Chapter 10
Cuddy had been surprised when Chase had leaned into her and allowed her to comfort him while he was crying. She was also surprised with how long Chase had cried for, it took about forty-five minutes before she felt Chase's breathing even out and he slumped forward and put more of his weight on her. Cuddy didn't know what to do, she didn't want to wake him but she couldn't stay like that all day. It took a few minutes but eventually she remembered that she could actually ask House for help, which was an odd revelation, and she reached down to get her cellphone out of her pocket.
House was in his office when he received Cuddy's text to come and help her and to bring Wilson. It was an odd request but House went and gathered his friend and then they headed down to Cuddy's office. "What's wro…" House asked as he walked in but stopped once he saw Chase with his head resting on Cuddy's shoulder and he looked to be sleeping.
"He fell asleep and I need you to help me get him to the couch without waking him" Cuddy whispered.
"Here, I got this" Wilson said as he walked forward and gently lifted Chase out of the chair by putting his legs under one arm and his torso under the other. He placed Chase on the couch and then stepped back.
Cuddy walked over and put the throw blanket from the back of the couch over Chase then brought one of the chairs from the table over and put it next to Chase's head and sat down.
"What happened?" House asked as he too brought a chair over and sat next to his son.
"I don't know" Cuddy said. She absently started running her hand through Chase's hair "He was sitting at the table refusing to eat lunch and then he fell asleep. I came over when I saw him squirming around and tried to wake him but he jumped away as though I had hurt him. Eventually he calmed down and then he just kept repeating…"
"I'm sorry" House interrupted remembering that familiar saying from when he went to Chase after his nightmare last night.
"Yeah" Cuddy said, "how'd you know?"
"Because that was the same mantra that he kept repeating last night after he had a nightmare" House said.
Cuddy sighed and then looked down at her sleeping son, what had happened to make Chase so worried about having a nightmare? What caused the nightmares?
"Why does he look as though he's been crying?" House asked looking at Chase's face and noting the red and puffy eyes.
"Because when he'd finally sat down he started crying. What could he have been dreaming about that was so bad it would make him cry for forty-five minutes?" Cuddy asked looking imploringly at House.
House looked down at Chase with concern. What could have happened that would make the boy cry for forty-five minutes? What could possibly be so bad? House sighed, he had a guess but he wasn't sure. Should he tell Cuddy?
"House!" Cuddy insisted. She could tell that House knew, or at least suspected, something and she wanted to know what it was.
"This is neither the time nor place to be having this conversation" House said.
"Fine then lets take him to my place and we'll talk" Cuddy said standing up and gesturing to Wilson to come and pick-up Chase, he was finally getting some sleep and she didn't want to disrupt that.
"No" House said holding up his hand to stop Wilson.
"House" Cuddy said annoyed.
"He's staying at my place this week so that's where we'll go" House said "and if we don't plan on waking him first then we need to clear some type of path so as not to humiliate him by letting everyone see him being carried through the hospital like a small child"
Cuddy nodded her head, House made sense. "OK, we can take him out of the back entrance once we clear the lobby my car is right outside of the " she said.
"I'll handle that" House said as he turned and started walking out of Cuddy's office.
"How are you going to do that?" Cuddy asked skeptically.
"Hmm… There are so many ways to clear a busy lobby. Maybe I should go out there and yell fire" House said smirking; it was fun to rile Cuddy up.
"Never mind" Cuddy said standing up and heading to the exit herself "I'll take care of it"
A few minutes later House, Wilson, Cuddy and Chase were in Cuddy's car heading to House's apartment. It didn't take long to get there and Cuddy parked in House's spot right in front of the building. House led the way with Wilson, carrying Chase, in the middle and Cuddy bringing up the rear.
"He's staying in the guest room" House said to Wilson going to open the door and then went over to the dresser looking for the nightclothes that he'd given Chase the night before.
Cuddy walked in and turned down the bed for Chase then moved out of the way for Wilson to lay him down.
"Here, let's get him in these" House said bringing over the sleepwear.
"Right" Cuddy agreed.
"Are you sure that's wise?" Wilson asked.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Cuddy asked.
