A/N: Part 2 of 3. I wanted to tell the bulk of this through a telephone conversation, because I felt it left some things more open to interpretation. Feel free to tell me if the premise falls flat.
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House sat on his sofa and repeatedly tapped his cane on the wooden floor as he stared at the stolen files. Neither one was telling him anything he didn't already know- no mention of this kid in either Chase's or the old man's family medical history. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised given how tight lipped and dysfunctional the Chase family seemed to be.
He picked up Rowan Chase's file once more and started thumbing through it. There were a couple of phone numbers listed as emergency contacts. He was hoping the files would tell him what he wanted to know, but it looked as though he would have to do this the hard way. House picked up the phone and started to dial Carol Chase, but he hung up before he finished dialing.
House then picked up the phone and started dialing the second number on the contact list-a Madeline Boyd. If there were family secrets Rowan's sister was a better bet than some half informed second wife.
He let the phone ring several times and was about to give up when he heard a slightly out of breath voice on the other end of the line say, "Hello." He surmised that he caught her just as she was walking in the door.
It didn't matter. She was on the line and it was time for the games to begin.
He put on his best phony pleasant voice. "Hello, I'm looking for a Madeline Boyd."
"Yes?"
"Great! Madeline, this is Dr. Gregory House. We've never met, but I'm-"
"I've heard of you, " she said warily. " You're Bobby's boss."
House paused a moment to smile. He never would have pegged Chase as a "Bobby", yet somehow it fit.
"Can I call you Madge or Maddy?" he asked.
"Madeline will do just fine," she said flatly.
"Maddy it is then." A small part of him knew that he shouldn't provoke the woman he was going to try to pry information out of, but sometimes he honestly just couldn't help himself.
He decided to get down to business. "Listen, Maddy. I hate to bother you so early in the morning, but Chase...Bobby, that is, had a bit of an abnormal white count during his last physical and I thought it would be good for me to update his family medical history. I remember him mentioning that he had a younger brother die of Leukemia , but he couldn't remember what type being that he was rather young at the time, and I thought maybe you would recall-"
"Huh?" was all that Madeline said.
House sighed then quickly backpedaled- not Leukemia then. "Oh, right. I'm sorry. Leukemia...that was Foreman's cousin. So sorry for the mix up. Chase's brother died in a car accident? "
A pause. Then, "No."
House was quickly running out of chances. "Oh. That must have been Cameron's grandma. With so many employees, it's hard to keep track of all the family tragedies. Did the little tyke drink some Draino or something?"
" Let's put an end to this ridiculous fishing expedition right now. The answer to your question is this: Ryan died of SIDS when he was six weeks old. Bobby's mother, Vivian, had a difficult pregnancy and Ryan was born premature. I doubt any of this is medically relevant to Robert and I'm not interested in playing games. Good-bye, Dr. House."
"Wait! Don't hang up."
It appeared that Rowan's sister was a little too shrewd to be sweetly finessed. He'd have to grind his answers out of her the old fashioned way- confrontational style. In reality that was more his style anyhow.
"Fine. I'll level with you," he said, voice dropping all fake pleasantries. "We lost a patient. Your nephew lost his head. I need him to get his pretty little head out of his ass before we lose more patients, therefore I need to know how Mummy and Daddy screwed him up. Was Mommy Dearest hitting the bottle while she was pregnant...maybe hitting poor wittle Robbie too?"
Maddy let out a short laugh before answering, "Absolutely not! Vivian never laid a hand on that child save for in love. He was her world…that is until gin became her world."
"Was that it then? Mommy loved him a little too much- in very unmotherly ways?"
"Dear God, Bobby was right about you. You really are a shameless bastard."
"That doesn't answer my question," he pointed out.
"Heavens no. Vivian had her problems, and it is unfortunate that Bobby was forced to watch her waste away like she did. However, she never mistreated her son in any way, so if you are quite finished with your interrogation-"
"What about your brother?"
"What about my brother?" she echoed back.
Then House was struck with an epiphany- or so he thought. It seemed to fit all the symptoms so perfectly - Rowan's guilt over being such a lousy father, Chase's fear of the old man, and his mother's alcoholism.
"He shook the baby," House stated.
"I don't follow," Maddy said.
"Rowan was a stern man, a perfectionist, and he was getting older- probably didn't have the patience to put up with a screaming, annoying little brat every night. He loses his cool, shakes the baby a little too hard-"
"Dr. House," Maddy tried to interrupt, but House was hell bent on continuing.
"Mommy Chase doesn't say a word. Covers it up. The guilt and helplessness make her turn to the bottle,"
"Dr. House. No!"
"Something happened," House accused, "and whatever it was, it's still screwing with Chase's head. If I have to worry about him breaking down every time he does his damn job, then he's useless to me."
He heard Maddy let out a defeated sigh. "Exactly how upset is he?" she asked
" Hard to tell with him," House answered.
"Always was," she agreed.
"What happened?" House prodded. There was silence for several moments.
"You must understand," she began tentatively, " That baby meant the world to Rowan. He didn't mean to lash out at Bobby when Ryan died. It just happened. Vivian was started falling apart shortly after Ryan was born. Bobby was taking care of the baby more than she was.
Ryan died of SIDS when he was only a few weeks old. My brother...he knew it wasn't Bobby's fault , but things were complicated. Sometimes when you're hurting you need someone to blame."
"Makes perfect sense," House said, voice dripping with contempt. "Lose one kid, so kick the living crap out of the one you got left."
"You're jumping to conclusions. I never said-"
"You desperately want to believe the best about your brother," he cut her off.
Maddy neither confirmed nor denied House's implication. She simply continued softly, "He started pulling away from the family after that. I think he never forgave himself for his outburst and just couldn't bear to face that poor boy after everything."
"Yeah," House acknowledged, then quietly hung up the phone.
He sat quietly for several minutes and absorbed what he had managed to find out. If nothing else speaking to Maddy had confirmed his opinion that people were idiots- apparently even world renowned doctors weren't immune. Lose one child, so abandon the other after years of raising-
House picked up the phone and hit redial.