Title: Silver Butterflies

Rating: Ma

Disclaimer: Nothing other than the obvious.

Summary: Dr. House doesn't believe in coincidences, so he knew there was something more to it when a missing child he read about ten minutes earlier is found sitting on his exam room table.

1. The Young...

Chase was in the ER when the thin, pale girl approached him.

Her dark hair was pulled back loosely, causing it to fall chaotically across her face. Dark eyes were wide in fear, and she clutched desperately to her bleeding arms.

"You alright?" He asked, slowly reaching out to her.

"I think you ought to leave." She muttered, in a proper, English accent.

"Sorry?"

She watched him closely, backing off when he started to carefully approach her.

"Leave." She said, louder this time.

"I'm not goin' anywhere." He said softly, so as not to intimidate her.

"You shouldn't be worrying about me," She said, a twisted smile growing on her gaunt face. "You should be worrying about you." A pale arm pointed behind him.

The next series of events happened in such rapid succession that Chase's brain had to fight to catch up. A blinding pain at the base of his neck, the floor rushing up to catch him. Lights flickered, and the girl laughed, his eyes opened, only just, and her feet were bare.

Darkness was coming, and for the first time in a long while, Chase welcomed it.

It was 4:47 when the hilt of the gun crashed over the back of her head. She knew because her watch stopped when it hit the ground.

As she groped around on the floor, trying in vain to stop the haziness in her eyes, and the toddlers with sledge hammers (never a good combination) crashing around in her head, she had plenty of time to wonder what the hell had just happened.

Allyson Cameron was an idealist, she frequently defended her opinions in the face of her cynical colleagues, and she always worked to see the lighter side of a dark situation…an optimist, you could say. But right now she saw no idealism, and no silver lining. She'd been treating an unstable patient, when she'd been knocked out, and she'd be damned if she couldn't fight her way back to his bedside.

Her pale eyes glanced the surroundings. House's office, fabulous, she'd been moved two floors as well.

Sitting up, maybe a bit too quickly, she immediately notice the distinct lack of furniture in the room, as well as the other body sprawled out beside her.

"Chase?"

Bending over his fractured form, she was quick to check his vitals.

He was alright. For the time being, they both were.

The gun was held directly between his eyes, and Foreman couldn't help but flashback to his youthful days filled with gang shootouts and break-ins. The past was there, but this was very different, because this wasn't a bunch of reckless kids screwing around with things they didn't understand, these people knew what they were doing.

"You work for Dr. House?" The man said, somehow managing to eye off the surroundings without wavering in his attention on the doctor.

"Yeah." Best to keep it short when dealing with people like this.

"Good, you should know where his office is then."

Foreman nodded, turning around when prompted.

Just agree for now, no point getting them riled. Keep to yourself, stay smart, stay quiet, stay alive.

As he approached that great glass office, Chase and Cameron already inside, he wondered what the fuck was going on.

Re-written. Kinda .

Short chapter, the next one'll probably be quite short as well, but then they'll get longer.