My first House story so be nice. I first wanted to make it a one shot, but decided against it. I working on the second part right now, so might update today.

I have been watching the first season on DVD and this idea has been bugging me for a while. So I finally decided to write it down and put it here. Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I think you all know the drill.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chase sat in the conference room with his ever present crossword puzzle. On the other side of the table Cameron and Foreman were working through some paper work. They were all waiting for House to enter and to inform them about the next case. The door opened and Chase didn't bother to look up. It was just House getting in, nothing special about that.

But the silence was going on quite long for it to be just House. And if it was House Cameron and Foreman wouldn't stare at the door. Chase slowly placed his pencil and puzzle down and turned around to see who had opened the door but decided against entering. When he had a full sight on the person his breath caught in his throat. It was like his past had just walked back into his life in the form of one person. She was as beautiful as he remembered her, but she was also the trigger of a lot of memories. And by the look on her face, he had triggered a lot of memories with her.
'Hey' she was the one to break the silence.
'Hey' was his reply. They kept looking at each other; to them it felt like no one else was there, just the two of them.
'I flew over for a conference and I thought about giving you these.' She said as she held up papers. He couldn't see what was on it, but he already knew their contents. It had been three years; he might be too chicken to make the decision but she wasn't.
'Ashley….' He said as he got up. He left his voice trail off because he had no idea what he would tell her.
'Don't.' she said as she backed away from his touch. 'You have made your decision, I waited, but you're not coming back. I'll have to live with that.' She said and she handed him the papers. He took them, knowing there was no other way of dealing with it.
'I'll be here 'till the end of the week. You can drop them off at my hotel.' She said.
He just nodded.

'There is something else.' She said as she handed him a plain white envelope. The name on it once again caught his breath in his throat.
'I don't know if you want to see them, but I thought, just in case you want them.' She said. Chase noticed that his hands were shaking as he accepted the envelope. He could decide later what he would do with it.
'Should you want more, let me know' she said. Once again all he could do was nod. She smiled a weak smiled and walked way. He followed her with his eyes till she got out of sight. He kept standing for a little longer, not really know what to do.

'Chase?' Cameron's voice pierced the silence and made him turn around.
'Who was that?' She asked.
'That's Ashley.' He said, not wanting to reveal more. He said down and placed the papers and the envelope on the table. But luck would have it that the papers opened and revealed their contents to anyone in the room. The silence was even heavier then before when his two colleagues realised who Ashley actually was.
'She's your wife?' Foreman asked, but it was more a statement that a question. Chase looked down; he didn't need the sympathy looks Cameron would throw at him. This was something not even sympathy could fix, nothing could fix this.
'When did you …' Cameron didn't get any further. She just couldn't force the words out of her mouths. It seemed so unreal. In her mind she couldn't picture Chase to be actually married. She glanced down and yes there was a ring. How could she have missed that, it was just there in plain view all those years.
'Six years ago.' Chase's reply kind of shocked her. Not because of the time frame, but that he actually told them something about his private life. He hardly told them anything about himself, so he actually telling them was some sort of miracle.

'Why are you here?' The question was a brute, but Cameron was thinking the same thing Foreman had. Ashley's accent had been similar to Chase's so that would make her Australian as well. So if they were married so what was he doing here?
'Sometime things happen that drive you apart.' Chase replied.
'Most people don't put an ocean between them.' Foreman said. That was true, but it had been the only way of dealing with it. Staying in Australia would have killed him. Everywhere he went in his native country, he would be reminded. Coming to America had helped him putting it to the back of his mind. But he never forgot, it was impossible to forget. And it still affected him. Seeing Ashley here showed him that no matter how much time passed by, it was something he would never forget. She showed him that he could carry it on his shoulder for the rest of his life, like she would as well.

'Who's Laura?' right, House had to pick this time to enter the room, but when he reached to get the envelope, Chase snatched it and held if close to his chest. He didn't want to tell them, not now. Actually he never wanted to tell them, but with House knowing about it forced him to tell them. Otherwise House would try every method to figure it out. House hated unsolved puzzles and right now Laura was one to him. He turned the envelope and opened it. He paused a little before pulling a couple of photographs out of it. Tears instantly welled up in his eyes. Laura, only a couple of months old on the picture lay on a fluffy white blanket with her parents surrounding here. Surrounded by Ashley and him. It was one taken just before the big ordeal happened; it was taken when they were still happy. It was taken at a time he could make Ashley happy and she could make him happy as well. They had everything they needed and Laura had completed their little world of happiness.

