House (2004–2012): Season 5, Episode 17 - The Social Contract - full transcript

Am I going to have
to give a speech?

You're the publisher,
can't you do it?

I can warm them up,

but you're gonna have to get over
this fear of public speaking

before the book tour.

Everybody! Can I have
your attention? Thank you.

Tim has a few words to say.

There you go, Tim.
They're warmed up.

(PEOPLE CHUCKLE)

(SIGHS) Well.

What do you say
at a time like this?



Seriously,
what do you say?

You could thank
people for coming.

Thank you, Nick.

Actually, I'm always
thanking Nick.

A man famous not only for
his ruthless editor's pen,

but his patient handholding
of crazy authors.

You'd think that
after three novels,

I'd start to develop
a little confidence, but...

For a book like this,
we are happy to supply the confidence.

Bestseller.

(ALL AGREEING)

Well, that's not
going to happen.

What?

Come on. Short stories
don't make money.



Short stories weren't making
money back in 1908.

You'd have to be
mathematically illiterate

to think they'd do
as well as a novel.

Okay, Nick, let's step away from the
champagne before somebody gets hurt.

You slaved over this book
right next to me.

Why would Northrop even publish it if
it's only going to tank?

Have you failed to notice
you're our star author?

Obviously, Elaine wouldn't
want to offend you.

Honey...

I'm sorry, I don't...
I don't know why I said that.

He's joking.

Nick knows as well as anyone
what you have done is art.

So is folding paper
into animal shapes,

but you don't expect
to make a living off it.

What the hell
is wrong with you?

You really think someone who goes
through 10 assistants a year

and doesn't return
her own children's phone calls

would give a damn about the state
of the American short story?

Please, be quiet.

(SNIFFLES)

I think something's wrong.

That title was
a mistake, too.

People are going to
compare you to Salinger.

(CHUCKLING) And boy, are you going
to come up short in that one.

(GASPS) Honey?

Call 911.
Help! We need help!

FOREMAN: Cameron brought
this up from the ER.

Doesn't look like
a friendship bracelet.

KUTNER: It's Phineas Gage.

The most famous case study
in medical history.

You're telling me
this patient got a rail road spike

drilled through
his frontal lobe?

No, no trauma, but he does have
frontal lobe disinhibition.

Just like Gage.

Gage was a different person
after the spike.

Argumentative, impulsive.

Whereas our guy became
a different person after chardonnay.

He was sober when
they brought him in.

There's also the nosebleed,
the collapse.

- MRI show anything?
- Nothing.

Good. What fun
would that be?

So the tumor's not in
the cool neighborhood.

It's cool
neighborhood adjacent.

A well-placed tumor
in the nasal cavity,

eroding into the brain
could do the damage.

Go stick a scope up
Phineas' nose and see what you find.

Daddy, I'm always going to win if you
keep telling me what your cards are.

Then suppose I tell you...
While I tickle you!

Mr. Greenwald, I'm Dr. Taub
and this is Dr. Kutner.

We're here for another test.
Sorry about that.

You don't look sorry.

Um. No offense.

Although you do look
kind of cheerful.

It's a little creepy.
Should I want a doctor

who's
excited about how sick I am?

- I'm not...
- We're going to put this up your nose,

scan for any problems.

I can assure you that we are completely
unexcited about that.

Excuse me, sweetie.

She has an auditory
processing disability.

Marika Balika.
You have to get off the bed.

This might be
slightly uncomfortable.

Honey, do you mind
if I step out?

I have to make sure
the final arrangements

are in place
for the breast cancer walk.

Yeah. You do that.

I'll pretend to be macho while a guy
stuffs three feet of plastic up my nose.

It's too bad
it's not your nose.

Lots more room
to maneuver.

I guess the walk
can wait 10 minutes.

Or in a sensible world,
even longer.

Just how does tying up traffic for
six hours stop breast cancer?

You know how it works,
people donate.

Why not spend six hours building houses
for Habitat for Humanity?

Or is it wrong to help two groups
of people at once?

