Wow guys, I can't believe how much you guys actually like this story! It's my first House fic and I didn't think it would be such a hit. You guys rock!

Chapter 3

The entire hospital stood outside in groups waiting for the okay to go back to work. House stood with Cameron and Foreman as he saw two nurses wheel out Tumor girl. Wait a second; Chase was supposed to be with her. Then again, Chase should have been outside already. Where was h? House limped up to the nurses and asked, "Where is the doctor who was with her?"

"He's still inside making sure the rest of the children in the PICU are out."

The nurses wheeled Tumor girl past him and towards her father. House turned and began making his way to Cuddy who was busy talking with a few officers that were taking care of the scene. Once he reached her, he asked, "Have you seen Chase?"

"Isn't he with you?"

"Do you see him with me?"

"Well, how the hell should I know? I've been kind of busy here, if you haven't noticed we have a code silver going on and I need to make sure we handle this properly. And wince when have you cared about Chase?"

"He has great hair."

"Look, Chase is a smart doctor. He knows what to do in situations like these."

"Are we talking about the same guy? I mean, after all, those Brits are weird."

Cuddy rolled her eyes as a man and a woman approached them and asked, "Dr. Cuddy, our son is a patient here in the hospital and we can't find him anywhere."

"What floor was he on?" asked Cuddy.

"The fourth floor, room 428."

Cuddy and House looked at each other as she said, "That's in the PICU."

"That's where Chase was supposed to be."

Cuddy turned to the police and asked, "Can you go in and find Benjamin in room 428?"

"Yes ma'am," one replied as they ran in. As they disappeared, House muttered, "Chase had better be with that kid or he's fired."

Not long after that, the two officers wheeled Benjamin out. The parents ran to him smiling as Cuddy asked the police, "Was there a doctor with him?"

"No ma'am."

"That's it, he's fired," stated House.

"There was a doctor with me," piped up Benjamin.

All eyes turned to him as he said, "He was talking to someone and then there was this loud noise. I woke up and saw the doctor was asleep and the other guy was taking him home to bed."

"Are you sure?" asked Cuddy.

Benjamin smiled and nodded as Cuddy turned to House and said, "This isn't good."

"You're telling me. Where am I going to find another British guy with great hair and agrees with everything I say? We are very short-handed on those, you know."

"First off, Chase is Australian."

"Well duh! EVERYONE knows that!"

"SECOND," shouted Cuddy, interrupting House's sarcastic streak, "We have a doctor missing, and possibly hurt. The man was seen with a gun and Benjamin said he heard a loud noise. He could have been shot!"

"Doubt it. A guy who shot someone wouldn't carry them. Doesn't want to get blood on himself. Besides, the kid would have had blood on him."

"Since when did you become a detective?"

"My job is practically detective work. Just call me Sherlock Holmes."

"I don't care, Sherlock."

House began to walk away when Cuddy asked, "Where are you going?"

House ignored her and approached Cameron and Foreman. "Okay Watson and…Watson, we've got a case."

"We do?" asked Cameron.

"Yeah, we're hunting down Watson."

"No you're not," came Cuddy's voice from right behind him.

"Oh, you're taking away my fun."

"Let the police do their job and you can do yours. The police have Okayed the building. Go inside, finish…whatever it was you were doing before, go home and let the police deal with this."

Cuddy walked away as Foreman asked, "Let the police deal with what?"

"Chase is missing."

Before he could get asked another question, he followed the crowd in and went straight to his office. Once he sat at his desk on the fourth floor, he stayed there, deep in thought. Time flew; people seemed to be moving at a hundred miles per hour as House sat in his office, resting his chin on his cane. Soon, most of the doctors had gone home to go to sleep, but House remained at the hospital in his office, staring at the table and whiteboard in the room next to him. He remained there through the night and into the next morning, refusing to sleep. The sudden code silver and disappearance of Chase boggled his mind. As the sun rose into the sky, House left his desk and walked to the whiteboard, writing down words and phrases. Cameron and Foreman walked in looking confused. "House? Did you stay here all night?" asked Cameron.

"Maybe I did. Why? You're going to spank me, mommy?" he replied without taking his eyes of the board in front of him.

Foreman and Cameron stopped at stared at their boss. "What are you writing?" asked Foreman, trying to look around House's head.

"Symptoms."

"We have a case already?"

House stepped aside to reveal the board. "Man enters with gun, heads to fourth floor," read Foreman.

"These aren't symptoms," pointed out Cameron.

"No, it's a timeline. Based off this timeline, what can you pull from it?"

"You want us to diagnose what happened to Chase?" questioned Cameron.

"Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! Now then…"

"You heard Cuddy, she said to leave this alone," stated Foreman.

"I know I heard her too, but do you really think Cuddy is going to stop me? I mean, when is the last time she told me not to do something and I did it anyway? Now, what can you get…?"

"Leave it alone, House, we can't…!" began Cameron.

"You know, Chase would have already named off a few ideas," interrupted House.

Foreman sighted and said, "Fourth floor is the ICU, so he was either looking for a patient or a doctor."

"And seeing how Chase is a doctor, let's go off of that. Why a doctor?"