He wiped the tears away and looked up. Six eyes were looking at him; even House had the dignity not to mock him right now.
'Laura is …' His voice cracked. 'Laura was my daughter.' He said and placed the picture on the table for the rest to see.
'What happened?' House asked.
'Alexander's disease.' Just saying it out loud allowed all the floodgates of memories to open. The hell, the pain Ashley and he had been going through came back. Bad memories out weighted the good ones. But that wasn't difficult. Laura had lived for 18 months, 12 of them spend in and out of hospitals, results always going downhill. There was hardly room for any good moments, everything was filled with hospitals, doctor's saying they were sorry, Ashley falling asleep crying, he joining her not much later. The last week had been hell. Laura had been admitted in a hurry. When the doctor entered the room, he didn't need to speak; they just knew what was going on. The doctors in them told them there was nothing they could do. It could happen at any moment, so they never left her side, too afraid it would happen when they were away. They slept in shifts, making sure there was always one parent awake. Laura lost her fight at noon. Her last action was grabbing his and Ashley's finger and a few seconds later she was gone.

They had stayed together for another 3 months, trying to build their lives back up. But they were retreating more and more. They were growing apart, more and more every day. They pretended to be okay to the rest of the world, but once behind the walls of their house the cover broke down. At one point he had made a decision, he would leave Australia to find himself again, to figure out what he wanted from life, but most to get away from the memories. Ashley had accepted it without any questions; she was planning on leaving as well. She moved to Perth, living everything behind. He came to New Jersey and both built up a new life. But it was a life built on lies.

'When …' Cameron started
'Three years ago.' House said. Now they stared at him.
'I guess you saying at you interview: I want to see the rest of the world, was actually you saying get me out of Australia.' House said. Chase nodded. A place on House his team had been the chance he had been hoping for. It gave him the chance to leave with an actual reason instead of just running away from his past.

Many questions remained unanswered when they all got paged. The case sucked them up for the next two days, trying everything they could to save the patient. In the end they did but everyone was so tired that they went straight home. The next day, Chase was the first one to arrive. The papers and envelope were still lying on the table and everything came back. He knew he had to take a decision but it wasn't easy. He stared at the papers, hoping he would figure it out.

That was how House found him when he came in, staring at the pile of papers. House sat down and watched his duckling; waiting for the moment he would realize he wasn't alone in the room. But Chase never did, he kept staring at the paper. 5 minutes later Cameron and Foreman entered but they found Chase still in the staring position and House watching him. More minutes passed and now everybody was watching Chase, wondering what he would do next.

Suddenly Chase came to live as he reached for a pen lying on the table. He pulled the cap of it and placed the paper so he could sign them. He was about to sign them when a cane pushed away his hands.
'For better or worse, in sickness and in health.' Was the only thing the older man said. Chase glared at the man. He had taken these vows, promised Ashley that, but the minute things had gotten worse he had run. Well not straight away but Laura was what kept them together and when their little girl was gone, there was nothing holding them together. Both were too wrapped into their own grieving that they failed to notice the other. But that didn't mean he hadn't promised her those things during the ceremony on that sunny day.
'House, let him be.' Foreman said. It was rather strange because it seemed something Cameron would say. Chase looked up and saw the woman nod in agreement with Foreman. He looked back at House, who was just looking at him. When he grabbed the pen again and wanted to sign them again, his hand was pushed away again, harder this time.
'House!!' Cameron nearly yelled. She couldn't let this happen. She could only imagine what tragedy Chase had been through and he didn't need a boss being an ass.
'What?' House asked, without looking away from Chase.
'Let him be. He might have taken those vows but sometime things happen when you cannot live by them anymore.' Cameron said, annoyed that she had to state the obvious here. Losing a child was probably the worst thing a parent could ever face. And from the picture Laura had resembled both her parents, so Cameron could imagine the hurt they both had to feel when they saw each other, constantly remembering the little girl.
'Let him be?? Any of your geniuses thought about what should happen next?' Cameron looked at her boss, not really getting what he was saying.
'Wombat here has been running away since that day. And he's gonna keep running till someone stops him.' House said.
'Maybe a divorce is what will stop him from running.' Foreman said. House looked at him, his eyes shooting daggers.

'Divorce is just another method of running away' Chase suddenly said. He had broken the eye contact with House a while ago and he had been looking at the ring at his finger. He couldn't remember Ashley still wearing here's but he thought she still did. In the end she had been waiting for 3 years for him before getting him these papers. He turned the ring a couple of times before the silence made him look up. Cameron and Foreman were looking like he had gone mad, but House was actually smiling.

'Go, you get the day off.' more didn't he need as he got up from his chair, took his coat and bag and left the hospital.