"You have an idea." He confronted House later while he lay on his side. House and Wilson were both in procedure scrubs with gloves on their hands as Chase waited for the test to begin. RJ was lurking in the background, ready to do whatever he was told. He had a feeling sometimes that RJ was like a spy, of some sort. Nice and sweet and then reporting back to Turner. But that was fanciful thought getting away from him. RJ just seemed to get along with everyone.

"I have an idea." House nodded, standing in front of Chase while Wilson took position behind him. "I also have a giant teddy bear in my office in my chair. But I'm trying not to think too hard about that."

Chase noticed RJ duck away and concentrate on something on the far side of the room.

"I know nothing about the teddy bear. Do you think you know what it is?" Chase asked after a second, lifting his brows. "Would you like to share with the class?"

"I have an idea." House repeated in the same tone he'd used when he stated it the first time.

"Houuuuse..." Chase told him, even as he reached out and grabbed House's hands as Wilson started sticking him with a needle to numb his skin. It had hurt and he'd reached for the nearest thing. Well, that was what he was going to tell himself, later.

House held his hands down, so he couldn't try to reach back to stop the needle. "Ow, why does the bloody numbing needle hurt too? I mean, it numbs it so it doesn't hurt! And yet it hurts and stings too!" He bitched.

"Just think of all those kids over the years that you told 'oh this is just a little sting it won't really hurt'? Now you know how much of a liiiiie that was!" House said, sounding amused.

"It's not cancer." Chase said, looking up at him. House was sounding way too amused for it to be something serious. Even if House was in denial, he was sounding too amused.

"It's not cancer." House assured. "You have pissed off gnomes in your body."

"What is it?" Chase asked again. "What are the gnomes doing?"

"They are rioting, resisting, and kicking things out of your body." House repeated. "They want... milk! Or rather, they don't like it! You don't have it, even when you have it. We just have to find out where it keeps going. Does your tum-tum hurt after you drink dairy?" He asked.

Chase hesitated and then said. "Yes. But I still drink milk. The intolerance isn't enough to put me off of it."

"Just like mommy always told us to. Because it makes our bones big and strong. Only your bones aren't getting big and strong. They are getting thin and weak. Those bits of calcium and yummy vitamins are being side tracked and frog-marched out of your body. Banned because they piss your stomach off and in retaliation it is rioting on the way out. We need to find out what the calcium did that got it into so much trouble, that management got a restraining order!" House explained. "Pressure coming." He warned.

Chase closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, squeezing House's hands as Wilson shoved the special needle down through a small incision and to the bone. He shoved it through the bone with a twisting motion and then pulled it out. But the pain didn't really stop. It still hurt. "Oh, god is it over? Is it over? What happened?" He was squeezing House's hands tightly and tears were rising in his eyes as the sharp ache came from his upper thigh bone. His hip area.

Wilson made a small noise and was suddenly reaching over. "Give him pain meds and get ortho."

"What? Why?" House demanded.

"I just... I broke the bone." He admitted with a sad sigh. "His bones are too..."

"God damn it!" House swore. "Get that analyzed. It's going to be abnormal. We just need to know how-so."

"Get me morphine and someone from ortho." House ordered as RJ ran off to get help. Wilson hurried off with the sample, making it first priority.

"It..." Chase closed his eyes and tried not to move his leg.

"I know. Just stay still. It's all right. They'll immobilize it, and we're going to get on top of this." He told Chase, leaning forward and then awkwardly put a hand on his head, soothing the hair back. He pet the hair, and looked away. Unsure. "Turner was right that... that usually I would have pursued this. Caught it before it got this far. I really..."

"Don't start that again. Please?" Chase told him in a pain roughened voice, squeezing his hand between both of his now. "If this is anyone's fault, at all, it is mine. You can't treat someone, if they don't want treated. I hid or downplayed all the symptoms. I even denied having absent seizures. I convinced myself I didn't have them. Even though I lost the entire car ride home. I wasn't looking out the window. I didn't get hypnotized. I... deluded myself."

