Thanks again for the reviews; I'm really glad that you are enjoying it. Sorry for the wait, but without any further ado here is chapter nine of Buried Secrets by One-Two-Buckle-My-Shoe. Thanks again and please review.

Chapter Nine:

"I'm sorry, Dr. House, but I'm not budging on this,"

Twenty minutes after the phone call the team had run down to the ICU and were now talking with Dr. Hope Gardner.

"You have to let us in with him again," House said stubbornly, "You have no idea what a mess he is in."

Dr. Gardner turned to House with angry eyes, "Dr. House, I know Robbie Chase more than you could even begin to. Have you met any of his daughters? Nope, you didn't even know that he had them until a few days ago, and yet I have met them all. Funny, isn't it? If there is anyone in this hospital that understands and cares for Robbie it is me, not you all who never show an ounce of interest in him. He thought that you all hated him before this and now he is even surer. If I allow you to see him it will only hurt him, not help him at all so you can be sure that that is what I am going to do."

"You don't understand," Cameron said softly, "We do care for Chase, very, very much, but we had to help him, he is anorexic, all we wanted to do was to get him to admit that he needed help."

"Yes, but you did it the wrong way and he ended up in the hospital." Dr. Gardner said.

"Right," House said sarcastically, "Cause we gave him the bottle of vodka and were cheering him on!"

"It doesn't matter that he did that, you drove him to it. You have no idea what it's been like for him. You drove him to quitting and now he is going to go back to Australia and probably work at Sydney General or in Melbourne and he won't even get the help that he needs." Dr. Gardner said sadly and insistently, her eyes brimming with tears. "He needs to know that there are people other than his daughters and Stephanie who care for him and want to see him alive. You have no idea how depressed he is; I've seen it for months and it's scary. He thinks that everyone would be better off without him and he suddenly fell into an even bigger slump when he stopped taking his pills and he reverted back to being anorexic."

"What do you mean reverted back?" Cameron asked, her heart had sunk with the words, though, and she almost didn't want the answer.

Dr. Gardner's eyes softened for a moment, "He was an anorexic for the first fifteen years of his life."

The Diagnostics team gasped. This was far worse then any of them had ever conceded. How something like that had been left out of his medical records they couldn't imagine.

"His father was ashamed to admit what his mother had done to Robbie as a child so he had Robbie treated and never allowed it into Robbie's file. Robbie told me that his mum used to tell him that if he ate he would get fat and that nobody likes fat people so he had better not eat. She used to feed him a turkey sandwich on twelve grain bread once every two weeks. He has always fought the anorexia; ever since he got treated after his mother died and I think the reason it may have flared up again so badly like it did was because he still has what she used to tell him ingrained in his head. I think that somewhere in the back of his mind, he was sure that if he was thin enough you would all like him."

The shame that House and the ducklings felt was incredible. They suddenly realized the extent of Chase's suffering and they couldn't help but feel responsible for some of it.

"Why is that kid such an idiot?" House sighed only to have Drs. Gardner and Foreman gape at him and Cameron smack him on the back of the head. "Ouch, I mean that he was an idiot for not telling us that there was something wrong."

"Would you tell someone that you didn't trust; whom you think didn't trust you?" Foreman asked, and everyone was a little shocked that he was standing up for Chase. "He had no one to turn to."

"I guess this was really everybody's fault, then," Cameron whispered, "It was ours for not realizing sooner and not trying hard enough to help him and his for not letting us help or telling us."

"It's about time," House smiled.

"What?" Foreman and Cameron asked, confused.

"Well, it has been my goal ever since each one of my ducklings started to make you stubborn as hell." House beamed and the three doctors couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, the musings of an old man," Foreman said sarcastically.

House glared at Dr. Gardner before turning and stalking down the hall towards the elevator, Foreman and Cameron following him after a quick goodbye to Dr. Gardner.

"Where are we going?" Cameron asked as House pushed the down button inside the elevator.

"The wombat's house," House replied as the doors shut.

