A/N: God, I have to say, thankyou so much for all the reviews people have given throughout this story. They really do give me the proper motivation to keep on writing and I really appreciate the time you've taken to write them so thankyou.

Chase gazed in through the window at Thirteen's motionless body. Mr. Hadley and her brother were both currently in the room which was why he had opted to stay outside, he also didn't know what would happen to him if he went in there. The blonde expected that he should feel some kind of sadness, after all, Thirteen was a friend – not to mention one that he'd been sleeping with for the past few weeks – or at least some keen sense of worry but he didn't. He felt nothing. Just a strong sense of numbness.

For the moment, he was OK with that, though. It was better if he kept it that way which was why, most of all, he didn't want to go inside. Going inside would make it all the more real and he didn't think his numbness could survive that.

And to lose the numbness meant pain and he'd already suffered enough of that.

Then there was Cameron: a totally unforseen complication that Chase also didn't know how to feel about. Though, the difference was, when it came to her, he did actually feel something. He felt hurt and resentment, not to mention anger, and also confusion.

He didn't know exactly why she was here and what that meant for the two of them which meant that he also didn't know where the two of them stood. Technically, they were still husband and wife but . . .

It had been almost two months since she had walked out their door and since then he hadn't heard a word from her. Then there was Thirteen, a woman who was not his wife and one he had been sleeping with for a while now. He'd also killed someone, something that soon became apparent she couldn't handle.

So where did they go from here?

"Oh yeah; you don't care about her," a voice said sarcastically from a short distance away and Chase swung around in surprise to see House limping towards him.

"It's late, Taub had to go home to his wife. I thought I'd stay nearby in case her family needed to ask any questions," Chase responded in a defensive tone – the last thing he needed was for his boss to start up with another one of his hunches about how the blonde was hopelessly in love with the dying young woman and how they were both doomed.

House sent him a look, clearly stating that he thought that was the lamest excuse he'd ever heard. "Where's Foreman?"

"I don't know. Getting dinner, maybe?"

House looked thoughtful. "You'd think the mother of his dead child would have some priority over food."

The blonde shook his head and looked back in on Thirteen. "We all have our own ways of coping with things." He had a feeling Foreman was still looking for his.

The older doctor nodded, taking that in. After a moment he continued, tone bright with false nonchalance. "I have hot new gossip. Want to listen?"

Chase frowned and glanced back at him before jerking his head in a show for them to head away from the room. Whatever came out of House's mouth next, he didn't want it to be within accidental hearing range of Thirteen's family – He didn't want the man was about to see but, knowing him, it could only be bad.

Walking down the hallway, House followed after his retreating steps with a shrug.

"Thirteen's in a coma," Chase started, staring at the doctor in disbelief. "She could be dying right now and we still don't know what's wrong with her. And you're focused on gossip?" After all, Chase knew the man could be heartless but there had at least been some small part of him that believed he cared for the welfare of his employees.

"It's good gossip," House responded as if that was reason enough.

The blonde shook his head in disbelief; why did he even bother? "Fine. Go ahead."

"Thirteen has an illegitimate love child."

He frowned in confusion. "No she doesn't." He was fairly certain, anyway. Chase had been to her apartment many times and never had he seen any kid there. Plus, he didn't think he'd be alone in saying that Remy Hadley certainly didn't look like she had ever had a baby.

Still, his mind strayed back to something working its way at the edges of his memory and he frowned, lost in thought. Perhaps . . .

That train of thought was interrupted by House's voice as he continued their conversation.

"Claire Hadley eyes look just like Thirteen's eyes, meaning she has Thirteen's mother's eyes. If she was only Thirteen's half sister, then she wouldn't have the fist Mrs. Hadley's eyes," the cripple pointed out as if his reasoning was perfectly logical. It might have been, too, in a court run by psychiatric patients.

Chase stared at him for a moment in disbelieving silence. "Only you could use that as evidence for something like this." He sighed and stepped a little closer to the older doctor. "Claire's what, eight, nine years old? For her to be Thirteen's daughter she would have had to have been born when she was about seventeen. It also doesn't explain why she's not even a part of Thirteen's life. They have the same eyes, but that's not evidence, House, that's picking at straws."

House, for his part, didn't look fazed and Chase knew he hadn't convinced him at all. "Also, Cameron used to go out with Thirteen's brother," he added innocently and the blonde knew he was just resisting to urge to smirk.

Chase blinked, that having been the last thing he was expecting to come out of House's mouth. "What?"

"I know, big shock. Especially the fact that it means she's been holding out on us about Mystery Girl's dirty little secrets. She's a better liar than I thought. Though, technically I've never asked her any questions about Thirteen before now so she's actually a better secret keeper than I first thought."

Chase however was still trying to process the fact that the young man in Thirteen's room was his wife's ex. "She broke up with me and went straight back to her ex." Hmm. He should feel very insulted about this, maybe even hurt. Instead he just felt a profound amount of disbelief . . . and an illogical urge to burst into laughter; The situation was just so unreal and while Chase was considering punching Thirteen's brother right now for possibly sleeping with his wife, if Benny Hadley knew about any of this he would probably just as soon pummel the blonde into the ground for 'taking advantage' of his little sister, and to witness and poke fun at the whole affair was none other than one Gregory House, who looked to be the only one actually enjoying himself. It was at this moment that Robert Chase knew that his life was in fact a soap opera; there was just no other explanation for what went on in it. He'd had his suspicions before but this sold it.

