Slowly he opened his eyes, trying to remember what happened, but he couldn't. Robert Chase tried to move, but something was pressing on his right arm and chest. Around him was only darkness and complete silence. Slowly and careful, his hand moved to his picket and he pulled out his phone, desperately finding press on the home button to let the screen light up that darkness.

He couldn't be alone in the darkness, he really didn't want to be alone in the darkness. But it didn't light up. He was shocked when he heard a cough beside him.

''Somebody?'' He carefully whispered with a sore throat.

Another cough. He moved his hand in the direction of the sound. Suddenly somebody grabbed his hand.

''Chase, what happened?'' Thirteen's voice slowly asked in the dark beside him.

''Remy, are you okay?'' He coughed.

''I think so.'' He couldn't see her and in the dark he was glad she held his hand. Somehow, the dark had never made him as afraid as he was now. It was as his fear for the dark had returned.

''What happened?'' She broke the silence and he was actually glad she did.

''I don't know…I can't believe it but I think the building collapsed, or at least the second floor.'' He said, his throat feeling worse by the word.

Thirteen coughed again.

He closed his eyes again for a second, panting. The pressing on his chest was really tight and he was afraid that some of his ribs might be hurt if it was a part of ceiling of wall that was now resting on his chest. He tried to calm down, accidently letting Thirteen's hand go.

His hand raced over the ground, finding her hand soon again.

Now that he seemed alone again, his heart started to beat harder.

…..

Desperately he was still trying to open the door, knowing it was locked.

''Open the door! This is not funny!''

His sister was only a year younger, but pure evil sometimes. ''Open the door now, you little brat!''

He kept banging on the basement door, hoping she would open it soon. The stairs behind him seemed to lead into darkness only.

''Who would miss you?'' She laughed together with his older cousin. Eight years old and maybe even worse than mom and dad.

''Open the door!''

''Still afraid of the dark, little Robbie?'' His two year older cousin laughed.

''No, I am not scared, just open the bloody door! I am thirsty!'' He nearly cried.

''Just walk down the stairs, there are drinks there.''

With shaking hands, he grabbed the small flashlight on top of the stairs and clicked it on.

One step every ten seconds, he held his breath until he made another step, his heart pounding in his chest. When he finally entered the basement he looked around. Sure, he saw a few bottles, but those were his moms. He didn't even like the smell and he had never tasted it, she never let him. He walked around a small wall, happy to see some Fanta, he sat down on his knees, panting when lifting up the liter bottle in one hand. He walked around the small wall again, suddenly arms grabbed him from behind around his throat and he dropped the flashlight. He fell into the glass bottles and tried to breathe, but the arms where around his throat to tight.

''I am going to kill you!'' A deep grunting voice sounded in his ear.

He heard laughing upstairs and realized it was his other cousin who had been waiting for him in the basement. The door opened up the stairs. Crying, he ran up the stairs, pushing his sister aside in the doorway.

''Boohoo, look at you, are you crying Robbie?''

When he ran up the stairs to his room, he realized he was bleeding from the glass. He closed his bedroom door, shoving his chair under the doorknob. It would keep his sister out, but he was afraid his cousins could still open the door.

He curled up in the corner, crying. Why was he afraid of the dark? He was such a wuss. No 9 year old was afraid of the dark, except for him. No wonder dad ran away. He thought. I already let him down at grandma's birthday….

…..

''Remy, are you still with me? Please?''

He tried to pull his chest and arm free, causing an intense pain in his chest. In the dark, he tried to grab his phone again, desperately trying to hit the reset buttons with one hand, laying it on the ground next to him, trying again. The phone gave a short vibration, a little light shining from the screen. He turned it Thirteen, who was trying to sit up in the low space they still had, parts of concrete an beams hanging above them. Her legs seemed to be trapped under that used to be a table.

''At least there is light now.'' She sighed, looking him. He carefully laid the phone between them, some of the small shards from the screen stinging in his hand.

''How bad is it?'' He asked, tasting blood in his mouth.

''Doesn't matter how bad it is now, we will get out. They must be looking for us.'' She whispered. He realized he had to be in bad shape, if she didn't answer him.

She grabbed his hand again. ''We will get out.'' She repeated, trying to comfort him. He closed his eyes again, panting. After the disaster with the large building a year ago, he had feared to ever get trapped in a building. He had seen the victims when they were brought in and he helped at the ER. But the crane falling on the building, the change of that happening again was so immense small, he never had thought about it again. But here is laid, trapped under the remains of what used to be PPTH. The phone darkened again and he didn't know I it fell on standby or it was out again, but he didn't dare to let her hand go again, holding it as his last lifeline. Especially now it was dark again. He thought he heard some sirens far away, maybe even yelling. ''Here, we are here.'' Thirteen suddenly yelled, letting his hand go again. He heard some coughing again. Complete silence.

