Talia was now feeling useless. She knew time was running out for Foreman, and all they could do was try and decipher to see which antibiotics were now making him worse. But the lack of rest was now catching up to her, and just as Chase happened to walk into the office, Talia suddenly began hyperventilating - completely out of nowhere.

It started off quiet at first, but then her chest started to speed up and her breathing sounded erratic, causing Chase to rush over without a second thought. Once he saw the state she was in, he panicked too. He bent down in front of her and grabbed her head in his hands as she began to panic-cry. "Alright baby no, you can't do this anymore - you're now suffering from extreme exhaustion," he told her quietly, whipping out his pocket torch and vaguely shining it into her bloodshot eyes before prising her droopy eyelids open with his thumbs. "Yeah, enough is enough. Alright T, breathe for me, breathe, follow me, in…and…out, in…and…out-"

"Ch-Ch-Chaasse, I c-c-can't s-stop," Talia cried desperately in between her sharp, sudden breaths.

"You can, of course you can! Just breathe honey, copy my breathing! C'mon, you know how this goes," Chase muttered in comfort, swiping the tears from her eyes.

"No, I mean I c-can't stop t-t-rying," Talia panted as her shoulders started to shudder. Her eyes were now the deepest shade of raw, and and she was in pure distress. Chase found it hard to believe that this was all down to Foreman, and Foreman himself had basically confirmed that there was some underlying reason to her panic.

But this wasn't the time, and he knew it. He had to focus on calming her down.

"Ch-Chase, there is nothing left. I t-t-tried to save him-" Talia continued to weep.

"Oh god. I know you did, T," Chase tutted quietly as he brought her in for a tight hug. Her arms wrapped tightly around his body and he wrapped one arm around her waist whilst entangling his other hand in her hair, massaging her scalp to help calm her down. "I know that you're stubborn as hell, that you never stop and you always push yourself as far as you can. It's ridiculous and stupidly dangerous - but in some senses, this is why I love y-"

He froze.

The silence in the office was suffocating them both - but in the best way possible. Talia gingerly lifted her head from his neck and let out a tearful sniff as they locked eyes, although she could barely see him through her thick tears.

"W-what did you just say…?" she whispered.

"I…I love you…?" Chase admitted with a shy mumble, tearing his eyes from hers in embarrassment. But Talia suddenly blurted out a tearful laugh of surprise and slapped her hands over her mouth to muffle herself - whilst Chase squeezed an eye shut, internally kicking himself. It had just slipped out before he could stop it, perhaps due to his tiredness too, and he definitely didn't mean to just come out with it like that.

"Oh, my god. I love you too, dude," Talia finally breathed with a watery smile, interrupting Chase's regretful thoughts.

His eyes grew wide.

"No way!" was all he managed to chuckle out.

"Way," Talia giggled, dabbing her swollen eyelids again. "I do love you, so much in fact. And I feel so…blessed to have someone like you. I know I can be hard work, but you've never given up on me." Chase looked so astounded but pleased at the same time, that it literally made Talia coo out loud as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and pressed a tearful kiss onto his lips, which he gladly returned.

"Well…now can you please stop crying?" he chuckled lightly once they broke apart, still dabbing at her tears. "And go home so you can go to bed?"

"No, I…I can't," Talia began to explain shakily - not for Foreman but for the Ryan reason. She was petrified of going anywhere, and she was about to launch into it, ready to tell Chase the truth about that damn phone call…when Cameron suddenly rushed in.

"His pain is no worse and his temperature's gone down a whole degree. Something you suggested is working-" Cameron began to announce in relief - when she properly saw Talia's state and the smile dropped form her lips. "Oh my god! Talia, are you o-"

"She's fine, she's just about to go and sleep in one of the dorms for a while whilst we finish up on the case, right?" Chase encouraged Talia with a forceful nod. Talia opened her mouth to argue back but found herself too tired even do that. Now she was emotionally, mentally and physically tired, and she felt as if she could fall asleep right then and there.