I'll bet there are those
who have breast cancer and no home.

It's my job, Nick.

You walked yourself
last year.

To be supportive.

Because I knew you
wouldn't have sex with me if I didn't.

I'm going to make my call.

Make this go away.

God, that honker
really is huge, isn't it?

Wednesday night.

Low-Down-Blue-Meanie
versus the Incinerator.

I can't.

Let me rephrase.
Low-Down-Blue-Meanie...

WILSON: I understand
Monster Truck code.

Do you understand "can't"?

Not when it follows
Low-Down-Blue-Meanie.

Is the world coming
to an end Tuesday night?

- Otherwise, Wednesday...
- All right.

It's not "can't,"
it's "don't want to."

The fact is,
I just don't like monster trucks.

Yes, you do.

No, I don't.

You've always liked
monster trucks.

No, you've always
liked them.

I've tolerated them.

Seriously, I can only watch
so many hyped-up dune buggies

crush so many motor homes without
feeling the urge to go see La Bohéme.

And I hate opera, too.

What are you hiding?

I'm not hiding it,
I'm saying it loud and proud.

Death to monster trucks.

No nasal cancer.

And no marriage either,

if our patient keeps saying everything
that comes into his head

without regard
for the consequences.

You always led me to believe
you were one of a kind.

Luckily, jerkiness is
a temporary condition for this guy.

No, it's not.

We may be able to fix his impulse
to say his thoughts out loud,

but he's always gonna be
the guy who thinks them.

But he's also
gonna be the guy who doesn't say them.

If he spent his whole life
constructing a nice-guy persona,

isn't that as much
who he really is as anything else?

You would argue that.
You're all persona.

I agree with Wilson.
This guy's a Harry Potter.

The sorting hat was going to put Harry
in Slytherin, based on his nature.

He refused,
so he ended up in Gryffindor.

Through choice.

There's damage somewhere
in his brain. Go find it.

THIRTEEN: Are you sure
you understand?

No, I'm lying.
Except, I can't.

You ask me questions.

While I talk, you look at my brain
activity to see where it's screwed up,

then you're gonna
cut the screwed up part out to test it.

It's depressing,
but it's not rocket science.

I think he understands.

I don't mean
to be abrasive.

Especially since
you're such a pleasure to imagine naked.

- Again, sorry.
- It's okay.

Thank you for
understanding.

I'd do you, though.

Really, my apologies.
This stuff just comes out.

- It's okay.
- House paged?

Whoa. I would do her in a minute
with fudge and a cherry on top.

Would someone please explain
to this woman?

There's only so many
apologies I can...

He has frontal
lobe disinhibition.

I've already embarrassed
myself with one doctor.

Whom I am
at this moment

imagining with you in a king-sized bed
with a mirror on the ceiling.

I am so, so sorry.

But if I couldn't have
both of you together,

you would definitely be
my first choice.

Where's House?

It's like trying not
to think of an elephant.

Not that you're an elephant. Your
breasts, in fact, are all Homo sapiens.

- House isn't here.
- He wouldn't have paged me

if he couldn't watch
and enjoy the...

Your tush is like
the pistons in a Ferrari.

You're welcome.

That was for my benefit?

- You're 40 years old...
- Thirty eight.

...and the administrator
of a hospital.

Dean of medicine.

People don't get
personal with you.

Except for me, and you dismiss me
as a jerk who's jerking you around.

But that guy can
only tell the truth.

And he prefers your body to that
of a smoking young hottie.

So that was your way of saying
I look good today?

You didn't get
the slightest kick out of that?

Don't be ridiculous, House.

FOREMAN: I hope you know
your pistons are second to none.

I'm okay. I'm not jealous
of Cuddy's pistons.

Starting baseline
activation.

You sure?
You looked upset.

What he was saying
was obnoxious.

You've never been
called attractive?

He didn't call me attractive,
he cast me in his mental porno.

That's what
"attractive" means.

It means
"I'm attracted to you sexually."

"Attracted" can also mean,

"I'm attracted to the whole
package, to who you are."