He tried to stay calm, but now he felt the first tears running down the sides of his face.

''Remy? Are you still there?''

Stupid question, of course she was still there, there was a building on top of them, she wasn'' walking the dog for a minute.

She touched his hand again.

''I am here, but I think I almost have my legs free. Can you light your phone again?''

He searched it again, hurting himself on the broken screen. Luckily, it was still on, although the whole back was broken, just like the screen. He held it up to her side, seeing how she had freed one leg from the metal bars. His hand started to shake. ''Just a few more minutes.'' She said, desperately trying to pull her other leg from between the bars. It was nearly impossible for her to sit up, holding her head sideways and her hair rubbed up against the grew concrete.

His eyes fell shut again and only now he realized his right arm was burning in pain as well. He turned the phone his way, feeling his thumb starting to bleed while he tried to unlock what used ot be the touchscreen, but it didn't work. ''Where is your phone?'' Before she could answer there was a loud snap and Thirteen groaned, trying to keep in her screams.

''What did you do?'' His throat burned when he nearly yelled it.

''I had to get loose.'' She panted. ''It is just my ankle. We have to get out of here.''

She crawled up to him, painful face.

''My phone was in my locker.'' She said, sitting up half next to him. She grabbed his from his hands.

''It is useless. The touchscreen doesn't work anymore, no possibility to actually use it to call. ''

She laid it down, still screen up so there was still a little light.

Under them, a kind of crisping sound made them both scared.

''We are on the second floor, right?'' Chase said, in deep angst.

Thirteen nodded. ''I am afraid so.''

Suddenly, he lost. Scared, he started to move under the concrete, a fierce pain going through his chest.

''I don't want to die, not this way.'' He yelled, panic in his eyes.

''You are not going to die, calm down, lay still!'' She yelled.

''I don't want to die.'' He just repeated, lying still, but still in panic.

''Chase. Please calm down. You are bleeding and I don't know what your injuries are. It is too dark. Please, calm down.'' She said, grabbing his free hand again and holding her other hand against his cheek.

He closed his eyes again, trying to calm down, to ease his breathing.

''Stay with me.'' She said.

''I was just thinking what a boring day we were having.'' He groaned, trying to make a kind of a joke, to get himself to ease.

''True, but making it this exciting wasn't my idea of a good day work.''

The light of the phone went out and it vibrated for a second, showing it just had its last rites.

''Shit.''

The dark made him terrified again. Suddenly he had to think about the time he was little and they were playing hide and seek at their grandma's place. He was the only one his cousins running to the attic and he ended up stuck in a box for several hours, before his dad found him. A small grin appeared on his face and he realized he was kind of laughing.

''What are you thinking about?'' Thirteen asked, pulling him back to the dark collapsed hospital.

''About all the dumb stuff I did when I was little, how scared I was in the dark.''

She squeezed his hand. ''Are you still scared in the dark?''

He was silent.

''Don't worry, I am here with you.''

''I know.''

Her hand that supported his head slowly laid his head back on the ground, but instead of the hard concrete he felt a soft fabric. He smelled the chemical cleaning and knew it was her lab coat.

''Are you comfortable?''

He coughed. ''I have been feeling better without a ceiling on my chest. But thank you.''

They were silent.

''They are looking for us, right?'' He broke the silence.

''I am sure they are, maybe there are more people trapped.'' He could hear her swallow. ''If the whole floor collapsed it will take a while for them to get here, I guess. How long do you think you can take the pain?''

''I want to get out of this.'' Was all he whispered.

''I promise, we will get out of here.''

Her hand left his. ''Sorry, I just need to try something, I am right next to you.''

The pain in his body became more intense now he felt alone again and his fear came rising back.

…..

''Whoops, did we almost leave Robert in the attic.'' His father sighed when they left at his grandma's house.

''That would have been an easy way.'' His sister laughed.

He just stared to ground, red on his cheeks.

Without saying anything to his cousins nor grandma he stormed out, sitting down on the backseat, knowing that what his sister said might have been true for his dad.

…

He opened his eyes again when he felt Thirteen's hand in his again and he was surprised there was a little light surrounding them again. ''On which side do you carry your pager?''

''My right.''

''So stupid that I only think about the pagers now.''

She laid down on her chest, trying to push her hand between the ground and the concrete. He could feel her hand by his hip, and felt her grabbing the pager from his belt.

''Who are you going to page.''

''House. He is the only one who knew we were going to do an MRI on this guy.'' She said then, with a sigh.

''Nobody knows that we are in here. What about the patient?'' Chase yelled, panicking again.

''Calm, please. I am sure he told the rescue squad already and the patient is fine I think. I could hear him earlier when you were unconscious for a few minutes.''

He suspected that she was lying, but he tried to look calmer, while his heart was still racing.

Trying to calm farther down he slowly started to hum some of his favorite songs. The soft humming was suddenly drowned in a loud beeping sound. His pager, which was on the ground next to thirteen, started to beep.

