Runaways - Recap

A father brings his daughter Callie into the clinic when she complains about difficulty breathing. House examines the teenager and soon realizes that "father" and daughter are unrelated, and that Callie paid off the man to bring her in. He figures that Callie is homeless and she starts to leave, but he points out that she's bleeding from the ear. House is intrigued when he's unable to find any obvious reason for the bleeding, tells her to pay off the fake dad, and says that he has no idea what's wrong with her.

The team is surprised when House holds a differential at a diner 30 miles away from the hospital. He claims that he just wanted to go there now that his ankle monitor is off, and begins running the differential. Adams is more interested in Callie's environment and wants to call Social Services. House refuses, explaining that he promised not to in return for Callie's promise that she wouldn’t leave. As they rule out homeless conditions such as malnutrition and HIV, everyone but House is surprised to see Foreman come in with his mistress, Anita. House takes photos of them together and Foreman comes over to claim that Anita is a pharmaceutical rep and they're having a business lunch. House notes that Foreman wouldn't have gone 30 miles away from the hospital for a lunch date, and Foreman ignores him and goes back to Anita. Taub suggests that Callie has a cerebral infection and House agrees, proscribing ceftriaxone. Adams says that they should determine if Callie was vaccinated for the infection but House figures that the girl will lie either way and walks off, leaving Taub with the check.



As Adams and Taub administer the treatment, Adams tries to bond over her experience running away from home. Callie figures that Adams just went to stay with friends over a parental argument, and explains that her life at home sucked and she had no other choice to leave. Adams goes through Callie's pack and finds a history book, and Callie insists that she doesn't plan to stay homeless forever.

At the clinic, House is treating George, a Civil War re-enactor who portrays a general and has diarrhea. Sheldon, George's brother, is the one who brought his George in and is also a re-enactor. He insists on remaining in character, much to House's annoyance.

Taub and Chase go to the cafeteria to meet with Foreman and tell him that they deleted the photos from House's phone. Relieved, Foreman admits that he wasn't planning on having an affair, but he's happy with the woman even though he feels guilty about ruining her marriage. Taub is on his side despite the fact that his affair ruined his marriage, and explains that it was thanks to the affair that he has two daughters. However, he has custody that weekend but admits that he can't enjoy being with them because he thinks babies are boring.

Using the history book, Adams tracks down Callie's school, only to discover that she's registered under a fake name. The address she listed is for a foreclosed home. Adams and Park go there and discover that Callie has food stored there, including a great deal of beer. Park doesn't see a problem with Callie's lifestyle as long as she's flourishing, but Adams doesn't feel it's a suitable environment for a teenage girl. They continue to look around and discover that the pipes beneath the sink are covered in mold. They return to the hospital and Adams tells Callie that they need to treat her for a fungal infection. The girl objects, insisting she can get the medication at a clinic. However, when she tries to walk away, she collapses because she can't feel her legs.



House calls for a differential meeting at a skeet-shooting range, but he's horrible at it. Adams wants to call Social Services but House disagrees, insisting that the girl is fine on her own. Chase suggests a diagnosis of vasculitis and House tells them to treat it with steroids. When Adams pushes to call Social Services, House bets her a successful shot that she can make the call. If she misses, he fires her. Adams takes the wager and hits the clay pigeon.

A Social Service worker comes to see Callie in her room, but Adams realizes that she’s a hooker. She complains to Foreman, who calls House in. House admits that he hired the hooker and impersonated a doctor to tell the real worker that Callie had left. Once Adams leaves, Foreman threatens to give House extra hours at the clinic and House threatens to reveal the photos instead. When Foreman points out that the photos were erased, House produces the hard copies that he’s taken of Foreman and Anita at other places. He advises Foreman to give in rather than mess up both of their lives and leaves.

As he leaves, House runs into Wilson, who accuses House of protecting Callie because he sees himself in the girl. House denies it and Wilson says that he’ll prove it when Callie’s parents show up and House protects his patient from them.

