Chapter 53 - Ch.53

The next morning Alex and I part once we reach the Hospital, like normal I make my way to House's office. Once there, like usual it is empty, so with a sigh I sit down and do my now normal Reddit browsing. Then a few minutes after I sat down, I got a message from House telling me to come to one of the classrooms inside the building right next to the Hospital. As this Hospital has medical schools nearby use it to help teach new students. 

'Great, so starts the huge bullshit of House messing we a large group of people,' I think letting out a heavy sigh and making my way to the classroom. 

Walking inside I see House who is nowhere to be seen, though I can see forty people waiting inside the room. They are of all ages and races, from new Doctors to some who appear to have several decades of experience under their belt. Though for some reason there appear to be more women than men, I can only guess House did that on purpose for some reason. 

"Dr. House?" one of the people say with a confused look as I entered from the staff section of the room. 

"He wishes!" House says entering right behind me before I can respond as he eyes up the people in the classroom. 

"Time for us to start a Hunger Games for the two spots," House whispers to me as he walks past me to stand in front of everyone. 

I do let out a chuckle hearing him, then realize he might use me to mess with these people too. So I stare at House trying to figure out what his mind has going on, as I did not watch House in my past life past the first couple of seasons. As a Doctor, I didn't really care about watching a show about Doctors. 

"So, your first test is to help diagnose this patient. However! There will be no note-keeping or paper trails! I want everyone to keep this in your mind only, to see who has a better memory," House says while a woman in her mid-thirties walks into the room and sits down on a chair House places in front of everyone. 

The group begins asking questions to the patient with no one taking notes, except for a few I see secretly doing it. However, I don't care as I'm trying to understand the point of this. I can only guess House is messing with them, but it appears the woman is nervous slightly.

'Maybe she is a real patient and wants this off the books… But would House really do something like that… Yeah he would,' I think as House begins separating the group into teams, with one even being told to wash his car. 

"House what is going on?" I say once everyone leaves with House and I the only ones left in the classroom. 

"What do you mean?" House says with a look that I came to understand as him hiding something or in denial. 

"Jesus, House! This is completely illegal! If we get caught treating someone without the pro–" I start to say realizing that the woman is a real patient wanting to be treated off record. 

"Oh, who cares! It's not that bad, don't be dramatic," House says waving off my panic. 

"House, I'm not losing my license over this," I say to him with a glare. 

"Which is why you aren't going to help. Keep working on your surgical hours. I hear there is a big brain surgery going on today. I just wanted you to meet the newest possible team members," House says to me dismissing me from the classroom. 

"Fine, then I was never here," I say to him and he nods his head. 

Later that day I heard Cuddy found out and gave House hell. However, she tried talking to me first, though I'm not a snitch. One of the other people from the group ratted House out, getting them fired. Somehow, House convinced Cuddy to let him keep up with this giant mess of hiring two more people. 

Over the next few weeks, I just kept myself out of that mess, while getting as many surgery hours as I could. I heard from House as he'd talk to me to tell me about the mess anyway, by this point only four people were left. His nicknames for the women were Cutthroat Bitch (Amber) and Thirteen (Hadley). While the other two were called Taub and Kutner. 

"Gabe! There you are, didn't you see my messages?" House says as I come out of a several-hour-long surgery. I'm almost done with the minimum required hours for being a lead surgeon. However, among the staff, I'm considered one of the best as my past experience helped me with that. 

"I was in a very intensive surgery for the past few hours," I say as I change back into my normal scrubs and lab coat. 

"Well, come with me. The idiots that are still trying out are messing up. We need someone else to give their opinion. Plus you like rock right? The guy is a local musician," House says to me as we walk to the floor where this patient is. On the way there House explained to me what they tried and his symptoms. 

"I see the prodigal son is here," Amber says seeing me enter with House, as the others came to dislike me. Only Wilson and I ever received House's 'kindness' if you can call his kindness even a kindness. 

"It's hard to work alongside your betters isn't it Cutthroat Bitch?" House says hearing her statement, making everyone snicker at her. Now Amber is glaring at us both even more. 

"I'm gonna talk with the patient," I say as House just nods his head, while they discuss the issue further. 

"Who are you? Another Doctor who can't figure out my problem?" the patient who appears in his late twenties, or early thirties says once I enter the room. 

