Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form with anyone who does.
It had been a long morning and the last thing that Chase wanted to deal with was a difficult patient. He strode down the corridor, wondering if House had assigned him the patient as revenge for being the snitch. It certainly felt that way as he entered the room to find that the patient wasn't alone. He now had his family with him, mother, father, older brother and younger sister from the looks of it. Chase cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Mr and Mrs Johnson? We found the cause of your son's complaint. He's been taking cocaine, little bit of ecstasy as well."
"I haven't!" He had been expecting the kid to argue with him, most did when their family heard their secrets.
"He's only sixteen!" The father's face had flushed red with defensive anger and Chase flipped to the correct test results on his chart, handing them over.
"These are the lab results from the tests that we did on your son…"
"He has a name!"
"Right. These are the lab results from the tests that we did on Kevin. He tested positive for both substances. That's why he collapsed this morning."
"I would know if my son took drugs!" The mother had stood up from her chair next to the bed, laying a supportive hand on the shoulder of her husband.
"Well many parents are actually unaware that their children are addicts."
"What the hell did you say?"
"What did you just call him?"
"Where the hell do you get off saying something like that?"
Chase swallowed hard; this was becoming more of a chore than he had anticipated. Both the parents were now fuming angry and he decided to try to appeal to Kevin for help. "Kevin? The tests don't lie so you're going to have to admit it. There are some good rehabilitation programs out there that you could…"
"I don't have a problem!" His parents turned their attention to him for a moment, obviously questioning the choice of words, "I've never taken drugs! Mom, dad, you know I wouldn't!"
"You're tests are wrong."
"Mr. Johnson, the tests aren't wrong. We run everything twice and drugs are the reason that your son collapsed."
"If he says he didn't take any drugs then…"
"Then he's lying!" Chase looked at the faces in front of him, all slightly taken aback by the raise in his voice.
"Why would he say that about Kevin daddy?" The little sister, Chase guessed that she was around seven or eight years old, looked almost distraught.
"Because he's a bad man sweetie."
Chase found it so unbelievable that he had to pretend his laugh was a cough. He was just trying to give them the facts. "I'm not a bad man!"
"Do the tests again!"
"We've already done them twice Mrs…"
"Then get us a better doctor," the brother stood up as well, probably in his late teens and advanced across the room to stand in front of Chase. He was taller than him, bulkier as well and Chase couldn't help but feel intimidated. "An American doctor."
"Oh, so I'm a bad doctor because I'm Australian?" His voice had risen again, he was finding it hard not to shout.
"Kevin isn't on drugs, he's my baby brother, you don't get to decide that!"
"No! I don't! But the bloody tests do get to decide that! They say that your son, your brother, your whatever the hell you want to call him is a druggie. He takes cocaine, he takes ecstasy and that is why he collapsed! There is no medical mystery here, he's just another stupid teenage addict!"
The girl began to cry and the brother's hands clenched into fists as the father snarled at him, "get out! Get the hell out!"
Chase left, slamming the door behind him as he marched up the corridor into one of the doctor's lounges. He waited there for quarter of an hour before Cuddy appeared before him, arms folded across her chest, an annoyed look on her face, "we need to talk about what you just did."
