A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for all of their great reviews. It is nice to know that some people like reading stories that don't center around House and Cameron being angsty together.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people nor would I really want to.
Conflict 3
At 4:30 am Foreman got back in his car and drove to the hospital. He had to talk to Chase. He had to apologize. He felt like the worst kind of heel for treating his co worker that way. But worse he treated someone who could almost be counted a friend, if he were honest with himself, that way.
He had spent all night on his computer researching Chase and his family. It was actually surprisingly easy to find out information about them. He had no idea what big wigs they were Down Under. He had learned that Chase had won a national spelling bee when he was nine, which Foreman just found funny because he and Cameron were always yelling at Chase about the way he spelled thing. There is no "u" in color, damn it. It looked like Chase also used to swim and play soccer for some Catholic school or other. He had also won their national science contest three years in a row. Shows how much more you can achieve with money and better schools.
Wilson had also been right and Chase's mom had been a babe, at least for a skinny, white chick. Foreman was more of a mind that a woman should have curves and a little bit of padding. Chase's mother had looked like an anorexic scarecrow to him but he guessed most men would find her attractive. He also guessed she must have been where Chase gained his attraction for skinny, little, crack whore looking women. Every women he had ever seen Chase with looked like a scrawny model type to him. All he could think about was that the two of them having sex must sound like a game of craps from all the bones banging together. But then again, he had the same image when he thought about Cam and House. Yuck!
Regardless of Chase's odd fixation on skeletal women, his mother had been very attractive and there was a very strong family resemblance between them. However, he thought he had only seen two or three pictures out of hundreds, where she didn't have a drink in her hand. She also often had the look of someone who was just plain loaded. Foreman had grown up in a pretty rough neighbourhood, he knew that look.
There were tons of publicity photos of her at art opening and the like. Her work was sort of strange and cold, like Chase oddly enough, aesthetically pleasing but wholly uninviting. There were a few older photos of here with Dr. Chase sr. they were a good looking couple. He saw a lot of Rowan in Robert too, the eyes and the mouth mostly. But most of the photos she had been with different men every time and a few times with a very young looking Robert. Surprisingly, he had looked ungodly uncomfortable in front of the camera. In all but one of the pictures of him he looked like he had been purposely turning his head away from the photographer.
There had also been an article in an art magazine where she talked about being married and being a mother. She had said she didn't really like either. She had actually said that having children had ruined her life. That was a nice thing for a kid to hear. He guessed maybe that explained why Chase tended to be so thick skinned.
Then there were the numerous articles, thousands actually, that talked about the trial. Most of them were written by three or four reporters, he noticed. They had pictures of Robert walking and sitting on a deck in a big, industrial looking white house that overlooked the water. Pictures of him jogging with a really big dog and pictures of him with his head resting beside his mother's, sleeping in a chair next her hospital bed. There had even been a picture of him taken where Chase had been kneeling in front of an alter in a church, which just seemed strange considering how Chase avoided all talk of religion to the point where he looked physically pained to talk about it.
The articles about the trial were cruel and ugly. They dragged a 16 year old Robert's name through the mud, saying he was a murderer. Then the other side saying he was a visionary and advocate for right to die groups. Foreman guessed that the truth was somewhere in the middle. Foreman was very interested to know what the truth was. On such issues, like every issue other than weight, Chase had offered no personal opinion. But there were some awful visuals he couldn't forget. One of the beautiful woman Abbagaile Pronásledovat had been beside a bedridden hag that she was after her bleed. But the worst was a picture of Chase, walking down court house steps surrounding by crowds with signs that called him a murderer and a killer. It was just plain cold to do that to anyone, much less a 16 year old kid.
Then there was the question of where his father was during all this? He never saw mention of Rowan in relation to his wife after 1994. He could understand that they had a nasty break up, but why hadn't Rowan gone to help his son? Foreman couldn't imagine going through anything like that without his family there to support him. Wilson had mentioned that Rowan hadn't had much contact with Robert during that time but damn, how mean was it that Rowan didn't do anything? Maybe that was why Chase was so bitter towards his dad, because he had left his teenage son alone to deal with his mother dying of liver cancer and the aftermath of her death. That might have made Foreman pretty bitter too. But bitter was one thing, the question was, why didn't Chase hate his father?
