Chapter Text
Chase yawns, gripping his cup of coffee in one hand and his bag of bagels for the team in the other hand. He had agreed to complete some of House's clinic hours for Cuddy. He placed the bagels on the table and got ready for the early start. Chase threw away his coffee right before entering the clinic. The Head Nurse smiled as she handed him his first patient. A middle-aged man wants his junk checked for an STD, so he could continue to lie to his wife. His second patient was much calmer.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Chase. What seems to be the issue?"
The woman smiled at him. "Hi. I'm having trouble...um..." Her smile fell. "You know...going number two."
Chase tightly smiles back. "Okay. Let's see."
The sigh that came out after leaving the room felt so much better now that he was out of the situation. "Nurse, I'm going to need someone to help her get back into her clothes."
One nods her head, leaving to go into Exam Room One. Another nurse hands him a file. Chase opens the folder before reading who his newest patient is and what they were here for. A boy without a name or age or anything for that matter. Notes included that the police brought him in, to be careful when dealing with him as well as a hurt arm. Nothing else was written. He looked at the nurse who just shook her head before pointing at the pair of police on either side of a boy. His arm was wrapped in a towel dripping blood.
"Um... the boy...?"
The police practically manhandle the boy after the doctor to Exam Room Three. All the boy did was glare at the men. Chase gestured to the table where the three quickly sat, settling down before looking at him. Chase sat down on the doctor's chair as he turned on the charm for the three males. The police looked about ready to drag him back to the station and lock the boy up. The boy was a different story. His eyes - which were heterochromia of blue and green- darted around uncertain and uneasy. His black hair was matty and dirty, greasy look to it. His clothes were torn and ragged-looking.
"I can assume the issue is the hurt arm, am I correct?"
The police. "Yes. Nothing else needs to be done. When you are done, we are going straight to the station."
The boy glared at the one speaking.
"Okay." Chase held out his hands. "Let me see the damage."
The boy kept his arm suctioned to his chest, now glaring at the doctor.
"It's okay. I just want to fix it." Chase inched closer to the kid in front of him, gently taking the arm in his grip. The boy yanked it back, hissing in pain. "Come on. Please. I promise not to be too rough."
"Just let him work, punk." The policeman went to smack the boy, Chase barely catching the hand on time.
"I think you two need to leave the room." Chase forced out, leading the men outside. He called a nurse over. "Get Cuddy down here."
Chase closed the door. His right hand rested on the doorknob, sighing as he knows he will have to still check on the child. The child in question still glared at him. He let his backrest against the closed door where he looked the boy up and down. "Can I look at your hand now?"
A random piece of medical material was thrown at him.
"Hey! Watch it." Chase stands up fully. "I just want to help you."
Chase watches the boy sit there. His chest rose and fell quickly, almost painfully so as he looked around the room. There was more to this kid than just a hurt arm. But Chase couldn't even get close to the kid to be able to tell. He very slowly rolls the chair to him, sitting down on the faux leather. The boy flinched at the sound. Chase heard a wheezing cough come out of the boy as he just glared at the sight before him.
Chase looked down at the floor like there would be a plan laid out right there. His eyes looked back up at the child who swayed slightly in his seat. More coughing ensued. Chase struggled not to help the boy when the boy had trouble breathing. It went against everything he took the oath for; saving the people under his care with the knowledge he gained from years of learning. Yet, this boy.
The air tense around them. Chase slowly walked his chair over to the exam table getting as close to the child as he could before getting another piece of equipment hitting him on his head. He reminded himself that all he could do was keep the child from bleeding to death. The situation reminded him of a case his father had back in Australia. A girl barely six years old was being sexually abused by her uncle, she killed herself to get away from it all. He had watched from outside the exam room.
Without speaking, Chase slowly raises his hands to place them over the bloody red towel. This time the boy never moved. He only watched the hands touching him with nervous glares. Gently, Chase removes the towel to see a very bad break. The next step was to sedate him to get the break replaced and a cast on his arm which he knew the boy would never consent to.
"Well, do you want to hear the good news or the bad first?" He dabbed at the blood. "It's a clean break so we can fix it easily enough...but you'll have to be sedated for it."
Surprisingly, the boy didn't fight him. Yet.
There was a knock on the door. The boy rips his arm away from Chase, the towel falling to the floor. Chase looks as Cuddy and House enter the room. He cursed under his breath at the older male he saw as a father figure, despite never admitting it. He didn't need the emotionless man that is House at the moment. He needed a feminine stature that will calm the boy.
"Why did you kick out two police officers guarding the boy?"
Chase rolled his eyes. "They were abusing their power. Trying to rush me, even tried to hit the kid."
"Yeah, and next they were stripping off their uniforms and doing the hula." House mocked him.
"I'm not qualified to deal with this type of trauma." Chase glanced at the boy who only took to glaring at the two newcomers. "He won't speak. He won't let me help him!"
