Author's Notes: Happy New Year!

I have finally decided to get back on my Word document and write the last chapter.

Actually, there's a big chance am going to publish an Epilogue, but I'll wait after a week since am still busy and rewriting some things.

I'm sorry to those who felt that I left them hanging.

Edit: Thanks to Pesterfield for noticing the slight error! Edited that now.

Disclaimer: House MD and all its characters (Except the band members and Melissa) do not belong to me. If it did, there would be too many Chark moments.

Chapter 10

House limped to his front door early in the morning. It was too early for him and he was already preparing some witty comeback for whoever decided to bother him. He had not expected to see Park when he opened the door.

"To what do I owe this early visit?" He asked, his sarcasm dripping in his tone.

She handed him a white envelope. As House took it with his free hand he looked at it before looking at her again. "You're resigning?"

"Yes"

"Do I at least get to ask why?"

She gave a casual shrug. "You may, but I don't think it interests you."

"Ah, but you are wrong there. It's mildly interesting."

"You're not going to stop me right?"

"Nope. I could tell you how useful you are to my team, but you're not leaving because you're under appreciated. You're leaving because he's getting to you."

Park barely reacted despite his deduction. She had been expecting he of all people would know.

"You won't tell him?" she asked.

"It's none of my business, so I won't."

"Glad we got that out of the way. Goodbye House."

As she was about to leave the building, House called her back. "Park!"

She looked at him again. He simply said "You're being an idiot. You're making this more complicated than it has to be."

Park considered his argument for a moment before replying. "Did you make things easier for you and Cuddy when you two were together?"

These were one of the rare times when House didn't have anything to say.

"Yeah…I thought so." She turned towards the exit and didn't look back.

Micah had been waiting outside as Park exited from House's apartment. One of his band mates had been able to find a cheap hotel they could stay at for the time being, so they had packed their things and made an impromptu trip to New York.

One of the things Park had done on the night she decided to move out from Chase's apartment was to find a new place, which she was able to. She had already found a small flat for herself in the city and she just needed help with the moving process. Micah had wanted to ask why she wasn't asking help from Chase but it gave him a reason to help her out instead.

"How did it go?" He asked as she entered the car and sat in the passenger's seat.

Park shrugged. "It went well. People come and go in his department. I might just have to come back to fix some admin paperwork."

"Have you already applied to some hospitals?" Micah asked.

"Yeah. I have actually been eyeing one or two in Manhattan and I think prior to joining the Diagnostics team I forwarded my resume there. I haven't made any calls yet. I'll get to it once I settle down in my flat"

"Alright. So we will just pass for your things at work and we can go?"

"Yup."

Something about this whole thing was bugging Micah. "Why the hurry to move out though? You could have waited until the guys and I settled down."

"I thought it was about time." Park replied cryptically.

Micah left it at that.

Chase had sat down on his couch and processed what he had just seen. It was all becoming clear now that Park had left on her own will, for reasons he had yet to understand. They had not quarreled the night before so whatever the reason he knew it was something that she had to have kept in her for a while.

He picked up his phone and called Foreman.

"I need to file an emergency leave. Park went missing." Chase replied.

"What do you mean Park went missing?"

"I mean I woke up and her room is suddenly empty. All her things are gone and there's no trace of her. She didn't leave a note or anything and I can't reach her."

"Did you ever consider the possibility that she could have gone to work?"

Now that just sounded ridiculous to Chase. "Foreman, are you listening to yourself right now?"

He could hear Foreman groan in frustration. "I'm going to assume you tried to call and failed so there's no point for me asking. Look, am on my way to the office and I'll go check if she's there. If she is, would you just get to work and work out your issues with her after your hospital hours?"

"What issues?"

"Come on Chase; I wasn't born yesterday. There's still that betting pool that you and Park could be an item."

"Aren't you the Dean of Medicine? Shouldn't you be doing something about that?"