Rowan and Robert's relationship was strange to Foreman. He loved his Dad like there was no tomorrow. The elder Mr. Foreman may not be a well educated man or a powerful one, but he provided for his family, was fair and always proud of all his children. But the Chases were just weird. They both tried to seem like neither of them really give a rip about the other. Robert had been annoyed and snippy but not blindingly angry, well maybe pretty angry for a guy who never runs more than lukewarm. Rowan had been amused and interested in his son but not particularly solicitous. Rowan had taken them out to dinner but hadn't seemed put out that Robert didn't attend. They both treated each other with a creepy polite indifference that was just not right for close family
Oh, he had well realized there was tension there though. Someone who didn't know what Chase was normally like might have missed it but to his colleagues, he was an emotional mess. Foreman well remembered a strange streak of compassion he had felt for Chase when they had walked out of the conference room after deciding to put the kid on meds for two different diseases. Chase had seemed so calm, tough, professional, and together while he was talking to House and his father. However, as soon as they had left the room, Chase deflated like a balloon and became quiet, sullen, brooding, and moody. It was like the difference between night and day. Foreman had found it odd that House would have sent him to watch out for his favoured duckling but after he saw Chase standing in the hall looking like he was about to start crying or throw up or something, he understood. He had put his hand on Chase's shoulder and asked if he was alright. It was a simple gesture of compassion. He would have done it for anyone. Chase had shaken out of his grip and snapped that he had a headache and stormed off. Foreman had wondered if the headache had been named House or Rowan.
If the Chases, or Pronásledovats he would have to remember to ask about that, had just been normal people they would have yelled at each other. But they didn't. Rowan had just hung around like he was waiting for Robert to make the first move. He had commented on Foreman's and Cameron's intellect and abilities with great awe and kindness, to his son he had said nothing. Foreman would have figured from the way Chase toadied to House, that he would have been following his father around trying to show the elder man how smart he was, but Chase had just seemed to spar with him like he was a normal colleague. However, if Foreman thought about it there had been a strange sense that Chase was trying to show his father how good he was and that he didn't need Rowan but at the same time he was silently begging for Rowan to compliment him. It was just plan screwed up.
Foreman expertly steered his car into his space and gathered his things. Hopefully Chase was still at the hospital. He looked around for his fellow duckling's car but didn't see it. That didn't mean much though. Chase rarely drove unless the weather was abysmal. He tended to walk or bike instead.
As he entered the building and said his quiet hellos to the night staff he thought about what he was going to say to Chase. After he had found out about Cameron's husband, he had gained a new respect for her. The fact that she had lost someone so close to her but still went on to finish med school and become successful was very note worthy to him. One reason he hadn't liked Chase was because he had assumed that Chase had had everything handed to him and never had to work or sweat for anything. He always seemed so calm that Foreman figured that Chase had never had to deal with anything worse than a divorce in his life. Now he knew he was wrong and yet still wasn't sure how he felt about the Aussie. Ok, so now he knew that Chase had a really crumby childhood and young adult life, but did that excuse him from being an unlikable person? Foreman wasn't sure. He could forgive House his foibles because House was often in pain and when not in pain was usually high. He could forgive Cameron her emotion because she had been hurt before. But could he forgive Chase his problems?
Foreman walked up to the conference room and looked in. Chase was seated at the long table with files spread in front of him, working. His head was bowed and his blond hair hung further into his face than usual. Foreman cringed for a moment. Some times he just wanted to attack Chase with a pair of scissors and get rid of the hair that hung into his eyes. Foreman could not even imagine how annoying that must be. But he was also savvy enough to realize that it was a sort of armour for Chase. Anyone who ever saw Chase's car or his desk knew damn well that like most doctors, he was probably boarder line OCD. But he always dressed like a rumpled college kid and kept his hair in his face. Foreman was beginning to think that it was nothing more than a big, fat, "stay away, and stop looking at me" sign.
Chase didn't look up until Foreman opened the glass door. Then he jerked his head up in surprise, reflexively looking at his beeper where it sat beside his stack of files. When he realized who it was, his expression went from confused to guarded and wary.
The two stared at each other for a time without saying anything. Finally Chase broke the ice, loosing the initial phase of the game of chicken. Foreman felt emboldened by it. "What brings you here so late, or early I guess? I promise I didn't kill the patient."
"I know." Chase may have spoken first, but Foreman was the first to drop his eyes. Something in the way Chase was staring at him made him feel uncomfortable, like he was a specimen in a Petrie dish, to be watched and studied but not approached. That would make things harder. He walked over to get some coffee, but the pot was clean and empty. Of course Chase wouldn't have made coffee he preferred that horrible, tart, black tea from India. Foreman didn't care for it, he thought it tasted like hot battery acid. And why did you have to have a different type of tea for morning and afternoon, it just made no sense? So he busied himself making coffee, feeling Chase's gaze burn into his back. He took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Chase didn't answer; he just continued to look at Foreman with his big eyes. He had dark bags under them from lack of sleep and they somehow made his eyes look green rather than blue.
