Part 5

The hospital was different now, that much Chase had realised from his first day as the head of diagnostics. Taub had decided to leave, choosing to change to a speciality where he could spend more time with his daughters, but Park and Adams had decided to stay, he knew at some point he'd probably have to get a third fellow, but for now he was just trying to get his head around the fact that he was now in charge. Foreman being his direct boss was a bitter pill to swallow, they'd started off in the same place and now he was the dean of medicine and was officially in charge of telling Chase yes or no. Not that he'd want Foreman's job, there was too much paper pushing and he had to attend too many meetings.

His first case in charge was a five month old baby boy, Noah Barton. He usually liked cases involving kids because he got along with them better than adults most of the time, but it was different being in charge, being the one that the parents were looking for to save their baby's life. Noah had presented to them with a history of multiple infections for the past few months of his life, and currently had a nasty respiratory tract infection which wasn't responding well to treatment. What struck Chase when he saw the baby was how small he was for a five month old, he looked smaller than Cameron's baby had at just three months old when he had seen him, it looked like there was no fat on him and he had a widespread rash all over his body.

"So, we have infection, rash and poor weight gain," Chase stated as he wrote the basic details of the case on the whiteboard. He wondered whether that was a mistake, whether he was copying House and whether Park and Adams had picked up on that.

"What about cystic fibrosis?" Adams proposed. "The rash could be from the infection and then we've got typical CF symptoms; failure to thrive and recurrent respiratory infections."

"Let's do a sweat test and send genetics," Chase agreed, CF was the first thing he'd thought of when he'd seen Noah.

"The rash and the failure to thrive could be lymphohistiocytosis?" Park suggested.

"The rash doesn't look typical of that but we should check a CBC and we could do a liver or bone marrow biopsy if that shows pancytopenia," Chase reasoned.

"It could also be a congenital infection," Park suggested again. "One of the TORCH infections or even HIV?"

"Test the mom and the baby," Chase ordered, it would be unusual for the mom to not know she had HIV but not out of the realm of possibility, and the frequent infections were definitely an indication for HIV.

"Okay we've got a plan for now," Chase said, satisfied that at least for now they had some good thoughts about what the cause of Noah's illness could be. "Run the tests and we'll go from there."

Park and Adams nodded before sharing the tasks with each other and then they walked off to see Noah and run the tests.

Chase was then stuck, normally at this point he would be the one doing the tests, but now as the head of department it was his job to be overseeing everything. He thought about what House might do now, probably watch Prescription Passion or pulling a prank on Wilson, maybe flirting with Cuddy. He decided to get a coffee and then catch up on some paperwork.

As he walked through the halls, he saw how people were looking at him differently now, he didn't like that, he didn't want the nurses and the other doctors to stop flirting with him, he didn't want people to stop disagreeing with him and becoming yes-men. He stopped at the cafeteria and noticed Foreman was also getting some coffee.

"How's your first day going?" Foreman asked, barely looking up from his coffee.

"Fine," Chase replied, not wanting to show Foreman weakness with his initial struggles.

"Sounds like an interesting case," Foreman commented and Chase wondered whether he ever regretted leaving the clinical side of being a doctor behind when he'd become dean of medicine.

"It's a kid," Chase remarked. "A baby, they're always a challenge."

"I heard you were thinking of doing a bone marrow or liver biopsy?" Foreman asked, unsuccessfully attempting to be subtle.

"If the bloods suggest we should," Chase rationalised.

"House would have gone straight for the biopsy," Foreman pointed out. "Would have said we're just wasting time by not doing the definitive test first."

"Well, I'm not House," Chase defended, putting his coffee down on the table. "I'm not going to stick a needle in a baby and do a biopsy without a good reason first, he's stable – we don't need to rush this."

Foreman nodded.

"I'm not expecting you to be House," Foreman admitted. "I would rather you weren't like House actually."

Chase felt like an internal band that had been squeezing his insides had been released, he didn't want to be like House, not exactly. House had taught him how to think outside the box but he wouldn't work like him, for example he would at least meet all of the patients and listen to them, even if he didn't believe everything they said, and he wouldn't treat without good reason to do so.

"The baby's just so small," Chase said, hoping that by verbalising his thought process he might get some validation from Foreman. "He's failing to thrive even though he's feeding well. He's smaller than Cameron's baby, even though he's older."

"You've seen Cameron's baby?" Foreman asked in surprise. "When?"

