HI EVERYONE!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING AND FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL REVIEWS! I RESPONDED TO ALL OF THEM.

I WANTED TO GET THIS CHAPTER UP BEFORE THE SUPERBOWL, JUST IN CASE ANYONE HAS PLANS TO WATCH IT. :)

HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND ENJOY!! :D

CHAPTER 14: Please read and comment.

MONDAY MORNING.

Chase woke up at around 7 am to the sound of his cell phone going off on the nightstand. Bleary eyed, he clumsily grabbed it, blinking a couple of times to try to focus on the caller ID.

After a few seconds, he gave up and flipped it open.

"This is Chase," he mumbled into the phone, still half asleep, flopping back down on the bed.

"Need you today," House told him curtly on the other end.

Chase opened his eyes wide at the sound of House's voice.

"… In diagnostics?" Chase asked, a little unsure.

"No. As a fourth for golf. Yes, in diagnostics, you idiot," House shot back sarcastically.

Chase exhaled deeply, his ankle throbbing as he started to regret House hiring him back as a consultant.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Gonna be busy all day finding out where fifteen million dollars went," House replied.

At this, Chase's memory immediately jogged back to Saturday night, when they all had dessert at Wilson's apartment after dinner and that Wilson left abruptly to Cuddy's place. On his way out, Wilson had told both he and Sophie that there had been millions of dollars missing and unaccounted for in the hospital budget.

He then also remembered how weird Wilson had been acting during dinner.

"Since you're going to be me for the day, if we have a case, mock Foreman's and Thirteen's ideas. If we don't have a case, do my Clinic hours," House ordered him.

"If you don't have a case, Chase should go back to the NICU!" Cuddy stated firmly from somewhere on the other end of the phone.

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The Great Oz has spoken. Do my Clinic hours if we don't have a case," House repeated to Chase, ignoring Cuddy and hanging up before Chase could get a word in edgewise.

He hung up and placed the phone back on the night- stand, closing his eyes again. As he did, Sophie rolled over to him in her sleep, draping her arm across his chest.

"Who was that?" she said, her voice still raspy from sleep.

"House. He needs me today," he said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Mmmm…" she said, drifting off again.

His own sleep haze wearing off, Chase realized that Sophie was completely naked against him. His morning erection noticed as well.

"But he said that if we don't have a case, I can hang out in the Clinic…" he said, shifting his position to his side to face her.

"…That's nice…" she mumbled, rolling away from him, her head still resting on his arm.

Now completely awake, Chase scooted up behind her and cupped her breast gently, tweaking her nipple, his hard shaft pressing up against her behind. She smiled, still sleepy as he started kissing the back of her neck.

"Don't you have to get ready for work?" she teased.

He rolled her over onto her back, twirled his tongue around her darkened nipple, and began kissing his way down her body.

"House said I'm him for the day…" he said coyly.

"…And House is always late…" he added with a sly smile, his lips trailing further down to her slightly swollen belly.

"So I guess you won't be offended if I call out his name by accident," she quipped, a huge grin on her face.

Chase's jaw dropped in mock horror before he tickled her under her armpits, making her laugh out loud, gasping for breath before he disappeared eagerly underneath their blanket.

At around 8 am, Cuddy was sitting on the couch, with her legs crossed, still wearing the camisole and shorties that she wore to bed, nervously bouncing her knee.

Her eyes darted back and forth, following House around the living room as he was getting ready to leave for work.

House glanced at her briefly before finally locating the keys to his motorcycle underneath the Classic Trucks magazine he had been reading the night before.

"Either you're trying to get off without my help or you're a nervous wreck," he stated, as she continued to bounce her knee, a cross expression on her face.

"And frankly, I'm not sure which one I prefer," he added.

"Make sure you and Wilson put every piece of paper back that you take out of the files. I don't want anyone to find out about this because you didn't clean up your mess," she told him sternly.

"I know," he said.

"And make sure Wilson logs off the mainframe on my computer when he's done," she reminded him.

"I KNOW," he repeated, slightly annoyed.

"And DON'T talk about ANY of this in the cafeteria, or the Clinic or in the lobby or in the locker room—"

"Do you want to go in and handle this instead of me?" he demanded, losing his patience with her incessant nagging.

"YES!!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you're not, so you're just gonna have to trust me," he shot back, his bright blue eyes boring into her.

"…I trust you," she muttered, looking away from him.

She then got up from the couch and headed to the kitchen.

House barked out a laugh. "No you don't."

He followed her into the kitchen, where she was already taking out the necessary items to make herself some oatmeal.

