I know I left you wondering what happened to Chase, Ellie and Christopher, so let's get right to that.

Thanks for reading. You know how much I love your comments.

Chapter 129.

"Someone tried to run us down on our drive home from dinner." Ellie's voice on the speaker phone was just short of hysterical.

"Was anyone hurt?" All the happiness had left Jess' face.

"Christopher's in surgery, and Robert insisted on assisting."

"You're at PPTH?" I needed details.

"Yes."

"We'll be right there." Jess was already out of bed and reaching for her clothes. "Chris is in good hands." She closed the connection. "You don't think it was Morgan, do you?"

"Seems like his MO. Assault with a deadly truck." I didn't want her to know how worried I was. "The sooner we get to the hospital, the sooner we'll know what's happening." I couldn't help adding, "Guess Chase couldn't take such good care of them as I thought."

We drove to the hospital, and went immediately to the waiting room for the operating theaters.

Ellie rushed to us, taking Jess' outstretched hands. "They're still in there." She had a bandage on her cheek, but no other apparent injuries, but tears streamed down her face and she was trembling.

Jess put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Chris is a fighter, and Chase will make sure he's going to be OK." She led Ellie to a line of plastic chairs and pushed her into one.

"What happened?" I sat next to Ellie while Jess took the seat on the other side.

"We were driving down Maple." Ellie's voice was choked. She brushed away a few tears but it was hopeless as a fresh supply fell. "The lights were green all the way, but when we crossed one of the streets, Gardner, I think, a pickup truck came careening across and hit the side of the car where Christopher's car seat was, behind me. It should have been me, not my baby boy." Her voice degenerated into a long sob, and Jess pulled her into a hug.

Over Ellie's head, Jess' eyes pleaded with me to do something. I left the comforting to her, stood and headed to the observation room.

A team of doctors and nurses were working intently on the toddler. To think, he was feeding me Cheerios just that afternoon, laughing and happy. I could barely see the monitors, but I could make out a steady heartbeat. That was a good sign. But the blood pressure was even lower than normal for such a young child.

Chase's gestures indicated that he was arguing with the surgeon. I couldn't see their mouths, of course, but their rigid posture and body language weren't good. I frowned in response. That wouldn't help Christopher. I turned on the intercom. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We're not in agreement on how to proceed." Chase didn't sound surprised to hear my voice.

My money was on his take on what the little boy needed. "What's the problem and what do you propose?"

"He's not the surgeon in charge!" The other man glanced up toward me. "House stay out of it."

As calmly as I could, I repeated my question to Chase.

He looked up toward me. "Chris had internal bleeding. We've stopped it, but his blood pressure is still low, even though his heart is fine. I wanted to check further, while Doctor Moore thinks we should just close him up. He thinks the blood pressure will return to normal on its own."

"Where was the bleed?" I knew Moore was an idiot and this proved it.

"The one we stopped was from his spleen, but there has to be another." Chase turned back to his small patient.

"Check his liver," I ordered.

"House, you're not in charge here, either." Moore looked up at me again and then at Chase. "Alright, I suppose it can't hurt to take a minute to make sure his liver is OK." He stood back while Chase gently explored the little body on the operating table.

"There's a slight bleed here, too. I think it was nicked, but I can stop it easily." Chase worked quickly. "Done. OK. Now you can close up Dr. Moore."

I imagined Moore grimacing behind his mask, but the idiot was a good surgeon. He was finished in minutes, and they wheeled Christopher out to recovery.

I headed back to the waiting room with the good news. Chase beat me. Mask dangling from one ear, he held Ellie in his arms.

"You could have removed the surgical gown before you smeared blood all over the poor woman." But the usual bite wasn't in my words.

Jess grinned at me and slid an arm around my waist. "Ain't love grand?" She watched the two of them, who, oblivious to us, smooched and hugged. Then Jess turned her attention back to me. "So, Chris will be OK?"

"He's a kid. They bounce back quickly, heal in a much shorter time than adults." I'd been watching Chase and Ellie too. "If Chase hadn't been there, I'm not sure the outlook would be so rosy." I kept my voice low. Didn't want him to get any ideas.

"He loves that little boy."

