CHAPTER THREE

Doctors House and Foreman raced out of the restaurant in a flash. Just as the door was about to close behind them their waitress raced after them as she screamed they hadn't paid the bill. House yelled to Foreman to pay over his shoulder as he rushed down the block. Foreman moaned, pulled out $20 more than the bill should have been and raced after House.

It was easy to catch up with him, though, for House limped as fast as he could, which impressed Foreman. He'd only seen House move that quickly once – when the baby was being suffocated by the woman whom they believed was mentally compromised.

Sirens whistled urgently in the background as the two men ran to the intersection a block away. As they got closer they could see several people standing around and the flashing light of a police car.

Foreman squeezed passed House at the last minute and approached Chase, who was kneeling above Cameron with just his shirt; he had taken off his coat to cover her. Working in the ER, he knew better than to move her at all, fearing she might have cervical spine damage. He impatiently waited for the ambulance to arrive and whispered softly into her ear. He wiped the blood softly draining from her ear and mouth and told her she'd be fine repeatedly.

But she couldn't hear him. She was unconscious. Chase had checked her pupil reaction which at first appeared fine, but the second time he saw something that concerned him.

"Chase, what the hell did you do?" House yelled as he approached the scene and stood behind Foreman.

"House, knock it off! Chase, what happened?" Foreman asked as he, too, knelt down beside Chase to check Cameron's condition.

"Nothing…she just ran out…I called for her…she didn't stop…wouldn't st…" Chase's voice cracked as he tried to remain calm and not break down.

The rumble of the ambulance's engine and whistling sirens approached the intersection and stopped where the policeman directed the driver. The two paramedics hurried to their patient and told Chase to step off.

"I'm a doc…tor. Her pupils are dilated and I think I saw blood in her right eye. Please…help her," Chase pleaded. Foreman reached for Chase's shoulder to pull him back but he resisted.

"Chase, let them do their job. Come on." Chase finally consented and stood beside Foreman, who stood beside House to purposefully keep the two men separate.

He knew the tension between them was rough and the last thing he needed was for the two to go at each other. But that wasn't to be the case.

"House, you finally did it!" Chase screamed at House. "If you would have just kept your slimy palms off of her she wouldn't have run out…"

"Chase, CHASE! Cool it! It wasn't his fault!"

"Yes, it was!"

Foreman saw Chase's right arm rise and put his hand on his elbow to push him back. House had backed up a step and was actually afraid of Chase. Sure, House had been slammed before but the emotion of seeing Cameron lying wounded on the cold concrete was more than he could handle at the moment and honestly was afraid he would return Chase's throw.

The paramedics tended to Cameron by calling out her name and brushing an ammonia-covered cloth under her nose to try to bring her around. "She's unresponsive…"

After the paramedics put her on the wooden back board and secured her neck with a cervical collar, they lifted her up to the gurney. House insisted they take her to Princeton Plainsboro and Chase pleaded to go to the hospital with her. The driver refused Chase but agreed to take her to PPTH.

"Excuse me, doctor. I need to get a statement from you," an officer said.

"I'll stay with you, Chase, and take you to the hospital," Foreman offered.

"No, no. I want to go with her!" Chase insisted.

"Dr. Chase, I can't allow you to do that. She's in good hands and there's nothing you can do for her," the policeman told him.

An hour later, Cameron was being rushed into surgery to alleviate the bleeding in her brain. The MRI had shown a lot of bleeding in the brain; her right leg had a compound fracture and would require another surgery and she had a concussion; the MRI also revealed internal bleeding but could not ascertain the exact cause of the bleeding.

The question was: if she survived the procedure to relieve the pressure from her brain, would she survive the exploratory surgery to determine where the bleeding was coming from?