"When I was in Chicago for that conference a few months ago," he said, now focusing on his coffee again. He hadn't meant to bring her up, knowing that Foreman would start asking questions. "We just met up for coffee and he was there."

Foreman looked at him suspiciously.

"Why are you acting like that," he asked, leaning back on his chair.

"Like what?" Chase asked, trying not to act suspiciously even though he knew he was a terrible liar.

"Like you're not telling the whole story," Foreman said confidently.

Chase didn't speak for a second, just looking at Foreman and he had memories of when he and Cameron had first started their relationship, if you could even call it that. Trying to hide what they were doing. And this time it was even worse, because now there were other people involved who could get hurt.

"Chase if you and Cameron are-" Foreman started, his reprimanding voice making Chase want to roll his eyes.

"We're not having an affair," Chase defended, keeping his voice whispered so their colleagues wouldn't be able to hear them. "We did something stupid and slept together one time after House's funeral and that was it, we're not going to do it again."

Foreman nodded but didn't say anything.

"What you don't have anything to say?" Chase asked sarcastically. "Nothing about how I'm ruining her family or how we were both being immature."

"Is that how you feel about it?" Foreman asked, not letting on his emotions in his voice.

"It doesn't matter how I feel about it," Chase muttered, again looking down at his coffee and suddenly wishing it had something a lot stronger than coffee in it. "She has a family and she's happy."

"That's bullshit," Foreman let out a rough laugh, taking Chase by surprise. "But I respect your integrity, she deserves happiness, after everything she's been through."

"I know," Chase said, feeling defensive. Had Foreman really meant everything that he'd put her through? "She hasn't been talking to me since then, she keeps saying she's busy but I think we ruined any kind of friendship we had."

"Or maybe she's just busy," Foreman suggested. "Look I've got to go, keep focusing on the case and the Cameron stuff will figure itself out."

Chase nodded as he watched Foreman leave, hoping he was right.

"Sweat test was negative and so was the TORCH screen and HIV test," Adams informed him two days later after all of the tests had been done.

Noah had remained stable but on top of his respiratory infection he also now had a fungal infection and the rash had spread further, looking like eczema. He had been to see the baby that morning, he'd looked so still and tired that it had motivated Chase even further to get an answer for these parents.

"So that rules out CF and congenital infection," Chase commented and crossed them out on the whiteboard. "What about the CBC?"

"No pancytopenia so it's not lymphohistiocytosis but he does have thrombocytopenia," Park replied.

"What about Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome?" Adams asked.

"There's no history of bleeding or bruising," Chase disagreed. "The low platelets is probably just from the infection, but we could send the genetic test just in case."

Adams and Park stayed quiet, Adams was looking through a textbook and Park was staring at the whiteboard. Chase looked at his office, for a second wishing it was still House's office and he could just go and ask him what the answer was. This is what he had been afraid of; not having an answer when a patient was relying on him to diagnose and heal him.

Staring through the glass and picturing House inside gave Chase a thought.

"Bubble boy," he muttered.

"What?" Adams asked, looking up from her textbook.

"He has severe combined immunodeficiency – SCID," Chase stated. "The rash, the frequent infections and the poor weight gain, it all fits."

"Wouldn't they have picked that up on the newborn screening test?" Park asked.

"The family was living in France when he was born," Chase explained. "They don't test for SCID there."

"We should test for immunoglobulin levels, antibody titres and T-cell function," Adams said, standing up to do the tests.

"Do that but also get him in a clean room and give him IV Ig," Chase ordered. "If this is SCID we need to get on top of this because he's going to need to be well enough for a bone marrow transplant."

Park and Adams both nodded at him and left the room to do what he asked.

Chase took a breath before going to see Noah's parents to tell them the most devastating news they will have heard in his short life. He was about to undergo intensive medical treatment otherwise his life would be over all too quickly.

At the end of the week Noah's test results had shown that he did indeed have SCID. He was responding well to the IV immunoglobulins they had given and he was starting to recover from his infection. He was going to be transferred to a specialist children's hospital to have a bone marrow biopsy.

Chase had just settled down onto his couch with a beer when he heard a knock at his door. Not expecting anyone he considered whether he really wanted to answer it, but when the knock was repeated, he got up from his seat and opened the door.

He stared at the person behind the door, or people he should really say.

Cameron was staring back at him with an almost embarrassed expression on her face, he looked down to the car seat she was holding and saw Oliver sleeping.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"I'm sorry for just dropping in like this," she said quickly. "I was in town and I thought I should see you."