Slight elevation
at transaxial 60.

It could.

It never does. It's what
women choose to hear, not what men say.

Actually, it's exactly
what men say, if they have any brains.

All right, we have
enough for a baseline.

What can we ask him
that's indiscreet,

but that
he won't hate us for knowing?

Nick, do you vote
the same way as your wife?

God, no.

Good. He's spiking at 30.

She believes I voted
for Hillary Clinton in the primary,

and Obama in the general.

You're thinking
I'm secretly Republican, right?

Wrong.

I secretly don't vote ever.

Wait, you're 46
and you've never voted?

Your voice is no longer attractive
to me with that note of disapproval.

Although I'm sure
that will pass.

Look at that.

There's a spot on the cingulate gyrus
that's not lighting up.

One vote makes
a difference?

Not mathematically...

Okay, Nick,
we've got what we need.

We can't biopsy that,
it's too close to the brain stem.

Could be neurosarcoidosis.
At least it's treatable.

So we give him steroids
and if we're right,

we should start seeing
his symptoms improve within half a day.

What are you
looking at?

I find your strong attachment

to a working democracy
to be extremely sexy.

You smooth talker.

Do you think
my nose is too big?

Relax. He also implied
my bedside manner was a little off.

You don't agree
with that, right?

No.

No one's ever mentioned
your nose before?

You're a plastic surgeon.

- They tell me it suits my face.
- It does.

Maybe. Maybe that's just
the social contract.

You tell me
I look great,

I tell you
you're a people person.

- How can you know the truth?
- You could ask for the truth.

What do you think of my nose?
Please tell me the truth.

It's fine,
it's a nose.

Just proving a point.

Anyone sitting here?

Just my persona.

You know, it's amazing
the way people cling on to insults.

Or what they think
are insults.

So that wasn't
an insult?

I'm not suggesting that
like our patient,

you're hiding a dark,
sarcastic core

beneath a candy shell
of compulsive niceness.

I'm not always nice.
I'm not nice to you.

Because you know nice bores me.
Hence, still nice.

No, I'm suggesting
that you have no core.

You're what whoever
you're with needs you to be.

Okay, I guess that
could be insulting.

But the interesting
question is why.

Why do you think the world will end
in chaos and destruction

if you're not there
to save it?

Because when my parents
put me in the rocket, and sent me here,

they said, "James, you will grow
to manhood under a yellow sun."

And why did you lie
about monster trucks?

I didn't.

I checked your
appointment book.

You've got tomorrow
night marked off,

but you didn't put down
what you were doing.

So you thought
someone might look at the book...

I'm playing racquetball
tomorrow night with Taub.

Why would you hide that?

Because the world
revolves around you.

I devote time
to anyone else,

you'd end up stalking me
and harassing them.

You say that as though
it wouldn't be fun.

And maybe I didn't
want to rub your nose in the fact

that we'd be doing
something you can no longer do.

Because I'm nice.

I thought you said
the steroids were gonna help him!

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Is it his heart?

EKG says heart's fine.

It's gotta be
the kidneys.

We need to get him
on dialysis.

Oh, God.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

He's on dialysis
and he's stable.

THIRTEEN: We know
it's not systemic sclerosis.

Hey.

Cyrano de Berkowitz.

Let it go.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia could
explain brain and kidney problems.

CBC showed normal
white blood cells.

So how long have you been
playing racquetball with Wilson?

Four or five times.

Could be diabetes.

Or a congenital
metabolic disorder.

Congenital disorders generally don't
wait till you're 46 to manifest.

So he's a late bloomer. His daughter
has a neurological condition.

First of all, Wilson played tennis
on his college team,

and you are a Jew.

You're not athletic.

Run to the end of
the hall and back, I'll time you.

Sandy Koufax is Jewish. Greatest
left-handed pitcher of all time.

Sandy Koufax is all you Jews
go on about, Sandy Koufax.

And the Holocaust.
It gets old.

There are dozens of congenital
conditions that fit our parameters.

