House: Joy to The World (Episode #611)

Kids can be so mean! Poor Natalie, an overweight teenager, is being forced by the cool kids at school to make fun of a teacher during a choir concert.  Before she can even get the words out, she collapses on stage and starts vomiting.  Cuddy takes a particular interest in this case, even going as far as to make House take the case.  Being one doctor down due to Foreman's clinical trials, Thirteen, Kutner and Taub have to step up their game and diagnose a young girl before it's too late.

While the team starts their differential, House is up to his old holiday tricks again.  Taub notices a wrapped present on House's desk, and hands it to him.  After House throws the gift in the garbage, Taub retrieves it only to learn it's an antique surgical book, given by what looks to be a secret admirer.  House throws the gift back in the trash and tells the team to figure out what drugs Natalie's "friends" slipped her.  Of coarse, the kids deny any wrong doing, however, Chase was sneaky, getting one of the cool kids to break and tell him they slipped Natalie Mushrooms.  Now, I have heard of slipping pills into someone's drink, however, how could someone slip a moldy mushroom to a teenager without them realizing something was up?  Weird.

Anyway, Simon, a teenage stud, seems to be the dealer of these magical mushrooms, and Chase is determined to nail him to the wall.  Taub and Kutner head to the high school where the kids attend to search their lockers.  Obviously, they found more 'shrooms in Simon's locker, and shockingly, they find a huge bottle of pain pills in Natalie's locker.  Maybe the cool kids aren't to blame.  Meanwhile, Foreman and Thirteen seem to have gotten close.  After questioning him about a patient who dropped out of the trial, Thirteen tells Foreman to check out the clipboard on his desk, as she walks out.  There lies a gift certificate with the inscription, "Thanks for helping me out XO."  Seems like something is brewing for the holidays!

Cuddy is extremely concerned with Natalie, even going as far as to ask her if she tried killing herself.  Natalie denies it, but says she is a pig and a loser and no one likes her.  Cuddy tries to explain the hell of high school, but she doesn't seem to be getting through to her.  Then Natalie asks her if she has kids, an awful question to ask Cuddy considering.  Not knowing where that question is going, Cuddy pretty much blows it off.  Sadly, Natalie's liver has begun failing, and now the team is in a race against the clock.  Elsewhere at Princton Plainsboro, Taub and Kutner go talk to Wilson about the gift House received.  After messing with the two for a while, Wilson admits he gave House that gift last year for Christmas.  Even knowing what they know, Taub and Kutner can't help but mess with House about the gift, convincing him the think Cuddy gave it to him and the two are in love.  Taub is really pushing the whole "couple" thing.  House is having none of it.

Even better, Wilson confronts House and tells him tis the season to be nice.  Then, the dare ensues.  House is convinced he can be nice enough to receive a gift from a patient.  Wilson, doesn't even bat an eye, because House can't be nice.  Duh.  So House is off the clinic where he meets a young newly engaged girl who is having a terrible headache.  He immediately diagnosed her as pregnant, which is impossible because she and her fiance are waiting until marriage.  Right... House tells her it's not an immaculate conception, she begs to differ.  Her soon-to-be fiance comes in and demands a paternity test, that will no doubt prove House's theory that she cheated.  It does, but instead of blowing their world up just before Christmas, House plays a little trick on the two.  Telling them she has this rare, never reported phenomena that hosts the mother as both mother and father.  Therefore, she didn't cheat.  Therefore, House does something nice.  Therefore, well, House gets a present and wins the bet.

Meanwhile, Thirteen freaks out on Foreman when she realizes he was rude to the patient who left the trials.  She tells him to apologize and bring the patient back in, or else risk being House.  This hit Foreman hard, proving to himself he isn't like House, he has a heart.  Foreman talks to the patient and gets her back into the trial.   Then, the truth really comes out about Natalie.  After Simon goes to visit, Kutner freaks out him calling him a little punk.  Kutner must have been bullied in high school, anyway, Simon informs them Natalie has been ordering at least two bottles of vodka from him per week.  That is, until she got her own id and started buying it for herself.  Alcoholism would explain why her liver is failing.  Cuddy goes to talk to her and believes Natalie was just trying to be cool.  However, things are still not right.  Natalie is now having seizures and her heart is failing.  If they don't figure out what is wrong with her, she will die.

Explaining how everything she did, she did for Simon, Natalie is getting worse by the moment.  She is going to die and there is nothing they can do to stop it.  Cuddy is totally freaking out, even yelling at House to take care of her.  That's when it happens: House realizes the don't only have one dead patient, but two.  Natalie was pregnant and must have given birth no longer than three weeks prior to her collapsing on stage.  Now, the truth comes out.

Natalie was secretly seeing Simon, and had hid her pregnancy from everyone.  She had the baby in an abandoned house and the baby stopped breathing.  She tried to save her, but couldn't.  Natalie covered her daughter with her jacket and walked back home.  Cuddy is heartbroken.  So heartbroken she puts her life in danger going to find the baby.  She arrives in a crack den, and almost is killed when a woman walks out holding a very much alive baby.  Cuddy convinces the women to hand over the baby for medical attention.  She brings the baby back to the hospital and hands her to a dying Natalie, who can see her daughter once before she dies.  Even sadder, both sets of parents don't want the girl, it is too hard for them.  Who else but Cuddy would adopt the baby? And that's exactly what happens.  Finally.

During the holiday party, Kutner seems down and out and decides to leave.  We find him at the doorstep of a former schoolmate of his, that he apologizes to for bullying.  Surprisingly, Kutner was the bully, not the bullied.  Even more surprisingly, Thirteen goes to see Foreman to thank him for getting the patient back into the trial.  Foreman says that was his Christmas gift to her.  Then, the two move close and beging kissing.  Didn't see that coming...

Happy Holidays all! Until next year...