Before Chase could even walk through the front door of the hospital the next morning his pager went off. The message was from Foreman and simply read, "No MRI." That was enough to get Chase to race up the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator.

"What happened now?" Chase asked Foreman as he arrived at the conference room.

"They bumped us. It seems a few critical cases came in last night." replied a rather annoyed Foreman. He was not having a good morning.

"Until when?" asked Chase.

"Maybe this afternoon," said Foreman. "We can't wait that long."

"No, you think so?" asked Chase very sarcastically. "It isn't just your brain scan anymore. After talking with Wilson I need to get a whole body scan. He guesses that there could be tumors in multiple organs."

"So, if it is so damned important, then why are you standing here talking to me?" Foreman said turning confrontational. "You need to fix this."

"That is the one thing that has always annoyed me about you with House, stating the freaking obvious. I'm not stupid you know." Chase said fighting back.

Just then Cameron walked in. "You two should take it outside settle this like real men. In the meantime, I'll stay here and work on trying to making the patient better."

Chase and Foreman stood there for a minute, both trying to get hold of their tempers.

"Great, let's say we try a differential diagnosis," suggested Cameron.

"How about both of you work on that. Maybe I can actually get some help on this case for once. I've got other duties to perform." Chase stormed out of the office leaving Cameron and Foreman dumbfounded by what they just saw. They had never seen Chase lose his temper like that. They were not sure whether to be pleased or freaked out.

"Awwwkwarrrd..." said a high pitched voice coming from the other room.

"Shut up House," replied an irritated Cameron.

-----------

Chase knew it was time for drastic measures. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he had enough. He went to the ICU. "Natalie," he said to a nurse on duty. "I need you to help me take my patient for an MRI."

"I didn't see where she was scheduled for one on the chart," she replied.

"Yes, she's scheduled, or she will be. Can you help?"

"Yes Dr. Chase," she replied.

Together they moved Estelle and all her equipment and transported her downstairs.

"Put her right here," he instructed Natalie. He had her put Estelle in front of the entrance to the MRI scanning area thus blocking its access.

Brian came right over. "This isn't going to work Dr. Chase."

"I'm going in now," he adamantly replied.

Brian was not at all accepting the statement. "At this rate I'm not sure I should to let you in at all. Move the patient from the door or I'll find a bunch of big guys that will. They will snap you like a twig."

Just then the MRI supervisor came out after hearing the commotion. "We have more critical needs right now Dr. Chase. You need to wait."

"She has been in the ICU since early yesterday patiently waiting her turn. She has waited long enough." Chase argued.

"I'm calling security," said Brian and he retreated to the desk.

That was Chase's breaking point. Near him was a table with medical literature and a glass vase with flowers. He stepped over to it and in one fluid movement swept the table's entire contents onto the floor. The noise of the shatter startled everyone within earshot.

"What do I have to do to get basic medical care for a very ill patient around here?" Chase shouted very loudly.

The MRI supervisor stood in her tracks stunned by the display. "Brian," she said calmly, "Let him in." Then she told Chase, "Make it quick."

"Thank you," Chase replied as he got control of himself. He and Natalie took Estelle inside.

"Brian, go help him. That woman is over 300 lbs." said the supervisor.

"You are going to give into these stunts?" Brian asked.

"I have worked with Dr. Chase for over two years and never once has he lost his temper. This might be the nutty we have all been waiting for." she replied.

Brian nodded and went into help.

Cameron and Foreman were in the conference room when the phone rang. Cameron saw it was coming from the MRI desk. "Hi Natalie," she said as she answered the phone.

"He did what? Yes, I'll be right up to help." Cameron slowly put down the receiver in stunned silence.

"What is it?" asked a concerned Foreman.

"Chase just had a fit up at the MRI desk. Apparently he completely lost it and damaged some things. They just let him in with his patient. I need to go help him." Cameron explained.

"I'm coming too," said Foreman.

House sat in his office with a bittersweet smile. He had waited for so long for Chase to finally act out, but he was sad that he wasn't the one who provoked it.

------------------------

The three ducklings all got back from the MRI knowing they had several abnormalities to analyze. One thing for certain was that Dr. Wilson really needed to be involved now.

"Did you page Wilson?" asked Foreman as they all grabbed coffee to prepare for what they knew would be a long session.

"Yes, he's on his way," said Chase. "Before we get started, I want to apologize for losing my temper."

Cameron and Foreman glanced at each other and then looked down while slightly giggling.

"What's so funny?" Chase asked.

"We actually have been waiting for a long time for you to do that. You know, grow a backbone." said Cameron. "Nobody should take as much provoking as you do and hold in all so much anger for that long. It just wasn't human. We were kind of relieved."

Chase couldn't argue with that analysis. He had to admit, it felt pretty good afterward. "Okay then, let's go through this." he said getting back to business.

Chase walked over to the whiteboard and noticed something wasn't right. All the symptoms had been erased and rewritten backwards. Cameron and Foreman busted out laughing at Chase's annoyed reaction.

"Forget the patient troubles," said Wilson noticing the board as he walked in, "It looks like the doctor isn't quite right either. Writing backwards is a disturbing condition. Care to talk about it?"

"It seems we have a practical joker among us," said Chase loud enough so he could be heard from the other room. He walked over to the drawers, pulled out a hand mirror, and then held the mirror up to the board each time he wanted to read a symptom. "Who wants to start?"

"The brain scan gave us a good history, but nothing conclusive." started Foreman. "You can see the old head injury impaired her in certain ways. She has small lesions surrounding the area of impact. I can see why she has a diminished ability to reason, coordination and short-term memory issues. The lesions aren't the main source of her headaches though. That comes from her neck where she must have suffered other injuries."

Foreman got up and walked over to the MRI image on the light board. "You can see a small blockage here." Foreman pointed to a spot on the image. "She is a huge risk for a stroke if we don't fix that."

"She's not stable enough to fix it now, but we will observe it," replied Chase. He noticed Dr. Wilson over at the light board as well intently studying the results. "See anything?"

"You mean aside from the masses and cysts that exist in just about every major organ? Except for the lungs. You were right about mycotoxosis. I suspect that the cysts are all caused by mixing the wrong supplements, but I need to check them out for sure."

"The liver sample we got drove her into cardiac arrest" said Chase. "She isn't tolerant to procedures right now."

"I'm a highly skilled oncologist," said Wilson with a smile. "I know ways of getting samples that aren't as invasive. Of course I'm going to need a good Intensivist to be there to take action if something does happen."

"Trust me, that is a role I can easily jump into," replied Chase. "It would be nice to go back to hands on medicine for a bit. What about her liver?"

"We need another sample, but it isn't looking as bad as it could. I don't see anything different there than the other organs."

Cameron was silently analyzing the MRI results while the others were talking.

"She needs an antibiotic for her lungs. The irritation in the right lower section is pronounced."

"She can't get anything until her body is clean," replied Chase. "She is running a mild fever but that hasn't gone up since she was admitted. She can wait for now."

"You aren't going to allow anything?" asked Foreman. "She is at risk for infection."

"Her body currently is at civil war. When all those medicines got mixed together, they started to work against each other. We can't possibly predict what yet another drug will do, but it won't do her any good." answered Chase.

Cameron and Foreman gave Chase a skeptical glare, but didn't have convincing arguments to fall back on. "Okay," said Cameron, "while you and Dr. Wilson are busy I'm researching drug interactions in the lab."

"I'll join you," said Foreman to Cameron.

"Great, we have a plan," said Chase, glad too see that Cameron and Foreman were willing to work that hard to prove him wrong. That is the most respect they have shown him throughout the entire case thus far.