"I would but I've invested too much in this. Anyway, I'll contact you if anything comes up. If there's anything I know about Park is that she's a hard worker and I doubt she would skip work without filing about it. I'll let you know if HR has anything."

"Thanks Foreman." Chase hung up.

Foreman was right about Park not wanting to burn bridges with her career, so at some point HR would be able to give him some information. In the meantime he needed to think of where Park could possibly go on such short notice.

His first guess was she could have moved back to her family.

Taub and Adams were currently the only doctors in the conference room that morning. After what seemed like an hour of passing the time reading cases, Taub decided to speak up.

"Any idea why both Park and Chase decided to not show?"

She shrugged. "Nope."

"Right. It could be that they finally decided to sleep with each other."

"Ah it's a good thing you didn't bet on that." Another voice said.

House had just entered the conference room and sat down in his usual seat. "Park had given me her resignation letter this morning."

"What's Chase's excuse?"

"I haven't got one yet. I tried to call him but he refuses to pick up. I have a feeling it has something to do with our runaway."

House glanced in Adams' direction who casually looked like she was trying to act like nothing was up. He knew that if he was going to find out, he would have to interrogate her later.

"Anyway, no need to cry over spilled milk. What do we have for today?"

Mrs. Park was surprised to open her front door to see a tall blond man in front of her. Chase could tell from her complexion and her eyes that she was indeed Park's mother.

"Hi Mrs. Park. I'm Dr. Chase and I work with your daughter." Chase started.

The woman froze and it was almost as if there was no blood in her face. "Has something happened to her?"

"Uh well…"

Before he could explain himself the woman suddenly got on her knees. Chase quickly helped her up. "Are you alright Mrs. Park?"

"Oh my God what have I done?! I shouldn't have pushed her away and…"

"Mrs. Park, I don't know what happened to Chi but I am sure it's nothing serious. She had been living with me for the time being and I don't know why but one morning she just disappeared." He helped her sit on the nearest chair that was by the living room.

The woman took a deep breath and gathered her bearings. "So she's not in trouble?"

"No, not that I know of. I was thinking that maybe she had moved back here."

She shook her head. "I have not heard from her since we last spoke. So she has stayed with you?"

The tone on her voice made Chase feel a little uncomfortable. He could see that he was now being appraised by this woman. He wasn't sure exactly how conservative Park's parents were but he knew that it was frowned upon in some Asian cultures for two people of the opposite sex to be living together.

"Well…she didn't have a place to go and we worked together so…"

She shook her head. "It's alright Dr. Chase. Thank you so much for taking care of her. I hope she has not given you a hard time."

"Chi has been a great housemate Mrs. Park. She has caused me no trouble at all." Now Chase felt like they were treating Park like she was his student. "I just wished I knew why she had left or where she could have gone."

Mrs. Park didn't know much about her daughter's intimate life, but she did know her daughter. As she looked at Robert Chase, she could gather an idea why her daughter would want to disappear from this man's apartment without a trace. The corners of her mouth almost formed a smile.

"I wish I knew too Dr. Chase, but unfortunately I could not think of where she would go. I didn't even know where she had been staying until today. I wish there was something I could do to help you."

Chase shook his head. "It's alright. I apologize for taking your time. I'll let myself out." He stood up and walked to the front door. Mrs. Park escorted him out.

"If you do see my daughter again Dr. Chase, please tell her I am deeply sorry. I don't think she wants to see me anytime soon but I want her to know that she is welcome to visit here anytime she wants."

Chase gave his best smile. "I can assure you Mrs. Park, that when I do see her I intend to tell her that."

As the door shut behind him, Chase struck out Park's own home out of the list for places for him to check out. If she wasn't staying with family, the next on the list would be someone else she had a lot of contact with…

His train of thought was cut short when his phone rang again. The caller ID read "Foreman"

"Hello?"

"I just got news from HR. Park gave her resignation letter today. House gave it to HR a few minutes ago."

