It was later in the day that he opened them. "Alas, sleeping beauty awakes." The familiar voice of House rang through the room.

Robert tried to roll over but two sets of hands stopped him from doing so. "Not yet Chase. You need to stay on your stomach for a bit longer." This time it was the voice of Wilson that spoke.

"Wh-" He tried to get out but his throat was sore.

Cameron came into his field of vision with a cup and a straw. "Just a sip for now." She said softly.

Once the water was down, Chase tried to speak again. "What's going on?"

"You are going to need to be a bit more specific." House came into his field of vision. House took out a penlight and shone it into Chase's eyes. "Do you know your name?"

"Robert William Chase."

"Age?"

"30"

"Questions?"

"What are you all doing in here?"

"Working. Seems that even when your unconscious you can contribute to the team. Further proof that it's Chase's good looks that inspires us all. Go Wombat." House turned to the monitors to make sure they all looked good.

"Once we knew you were awaking soon, we moved the white board in, in order to work while waiting for you." Foreman was in the room too.

"What happened?" Chase asked still not sure what was going on and why they wanted him to stay on his stomach. They all looked like they had something on their mind but were afraid to tell him.

"Oh look. We have a patient and tests that need to be taken care of. Cameron, Foreman go do something not in this room. I need to play doctor."

"But-" Cameron started to protest.

"Uh- uh. Out. Go run some blood tests."

"What should we look for?"

"Tomorrow. Now out. Doctor, patient confidentiality." House poked each of them with his cane, prodding them out the door.

"House?" Chase questioned once the door was closed.

"What's the last thing you remember Chase?" House's demeanor had changed. He was now sitting in a chair by the bed. Wilson was sitting on the bed next to Chase. House almost seemed concerned about Chase. And that was enough to put Chase on edge.

"Uhm, there was an accident. A school bus. Lots of children were hurt. I think we got them all out. There was snow on the ground. I was thinking of coming in to get looked at. My shoulder and back were bothering me. There was an odd smell. Someone yelled something. That's it." Chase tried to sound detached by it was hard. He couldn't feel his body. He felt disconnected. Was there something wrong with him? Did he forget something?

"You pulled something in your shoulder and neck. It had to be from the crash. What you smelled was gasoline. There was an explosion." House started to explain.

"The kids. Did they get out okay?" Chase immediately asked.

"They are all fine. They all made it to the hospital and are doing well." Wilson spoke up trying to reassure the man on the bed.

"So the explosion. Must have hit my head if I was knocked out."

"Chase, no matter what I'm going to say, you need to listen to me. You are fine. You are going to make a full recovery as long as you follow doctors orders." House wanted to lay down the ground rules before he started.

"You must have been hit with some of the burning debris. It burned your back and knocked you out. There was more than one explosion. A car fell on top of you."

House paused to look at the face of his patient. Chase looked sick. A quick glance at Wilson showed him that Wilson was ready with a bedpan in case of emergency. House knew that he had to continue. It was probably better to get it all out to him now. They could clarify things once Chase digested the majority of what happened.

Taking a deep breath he continued. "The reason we are keeping you on your stomach is because of the burns on your back. That's the only part of you that has burns. They are healing nicely. We already did a skin graft. Everything is healing nicely. Now that you're awake they'll probably have you up and around tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? That's kind of quick for burns." Chase said slowly. Still some things didn't make sense. Now that he was a bit more coherent he felt something on his back. Not hurt. But pressure. It was the same with his left leg. But there was something that didn't feel right. Still something missing.

"Chase. The accident was about three weeks ago." Wilson spoke this time. "When you were found, it was already the next day. Over 12 hours had passed. And with all the snow, you were found under a car. It probably saved your life. When they brought you in, you were hypothermic. There was frostbite on your hands, feet and face. When we finally warmed you up, you were running a high fever."

"We thought that it was from the burns." House continued. "We were wrong. When they wrapped up your feet for the frostbite they over looked a deep gash on your lower left leg. Buy the time we found it; you were too weak to fight the infection. We already had to shock your heart twice. There were no choices. Amputation was the only option if we wanted you to live."

"No." Chase said softly.

"There really wasn't a choice. If there was anything else we could have done we would have." Wilson put his hand on Chase's shoulder.

Chase shrugged the arm off and tried to move away.

"Chase don't move around too much. I don't want you to hurt your back."

"You don't want? I don't care what you don't want. I don't want my foot to be missing, but it doesn't seem to be what I don't want. What I do want is for you to leave."

"Chase." Wilson again started.

"Don't 'Chase' me. Get the fuck out of my room." With the noise of the monitors going off the nurses ran into the room. One handed a needle to House.

House didn't wait. With a muttered "I'm sorry." He injected the sedative into Chase's arm. He couldn't help but be drawn to Chase's eyes. Even House had to flinch at the accusatory look in Chase's eyes. Luckily the sedative was fast acting and Chase quickly passed out. House disposed of the needle and hurried out of the room.

"House. House. Greg." Wilson called as he followed his friend out of the door. "He was upset."

"I know." House finally stopped and turned to face his friend. "I expect him to be upset. It's good that he's upset. He should be upset. Cameron should be the one to be with him when he wakes up." With that House walked away leaving Wilson alone in the hallway.