Title: Being Wrong

Author: Brylee16

Rating: T

Summary: When a patient is brought into the clinic with almost unbearable pain, the case is passed on to Dr. House and his team. Cameron wants to sedate the patient to make him feel better, but Foreman doesn't trust him because of his past... Meanwhile, Chase has a severe crush on Cameron and a hard time focussing on the case...

Author's note: This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but as I got more into it, it somehow transformed itself into a story of 14 pages. Therefore, I decided to break it up into 3 parts for you guys. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment! :)

Her eyes were the first thing he noticed, when he stepped into the room. Those big, blue eyes looking up at him from below, where she was sitting. Chase had spent so much time at home thinking about them. Their shape, their color... They were right in the middle between Royal Blue and Sapphire. He knew that, because he'd been sitting at home, trying to describe Cameron's eyes as accurately as he could and found that he didn't know a word for their color. People on the internet did, though, and after staring at his screen and about 40 different shades of blue for a couple of minutes, he had come to the previous conclusion.

All the sudden, the expression of these eyes changed. "Morning, Chase. Are you okay?"

It was only now, with Cameron raising her eyebrows at him, that he noticed how akwardly he was blocking the door frame. Foreman looked amused for some reason. "Sure, I'm all good!", he responded, sounding a little too rushed, and just when he had decided to sit down and wait for his boss to arrive, he felt a familiar cane hit his leg semi-gently. Right behind him, House cleared his throat in a demonstrative manner and Chase took a seat quickly.

Without taking further notice of his team, House began to write on the white board only one word:

Pain.

When the three member of his team only stared, he started talking as well: "42-year-old Caucasian. Male. The only symptom is constant and unbearable pain. No apparent cause."

"Anything else?", Cameron asked. Her lips... She was wearing the slightest bit of lip gloss. Enough to make them shine, but still look natural. Chase felt his heart make an unexpected jump at that sight.

"Yes", House answered, looking straight at them. "He was brought in here with a blood clot in his leg. It was removed and that's when the pain started. He says it's strongest in his arms." He paused for a moment, then said: "Any ideas?"

"More clots?", Chase suggested vaguely. It was hard to focus on the case with Cameron sitting right in front of him. Especially after he noticed that she was wearing a brown skirt and tights today. That was unusual, but he wasn't going to complain...

"Negative", House asserted. He sounded annoyed and Chase started biting his lower lip. "That's kind of what I meant when I said that there is no apparent cause. Obviously, he was already checked for more clots...!"

Chase said nothing. How was he supposed to focus with Cameron pushing back a strain of hair like that? With Chase trying hard not to stare at her, and Cameron still fixing her bangs, Foreman spoke up: "If there is no apparent cause and the only symptom is pain, how do we know he's not just faking it? Does he happen to have a drug history?"

House gave him a sly look. "Maybe..."

Foreman groaned and leaned back in his chair, openly expressing his exasperation. "Then why are we wasting our time with him? Seriously, he's not a case at all. He's just some addict, trying to..."

"Foreman!", Cameron interrupted him and Chase noticed how her eyes sparkled a little with that passion of hers. It was just like her to defend a man she had never met. "You don't know that! We really shouldn't judge him before we know all the facts! He deserves to be treated like any other patient, no matter what happened in his past!"

"You don't get it, do you?" Chase didn't like the way Foreman argued with her, even though he knew that Cameron could defend herself. "It's not just something that happens once in your life and then you get over it and move on. Addictions don't ever leave you again. You may be able to suppress them, but first chance you get you'll be high on whatever it is that you like again!"

"Speaking from experience, Foreman?", House inquired dryly.

"Funny." Foreman didn't sound amused at all. "I say, let's see how long he can keep up his little game! He can't pretend he's in pain forever. Sooner or later he'll grow tired of it."

"That's cruel", Cameron pointed out. She had her lips pressed together now and didn't look happy at all.

"It's better than giving him what he wants!", Foreman argued.

"Maybe all he wants is for the pain to stop!" Now she looked seriously upset. Still pretty though, Chase thought and wanted to slap himself. A serious debate was going on and all he could think about was his female collegue! Cameron was still going on about the case: "We have no proof of him faking anything! If he is in actual pain, it'd be terrible of us to deny him the sedatives!"

"Well", House responded. "If Foreman's right and he is a junkie, then giving them to him would be the worst thing we could do."

"So now what?", Chase asked. He didn't really have an opinion on the whole thing yet. Some weird instinct told him to side with Cameron, but he decided to stay neutral instead.

"I'd say, we wait it out", House suggested, turning around to look at the white board again. "He was brought in here with the blood clot at 6pm. Now it's 7:30. Let's give him one night."

Foreman nodded, obviously pleased that House had adapted his thesis. "We'll see if he's still in pain in the morning. And we should also ask one of the nurses to keep an eye on him. I doubt that he'll keep up the drama throughout the whole night."