Foreman sighed and paused. Chase clearly wasn't going to make this easy for him. "I wanted to say I was sorry for yelling at you." Chase still didn't say anything, just tilted his head to the side slightly. "You didn't screw up, I did. I left out the shellfish allergy from the history. I'll tell House and Cuddy later today." Chase continued to stare at him. "Well say something, damn it!"
"Why the sudden change of heart?" The Australian leaned back and ran his hand through his hair, unsuccessfully trying to push it out of his face.
"Because I was wrong. Can't a guy apologize for that?"
"You've been wrong before and never felt the need to drive up here in the wee hours of the morning to inform me of it."
"I thought you might like to know that you didn't screw up. I thought it might make you sleep better." Foreman was starting to get angry. It was not easy for him to admit he was wrong and Chase wasn't making it any easier. Why couldn't Chase just act like a bloody human being for once, rather than ass?
"I'm not Cameron, I don't need you to reassure me that I know how to read a chart. I know you left it off the history. And since you took off and left me here alone, you damn well knew I wasn't going to be getting any sleep, so try again."
Foreman tried not to squirm. Somehow Chase had just morphed into House, his mother, his father, his preacher, his 6th grade teacher, and everyone else who had ever caught him in a lie. "Look, I was out of line when I yelled at you and it was keeping me up so I wanted to apologize to you before this goes any further." Which in Foreman speak translated into "Please let's just drop this because I don't want to eat crow in front of anyone I respect."
"Fine, apology accepted." Chase then went back to work without another word. He may have let Foreman off the hook, but it was clear that Chase was still angry and planned to give his colleague the cold shoulder for a while longer. Foreman decided that breakfast at IHOP was in order so he left the room to Chase's icy attitude and headed for his car, somewhat embarrassed that he let Chase run him out.
He sat in his car for a moment and looked at the clock. It was 5 am, Cameron would be up by now. He dialed her number and invited her for pancakes and coffee at the IHOP by the hospital. He needed someone who wasn't in a position of authority over him to talk to. Plus it wouldn't hurt that Cameron wasn't Chase's biggest supporter either. However, he thought that had more to do with the fact that House was more personal and friendly to Chase than to her.
Inside, Chase leaned back and tried not to curse at the top of his lungs. Of all the pompous, arrogant, obnoxious things that someone could do, this had to top the list. Yes, he had gotten an apology, but it was so back handed and accusatory that it was meaningless. Not to mention there would be no repeating it in front of the staff or the family. So in Foreman's mind, no matter that Chase had lost face with his staff, and yes the ICU staff was more his than Foreman's, and that the patient's family thought he was incompetent. The important thing was that Foreman had gotten this off his chest so it didn't affect his beauty sleep. Bugger him!
Chase went back and checked in on the ICU patients then went for a shower. After he returned to lounge he put his head down and quickly dropped off for a quick cat nap before the day began. That was how House found him when he arrived at 5:30.
House had talked to Wilson last night and was more than a little worried about what he would find when he got in today. Would Chase have finally snapped and there would be a Foreman shaped stain on the floor? Or would Foreman have gone too far and Chase crumbled from the cruelty? Though Cameron was the traditionally more sensitive one, she was the most emotionally healthy. Cameron let her emotions out and told people what and how she felt. She was the emoter. Foreman on the other hand sublimated all his negative feelings into anger and a drive to succeed. He was the projector. Chase internalized everything, be it pain or joy. He would perfunctorily complain but he really didn't show much feeling one way or another about anything. Chase was the internalizer. The problem was that one day Foreman was going to snap and kill someone and Chase was going to snap and kill himself. House hoped they were both long gone by then.
He watched his intensivist sleep for a moment before walking through the door. Why was Chase special to him? Was it some misguided sense of responsibility because he had nearly driven Chase to a nervous breakdown? Was it an alarm from his biological clock that he wanted a son to carry on in his foot steps, if so he thought his son would be taller? Or was it because Chase was the first duckling he had had in 10 years that had made it longer than a month without quitting? No matter what he did to Chase, he couldn't completely drive him away. He was like some sort of weirdo abused dog that kept coming back for more. This intrigued House and he could never give up on a puzzle until it was done.
He also had to fully to himself admit that part of it was guilt, but never to Wilson. Ever since he had met Chase sr. he had seen the junior in a totally different light. House had wanted the two to make up. Though most would never believe it, House had romantic notions about father son relationships. He and his father had been extremely close. When his father had passed away 6 years ago he had been devastated. But then again, his father had been a concert pianist and a very warm and loving man. Rowan was one of the coldest people House had ever met.