House took his hand off his head and started to pull away from Chase's hands when the doctor from ortho appeared pushing a portable x-ray machine ahead of him. But Chase held on to it tighter.

"No... I..." But then he let go, realizing what he was doing. It was then, that he realized he'd grabbed House's hands first to begin with. And then that he tried to rationalize it. Scared of the pain he knew would be coming. Knowing the risk of it breaking. He'd never experienced a biopsy before. Now he knew why children cried during and after them up close and personal. He grimaced and then apologized to House in a low mutter. Chase looked back up and asked. "What do I have then?"

House shook his head after slipping on the lead apron and took his hand back. "Tell anyone about this? And I'll hound you to hell and back." He warned the other doctor. "Only doing this, so... I know you're not screwing it up too bad." It was an extremely lame excuse. "If he rips my hand off, I know you screwed up!"

RJ had returned and smiled at Chase. Chase had a strange urge to laugh, despite the hurt. This was playing right into the 'rumor' that House was secretly nice. But the pain instead just made tears come into his eyes again as he bit his lip. He squeezed House's hands as the doctor worked with his leg to take his x-rays.

Chase saw the moment that House figured it out. He'd never been this close to House when he'd done it back when he was in fellowship. He'd seen it from across the room, but never this close.

House's eyes sparked and widened, moving from side to side as a grin started to form on his face. It was as though he came truly alive, and the sun had come out in his eyes. It was... beautiful. In some... strange... and disconcerting way. Not that he could really appreciate it with some guy securing his leg, and the feel of pain from the new break.

"I got it. I know what is wrong. We've been IDIOTS! It's been there all along!" He beamed at Chase. He still had his hand, but he was slightly swinging it as he gestured with his other hand and spoke. "The good news? You're probably not going to die from what caused all this. The bad news is, your heart is still going to be an issue for a while, not to mention all the rehab and treatment you're going to have to suffer through. The good news is... we can fix this entire mess with pills. The bad news is? It's going to take about six months to a year to reverse all the damage. The good news is... it can be prevented from happening again. The bad news is... you're going to have to change your diet to an extreme measure. The good news is... I'm running out of things to say." He grinned, looking like a lunatic.

Cameron had the syringe of pain medicine in her hand as she followed right behind. "What happened?" She asked, taking hold of the IV and injecting it.

"Bone biopsy." House told her. "Wilson did it right, but his bones didn't like it. Decided to throw a tantrum and break things."

She grimaced and gave him a sympathetic look. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Already have. I know what it is. Calcium and Vitamin D is the key. His body needs it, but it doesn't want it. It's like one of those bad love affairs, only with it playing the role of the abusive lover." House told her. "I think it needs couples therapy, fast!"

"Lack of calcium would cause..." She blinked and then almost smiled. "Abnormal heart beat, muscle spasms in the feet and hands, numbness of the extremities."

"And..." House said reaching out and touching around Chase's lips gently. Chase closed his eyes a moment, feeling the pressure, but otherwise... "Numbness around the mouth. When he's mouthing things like a puppy, he's playing with the numbed part. Feels like pressure. Some people have this... thing... where they like to poke at the parts of their body that doesn't have feeling, because it is a sensation in and of itself to have something roll from where there IS feeling, to where there isn't and then back. Kind of like how some people like to play with the sensation of fire and ice. Heat and cold. Or they like to poke at something they've injured, to see if it still hurts."

"What caused it though?" She asked, eyes wide. She looked down at their clasped hands and did a double take, but didn't comment. Chase noticed, but neither commented to explain nor let go of House's hands. Mostly, because one, he was in discomfort and distressed despite the morphine and gripping House's hand gave him something else to focus on. And two, it was funny to see that look on her face. She'd add to the 'nice' rumor without even trying!

