Please Forgive Me

Chapter Twelve

"So, how is she?" House asked curtly upon walking, or hobbling, into the room where his team surrounded Cameron as she lay lifeless and bleeding out on the operating table before the doctors while they immediately got to work on treating her for what was immediately visible to them.

"It's a good thing that you're here," Remy responded worryingly as she turned to the man she worked for as he entered, then looked up into window of the observation booth upon seeing Chase and Janice enter and nodded her head at their friend as if to indicate that they were going to take good care of her. "She's on fire. Her fever's got to be close to 106 degrees. She won't survive much longer if we can't bring her temperature down. I'm going to get the cooling blankets."

Foreman immediately continued, "She's going to need more enzymes, proteins, and lots of fluids. Her wrists are bleeding from lacerations that go all the way around. She must have been bound. The same lacerations are around both of her ankles too, though they're not nearly as bad. Where is the rest of this blood…? Please don't tell me..."

Taub removed the bloodied sheet away from her body to find the source of the wounds she was bleeding from, then looked up at Chase nervously until he turned back to House and answered softly, "She's bleeding out from between her thighs. She's obviously been raped, probably sodomized too."

"That's not all that this bastard did to her," House replied as he noticed the dark bruising along her left side and lower stomach. "She's bleeding internally. His attack on her was vicious and rough."

"I saw this guy," Foreman responded, as anger shined in his eyes over the pain that clearly lined Cameron's face. "He is a monster, but I'm telling you, he wasn't the guy who did all this to her. At least not initially. He only heightened her injuries by continuing his assault on her after someone else had his own turn. Son of a bitch."

Thirteen glanced quickly at her ex-boyfriend as she asked, "How could you possibly know that?"

House looked at the man who had worked under him longer than the rest of his team had and stated, "Does it really matter right now who's responsible?"

"Maybe not, but it will when the police arrive to arrest the bastard," Foreman answered again. "He said something about begging some other guy not to hurt her. Now that I can see the damage done to Cameron, I'm inclined to believe him."

"What's wrong with her?" Chase called out through the intercom with fear in his voice, being unable to hear anything that his colleagues were saying. "Don't keep me in the dark. I need to know what's going on with my wife."

All of a sudden, Cameron's body arched up off the table, then she began to writhe while the machines surrounding her wailed loudly as Chase ran down from the booth and cried out fearfully, "Allison!"

Taub shouted, "We're losing her!"

"Her fever's too high," Thirteen replied quickly, struggling to hold Cameron down with Taub's help while House and Foreman worked to force a tube down her throat in order to put her on life support so that they would be able to continue to treat her. "We need to bring it down faster!"

"Allison!" Chase shouted again as he ran over to them to take over for Remy until the doctors were all able to get her stabilized as her body finally stopped writhing. "I'm here. I need you to hold on, please."

House grabbed the Australian by his shoulders and pulled him out of the way as he spoke up again saying, "I know that your heart is overthinking your brain right now, but you can't be here and you know that. Go back up there, while we keep treating her. Come down again…"

Chase glared at him as he interrupted coldly, "Don't threaten me. I won't get in your way, but I'm not leaving this room. Allison needs someone here with her who actually cares for her more than as just another colleague or friend. Tell Cuddy if you want to, but you and I both know that you won't."

"Good for you," the narcissist responded smugly. "I just wanted to see if you still had the balls to stand up to me. Stand over in the corner until I need you."

Meanwhile…

The police in charge of the investigation into their doctor's abduction arrived at the hospital within fifteen minutes of being called by Cuddy once again, and when they entered the lobby, the Dean of Medicine stalled the two men for as long as possible while Dr. Hourani finished treating Carl Burton.

"Thank you for coming, officers," she said calmly as she reached out to shake their hands. "The man who abducted Dr. Cameron and brought her back just before we called you is down the hall here in an exam room. He's been restrained…"

One of the men cut her off while he looked at the woman in charge of the hospital and asked, "Why is he in an exam room? Was he injured?"

His partner added, "Did the doctor married to Dr. Cameron do something to him?"

"Carl Burton, one of the men from the files we gave you nights ago, had a partner and we believe that they both raped and did unspeakable things to her," Cuddy answered sternly. "Right now, she's fighting for her life. If Dr. Chase did anything to the monster that brought her in, then surely you can understand why he might have done what he did."

