"It's time." House boldly made the announcement as he wandered into the conference room where his two able bodied doctors were enjoying their morning coffee.

"No, he's not ready." Cameron defiantly declared. She had checked in on Chase last night. Yes, he was showing slight improvement, but he was still awfully weak. It had been three very touchy days since the surgery brought him back. The first 48 hours being the worst was no cliché. She had a gut wrenching time watching him struggle and wished at moments he would just let go. Yesterday though brought some slight hope as he finally stabilized. He was still too frail.

"House, he needs at least another 48 hours." Foreman was more than ready to back Cameron up on that one. "It doesn't pay here to be dangerous."

"We need to see if anything is wrong with his brain now. His heart can handle the shock."

Both Cameron and Foreman stared at House with blazing disapproval. As they looked at him though, they knew their objections would be ignored.

"I'll be in the ICU." House turned around and walked away.

As Cameron and Foreman quickly followed, the usually familiar sight was clearly missing something. House moved as quickly as he could down the hall with his cane and trademark limp as his two worried doctors trailed behind. There should be three.

They arrived at the ICU and saw the familiar setting that had so occupied their time over the last few days. Cameron noticed a slight amount of color in a face that had been nothing but pale and drained. The vitals were slightly stronger too. Maybe House was right.

Foreman still wasn't convinced. "He should be stronger. He's better, but more time won't hurt."

House said nothing and walked over to the IV tube. He pulled out a syringe and without hesitation injected it into the line. The three stood very still, watching with their breath held, uncertain as to what was about to happen.

Within a minute they started to see all the subtle signs of waking. His right hand started to twitch. Then a leg would ever so slightly move. His head started to slowly turn against the pillow that it rested on. Finally, the eyelids began to flicker.

"Chase, wake up!" House instructed his youngest duckling.

Is that House's voice again? Chase asked himself knowing he was coming out from another fog. "Wake up!" he heard again. Chase didn't want to wake up. He was afraid to see where he was this time. I remember dying.

Eventually his mind couldn't resist the stir. The light became brighter as he slowly allowed it to peer through his opening eyelids. Sure enough, he did hear House. He saw those deep blue eyes staring upon him.

Something isn't right. He shouldn't be here. Where is here? Fear and panic quickly swarmed over him. He silently and fearfully stared at House.

The others saw the distraught reaction of their colleague. "Chase, we are here too. Everything will be alright."

Chase turned his eyes toward Cameron and offered her the same frightened gaze that he just gave House. He couldn't answer her.

"Chase, take a minute to calm down. You are going to be okay." House knew that was a small lie. He really didn't know if anything was wrong or not. "Can you say something?"

Chase continued his stare of complete alarm and said nothing. House looked back at him maintaining full eye contact to assure him he was in control of the situation. "Take a few more minutes. We will be right over here."

House motioned the other two for a conference on the other side of the room. "He's a little freaked out."

"No, you think?" Foreman sarcastically replied. "You should have waited."

"There's no guarantee that he wouldn't have reacted this way under different circumstances." House replied.

As House and Foreman argued, Cameron had her eyes fixed on a still disoriented Chase.

Chase scanned the room with his anxious eyes. It certainly looked like the ICU. Was it though? He felt really weak and had crushing pain on his chest, like twenty elephants were sitting on it. He sensed his labored breath as he lifted his hand to feel the oxygen tube running across his face and anchoring in his nostrils. He looked at his chest to see the slight seepage coming through where his heart was and from there followed the multitude of wires running from his chest up his left shoulder. He traced the wires to the monitors and noticed the weak vitals.

Everything started to overwhelm him. He lifted his right hand to his forehead to help process the shock only to notice the IV tube stuck into his arm. He didn't know if this was real. He was tired and desperately wanted it all to be over. Why haven't I died yet? The intense emotion got the better of him. He buried his face in his hand and started to weep.

House and Foreman stood in shock as they watched Chase fall apart. Sure, he had the right, but they didn't know the best way to help. Cameron brushed by them both, sat down on the bed and grabbed Chase's left hand to offer support. She was disgusted with the other two. "Get out of here. Give him some space," she commanded.

House and Foreman silently left leaving behind Cameron to calm down an emotionally shattered Chase.

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

Cameron entered House's office an hour later. Wilson was sitting with him and they obviously were spending the time waiting. Cameron's slightly red eyes indicated that she just had a hard time as well as Chase.

"Did the nice Dr. Cameron make it all better?" House asked mockingly.

"Like you would care." Cameron snapped back. "I told you it was too soon."

