"Chase hasn't been in to work all week, Foreman. I'm worried about him," Cameron confided to the neurologist.
"Maybe he just has the flu," Foreman suggested, "House doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that Chase is missing."
"Maybe," Cameron agreed, though reluctantly. She stood up and made to leave the cafeteria.
"Where are you going?" Foreman asked.
"To see if Chase is alright," admitted Cameron.
"You won't make it back in time," Foreman warned.
"I know," Cameron replied. "But if Chase is in some kind of trouble..." She left the thought hanging in the air between them unfinished.
Foreman nodded. "I'll cover for you," he said.
"Thanks."
Wilson and House sat across from each other at House's desk. Wilson was eating one of his homemade salads while House had bought a Reuben sandwich from the cafeteria. "Did you fire Chase, House?" Wilson asked, breaking the silence.
House shook his head, as he replied, "Not yet." Wilson gave him a look of disbelief, to which House replied, "All he did was cause a patient a lot of unnecessary pain."
"Chase claimed that you told directed him to do it," Wilson reminded his friend.
"He should be working here at the hospital. I even told him to come, that I needed him here," House admitted.
"Does Cuddy know that Chase is missing?"
"Unless she's suddenly become deaf, she knows. I told her," retorted House.
Cameron stood at the door to Chase's apartment, unsure whether she should knock or just go back to the hospital. I might as well do what I came here to do, she thought to herself. She knocked. No answer. She knocked again. Still no reply. Cameron felt a chill run up and down her spine. She tried the doorknob, half-expecting it to be locked. But it was unlocked. Cameron opened the door wide, and called out fearfully, "Chase? Chase, it's me, it's Cameron." Still no reply. Cameron entered the apartment. The shades were drawn in all the windows. All the lights were off. No, Cameron corrected herself, There's a light on. Is that the kitchen? Cameron entered the room in question. It was the kitchen. And it was a mess.
"Chase!" Cameron screamed. "Oh my God! Chase!" She raced to his side, disregarding the shards of glass that littered the room. She checked his pulse. It's really faint. Oh, God, Chase, what's wrong with you? Cameron wondered as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. But before she could even open her phone, Chase began to seize. As carefully as she could, she laid Chase down on his side on the floor. It was all she could do for Chase at the moment.
After only a couple of minutes, Chase finally stopped seizing. Cameron grabbed her phone from where it had landed when Chase had started seizing. She called the first number on her speed dial.
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING!
"Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Doctor Lisa Cuddy speaking," said Cuddy.
"Cuddy, it's Cameron," Cameron said, thankful that she'd caught Cuddy in her office.
"Cameron? Why are you calling me? Aren't you here at the hospital?"
"I'm at Chase's apartment. I need an ambulance," answered Cameron. "I'll explain when I get back."
"Fine," replied Cuddy before she hung up.
"Hang on, Chase," Cameron whispered as Chase began to seize again. To her relief, she could her the sirens of an ambulance approaching. "House will kill both of us if you die."
A paramedic knocked on the door. "Dr. Cameron?"
"In the kitchen!" Cameron shouted in reply.
Cuddy watched the paramedics bring Chase into the ER. She watched as Cameron pulled up in her car.
"Cameron," she called as Cameron entered the lobby.
Together Cameron and Cuddy entered the elevator. As the doors closed, Cuddy asked, "Why were you at Chase's apartment anyway, Cameron?"
"I was worried about him, Cuddy. He hasn't been in all week," Cameron explained.
"If House has been taunting Chase more than usual..." Cuddy let the unfinished threat to House hang in the air of the elevator, for the doctor in question was waiting for them in the hallway.
"He's stable--for now," House informed Cuddy. "He came to for a bit. Long enough to ask who I was."