At home, Taub tries to entertain his daughters but gets bored and starts reading DVR programming instructions. Later when he’s at the hospital, he admits to Adams that he’s an ass. She points out that all babies are boring and Taub just has to keep at it. They find Callie packing and she tells them that her mother beat her and she doesn’t trust the foster system. The real Social Service worker arrives with Callie’s mother, Ellen Rogers, and Ellen insists that things are different after two years. Callie doesn’t believe her and then starts coughing up blood.

At home, Taub entertains his daughter but quickly grows bored. He notices a book of DVR instructions beneath the couch and starts reading it. At the hospital, Taub admits to Adams that he’s an ass, and she admits that more kids are boring but he’ll get over it eventually. They go to Callie’s room and discover that she’s packing. She says that her mother beat her but she doesn’t trust the system. Adele Brown from Social Services arrives with Callie’s mother, Ellen Rogers. She says that things are different after two years but Callie doesn’t believe her. Callie starts coughing and then vomits up blood.



The team finds House at a bar betting on turtle racing. While the rest of the team suggests Zollinger-Ellison, Adams wants to discuss Callie’s family relationships. She figures that Callie isn’t lying about her mother beating her, but House doesn’t care. He tells the team to get permission from Ellen to an endoscopy to confirm Zollinger-Ellison, and points out to Adams that it only matters if Social Service thinks that Ellen beat her daughter.

Adams goes to Ellen and gets permission for the endoscopy. Ellen explains that she turned to drugs because she couldn’t handle her husband’s death, but she never hit Callie.

Foreman invites Anita to his apartment in the middle of the day but explains that they need to discuss House’s attempt to blackmail him. When he says that they have to stop seeing each other, Anita tells him that she already told her husband about her affair, and he already suspected something was going on. The husband is apparently okay with her seeing another man, and Anita assures Foreman that she has no intention of giving him up.

George has returned to the hospital, having shot himself in the foot with a blank when his hands went number. He apologies for Sheldon’s earlier behavior, explaining that his brother stays in character all time. The two brothers were estranged for years until they found common ground with Civil War reenactments.



As Adams treats Allie, Callie admits that she lied earlier and that her mother didn’t hit her. What did happen is that Ellen couldn’t keep a job so Callie was the one who had to be the parent, cooking and working two jobs to keep them afloat. Eventually she figured that it would be best if she was the grown-up on her own terms. Adams insists that Ellen has changed, but Callie figures that eventually her mother will go back to her old habits.

While they run the endoscopy, Chase and Adams discuss the situation. Chase doesn’t believe that people can change and agrees with Callie. They find an ulcer but it’s in the esophagus, confirming that it isn’t Zollinger-Ellison. The ulcer tarts bleeding and the team stabilize Callie and then meet for differential. Adams argues that Callie is an alcoholic and inherited it from her mother. House prefers a berry aneurysm for the diagnosis and suggests that it comes and goes which is why it didn’t turn up on the earlier tests. Adams wants to take her diagnosis to Callie and Ellen, but House tells her that he’s decided it and orders them to perform a cerebral angiogram to locate the aneurysm and then repair it with surgery.



Adams and Taub tell Ellen and Callie about the aneurysm, but Callie picks up on Adams’ reluctance and asks her for the truth. Disobeying House, Adams tells Callie that she’s an alcoholic. Callie denies it, saying she keeps the beer for payments and for an occasional drink with her family. She refuses to have the surgery, but Taub reminds her that Ellen has the final say. When Callie tells Ellen that she’s not an alcoholic, her mother notes that she never believed she was an addict either. She asks for a few minutes alone to think and leaves the room.

An angry House soon finds out what Adams did and calls her in. He warns her that she’s on thin ground and her job is to carry out the diagnosis once he’s decided it. He warns Adams not to project her feelings onto Callie, and figures that Adams doesn’t want to believe that a teenager can be happy on their own. Disgusted, House goes to see Ellen, telling Adams that Ellen will feel guilty when her daughter dies of the aneurysm she decided not to let them treat. He finds Ellen and sits down next to her, and tells her that Callie would be best off if Ellen didn’t make decisions for her. House takes some Vicodin and tells Ellen that she should leave the decisions up to him, but she insists that she won’t abandon her daughter. He doesn’t believe it, saying that Callie is better off without Ellen, and insists that he’ll do the surgery and worry about Social Services later. As he limps away, Ellen notices that he left his Vicodin bottle behind. She picks it up and looks at it longingly... and then goes to give it to House, and tells him to treat Callie for alcoholism.