"I'll take her down. Chase, you can go and tell House the news that I just told you," Cameron offered up, helping Talia to her feet and handing Chase over the files which he took from her with a nod. Then Cameron bustled Talia straight out of the office before she knew it.

"Ch-Chase just told me he loved me," Talia murmured in a daze as they walked. Cameron let out a sharp gasp and abruptly stopped in her tracks.

"No he did NOT!"

"He did!" Talia let out a reluctant giggle, pulling her along again so that they could actually get to the dorms, now hungry for sleep. "For the first time, too."

"And…? Did you say it back or what?" Cameron continued to ask with an amazed smile.

"I did…I'm just so…dizzy that…" Talia trailed off, lolling her neck from side to side. "Ahhh I now officially haven't slept properly in nearly three days. I can't even soak in how happy I am." Cameron grimaced and gently lead Talia into the dorm, allowing her to collapse straight onto one of the beds with a relieved grunt, holding her head in her hands.

"Talia, I'm super worried about you," Cameron blurted out before she could fall asleep.

"Yeah? What, cos I'm not sleeping?" Talia guessed without looking up.

"Well y-"

"I think my abuser is stalking me," Talia told her bluntly instead. She knew that once she woke up from her nap and her mind was clear, she'd be punching herself for telling yet another person before telling Chase, but for now she didn't actually care.

Meanwhile, Cameron's face went ghostly white with worry.

"You…what, you mean the guy you used to…"

"…have seizures over, yup. I'm glad that's now common knowledge here, by the way," Talia mumbled as she lay herself in one of the beds. "I got a call a few nights ago from a private number and I'm pretty sure it was him. He was just…breathing down my line and then threatened me with a line he always used. My number has changed since I moved, and he should have absolutely no contact with me but…somehow, he does."

Cameron looked absolutely horrified.

"Have…have you told the police?!"

"No, I haven't told anyone but you and Foreman - and that was accidental. I haven't even told Chase yet, so if you could keep that quiet for me, I'd be grateful," Talia admitted tiredly, finally letting her heavy eyelids close. "I'll add it onto my list of things to worry about when I wake up. Please…don't…tell…him…"

Cameron nodded and pulled the covers over Talia's shoulders before tiptoeing out of the room, riddled with fear.

…

Talia never actually dreamt anymore. Everything was a nightmare because everything in real life frightened the hell out of her. So when she shot herself awake four hours after falling asleep in the hospital rest rooms, panting and muffling a scream behind her hand, it was no surprise. "Sh*t," she groaned to herself as she measured her own pulse. "Talia, calm down you f*cking idiot!" She attempted to compose herself for a few seconds before heaving herself up with a sigh, only wanting to find one man and one man only.

But then she remembered what was happening with Foreman, and immediately drifted from dreamlike romance mode into worried work mode, grabbing her doctor's coat from the hook and brushing her blonde hair into a high ponytail whilst sweeping out of the dorm. She speedily scurried down the hallway, noticing that it was lighter from the windows showing the blue skies outside. She definitely felt more compos mentis than before - and then she bumped into Cuddy.

Ironically, Cuddy looked just as much of a mess as Talia felt.

"Talia," she breathed, grabbing her by her shoulders. "I heard you had a full on breakdown in the office. Am I giving you too many hours? I can always-"

"No," Talia answered quickly as she slapped a smile on her face. "I'm fine, Cuddy. I just didn't feel great. What's…what's going on with Foreman?"

"Cameron just did a deep tissue biopsy on him," Cuddy answered a little ashamedly, causing Talia's bloodshot eyes to grow wide in horror.

"Another brain biopsy? As if one wasn't enough?" she muttered to herself. "What was it, white matter? Was that Foreman's idea?"

"Yes and…yes, with Cameron's execution, what with her being made his health proxy by Foreman himself," Cuddy informed her with a tired sigh as she ran her knuckles across her forehead. "Turns out the water at the cop's house was riddled with Naegleria. It was in the sink. You all tested the wrong water at first-"

"Of course. We can't do a damn thing right. And by 'we' I mean-"

"You weren't to know. Don't beat yourself up about it, point is he's better," Cuddy instructed her firmly. That was when Talia frowned to herself suspiciously. Cuddy was always reasonably pleasant to her, but this time she was being a little too nice.