Cameron rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "That's unethical", she said, shaking her head at Foreman and House. Another strain of her hair slipped out of her ponytail and curled itself around the side of her face like a frame. Chase clutched his hands under the table. She didn't notice it and went on: "How can we go home, knowing that we are voluntarily denying a patient treatment? He's suffering and just because of his past we will let him suffer...?!"

House seemed unimpressed by the rage in the tone of her voice. "If you feel so bad about it, go and feed him some valerian. You could also play him some classical music. Mozart is said to have a soothing effect, for example."

She looked as though she's been hit in the face and all of a sudden Chase felt the strong urge to kick at House's cane, causing him to fall. Cameron glared at their boss, her lips a thin line, and finally she let out a: "Fine."

"Great", House said with a smile, winked at Cameron and limped out of the room. His team followed soon after and on the way out, Chase turned to Foreman: "So now are we actually going home?"

"Well, that's what I'll do!"

Cameron was walking behind them and didn't say anything. Chase wanted to talk to her, maybe cheer her up somehow, but he had no idea what to say without making things any worse.

It was only when they were already in the elevator, that he came up with something. "Should we maybe have a look at him? That's the least we can do without actually treating him."

"Good idea", Cameron said, a little grimply, but still Chase's stomach felt as though it was practicing summersaults. Maybe it showed on his face, but Cameron couldn't notice, because she had her back turned to him, looking at Foreman. "Are you gonna come with?"

Foreman shrugged. "Sure, why not? But I'll keep in mind that junkies are good actors. Anybody who's looking for a fix is, you know?"

Even before they entered the room, they could hear the screams echoing down the hallway.

"Jeezus...", Foreman muttered under his breath. "He's good at that."

As they entered the room, the man on the bed didn't open his eyes. He was doubling over, clutching his arms around his body as if trying desperately to keep all of his organs in place. Sounds of agony escaped his mouth and his face was a grotesque grimace. Chase felt bad for him right away.

Foreman cleared his throat in order to draw the patient's attention to them. The man looked up, panting, as though trying hard to keep himself from further screaming.

"These are Doctor Cameron and Doctor Foreman and my name is Doctor Chase", said Chase, because he felt that someone should say something. "We are Doctor House's team."

"And... where... is this... Doctor House?", the man asked, blurting out the sentence in brackets as if getting out every single word by itself was a great effort.

"Right now he is assessing your case", Cameron answered with a noticable amount of bitterness.

The man started screaming again. He leaned back, his knuckles white from clawing his own sides.

He started rocking a little. To Chase it looked like a poor attempt to comfort himself in his misery.

This was wrong. If Cameron was right, then they were part of the reason why this man was in agony. Then again... if Foreman was right, then they were doing him a favor by denying him the chance to engage in further substance abuse.

"Please!", the man yelled, looking up at them with shiny, wide eyes. „Give me something! Make it stop!" Then he started groaning again and picked up on the rocking. Additionally, he started throwing his head around fitfully.

"I'm sorry!", Chase said, undecided if he meant it or not.

"We cannot give you any medication right now!", Foreman added. "Dr. House thinks it's best to monitor you over-night!"

The man let out another deep growl, grimacing strangely.

"We are really sorry!", Cameron said and her voice trembled just a tiny bit. "In the morning, we'll reconsider your situation."

He didn't respond, threw himself back against the pillow that was propped up behind him, and didn't even look after Foreman as he left the room with a cold: "'til then."

"Come on", Chase said as gently as possible, turning to Cameron. "Let's go."

She just let out another sigh and followed him. His heart started beating faster as soon as they left the patient's room. Foreman had already walked off, so it was only him and her... Only... what was he supposed to say? Chase really wanted to comfort her. He knew how hard this was on her and he wished for a way to make her feel better. If only he knew what to say... if only he could find the words...

"Alright", she said, even though he was still hectically planning their conversation in his head. "That does it. I'm going back to talk to House. I can't let this happen."

"Wha..."

But she didn't wait for his approval. She rushed off without another word, and there he stood, like an idiot. Great, Chase thought to himself. Foreman gone, Cameron gone. Now what?

Should he go after Cameron and try to support her in her talk with House? Some part of him thought that this was a great idea, as long as it involved some more time in the same room with her. However, another rational voice told him that she liked being independent and would probably be irritated by his unexpected help.
So should he go back to see the patient? Well, he could still hear some screams that sounded like their producer was trying to stiffle them with a cushion. Without success. No, this man would not be able to even have a basic conversation with anyone, so what was the point in going back?

He was also off clinic duty and it was going to get dark soon, so the only logical thing to do seemed

to involve leaving the clinic and possibly go home. After just one last moment of hesitation at the front door, with Cameron's desperate face as a clear mental image in his head, Chance finally decided to do just that and stepped out of the building.