"Oh, no," Alan let out a sharp gasp as he gripped the phone.
Jake watched him from the couch, casually chewing on a handful of Sour Patch Kids.
"Well... sure. Yes. Yes, of course," Alan stammered, pacing nervously back and forth before finally returning the receiver to its cradle.
"What happened, Dad?" Jake asked around a mouthful of gummy candy, his brow furrowing in mild curiosity.
"A doctor just called," Alan said worriedly.
"He thinks you might be sick."
"What?" Jake asked, tossing another green candy into his mouth. "Who were you just talking to?"
Alan rubbed his temples, already spiraling into a hypochondriac panic.
"Well, apparently, a Dr. Gregory House, in New Jersey, somehow got hold of your recent MRI. The, uh, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan you got a three years back. He saw the neuro-imaging results and said you might have some sort of underlying illness. He wouldn't specify over the phone!"
Jake didn't miss a beat. He just kept chewing. If he were sick, he would be the absolute first person on the planet to know about it.
Over the last year, using Argus, he had integrated five continuous health-monitoring modules.
He tracked his own blood oxygen, endocrine levels, neurological feedback, and cellular regeneration in real-time. He was basically a walking, self-contained biological laboratory.
"Alright, calm down, Dad. It's probably nothing," Jake said smoothly.
"What's nothing?" Charlie asked, strolling casually into the living room with a half-empty Corona in his hand.
"I just got a call from Jake's primary care physician," Alan explained rapidly, his voice squeaking. "Apparently, some specialist doctor from New Jersey intercepted Jake's medical file and thinks he's severely ill!"
"Thinks that I may be sick," Jake corrected.
Dr. House... where have I heard that name? Jake thought to himself.
He leaned back against the couch cushions and silently pulled up Argus in his mind , querying the 2026 internet database.
[House, M.D. is an American medical drama series created by David Shore that ran on Fox from 2004 to 2012. It follows Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), an unconventional, misanthropic, and Vicodin-addicted medical genius who solves puzzling, rare medical cases at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital alongside his team of diagnosticians.]
Ah. That's where it's from, Jake realized, a wave of amusement washing over him.
He had watched the series a couple of times in his past life. This was the third time he had stumbled across a fictional television series manifesting as reality in this life, apart from his family.
He couldn't help but wonder how many more universes were currently mashed together in this timeline.
"Hey, Judith? Yeah, it's Alan. Jake's doctor just called..." Alan was already on his cell phone, aggressively biting his fingernails as he informed his ex-wife of the impending medical doom.
Less than two hours later, the four of them were standing at the gate in LAX, waiting for the gate agent to announce boarding.
"Thanks for paying for the plane tickets, Charlie, I really appreciate it," Judith said earnestly, clutching her purse.
"Oh, yeah. You really didn't have to do that," Alan added, though he looked incredibly relieved that his own wallet remained untouched.
"Hey, what's family for?" Charlie replied matter-of-factly, taking a sip from a coffee cup that almost certainly contained rum.
The overhead intercom chimed. "We would now like to invite our First Class and Diamond Medallion passengers to begin boarding at Gate 4."
"Oh, that's us," Charlie said, tapping Jake on the shoulder.
"Wait," Alan blinked, looking at his own boarding pass. "What do you mean, us?"
"Oh, I only bought First Class tickets for me and Jake," Charlie added casually as he and his nephew picked up their small carry-on bags, preparing to board.
"What?!" Alan asked, his eyes widening in betrayal. "Why?"
"They ran out of First Class seats," Charlie shrugged.
"They ran out of First Class seats?!" Alan repeated, his voice echoing through the terminal. "They never run out of First Class seats! You just didn't want to pay for them!"
"What are you talking about?" Charlie asked, looking highly offended. "Didn't you just say I didn't have to buy the plane tickets in the first place?"
"Well, you didn't have to!" Alan tried to explain his deeply flawed reasoning, gesturing wildly. "But if you're already buying them, you might as well spend a hundred bucks more to keep the family together!"
Charlie stared at him in awe. "You are unbelievable. You are an absolute, ungrateful, cheap bastard."
"Oh, me? I'm the cheap bastard?!" Alan acted as if this was the most incredulous accusation he had ever heard in his life.
"Alright, guys, just calm down," Judith interrupted, rubbing the bridge of her nose to stave off an incoming migraine.
Already completely used to the two brothers bickering like a bitter, old married couple, Jake just chuckled and handed his ticket to the gate agent, and strolled down the jet bridge.
Minutes later, Jake was settling into the expansive luxury of the First Class cabin. In his past life, traveling meant squeezing his knees against the seat in front of him in Economy, fighting for a shared armrest, and trying to ignore screaming toddlers while sipping lukewarm water from a tiny plastic cup.
This was an entirely different world.
The First Class seats were big, plush leather recliners with actual legroom.
The moment he sat down, a flight attendant offered him a steaming hot towel, a glass of sparkling cider, and a small porcelain bowl of warm, roasted mixed nuts.
He had a private entertainment screen, noise-canceling headphones, and a menu featuring actual braised short ribs served with real metal silverware.
Charlie dropped into the seat next to him, immediately ordering a double scotch on the rocks.
Surrounded by premium comfort, the five-hour flight from Los Angeles passed in the blink of an eye.
Before long, the plane's wheels touched down on the tarmac of Newark Liberty International Airport, bringing Jake right to the doorstep of Dr. Gregory House.
Author note:
Hey everybody, sorry for not updating in a while. Last month I got a job, plus school; time passes really fast when you are busy.
I swear I thought I hadn't updated in only a week.
Anyways, this story isn't dropped.