"Ignore him. Please tell me how he is." Wilson asked. "I would like to know."

Cameron relented as spoke directly to Wilson. "He's sleeping. The entire time I tried to calm him down he wouldn't say a word to me. He's a mess."

"Dr. Mess needs an MRI if he won't start talking to us." House replied. "We'll try again in a couple of hours. Did you tell him what happened with the shooting?"

"No, I didn't want to make things worse. You can try talking to him again on your own. You can be a man and pick up the pieces for once. I'll be in the clinic if anyone needs me."

House had a clever comeback but Wilson looked upon him with displeasure. He bit his tongue in a rare display of restraint.

"Good for you. I'm hoping your restraint is due to your realization that she too is traumatized by the shooting. This has probably been harder on her than anyone. You have to admit, under the circumstances, she is holding up pretty well."

"She has to hold it together. I'm already dealing with a damaged doctor. I don't need another one."

"Your team has to feel so lucky having such a sympathetic boss. I'm just all warm and fuzzy thinking about it." Wilson left House alone with his grumpiness.

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

Chase felt a slight nudge on his shoulder and those familiar words. "Wake up!" He was tired of constantly waking up. He wanted to sleep forever. He opened his eyes and again and wondered if House would ever leave him alone.

"Chase, I need to do a routine neurological check."

Chase looked at him with a piercing emotionless glare and said nothing.

"Still won't talk I see. That actually makes things better for me. Lift your right arm."

Chase continued to stare and did nothing. House uncovered his feet. "Move your toes." Again, no movement. A concerned House took his light pen and ran them along Chase's feet. They shook indicating normal reflex. He found a nearby instrument with a sharp point and stuck it on each hand. His hands jerked in normal reaction.

House sat down next to the bed to see if he could get something out of him. "Chase, I'm not going to try and spare your feelings here. Maybe if you know what happened you will know how important this all is."

Chase's weary eyes stayed fixed on House, but he stayed silent and showed no reaction.

"You were shot in the clinic. The bullet pierced your heart and for all practical purposes you were dead. You were down for a few long periods and we are concerned about brain damage. Do you understand?"

Chase started breathing heavier and showed obvious signs of panic and distress in his eyes. After a few deep breaths he managed to pull himself together and absorbed the news without breaking down. Despite what House said, it still didn't seem real. He chose not to respond.

"Chase, you need to answer me."

Chase flashed House another distressed glare but said nothing. He couldn't speak. Actually, at this point, he didn't know if he couldn't or if he didn't want to.

House resigned himself to the fact that his request would go unanswered. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pen and a scrap piece of paper. He placed them in Chase's lap. "Write it down then. Tell me what is wrong."

Chase stared at the paper and pen. It's not that he couldn't write. He just had nothing to say. He let the items sit there undisturbed.

House looked down disappointed and nodded as he took back the paper and pen. "Okay. We'll have to go from here. Someone will be around to get you shortly. You're getting an MRI. We'll figure this out."

Chase wasn't sure whether to be scared or reassured by House's promise. Either way, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the result.

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

Cameron was pushing Chase along in a wheelchair on the way to the MRI. She noticed how uncomfortable he was the way he was holding onto his chest and leaning over. He hadn't sat upright yet, so she knew the position change had to be hard. "Chase, is there anything I can do to help the discomfort?" He didn't answer.

She wheeled him inside and over to the MRI machine. "Wait right here, we'll let you know when we are ready."

She joined Foreman in the control room. "What do we hope to find?" she asked.

"I'll take any abnormality at this point that affects the command centers of the brain." Foreman got a very alarmed look on his face.

"What?" Cameron asked.

Foreman pointed toward the room. Cameron turned around to see Chase climbing slowly and carefully out of the chair. He grabbed his chest, wincing in pain the entire time.

Cameron rushed to help Chase. "Stop, let me help you." She grabbed him by his arm and noticed how badly he was shaking. "Bad move. You could have hurt yourself." She assisted him onto the table and got him settled for the scan. "Are you comfortable?"

As expected he didn't respond. "I'll take that as a yes." She moved him into the machine and then rejoined Foreman in the control room.

"He seems to know where he is." Foreman observed.

"Why won't he talk to us?"

"That's what I hope to find out." Foreman turned on the intercom. "Stay still, we are starting now."

Chase pulled his arms away from his aching chest and put them to the side so not to disrupt the scan.

Foreman and Cameron shared surprised glances. "He understands what is happening. I don't think I need an MRI to tell me that there is no damage. At least I'll have some proof for House." Foreman proceeded with the scan.