Chase's heart sank. It felt that she was always two steps ahead, and he was still trying to figure out what this was all about.

"Chase?" Foreman asked. There was silence on the phone for a while.

"I'll be heading to the hospital for a bit. I have some questions I'd like to ask House."

While Chase was on the way to the hospital, Micah and Park stopped back at the apartment. She headed to the basement where the rest of the boxes were left for taking. She didn't have much when she left her parent's house, and with a little Tetris skills she knew she could fit all of these into Micah's car.

"Why didn't you just leave it at the apartment? Or call a moving truck? It seems cumbersome to do this all by ourselves." Micah asked.

"Oh. It just seemed easier to leave it here so it wouldn't cause a ruckus at Robert's place." Park lied as she carried one of the boxes. She had not told Micah of the details as to how she had made her exit. She did mention though that she would spend the whole day with Chase before leaving, which she had done.

"Alright. Pity he couldn't help you out with the boxes."

"I don't want him to take a leave at my expense. He would make of more use at the hospital than here. Plus I've got you right?"

She knew her distraction had worked upon seeing Micah reveal a small smile from his lips. They continued to pack the boxes in his car.

Every now and then she'd glance at the building where she once lived. She worried that she may not have predicted Chase and he would be at the apartment and somehow spot her in the process. She couldn't bear to see him anymore. He had probably found out that she had resigned. She wondered where he would be looking.

"Chi, let's go." Micah said, returning Park to the situation at hand.

"Sure Micah." She said.

She gave one last look at the apartment she once called home, and went back to the car.

In around twenty minutes after his call with Foreman, Chase barged into House's office. House pretended he didn't see him and went to reading a book.

"Where is she?" Chase asked.

House wore his glasses and glanced at him. "Where's who?"

"Where's Ch-Where's Park?"

Gregory House continued with his book. "She resigned. She came to me this morning with her resignation letter. Seems to me that she was in quite a hurry to go."

"Why did you let her?"

House shrugged. "She wanted to leave. The labor code doesn't allow me to force her to stay."

"Yes you can! You kept me from leaving!"

"You still left. You just decided to come back. There's a big difference there." House turned the page to his book.

Chase was losing patience and House could see it in his face. House removed his glasses and placed them on his desk. It was time to ask the real question. "Why are you so bothered about her anyway?"

"Because she just got up and…"

House waved his hand, a gesture indicating that he didn't really need the full explanation. "You don't get the question. What I really want to know is…why are you so bothered by this? She's just a roommate…"

"She's not just a…"

House went straight to the point. "You like her, don't you?"

For a brief moment Chase hesitated, and that hesitation was all House needed to see. He started to smirk.

"Did you sleep with her?"

Chase was flustered. "What? No…"

"That's even worse. You liked her and you didn't have to sleep with her. This means you really like her."

Chase's eyes were looking somewhere else. He wished House was wrong for once, but he never was.

House stood up, using his cane as support. "I'm going to guess that you invited her to live with you because you wanted company. However given you are a shallow …and well, you respect Park's work ethics you still needed the sex so you still went on those dates. You didn't care whether Park was okay with it or not, because it was your apartment and she was just living in it. And then she didn't complain. She saw you for the manwhore that you are and she didn't take it against you. She was one of the few who didn't fall for your Australian God charms, which makes you realize that not every woman in the world wants you to get in their pants."

Chase suddenly felt like he was naked as he deduced his true feelings.

House smirk only got bigger. "You fell in love with her."

Chase dropped into the reclining chair by the door as he dropped his face into his hands. House sighed and limped towards him.

"I…I don't know where she went." Chase said, his voice losing all strength and impatience.

"Thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious." House replied sarcastically, but after a moment his tone softened. "You're also an idiot. All you had to do was ask the nurses some questions."

Chase jerked his head to look at House. "You know where she is?"