The night Rowan was leaving for home, House had gotten good and drunk and headed to his hotel to have a word with him, this was just before he headed over to Robert's place to cause trouble there too. House tended to do stupid and mean things when he was drinking whiskey. He and Rowan had argued and House had a strange sense of cognitive dissidence. It was like arguing with Robert if you got him mad enough. All calm politeness with an undercurrent of shear vindictive spite. After his chat with Rowan, he had decided that Robert needed a friend more than a medical teacher. Not that he was volunteering for the position, but he realized that a great deal of Chase's strange behaviour could be blamed on growing up around people that he could never, ever please.
House quietly put down his bag and removed two bagels from it. One had cream cheese and the other had peanut butter. There were also two small plastic containers of jelly. He cleared his throat to wake up his sleeping ducking. When that didn't work he gave up and smacked his cane against the table, which made Chase jump half way out of the chair.
"Morning, sweet cheeks, I brought you breakfast." He tossed the bagel with peanut butter on it towards Chase. The Aussie missed it and it bounced off is forehead before landing on the table. Chase dumbly stared down at it, still clearly not completely awake. "Sorry, no vegemite."
House watched as Chase seemed to give himself a mental shake and responded. "Thank you." He then stood up and staggered over to the coffee maker. House had an internal chuckle at Chase's early morning lack of motor skills as he watched him fumble through putting on a pot with nothing but water, but after noticing House's pointed look, also added a new pot of coffee to replace the one Foreman had made.
"Rough night?" House questioned.
"Not really, just long."
"How is the patient?" House looked at the table and noticed several drawing of a balloon kola and a balloon panda. He recognized them as Kammi the Kola and Pie Min the Panda. Chase often drew little colouring books with these characters for their very young patients.
"Stable but not good. I talked to the younger brother. I think he might have ingested a heavy metal? I sent blood work to lab and the initials came back positive but the definitive test takes a few days."
House nodded, the symptoms fit. "How did you wrangle a blood test in the middle of the night?"
"Kim was the tech on duty." Chase mentioned. It was a well known and well made fun of fact, that Kim had a huge crush on Chase and would do anything he asked. He didn't abuse it because frankly it got on his nerves but he decided that it might do some good this time. He wanted to be respected for his medical ability not his looks. In a way he had it rougher than Cameron because it was sexual harassment for the men to ogle, hit on, touch, or otherwise bother her but it was perfectly alright for the women to do it to Chase. Foreman seemed to get off on it, when it happened to him. It just annoyed Chase. He didn't like people staring at him.
"What did you have to promise her, one night of toe curling sex?"
"Actually I brought her a pack of M&Ms and told her I needed it done quickly." Chase wouldn't meet House's eyes but when he did there was a question in them. "Ok, and I told her I'd take her out to lunch next week."
"Let me guess, no lab coat either, had to shake that little British ass of yours?"
"Australian." Chase automatically corrected as he sat back down and started to unwrap his bagel. "Ugh peanut butter. You know I hate peanut butter." Chase moaned. He noticed that House had cream cheese on his and knew damn well that House was just doing this to screw with him. House didn't like cream cheese on his bagels. He played along because the familiarity of it cheered it up.
House pulled the cream cheese bagel out of his intensivist's reach and commented. "You will eat the sludge left over after making beer, but you won't eat mashed peanuts? Your priorities are way off, boy."
"Vegemite is good and good for you, lots of iron, and b vitamins. Peanut butter is like eating the remains of a vicious peanut murder." He reached a bit further and managed to snag the other bagel. House allowed him to take it. He just couldn't understand why Chase would eat peanuts and peanut butter if it were in candy, but he wouldn't touch it straight. House rescued his own peanut butter bagel and applied jelly. It was a comfort food and very tasty. "So why are you here so early? I doubt it is because you care so much about the patient that you couldn't sleep."
"Wilson called me. He mentioned that my resident neurologist and my resident neurotic got into a fight yesterday."
"I didn't know Cameron and Foreman were fighting."
"Give yourself some credit, Chase, for once you are the best at something. She may be more sensitive but you are way more neurotic." Chase didn't argue, he was neurotic sometimes. "So what happened?"
"Is there anything Wilson doesn't tell you?"
"Not quite everything, but almost everything. He said there was a big to do in the middle of hall. Insults were exchanged." He critically looked at his duckling, "you ran off with your tail between your legs."
"So what more can I tell you?" Chase sullenly asked.
"Whatever Wilson left out."
"Why does he care anyway?"
"Because he is an administrator at the hospital, because fighting makes everyone look bad, because he knew I would enjoy the story. Take your pick."
"Those are your reasons."
