Chapter 2

It was two in the morning when Chase finally walked into his apartment and exhausted from the evenings events, he walked into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed without even removing his shoes.

Turning over and placing his hands over his stomach, Chase thought back at how their patient was finally cured and all because, for once, Cameron gave House a tongue lashing about the patient being a womanizer.

As he slowly drifted into a sound sleep, he smiled as he remembered the look on House's face when Cameron warned House if he ever made her work alone again with another womanizing man she would take his vicodin and hide them where House wouldn't be able to find them again.

Chuckling at the thought, he turned over to his side and fell asleep.


The next day…..

He sat at the conference table, staring at nothing in particular while drumming his fingers on the handle of his cane. After checking his watch for the third time, House looked over to Foreman who was reading a medical journal, seeing no reaction to his staring, House turned towards Cameron at the desk who was checking his e-mail.

"Did you try calling him?" asked House, as he stood up from his seat to make his way over to Cameron.

"Yes." said Cameron with hint of annoyance and stopping what she was doing to stare at House, "And each time I do, I keep getting his voice mail."

Scowling at Cameron, House decided he didn't want to anger her more and risk her going through with her threat from yesterday, so while turning to face Foreman, he said, "Foreman, I guess this is where I'm going to need your trusty skills again."

Foreman rolled his eyes at House and said, "Look, don't you think we should just continue with what we're doing. I mean, we don't have a case anymore and it's not like we really need Chase here to just sit around and do nothing. Plus if Chase hasn't answered his phone, it's probably because he knows we don't have a case or he could be working extra hours in another department and doesn't want to be found by you. I wouldn't put it past him if it was the second choice of the two."

"Either way, that's no excuse to not answer his phone. If he was going to be calling in a sick day, he should have asked first since I'm the one that decides if he comes in to work or not and if it's the second choice, then I'm just gonna have to make sure Chase understands that he works for me and make an example out of you two to get the point across to him." said House sarcastically.

Sighing, Foreman stood up and said, "I'll drive."

"Good, then let's roll. That is the correct term your people are using now a days, right?" asked House sarcastically as he went to his office to get his coat and call Cuddy.

"Don't let him get to you Foreman, you know he's just taking it out on you because Chase isn't here and he's worried about him." said Cameron as she turned to look at Foreman as he made his way to the door.

"Yeah, I know." said Foreman sighing afterwards. After asking Cameron to call them if she heard anything from Chase while they were on their way to his apartment, Foreman told House that he would meet him downstairs in the parking lot with the motor running.

Making his way to the elevators, Foreman thought, 'Chase, you better be really sick for you not to be answering your phone. Otherwise you are so going to owe me for putting up with House on the way to your apartment.'


At Chase's apartment….

After knocking on the door several times, House told Foreman, "Ok, Mr. Breaking and entry, do your job."

Foreman annoyed with House's comment said, "What? Don't you have a key or something? I mean you do have a duplicate to Cuddy's house, I wouldn't put it past you to have…"

"Oh sure, take the fun out of everything. Fine, I'll use the damn key. Happy?!" said House when Foreman gave him a look at his response.

As they unlocked the door, House noticed that everything seemed to be normal, well as normal as things could be since he had never been over to Chase's apartment before.

"I'll check his bedroom." said Foreman as he walked past House to enter the apartment.

"Ok…I guess I'll check…the kitchen." said House as he limped over to the small room that was a kitchen.

Opening the refrigerator, House was hoping to find something to snack on but upon finding only a well stocked refrigerator with healthy food, he made a face and closed the door.

Limping over to the cabinets to search for some kind of unhealthy snack, he again became frustrated when all he found were dry foods that seemed to be all natural and healthy looking.

Closing the cabinet door, House turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a small young boy staring at him from over the kitchen counter.

"Foreman!" yelled House as he inched his way towards the counter, "Hey, wait…" said House afterwards as the young boy ran to make his way down the hall that Foreman had disappeared to.

Making his way down the hall, he almost gave screamed as Foreman almost ran into him exiting Chase's bedroom.

"Don't! do that!" said House trying to stay calm, he had to admit that seeing that little boy had been freaky and for him to all of a sudden disappear without a trace, kind of gave him the creeps.

"Do what? I heard you yell my name so I came to look for you. Unless you like yelling out my name at random times…?" asked Foreman taking in House's slightly pale face.

