Title: Alterboys

Series Title: The Inner Child 5

Author: Goddessof7s

Summary: A tow headed boy wanders into the Clinic and the team has its most interesting case yet.

Rating: PG

Notes: Now I would like to warn all of you fans who like plausible stories, with no fiction except characters. This is not the story for you! This will require heavy suspension of dis-belief, YOU ARE WARNED! Flames regarding scientific accuracy will be printed to be scoffed and mocked in front of all my friends!

Warnings: There is no slash in this story. It is more of a character study. Major characters are Chase and House with bit roles from everyone else. UNBETAED

Okay big thanks to everyone who reviewed. I didn't reply because I figured I could be writing or I could be replying and I figured that a new part would be answer enough. Little short but we're getting closer to the end game.

It was late in the morning when House woke up. Scratch that, early afternoon when he actually rolled out of bed. Still half asleep he reached for his pills before he remembered Robbie the drug warden. Two days ago House had tried to wheedle an extra pill out of him and yet the boy stood firm. Oh sure anything else and the boy caved like a house of cards but one tiny little white pill and you'd think he was giving up his life savings. Of course Robbie some how always knew when House was truly in a lot of pain and needed the pills, but that didn't stop House from his habit of wanting them. He was however some what surprised to find that he often reached for the pills when he didn't need them. He was starting to realize how much of a defense mechanism they were and that he often went for them from habit if nothing else. Cursing he hopped limped into the kitchen hoping for some extra pity and cheese with his omelet when his nose registered the fact that the kitchen was remarkably Robbie-less. There was also a distinct lack of delicious aromas of which he'd already become accustomed too.

Limping around the small apartment yelling for Robbie he quickly assessed his absence and cursed the boy for his damn independence and drug stealing ways. House flopped into a kitchen chair with a thud and a dejected moan. He rubbed aimlessly at his eyes and tried to remember if he had a stash of liquor anywhere in the apartment that Robbie might not have found. He let his head drop to the table with a crunch and winched at the sharp pain that emanated from his forehead. Wait crunch? Feeling his forehead he found two pill fragments still stuck to his skin which he promptly swallowed and then examined the table more closely where he found a note in plain view. Glancing quickly around to check for anyone watching he quickly licked the paper where the pill had been broken. It tasted dry and bitter.

'House,

I went to mass at Our Lady of Faith. I left a Vicoden for you and oatmeal on the stove, you just need to reheat it. I'll be back after service.

Robbie'

Huh. It was Sunday wasn't it? That would make it a little over 2 weeks that Robbie had walked into the clinic all kiddified and he still didn't feel any closer to what had happened.

He dragged the bowl of oatmeal into the livingroom and reclined on the couch laptop and oatmeal perched on his chest. Ahh nothing screamed luxury more than laying down and eating a meal. Now all he need was a stiff scotch, although the cinnamon that Robbie put in the oatmeal was quite tasty as well. If he closed his eyes and ignored the texture it could almost but not quite be entirely unlike cinnamon schnapps. House scowled at the computer. He'd searched just about every medical, scientific and academic oriented newsgroup, newspaper, magazine and yahoo!group there was. If he didn't get a break soon he might be reduced to rifling through suspect company's garbage or reading the bathroom walls of various labs in the area.

That's when it hit him. He could have been knocked over with a feather if it weren't for the fact that he was already laying down. He'd been looking in all the wrong places. If there had been a fountain of youth found or even suspected the slightest hint of actual scientific evidence then everyone would know about it. No if he was going to find a paper trail it was going to be in some cheap tabloid that had stories about bigfoot, the Bush-Alcaida conspiracy, and J-Lo's butt lift. Well okay so sometimes they had the truth, there's no way that those cheeks were that gravity defining naturally. But that was beside the point he need to get to the library and fast.

Fortunately by the time that he was out of the shower Robbie was back. House took a moment before pulling on his t-shirt to take in Robbie post mass. His eyes shone a bit and he certainly looked more relaxed but over all he didn't seem too different. House didn't like those organized religions, because c'mon it's only one step away from a cult. But Robbie seemed to be one of the few Catholics who celebrated his religion rather than mourned it. Of course at this point in his life he hadn't seen his parents die or be forced into a career that he wasn't interested in. Well House wasn't going to waste anymore time analyzing Robbie because he knew the solution was right at his finger tips and he didn't want to waste anymore time. Although when Chase was back he would miss those delicious pancakes he made. Perhaps he can wheedle a few more out of gratefulness for curing him. Hell that should be worth at least a month of breakfasts.

Two and half hours into the micro film of the National Enquirer when House hit the jack pot. There it was on the second page some Dr. Franlison, or Franknfurter or Frankenstein who knows the point was the picture of him had Joe's Bait Shop in the background which despite it's name was actually a pub with a mean micro brew, he knew where that was and all he had to do was pick up a little muscle and then he'd be on his way.

They'd all piled into Wilson's car, House riding shotgun with Foreman and Cameron in the back. House wasn't sure why Cameron had insisted on coming, he told her that her high pitched girly screams would only be a distraction and that haranguing the doctor about his lack of morals wouldn't really help to disarm him but she just glared and climbed in. Robbie had been left with Cuddy who was waiting for a call from House who would tell her that it was safe to bring him. In less than an hour they were outside an old warehouse that looked a step away from being condemned. House muttered under his breath about the predictability of the bad guys and how cliche it was. How he should have just trolled the warehouse district until he spotted the suspicious looking man in the white lab coat lurking about.

Instead they walked up and banged on the door. House was just about to order Foreman to use is keen lock picking skills on the door when it slid open to reveal the man from the picture.

Cuddy had been in the middle of doing some much needed and though she would never admit it, relaxing paper work when House had dropped Robbie off. The boy had quickly found a spot in the corner and quietly doodled in some crossword. He had in fact been so quite that Cuddy had truthfully forgotten that he was there. It wasn't until she had finished Sheffield's request for a new autoclave that she looked up and saw that he was missing. Frantically she ran into the hall to see if she could spot him. She checked all the places in the hospital that he would be familiar with and she was about to get hospital security involved when she thought of one last place. There he was in the chapel staring up at the cross, lips moving silently as he mouthed the words to a Latin prayer. Thank God. She didn't think that he would have left the building but it was still disconcerting.

Rather than call to him and break the stillness of the chapel she approached his pew and sat beside him. After a few minutes he looked over at her eyes bright, "am I happy?"

She startled at the question unsure of the answer that he was looking for. He repeated for her benefit as he saw her hesitate, "Is Chase happy, with his life, where he is?" She opened her mouth, to say what she wasn't sure but Robbie wasn't looking at her anymore and he just seemed to open up like a damn inside him broke. "I just I didn't expect to be a doctor, to be here in the states, nothing is how I planned it to be."

He looked back at her and the light from the stained glass hit his cheek just right and for a second his tears looked like blood. "Oh sweetie, life never turns out how we plan it."

She pulled him close and could feel the hot tears on her shirt. His voice muffled was still clear from where he spoke. "I pray for him you know."

"Who? Your older self?"

"No. For House."

Cuddy stroked his silky hair and rubbed his back, "so do I sweety, so do I."