08x12 - Chase

[bunniefuu]

Cindy: You're bleeding through your bandage.

Chase: Good morning.

Cindy: Don't we need to get you to a doctor?

Chase: I am a doctor. That didn't come up last night?

Cindy: We didn't do a lot of talking.

[Chase’s phone vibrates.]

Chase: I'm good.

[He uses his hands to position his left leg into a sitting position, then takes up his crutches and goes into the bathroom. He is wearing black boxer shorts]

Cindy: You never told me what caused your accident.

Chase: I was stabbed by a patient. That'll teach me to overbill.

[Chase takes a pill, and peels away the bandage on his chest to examine his wound. His phone vibrates again. He hobbles back to the bed. Picking up his phone, he sees that he has a text message from House, which reads “ding ding.”

House: (seeing Cindy) If she likes crippled guys, I'm free for the next six minutes.

Chase: What do you want?

House: 45 year-old truck driver, recurrent seizures. No metabolic or structural…

Chase: (interrupting) Does this look like a good time?

House: Sort of. At least as good as the other 12 times that I've called and paged you in the last three weeks.

Chase: Those times I just didn't feel like talking to you. Kinda like now.

House: I'd apologize again, but I'm still waiting for you to accept the first one. (he pauses) You do work for me. I am entitled to ask when you're coming back.

Chase: I don't know when I'm coming back. I don't know if I'm coming back. Got a problem with that, fire me.


OPENING CREDITS

[Scene opens on Chase doing his physical therapy the PPTH. It is clearly taking a lot of effort as he grunts through each leg lift, his jaw muscles clenched. He finishes his set of leg lifts]

Therapist: (patting Chase on the shoulder) Nice.

[As the therapist leaves, the camera pans back to reveal Foreman]

Foreman: It's good to see you in the hospital, as a patient if not as a doctor.

Chase: Believe me, I'd rather be the guy with the clipboard.

[Chase limps over to a rack of towels and wipes his sweaty face]

Foreman: How you doing?

Chase: Arrhythmias are gone. Fine motor control is improving.

Foreman: Not what I meant. If you need to talk to someone, a professional…

Chase: I'm fine.

Foreman: Fine enough to get back to work? You don't have to work for House, but you do owe me 20 clinic hours.

Chase: What, getting knifed doesn't buy me an extension?

Foreman: Buys you whatever you need. But I know you. If all you do is physical therapy and your nighttime version of it, you'll lose your mind faster than you regain those fine motor skills. (Chase sighs)

[Cut to Chase crutching his way across the clinic. He is wearing his white coat and has a stethoscope draped around his neck. He enters an exam room to find two nuns. The younger, prettier nun is sitting on the exam table]

Moira: Uh, have this terrible pain in my left shoulder. It came out of nowhere.

Sister Joan: And nothing seems to help.

[Chase props his crutches against the wall and proceeds to examine Moira’s arm and shoulder]

Chase: Any other symptoms? Chest pain? Lightheadedness?

Moira: No. None at all.

Chase: What were you doing when the pain came on?

Moira: Just sitting and praying.

[Chase feels under her armpits]

Sister Joan: She'd been helping to make the altar breads that morning, but no hard physical work or repetitive motion.

Chase: A couple of possibilities. You have enlarged lymph nodes, so I'd like to start by ruling out breast cancer. And I do mean "rule out." It's probably nothing. (to Sister Joan) I'm gonna do a quick breast exam. Do you mind stepping out for a moment?

Sister Joan: Not at all. (she leaves)

Chase: (picking up Moira’s chart) That was so I could ask about the second possibility. Left-sided pain means it could be angina, which is made worse by stress. Might not be a coincidence that the pain started on the verge of a major life change.

Moira: How did you know?

Chase: Blue Veil means you're a postulant, haven't taken your vows yet. Brown Vestments means you're Carmelites, cloistered nuns, which explains the chaperone. (he pulls two latex gloves from a wall dispenser) You're about to withdraw from the world for good. I was a seminarian.

Moira: Who obviously didn't take his vows.

Chase: (pulling on the gloves) Cassock made my ass look fat. (Moira laughs) Do you mind unbuttoning your shirt and lying down for me?

Moira: Okay. I have had second thoughts. I'm kind of a wreck.

[Moira unbuttons her blouse and lies down on the exam table. Chase continues talking as he performs the breast exam]

Chase: A life of perpetual enclosure and almost complete silence? If you weren't wrestling with this, I'd say there's something really wrong with you.

[Chase pauses as he feels something during the exam]

Chase: I'm going to admit you. There's a little mass here, and I'd like to get it checked out.

Wilson: It's just a benign fat deposit. Her imaging's clean.