''It is House. He named the numbers of the room we are in. Help is on the way!''

He closed his eyes again, trying to kill the time between now and the rescue and forgetting about the pain. He thought about surfing. He tried to remember a part of his life in which the second seemed to take as long as this moment. He could only think about the time that he told Allison about that he killed Dibala, which seemed ages ago, but also seemed to take so long. It were only a few sentences, but it seemed a year to say them. On the other hand, when Allison walked out on him the minutes seemed to be seconds.

''Please stay with me, you seem to be dozing off.''

He nodded, not even really understanding what she said.

''Why are you afraid of the dark?'' She asked, trying to keep a conversation going, so he wouldn't fall asleep.

''I always have been, I was afraid something in there would try to kill me, somehow. But my cousins and sister made a game of it, making me cry when they locked me in the basement, or in the attic. Somewhere in the dark.''

''What did you parents do about it?''

He shook his head. ''Nothing really, my mom didn't care about it, she was too busy drinking and as long as my cousins were at our place my sister wouldn't bug her.''

''And your dad?''

''He already left us, if he still was with us, he still wouldn't have cared.''

''Chase, I think I hear something. Hang on.'' She carefully crawled a small part away from him.

''Hello! We are in here!''

Smothered voices sounded far away.

''Use the pagers.'' He said, slowly, feeling weaker and weaker.

''Hang on. I can really hear them!''

She paged the other pager, letting the loud beeps going through the window.

''They – they better hurry up. This doesn't sound good.'' He coughed, scared by the sounds under him.

''I think I can see the flashlights.''

Somehow, he didn't understand what she was saying anymore. His seemed to switch off, thinking about the surfing again, even about his parents. About the long summers he spend watching the waves, sometimes with a girl. He thought about Victoria, the girl his high school. There were a lot of girls who wanted him, except for her. He could two girls on every hand every time he went out. But never the girl he wanted. Victoria didn't want him just because he was popular by the other girls. He knew her whole timetable out of his head, just to catch a glimpse from her in the hallway. Suddenly he also remembered the time he fell down the stairs, running after her, finally wanting to ask her out. Her friends were laughing at him, while she just walked away and rolled her eyes.

After that, he never dared to face her again. He did once, though. After he drank at least half of his moms bottle.

''Chase?'' Somebody was talking to him. ''Chase, the rescue squad is here.''

''Victoria?''

''Who is Victoria?'' A male voice was yelling. ''Is Victoria with you in there?''

''No. It is just me and him.'' The female voice yelled back.

''Chase, the rescue is here.'' A flashlight was shining in his face.

''How is the patient?'' He mumbled, but before he could hear the question being answered he fell away again.

…

When he opened his eyes he couldn't move, but the darkness was gone.

''Good morning Sunshine. Glad you are among the living again.'' Thirteen smiled, looking at him.

''Glad you are still alive.'' He mumbled, nearly making any sound.

''Glad that you made it. To be honest, I even threatened you that if you were going to put up the daisies while the rescue was there already, I promised you that you wouldn't have a pleasant afterlife.''

He smiled, closing his eyes again.

''Do they know what happened?''

She nodded. ''Yes, an accident with the gas line. Very stupid, actually. But since it was exactly above the corridor where the MRI room is connected too, we were the 'lucky' people. Not only us, though.''

He nodded. ''How is your ankle?'' She grinned. ''Shouldn't you worry about yourself worse.''

''No, how is your ankle. I can still talk and my body hurts enough to know that everything is still here.''

''I am fine, don't worry about me. You might think you are fine now, but trust me. I can tell you, after a car crash I can tell you that a bruised sternum is not a party. You are going to be sore for quite a while, but everybody agrees we both came out rather well.''

''If that is all, I think we can both agree with everybody that we came out pretty good.''

Thirteen nodded. ''I am really glad to see you so easy about what happened, you seemed very panicky in there.''

''I was not alone in the dark.''

Thirteen looked deep in his eyes. ''Don't worry, I haven't told anyone.''

''Thank you. ''

''Next time when you are scared of the dark again, I am still there to hold your hand.''

Suddenly Chase realized that he wasn't so scared of the dark, but more because it remembered him to his family, his past.

Painful memories.

The dark was nothing to be scared of anymore, he knew that monsters weren't hiding in the dark, but walking among them.

Chase smiled. ''I think I am not so scared of the dark anymore.''

Thirteen smiled back. ''Then, it is time to get better soon.''

With her ankle in a brace she walked away.

Slowly he closed his eyes again, falling asleep and instead of walking away from the dark in his dreams, he was walking right into it now, to face it.

...

NOTE: I hope you liked the story, please review!

About the timeline: It takes places around the end of season 7, when both Chase and Thirteen are on the team and since there is a reference to the finale of season 6, it has to be after that, but it doesn't take place after a certain episode.