A/N: A quick update just for all my readers. My way of apologizing for the past slow updates. Enjoy.

"Wait, you're actually serious?" Cameron asked Chase as he peeked in to say bye to her, his briefcase in hand.

"I told you last night. It's just a one day conference. I'll be back late though."

Cameron stepped out of the warm bed and was cold in her ribbed tank top and shorts. "Couldn't Foreman have gone?" she asked. Cameron wandered over to Chase. Taking his free arm and looping it around herself, she leaned into him.

Chase held back a laugh at the thought of him trying to convince Foreman to pick up Cameron's engagement ring. "Cuddy didn't think so. She wanted an IC specialist to go." It was killing him to lie to her. He just hoped she wouldn't ask any more questions.

"You should be going then," she told him and turned to kiss him. She reluctantly broke off the kiss. "Call me when you get there."

"I will."

Chase wanted to stay, he hated leaving her there. He reached over to her and let his hand linger on her cheek.

With another goodbye and a kiss he was gone, leaving a trace of guilt inside of him for lying. He pushed it aside and focused on his driving. He hoped his memory would not get him lost. Some day he would have to invest in an atlas.

He made excellent time on the way there, only taking a wrong exit once. Chase pulled into a parking lot and gathered an empty coffee cup and the bag his bagel had been in. He tossed the garbage into a nearby trashcan and walked into the familiar store.

Chase didn't know why he was so surprised to see the same man who helped him the last time walk over and greet him. He searched his brain for the man's name. Nothing came to mind.

"Pick up?" the man asked.

"Yes," Chase responded and followed the man to a counter. "For Robert Chase."

The employee disappeared into a back room and returned moments later. Chase was getting anxious to see if the ring was what he had imagined it would be. He had, for the most part, designed it after all, and he hoped his relatively simple design would turn out well. The box was opened and set on the counter, apparently for Chase to inspect. He felt awkward about it, but picked up the delicate box up regardless.

His mouth nearly opened as he viewed the ring. It was so clear and the cut itself was allowing the most possible reflection of light. A relatively large princess cut diamond was placed in the center of two smaller diamonds set in a platinum band. The inscription on the inside was what he was most proud of. He was sure that Cameron would like it, whenever she got it, anyway.

Chase's reaction was enough of a reassurance that he liked it, so the salesman reached under the counter and opened a small bag with the store's name and logo printed on it.

Chase shut the box and handed it over. He produced a credit card and gave that to the man as well.

It was a bit after noon when Chase exited the store and returned to his car, locking the bag in the glove compartment. As much as he wanted to start the four hour drive back and be home by the time Cameron was getting out of work, he couldn't. Being caught in this scheme that took him so long to put together would not be ideal.

Lunch would pass some time, he decided. Settling on a small café, Chase parked his car and stepped out. The chilly air biting at him through his light jacket, Chase hurried into the building.

"One," he told the hostess and followed her to a table near the corner of the bustling café.

He was handed a menu and before leaving, the hostess shot him a wide, toothy smile.

'Pizzas, burgers...' he thought absently as he scanned the menu. None of it sounded good, but his empty stomach disagreed.

His phone ringing from its belt clip interrupted Chase's contemplations about lunch. A quick look at the caller ID on the outside screen told him that it was Cameron. He smiled at the picture that popped up underneath her name; a snapshot of Cameron laughing at something. 'Probably me,' he thought. He loved that picture, and refused to delete it, despite Cameron's wishes.

"Hey." Chase answered the phone.

"Where are you?" she asked, her voice unsteady.

"Lunch," Chase replied vaguely. "Is something wrong?"

"They want me to make a decision," she explained.

Chase was momentarily lost, and then it hit him like a brick when he made the connection. "They can't make you decide now, not legally," he told her. It was probably the most objective thing he could have said to her.

"The lawyers, Dr. Bell, they all need answers," she told him, growing uneasy.

"Hey, hon, take a breath." Chase left the menu on the table and walked out of the restaurant. "Where are you right now?"

"The shower room. I'm going to tell them to disconnect him. He's vegetative, it's not a life that anybody wants," she rambled on, mumbling at this point.

She didn't need to justify her actions to Chase, he understood what she wanted but it came as quite a surprise that she was willing to make that decision right now. "Are you sure? You can wait," he asked gently.

"For what?" she asked. "He's not going to recover."

She was right, but it didn't seem like the right time for her to come to this conclusion.

"I'm coming home," he told her. "Don't make anything final 'till I get there, okay?" Chase got into his car and began searching for signs to I-195.

"You're not going to change my mind," Cameron informed him with a certain finality to the statement.

"I'm not trying to," he reassured her.

"I haven't even gone in to see him yet and they want me to let him die," she went on.

Chase didn't ask her where she had gone the other day when she missed the diagnoses of their newest patient. He figured she had simply not been up to seeing her father.

"Do you want to see him?" he asked her. Chase switched lanes and flicked his blinker off.

She paused. "I don't know."

"How about this; we'll both go see him when I get back?" he offered.

Chase could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "Okay."

"I'll see you I a few hours."

"Thanks. Uh, I've got to get back before House starts looking for me," Cameron said, regaining her professionally calm composure.

"Just promise me you won't make anything final," he said.

"Alright."

"Love you," Chase said, but she had already hung up.

Chase sighed and pulled onto the interstate. Searching for a distraction he turned on the radio and adjusted the station. Waiting on the World to Change filled the silence of his car.

"Hello?" Chase flipped open his phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Hi," Cameron said in a small voice.

"What's happening?"

"I'm going to go home okay?" They had just released their patient with a clean bill of health and she had nothing left to do.

"Wait a minute," Chase told her. He parked the car and got out. A smile formed as he walked up to Cameron who was sitting on a bench facing the away from the parking lot, phone to her ear.

She heard footsteps approaching her and turned around, slightly startled to see Chase standing behind her. She closed her cell phone as Chase sat down close to her.

"Sorry you missed your conference," she said.

"Don't even worry about it." He took her hand in his. "Still want to go home?"

"I still haven't seen him," she told him, not directly answering his question.

It was enough of an answer for Chase. He stood up and Cameron followed him, staying close.

"See, I can't let him 'live' like this," Cameron said, gesturing towards the machines. "If he was aware of all this I know he wouldn't want it either. He was too active to just lie in bed all day, never slept past 7. I hated that. He would always wake me up, whatever happened the night before was forgotten in the morning," she said, a slight grin playing on her lips.

Chase was glad that she was able to have some decent memories of her father. She clearly loved him, despite everything he had unwittingly put her through.

He looped an arm around her waist and said, "You'll do the right thing, hon. Just give it some time."

"I know. And Robert?"

"Yeh?"

"Thanks." He could never know how much he was doing by just being there.

He kissed the top of her head in response.

TBC