Cuddy nodded, "I'll call Dr. Stone."
Chase followed the others out without looking back at the kid. It only took three minutes to call Dr. Stone and get her into the room. House, Cuddy, Chase, Cameron, and Foreman watched through the blinds to where the Doctor was talking to her patient. Everyone gasped when the kid threw another piece of equipment at Dr. Stone who barely dodged out of the way. She called for the nurses to help sedate him.
House started to limp towards the Exam Room. "You three coming? Our case is getting ready for surgery."
"You are taking the case?" Cuddy crossed her arms. "Why are you interested in the kid?"
"You didn't see it?" House looks back at the four lazing against the counter. "He is underweight. He has fast, labored breathing. With pneumonia."
"Pneumonia?" Cameron asked. "He has a cough. It means nothing."
"I forget it's so boring being you." House glanced back to the room where the nurses were chasing the boy around the room.
The boy runs out of the room, slamming the door in the females' faces. Chase watched as the boy runs around the nurse's station in a circle trying to dodge the open arms of any person trying to capture him. House sighed the nurses failed their mission in stopping the child from getting away as the Police officers also made to arrest the kid. Moving to stand near the outer edge of the room, House extends his cane out in front of him. The boy hits the cane barely. He stumbles to the ground, catching himself on his left hand. The kid sent a glare at House.
"Calmed down?" House taps his cane against the ground. He saw the child struggle to sit up. "Good. Now, get up in that wheelchair and let us take you to the room."
The boy shifted around to sit down, non-moving.
House played with his cane. "You deaf? Come on."
"House!" Cuddy warned.
"What? You want-"
House couldn't finish the sentence before a light thud. It was the boy gasping for air, rolling around a little in pain. His fingers crawled at his chest and neck as the blood on his bad arm dripped everywhere. Chase was the first one to move, not being in the norm for the youngest doctor. Foreman checks his airway. Cameron listened to his lungs.
"His lungs aren't working correctly. They sound watery."
Chase kept the boy's arms flush with the floor to save the bad arm from being useless. He didn't fight back or try to run this time, instead of holding Chase's arm with his good hand. A mask was placed on the kid's face by Cameron as she pressed it to create a seal around the airways. The kid still struggled to breathe properly. All House could do was groan and wait.
"I'll be waiting in my office whenever he is ready to be examined." House limped out of the clinic and up to his office space.
Chase just stared after him. "Did he just leave us?"
The boy had calmed down just enough to lay still in the doctor's arms.
~~~
The doctors and nurses finally got the boy asleep in a bed for the diagnosticians to treat him and hopefully get better. House and his team were sitting in his office conference room. Chase had taken the side closest to the windows while Foreman took the head of the table while Cameron sat across Chase. House stood near the whiteboard already writing symptoms on it.
"So we know the kid has shortness of breath when exercising. Labor breathing. Wheezing. Malnutrition." House points at each as they talk about the symptoms. "
Foreman shook his head. "We don't know he had shortness of breath only when exercising."
"Um...yes we do. Chase back me up here."
Chase looked around. "I don't know. He seemed in pain to me, with the broken arm and everything."
House rolled his eyes, "Anyways, all this is..."
Cameron spoke first. "It's either pneumonia or bronchitis."
"Test it then." House dismissed them all. "Oh, and Chase. You are on Kid duty. He seems to trust you for some odd reason."
Chase groaned before following the others out. He didn't want to deal with the emotional child who would most likely try to throw something at his head. Again. It wasn't that Chase hated kids, actually, he wanted a few in the near future. This was because he knew this boy was much different. He was scared. He was alone. He couldn't be a part of a normal family.
The boy was still asleep when Chase entered the room. His arm was wrapped up in a small brace with gaze sticking out, laying on a pillow beside him. The boy actually looked like a child. His black hair splayed out from his head on the pillow from rolling around in his sleep. The wrinkles on his face were smoothed out. He looked too small. Chase felt something tinge in his heart.
Cameron placed a hand on Chase's shoulder, "It's okay. He's asleep. I got the blood if you check his vitals."
"I'm not concerned with him waking up." He took the clipboard off the bed. "He's got a fever of 103.1."
"House told us to check for pneumonia, but I want to also check for a few other things."
Chase shook his head. "Wasn't pneumonia your idea?"
"Yeah, but malnutrition isn't a part of that illness."
"The cops brought him in. I don't think he was getting four-star meals." Chase glanced at the kid. "He looks so small."
"What did you say?"
Chase shook his head, "Nothing."
Cameron nodded as she left to go run tests. The breathing mask fogged up twice as fast as it should have. His O2 levels were really low. He ordered a chest x-ray while the kid was still asleep so they didn't have to worry about him hurting anyone else. Chase sighed as he left the boy back in the room to find House and the rest of the team to discuss his findings.
House lazed on his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. "So, what did you find?"