"If I didn't trust you, you wouldn't still be practicing medicine and I wouldn't be carrying your child," she argued.

"You trust me with my patients. You trust me to be a father to our kid. You don't trust me to do THIS," he stated.

She exhaled deeply, placing the measuring cup onto the counter.

"This is different," she pointed out.

At this, House limped over to her, closing the distance between them and bent down so his face was level with her slightly swollen belly.

"Don't be jealous in there. Even though the hospital will always be mommy's first baby, she loves you both the same," House said to her stomach in a pedantic tone.

Cuddy snorted, folding her arms across her chest. House, still on his knees, looked up at her with amusement.

"We'll take care of it," he assured her.

"What's your plan?" she asked cynically, looking down at him.

House grabbed onto the kitchen counter to help him stand up again. She kept her gaze even with him as he did so.

"I figured I'd stand over the second floor balcony and yell out, 'SO WHO STOLE FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS FROM THE HOSPITAL?!' at the top of my lungs," he said, deadpan.

"At least you'd be in character," she snarked.

"I'm not stupid," he told her. "I know when to keep my mouth shut."

"…I know," she muttered.

House knew all- too well that Cuddy's slightly obsessive personality and her urge to be in control of everything that went on at the hospital was making this entire situtation even more difficult for her to handle.

And even though he knew that he was supposed to be reassuring her, he just couldn't help himself.

"… Wilson, on the other hand, CAN'T keep his mouth shut," he stated.

A stricken, panic look crossed her face at House's statement, actually considering the possibility that Wilson would tell everyone he knew that there was fifteen million dollars missing from the budget.

"Oh relax. Wilson isn't going to say anything," he told her. "Now will you stop worrying so I can go play Private Investigator?"

She let out a slow breath that she didn't even know she was holding in. He leaned forward and kissed her, trying to put her mind at ease. She reluctantly kissed him back, too worried at the moment to enjoy the touch of his lips against hers.

"Make sure you call me as soon as you find something," she told him.

He nodded. "Yes, mom."

He then grabbed her ass, causing her to arch her brow.

"One for the road," he told her before heading for the door, leaving Cuddy alone in the house to worry until she heard from him.

Upon arriving at work, House headed straight for Cuddy's office, noticing that the blinds were drawn, which led House to immediately surmise that Wilson was already in there, frantically digging through the file cabinets for any evidence that would help them figure out where fifteen million dollars had gone to.

House entered the office without knocking, stopping in his tracks like a deer caught in headlights.

There were piles and piles of file folders and papers strewn all over Cuddy's desk, the coffee table, the couch and the floor. Both Wilson and Ingrid were sifting through the papers.

"Did the file cabinet explode?" House asked.

"Close the door," Wilson said nervously, looking past House to see if anyone was peeking inside the office.

Still stunned a bit, House closed the door behind him and stood in the middle of the office, staring curiously at Ingrid.

"What's she doing here?" Wilson asked, jutting his head in Ingrid's direction.

"She's helping," Wilson muttered. "Which YOU should be doing."

House then looked around the office at all the papers, a feeling of dread overtaking him.

He despised paperwork. Which is why he always got his lackeys to do it for him.

But he knew that he promised Cuddy that he would take care of this.

"…Looks like you got everything covered," House commented casually. "If I stick around, I'll just be in the way."

"Don't even THINK about leaving us to do this!" Wilson snapped, his eyes blazing.

"I was just going to get a cup of coffee," House protested innocently.

"Where? In Columbia?" Wilson snarked.

"YOU'RE the one who volunteered us for this. Sit down and grab a stack. You're not going ANYWHERE," Wilson told him firmly before House could even respond.

House exhaled deeply and slowly went over to the couch, grabbing a stack of papers as he sat down.

"Is he this bossy in bed, too?" House asked Ingrid with a mock sympathetic look on his face.

As Ingrid stifled a giggle, Wilson glared at him angrily and continued to sift through the myriad of papers in front of him, his stomach churning.

Some time later, Foreman and Thirteen were sitting in House's conference room still waiting for House to arrive.

"It's 9:30. Where is he?" Foreman muttered in annoyance, glancing at his watch.

"He's always late," Thirteen reminded him.

Just then Chase entered the office, all smiles.

"G' morning," he said cheerily to both of them, placing his messenger bag onto one of the empty chairs at the conference table.

Foreman and Thirteen exchanged confused glances as Chase headed over to the sink on the side of the office. He grabbed a red mug that looked like it hadn't been used in a while, rinsed it out and proceeded to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Mmm. You make this?" Chase asked Foreman after taking a sip.