"Word on the street says that the young doctor who looks like Fall Out Boy will be going out on a gig in New York and she went along with him. If you had taken a moment to talk to HR you would have known that he resigned today too."

Chase stood up. "She's in New York?"

House held the impulse to roll his eyes. "That's kind of what I was saying."

"I gotta go."

He was about to run out of the room when House yelled "I'm not going to just let you run off to another state. You have work to do."

"I'm on Emergency Leave."

"How is this situation an Emergency?"

"It's an emergency because I need to talk to her."

"Did you take that up with Foreman?"

"If I give you $50 will you stop the nitpicking?"

"Deal"

Chase slapped a fifty dollar bill and ran out the door. House smiled and slipped the money into his back pocket.

It only took an hour or so for Chase to drive all the way to New York. He had asked some nurses if they could give a location on where Micah would be performing, and luckily one of them had a liking to Micah who knew where the event was at.

It took a while for Chase to find parking. After that he ran into the bar where they were supposed to perform.

The bar was packed with people and Chase looked all around for her. Amidst the crowd he had spotted her sitting by a table alone holding a drink. He pushed any person blocking his way to get to her.

"Chi!" He called.

It was like a beautiful nightmare for Park when she heard her name being called.

She knew that voice.

She slowly turned towards the source to see Chase approaching her. Her heart felt like it was caught in her throat.

"R-Robert..?" She managed to stutter.

Chase was already standing in front of her. Upon seeing her standing, he felt utter relief.

"Why are you here?" Park asked. "How in the world did you find me?"

Chase was recovering from the rush of pushing everyone to get to her. "I asked around. Look, can we talk?"

Park eyed the stage. Micah was setting up his guitar. Even he could see from his position what was going on.

"I don't know…I'm kind of busy right now."

Chase took both her hands in his. "Please. You ran off without a word and I spent the entire day looking for you. I think I deserve some sort of explanation."

As she faced him she felt his blue eyes pleading. She wanted to say no, but she couldn't. Despite all things, Robert Chase had been a friend and he was only asking for one thing.

"Oh...okay…Let's make it quick."

Micah could see from his spot as Chase took Park's hand and led her out of the bar. She had managed to give one last look and mouth the words "Sorry" before she left.

Micah scoffed to his amusement. He was surprised that Chase had made it this far just for her. He thought that maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

In the end, he realized he never had the chance. He glanced at Garret who was giving him a look of concern. He shook his head to let Garret know that he was fine.

"You win, Chase." He muttered to himself.

"Okay…what is it?" Park asked as they went out in the sidewalk. Even if it was New York, there weren't many people out on the street so they had as well been in a private room.

"Why… why did you leave? Not just the apartment, you left…the hospital…actually, you left New Jersey altogether." Chase asked.

"I…I had to get away." Park replied.

"Is that it? Was it something I did?" Chase asked.

"Robert…I…"

"Whatever it is…I'm sorry. I don't know what I did, but I don't want it to come to this. I want you to come back."

Park looked at him skeptically. "Why?"

Chase broke out into a smile. "Why? I don't know. It just feels like I've never been so…at peace. Every day before you came was just the same as the next. But you came along and everything changed. I now have to race you to the kitchen for breakfast, and I will admit that is one of the things I look forward to in the morning. I spend my nights watching movies and documentaries with you. The apartment is filled with the sounds of your guitar and your singing. I've…I've never been happier."

Park was weighing in his words, and her heart was starting to beat a little fast. "Robert…are you saying that you like me?"

Chase paused, nervous for some reason. He knew that it was all or nothing now.

"Yes, I do."

Park stared at him wide-eyed in surprise. This was unbelievable. She felt like the wind was punched out of her.

"Funny…I thought it would never be mutual." She remarked.

This was also unexpected on Chase's end.

"Y-yes…I do like you." Park couldn't believe she was saying it herself. She thought that she would forever lock it up and move on but here she was in another State telling him of her true feelings.