"Maybe… Though give me a second," I say while reading his chart. 

"Is there anything you can tell me about yourself, that you didn't already tell the others?" I say while doing some basic checkups as he tells me about himself with a sigh. 

"So, as confused as the others?" the man says with a groan in pain. 

"From the looks of it… I believe you have measles from the kids you are always hanging around," I say to him making me confused as to why the others didn't think of something so simple. 

'Then again he is not showing the normal symptoms,' I think seeing no sign of measles. 

'Plus House hates talking to the patients, so that's why he probably didn't think of it,' I continue to think as I grab the necessary meds for measles. 

"What really?... How come the others…" the man says with House walking into the room and the others behind him. 

"Because House hates talking to people, especially patients. While the others… well I'm not sure," I say looking at them and begin treating the man. 

"What is it?" House says seeing me treat him for something, while the others are behind him looking on with curious faces. 

"Measles, you'd have figured it out sooner if you talked to him," I say smirking at House who rolls his eyes. 

"He's not showing any symptoms!" Amber says and the others nod their heads in agreement. 

"He is a heavy drug abuser. What is one of the main problems with drug abuse? That's right, immune system deficiency. So his body can barely fight it off and has no time to show the symptoms of the virus," I say as House nods his head agreeing with me. 

"Gabe is right. You four are all idiots, maybe I shouldn't hire any of you. I was right all along, we just need Gabe and me," House says messing with them as they all become annoyed. 

"Thanks, man," the patient says before quickly falling asleep due to his exhaustion. 

"Everyone come with me, Gabe that means you too," House says as we all follow him back to the classroom. 

"Now for the final results! Who is voted off the island and who stays?" House says once we are all in the classroom with the four others sitting down in the front row. 

"Cutthroat Bitch! You played a good game but for the wrong reasons. The results don't always count, and sometimes to work for me you would have to be willing to lose. So you're fired!" House says shooing Amber away and she gets up looking ready to explode, but gives everyone one last hate-filled glare before leaving. 

"Thirteen! You're fired too. I'd have kept you but I only have two spots open," House says not as dramatically only because he already didn't like Amber. Thirteen looks completely disheartened at the news but nods her head and takes her leave. 

So now my new teammates are Kutner and Taub. Kutner is an average-sized Middle Eastern man around my age maybe a few years older, with black hair and brown eyes. Taub is a short middle-aged white balding man, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Apparently, Taub is here because he lost his previous practice of plastic surgery. 

An hour later as we are all talking in House's office Cuddy comes in and pulls him into his private office area, leaving us in the main area. Then the two came back in after having what looked like a heated argument while she gestured to the two new members. Kutner and Taub both looked confused and nervous that maybe Cuddy didn't want them.

"So it seems our team will have four members… Thirteen is joining us. Oh and if for whatever reason I'm not around, Gabe is in charge," House says while Thirteen comes into the room and then points to me. 

"Wait what?" I say taken back at being placed in second in command. 

"Out of these three morons, you are the smartest. It showed today, plus I trust you the most compared to the others," House says while Cuddy just sighs and leaves now that the team is officially complete. 

"We are done for the day. You all can stay and get to know one another better or whatever. I'm out," House says leaving immediately while the four of us look at one another for a few seconds. 

"So how long have you worked with House?" Kutner says breaking the awkward silence between us. 

"Officially, only a couple of months now. But I've known him for years, ever since I was in med school. He considered me his protegee and so already had a position for me once I left med school," I say to them as they all widen their eyes realizing I have the least experience among them, in this life at least. 

"Shit! You must be just like House than… I mean intelligence-wise," Kutner says correcting himself. 

"That's what House says, but sometimes I feel like I'm smarter than him," I say to them and smirk at saying the second part making them all laugh. 

"Any advice for us?" Hadley (Thirteen) says to me. 

"Don't let House bully you and stand up for what you believe is right. However, remember there are times to bite your tongue and listen to him," I say telling them what I know about House and have experience personally with him. 

Over the next hour, we all talk and get to know one another better. While we share stories of experiences we've had while being doctors. I have a lot of stories, especially from my past life, but I just keep them to myself. By the end, we all feel like more of a team before we each head home.