We can't spend time
gene-testing for all of them

especially when we're only
guessing it's congenital.

Is a Z-shot offensive
or defensive?

It's both.

You suspected that
was a trick question.

But I could have
said neither.

Diabetes makes
more sense.

We can narrow the testing
down to 40 likely candidates.

Test for peripheral
nerve damage.

He's got
brain damage,

he's likely to have peripheral nerve
damage no matter what the cause.

Yes, that's why we should not
test him for it.

Test the daughter.

Kutner runs
the nerve test.

Taub, you may be right
about the diabetes.

Take supper away from our patient
and run a glucose tolerance test.

Oh, and the nurses
have been working so hard,

you can do the blood
draws yourself.

They have to be done
every couple of hours.

You're punishing me

because you're jealous that I'm spending
time with your best friend.

That would be petty.

I'm punishing you because now you've
joined my best friend in lying to me.

Let me know when you're ready
to confess everything.

These can become
either hot or cold.

As soon as it starts to feel
uncomfortable, I want you to tell me.

But you don't think
there's something wrong with me.

No, baby.
They're testing you to help Daddy.

Yes. What you're doing
is very important.

It's like the better
you do,

the better we know
your dad is.

It's okay.

I'll start with heat.

I know it's not his fault.

I know what he says
is involuntary, but...

It doesn't help.

Inside he's still
the same man.

Yeah, that's the problem.

Apparently he's been
thinking this stuff all along.

Whoever that same man is, it's not the
person I thought I was married to.

You Okay?

She should be feeling
something by now.

What does that mean?
Is she sick too? Marika?

Honey?

You're burned, why didn't you tell me
it started to hurt?

I wanted to help Daddy.

You said the better I do,
the better Daddy has to be.

I'm sorry.

I'm starving.

It's the only way
we can do the test.

Good thing it's you
and not Dr. Hadley.

Could you keep her
away from me?

I have a rich
imaginative life.

- I'd rather not share it.
- We all have thoughts.

I know we all have
sexual thoughts.

We have ignoble thoughts.

I just don't want those
to be who I am to people.

Especially not
to my wife.

I understand, I don't think it would be
fair to define me

by my passing thoughts.

My real choices
are my actions.

And I've never done anything
to hurt her, I've never cheated.

You're kidding me,
you've cheated?

What?

No.

Why would you say that?

Because you look
guilty as hell.

Are you serious?

Of course you're serious.

Yes, everyone knows.

God, they must think
you're a creep.

They might not know,
they might be idiots.

I just say these things.

Why'd YOU page me here?

I need you to update me
on the patient's condition.

He seems to be dead.

Why'd YOU page me here?

I need you to update me
on the patient's condition

while hitting this
against the wall.

This is the only place
we can do both.

I finished the
last blood draw.

I expect the people
who work for me to rise to a challenge.

Unless they don't
expect to work for me.

(SIGHS)

Last blood draw
was at 6:00 a.m.

His sugar levels never rose
above 120 all night.

So the glucose was normal.

It means you were wrong
about diabetes.

I still think it's
the endocrine system,

maybe I just got
the wrong gland.

You were going for thyroid
instead of pancreas? It makes sense.

(CLATTERING)

Fine! I'm not playing
racquetball with Wilson!

I was never playing
racquetball with Wilson!

I have never played
racquetball with Wilson.

I thought it would be helpful
if a department head owed me a favor,

but it's not worth this.

Not bad.
You put on a good show.

You studied up,
Wilson actually booked a court.

If you were really
a racquetball player,

you'd know that you're holding
a squash racquet.

Tell Kutner to do
a thyroid reuptake scan,

then go grab a nap
in one of the on-call rooms.

KUTNER: We're taking you to do a thyroid
reuptake scan. We think your...

I'm not going anywhere
until you explain

why my daughter has
a bandage on her hand.

You just said you wanted
to run some test.

If I'd known it would involve pain,
I'd have said, "Hell no."

It's a mild burn.

Since Marika has a neurological
disability, like you,

- we needed to make sure.
- She has no disability.