"Because Chase might not be too comfortable with the two of you undressing and redressing him while he's unconscious" Wilson explained.
"He'll be fine" House said as he took off Chase's tie and started to unbutton his shirt.
"House" Wilson admonished.
"Maybe he's right House" Cuddy said.
"He's not right" House stated.
"House" Cuddy said.
House unbuttoned Chase's shirt and looked up at Cuddy "I need to do this" he said.
"Why?" Cuddy asked.
"You asked me what I knew" House said in answer.
Cuddy paused for a minute. What could putting Chase in nightclothes have to do with telling her what House knew? But House always had a reason for his ideas especially when he was this adamant about them so she nodded her head and helped him to get Chase's dress shirt off. Once they had the dress shirt off they kept him up and started to remove his undershirt.
Cuddy was the first to see it. She pulled her hand away and gasped, she had not been expecting that. She wanted to deny it but she knew exactly what they meant and she couldn't help but think that she was in some way responsible for them. "They had promised that it was a good home" she said barely above a whisper.
"What?" Wilson asked coming over to try to get a look at what had disturbed Cuddy so.
House lifted up Chase's shirt and took it off of him then House took a good long look at Chase's back. He ran his hand over his son's back taking in all of the scars and burns that were present. "I'd hoped I was wrong" he said so low that it was hard for the others to hear.
Wilson and Cuddy looked over at him "You knew?" Cuddy asked.
"I suspected" House said as he reached over and grabbed the nightshirt and started to slip it over Chase's head.
"How?" Cuddy asked.
"Help me finish changing him and then we can go to the living room and talk" House said.
Cuddy agreed and together they finished dressing their son for sleep, pausing again when they noticed the small thin scars on his knees, and tucking him in. As they were heading out Cuddy turned and kissed the top of Chase's forehead before heading into the living room.
Wilson was already sitting on the couch, having left the room sometime earlier so that the parents could have some privacy while tucking their son in for the first time. When Cuddy came in and joined he and House Wilson stood up "I'm going to head back to work" he said.
"Why?" House asked.
"Because you and Cuddy need to talk and this is really something that the two of you should do together without an audience" Wilson explained. He gathered up his coat and headed out the door to grab a bus back to the hospital.
Cuddy turned to House demanding answers and House relayed the events of the precious night starting with finding something to watch on the T.V. and ending with cleaning up the table from breakfast, he also told her what little he knew of Chase's childhood. Once he had finished Cuddy leaned back and sighed. She knew that she couldn't have known but she still blamed herself for what happened to Chase, if she hadn't given the boy up then he wouldn't have had such a horrible childhood.
House saw the doubt and guilt cross Cuddy's face "It wasn't your fault. There's no way you could have known" he said.
"If I had kept him…" Cuddy started but House cut her off.
"You would have offered him a neglectful life while you were busy with school and furthering your career. You might even have grown to blame him for any shortcomings that you faced." House tried to reason, "You gave him the best chance you could think of. There was no way you could have known what would happen to him"
Cuddy sighed and leaned back into the couch. She knew logically that House was right, he always was, but emotionally she still couldn't help but feel guilty. "Do you think we've been to hard on him?" she asked.
"No" House said firmly "he disobeyed both of us and we gave him a reasonable punishment to fit the crime. We have done nothing wrong, we aren't harming him or mistreating him in any way in fact we've probably given him more positive attention than anyone ever has in his entire life. This is good for him even if he doesn't agree with it"
"Alright" Cuddy agreed "but we can't keep him in the dark any longer. He has a right to know and he's already been asking questions"
"No he hasn't" House said.
"Maybe not to you but he has to me" Cuddy said.
House smirked; Chase was his all right he knew how to pick out the best target for what he needed. He had already been playing a little with the idea of telling Chase, he wanted his son to know whom he was and he wanted to be able to put him to bed or to hug him like Cuddy had without Chase becoming confused and suspicious. "Alright we'll tell him but we take it slow" he said.
"Agreed" Cuddy said.
Cuddy and House sat in silence for a few minutes contemplating how exactly they were going to tell Chase the truth. They probably would have sat there for a long time but House's phone rang, it was his team informing him that they had a new case, a business executive or something. He sighed and stood up "Are you going to stay here or do I need to call Wilson?" he asked, he didn't want to leave Chase alone.