"I'm not an administrator. I'm just a lowly department head."
"Fine, the other reasons are yours.
"Ok, Wilson is a disgustingly nice guy and likes everyone to get along. And besides, it is easier to stop every single person in this hospital from fighting than for him and his bunt cake of a wife to be civil for one night."
"Bunt cake?" Chase giggled.
"Use your imagination. It's that thing other than your right hand that kept you company in Seminary. But I digress. So what happened with you and Foreman? What was the fight about? I can't have my team at each other's throats when I'm not here to enjoy it." House rose and went to get some coffee. He also fixed a cup of tea for Chase, one sugar and just a touch of milk. It wasn't that he didn't care about his team, he just didn't like showing it. But he did show it in different ways. For Cameron he would do something nice to show that he was human after all. It fed her stalker fantasies. House's greatest gift to Foreman was to leave him alone. On the other hand he left Chase alone if he wanted to punish him. To be nice, he picked on him. Chase reveled in slightly derisive attention. If he was being annoyed then he didn't feel ignored and he would be happy. Sad really, but what did House care. The Aussie and all his ducklings were like a little finger trap that he had gotten sucked into and hadn't figured his way out of yet.
Chase accepted the tea with a mumbled "thank you." All of the comfort had suddenly fled the situation and now he was tense and unhappy.
House stared at the top of his duckling's head. Chase was intently looking into his cup of tea as if the answers to some of life's greatest problems were contained in its depths. He noted that Chase looked very tired and more than slightly stressed out. It was the perfect time to get information from the Aussie. If Chase were in full control of his faculties he was notoriously hard to get an answer out of. House also noted the way that the younger doctor kept childishly playing with the plastic end of his fleecy pull over rather than eating his breakfast. He tried another route to get at the information. Being direct worked with Foreman but manipulation worked better with Chase.
"You look pretty wiped out, why didn't you go sleep in my office?" Just after Chase had started working at PPTH, House had given him a key to his office so that the younger doctor could use his couch to sleep on when he was stuck on over night shifts. This was before the ICU lounge got its two cots and before the other ducklings arrived. He had never repeated the gesture with Cameron and Foreman. He wasn't sure why. But Chase was always careful not to rub this fact in the other duckling's faces so he never slept in there if they were around.
"Foreman came by about an hour ago." Chase finally worked up the nerve to take a bite of his bagel. His stomach always had the unfortunate habit of tying itself into knots whenever he got upset about something.
"He still around?"
"I don't know, did you see his car?"
Actually House hadn't seen it so he guessed Foreman had gone home. "Did Cameron stay over night too? Was it like a slumber party? Did you and her have a pillow fight in your unmentionables?"
"No, Foreman didn't stay either."
"Well thanks for ruining my fantasy. So you stayed two nights and neither of them stayed with you?" House was slightly annoyed. No one doctor was supposed to be on call for over 36 hours without at least 12 hours off. Doctors made mistakes when they got too tired. Plus that was just kind of a crumby thing to do to a colleague, even by House's standards.
"Nope."
"Why not?" Maybe they were trying to punish Chase too over Vogler. If so, House would put a stop to it. No one mistreated his ducklings but him, not even each other.
"Cameron has a cold and can't go in the ICU. I guess Foreman didn't feel he was needed."
"We'll see how much longer he is needed." House quietly commented. Foreman was a great doctor, one of the best he had ever worked with. But personally he was just a pompous ass and House didn't like having to deal with him. He was too old and too confident to really be much fun. It was easy to make him mad but beyond that he was too calm and collected. He didn't have Cameron's insecurities or Chase's whacked out fear responses. And to be fair, House didn't really care for other people that acted like him.
"It's no big deal. If they are in the ICU I should be the one to stay anyway."
"True enough. So why did tall, dark, and surly come in at 4:30?" House watched as Chase pulled his bagel into smaller and smaller pieces without eating it. Damn it, that thing at cost $3, he had better eat it.
"He wanted to apologize."
"Apologize? Foreman? Did you get it on video?" House acted stunned and bugged his eyes out for comedy's sake.
"No, it wasn't like it was you or something." Chase answered as he finally ate a second bite.
"So what did he say?"
"Just that he was sorry that he yelled at me and wanted to know if we could move on?"
"What did you tell him? Please told me you made him grovel?"
"No, I said fine."
House deflated slightly. "How could you just forgive him? I would pay good money to see him grovel."
"He didn't grovel. He apologized then left, end of story."
"And you forgave him?"
"I said I did."
"But if I know my grudge carrying little puppy, you didn't mean it one bit. You are going to be nasty to him for the next 6 months."