Chase nodded, not really knowing what to say. It had been a couple of weeks since he had seen her after House's funeral and they'd barely spoken since. Cameron had said she was busy since starting to phase back into work, he'd thought she was avoiding him but then her turning up on his doorstep didn't fit with that.

"Can I come in?" she asked nervously, adjusting her grip on Oliver's car seat making Chase realise that actually it might be heavy for her.

"Yeah of course," he said, snapping into action as he widened the door and led her inside.

He saw her sit on the couch and remembered just two weeks ago when they'd been making out on that couch.

"What are you doing in Princeton?" he asked, it came across a lot more blunt than he had intended but he was still in shock from seeing her.

She glanced at Oliver before looking back at Chase.

"Foreman offered me a job," she informed him. "The head of the emergency department is leaving and he offered the job to me."

"You can't take it," he said. "You live in Chicago."

"Yes Chase, I'm aware," she replied sarcastically. "There is this thing called moving though."

Chase didn't answer to that, he remembered all too well how easy it was to move. When she'd left him, it had been so sudden, it was like one second she was in every part of his life and the next she had disappeared.

"You're going to move back here?" he asked sceptically. "You're going to move your boyfriend and your baby to a different city for a job that is pretty much equivalent to the job you already have?"

"I haven't decided on anything yet," she said. "I'm just weighing up my options."

Chase noticed that she hadn't mentioned Matthew and his feelings on the matter, he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't do something as drastic as moving across the country without at least discussing it with her boyfriend, the father of her child.

"And Matthew is open to moving here?" he asked, not being subtle in his questioning and doubting.

"We broke up," she stated.

There was no emotion in her voice when she said it and he was genuinely shocked. He knew that their relationship hadn't been perfect but he'd been so convinced that she would keep her family together above everything else. He didn't really know how to react to what she had just told him, this was obviously a new event in her life but he couldn't help but wonder if this was a reaction to them sleeping together or maybe even House's death.

"I'm sorry," he said, and he genuinely meant it, he knew how much she'd wanted to keep her family together.

She nodded but looked down at her shoes.

"It was coming for a while," she explained. "I think I wanted it to work so badly that I ignored the fact that we really weren't that compatible."

"Was it because – did you tell him about, you know?" he asked awkwardly, he didn't want to assume that she had broken up with him because of their night together but the timing was too suspicious for him not to ask.

"No," she said softly. "I didn't tell him and I don't think that was what made me do it in the end."

A part of him was relieved that she said that, but another part of him was disappointed. If he had nothing to do with her decision to end her relationship then why was she here in his apartment again? Why was she telling him all of this?

"How is it going to work with Oliver?" he asked. "Especially if you move here?"

She shrugged and looked down at her baby again, he was sleeping so softly without a care in the world, not knowing that his mother was making a decision that would potentially change the course of his life.

"Robert," she started carefully. "When your parents split up, when your dad left, do you ever wish you'd gone to live with him instead of your mom?"

He was almost taken aback by the question. Cameron knew he didn't like talking about his childhood or either of his parents because no matter how many years it had been he still hit by a twinge of pain whenever the subject was brought up.

"No," he answered honestly, swallowing to keep his voice steady. "My dad was an asshole and my mum needed someone there for her, so did my sister, even before he left my dad was barely there."

She nodded, deep in thought about what shared custody with Matthew would look like in the future, she didn't want Oliver to grow up saying things like that about either of his parents.

"Look," he said seriously. "You're a great mom Allison, and even if it didn't work out between you and Matthew that doesn't mean he's going to be an absentee father like my dad was. My parents getting a divorce sucked, but the worst part wasn't the end of their relationship, it was seeing my mom loose hope in life so she started drinking more, and it was months sometimes without hearing from my dad, never mind seeing him."

"I can't help but feel guilty," she admitted. "I feel like I'm already setting him off on a bad foot and he's just five months old."

"You know what would have made my parents divorce better for me?" he asked rhetorically. "Seeing my mum get better, seeing her finally be happy so if you think that you can be happier now that you've separated then that's the best thing for Oliver."

"I think moving back to Princeton would make me happy," she confessed, almost scared of her decision.

"Then do it," he encouraged. "Everything will work out."

She leaned forward to hug him, a gentle, friendly hug that she needed more than she knew. She went back to her hotel room that evening and prepared herself to tell her family and Matthew that she was moving hundreds of miles away. But somehow even with the knowledge that those people would push back against her decision, she was at peace with it.