What could that be abou-

"Oh god. Cameron's spoken to you, hasn't she?" Talia groaned irritably, rolling her eyes.

"Can you blame her? She's worried!" Cuddy frowned as they started to walk down the hallway together. "I understand that this is a tough time for you Talia, but we have systems put in place here to support you and people that you can talk to-"

"I know, and I appreciate that all, I really do," Talia insisted quietly so that she didn't draw attention, "but I don't need the support, so please go around feeling all sorry for me, okay? I'm fine."

"I don't feel sorry, I feel concerned," Cuddy corrected her smoothly. Talia finally spun to look at her with a sigh, crossing her arms in defiance. "Talia, someone that used to put his hands on you finding your phone number after years of no contact to the point where his own mom thought he was dead is not normal. If you don't wanna take it further, I can't and won't force you. But get off your 'I can do it alone' high horse and at least tell your damn boyfriend. That guy cares about you more than anything, and you guys deserve to have someone in your team." And with that, Cuddy nudged her head towards Foreman's ward, where Chase was stood opposite Foreman's bed to check on how he was doing. The feeling of relief when Talia poked her head around the door to see Foreman lying there alive was absolutely unmatched.

His face even broke out into a thankful smile as she strolled in.

"I'll…leave you two alone, yeah?" Chase nodded to them both before making his way out of the room. He grabbed Talia's hand as he left and gave it a light squeeze. "Meet you out there in 5 so we can go home and actually get some rest?"

"Sounds like a plan, babe," Talia whispered with a small smile, squeezing his hand back. Chase gave her a final nod and slipped out of the room, leaving Foreman and Talia facing each other. "Well! You look like complete crap but…a lot better," she grinned, cocking her head to the side.

"Thank you," Foreman murmured. "I mean, for all you did."

"Ahhh see, this time I genuinely didn't do much," Talia laughed as she crossed her arms. "I found like…three different diagnoses and they were all wrong. In fact, the antibiotics that House had administered under my suggestion pretty much trashed your pancreas and-"

"And you stayed up for hours and hours on end retesting and re-reading even though you were going through a lot personally and…that means a lot," Foreman spoke over her firmly. "Have you spoken to Chase about it yet?"

"No. When would I have time to? I only just woke up," Talia explained with a grimace.

"You are going to though, right?" Foreman frowned. "He'd wanna know."

"It's Chase, of course he'd want to know. I will be telling him. I promised that I wouldn't keep those kinda secrets from him again and I meant it," Talia assured him - although her palms were already sweating at the thought of it.

"Right. Good. Well…I said I would apologise. I am deeply sorry for undermining your position as a doctor and a work colleague…and a friend." Talia blinked rapidly in response and took a few steps back in surprise.

"Woah there! Are we sure that white tissue biopsy didn't take away a chunk of the wrong part of your brain?" she gasped sarcastically, causing Foreman to chuckle tiredly and shake his head.

"I'm just grateful to be alive. Now go home and sleep - you also look like crap," he instructed her too. Talia smirked at him and nodded, before stepping out of the ward and meeting Chase right outside, already in his winter coat and holding hers out for her too. Talia smiled at him and shuffled off her doctor's coat to replace it with her own - before suddenly wrapping her arms around Chase's shoulders and burying her face into his neck. Chase frowned as he wrapped his arms around her waist too and pressed a confused kiss onto her tearstained cheek.

"What's wrong, hun? You still stressed?" he asked nervously, keeping his voice low.

"No, nothing…I just…" Talia trailed off with a small shrug as she let him go again. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"Awww T," Chase chuckled, giving her a sweet kiss. "You're adorable when you wanna be. I'm lucky to have you, too. Let's go and get something to eat so we can rest - we've got the day off tomorrow and I think we should use it to the best of our ability, to be honest." He held out his arm and Talia linked hers with his so that the two of them could leave.

