomi couldn't look at her first husband without thinking of the daughter they created together, so she had to leave him. I'm so glad Cameron isn't here to bond with Naomi over the tragedy of getting married young. House -- who had the sensitivity to express sympathy to Naomi over her daughter's death only a few seconds ago -- interrupts the rest of her "moving story" to accuse her of being selfish. Naomi doesn't exactly understand how sacrificing herself to save her husband the pain of a sick kid makes her selfish, and House points out that if Naomi were doing this for her husband, she'd be doing what he wants, which is having the C-section. Naomi says that her husband doesn't understand, and House yells that no one does. Shit happens to everyone, and it will happen to Naomi's baby, whether he's born now or later. Like House will get a new boss who will fire his best friend. Naomi agrees to the C-section.
The operating room prepares for the surgery. They put Naomi under, but then a doctor, who I believe is the same guy who played the ob/gyn in the other sick baby episode, gets off the phone and announces that the surgery has been cancelled.
A very smug Vogler takes the stairs into the lobby. The elevator doors open, and out comes House, screaming across the crowded room that Vogler is killing his patient. Witnesses are alarmed at these accusations, but not so much that they immediately pull their family members out of there and into a hospital where such accusations don't happen in public. Vogler says he figured throwing a patient into a drug trial five minutes after surgery wasn't exactly the safest thing you could do, either, and House says that Naomi knew what the risks were and she agreed to them. Vogler says that the drug trial doctor didn't, and House says that it wasn't his call to make, because it isn't his life to end. Vogler says that this is about more than one patient; if the drug is delayed going to market because someone in the clinical trials responded badly to it because of her very recent surgery, many more people will be at risk. Vogler won't let one person potentially put thousands more in danger. House screams that it's a good thing Vogler is saving all those people, then, and Vogler just laughs and tells House that there will be another vote about his job tonight, so he might as well spend his last evening of employment chilling out with his Gameboy or watching GH. In fact, Vogler heard that they're firing the "handsome doctor" today, so that'll be a great episode for House to watch. Vogler seriously needs to work on his comeback lines. All he did was reveal that he thinks House is handsome and that he is such a General Hospital fan that he even reads the spoilers. It's not exactly a stinging remark. With that, Vogler leaves, and House turns to Cuddy, who was watching this all unfold from behind a desk.
The couple and the Cottages discuss Naomi's treatment options now that she'll have to wait thirty days after her surgery for the drug. They're interrupted before reaching a resolution when Naomi stops being able to breathe. On the Magic School Bus Cam, a blood clot lodges itself in her lungs. Chase confirms that it's a pulmonary embolism, and they rush Naomi into surgery.
Foreman tells Sean that he has a difficult choice to make right now: the baby should be removed from the mother and her non-oxygen-getting lungs as soon as possible. But giving Naomi a C-section in her condition would be very dangerous to the mother. Sean chooses Naomi. If she survives this, she's going to be really mad at him.
In the operating room, Foreman tells Chase to administer a treatment that, while not so good for the baby, will help Naomi. Then Chase uses the little grabby-claw thing to grab and remove the clot, in a shot that may be recycled from the last time they did this. House enters, all dressed for the sanitary environment in a gown and gloves, showing that there is at least one hospital rule he'll follow. Suddenly, Naomi starts to decline. House lifts her blanket to reveal that the left side of Naomi's belly is purple. She's bleeding internally, and those blood-thinning drugs they gave her for the clot aren't going to do that any favors. House tells them to keep Naomi stable while he talks to her husband.
In the hall, House gives the Sean the bad news: Naomi is bleeding internally, and they can't stop it. Sean has to consent to a C-section, which will probably kill his wife but keep their baby alive. Since Naomi's almost definitely going to die either way, they might as well make the best of it and save the kid. Sean is so upset that he drops his coffee. House grabs his arms, addresses him by his first name (which makes me think that House only pretends not to know the names of his patients, or only bothers to make the effort to do so when it's absolutely necessary), and tells him to settle down so that he can make the decision. Sean cries that Naomi makes all the decisions in their relationship. "This decision is easy," House says. Sure, Sean will be responsible for agreeing to a procedure that finished off his wife, but he'll also be responsible for agreeing to a procedure that saved their baby, which is what Naomi would have wanted. Sean agrees to the C-section, and House leaves him. I love these glimpses of the human side of House. It shows that he's capable of being sympathetic and nice when it's necessary to make the effort. It's just a lot less necessary to him than it is to almost everyone else on the planet.