Nick, you know about her problem
with auditory processing.

Auditory processing?

That's code, for "I can't stand thinking
my daughter's not perfect."

The therapist said
Marika's test scores...

Were indeterminate.

She doesn't have a disability.
She daydreams.

She gets below average marks in school
because she's below average.

Every parent
thinks their child is above average.

- Nick!
- Do they have any idea

what the word average means?
Somebody has to be under it.

Nick, shut up!

Honey.

I'm not saying
you're stupid.

Your mother's not
the sharpest crayon in the box,

and she does great.

See, this is why
I told your mother to keep you at home.

Didn't want you here.

Marika.

Marika, wait.

(MACHINE BEEPING)
Get her...

You're burning up.

(COUGHING)

Your lungs are full of fluid,
we need to get it out.

I need 200 milligrams
of furosemide

and two milligrams
of morphine, stat.

- His temperature is 103.
- Infection.

The steroids must have
forced it into the open.

What kind of infection?
It could be anything.

Staph aureus,
tuberculosis, strongyloides.

Go back to Phineas
and get a history.

We got a history.
He hasn't been out of the country.

Get a detailed history.

No one at home is sick,
no one at work is sick,

there's no sign of ticks
or mosquitoes.

Get a more
detailed history.

Ask him again.
And again, until he remembers something.

Not you.
Kutner can do it.

You're going to be busy
with something else.

I'm here to invite you
to lunch.

Why?

I've been made. House sent me
back to you as a double agent.

Anything wrong?

Eyes are a little red.

There's a shocker.

I haven't had a good night's sleep
since this thing started.

You should get
some rest yourself.

That's a good idea.

This is going to take
some time, it will be pretty exhaustive.

Are you afraid of
what you might say while I'm here?

Yes.

Are you telling me there's something
worse than what I've already heard?

No, I don't know
what I'm going to say.

I don't know how I'm
going to hurt you next.

I think we should be around each other
as little as possible right now.

This is pathetic.

I know.

Tell Marika
I love her very much.

She understands that.

I don't think she does.

You're just saying that
to make me feel better.

Yeah.

Guy leads a boring life.
They stay home a lot.

No travel, no exotic pets.
No nearby standing water.

You sound pleased about something.
Can we get to that part?

His wife rescues dogs.

Among others, a big Rottweiler,
who's taken over the house.

Our patient hates it.

- Was the wife there to hear this?
- No.

Too bad. Keep going.

The dog marks its territory
all over the living room.

I asked what
the odds were

that he would've put down food or drink
where the dog could reach.

He said he put
a glass of juice on the floor

while he was fixing
the television.

- The dog was fixing the television?
- Yes.

Patient's eyes red?

Yeah. I'm thinking Weil's.

Bacterial.
You lucked out.

Start him on doxycycline.

If he improves,
we'll know we were right.

I told Wilson you sent me
to get information.

And now you're
telling me.

What does that make you,
a quadruple agent?

He let me print out
his e-mails.

Wow. Excellent.

Information
he wants us to have.

Did he let you print out
his deleted e-mails?

- No.
- Go back there...

As long as I was
sitting there,

thought I'd print them anyway.
Top one's the one you're looking for.

"I confirm Wednesday
at 7:00 p.m."

There's a Joan Gonzalez
in oncology. It's a consult.

Secret consult
at 7:00 p.m.?

Oh, Joan is perky.

You're wrong, there was
a patient file attached.

Where?

It was password protected.

No.

Wilson doesn't password
protect his patient files.

I'm the only one
he'd expect ever to look there,

and he knows there's
only one patient I'd want to check on.

You think
Wilson's sick?

If Wilson had cancer,

there'd be no reason for him to drive
three hours to Manhattan.

He knows he could pull strings here
to get the best treatment.

Six articles by Gonzalez.

"Managing suicidal thoughts
in oncology patients."

"Suicidal ideation in
children with leukemia."

I don't want
to ask this,

but have you ever had reason to think
he might be depressed?

No. Get out of here.

KUTNER: Your fever's down
and your lungs are clearing.