"I'll stay here" Cuddy said "could you please have Wilson bring me my laptop and the files off of my desk"
"I'll send him over" House agreed as he headed out the door to grab the bus and head to the hospital, he should have taken his car back here but he had wanted to be with his son.
Wilson dropped off the requested items not long after House had left and informed Cuddy that a man named Vougler had called looking for her and asked for a meeting. Cuddy thanked him and set to work.
House came back at around 2330 to find Cuddy still working on his couch, "I brought dinner" he said as he walked in carrying a bag of takeout.
They sat and ate and then House convinced Cuddy to take his bed and he fell asleep on the couch. They both awoke around 0650 the next morning thankful that it was finally the weekend. House went to work on breakfast and Cuddy made a quick trip home to get cleaned up and then hurried back arriving just as House was plating the food.
They both agreed to let Chase sleep as long as he needed since it was clear that he'd been having trouble sleeping for a while. Chase had stirred a few times since he was put to bed but each time either Cuddy or House was there to offer comfort and lull him back into a deep peaceful sleep before he even woke up.
Chase stirred around 1000, sat up and looked around "What happened?" he asked. He sat there for a few minutes as he slowly remembered the events of lunch with Cuddy the previous day. "Ohh…" he groaned mortified "what have I done?" He looked up when he heard two people entering his room; his face turned beat red when he saw that it was Cuddy and House. "What's going on?" he asked.
Cuddy and House looked to each other and then back at Chase "We need to talk" they said together.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Chase asked.
"Yes" House answered.
"OK then" Chase said. Finally he was going to get some answers, he smiled slightly as he got out of the bed.
"But you still have to eat first" Cuddy informed him. Chase's smile left his face immediately.
"I'm not hungry" Chase said.
Oh how House and Cuddy were getting tired of hearing that "You didn't eat at all yesterday so you have to eat before we talk" Cuddy said.
"Yesterday!" Chase exclaimed quickly looking over at the clock and noting the time, he'd been asleep for over eighteen hours, crap. That's when Chase also noticed that he was no longer wearing his work clothes but rather his nightclothes "Who changed me?" he demanded.
"We both did" House answered.
Chase gulped. He didn't want either House or Cuddy to know about his scars and yet they had both seen them. "Look…" he started.
"We'll discuss it after you've eaten" House said softly pushing Chase out the door and towards the bathroom "use the restroom and then meet us in the kitchen"
Chase went into the restroom and locked the door. How had everything fallen apart so quickly? Why had he started to cry in Cuddy's office? Why had he allowed Cuddy to hug him? Why had he fallen asleep on Cuddy's shoulder? How had he not woken up when he was moved? Who had moved him, was it House? Cuddy? Or Wilson? Did Wilson know as well? And what was it that House and Cuddy were hiding and did Wilson know? He sighed, he wasn't going to get any answers until after he'd eaten of that he was sure Cuddy seemed to be rather touchy when it came to his eating habits.
Chase walked out into the kitchen still clad in his too big nightclothes and with his hair slightly disheveled from sleep. House and Cuddy looked up at him and couldn't help but smile, he looked so young and innocent and they couldn't help but want to wrap him up and never let anything bad happen to him ever again.
"Here, eat up" House said as he laid some leftovers from yesterdays breakfast in front of Chase along with a glass of orange juice.
Chase sighed as he stared down at the plate. There wasn't much there, at least not a normal adult-sized portion, but it was still more than he desired which was nothing. He wanted to push it away and refuse to eat but he wanted answers more and his stomach wasn't as rebelling as it had been the other morning. He knew he liked the food because he had cooked it and he liked his own cooking so that wasn't an issue but still he felt full already. "Is this really necessary?" he asked House and Cuddy who were also sitting at the table watching him.
"Yes!" they said together.
Chase sighed again but started in on his food. To his surprise he actually managed to eat all of his food in a rather short amount of time. When he finished he put his fork down and looked back up at House and Cuddy "Alright I've eaten now we talk," he stated.
"Yes now we talk" House agreed.