"Probably not that long. I'm sure you or Cameron will do something to divert my attention by then. And why do you only ever call me 'your puppy?'" Chase off handedly questioned as he finished the first half of his bagel.
"Because the others don't leave slobber covered chew toys lying around my office." House answered as he flicked a pen marred with teeth marks towards Chase. "So what was the fight actually about?"
Chase sighed and answered. "We were going to do a contrast to determine the cause of the edema in his hands. It turned out he was allergic to shellfish and went into shock just after we injected. Luckily we still had him in the ICU when we gave it to him. Foreman kept stepping on my toes while we were working and then he accused me of not reading the chart before I ordered the test." Chase paused here.
"I'm assuming there is more to this story if Foreman apologized?"
"Yeah, but I don't want Foreman to get in any kind of serious trouble over it. It was really just a mistake."
"Duly noted. But what else?"
"Foreman forgot to put the allergy on the chart. He took the history and knew the kid was allergic but didn't write it down."
"But he just assumed you screwed up because he is infallible?" House commented.
"Yup. He reamed me in front of the family and my staff."
"What an ass. What do you want me to do?" House sipped at his coffee. Chase pushed the rest of his bagel away and pillowed his head on his arm, staring tiredly at the patterns on House's shirt. He obviously didn't have any hair gel after he had washed his hair because most of it was falling into his face. One damp lock was stuck on his nose and wiggled every time he blinked. House had an insane paternal urge to smooth the hair out of Chase's face. The feeling made him decidedly uncomfortable. "Never mind I know what I will do to him. But what to do about you?" He fell back on humour and sarcasm to try and push the protective feelings away.
"What do you mean?"
"You should be punished too. Maybe I should have Cameron dress up like a nun and come in to spank you." He smiled at the fantasy.
"I think you just nearly made me throw up."
"Ok, Foreman dressed up like a nun?"
"That is just disturbing. How about Cuddy in a leather bustier and thigh high boots? Hand cuffs and riding crop are optional?"
"Ok, no I am nauseous. This is supposed to be punishment for you, not a fantasy date, weirdo." Chase just closed his eyes tiredly rather than responding. House reached into the pocket of Chase's lab coat, which was sitting on the table, and pulled out his clippie animals. He took a coffee stirrer and broke it in half, putting a half in each animal's clips. He then bent sugar packets to make shields and proceeded to have a clippie animal fight. "You know, your obsession with kolas is not healthy."
"Neither is the fact that a 40 something year old man is playing with children's toys." Chase finally opened his eyes again and watched the battle orchestrated by House play out on the conference table.
"I am in touch with my inner child. I think these things have warped you."
"Why?"
"Because in your drawings you always make the kola and the panda the same size. I blame it on these clips, they have distorted your percetptions into thinking that these two creatures are the same size." House had the kola down on its back, nearly defeated.
"It's a cartoon. It doesn't have to be realistic."
"You are going to convince kids that pandas and kolas are great friends when in fact, they are mortal enemies." House had the kola strike a fatal blow to the panda.
"They don't even live on the same continent. And besides, the kola would fall asleep half way through the fight. They sleep 20 something hours a day."
"Lucky bastards."
"And if you want realism the panda would have won."
"Yeah, yeah, but I don't like pandas"
"How can you not like pandas? They are the cutest things in the entire world."
"Because I got food poisoning from a place that had a panda on the logo once." Chase didn't have a snappy come back for that but instead kept his fatigue glazed eyes fixed on the defeated symbol of China. House was going to have to send Chase home soon, he must be totally exhausted to be too tired to be sarcastic. He looked at the clock and noticed it was nearly 6 am. The others would be in just before 7. "Go check on the kid again then come back and take a nap. You're useless to me if you are too tired to play with."
Chase mumbled something to House, more than half asleep again, but eventually pushed himself up and went to go do his final rounds in the ICU before the shift change. House contemplated what to do.
Not two miles away, Foreman and Cameron sat talking over a few short stacks and some coffee. Foreman tucked into his. But what disturbed him was that Cameron was easily keeping pace with him. Cameron was very conscious about her eating habits and exercise but she had a real weakness for pancakes and boysenberry syrup. Foreman on the other hand ate because he was upset. Food was comforting to him because that was one of the many ways his family expressed love.
After Cameron had polished off two pancakes and a cup of coffee, she finally slowed down enough to question Foreman. "So, what happened that was so important that you had to wake me up while I am deathly ill?" She smiled. Yes, she had a cold, but she also had a spa treatment scheduled for later today and planned to tell House she needed to go home sick.
"Chase." Foreman breathed the one word like a curse.