"You're going to feel silly." House said, giving her a smirk.

"Just tell me." She sighed, slumping a little with a huff.

"A caused B caused C and luckily we've caught it before it can go to D." He told her.

She waited, almost patiently. Almost.

House released Chase's hand and gestured at her, then pointed with a smile. "Oh, you... no guesses? Fine. He has... among other issues... Osteomalacia. Which is what is causing the fractures, muscular problems, numbness and SOME of his heart problems. But, that isn't all he has. Annnnd this is where we all get to kick ourselves." He shook his head. "He has an autoimmune disease. Celiac disease."

He saw the moment that it connected for Cameron as well. She closed her eyes, winced and literally smacked her forehead. "I feel so...!" She broke off and gave them both a rueful smile.

"Yeah well... you're in good company." House told her. "I just figured it out myself. His father immigrated to Australia. He was originally born in Europe. It's more common in Caucasians and those of European ancestry. Of course, it is more common in women than men. He's lucky he's not started to lose his hair... yet!" House smiled and smirked some more as Chase put a hand up to his head in horror. "Also lucky the rash doesn't get to that pretty face, too."

"Onset can happen any time in their lives." She nodded and sighed. "Lactose intolerant, the rash that comes and goes, just... everything. The Celiac disease causes the Osteomalacia. That causes the fractures, since his back is already pre-damaged as well as sustaining additional damage... and then during the surgery... the blood pressure and such... It even explains the seizures. He's lucky he didn't get anything but absent! And... Celiac is sometimes associated with... blood clotting disorders. Autoimmune diseases can do damage to the heart, and cause... blood clots to form. He throws a clot in his heart, and presto... heart attack!"

Chase closed his eyes and groaned. "Of all the times we've said autoimmune, and it wasn't... this time it is?"

House chuckled and said. "Hey, had to be autoimmune at some point! You just won that particular lottery. All you need is to be on a gluten-free diet, as well as the Vitamin D and Calcium supplements. Let your digestive system heal, keep away from what irritates it..."

Chase sighed. Just his luck.

"We still need a biopsy of your intestines, but I know what we're going to find." House said.

Well, hopefully what they would find. It was also hopeful they didn't find cancer, since Celiac disease could lead to cancer in that area of the body. And lo and behold his grandparents were explained! He wanted to thump his head against the table.

"It's not a bad break." The Ortho doctor said, finished with the x-rays and had gone to develop them. Returning now, he was starting the splinting process. Chase hadn't even noticed he'd left earlier.

House looked over, frowning. "That's new."

The doctor nodded. "It's not widely available yet. It's a hip fixation-traction splint. We're very excited to be trying this new design."

"It's experimental." House stated. "You break him, I get to experiment on you with my cane. Deal?"

The doctor looked at him, looked to where House still had his hand near Chase's and then grimaced and winced before saying. "Deal. Just... if something goes wrong, Try to avoid my face?"

"No promises." House told him.

"I'm going to go tell Dr. Turner and Dr. Foreman what you've figured out! And try to get the rest of the blood results and see how they are doing on the biopsy." Cameron was excited to have a direction and a potential answer. "Oh, before I go... um... do you know if Dr. Turner likes any certain... treats or something? Candy? Cookies?"

House gave her a faintly horrified and shocked look before carefully saying, "Small children?"

She smiled and shook her head, rolling her eyes before heading out the door.

"She's insane." House pronounced. "She's gone around the bend and over the top. She's now officially a lost cause."

Chase just kind of smiled and shrugged. The morphine was definitely working now, and life was improving.

House narrowed his eyes, then looked back at Cameron, then back at Chase. "Oh, young Padawan. You've learned well... He'll never know what hit him. And if anyone can handle him, it would be her."

Chase chuckled as House turned the television and sat down, still in scrubs. Then he realized what House was talking about. He'd Chase tried so hard to stay awake, but drifted off again.

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