Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything that has to do with the show. Not doing this for money. And the bill collectors have been on line for my money before you and there isn't much to begin with.

A/N: This story has been going on inside my head for about a year already. Each chapter has to do with a different duckling. I hope you enjoy!

Chase

Chase had just walked into the clinic, exam room one when he heard his name being called. "Rob?"

He looked up. "Kyle?" He shook hands with the guy. "What are you doing here?" He realized after he said it that it sounded stupid being they where in a free clinic.

"My throat's been bothering me."

Chase listened as his friend spoke. He did sound a little raspy. Pulling out a pair of gloves Chase started his examination. "How long has this been going on?"

"About three weeks or so."

"Doing a lot of singing?"

"Shoebox is playing on Saturday night."

"Great. Where?"

"Pete's, down on Main. It's a BNL tribute battle of the bands thing. Top prize is Two thousand dollars and tickets for all shows in the tri-state area for their next tour."

"Sweet."

"Don't I know it."

"Any fever, chills, aches?"

"My neck's been a little sore, achy, lately."

"Uh huh." Chase said, as he looked down the man's throat. "Trish made you come in?"

"She's been bugging me for weeks to come in." Kyle started once Chase was done looking down his throat and taking his temperature. "Afraid I'll get KJ sick."

"How is Junior doing?" Chase asked feeling around his friends' neck.

"Getting big. Walking and talking now. You should come by for a visit. Trish would love to see you again."

"How's Earl?"

"Actually out in the waitin

g room? He's the one who took me. He's afraid he's going to have to sing lead."

"Well let's not worry him yet." Chase said next feeling around his friend's neck.

"It's just a cold, right?" Kyle asked as Chase went to a draw.

"I'm not so sure. I want to draw some blood and get an MRI of you neck."

"Why?" He asked as Chase drew the blood.

"Give me your hand." Chase took the offered hand and laid it on his friend's neck. "Feel this?" Kyle nodded. "I want to get a better look at it. It could be nothing, but I want to cover all my bases. You want me to get Earl in here for you?"

"Yeah."

Chase could see that his friend was worried. "Look, Kyle, you're going to be okay. No matter what I'll be here. We got some great doctors here and they'll take care of you. Let me go get the MRI set up and have them do the blood work. I'll be back in a little bit to take you to imaging. Earl will keep you company for a bit."

Kyle nodded and Chase left.

True to his word, Chase was back ten minutes later to take Kyle and his brother Earl up to imaging.
"Guys, why don't you have a seat in the waiting room? I want to show this to someone and get your blood work. I want to get you taken care of so you don't have to wait too long."

"Rob thanks for doing this." Kyle said sincerely.

"Oh, I'm not doing this for you." Chase said with a smile. "I don't want Earl to have to sing." He saw that his joke had an effect as both Kyle and Earl smiled. Chase patted Kyle on the back as he headed first to the lab for the blood work and then to Wilson's office.

Chase's suspicions were confirmed and he went to talk to Kyle with Wilson in tow. Tomorrow they were going to remove the mass in his neck and biopsy it to see if the growth was cancerous or not. Chase promised his friend that he'd be there tomorrow. He'd visited before and after the procedure.

"Do you have any questions?" Wilson asked after all was explained.

"Will I be able to sing on Saturday night?" Kyle asked.

"I wouldn't recommend it. The growth is really close to your vocal cords. You'll probably not want to talk till Friday. Singing will be a bit too stressful for the area."

Chase didn't know who looked more upset, Kyle or Earl. Once he showed both men out and promised to see them tomorrow Wilson turned to him.

"What's up with them?"

"They have a gig on Saturday night. Kyle is the lead singer and Earl is the back up. If Kyle can't sing then Earl has too. You don't want to know how hard it was for him to take Kyle's place when Kyle had to take lead."

"Why did Kyle have to take lead and how do you know them?"

"Kyle was an exchange student in Australia. We became close friends. When I moved to the states to look for a job I stayed with him. Helped him start the band. I left once I found out how demanding it was to work for House. I kept having to miss practices and stuff because of work. Kyle replaced me and Earl replaced Kyle." Chase shrugged. He had no idea why he was sharing all of this with Wilson. He guessed he was slightly stressed with finding out a really close friend of his might have cancer.