"What did he do now?" She assumed that Chase had done something to annoy Foreman. It wasn't that she didn't like Chase, she respected his medical ability and found him to be very attractive physically. But his emotional distance really bothered her. With House she assumed it was hiding a vulnerable heart but she just got the impression that Chase was a rich, stuck up brat with horrible fashion sense.
"Nothing. In fact he didn't do anything before either. I was the one who messed up with the kid."
"He knows that. I talked to him before I left. He was his usual snippy self." She slurped down some bacon.
Foreman paused for a moment, he wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell Cameron. He wasn't sure he trusted her not to run to Chase and repeat whatever he told her because she was trying to heal him. But he also needed her opinion on how to proceed. After all, she had known him much longer than Foreman had and was better at dealing with people on a personal basis than he was. He took a deep breath and decided to play it by ear. "Wilson saw us fighting. He cornered me just after you left."
"Did you tell you to be good and stop picking on people smaller than you?" Wilson, being a skinny, geeky, little underdog type, tended to stick up for others of his kind.
"Not exactly. He gave me Chase's personnel file and then told me some stuff about him."
"Like what?"
Before long, Foreman had outlined almost everything he had found out about Chase. Everything with the exception of Rowan's illness, that he kept private. If Chase didn't know, then it really wouldn't be fair to let Cameron know either. "So I found all this stuff out and went to talk to him and I choked. I'm not sure any of it changes the way I feel about him."
"How could it not? I mean it explains so much. How could he have never told us before?" Cameron was off with the bit in her teeth. She had found a new pet project.
"Maybe because this is Chase we are talking about. The man who thinks 'good morning, how are you?' is too personally intrusive of a question."
"I know, but to think that he went through all that and still became a doctor? It breaks your heart."
"Not really. And remember he doesn't know that I know any of this. I'm not sure what to do about it?" Foreman was uncomfortable with the idea of asking help of anyone. Give him a medical conundrum over a personal issue any day.
"I think you need to talk to him about it. Maybe we should tell House, I'm sure he will know what to do." Leave it to Cameron to find some way to work him into the conversation.
"I don't think Chase would want House knowing nor do I think House has the people skills to deal with something like this."
"You would be surprised how gentle and caring he can sometimes be."
"Yes, I'm sure he can, but we are talking about Chase not House." Foreman tried to steer the conversation away from Cameron's crush.
"I guess you need to take the clues from him. You said that he forgave you so maybe he did and you guys can move on and become better friends now that you know more about each other."
"He said he forgave me, but he was so freaking cold about it. I'm not sure he meant it. But I guess I don't really have any other choice but to let him set the pace. I don't want to blind side him with this. Knowing him he would wait a week then cut the break cables in my car."
"Or quit and move to Switzerland without telling anyone." She joked.
They continued their meal in friendly banter then made their way to the hospital. When they arrived they found House already relaxed and watching morning cartoons. Chase was passed out asleep in the beginnings of a sunbeam leaking through the open shades, throwing light and dark stripes across him. Cameron hid a smile. Some times the Australian reminded her of a huge orange tabby cat she used to have because he would always find the warmest and most comfortable sunbeam to curl up and sleep in. Early on she and Foreman had started to refer to this habit as Chase photosynthesizing. He was the first and only person she had ever met who seemed to suffer from Season Affective Disorder in New Jersey. But then again New Jersey probably seemed pretty cold and dreary after Sydney.
They all sat quietly for a few minutes until House's episode of Tom and Jerry was over, then he turned to them. "Well kiddies, it looks like I might have figured out what is bothering the wee person in ICU." House smile triumphantly, waiting for the protest from Chase that he had in fact figured it out. When he heard nothing he turned and noticed his blonde duckling was still fast asleep. He really was going to have to send him home soon.
Cameron smiled as she watched House make a peeved face at Chase. House really was a lovely looking man to her. Then she no longer was able to hide her laughter when House used his cane to hook Chase's ankle, which was propped up on the table, and pulled. Though the Aussie had the balance of a cat while asleep, the sudden movement threw him off balance and he pitched forward onto the floor at House's feet. House looked down at Chase's surprised eyes and realized that that dark smudges under them hadn't receded at all. "While you're done there, you might as well make yourself useful since you don't seem interested in helping the patient." House then propped his good leg up on Chase, using him as a foot rest.