How long before this
brain thing goes away?

Infection's gone.

The damage the infection did,
you'll have to live with.

You telling me
you can't fix this?

There's got to be a way...

We'd need to remove the damaged area
in your cingulate gyrus,

but it's too close
to the brain stem to risk surgery.

You can't risk it?

But I could shop around,

and maybe some better doctors
at a better hospital...

The brain stem controls the body's
involuntary systems.

The slightest mistake
could kill you.

Even if you survive,

you may never be able to breathe
on your own again, you may never...

I get it.

I know this seems
like a lot to deal with right now,

but people have adapted to living with
all kinds of neurological deficits.

Hey, at least we can promise you
it won't get any worse.

Get the hell
out of my room.

(SIGHS)

Your assistant said that you were
out of the hospital taking a walk.

- Is there an emergency?
- I don't know, is there?

You never take a walk unless you got
something you need to think about.

Maybe you just don't have a good
statistical sampling of my walks.

The other thing you do when you need to
think is you come to my office.

Apparently, this is something

you can only discuss with
Gonzalez at New York Mercy.

Taub. Another graduate
of the House School of Being a Dick.

Private dick.

Look, I'd love to stay for the full
inquisition, but I need some hot coffee.

Of course you need hot coffee,
it's 45 degrees outside

and you left your
coat upstairs. Why?

You're going to tell me
why I forgot my coat?

Once you get outside,
the cold would have reminded you.

Could have gone back,
but you didn't.

You chose to be
uncomfortable.

Now why would someone
choose that?

Because they
hate themselves?

Has it ever occurred to you that
when I don't share something,

it might not be meant
as a challenge?

It might just mean
that I'd like there to be

one molecule of my life
that goes unexamined by Gregory House.

Nick Greenwald. I hear you're
the guy in charge.

I'm the patient
with the disinhibition.

If you're here to say thanks,
you're welcome. Now go away.

I'm not thankful.
I'm pissed.

Oh.

All the more reason
to go away.

They're talking about
sending me home.

To what? A life where I'll
continually drive away anyone who might,

for a second,
care about me?

Those are the breaks.

You could operate.

You could die.

So I'm either better or dead?
I'm okay with that.

I've always been kind of
an impatient guy.

But I've worked hard
to keep my mouth shut.

I've made my wife happy.
I've made my little girl happy.

I want that back.

Otherwise, it's no life.

I want you to remove
a small problem.

I'm not a neurosurgeon.

Your boss is.
You could assist,

I'm sure you'd like
to add to your resume.

It's too near the brain stem.
Nobody's going to touch it.

Your boss would.
He's an egomaniac.

I know 'cause I keep
seeing him at the club.

He just needs
a little push.

I'm sure by now you've kissed
his ass sufficiently.

(CHUCKLES)

Would you like me to phrase it
as "you're politically gifted"?

I could do that.

(CLEARS THROAT)
You want me to help you?

Tell me why.

Why what?

Why you care?

The puzzle's solved,
the guy's alive.

And the odds of coming out
of this surgery

with that
same status aren't that great.

My patient has
a quality of life issue.

He says awful things.
Hardly a medical condition.

When he leaves here,
he's going to lose his family.

He's going to alienate
the people he works with.

And if he ever finds a friend who's
willing to put up with his crap,

he'll be lucky.

Until he drives
them away, too.

I'll see what I can do.

You've apparently got this
whole coat thing backwards.

I may have overreacted.

You definitely overreacted.

I knew you'd
meet me halfway.

But it made me think.

You only snap
on one subject, losing people.

So I went back
to the Intel.

It's true there's only one doctor named
Gonzalez at New York Mercy,

but there's a Javier Gonzalez
who's a nurse in the psych ward.

Now who could you lose
who'd end up there?

Maybe the reason I don't always open up
to you is because it's redundant.

Daniel Wilson.

Once you've got a name,

it's amazing how much stuff
you can learn on the phone.

I mean,
if you're a doctor and you lie freely.

They found your brother
sleeping in the lobby

of an office building in Manhattan.