Chase and Foreman visit Taub as he tries to play with his children, and Foreman worries about why Anita told her husband about the affair and that he knows he’s being hurt. After entertaining the babies, Chase tells him that he should be happy now that he can have guilt-free and commitment-free sex. When Taub complains that Chase is getting along with his daughters, Chase tells him that he should be more empathetic.

As Adams treats Callie for alcoholism, she points out that the Social Service report indicates that Ellen is keeping off the drugs. She also tells Callie about House’s test with the Vicodin, but Callie is angry that Ellen wouldn’t take her word about her drinking. Adams suggests that Ellen is trying to act like a mother, Callie tells her that it’s too little and too late.

Wilson catches up to House and accuses him of protecting Callie against her parent, just like he said House would earlier. Surprisingly, House admits that he’s hopeful that the alcoholism treatment is a success, although he quickly backtracks when Wilson calls him on it. When Wilson goes to his office, he finds Taub waiting for him. Taub wants to discuss empathy, much to Wilson’s surprise, and wonders how Wilson is such a nice guy to all of his patients. Wilson finally suggests that the key is to focus on himself rather than the patients when trying to find common ground, and a satisfied Taub leaves.

Foreman meets Anita at a diner and asks her why she confessed to the affair. Anita insists that it was the right thing to do and assures Foreman that it won’t change things behind her. He asks her to lie to her husband and says that the affair is over, even though they’ll still keep meeting. Anita doesn’t understand and then gets up and leaves.



House returns to the clinic and discovers George and Sheldon are back, and they’re vomiting. He points out that their uniforms are cheap polyester, and they’re suffering from antimony poisoning since polyester is treated with antimony. Disgusted, George accuses Sheldon of buying cheap uniforms, and his brother insists that they were authentically cheap. As the two brothers fight, House savors the irony of brother fighting brother.

As Adams treats Callie, Ellen brings her daughter a banana muffin and says it’s like the ones they had on their trip to St. Petersburg. Callie wonders if her mother was high on the trip, and Ellen insists that she always waited until Callie was asleep or away to take drugs. The teenager takes a bite of the muffin and passes out, and Adams gets the girl into surgery. Chase performs the operation but finds no signs of an aneurysm. Callie’s BP drops and they realize they only have a few hours until her body shuts down.

Back in differential, the team tries to figure out Callie’s illness. Adams mentions the St. Petersburg trip and House notes that it was two years ago. However, he gets an idea and goes to see Ellen. House asks her if Callie ever went swimming in a lake or pond during their vacation. When Ellen admits that she did, House goes to the OR and explains that Callie has ascariasis, which is caused by parasites in feces. When Callie went swimming, the parasites got into her and laid eggs. A recent jolt knocked them loose and they got into her systems, and their steroid treatment caused them to become active in the esophagus. House orders treatment and assures Ellen that her daughter will be fine.



Later, Ellen and Adams go to Callie’s room, and Ellie insists that things will be better. However, they discover that Callie has left on her own and left a note. After reading the note, Adams finds House and tells him that Callie felt the same way that he did, and that people don’t change. Rather than see her mother slip into addiction again, Callie wanted to leave and remember Ellen as she was at that moment. Adams asks if House is satisfied with the end of the case, and House says that he only wanted to solve the case. He wasn’t interested in solving the problems between mother and daughter, and tells Adams to find absolution on her own time.

At home, Taub can’t get interested in his daughters so he starts reading a sports magazine. When he starts making humorous noises to go with the players, the babies laugh at him and he smiles and keeps on doing it.

As House leaves for the night, he sees Foreman working tonight. Foreman tells him what happened and says that he’s not an affair guy. House assures him that he just lost interest because it wasn’t exciting and dangerous, and Foreman will soon seek something else and escalate the stakes. When Foreman insists that he isn’t like House, House just smiles, notes that at least Foreman doesn’t have a limp, and walks away.



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