"Shut up! Look, did you see a young boy run by here a while ago?" asked House, scowling at Foreman for making fun of him.

"No…what little boy?" asked Foreman with a slightly puzzled face.

Both men jumped at that moment when they heard a loud thud coming from one of the spare rooms in the apartment.

"Um? Did you hear that?" asked Foreman, gulping nervously as he wondered what had made that loud sound.

"If I say no, would that make a difference?" said House sarcastically.

"No but it would make me feel better." said Foreman straining to hear if another sound would come from down the hallway.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Foreman as he noticed House make his way towards the spare bedroom.

"To check out our little ghost, of course…." getting a look from Foreman, "I'm going to make sure that someone else hadn't broken in before we did and that's them we heard a little while ago." continued House.

"and this little boy you saw?" asked Foreman.

"The robber's son?" guessed House while getting an annoyed look from Foreman for his response.

"Sure, a burglar would bring his own kid to a breaking and entry…" said Foreman sarcastically.

"Hey I brought you along and you're as close to a duplicate of me, so that kind of counts." said House as he turned the knob to the door.

When House didn't get a reply to his sarcastic remark, he turned to see Foreman glaring at him and mumbling something along the lines, 'I'm am not anything like you.'

Turning back to the door, House pushed it open with his cane slowly and once he noticed there wasn't anyone else in the room, he turned to Foreman and said, "Guess there isn't a burglar. A cat maybe."

"I don't know, Chase hasn't mentioned anything about owning a pet." said Foreman.

"Hmm….well that still puzzles me about the little boy I saw…I mean his cell phone was still on the charger and I doubt he would leave by foot since his car is still parked outside and to top it off, I don't think he would leave a little boy in his apartment." said House while tapping his cane on the floor.

"That sounds kind of suspicious." said Foreman, hoping House wasn't trying to imply what he was already thinking.

"That Chase has a illegitimate child that he's been hiding from us all this time and he went to a corner store to buy the kid some cereal." said House sarcastically.

"Yeah, like you were actually thinking that." said Foreman knowing House was thinking the worst of Chase.

"Hey I don't know what you were….WHOA!" shouted House as a little blonde boy ran past them, causing House to lose his balance slightly and Foreman to jump back in surprise.

They both turned in time to see the little boy run towards the living room and most probably the entrance.

Turning to each other when they didn't hear the door slam open and close, they both moved quickly to the living room to see the small blonde haired boy hide behind one of the curtains in the living room.

House scowling at the curtain, starting making hand gestures for Foreman to walk to the other side, while he went to the other to catch the little boy.

Foreman rolling his eyes at House's stupid idea for once, instead said in a loud voice, "Hey kid, I know you're behind that curtain."

Not getting a response from the little boy Foreman said, "Look, we're not going to hurt you. We are actually people that work with the person that lives in this apartment and we're looking for him. Do you know who I'm talking about?" taking a deep breath he further asked, "Did that man bring you here?"

Foreman hoping that Chase really wasn't some child molester was snapped out of his thoughts when a small cute face appeared from behind the curtain and was shaking his head.

Foreman wrinkling his brow in confusion asked, "How did you get here?"

As the little boy opened his mouth to answer, House interrupted with, "Did you break into this apartment because if you did, we're going to have to call the police to come pick you up."

Foreman seeing the little boy's bluish/green eyes widen at House's comment, groaned when the little boy hid behind the curtain again in fear.

"House! You scared him!" said Foreman as he glared at House.

Turning back to the little boy he said in a gentle tone, "Hey little guy, don't worry, nobody is going to call the police to take you away, the big scary guy here is just worried that you might have been taken from your family and so we want to make sure of that, ok?"

The little boy peeking his head out of the curtain again, said in a whisper, "ok."

Foreman noticing House was about to make another sarcastic remark, gave a glare for House to be quiet.

Rolling his eyes, House turned away to look at the few pictures on the coffee table to let Foreman talk to the little boy.

Kneeling down to one knee, Foreman turned back to the little boy and asked, "So a man didn't bring you here?" Receiving a head shake as his answer Foreman asked, "Then how did you get here?"

"I woke up here." said the little boy as he moved from behind the curtain to answer Foreman.

Foreman gasped in surprise as he noticed that he was wearing the same shirt that Chase had been wearing yesterday which looked three sizes two large for the little boy, as he turned to point that out to House.

House said in a shocked voice, "The Hell?!"