He got aggressive
when they asked him to leave,

and the cops took him
to the Mercy psych ward.

There've been new anti-psychotics
developed since he ran away.

He's been on them
for a couple of days. And by tonight,

he should be in shape
to talk to me.

But you're not sure
if he wants to.

I'll be in New York in a few hours,
I guess I'll find out.

Why wouldn't you
tell me this?

House, you and I,

we don't have the
normal social contract.

I don't expect you
to tell me the lies that...

I'm fully capable
of lying to you.

I've lied plenty of times.

I mean collaborative lies.

Giving someone a hand who maybe needs
to deceive themselves, just a little.

For two days,
I've been thinking about

how Danny's going to
react when he sees me.

If I said that
to anybody else, they'd say,

"Don't worry,
it'll all be all right."

You wouldn't.

Because it might
all go horribly wrong.

(CHUCKLES)

Yeah.

Yeah, it might.

In which case,
you might want some company.

FOREMAN: Your heart's beating.
First hurdle passed.

Now we need to know
if you can breathe for yourself.

(COUGHS)

(GASPS)

Oh, thank God.

Now, do you know
who you are?

Nick Greenwald,
former S.O.B.

(LAUGHS)

Thank you.

Now I can go back to my beautiful life
with my beautiful wife.

Maybe she'll stop whining
and cut me some slack

now that I've
risked my life.

It doesn't make sense.
We removed the problem.

We removed the damage.
Maybe we were wrong about the problem.

I need to believe
we can get through this.

FOREMAN:
Temperature's 94.5.

Do you really think
I'm stupid?

Honey, you're not stupid,
you're just... Please don't do this.

Could be the effect
of the surgery.

Do you at least
respect me, Nick?

What do you think of
what I do for a living?

I think people who publicize
important things

are people who can't do
important things themselves.

Honey, stop. Don't.

Do you regret
marrying me?

- 94.2.
- Sometimes.

- Everybody wonders.
- Get me a heating blanket.

Do you even love me?

Yes.

I don't know why.

Aud...

Wait. Let me...

(MACHINE BEEPING)

V-tach! Get me the paddles.

FOREMAN: Clear.

Echo says his heart
is structurally fine,

but his temperature
is still dropping.

He's headed
for hypothermia.

I can't reach House.
It just goes to voice-mail.

Means we were wrong
about infection.

His temperature's
just going up and down

because something's
playing with his thermostat.

Which means
the brain damage is spreading.

What causes brain damage
and nosebleed,

and involves the lungs,
heart, and kidneys?

Cancer. We could text him.

It's not cancer.

Normal PSA, normal blood smear,
colonoscopy normal.

Do a full body scan.

House hates
full body scans.

- House isn't here.
- House is right.

Everybody's got three or four
meaningless anomalies

that'll come up on a scan.

Chasing each one will take
time we don't have.

Feel free to
send him an IM.

(SIGHS)

You told me you saw your brother once,
after he disappeared.

Thirteen years ago.

I used to go to Princeton
whenever I could.

I must have hit every
homeless shelter in town.

Then one day, I'm just sitting
at this deli having a sandwich,

I look out the window
and there he is.

He was gone by the time
I got outside.

That's why you were so eager,

when I told you there was
a job in Princeton.

I thought it was
just my charm.

(CELL PHONE RINGING)

That's the team,
shouldn't you answer?

They've already texted me to say
they're doing something stupid.

Small abdominal aneurysm.

Irrelevant.
What else you got?

A cyst in the pleura
around the lungs.

Also irrelevant.
Couldn't cause any of the symptoms.

There's a density
in the liver,

could be a vascular
malformation.

If he's got multiple AVMs, screwed up
blood flow would explain everything.

We can only spot them
with angiography.

We'll have to do targeted
scans with contrast,

and then embolize each one.

Can we do that
before he freezes?

We'll find out.

The spell-correct on Kutner's phone
has got a hair-trigger.

Either that, or the patient
has a "cyclone"

in the "floral"
of his lungs.