It was the next day and Gregory House was trying to ditch both Cuddy and his clinic hours by meandering the oncology department. And if he ran into Wilson so much the better. As he was strolling through the hall he was surprised to hear a familiar accented voice.

"Hawaii will be our best bet. I'll take some days over the summer and we'll fly down. I have my gear in storage, I'll have to take it out and look it over. Got no use for it in Jersey."

"Down on the shore isn't so bad. We go sometimes during the summer." A voice he didn't know answered.

"Or if we hear a storm is coming." Another person he didn't know commented.

"Probably doesn't beat back in Oz." That was Chase again.

"Nothing beats those waves." The first voice spoke again.

House stood outside the door listening to the conversation. In all the time that Chase had worked in the hospital he had never heard the kid talk so enthusiastically to anyone. He continued to listen in, hoping to gain more insight, or material to use against his young doctor.

"Are you sure you can't sing?" This was a third voice that he didn't know.

"Wish I could Earl. But that ass I work for won't give me the time to practice with you guys. Remember how it was when I first started to work here?"

House figured that was his queue to enter. "That bastard." He said as he walked into the room.

Chase immediately stood up. "You need time to play with your friends?" House feigned sweet innocents.

Before Chase could even think of answering Earl spoke up. "Rob needs time to practice so we have a chance to win two thousand dollars."

"Really and how is that?" How asked, even more curious.

"We need a lead singer while Kyle is recovering. There's no one else. But he needs time off. But his bastard of a boss, who made him quit us the first time around, won't let the guy off,"

If Chase hadn't been a part of the subject of that rant he would have been impressed at Earl.

"It just so happens I know Rob's bastard of a boss. Let me know when and where this shindig is and Dr. Chase is yours from three till whenever. But I need him back by nine the next morning."

"9 PM, Saturday, Pete's Tavern on Main Street." Earl answered with a smile.

"And the type of music the wombat is going to be butchering?"

"BNL." At House's confused look Earl continued. "Barenaked Ladies. Five guys from Canada." House just shrugged and left the room. "Guess that means we'll see you at 5pm in my basement." Earl questioned with a smile on his face.

"Oh, bite me." Chase said reaching into his bag. "You might want to look these over. I might be out of practice with you guys but I can at least play these."

Kyle picked up the papers, looked them over, before he passed it to Alex, the drummer.

"Wind It Up and Sound of Your Voice? Where did you get these?" Alex asked.

"Wrote them. You think I stopped arranging when I left. I've done it for all the albums, Kyle knows that. These are just the ones that I like to sing. If you want I'll bring the others tonight."

"No, these are fine." Alex answered in awe of the work in front of him.

Robert Chase looked at his watch again. 8:58. Two minutes. He was torn between two feelings. He was on the adrenalin high that came before getting on stage and singing your heart out to your favorite music. It had been months since he last sang with the band. He had missed it. This past week had been amazing. Leaving work by 4 to run home, change and grab his guitar. He found himself humming the music on more than one occasion while administering to a patient.

But also out in the audience were his co-workers. Even more worrisome was the fact that House was there. Sitting at one of the tables up front. Chase was sure that House would be the one to try and sabotage the show. Worse than that House had brought Wilson, Cameron, Foreman and Cuddy with him. There would be no end to the teasing at work starting on Monday. He wasn't even sure if any of those people even heard of the group Barenaked Ladies before House told him.

Robert looked back down at his watch. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The lights out in the bar started to dim. The MC of this contest took the stage.

"You ready?" Earl was behind him, his guitar already on.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Tomorrow, Kyle and Trish are having a bar-b-que to celebrate the good news."

"No one was happier than me to hear that the growth was benign."

"Shoebox of Lies." The MC cheered.

"That's our queue." Earl patted him on the arm as he headed out onto the stage.

Chase closed his eyes, offered up a silent prayer that all would go well tonight, and followed the rest of the group out.

Greg House made sure that he got to the bar early enough to get a good seat. For this he wanted to be front row. He had spent the past week researching this band that Chase was going to be covering.

Barenaked Ladies, or BNL, as they were referred to, was an interesting group to say the least. Caught in the middle between Pop and Alternative, House found them to be slightly off center in regards to their subject matter. But he did have to admit their songs were quirky enough that he enjoyed listening the lyrics. As a musician he was able to appreciate their musical ability, the quality of their voices and their lyrical style. He was more than curious to see if Chase could pull off singing this work.