"…I did," Thirteen said, still bewildered by Chase's presence.

"It's excellent," he complimented her.

"… Thank you," she said reluctantly, glancing at Foreman again, who was still unsure why Chase was there and why he was acting like he owned the place.

"We have a case?" Chase asked, heading back to the conference table with the mug.

"What are you doing here?" Foreman finally asked flatly.

"…House didn't tell you he hired me as a consultant?" Chase asked wearily.

"No... he didn't mention it," Foreman replied.

Chase exhaled in annoyance, placing the mug on the glass table.

He then went over to House's desk in the conference room, lolling his head back in frustration as he saw that the W-4 that he had filled out quite a while ago was still on House's desk.

"Of COURSE he never submitted it to payroll so I can ACTUALLY get paid for working for him," Chase muttered angrily.

Foreman laughed. "You really thought he was gonna do that?"

Chase grabbed the paper off the desk, not even bothering to reply to Foreman and just trudged back to the conference table.

"Fifteen year old female experiencing fever, a rash, pain in her knees and hips and a stiff neck," Foreman began, tossing a copy of the patient's file at him.

"Fever plus a rash and a stiff neck equals meningitis," Chase commented as he began to peruse the file.

"ER ruled out meningitis along with the flu," Thirteen pointed out, flipping through the file contents as well.

"She's on the swim team at school. Maybe the rash is from the pool and it's irrelevant," she added.

"Could also be Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. She's the right age," Chase pointed out, causing Thirteen to turn down her lower lip nod in agreement at him.

"Let's get a CBC, blood cultures and an ANA," Foreman ordered. "JRA is definitely a possibility."

But as Chase both got up from the conference table, Thirteen immediately noticed something sparkling on Chase's left ring finger.

"What's THAT?" she said in interest, jutting at his hand.

Chase looked down at his hand and then back up at her, his face turning slightly pink. He covered his left hand with his right as casually as he could. Foreman arched his brow, now interested in what Chase was attempting to hide from her.

"You're hiding it from me AFTER I already saw it," she pointed out, her lips curling up in amusement.

Knowing he had no choice, he uncovered his hand and held it out for both Foreman and Thirteen to see the ring that Sophie surprised him with that weekend.

"Sophie… got it for me," he said offhandedly.

"There's a diamond on it," Foreman pointed out, causing Chase's face to turn even redder.

"It's a male engagement ring. Sophie proposed to me this weekend," he blurted out.

"That's so romantic! Congratulations!" Thirteen told him, her entire face lighting up.

"Thank you," he replied, smiling in relief as she gave him a friendly hug.

"SHE proposed to YOU??" Foreman asked, slightly incredulous.

"So what?" Thirteen asked him, turning back to Foreman.

"Little emasculating, don't you think?" Foreman said with a smirk.

"It's the twenty- first century. Why can't a woman propose to a man?" Thirteen asked, a bit defensively.

"There are certain traditions you don't mess with. Men propose to women. Not the other way around," Foreman stated rather confidently.

Thirteen laughed out loud in disbelief.

"So women can do everything that men can do except tell the man that they love that they want to spend the rest of their lives with them," she clarified.

"Yes," Foreman replied.

"No. You just think that if a woman proposes to a man that it puts PRESSURE on him to make a commitment," she argued back at him.

"If the guy was ready to get married, he'd ASK," Foreman shot back.

"So the woman's feelings have nothing to do with it?!" Thirteen countered, feeling her anger rising within her. "She's just supposed to wait forever like it's 1950?"

"Guys, shouldn't we run the tests?" Chase finally pointed out after silently watching them argue back and forth at each other.

At this, both Foreman and Thirteen stopped bickering. Thirteen turned on her heel to leave with Chase.

"Has House seen that ring yet?" Foreman asked lightly.

Chase stopped in his tracks.

"… No," he admitted reluctantly, a feeling of dread rising inside him.

Foreman grinned. "Should be interesting when he does."

Later that day, Wilson, House and Ingrid were still in Cuddy's office, sifting through multitudes of paper, still futilely searching for some clue that would help them figure out where the money had disappeared to.

"I'm starving," House announced. "Let's go get lunch."

"Ingrid can go fetch you something from the cafeteria," Wilson muttered dismissively.

At this, Ingrid arched her eyebrows at Wilson, shocked that he would actually suggest something like that.

Realizing what he had said, Wilson immediately looked up, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean that. I'm just stressed—" he began.

"What would you like for lunch, House?" Ingrid interrupted him, smiling overly sweetly at House.

"… Dry Reuben... no pickles," he replied, equally surprised at Wilson's suggestion.