House, however, didn't look at all sympathetic for his plight. "Except that he's apparently a priest so her going back to him wasn't really going back to him. Tough competition, though. I mean, you killed a guy and he's basically the male form of the virgin marry." The blonde scowled at his boss's words, even more so once he heard the next ones out of his mouth. "She's never going to take you back with that hanging around."

"Thankyou. For that input." It was times like these that he remembered why he put up with all this; it was times like these that he was reminded just how rewarding working for House could be. Chase nearly rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Just trying to help." Of course you were. House frowned suddenly and glanced back in the direction of Thirteen's room. "How's she doing?" Was that concern the blonde actually sensed in the other man's tone? Was House concerned for Thirteen?

Absolutely not; the idea was ridiculous. He must have imagined it.

Chase sighed and followed his gaze. "She's stable. Or as stable as anyone in a coma can be."

House frowned once more, eyes dark. "Find Foreman and drag him back to the differential room."

. . .

House looked around at his tired old ducklings, gaze falling on Taub in surprise. "What are you doing here? Chase said you went home."

Taub looked uncomfortable and shifted in his seat. "I didn't feel right going home, things being how they are. The sooner we get this case solved the sooner Thirteen will be OK."

House nodded in apparent understanding. "The sooner you can get home and have sex with your wife with a clear conscience." This comment got him matching looks of annoyance from all around the room; like it wasn't the truth. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to the whiteboard. "Thirteen's in a coma. Why?"

"Could be brain damage," Chase suggested, looking very much like he was trying to withhold a tired yawn. "Something could have been missed on the MRI."

"You think we missed something?" Taub asked, looking relatively insulted. "The both of us?"

House however seemed to be agreeing with Chase. "Foreman's distracted, you're . . . well I'm sure there's something going on with you. Cheating on your wife again? Your wife cheating?"

Taub stared at him, unimpressed. "We're fine."

Foreman sighed tiredly and rubbed the bridge of nose. "Chase is right. We could have missed something. We should do another MRI just to check."

"Agreed," House decided. "On the off-chance that this is an actual symptom, let's talk possibilities." The room remained silent and the only response he got was three tired stares. "What? No-one? What did I hire you all for?"

"Her symptoms don't add up," Foreman sighed as if that was any help. What did he hire them all for?

"Symptoms always add up. We just haven't figured out to what yet," their boss denied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at their idiocy. "Which means we're stupid."

"Which means we need a good night's sleep," Chase corrected. "We're the walking dead at the moment. We've been trying to find out what's wrong with Thirteen since yesterday and I don't know about you but I haven't slept a wink yet."

House frowned but didn't respond; like Chase he had been kept up all night, trying figure this out and, also like Chase, (though he would never admit it) his worry for Thirteen hadn't allowed him any rest. Not that this was anything big. People got sick all the time, people died. Thirteen might just be one of those people and the fact shouldn't bother him. Her Huntington's had never been of any major concern for him before so why should this? She was just another employee, completely unimportant.

Regardless, he sent them all home and returned to his whiteboard, eyeing the symptoms up with a challenging eye. There had to be something . . .

. . .

Chase slammed the door behind him as he returned home. He set his keys down on the side table and wandered sleepily over to the kitchen, searching for the takeaway leftovers from a couple of nights ago. Despite being kept in the fridge, they were likely off by now but the blonde could hardly care less.

His mind was foggy and hazed with tiredness and all he really wanted right now was to jump into bed and turn off the light. He couldn't think about anything right now. Not work, not Cameron and especially not Thirteen.

Regardless, twenty minutes after eating what was probably the foulest food he had ever tasted and getting ready for a good night's sleep, Chase lay awake in bed, thinking about those exact things. He couldn't understand it; he was dead tired and yet still he couldn't get any sleep.

It was that stupid brain of his, keeping him up all night with chaotic thoughts of Cameron and Thirteen, even though they were the last things he wanted to think about. There wasn't even a general pattern to the thoughts. One moment he would be wondering what Cameron was doing back and the next he would remember that he still had Thirteen's shirt under his bed, forgotten from the last time she had visited. He would just be thinking about getting around to returning it to her when he would remember she was in a coma and otherwise unavailable. And then he would start to worry – about Thirteen, about Cameron, about everything.

It was times like these he wished he was more like House. The bugger was probably fast asleep right now without care in the world. Well, that or annoying Wilson. Or Cuddy.

Chase groaned and sat up, searching the room for anything to help put him to sleep. On his bedside table there was an unopened bottle of whisky and he frowned contemplatively. He'd bought it back in one of his bad patches after Cameron left but once he'd found out that Thirteen was a great distraction from what usually drove him to the bottle he hadn't actually gotten around to drinking it.

That was how it should remain. Chase knew that no good could come of going down the path of an alcoholic and since he was already bordering on that the last thing he should do was topple right over that border with reckless abandon.

But Thirteen's face, still and lifeless as she lay in her hospital bed, swam into his mind and, almost without deciding to, Chase swallowed and reached for the whiskey.