House was more than pleased when he was able to bring the rest of the department with him. It was supposed to be a surprise but Cameron had let it slip that she was looking forward to seeing Chase and that she didn't know that he knew how to sing. But oh, well. It was still going to be interesting to see how his wombat behaved on stage.

The lights dimmed and a man with a microphone took the stage. "Good evening. Welcome to our last night of the BNL Tribute Band Contest here at Pete's. Tonight's band, 'Shoebox of Lies', is being fronted by Robert Chase. Their lead singer, and founder, Kyle Saunders, couldn't sing tonight due to a medical problem. For those of you who have followed this band since they started will remember Rob as the original lead singer. Because of this, we have allowed Shoebox to replace their lead singer for this competition. Now without further ado here's Shoebox of Lies."

The applause was thunderous as the band took the stage. Chase looked back at everyone and counted to three. He wasn't playing the guitar in this song, just singing. For him that was enough. He still wasn't quite comfortable up here. At least not yet.

The band started to play 'This Old Apartment'. They quickly followed it up by 'Enid.' One of those quirky songs that House seemed to like from the band. It was during that song that Chase finally loosed up. He remembered the joy of singing. And he didn't care who was listening. He wasn't singing for them, just for himself.

Once the applause died down from 'Enid' Chase took the mike. "Thank you, thank you all. I must say it's a real treat to be back up here on the stage with the group. Now you all should know where our name came from, but in case you didn't here's a hint." Chase nodded back to Alex.

"A key in the door, a step on the floor,

a note on the table and a meal in the micro,

note say "I'm in bed, please make sure that you're fed,

if you're taking a shower you can borrow my bathrobe.

When I'm asleep I dream you move in next week"

I crumple the note and save it to put inside

My shoebox

Shoebox of lies"

Chase sung with all his heart. This was his stage, his song. This is what he lived for. Sure saving people's lives were great but nothing compared to singing.

House was amazed as the concert wore on. Chase had a pretty damn good voice. With his piano playing and Chase's voice and guitar playing they could quit this doctoring business and take their music on the road.

He had never seen Chase have so much fun. Sure at the beginning he seemed a bit uncomfortable, but by the third song he was more at ease on the stage than House had ever seen him before.

And it looked like he was having a good time too. House had to smile as Chase sang some of the songs. He was impressed that Chase could get out all the words that were in One Week. The lyrics to Stomach vs. Heart and A were good for a laugh, especially coming from Chase's mouth. And the notes in Call and Answer and Break Your Heart, Chase did a phenomenal job at hitting.

As the night wound down everyone was a good mood. As Chase took the stage for their last song he looked out over the bar. "So you all know that BNL have a new CD out. We'd like to end the show with two songs from Are Me." Chase looked back at the band and counted down.

"Chase that was fantastic." Cameron came over to him as they were cleaning up.

"Thanks." He smiled as he gave her a hug.

"You sing a hell of a lot better than House does." Wilson shook his hand, while smiling at House.

"If you can rap then you sold me." Foreman came over also to shake Chase's hand.

"If you sing at the next fundraiser than you are out of clinic duty for the month." Cuddy smiled and gave him a hug.

"Why didn't I get an offer like that?" House asked.

"He looks better in a tight pair of jeans than you do."

"Yes but he does look better with out them?" House raised his eyebrows at her.

Cuddy took a moment, and looked Chase up and down. Chase at least had the decency to blush. "I'm sure he does. I mean he is at least 20 years younger than you." Cuddy smirked back at the diagnostician.

"Not bad. I'm just curious what you could have done with more practice." Of course House couldn't give him a full compliment.

"Wouldn't know. I'm to busy working for you to get enough practice in." Chase shot back. "Guess that's something that you'll never know." And with that Robert Chase walked away from the group to finish helping the band clear the stage.

Next week they would find out who won the contest. He hoped that it was Shoebox. Although no matter who it was he was just happy to play again on a stage. Maybe he could talk to House into starting a band. That way he knew they would find time to practice.

A/N: BNL, or Barenaked Ladies, is an amazing group. All the songs listed are theirs. Again no money being made. Just doing this for fun. If you are interested in the playlist for the concert let me know. (Yes I did work out a play list for the concert) I will send it to you. Thanks for reading.