AN: First of all; I want to thank you for all the nice reviews! They really help me write better and because of that, I'm able to update faster! So, keep the reviews up! For the House-fans; I promise that he will soon get a bigger part so just hold on a little while longer :)

Here it goes...

Chapter 7

Cameron, with shaking hands and with tears in her eyes, walked back into the hospital. She had to force herself not to look back. Otherwise, she would want to run back to Chase. The way he lay there in Wilson's arms, vulnerable, fragile and hurt, it broke her heart.

'I swear to god, House, if you even mention another word about your ruined day off, I'll make you take 5 double shifts at the clinic.' Cuddy warned him, arms crossed over her chest, her look annoyed.

'Like you-'

'Cameron?' Cuddy asked, worried as she saw Cameron's broken gaze.

House turned around on his heels to watch Cameron and he immediately forgot his previous conversation he had with Cuddy.

'What's going on?' Cuddy asked as she went standing in front of her. House followed her example. Even he was alarmed and that didn't happen often. He was always the relaxed type in a situation of distress.

'Euhm,' Cameron couldn't find the right words to tell them the news, 'It's Chase. He collapsed in the parking lot.'

'There is always something with that boy.' House murmured as he rolled his eyes.

'House, he's really hurt! He needs help.' Cameron said, shocked by House's words.

Cuddy turned around and called out two names. 2 men immediately reacted and ran outside as they saw Cuddy point towards the parking lot. Cuddy followed and then Cameron. House sighed, convinced that the situation wasn't that bad and that Cameron was just overreacting.

---

Wilson was still holding the now unconscious Chase and he was still whispering encouraging words to him. And then 2 men walked outside and ran to a parked ambulance. Wilson recognised them as Morgan and Derek. They grabbed some stuff out of the ambulance and then ran to Wilson and Chase.

'How long has he been unconscious?' Morgan asked as he shone a light into Chase's eyes. There was barely a reaction.

'A minute, I guess.' Wilson answered, having to think really hard about such a simple question.

'You can let him go now.' Derek then said, reassuring Wilson that Chase was being taken care of. Wilson wasn't very willing to do it, but he had to. Otherwise, Derek and Morgan wouldn't be able to give Chase the proper first aid he needed.

Wilson sighed as the 2 men laid Chase on the stretcher. He spotted Cuddy and Cameron at the entrance of the hospital; frozen and shocked. House stood behind them, his eyes wide and his lips moving. He was talking to himself but Wilson couldn't read lips but he wondered what House was saying. Was he cursing Chase or was he whispering soft words to calm himself down? Wilson was the closest thing House had to a best friend and he knew House better then the rest. He acted like he didn't care, but he did; more then he liked and Wilson knew that House was feeling the same thing as everybody else. Pain. Shock. Helplessness. House just didn't reveal anything.

The 2 men pushed Chase to the emergency-entrance of the hospital were they would leave him in the care of other doctors. Wilson, Cuddy, Cameron and House followed. Dr. Matthews was the first one to reach Chase and he immediately received important information about Chase's condition. He nodded a few times and then gave 2 nurses some orders.

'Bring him to that room and you, Sophie, start him on an IV.'

The 2 nurses immediately got to action and brought Chase, who now lay on a more comfortable bed, to the private room that Dr. Matthews had appointed. Cameron, Cuddy, Wilson and House wanted to follow but Matthews blocked their path.

'I'm sorry, but you can't go in.' Matthews said as he pointed to Chase's room.

'But it's Chase!' Cameron protested.

'Exactly,' Matthews agreed, 'and that is why you can't go in there.'

'But we're doctors.' Cameron continued.

'You are too emotionally involved. The moment that you care more about your patient than that's good, that's the moment you start making mistakes. I'll take good care of him, I promise.' and then he quickly walked into Chase's room, leaving the others behind.

They didn't move for a long moment and Cuddy was the first to speak.

'Someone should tell Foreman so I'll take care of that.'

'I can't leave,' Cameron said, her voice shaking, 'I can't leave him.'

'That's okay.' House faintly smiled, understanding Cameron's emotions, 'I'll report this to the police.'

Cuddy and House left together and as Wilson was about to leave too, Cameron grabbed his arm softly and made him look her straight in the eyes.

'Can you stay with me?' she asked in a soft voice.

Wilson thought about that for a moment. He should be at his office right now giving counselts to his patients. But he didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay with Cameron and he wanted to be here when they would be allowed to see Chase. He was his friend after all. The second he thought about that, he made his decision. He knew what to do.

'Sure,' he faintly smiled, 'of course I'll stay with you.'

'Thanks.'

'Maybe we should sit down though, you don't look so hot.'

Cameron rolled her eyes but followed Wilson's suggestion. She didn't feel so hot either. Shock was still running through her veins and she even felt a little nauseous. They sat down where there was a row of seats against the wall. It gave them a perfect view to Chase's room.

'I should get you something.' Wilson said after a moment as he watched the still pale looking Cameron.

'I'm fine.' Cameron said as she held Wilson down in his seat. 'Really, I'm fine!'

'You should look in a mirror. Than you would understand my concern.'

'Just give me a minute to calm down.' Cameron sighed as she leaned her head against the wall behind her and closed her eyes.

'Do you remember what he said?' Wilson suddenly asked.

Cameron didn't move but she opened her eyes and stared into the distance. Of course she remembered; it was part of what freaked her out.

'What do you think he meant by "I had to be punished"?' Wilson continued.

'He said he made her smile and laugh and that he therefore had to be punished. He was talking about a woman.'

'And a man punished him for it. Someone beat him up and drugged him. Was he seeing a married woman?' Wilson asked both to Cameron and to himself. He needed to know the truth because only then he would be able to help his friend. The only problem was that he didn't know how to help him.

'That doesn't sound like Chase.' Cameron said.

The doors of the emergency-entrance flew open and Foreman nearly came running in. He spotted Wilson and Cameron on the seats and he quickly walked over to them.

'Where is he?' he asked.

'He's in there,' Cameron answered while pointing to Chase's room, 'but we're not allowed to enter.'

Foreman let himself fall into the seat next to Cameron and rubbed his hands over his face as if he was trying to wake himself up from this bad dream.

'What happened to him?' Foreman eventually asked.

'He was drugged and beaten.' Cameron answered.

'Why?'

Foreman couldn't understand this. Why would anyone just hurt a person?

'We think he made one husband very angry.' Wilson sighed.

'He was seeing a married woman?' Foreman asked with disbelieve.

'We don't know that!' Cameron said as she wanted to protect Chase. She knew him and she knew that he would never do something disrespectful.

'Do you have another explanation?' Foreman asked.

'Wait…' Cameron suddenly exhaled, 'he spoke about a Lauren. House had seen them here in the hospital!'

'You think she's married?' Wilson asked.

'Could be.' Cameron said. Anything was possible!

The door of Chase's room flew open and doctor Matthews walked out. He walked towards the three friends who quickly jumped up from there seats.

'He's going to be fine. I gave him a sedative so that he can get a few hours of good sleep. His vitals are okay now but he received a very high dose of Rohypnol but that should be out of his system in a couple of hours…'

'Doctor Matthews!' a nurse suddenly cried out. She was holding down a man who seemed to be having a seizure. Matthews didn't even hesitate and immediately ran towards the nurse and the man.

There wasn't a second passed when the three friends turned around and headed to Chase's room. Nobody was watching them so nobody would stop them. Before actually entering the room, they took in a deep breath and prepared themselves for seeing Chase in the worst condition.