*Mentions of self-harm.

Mystery Man

She sighed deeply in frustration, dropping her glasses on top of a few documents and rubbing her eyes wearily. Cameron was able to find a few things about Chase, but it was really the bare minimum of anything that could be documented.

Chase hardly has anything on record that could be used…there's barely anything available about this guy.

Cameron pulled Chase's case file towards her and flipped it open, putting her glasses back on. Her eyes scanned over the top sheet, which had Chase's basic information like his name and age. She flipped to the page that described Chase's condition when he was admitted.

He collapsed after having a panic attack; woke up and almost had another panic attack and was disorientated; has no head injuries; and…hello.

Her eyes read thoroughly the bottom of the admitting doctor's notes:

"Fresh self-inflicted wounds and scars from past self-inflicted wounds; form of self-injury: cutting and burning; freshest wounds on lower legs and left bicep; scars on both arms (primarily left)."

So Chase engages in self-injury…interesting. That's definitely important, but other than that…there's no information about this guy.

Cameron removed her glasses and put them in her lab coat pocket and stood, gathering the papers on the table. She exited the room and headed back towards the conference room, hoping that her newly discovered information about Chase would bring some sense to their case.

xXxXx

"I'd like to keep some of that, you know." Chase said, anger evident in his voice.

"I know, but I need blood samples to run some tests to make sure nothing is physically wrong." Foreman said, removing the needle from Chase's arm. He noticed the blonde's hands shake slightly. As soon as he was finished putting a bandage on Chase's arm, he snatched his arm away and laid it across his middle, looking out the window.

He's getting more pissed off as time passes.

"We know you're angry, Chase, and you have every right to be." Foreman said, trying to make Chase ease up a little bit. The blonde remained quiet.

"But the more you cooperate, the quicker we'll be able to figure out what's wrong and fix it." Chase slowly turned to look at him, his eyes darkened.

"'Fix it'? Lovely choice of words, now you're making sound like I'm a fucking robot." Foreman's eyes narrowed slightly, not because of Chase's comment irritated him, but because of the feeling of Chase staring straight through him; his eyes looking angrily into his.

Something…isn't right. Is this what Kutner was talking about?

"Why are you staring? It's rude. You have your samples, you can leave. The door is right behind you." Chase said angrily, but quietly as he looked back towards the window. Foreman grit his teeth and stood, gathered the blood samples, feeling his anger bubble beneath the surface.

I didn't think it at first, but Chase is a total prick.

xXxXx

"Hey Chase," Kutner said casually, sliding the door closed behind him. Chase looked over at him, a slight frown on his face. "Is something wrong?" Chase shook his head.

"Guess another doctor came in here to take blood." Chase mumbled, rubbing the area where Foreman had drew blood, not meeting Kutner's eye. He understood.

He doesn't remember Foreman getting blood samples from him. Interesting. I wonder how that went. Probably best to play it off for now.

"Yeah, I guess if you're afraid of needles or blood, it's a good thing to not remember someone taking your blood." He said with a laugh. "I do need a favor from you." Chase raised his eyebrows at him, sitting up a little straighter.

"Okay. What do you need?" Kutner sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Any chance you can call someone from home? Maybe they can help." He was surprised when Chase looked delighted with the idea. Chase unlocked his phone and scrolled to someone's name.

"I actually just finished talking to her about half an hour ago. She needs some time to get things together, but she'll be coming in about two weeks." Kutner repressed a smile.

Perfect.

"Hi Aura, one of the doctors is here and would like to talk to you." Kutner leaned forward as Chase turned on the phone's speaker.

"Hello Aura, I'm Dr. Lawrence Kutner at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I'm one of the doctors on the team working Chase's case."

"Hi Doctor, you taking care of Chase for me?" Kutner smiled at the big sister tone in her voice.

"I'm one of four looking after your friend." He noticed Chase yawn and rub his eyes, looking weary.

I wonder...

"Chase, would you mind if I spoke with Aura privately while you got some sleep?" He was surprised when Chase shook his head lightly, already moving to lay down. Kutner switched the phone off of speaker and quietly moved to the door. "I'll be just on the other side of the door if you need anything." Chase's eyes were already closed. Kutner leaned against the wall next to the door, looking on as the blonde gradually fell asleep. "Sorry Aura, are you still there? Chase looked really tired."

"Yeah, I'm here. Chase is probably having a crash." Kutner quirked an eyebrow.

"A crash?"

"He'll basically pass out after being very stressed or emotional. His emotional stamina isn't very long. He'll probably be down for a couple hours."

Huh, interesting. That's good to know.

"Did Chase tell you anything about why he's been admitted to the hospital?" Aura made a sputtering sound.

"Basically it's his memory, right? He mentioned that he didn't know how he got to the United States or how long he's been there. He said the last thing he remembered was being at his grandma's grave last year." Aura paused, inhaling slowly. "Chase's memory has always been kind of dodgy; however, it's never been this bad in the near two decades that I've known him." Kutner made a sound of acknowledgement.

So Chase's memory isn't the best, but never to the extreme that he's been exhibiting since he got here this morning. Chase and Aura have known each other for about 20 years apparently, so if anyone can help us figure this out, it's her.

"Chase mentioned that you were making arrangements to come here." Kutner mentioned.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to have things situated in a couple weeks and be there with him. With how much he's forgotten, I'd like to be there. He's probably freaked out." Kutner smiled.

"I'm glad he has a good friend in his corner. He certainly seems to need somebody." Aura was quiet for a few moments.

"He's always been a bit of a loner. We've been friends for a little more than 20 years, but I don't know of anyone else he associates with."

"You mentioned he's never had memory loss this bad before?" Kutner cut in. Aura hummed.