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHC

"Robbie, it's me. Listen, I'm sorry, honey, I never meant that the way that it sounded. Please will you pick up the phone, I'm desperate to talk to you. Maybe you went to work, I-I don't know what to do. Okay, I love you, bye."

"Robbie, PLEASE answer the phone. You're driving me crazy with worry. I am so sorry; you have to know that I would never have said it normally. Please, please, pick up. Love you."

"This is the third time that I've called in the past half an hour, Robbie, can you answer the phone, I'm starting to get really worried. Please pick up, if you don't I'm going to call the police and have them come over there and make sure you're alright. Please call me."

"ROBBIE, ROBBIE, you have got to pick up, I'm begging you, down on my hands and knees begging you, please pick up, can you not tell that I'm crying over here? Please pick up, please, please, please, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. You have to forgive me, please, please, please, please. I'm going crazy, which is obvious as I've said that four times already. Honey, please pick up and let me know that you're okay. Alright, you're not going to, but please, PLEASE, call me. I love you so much."

They all stood around Chase's answering machine and sighed once they heard the beep after the final message. Suddenly they knew that if she hadn't called the police that Chase would be dead right now and nobody would even have known about it. The scared tone of her voice showed love and concern and it gave them all hope that Chase would fight to stay with his family.

House informed the ducklings to look around before sitting on the couch and thinking about the conversation that he had had with Chase when his father had been in town.

Chase: Why does everybody need to know my business?

House: People like talking about people. Makes us feel superior. Makes us feel in control. And sometimes, for some people, knowing some things makes them care.

Chase: I'd tell you my dad left, my mum drank herself to death… you gonna care about me more?

House: Cameron would. Me, I just like knowing stuff. I know you hate your dad, but I'm gonna tell you something –

Chase: I don't hate him. I loved him until I figured out it hurts a lot less to just not care. You don't expect him to turn up to your football match? No disappointments. You don't expect a call on your birthday; don't expect to see him for months? No disappointments. You want us to go make up? Sink a few beers together, nice family hug? I've given him enough hugs. He's given me enough disappointments.

House: Okay.

Chase: That's it?

House: That's it.

And then Chase had left. House vaguely wondered what his excuses had been for not telling Chase about his father's illness. It wasn't that he gave a rat's butt that Rowan asked him not to say anything, but suddenly he was wondering if it had been to punish Chase. Or maybe in the back of House's mind he thought Chase was better off not knowing. Or maybe it was because he knew Chase would go to his father and he didn't want Chase to have to have watched both parents die.

"House!"

House looked up to see Cameron and Foreman standing in front of him. Cameron had a worried look on her face and Foreman just looked annoyed.

"We've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes, House," Foreman said angrily.

"What is it?" House asked, "What did you find?"

"Only that he clearly loved his little girls a ton," Cameron said, "Their bedrooms are all different which means he designed them to fit each girl's individual interest. Apparently Allah-Maria loves race cars, Aliah-Grace loves Disney princesses, especially Jasmine, and Zannia likes clouds and Winnie The Pooh. There are pictures of all the girls everywhere, too, and of his wife and Stephanie, not one of him though except if he's with the girls."

House nodded. Chase had always been very particular about people looking at him, he hated people thinking that he was good looking and new nurses staring and drooling over him made him nauseous and paranoid, though House didn't know why. He figured that Chase may feel as if he wasn't worth being looked at; either that or he just didn't want to be known solely for his looks.

"There was a whole bunch of coloured glass in his bathtub I think that he may have thrown a bottle of alcohol or something in there. I also found a prescription for a medicine in his cabinet," Foreman said, uncomfortably, "A medicine to help treat ulcers,"

House sighed and shut his eyes. Chase had an ulcer? Now that was something that House couldn't understand. Sure Chase had plenty of ammo to give him an ulcer, but the fact that Chase had just let them treat him without telling them he couldn't quite comprehend.

"House, the prescription was given to him by Wilson," Foreman said.

HCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH

Sorry for the ultra long wait, but I was super busy; the others won't take so long. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to hear any comments that you may have. Thanks so much for reading.