Foreman spoke first. "All labs point to pneumonia and bronchitis. One raging into the other. He lives on the streets so it's nearly impossible he hasn't shown any of these symptoms yet. This is an easy case. Still don't know why you would want to take this case."
"Except his pneumonia wouldn't case his low body growth," Cameron interjected.
"Do you even know his age? He's been living on the streets for what seems like quite a while." Chase offered. "For all we know, he is the perfect weight for his age."
"He's nine, ten." House clicked the cap back on the marker.
Foreman scoffed. "No way. He looks about five, six."
"I really cannot understand the mentality of you three. He can think far better than the six-year-olds. He just doesn't speak... which could be a symptom." House paced back to the board, picking up the marker. "Unless the lack of speech is caused by the illness." He wrote it down.
Cameron nodded. "So, what is it then? It can't be pneumonia or bronchitis, then."
Foreman shook his head. "Actually it can. Sore throats are easily caught because of the hacking involved. He probably just hurts too much to speak."
"Then he would show some of the signs. Rubbing his throat or convulsive swallowing." Chase supplied before House could.
Wilson let himself in at that moment. His eyes scanned the office, searching for something that wasn't in there. His mouth opened as if to mention something then a nurse tapped his shoulder, whispering into his ear. He nodded then came fully into the room. Then he looked under the table. Now, everyone was confused at the actions of Wilson who was looking for someone.
"Lost a hooker under my table?" House asked.
Wilson tapped his hand on the table. "Um... the kid you are treating is missing. A nurse went to check on him and he was gone."
Chase stood up when he noticed the boy in question sneaking into the conference room. He crawled under the table, drawing his knees to his chest the best he could with his cast. The boy flinched when he caught the other male's eyes in the other room. Chase just took something off House's desk to play with until the others left the room. House gave a lingering look at Chas before dismissing him so he can deal with the kid.
Chase slowly reaches for the door handle, pulling the glass door open. The kid was still watching him from under the table. Chase bent down to look at him. The boy glanced down at the floor, using his good arm to pick at the carpet. He still had a wheezing cough. His face looked flushed.
"I don't want to be there." The boy's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Why? We are just trying to help." Chase glanced around before looking back at the kid. "I understand if you are scared. I used to be afraid of the hospital too when I got my tonsils out"
"No. I'm not scared of the hospital." The boy glanced at Chase. "I hate people."
"Oh...well, that's understandable."
The silence stretched on.
"Axel."
Chase glanced at the kid. "Cool name. Mine's Dr. Chase."
"I like that."
Chase noted that the voice was a little raw, from underuse. His breathing was uneven and harsh to listen to. Axel scooted just a bit closer. Chase slowly felt Axel's forehead not really surprised at the heat he felt. Everything pointed to pneumonia being the secret killer but House thought it was something more. Chase couldn't see what else this could be. They checked off all other options.
A long, horrid cough escaped his mouth.
"Let's get you back to a bed."
"No." Axel shook his head.
Chase sighed, "How about if I stay in with you?" At the slight cringe. "Don't worry. The blinds will be open and nurses will be watching us. I'll just be there until you fall asleep."
...
"Okay."
Axel and Chase entered the room where he was previously sleeping. Chase helps the boy back into his bed, only touching him when the need arose. Axel was very capable of doing things on his own. His thin arms struggled to lift himself upon the bed, yet he only need a little push. Chase watched the kid settle on the bed as he coughed deeply into his arm. He also let the kid pull the blanket as close to his body as possible before Chase reconnected the IV line into his arm. Axel was being unexpectedly calm.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Axel placed his arm on the pillow Chase had placed for his cast.
A nurse ran into the room. "Thank you for finding him. Hope he didn't hurt you too much."
"He's good." Chase placed the final pad on the boy's chest to monitor him. "Still has a fever. Let's start him on antibiotics."
The nurse nodded.
Chase smiled at the kid. "I'll be back to check up on you soon."
The nurse administrated the drugs. Chase nodded as he left the room to find the team. He knew House would question his motives. Foreman could care less either way. Cameron hated knowing that the kid was in trouble and she could do nothing about it. Chase found them right where he thought they would be. Sitting down in his chair at his desk, House played with his grey and red ball by tossing it in the air.
"Heard you found our little escapee. How's the little brat doing?"
Chase pursed his lips. "Still got a fever, I restarted his antibiotics so we should start seeing improvement."
"Yes. Yes. How did his coughing sound?"
"Um...full of fluid. Like a normal boy with pneumonia would sound like." Chase took his seat.
House sighed, "Did it sound 'hiccupy' or like it went through a meat grater."
Chase shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. Meat grater?"
House hummed.
Cameron offered, "Why don't I look at the kid and see if I can't find out what is going on?"
"Axel," Chase said before he could stop himself. "That's his name."
House smiled. "Our little wombat is growing up. Already got himself a kid."
"He's not my kid. I was just about to get him to trust me."
Foreman smiled, "You do have a kid!"