"Right, I love Chase like the little brother I never had; however, something has always been a little off with him. Nothing bad, of course, but different." Kutner sat down in a nearby chair, leaning forward with his arms on his knees.

"Before today, what was the most memory loss that he's had with you?" Aura was quiet again, thinking. Kutner's pager beeped and saw House paging him, but he ignored it again.

I'm doing what he told me to do. He can wait a few minutes. He can fire me later. Lawrence, what's wrong with you?

"Nothing too dramatic, but Chase will sometimes forget we made plans to do something a few days prior. Sometimes he'll contradict himself, but again, nothing as drastic as this." Kutner sat up in his seat.

"When you said he contradicts himself, what do you mean?"

"He'll say something and then the opposite not too long after."

Like the handwriting.

"The most recent example I can think of would be when he was planning his trip to go abroad for a while." Kutner froze.

Chase mentioned when he was admitted that he had no interest in leaving Australia. Why would he be planning a trip? What kind of trip?

"What trip? Chase mentioned that he had no interest in leaving Australia." Aura paused for a few moments, breathing deeply.

"After his stepdad died, Chase decided that he wanted to get away for a while. I guess it was a very freeing moment for him and he just needed some space. They didn't have the best relationship and I guess Chase was a bit confused about what to make of his death." Kutner nodded.

"You said that he was contradictory when it came to that trip?"

"Whenever I mentioned how the planning of the trip was going, sometimes he acted like he knew what I was talking about and then other times he seemed confused. I would ask him about how the planning was going, he would ask what plans I was talking about. But there would be times he seemed excited about his plans to travel through Europe." She paused. "Again, I love Chase to death, but he's always been kind of dodgy when it comes to remembering things." Kutner leaned back in his seat, exhaling heavily.

She's been very helpful already. Hopefully when she gets here, we'll get more answers.

He looked at the clock, but was unsure of the time difference between New Jersey and Australia.

"Aura, you have been very helpful already. I'll let you go and we'll talk some more when you get here." Aura sighed.

"I'm glad I got to chat with you Dr. Kutner, but you take care of Chase for me until I get there." Kutner smiled at her tone.

Such a big sister.

"You'll get to speak with his other doctors when you get here. We'll take care of Chase in the meantime. Take care." Kutner hung up.

xXxXx

"Alright, let's get started." House said, turning towards the board with an uncapped marker as the other doctors sat at the conference table. "Cameron, go."

"I was barely able to find anything." She said in defeat, making Wilson and Cuddy nod in agreement.

"You weren't able to find anything?" House asked, turning towards them.

"We were barely able to find his basic information." Cuddy said as House turned back towards the board.

"Cameron, what did you find?" She opened Chase's file.

"The only useful thing I found was that Chase engages in self-injury."

Finally something useful.

"When Chase was admitted, the admitting doctor noted fresh and old wounds from cutting and burning. Most of the fresh wounds are on his lower legs and left bicep, and most of his scars are his arms, but primarily his left one." House wrote hurriedly, somewhat relieved that they got something to work with, but it wasn't enough.

"That's it?"

"Yeah…that's it." House sighed quietly.

"Foreman?" House asked from over his shoulder.

"Chase was an ass." He said bluntly, making everyone turn towards him.

"How so?"

"When I finished getting the blood samples, I told him that we all know that he's angry and that the more he cooperates, the quicker we'll be able to figure out what's wrong and fix it. Then he was just an asshole."

"Everyone can be an asshole."

"He said that I made him sound like a robot because I said 'fix it'. Then he said that since I was done getting samples then I could leave and that the door was right behind me." House continued to write. "Also," Foreman turned towards Kutner. "Earlier you said that something about Chase wasn't right." Kutner nodded.

"Right, but I can't really explain what it was."

"I think I saw what you were talking about." He paused. "Was it the eyes?" Kutner nodded again.

"Yeah...it was like he was staring straight through me." Foreman nodded in agreement.

"His eyes were really intense, but they weren't that intense when we first talked to him." House made of note of this.

"Also, all his blood work came back normal. He's completely clean. Doesn't even have Tylenol in him."

"Kutner?" Kutner leaned back in his seat, relieved that he would be helpful after ignoring House's page earlier.

"I managed to talk with his good friend, Aura. They've known each other for about 20 years and she's like a big sister to him." He pulled Chase's case file towards him and wrote Aura's number on the inside. He glanced at House. "She said she was making arrangements to get here in about two weeks, but she was already really helpful when I talked to her."

"That's great, I'm sure she's worried." Cameron said, rubbing her eyes.

"What else?" House pressed.

"She mentioned that Chase has always had a bad memory, but not like this. Apparently, he started planning a trip abroad when his stepdad died last September, but sometimes seemed unsure of what trip she was talking about."

"So the stepdad's dead then. Were they close?" Wilson asked, but Kutner shook his head.

"No, according to her, Chase needed some time away to figure out how he felt about his stepdad passing." He paused. "She mentioned that it was a very 'freeing moment' for Chase when his stepdad died."

Interesting.

"He had no interest in leaving Australia." House mumbled, writing it on the board along with stepdad being dead at the time of Chase's last memory.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day where I'd say this," House started. "But by the looks of it, the only way we'll get the information we need is by talking to him until his friend gets here."

"There's barely any documented information about him," Kutner said. "We don't really know who this guy is and by the looks of it, there are certain things that he won't be cooperative about."

"Which will make this case even more difficult." House said, unhooking his cane from the board.

"You're going to go talk to him?" Wilson asked, keeping the surprise out of his voice.

"He's British and I want to make fun of his voice."

"He's Australian."

"Same thing."

xXxXx

Alright Gang,

Reviews would be wonderful and appreciated!

When-Rabbit-Howls