Chase finally let go of Ellie. "I'm gonna go clean up. You should be able to see Chris soon, but he'll still be sedated."

She nodded. "As long as he's going to be alright." When he was gone, she turned to me. "What happened in there?"

"Chase saved your son's life." I studied her face. The bandage on her cheek reminded me how Christopher was injured. She was calmer now and more apt to answer my questions without bursting into tears. "Ellie, do you remember anything more about what happened? Was the truck driver injured?"

She shook her head. "Would you believe he just drove off without stopping to see if any of us was injured?"

"Did you get his license plate number?"

"I...I think Robert did. A policeman came while we were waiting for the ambulance, and Rob told him whatever he could about the pickup."

So the cops were on the case. That was both good and bad. They had the resources to link a license plate to a driver. If it was Morgan, who tended to use his own vehicles, they'd find his record. Maybe they'd get him off the streets so he couldn't kill or injure anyone else. But that would also limit my investigation of the man. I'd have to focus on the car shop angle.

Jess and Ellie were sitting again, so I joined them. Ellie's eyes periodically strayed to the door, probably because she was waiting for word that she could see her son, but also possibly looking for Chase to return. I had a few questions for him myself.

A nurse arrived first. "Mrs. Giordano? You can see your son now."

Ellie rose and followed her out. Jess started to follow, then turned to me. "Aren't you coming?"

"I want to talk to Chase. I'll see you soon."

She nodded and rushed to catch up with Ellie and the nurse. I sauntered out to the hall and leaned against a wall waiting for Chase.

He showed up after five or ten minutes. "Did Ellie go to see Christopher?"

"Yeah. Jess went with her. I was waiting for you."

"You want to know about the accident, whether it might have been Morgan." He frowned. "I did some job protecting Ellie and her son."

I wasn't going to tell him that he shouldn't blame himself. I didn't know what else he could have done. "Was it Morgan?"

"I don't know. It could have been. The driver was a white male, but it happened so fast, all I could do was swerve to avoid it being worse, and get as good a look at the truck as possible." He shook his head. "I gave the cops the license plate number. Now I hope they can identify the driver from that. But if it's Morgan, I don't know what I'll do to him."

"If it was Morgan, he could be put away for a long time. He has a record."

"I know. I just feel so – powerless."

I shrugged. "You saved Christopher's life on that operating table." It just popped out.

He studied me. A slight smile played across his mouth. "You're paying me a compliment."

"Don't get too used to it."

Chase chuckled. "I won't. I know how rare it is, and that makes it rather special."

"And don't get mushy on me."

He was chuckling and shaking his head as he headed for recovery. I trailed behind.

Christopher was still under the influence, but that didn't stop his mother from brushing an imaginary hair off his forehead and planting kisses on his baby soft cheeks.

Jess stood watching her, but looked our way as Chase and I entered. "How long until he wakes up?"

"Perhaps another half hour," Chase replied. "It would be better if he came out of it naturally. He'll have less pain afterward than if we tried to jolt him out of it with additional meds."

"Will he be in a lot of pain?" Ellie frowned at him. "I wish I'd been the one who'd be injured."

Chase went to her and pulled her into his arms. "He'll be fine. A little children's Tylenol and he'll be very comfortable while he heals."

I motioned to Jess, and she nodded. The two of us slipped out, leaving Chase with Ellie and the little boy.

"Morgan has to be stopped," Jess said.

I nodded. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. Let's go home."

"I've got that appointment in the morning." She sighed. "Investigating Francesca seems so trivial after this."

"But it's almost as important to find out why Morgan killed her as it is to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

"Are you still going to check the car places to see if they met there?" Jess looked up at me.

We'd reached the car and got in. "It's my best option. And I could probably cancel my appointment with your father tomorrow, but I still want to talk to Marcello."

"So, you're convinced my father didn't arrange the accident that killed my mother?" Her eyes were hopeful.

"Almost positive. Anything more he can tell me about Morgan is probably trivial."

She put her head in her hands. "This is a convoluted mess."

"We're still missing something. Every time part of the picture becomes clearer, it complicates something else." I spent the rest of the drive home thinking about what we knew and what we didn't, picturing what I'd put on the white board and listing in my head all the questions I still had. I could only hope we'd learn more the next day.