"Robert, I don't have much time."
Chase froze at Althea's comment. Those words caused a small panic inside. "You are going to be fine." he said. "We will figure out what is wrong with you."
"Please listen to me now," Althea continued. "Nothing can prevent your feelings from surfacing now. They are busting out. If you don't make sense of them, they will consume you." Chase continued to stand there, expressionless and feeling overwhelmed by the words she was speaking. He had his head down and was avoiding eye contact so he could maintain control.
Althea grabbed his face and looked deeply into his eyes. "The life you chose for yourself is tearing you apart. It involves so much more than saving people. It involves being strong and dealing with pain. You have to fix your own pain before helping others deal with theirs. You need to save yourself Robert."
By this time he was feeling complete terror. Chase pulled away and replied, "You need to stop worrying about me." he said all flustered. "Please try to concentrate on yourself."
She pulled his face back and again looked in his eyes. "Keep your faith Robert. It is all you need to guide you through. God doesn't want this for you."
Chase wasn't feeling so much calm in her touch anymore. Something was indeed wrong.
He wasn't sure if it was her or him. "Please, get some sleep." he said backing toward the door. He had to get out of that room fast.
Chase rushed outside to get some air. He wasn't prepared to hear those exact words and wasn't sure why Althea was giving up. All the fatigue started to catch up with him. With each step he took further and further outside, the world started to spin and fall out from under him. Chase could feel his heart pounding out of his chest and everything got very blurry. He quickly sat down on a bench and realized he was in deep trouble.
Cameron was outside and noticed Chase hunched over on the bench. She raced over to him. "You really are sick, aren't you?"
"I'll be alright." he replied very weakly. "I just need a few minutes."
"Let's go inside. I can take a better look at you in there." Cameron replied.
Chase tried to stand up and got very dizzy. Cameron jumped in to help him sit back down. "I'll be right back." she said.
Cameron ran to the entrance and grabbed a wheelchair. She quickly came back to Chase and helped him into it. As she moved him inside she ran into Cuddy at the entrance. "What happened?" Cuddy asked.
"I found him outside. He is having some sort of attack."
"He looks like hell." Cuddy replied. "Come on, I'll help you get him into a room."
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Later, Cameron walked out of the hospital room where she just examined Chase. She had a slight expression of relief on her face as the problem was not too serious.
"How is he?" asked Cuddy who was waiting outside.
"Exhausted. He is suffering from extreme exhaustion. It turns out he hasn't been sleeping well in last few weeks and has been under a lot of stress. I gave him a sedative and ordered him to sleep for a while."
"With all the crap that has been going on lately, I'm surprised I'm sleeping at all. People are going to wonder what I have been doing to my doctors." Cuddy stopped herself, realizing it was time to stop ranting now. "Never mind. I'm glad you found him and were able to help."
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"Let go, Robert." The voice whispered again. "What?" Chase asked the voice. "God doesn't want this for you."
Chase angrily replied, "What does God want then? He certainly hasn't done much to guide me. Maybe God needs to live with the same disappointment I live with."
"What do you want Robert?" asked a voice, although it wasn't the same voice. Chase turned around to see the question coming from Althea.
Chase looked at her with intense sadness. "I don't know."
Just then, a series of beeps went off. Chase popped up, realizing he was having another dream. He was in the same hospital room he went to sleep in. It was dark outside, so he had been in there a while. He took about 10 seconds to get his wits back then grabbed his beeper from the table next to him. An intense look of alarm swept over his face as he read the message. "Oh no." he said and then quickly left the room.
Chase stormed into Althea's room just in time to find the night team performing all their activities after a pronouncement. In between the flurry of confusion was Althea's lifeless body. Chase was too stunned to speak. The doctor on duty came up to him and in a sympathetic voice said, "I'm sorry Dr. Chase. We did everything we could. She had a pulmonary embolism."
Chase nodded to acknowledge the other doctor's information, but he was still too overcome to speak. He stood there like a statue, gazing at Althea. What ever warmness and connection he felt was completely gone. All he sensed was a void of life. She knew this was going to happen. Why didn't he try to do more? He should have pulled himself together, or at least had someone else step in. Someone could have found the clot in time. He was overwhelmed by guilt and remorse.
As he stood there, trying to make sense of the barrage of emotion that continued to overwhelm him, a small tear started streaming down his face. He quickly wiped it away, as he couldn't let others see how emotionally wrought he was.
The breaking point had arrived. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He left the room, stormed out of the hospital, and went straight home. At this point, he didn't care if he ever saw Princeton Plainsboro again.
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Two days later, Cuddy visited a recovering House at his home. "Unless you can cook as good as Wilson, you don't need to be here. I'm not strong enough for sex. You know, doctor's orders." House told Cuddy with a look condemning his overprotective doctor.
"Come on, you are probably bored out of your mind. How many wrestling matches and soap operas can you endure in one day? You secretly want to thank me for breaking the lull in your day. Anyway, I came to talk to you about a delicate situation with your team."
"My team? What have you done? Did you forget to feed them while I'm gone? You have to be the worst pet sitter I have ever hired."
"It isn't your team but a member of your team. Chase has gone missing. Two days ago he collapsed from exhaustion because he wasn't sleeping and later left the hospital very upset. Now he won't return calls."
"Getting me involved is going to accomplish what? Last I remember communicating with the ducklings through mental telepathy wasn't going well."
"Oh, I don't know, you are his boss and might understand what is happening here? You seem to know everything that is going on even when you aren't there."
"What made him leave?" House asked curiously. "It is not like him to abandon patients."
"According to the doctor on call that evening, he paged Chase after one of his patients died. Chase didn't take it very well. Cameron said those two got pretty close. The patient claimed to be an empath."
"And you didn't call me! I would have blown apart her reality. I am missing out on all the fun. Anyway, I can see why they would be close. Chase is an open book. A very boring book, but open. She probably blew his mind. It's like the Jedi mind trick, only works on the weak-minded…" House stopped because he could tell Cuddy wasn't amused.
"Send Cameron." he continued. "She will get him to open the door. She also knows how to get through to him. Tell her to get over her personal issues with Chase and treat this like one of her moral causes. Now leave me alone. Girls Gone Wild is coming on and I so look forward to these moments alone."
Cuddy flashed House with her usual "give me a break" smirk and left.
