Rhiannon: Since songfics have currently taken over my brain... Here is the first offering of my series.
Happiness is just a word to me
And it might have meant a thing or two
If I'd known the difference
Chase has mastered a completely blank face that House sometimes associates with stupid situations. Such as Cameron going on about ethics when the issue wasn't ethics. He also has a smile that isn't quite a smile and an 'angry face' that isn't quite angry. He was a master of lies but House has come to the realization that Chase has only two emotions… sadness and pain. He realizes that it's because Chase has probably never known true happiness.
Emptiness, a lonely parody
And my life, another smokin' gun
A sign of my indifference
Cameron has finally realized what it is about Chase that completely annoys her about him. He's completely indifferent. It's like he's completely empty inside as if there was never a person just… just a body. He just goes through the motions. She remembers back when she first came here and Chase and House use to trade almost friendly barbs. Maybe he was almost human back then but now… now there's nothing.
Always keepin' safe inside
Where no one ever had a chance
To penetrate or break in
To Foreman, Chase is the kid who plays it safe. There's no way inside him to know who he is, which is just as well, because Foreman doesn't want to know. The problem is, that gives him no ammunition against Chase. Sure, he's a suck up and his nose is probably browner then Foreman's some days but Chase isn't pathologically a suck up. He really just applied what he knew. House was usually right, why argue? Foreman did because of his pride, Cameron because she wanted to be noticed as intelligent. Chase just listened, applied. Didn't really say much anymore either. It was like whatever was inside him was the most precious thing in the world. And no one would ever get in.
Let me tell you some have tried
But I would slam the door so tight
That they could never get in
House had tried to get inside of Chase once. Just to figure out the puzzle. He'd picked him in his desperate weaknesses. His father, his mother. But all he got were answers that revealed little and sent him in circles. It was like Chase's mind held a big door and no matter what he knew, what he understood, he'd never get to thing that would solve the puzzle. No matter how much he antagonized the younger man.
Kept my cool under lock and key
And I never shed a tear
Another sign of my condition
Cameron can remember when Chase had gotten that woman killed. It hadn't taken long due to Cuddy's involvement and the whole malpractice suit to find out that his father had died. She thought it was weird that he didn't cry or breakdown. Not once. Maybe that was when she first realized his condition. Realized that there was nothing there.
Fear of love or bitter vanity
That kept me on the run
The main events at my confession
Foreman often tried to engage Chase in questions about his love life. He often teased Cameron about hers and he decided that the younger man shoulder miss out on the fun. But Chase always said there was no one. And so far he'd gotten nothing to prove that wrong. Which was weird, he'd watched him flirt scandalously with the nurses, especially the pretty ones but none of them had any sordid sex stories, flings or otherwise. And he knew how much nurses loved to gossip. He was starting to think that the man was asexual.
I kept a chain upon my door
That would shake the shame of Cain
Into a blind submission
House doesn't always do this, but Chase hasn't been at work in almost a week and he can't keep dodging Cuddy about it. So he's at Chase's home banging on the door. And there's no answer. He growls and digs the key he made out of his pocket and manages to open it. But as his anger breaks he sees that there is more then just that lock on the door.
The burning ghost without a name
Was calling all the same
But I wouldn't listen
Cameron answered her cell and could only listen as House cussed a blue streak about how Chase was locked in his apartment. He had liberally used the words dead or injured but Cameron was sure he was just overreacting. She agreed to get Foreman and come though she thought it was rather stupid to break into a co-workers home.
The longer I'd stall
The further I'd crawl
The further I'd crawl
The harder I'd fall
I was crawlin' into the fire
Foreman stood with the others standing there, unsure of what to do. The second lock was a dead bolt. There was nothing they could do short of breaking down the door.
"The fire escape was down wasn't it? You're small Cameron. Go." House ordered and Foreman schooled his features to keep from laughing as Cameron walked back towards the elevator.
The more that I saw
The further I'd fall
The further I'd fall
The lower I'd crawl
I kept fallin' into the fire
Into the fire
Into the fire
Chase is inside his apartment and he can hear them beating on the door but he can't get up. He doesn't want to answer, doesn't want to face them. He just wants to fall to pieces. He thinks he is falling but he knows that he's already on the ground. Knowing that House will figure out a way inside he crawls towards the bedroom and a whole new set of locks.
Suddenly it occurred to me
The reason for the run and hide
Had totaled my existence
House slammed his hand, palm open against the door as realization dawned on him.
"Call EMS." He muttered.
"What? Why?"
"The idiot is probably in there drinking himself to death."
"I don't believe that." Foreman stared at him.
"He's probably been here all this time building up the courage to kill himself or something. Call."
"I still don't."
"Call."
Everything left on the other side
Could never be much worse that this
But could I go the distance
Cameron sighed as she climbed in the window and looked around. The apartment was nothing like she expected it to be. Clean, minimalist. She walked through and saw in the kitchen a bloody knife and three empty bottles of gin, no tonic. She looked around, where was Chase?
"Chase?" She called out fully entering the kitchen. "Robert?"
There was blood on the floor. Splotches, not like slit wrists but like a cutter. She took steps back and heard pounding on the door. Suddenly remembering House and Foreman she opened the door.
I faced the door and all my shame
Tearin' off each piece of chain
Until they all were broken
Foreman could only stare in wonder at the place. He could only stare with something that presented as guilt but couldn't possible be as he stared at the blood on the kitchen floor. They found another locked door. The bedroom door and he slammed against it at House's order. He felt ashamed of himself, for never noticing that maybe things had gone too far if it had all come to this.
But no matter how I tried
The other side was locked so tight
That door it wouldn't open
House could only glare at the door. They will have to get the hinges to give. Of all things why had Chase invested in deadbolts? And knowing Chase he'd probably shoved a dresser or something against the door. He was thorough if nothing else. He didn't think the door was going to give. Even Cameron was offering her small amount of strength. His thigh burned reminding him that he couldn't help.
Gave it all that I got
And started to knock
Shouted for someone
To open the lock
I just gotta get through the door
Cameron didn't know why she decided to try and help Foreman open the door but her shoulder was getting sore. She tried to cry out to Chase again as they hit the door but he wasn't answer and the door wasn't giving. She knew he was on the other side. They just had to get through.
And the more that I knocked
The hotter I got
The hotter I got
The harder I'd knock
I just gotta break through the door
Foreman growled and slammed against the door he could feel it giving. Just a little bit more and they would know and the he could growl at House for being an idiot and yell at Chase for being a fool and all would be right with the world. He growled and nodded to Cameron and they hit the door one more time and it broke sending them into the room.
Gotta knock a little harder
Gotta knock a little harder
Gotta knock a little harder
Break through the door
Chase stared at them from the bed, he was sitting on the edge covered in blood and cuts of his own doing. House limped in behind them and stared at him.
"Should have known you'd find a way in." He whispered. "Looks like you've broke through."
"Not yet." House murmured sagely as he noticed the think cuts on Chase's arms bleeding profusely. "Not yet."