Cuddy heads into a stairwell to think about things because she knows this is the only place where she can be alone, since people walk in and out of her office all day long and everyone at PPTH takes that one elevator. When Cuddy emerges from her Fortress of Solitude, she finds House standing in the doorway waiting for her. Mr. Pluto now needs a liver transplant, and that means dealing with Dr. Crybaby, who is apparently PPTH's go-to guy for transplant surgeries. The subject of liver transplants reminds Cuddy of Wilson, and then his advice to Cuddy to talk to House. She sighs and finally asks him what he would do about GEHI Co. and the 8% increase. "It's all numbers. Do the math -- and nothing else," he says, sounding oddly not sarcastic. He has a point, as Cuddy is emotionally invested in this, saying it's not fair that the GEHI Co. is trying to low-ball PPTH just because they're a small hospital. House reminds her that that's how business works. Which is something you'd think she would have learned by now.

Cuddy hangs out in her office until the clock strikes three without a call from GEHI Co. agreeing to 12%. And so, as promised, Cuddy calls a meeting with her employees to announce that PPTH will soon be making a formal announcement that at 5 pm today, their contract with GEHI Co. will be terminated. People are not pleased about this at all, and mutter angrily. I like the one guy who yells "why weren't we told about this sooner?!" like his one problem with Cuddy's PPTH-bankrupting decision is that he didn't get an earlier heads-up.

It's ten minutes to four and Cuddy still can't get her freaking nanny on the phone. Fire her! Fire EVERYONE! How can everyone who works for Cuddy be this incompetent? Does she hire idiots on purpose so she'll look smarter in comparison? Foreman walks in to inform Cuddy about something that shouldn't be her problem, and yet, like everything else in this episode, is. Mr. Pluto is being prepared for his liver transplant, but now House wants Chase to do the surgery instead of Dr. Crybaby because he's in a pissing contest with Dr. Dave. Since Cuddy is the only person at PPTH capable of overruling them both, she gets to step in.