Chase's thought process started churning. "So…about Micah…"

"I like Micah too. He's been a great guy, and there are things that I can talk about with Micah all day that I can probably never do with you but…at the end of the day I…it was always you Robert. Even when I chose to move out without you knowing…it had always been you."

She was mentally mocking herself for sounding so cheesy. This was exactly the kind of thing that she laughed about in movies and television shows. Chase was too busy with this revelation to think of anything else.

"So…if it had always been me…then why all this? You can't possibly expect me to believe you didn't think that moving out behind my back was silly?"

"Because…because I liked you so much that it was killing me we weren't together. You said it yourself…it would have never worked out."

Chase was confused. "I never said-"

"I overheard you talking with Melissa about you and I. You said that it just wouldn't work out…" Park interrupted.

"That was because you were with Micah. I thought…I thought you liked him more than me. He's nice, into music, your age…"

"Plus you have never gotten over your ex-wife…"

"What?!"

"Oh come on Robert. 'When a heart breaks, it don't break even'? It's like The Script interviewed you for that song."

Chase scoffed, finding this amusing. "I told you, it has nothing to do with my ex-wife."

Park wasn't convinced, so he clarified. "I will admit though, it was a painful break-up. It took me a while, but it was a long time ago. I've moved on." He raised both hands as if he were surrendering.

Park sighed. "I don't know Robert. I don't want to go back and work with you if that's the case. There's too much statistics over there that tells me I'm just digging myself another grave."

"How about you come back, and I can quit?" Chase said casually.

Park was taken aback. "You will quit? I was the one who resigned and you want me to come back so YOU can quit?" with a deadpan expression.

Even Chase was amazed with how much conviction he had. "Yes…if you are that worried about our work relationship I will quit. I've been working there for 8 years and it's about time I've moved on. You like working with House. You love the thrill of solving the case. You should stay."

Chase watched her stare at him as if he was an idiot, and then she slowly considered.

"You are willing to quit your job just so I can live with you?" She asked, still not believing what he was saying.

"Yes" Chase replied with full conviction.

"You are a great surgeon. I would be robbing them of such a man." She argued.

"And you're a great doctor. I will never forgive myself if I don't let you stay with House's team. Plus I know you have yet to punch him. You can't leave until you've managed to punch House in the face." Chase replied.

"I just resigned out of the blue and I think that is one of the most unprofessional things I could have done. I don't think they'll take me back. HR would have a field day with me."

Chase laughed. "You have no idea how many times the Administration department went nuts for doctors who came and went…ESPECIALLY for the Diagnostics' department. I assure you, this kind of scenario is nothing for them. Why do you think you were able to resign without even a two weeks' notice?"

Park looked hesitant. "Robert…you and I…we're too different. You know that this isn't going to work out. You obviously have a specific preference in what you like in a woman and I know I have none of those things. Even if I do come back to the hospital and you leave that doesn't guarantee we'll be happy."

Chase sighed and took both her hands in his again. He was getting used to doing that without his heart racing.

"Chi, you were able to orchestrate a stealth operation to moving out of the apartment and managed to go all the way to another State because you liked me. You could do anything if you set your mind to it, and I like that. Also, if you hadn't noticed I have not committed to any of those girls who I 'preferred' so don't you think it means that I might actually like someone like you?"

Park bit her lip. He was giving that look in his eyes again, and she could feel the blood rush to her face.

"…Okay." She said softly, kind of taken away by Chase's pleading eyes.

Chase this time was taken aback. "Okay?" He repeated, amused.

Suddenly Park's snark came back to her. "Were you expecting something a little more dramatic?" Park asked. "I think I can get the band to play some 80's rock song as we kiss out here in the street."

Chase smiled. "I think I'll take the kiss."

Without warning he took Park's face with both hands and kissed her and for the first time since his wedding with Allison Cameron, Chase was completely happy.

Park swore that she thought she saw fireworks.