House

We're starting a fund.

Then you don't need me.

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

His fault.

We're family. We depend on each other.

We're not family.

We're co-workers.

He's not even that anymore.

I can't believe you just said that.

Can't come between a man and his beer money.

See the big, heavy machinery?

I'm sorry, but he should give.

You gave.

Go back to work.

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

It's not like I asked him.

Also covered for you labor day weekend.

But hey,

it's America.

If you don't want to contribu--

If you don't want to cont--

Oh, God!

Get an ambulance.

# #

Good morning. Don't wanna hear it.

So I take it you did not ask Cuddy out.

Yeah. - Yeah "I didn't" or yeah "I did"?

Whichever one means you almost had me convinced

it was a good idea.

Oh.

Nothing to say? - No.

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

Whichever one means no.

Is this some kind of reverse--

No.

House?

16-year-old girl with fluid in her lungs.

No previous trauma, lung, or cardiac issues.

Gram stain was negative. No bacteria, no pneumonia.

She's a factory worker.

Means she probably works close

to a lot of recent immigrants.

Thank God some of those offshore sweat shop jobs

are coming back to America.

She's an emancipated minor.

In a factory?

Either an Olympic gymnast who busted her leg,

a child star who blew all her sequel money on drugs,

or she's just a lying runaway.

Her parents died last year. No relatives.

To avoid foster care, she got a G.E.D.

and got emancipated.

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

She'd be having G.I. problems.

Pregnancy's more likely.

Sparks a fluid overload, hits the lungs,

causes the pulmonary edema.

Her history says she's not sexually active.

And our history says she could be lying.

But not every teenager is having sex.

But every teenager is stupid.

Teenagers on their own are stupider.

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

On the one hand, Kutner's right.

Maybe she's a sweet young thing,

not a screw-up lying through her teeth.

On the two hand,

a pregnancy test only takes five minutes,

and we no longer kill rabbits.

So in conclusion,

shut up, do the tests.

What else? - Drugs could damage the heart.

Pressure imbalance allows fluid to build up in the lungs.

Tox screen's clean.

For drugs used recently.

Not for drugs used before recently.

16 doesn't automatically mean a risky lifestyle.

Didn't we just have this conversation?

Kutner trusts her. Someone else doesn't.

So, in conclusion,

shut up.

Check her home and work for toxins or drugs.

Kutner and Foreman, do an echo.

Find the extent of the heart damage.

Kutner can do the echo on his own.

Yes...But he'll be very lonely.

So I have to ask why?

I've been asked to help run a clinical trial.

That okay with you?

Good for your career.

Great for your street cred.

What's in it for me?

You have four doctors

and never more than one case.

It means I have time to work on other things.

And they'll have more chances to step up.

Stand on their own

and if there's an emergency with Annie,

should she wait until you finish grooming lab rats?

If there's a problem with Sophia

or any other patient, you know I'll be there.

The patient is my priority.

No.

Oh, do you want a reason?

Clinical trials take time. Your time is my time.

I told you, I don't do drugs.

Still a good idea to check your heart.

Something else could have damaged it.

You find it hard being all on your own?

Having to do everything without--

drugs to ease my pain?

That's not what-- teenager on her own?

I wouldn't trust me either.

I meant it must be hard.

No one there to back you up.

I know you're trying to be nice,

but I'm not into the whole pity thing.

I was actually doing the "I get it" thing.

I lost my parents when I was six.

It doesn't go away.

But it gets easier. You learn to deal.

I still get nervous when there's a knock on the door.

Always think it's the State Trooper...

with more bad news.

You already got the worst news and survived.

That's sorta the upside.

Your heart's healthy.

Isn't that good news?

For your heart, yeah.

But it also means we still don't know what's wrong.

Checkbook balanced, place spotless.

Looks like she builds her own furniture.

If you're this grown up at 16, what happens at 30?

You turn back into a kid. Like Kutner.

Kutner's not that bad.

He needs everything to be nice.

He wants to see the best in everyone.

Kitchen's clear.

Yeah, friendly is a dangerous thing.

There is such a thing as too trusting.

Corollary is there is such a thing

as not trusting enough.

Too much, you get hurt.

Not enough, you don't live.

So the object in life is to get hurt

just the right amount?

Excuse me if I don't go out of my way

to take relationship advice from you.

And trust...

should be earned.

Bong means nothing. Drugs are irrelevant.

Relevant if she's taking them.

Even if she is: irrelevant.

Echo showed no heart damage.

Would that be the echo that Foreman chose

not to run with you

after I dashed his new drug discovery dreams?

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

I didn't screw up the echo.

I know. No structural heart damage.

So if it's not the heart... - It's the heart.

Didn't you just say it's not?

Not all heart damage has to be structural.

Drugs could have caused intermittent tachycardia.

Irregular heartbeat would account for the pulmonary edema.

The edema was acute. Vasculitis makes more sense.

There's no sign in her blood work.

And if she had vasculitis,

she'd be too weak to work in a factory.

She builds her own furniture.

You think she skips work

because she's feeling a little weak?

She needs steroids.

Steroids could cause an irregular heartbeat,

making her current one irregular-er-er.

Foreman.

Start her on beta-blockers.

The rest of you, do anything

that isn't starting her on beta-blockers.

Start her on the treatment.

Page me if you need me.

Irregular heartbeat causes blood to back up behind the heart

and into the lungs.

The beta-blockers keep this from happening.

I thought the test showed my heart was fine.

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

So you don't believe me or the test.

You guys are more cynical than I am.

We found the bong in your apartment.

You went into my apartment?

Extended drug use can damage--

The bong belongs to my ex.

It's why he's ex.

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

No.

You have no reason to trust me.

You have to do your treatment.

The other possibility is you have vasculitis.

The treatment for that is steroids.

If you've been using drugs, if they've damaged your heart