Hey, again, thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews. I look forward to hearing your comments on this chapter as well.

Chapter Eleven:

"So, Robbie, do you want to come over to my house and play after school today?"

Eight year old Robbie Chase smiled sadly at his best friend in the whole world Stephanie. "I'm sorry, Stephie, but I have to go home."

When Robbie Chase returned home he walked into the living room to find his mother once again passed out on the couch. He sighed and went into the kitchen where he ran a rag under cold water and squeezed out any excess water before returning to the couch and gently dabbing his mum's face with it. In a few moments she opened her eyes.

"Robbie, my baby," She reached up and gently cupped his cheek in her hand and he smiled back at her, trying to ignore the smell of alcohol on her breath. "You love me, don't you, Robbie? You're not like your father."

Robbie nodded, "I love you more than anything in the whole world, mum." He told her reassuringly.

"Good," His mum said, "You know what today is?"

Robbie narrowed his eyebrows and looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"It's your birthday, silly." She slurred happily. "You are nine today, did you know that?"

Robbie looked at the calendar on the wall and saw that it was, indeed, his birthday. He wondered how he hadn't noticed before but then remembered that all of his time was taken up by school and taking care of his mum.

"I'm nine," he nodded.

"You're such a big boy now, sweetie," She said with a smile before closing her eyes. "You'll always be my baby, though."

He nodded, "I'll always be your baby."

"What were you dreaming about?"

Chase tried to focus his tired eyes on who was sitting next to his bed and immediately turned away when he noticed who it was.

"Oh, come on, don't be a baby," House said sharply.

"I was dreaming about my mum," Chase replied, almost embarrassed.

House nodded.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Chase asked, "I told them not to let you in."

"Well, as far as they're concerned I'm Dr. James Wilson." House smirked. "I need to talk to you."

Chase sighed, "About what?"

"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry." House said, earning a confused expression from Chase. "And I know that that isn't something that I say, ever, but in this case it's true and I'm saying it. I pushed you too far and I'm sorry, you have to know that I never meant to hurt you. Despite what you think, Robert, I do care." House stood up and prepared to leave.

"You don't have to go."

House turned at the sound of the soft, Aussie voice and noticed that Chase's tired eyes showed hints of both sadness and confusion. "Don't go." Chase repeated.

House sighed and went back to sit down next to Chase. "It's been two weeks since you talked to Wilson about your father, two weeks since I've seen you. You're getting better very quickly. I'm proud of you."

Chase looked away from House, who kept speaking despite his ex-ducklings silence, "Your psychologist says that you aren't opening up like she wants you to. That is pretty much the only thing that is still keeping you here. You're eating on your own, three meals a day, even if they are very small. If you can get yourself to open up to Dr. Calvin then you will be able to leave."

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd love that. Have a party; the Brit-boy is gone." Chase was clearly still angry at House, and the fact that he had called himself British to show it stung.

"You're not British, you're Australian." House replied, causing Chase to look at him. "You know Foreman said something that sounded awfully familiar when you had that memory lapse and thought you were thirteen."

Chase narrowed his eyes, "What?" he asked.

"I said that I had a feeling that your mother had a drinking problem and you replied with, 'no, I mean, we're rich, right?'. And then you know what Foreman said? He said 'just because you're drinking pricier stuff doesn't mean that you don't have a problem.' Sound familiar?"

Chase looked at his hands. That had been what he had said to Foreman when they were working the case of the so-called schizophrenic mother. He hadn't thought that Foreman had ever paid attention.

"Can you believe that he remembered you saying that?" House asked.

"How did you know that I said it?" Chase asked.

"Well, after we left your room, Cameron told him that it was really deep, and he said that you had said that to him. You may think that nobody was paying attention to you, but you were wrong." House said.

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Hey, sorry it took so long to update, there are only two chapters left of this story, I almost can't believe it's about done. I hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think.