"We understand," the first cop replied in understanding as they made it to the room and Cuddy opened the door, only to find Dr. Hourani inside while he struggled to free himself from the cuffs that were once cuffed to the criminal, who was nowhere to be found.

Cuddy walked further into the room behind the officers as she asked angrily, "What the hell happened? Where's Burton?"

One of the men unlocked the cuffs to release the doctor as Hourani stated, "That bastard punched me in the face, knocked me down to the ground, and stole the key to his cuffs before I could do anything to stop him, then ran out of here like a bat out of hell."

"Well, it looks like we've still got two scumbags to find instead of just one," one of the officers responded in frustration as he and his partner turned to leave the room. "We'll be sure to keep you in the loop. We'd like to speak with Dr. Chase now, that is if he's here."

"I understand that, but right now he's in with his wife," Cuddy answered firmly. "As I told you, she's in a bad way and he's terrified for her. I am asking you to please wait until a later time before you talk with him."

The second officer nodded in agreement as he replied, "We understand. Keep us updated on her progress. We'll be in touch then. Thank you for the call, Dr. Cuddy."

Early into the next morning…

Chase was sitting quietly at Cameron's bedside holding her hand, exactly where House expected to find him as the crippled doctor walked quietly into the room and waited for a few minutes while he looked down at Cameron, then finally he spoke up saying sincerely, "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to find her. I'm a doctor, not a detective. But it's because I'm a doctor, that I can save her now, and I will."

"I know that you'll try," the younger man responded despondently without taking his eyes off of the woman he loved while she remained on life support. "No matter what your motive for doing so is. Do whatever it is that you have to do. I may not trust you any longer, but I hope for her sake and for yours that you really can save her. I was wrong before about one thing. No matter what you tell us or how you treat us, I know that in your odd way you do actually care if something happens to one of us."

"I think you might be mistaking me with someone else," House answered. "Look, I realize that I am a cold-hearted bastard just like you said I was, like I've been told by a lot of people. Cameron pretty much told me the same thing on the night she left the hospital and left you. She also told me that there was no way back for either one of us, but it looks like she was wrong. At least about you she was. You've chosen her like you should have done before. I don't agree with your decision, but it's probably the right one."

Chase ran his fingers through Cameron's hair as he replied sadly, "I know it is. Allison has a long road ahead of her and I plan to do whatever it takes to make sure that she can get back to being the strong woman she is, even if that means quitting the hospital all together so that I can take care of her for as long as she needs me to."

House nodded as he said, "You might as well. It's probably for the best. You always were the worst doctor on my team."

While the days passed, Cameron slowly began to recover, though she still had yet to wake until a week and a half later and when she opened her eyes, the first person she saw was the man she was still married to and still loved despite him having signed their divorce papers on the night she had disappeared.

"Allison," Chase stated with relief when she turned her head weakly to try to look at the man sitting beside her while he held her hand tightly within his own and gently reached up to touch her face, careful not to disturb the tube now running beneath her nose to help her breathe in place of the large tube and mask over her nose and mouth which she wore until the night before. "Oh thank God."

"No… no, plea… please," she cried weakly as she struggled to pull away from him, no longer seeing Chase, but the men who raped her instead. "Don't…."

He immediately leaned in closer in hope that she could see him more closely as he continued, "It's me, Allison. It's Robert. Just listen to my voice. I'm right here and I'm not leaving you."

Cameron broke down as she finally recognized Chase again and weakly sat up with his help and leaned into his embrace while he held her close, then she asked fearfully, "Rob… Robert?"

"The bastards who did this to you are both gone," he responded sadly. "They were found dead. They can't hurt you. I'll never let anyone ever hurt you again, I promise."

"I'm… so sor… sorry," she spoke again while he gently laid her back down against the bed, but continued to hold her. "I'm sor…"

Chase shook his head as he answered, "You have nothing to be ashamed of. I love you. I always will."

Allison whispered, "I love you too."

Cameron recovered slowly, while Chase remained with her. Weeks later, he went back to work for House per his wife's prodding, knowing it was where he belonged and Allison chose to quit being a doctor all together so she could find herself again. Their tragedy brought them together once more and their divorce was forgotten.

The End