- A woman in an open marriage suddenly gets strong belly pain. Taub would like an open marriage. Wilson's new relationship with his ex is shaky.
- House and the team take on the case of a woman Julia, who is in an open marriage and becomes ill during a date with her on-the-side boyfriend. As perplexing as the case is, Julia's happy and healthy, yet polygamous relationship is equally baffling to the team. Meanwhile, House tests Wilson's relationship with Sam.—Fox Publicity
- We open with a couple fooling around in a hotel room. They are interrupted by the woman's husband (Tom) knocking on the door to tell her she needs to sign something for their daughter's school. Tom introduces himself to the man (Damien) and kisses his wife (Julia) before leaving. After Tom (Rob Evors) leaves, Julia (Sarah Wayne Callies) doubles over in pain and asks Damien (Charlie Weber) to get Tom.
Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) suggests Sam (Cynthia Watros) leave some things at his place. Wilson spots Sam put the milk in the refrigerator door rather than a shelf and House (Hugh Laurie) notices he noticed.
The team discusses the case of 35-year old Julia and her abdominal pain. The fact she is in an open marriage leads them to consider human fidelity as well as her having recently contracted herpes. House volunteers to give Julia the enema to test for the disease.
During the procedure, House questions Julia about her marriage. She says she and Tom are in love and are open about their sexual interests.
Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) spots Taub (Peter Jacobson) flirting with Maya (Danna Brady), a nurse he has coffee with three times a week. She thinks it's dangerous.
Julia's abdominal pain has subsided and she does not have herpes. Thirteen and Taub think she should be discharged, but House orders he spend the night looking at her GI track.
Wilson seems bothered by the way Sam loaded the dishwasher but says nothing.
During the testing Taub asks Julia about her marriage. She tells him traditional marriage made them miserable and thought she should get the ten percent he doesn't give her from elsewhere while preserving the rest. At this point her heart begins to race. Taub calls for a crash cart.
During a discussion with Chase (Jesse Spencer), Tom admits he is not sleeping with any other women. Tom says Julia is the only one who needs to sleep with other partner but he doesn't want her to feel guilty about the desire.
House thinks Tom must be doing something behind her back, even if it's not sexual.
Thirteen and Wilson search the couple's house and find an imported luffa, the kind not usually sterilized.
Taub tells Rachel (Jennifer Crystal Foley) about the open marriage over dinner. She notices he almost never talks about his patients and asks whether he'd be interested in an open marriage. She initially thinks he must be cheating. He says he has been faithful but admits to being attracted to Maya. She says it has never occurred to her to think about another man. He get a page that Julia has lost feeling in her legs and leaves Rachel in tears.
Julia has no spinal issues and the luffa was not the problem. They consider that Julia's libido could be indicative of an adrenal gland problem.
Wilson mentions Sam not replacing the toilet paper and her dishwasher loading style. They figure out that House did those things to get them to fight. This leads to an argument over the milk in the door and her use of coasters.
Damien shows up to the hospital with flowers and this annoys Tom. Julia agrees with her husband that he shouldn't be there. Taub witnesses the awkward interaction.
The dam breaks and Wilson reveals all the things which annoyed him about her when they were married.
As they determine Julia does not have adrenal cancer, Thirteen thinks Taub is denying his true desires. Taub thinks Rachel is worth it as Thirteen notices something on Julia's lung.
Wilson and Sam are now yelling at each other.
They found a clot on Julia's lung. House thinks this would explain most of her symptoms. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) tells them Julia's insurance lapsed due to non-payment.
House asks and Julia says it must be a mistake. Tom is forced to admit he lost all of their savings.
Thirteen and House around possible reason for the clot. Wilson walks in and tells House that Sam ended their relationship. He blames House for meddling. House wanted him to stand up for himself.
Julia tells Thirteen she asked Tom to leave the hospital. She is upset their marriage didn't have the honesty she thought it did.
Rachel tells Taub the worst part of his affairs were the lies, not the sex. Rachel says she is okay with him fooling around on Thursday nights as long as he never brings Maya there and he never discuses Rachel with her. Taub says "I want you," but Rachel thinks he needs a thrill. She loves him and thinks this would be accepting who he really is.
Julia does not have a clotting disorder. House smells cologne on Taub and figures out what has happened.
Julia's stomach is bothering her again. An ultrasound reveals nothing. Converation lead them to suspect abdominal cancer.
House buys Cuddy an espresso machine for the purposes of karma.
While fixing Julia's bowel, Wilson suggests to Taub perhaps Rachel could be out as well. Nothing they find during surgery explains her range of symptoms.
Rachel shows up at the hospital and tells Taub she can't do it. All afternoon she obsessed over them being together. She tearfully apologizes and he says he's been an idiot and they leave together.
Not Julia's kidneys are failing. After analyzing a long list of possible conditions they come up with three and treat her for those.
Thirteen thinks Julia should call Tom since she might die. Julia says she won't be able to look at him after his lying. Thirteen points out her faithful husband only wants her and lied about sleeping with other women so she could be happy.
Sam comes to see Wilson. They both apologize and she says she's trying to change. Sam says she wished they had had the fact ten years earlier and Wilson asks that they not give House the credit.
Julia is not improving. Based on the kind of plants Tom brought from the garden House figures out she must have been stung by a bee. House finds a rash inside her mouth and determines she has the very treatable systemic vasculitis.
House comes home to find Wilson and Sam are back together. He moves the milk to the door and goes upstairs.
Taub helps Maya with her stuff and the two start kissing in the parking lot. They both get into her car.
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