The baby is removed and brought to its own little treatment table, where Chase works on getting him breathing. Meanwhile, Naomi goes into v-fib. They bust out the defibrillators, and Chase goes to get a tube to intubate the baby. The doctors zap Naomi, to no effect, and then, without medical assistance from Chase, her baby starts to cry over the sound of her monitor flatlining. Foreman watches, devastated and helpless.
House sits on a bench, resting his head on his cane handle. Cuddy comes around the corner and House says that they need to talk. Cuddy says that she's late to the board meeting, and that she doesn't want to hear anything from House about how she should save his job. House says that this is not about that; it's about a patient. Cuddy doesn't want to argue with House about letting Naomi into that drug trial, to which House says he's more focused on his living patients right now. Cuddy didn't know about poor Naomi's death that, by the way, probably wouldn't have happened if her first C-section wasn't cancelled, and stops short at the news. House hands her Olive the Vegan Baby's CT scans, which show that her weight loss was not due to the raw baby diet, but to DiGeorge syndrome, which caused Olive's thymus gland to whither away, explaining the weight loss and the poor immunity system that brought her to House in the first place. House tells Cuddy that the test that confirms this will be coming back soon, and that they should put Olive on immunoglobulin replacement therapy when it does. He won't be involved with any of that, though, since he assumes he'll be losing his job within the ten minutes. He limps away. Cuddy watches him and sighs sadly, because losing $100 million is not fun.
Sean looks at his dead wife. Foreman enters and softly informs him that his son is doing well. Sean kisses his wife goodbye.
The board votes immediately, and everyone is in favor of sacking House...except Cuddy. Vogler tells Cuddy that she might as well just go with firing House, because it's going to happen anyway. Cuddy says she can't do it. Vogler asks what changed between yesterday and today; did House take her out to dinner or buy her roses? Certain members of the board snicker at this, because they know if they don't laugh at Vogler's jokes, the motion will be to fire one of them. And also because the notion of House giving anyone flowers is pretty funny. Cuddy says that all House did was his job. Vogler says that House's life-saving abilities aren't the point here, to which Cuddy responds that saving lives kind of is the point of hospitals. Vogler says that House runs around like a madman who's accountable to no one, and Cuddy points out that Vogler is just as unaccountable. At least House doesn't act like he owns everyone. At this, Vogler moves to vote to fire Cuddy, because he doesn't understand when he's gone too far. A doctor asks Cuddy why she's risking her career to save House, of all people. Cuddy says that if people are voting the way Vogler wants them to because of his money, then he really does own them after all. "You have a choice," Cuddy speechifies. "Maybe the last real one you'll have here." And she leaves to let the board vote. I think we can all be glad that Sean the Non-Decision Maker isn't on the hospital board. He would have dropped four coffee pots by now.
Night falls on the hospital. Champagne corks are popped in House's office, where all the guys toast to Cuddy's genius (and even House has to admit that that's what it was) in saving their jobs. Cuddy stops by, and is warmly greeted and given a big flute of champagne. She proposes a toast to herself, "great champion," who saved everyone's jobs. And if it's poor form to toast to yourself, it's even worse to down the entire contents of your glass afterwards. Everyone starts to realize that Cuddy isn't in a partying mood. She puts the empty glass down and says that if House had the ability to get along with people, the hospital would still have its hundred million dollars, which could have saved lives and helped a lot of people. Keeping House may have been "the lesser of two evils," but that doesn't mean they should be happy about it. Much like how I doubt Sean is passing out cigars over in the neonatal ICU to celebrate his decision to choose the lesser of two evils. Having ruined everyone's good time, Cuddy leaves to mourn, and suggests that everyone else do the same.
And they will, in a montage. Sean holds his baby. Foreman watches him from outside the room, because they couldn't think of anything else for Foreman to do. The Vegans take care of their baby and its crappy thymus gland. Wilson unpacks his office. Chase walks by House's office as he leaves for the night. House is still at work, checking out what I'm guessing are Olive's CT scans. The episode ends there, as fortunately for us, the director chose not to show Cameron standing outside House's office window in the rain.