You took a walk in 45-degree weather
and you left your coat behind.

Go ahead.

I think you were
punishing yourself.

I think you wanted to feel what it
would be like to be homeless

in a New Jersey winter.

That tells me guilt.

That tells me
something happened.

The schizophrenia started
when he was a teenager.

When he was in college,

he was on meds,

but he'd still think a professor was out
to get him because he got a B,

or he would fight with his roommates
because he never showered.

Where were you?

Med school.

He called me every day,
talked for hours.

I didn't have hours.

Interesting.

Later for that. Go on.

I was tired of being the guy
that everybody counted on.

So one night
Danny called...

One night Danny called,
crying, upset about something.

I had to study for an exam.
So I hung up.

Took my things, I went to the library

where I wouldn't have to hear the phone
ring.

I wonder how
that turned out.

My mother called me
the next day,

Danny had run away
and left his meds behind.

Which I knew meant that he would never
be able to choose to come back,

because he'd be so
detached from reality.

So you made your one effort to live
a normal, selfish life,

and the universe
immediately smacked you down.

And because we're wired
to find meaning in semi-random events,

you decided never to be
that careless again.

You don't think
that's a little facile?

Actually, I don't.
I think you did it consciously.

You developed your
people pleasing talents

the way an Olympic athlete
develops his muscles.

Talk about an overreaction
to a single event.

It was a pretty
big event.

Hanging up the phone? That's what
you're blaming all this on.

That's the behavior
you've been trying to correct.

As though nothing else
went wrong in your brother's life.

Of course he overreacted,
too, but...

His glucose was normal.

We're not talking about
my brother anymore, are we?

(CLEARS THROAT)

It's House. AVMs don't
explain his glucose.

Since this is a significant moment
in my life and all, I'll...

Yeah.

I think I'll just
go in and...

Explain that.

Right.

We have given him steroids.
His glucose should have been elevated.

That wannabe cyst
you found in the whole body scan,

without the glucose,
it's an irrelevant cyst,

with the glucose,
it's a relevant fibroma.

He has
Doege-Potter Syndrome.

His fibroma is secreting
human growth hormone

which acts like insulin,
lowering his glucose.

That doesn't explain
the organ failure, the brain damage.

This whole thing
is an overreaction.

That one small fibroma,
it's benign,

but his body's acting
like it's an invader.

His antibodies went to war against it
and got carried away,

attacked his other systems.
Take out the fibroma,

he'll be a happy
hypocrite again in no time.

NICK: Maybe I should
call a cab.

Your wife's
probably just late.

Yeah.

I'm sorry about,

you know,
things I said.

I have
a conspicuous nose.

It suits your face.

I'm sorry I'm late.

Traffic.

I have some good news.

I was going to tell you,
and then you got sick,

it didn't seem like
the best time.

I've been offered
a better position.

I'd be coordinating cancer
awareness walks in three cities.

That's great.
Congratulations.

I know you've worked
hard for this.

Thank you.

Is Marika okay?

I'm sure she's moved on.

Kids are so resilient.

You Okay?

I'll be seeing Danny
again next week.

I'd like you to meet him.

Sure.

Sounds interesting.

Go on.

I thought seeing him again
would change everything.

It'd be wonderful
or terrible. Instead...

We're just strangers.
It's kind of anticlimactic.

(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)

Which is better
than terrible.

Go on.

Does it bother you
that we have no social contract?

(SCOFFS)

My whole life is
one big compromise.

I tiptoe around everyone
like they're made of china.

I spend all my time
analyzing.

"What will the effect be
if I say this?"

And then there's you.
You're a reality junkie.

If I offered you
a comforting lie,

you'd smack me
over the head with it.

Let's not change that.

Okay-

No. See, this...

If you were implementing
a social contract, you'd say that,

but only because
it makes me feel better.

It's kind of fun watching you
torture yourself.

Do you think things will work out
with my brother?

No.

But when it does go wrong,
it won't be your fault.

Thanks, House.

You do actually
like monster trucks?

Absolutely.