Chase threw the leg off of him and got back into his chair with a mumbled, "Bugger off, House." He hated when House did nasty things to wake him up. He never did them to the other ducklings. House took great delight in finding unpleasant ways to wake up his sleeping duckling from smacking him in the back of head, to setting off his beeper. Once he had dumped hot, but not scalding, pot of coffee on Chase's head. The best part about that had been that it had been in late summer so Chase's hair had been bleached an even paler shade of blonde than usual and the coffee had stained it a streaky brown for weeks
Chase, unlike Foreman or Cameron, had regular rotations in the ICU. After the whole Vogler mess, House decided to punish Chase by "volunteering" him to Cuddy to work a few shifts in the ICU. Cuddy had gladly taken him up on the offer and had immediately set Chase 5 12 shifts per week. Of course House hadn't lowered the amount of time he expected his intensivist to work either. So for three weeks Chase worked four 20 hour days, an eight hour day and a 12 hour night. But of course House often required him to be there beyond the normal 8 hour work day. Long story short, after three weeks, Chase turned into the walking dead or closer to the truth the surly, staggering, crashing in to walls, dropping things, narcoleptic dead. The first week Foreman had found it funny, the second he had felt sorry for him, the third, he was just plain worried. There were memorably amusing moments, like when Chase had been so tired he walked into the glass door not once, not twice but three times in the same morning. Then there was also the time that he face planted into the table hard enough to split his forehead open. Good times.
Long story short, by the end of the third week, Chase had been so exhausted he couldn't sign his own name much less practice medicine. House had told Cuddy to take him off rotation, figuring that he had suffered enough. Cuddy said no, ICU needed him. House pointed out that Chase worked for him. Then Cuddy said fine, not anymore she would officially transfer him to ICU since House didn't seem to like him anymore. House then got spiteful and Cuddy and angry. Eventually Wilson worked out a compromise that Chase would still work for and report to House but would do three sifts a week in ICU.
"As I was saying, I found the cause of the patient's symptoms so it is up to you people to verify." He looked pointedly at Chase.
"You found?" Chase intoned quizzically.
"I am the head of the department. Heavy metal folks." He launched into a dissertation of the effects of heavy metals on the human body.
"But that doesn't explain the edema in the hands." Foreman pointed out. "It would be more even, not so much more pronounced on the right side."
"True, come on people, what could cause this." Foreman and Cameron threw out theories, while Chase looked over the revised history.
"The kids a swimmer, what about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome?" Chase called out, pointedly turning away from Foreman and speaking only to House.
"In a ten year old?" Cameron was stalling trying to remember what TOS was.
"And not in both arms." Foreman mentioned.
House looked at Chase, who only looked at him. "Would be if he swam the butterfly."
"Then why would one side be more swollen?" Cameron finally remembered what they were talking about. Foreman nodded in agreement, not wanting it to be something so simple.
"Crawl is the first stroke you learn in competitive swimming. Young, inexperienced swimmer would only breathe every two strokes rather than three, making him always turn is head to one side instead of both. It would make the muscles on one side stronger and compress the space further." Chase laid out his theory.
"I don't know, TOS is pretty rare." Cameron mentioned. She hadn't known anyone who had ever had except for one lady during her residency, who had triple D breasts.
"Not rare in swimmers or kayakers." Chase pointed out. He knew at least 6 habitual swimmers back home who had shunts in their Subclavian Artery to keep blood flow open.
"I gotta go with the beach-bunny Aussie. Run a scan on his shoulders and see what you can find. But no iodine laced contrasts this time. Foreman you go to the kid's home and look in their shed to see if there is any evidence of heavy metals." The ducklings got up to leave and House added a closing comment. "And find out if the kid does the butterfly, if so then make sure he lives because that is just cool."
After Cameron and Chase had left, Foreman was pulling on his coat to head back out. He was tired but not so tired it was a problem. "A word Foreman?" Foreman sighed as he began to realize he was probably going to get chewed out by House for yelling at Chase.
"Yes."
"I hear you and the Aussie had a free for all yesterday. Did you get him scared enough to pee his ill fitting pants?"
"It was nothing like that. We had a disagreement over treatment and have dealt with it between ourselves. You have no reason to get involved." Foreman mentioned. Then threw in, "Unless you think Chase needs you to protect him?"
House was annoyed into silence for a half a beat. If he did defend Chase it would make it look like the blonde couldn't stand up for himself, which wasn't true. He could, he just usually chose not to. But if he didn't say anything than Foreman might get the idea that it was ok for him to think he had the right to act like he was above the other two ducklings. "I don't need to protect Chase. But you need to know that you three are all on the same footing. You are not his boss and you have no grounds to treat him or Cameron like an underling. You could get fired for treating a nurse that way so you damn well not ever treat another doctor that way." House hoped he had made his point without sounding like he was sticking up for the youngest duckling.
Foreman nodded and headed out. He had gotten off easy and wasn't going to complain about it.
TBC
- Next chapter Foreman and Chase work their problems out.