"Who knows? Maybe he knew Chase for some reason," replied Foreman.

"It doesn't matter! What can we do? We're doctors!" stated Cameron in one breath.

The room remained silent as House took in what she said. "You just want a puzzle and this is the most intriguing puzzle you've ever seen. We diagnose sick patients, not solve crimes."

Taking in a breath, House asked, "What if this guy is mentally unstable and what he did is a symptom of a neurological problem?'

"House, give it a rest. There's nothing we can do about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, 'm going to go do what doctors do," replied Foreman as he walked away.

House turned and looked at Cameron, who said, "I'm sorry."

And with that, she left, leaving House alone.


That night, Chase did not sleep. His coughing became more frequent as time progressed and each fit brought up more blood. He had successfully moved his gurney to the opposite side of the room. If what they had was an airborne disease, then being close to each other for a long period of time could make the disease work faster. As he sat up, he began to feel light-headed and cold. These were signs of a fever. Chase grabbed a temperature reader and stuck it in his mouth, not caring if it was sterile or not. It read 101.2°. Chase cursed under his breath as he threw the reader onto his gurney. If his plan was to work, then he needed to execute it now. Without hesitating, Chase grabbed a syringe and headed to Carrie. Once he reached her, her eyes opened and she asked, "What are you doing?"

Chase ignored her and maneuvered the needle as if he was going to inject her, but missed her arm completely. "You missed."

"I meant to."

"What do you…?"

"I'm not treating you. Not here."

"But, we'll both die if you don't."

"We're dead either way. This is an unsterile environment. You catch one disease from an unsterile needle and we both die here. I'm going to need you to act like you're well in order for this to work."

"He won't fall for it."

"You never know. I've seen smart people fall for worse. I'm not going to risk my life here."

Chase threw the syringe aside as Carrie asked, "You're life or our lives?"

"My life is connected to your life; therefore my life is our lives."

There was a silence, then she asked, "You're one of those rich boys, aren't you? You know, the one who's father paid for your private schooling and medical school. All pretty rich boys act the same; always caring about number one. Themselves."

"Don't talk like you know me, because you don't. I'm not rich."

Carrie turned her eyes away as Chase stated, "Now then, I'm going to get his attention. Pretend like you're feeling better."

Carrie nodded as Chase walked over to the door and started banging on it. The noise he was making wasn't helping his head, but he had no other idea for it. Suddenly, a port in the door opened and chase saw the two eyes from the hospital staring in at him. "What is it?" the man asked coldly.

"She's all better, however…"

"Let me see."

Chase stood aside to let his eyes peer in the room. Quickly, he stepped back into view. "You see?"

"Go to the other side of the room, put your back against the wall and stay there."

As Chase began to walk, he felt a cough beginning to form in his throat. He couldn't cough now. He suppressed the cough and did as the man said. Once Chase turned around, he saw the door open and the man walk in. He looked just like he did before; dirty, mangy and even from the side of the room he was standing, Chase could smell the alcohol on his breath. The cough tickled at the back of his throat and Chase could feel some blood behind it, but he kept holding it as the man looked over Carrie. He had just placed a hand on Carrie's skin when he pulled back and glared at Chase. "She's still hot!"

"It'll take the antibiotics some time to relieve the fever."

"How long?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but in case the antibiotics don't work, I want to take her back to Princeton with me to keep an eye on her stats."

"No, she stays here."

Chase felt a sinking feeling as the man continued to oversee her. Chase thought it had worked until the man's eyes fell on something and his face turned to anger. His lips curled into a snarl as he turned his attention to the blonde doctor. "You lied to me."

"What? No I didn't."

"If you cured her, why does her heart monitor show a rapid heartbeat," he shouted, pointing to the heart monitor screen. Sure enough, her heart rate was faster than usual. This was a new. Her heart rate was fine a few minutes ago. Chase was about to leave his spot from the wall to investigate when the man shouted, "I said don't move!"

Chase froze as the man approached him. "You think you can trick me?"

A sudden blow to the stomach made Chase double over in pain. "DO YOU!"

Before Chase could answer, the man hit Chase on the back, causing his legs to give out from underneath him. Once Chase hit the floor, the man leant in and whispered, "You lie to me one more time and I won't waste one moment to kill you. Now then…"

The man stood up and looked down at the hurt doctor. "You'd best get to work. The clock is ticking."

With a skip in his step, the man left the room with Chase still on the floor in pain. Using the wall to support his weight, Chase stood up and breathed in. Finally, he let the cough take him and he spewed more blood. Now Chase had no choice. Sterile or unsterile, he had to fix this, even if it meant using himself as the guinea pig. After cleaning up the blood from his lungs, he laid out on his gurney and stayed there, staring at the ceiling. He was on his own.

TBC…

Here you go, guys! An incredibly long chapter just for you! If you manage to guess what it is that Carrie and Chase have, I'll dedicate a chapter in your name! You don't have to be first to guess it right, just whenever you do, you get a chapter in your honor. A hint, the transfusion of her blood to Chase's…it was a painful one for both…and not from her arm. Happy guessing and happy reading!