…

The next amount of sleep was so much better. Just laying there wrapped up safely in Chase's arms gave Talia the comfort she'd been craving. They'd both gotten a full day's sleep, but it meant that Talia woke up in the middle of the evening, so now her sleeping schedule was messed up.

She was fine with that, though.

Once her eyes fluttered open again, she saw Chase perched on the edge of the bed on the phone to someone - and the conversation sounded pretty tense. Talia's heart started racing as she crawled across to where he sat so that she could snake her arms over his bare torso, peppering kisses onto his tensed shoulders to calm him down. Chase turned his head slightly to look up at her. "Did I wake you?" he whispered apologetically.

"No," Talia hummed into his skin. "Who's that?"

"Juliette," Chase muttered back before turning his head again.

Thank God.

"I'll explain in a- Hello? Yeah, I'm still here. So there's nothing? Nothing at all? Well that is…no…no I'm not, but if he hated me to that extent he should've said. Thats f*cking insane- no, it doesn't matter. Thanks. You too…bye." He hung up and let out an irritated groan, causing Talia to drop her arms and blink at him.

"What did she want?" she asked.

"Dad cut me from his will. That's it, the funding from him now officially stops," Chase grumbled, standing up and throwing a hoodie on. Talia's plump lips parted in surprise as she struggled to find the right words to say.

"He…cut you out? Bloody hell," she finally gasped. "I never thought he'd-"

"Me neither," Chase scoffed back, his voice shaking slightly. "It's like…one final finishing move from the guy. Like the final thing he could ever do to piss me off! See why I was so reluctant to speak to him when he popped up for that half-assed goodbye?" Talia winced and slammed her hands over her face.

"So…in terms of money, are you screwed? Like is this apartment…too much? Cos Robert, I keep giving you money for keeping me here and you keep bouncing it back and my bank is starting to look at me sideways," she pointed out as she began making her way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.

"I'll be fine for the next few months but when the money goes…it goes," Chase sighed, following her out. Talia rolled her eyes as she fixed herself a sandwich.

"So is it finally time for you to drop your macho macho man act and finally accept some help from your adoring girlfriend?"

"No, cos it's not like my adoring girlfriend is using more energy and heat than I am," Chase argued back, leaning over the kitchen island. "Half the time we shower together, wash our clothes together, we-"

"You insist on buying food, drinks, everything on your own unless I sneakily buy some for the house. I know I just kinda moved in but if we go 50/50 now-"

"No. Seriously, when I produce a ring, then we can talk about it," Chase cut her off again. Talia heard the 'when' instead of 'if', but she was too irritated by his stubbornness to even address the sweetness of it.

"Chase, seriously. Stop!" she snapped, spinning around with a freshly toasted pepperoni and cheese sandwich in her hand. "Just take the cash! You need it!"

"What I need is to take up more hours," Chase spoke over her firmly, still not wanting to hear it, "so I'm gonna call Cuddy in the morning and see if she can put me on rotation in different departments. Then I'll make double as much-"

"And be double as stressed," Talia retorted, throwing her sandwich down again. "Chase, you have to take care of your mental just like you wanted me to."

"Talia would you just drop it?!" Chase hissed as he slammed his hands on the counter in exasperation. Talia closed her mouth and nodded obediently, shutting herself up without another word. She didn't like fighting with him - and his sharpness shook her. But immediately, Chase felt incredibly guilty. He knew that she was just trying to help, and he didn't mean to be so abrasive with her, but he was so stressed that he didn't even register how cutting his tone was until it was too late.

"T, I'm sorry," he muttered apologetically, walked over to where she stood awkwardly playing with her food. She looked up with a little sigh.

"It's fine, I'm f-fine. I just…I want you to be okay, Robert. If it gets too much…"

"Then I'll stop, I really will. I swear," Chase promised, cupping her face with his hands and looking deep into her eyes to show his sincerity. Talia chewed her bottom lip in contemplation before nodding, causing him to peck her lips before going to make his own food.

Chase's mind was already completely fogged up with other problems. Talia didn't want to add anything to that. She couldn't.

But it soon became obvious that Ryan didn't plan on giving her the choice for much longer.

...

oh, ryan. ryan ryan ryan.