"Could... you get me something too, baby?" Wilson asked her meekly.

"No," she snapped, leaving the office in a huff.

"Nice move," House said sarcastically to Wilson after Ingrid left.

Wilson ignored him, rubbing his forehead in aggravation as he went back to his paperwork.

"This is a complete waste of time," House stated. "The papers aren't gonna tell you anything."

"These are all the papers I've signed since I took over for Cuddy. If I can find anything suspicious looking, maybe we can figure this out!" Wilson stated irately, losing his patience.

"If you had actually READ the papers before just signing them, we would be IN this mess!" House shot back angrily.

"The LAST thing I need right now is a lecture from you!" Wilson retorted.

"Cuddy is going to KILL us if we don't figure this out. And I don't mean metaphorically," House told him.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Wilson yelled back.

Just then, Chase walked into the office with a few papers in his hand, his eyes widening at the state of disarray in Cuddy's office.

"I lost my keys. I think I left them in Cuddy's files," House snarked to Chase.

"Find the money yet?" Chase asked, closing the door behind him.

"Yes. Which is why we're still looking for it," House stated, his voice still heavy with sarcasm.

"Blood work all points to JRA, but we're still waiting on the ANA results," Chase told him, handing him the test printout from earlier.

"Good," House commented disinterested, barely glancing at the paper before tossing it aside.

Chase exhaled, picking up the paper again.

"And you never submitted my W-4 to payroll," Chase reminded him, annoyed.

"I always say, 'if you want something done, do it yourself,'" House quipped.

"You NEVER say that," Chase said, scrunching up his face.

"Somebody did," House said with a shrug.

"Well Debbie's on vacation, and she handles payroll, so now I won't get paid for at least another month," Chase complained.

At this, Wilson exhaled loudly, completely irritated by Chase's presence, the mention of his ex- financeé only aggravating him further.

"Not that I don't sympathize with your plight Chase, but can you please leave us alone and whine somewhere else? We're kinda busy here," Wilson barked, still flipping through the papers.

Chase arched his eyebrow at Wilson, his earlier suspicions creeping up again in his mind.

"Why do you want to get rid of me so fast?" Chase asked.

"Because you're in the way!" Wilson spat out.

"...Or maybe it's because you're hiding something," Chase suggested vaguely.

At this, both Wilson and House snapped their heads up at Chase.

"What are you saying?" Wilson demanded.

"Nothing. I just think it's odd that fifteen million dollars is suddenly missing from the budget under your watch," Chase remarked.

Wilson got up crossing the room to Chase, feeling the rage build up inside him.

"Are you insinuating that I took the money?" Wilson demanded, his hand already clenching into a fist.

"Chase that's ridiculous. Wilson didn't take the money," House said dismissively.

"Thank you!" Wilson stated loudly, happy that House would defend him against Chase's accusation.

"Wilson doesn't have the math skills to pull off something like that," House added.

Chase turned down his lower lip as he considered that for a moment while Wilson spun around to face House, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

"What does that mean?! I was ALWAYS good at math!" Wilson argued.

"Not this good. And I didn't realize they gave 'Embezzlement 101' at McGill," House said.

"And you think the ONLY reason why I didn't take the money is because I'm too STUPID? Not because I'd never STEAL anything?!" Wilson exclaimed.

Just then, House looked up, his face full of epiphany as he suddenly remembered one of Chase's earlier statements.

"Debbie's on vacation," House said to both of them, his tone full of realization.

He then suddenly got up from the couch and hurriedly left the room. Wilson and Chase exchanged a confused look before following him out of the office.

A few minutes later, House, Wilson, Chase were in the hospital's accounting department, accompanied by the janitor that House referred to as 'Dr. Buffer.'

The four men immediately breezed past the secretarial pool, ignoring the shocked looks they were getting from them.

"Where are you going?!" one of the secretaries demanded, getting up from her desk to follow them.

But before she could stop them, Dr. Buffer had already unlocked the door to Debbie's office and House, Wilson and Chase were standing inside it, completely stunned.

The entire office was bare.

Wilson immediately headed over to the large file cabinet that was leaning against the wall of his ex- fianceé's office and pulled the drawers open one after the other, only to find them completely empty.

He then went over to her desk, finding that cleaned out as well.

With an utterly shocked expression on his face, Wilson turned to House and Chase.

"...Everything's gone..." he said, barely above a whisper.

As House thoughtfully looked around the bare office, his mind racing, his eye was distracted by something glittery on Chase's left ring finger.

"Is that a male engagement ring?" he asked Chase with an arched eyebrow.

TBC…