Chase: Stress test too. It's not angina. So why the shoulder pain?

House: (entering the room with Taub, Adams, and Park) Is it possible that she hurt her shoulder?

Chase: (to Wilson) Thanks a lot.

Wilson: I didn't tell him.

House: (to Wilson) You were cagey about where you were going. And Chase being cagey in general. Good chance I'd find the two of you in the same cage. So I had Park follow you.

Adams: (to Chase) How you feeling?

Chase: Better. Heard your arm's healing nicely.

Taub: Good to see you on your feet.

House: (he has picked up the patient file) Patient's a nun? You turning back to your long-abandoned faith in time of trouble?

Chase: She was next up in the clinic. (taking the file from House) And I don't want your help.

House: You got stabbed. You blame me.

[House pops open his Vicodin bottle and dry swallows some pills]

House: But what did you learn about me that you hadn't known for years?

Chase: Maybe I was an idiot before and I'm not one now.

House: Or maybe the reverse is true.

Chase: (looking back at Wilson) Thanks for all your help.

[Chase crutches toward the door, but is stopped by House’s cane jammed against the wall in front of him]

House: (leaning in close) Your soul sister is having a fungal infection from the unprocessed wheat in the altar breads. Explains the shoulder pain and the jumbo lymph nodes.

[Chase does not respond. House removes the cane and Chase leaves]

House: (calling out to Chase) Thanks for all my help.

[Cut to Chase crutching down the corridor. Park rounds a corner and quickly catches up to him. They continue on down the hall together]

Park: I'm… I'm sorry I led House to you.

Chase: It's part of the job.

Park: Maybe we could get a meal after work tonight, if you want some companionship.

Chase: (stopping to face her) You asking me out on a date?

Park: No. I just… I guess that sounded… must be scary to be back. All those knives and needles. Infected blood and tissue everywhere you look. Just thought you might need someone to talk to about it.

Chase: Just knowing you're there for me is enough. Thanks. (Chase leaves Park standing in the hallway)

[Cut to Chase starting an IV line for Moira]

Moira: Ever surf Kirra Point? Obviously you're Australian.

Chase: I've surfed all over the Gold Coast. Don't tell me you have?

Moira: The closest I got was Waimea Bay. I grew up on Maui.

Chase: If you don't mind me asking, why are you becoming a nun?

Moira: You asking 'cause I surf?

Chase: Well, I know that Jesus walked on water but… (Moira giggles) Plus the average postulant is a lot younger than you. What were you doing before this?

Moira: Not much of anything. Worked as a nanny. Moved around a lot. Bunch of failed relationships.

Chase: And then what? God spoke to you? You heard the calling?

Moira: Something like that. Does there have to be some dramatic moment where the skies part?

Chase: Usually, yeah.

Moira: Is that what happened to you when you entered the seminary?

Chase: Mom drank, dad worked. They stuck me in catholic school. Priests and nuns were the closest I had to family. Turned out that wasn't much of a reason to join the priesthood.

Moira: Is that why you left?

Chase: Something like that.

Moira: (sitting up in the bed) I think, I may throw up.

Moira: What's wrong with me?

Chase: Not a fungal infection.

[Cut to Chase approaching House on the balcony above the main hospital lobby. House is filling a balloon with soda. He pulls the balloon off the soda bottle and ties it closed]

House: You're probably wondering, why the soda balloons?

Chase: I'm not.

House: Well, I'll tell you. You're not the only one whose life spiraled out of control when you got knifed in the ventricle. Taub has decided…

Chase: (interrupting) I need help with my patient. She's vomiting. That's not from a fungal infection.

House: What are you planning to do now that you're not working for me?

Chase: I have no idea. Almost dying's been clarifying. I can do anything.

House: You can do anything. So you come back to the same building you've worked in for years. Guess you can cross that off your bucket list.

Chase: Can we get to my patient sometime soon?

House: As soon as you admit that you're a confused mess, sure.

Chase: You'll help me. 'Cause even though you don't find my case interesting, you find my interest in it interesting.
House: Well, when you put it that way… Ascending colangitis.

[House spies Taub walking under the balcony and drops the balloon. It lands beside Taub]

Taub: (looking up) Missed me.

[Taub practically runs toward the front doors]

Chase: Can't be, bilirubin's normal.

House: (grabbing up another soda balloon) Clinical signs can show up days before lab signs.

[House throws the second balloon at Taub, who is almost to the front doors. He misses]

Taub: (looking back up at House) Ha ha ha!

[Chase crutches away, anxious to test out House’s new diagnosis]

House: This is great. We should make this a regular thing.

[Cut to Chase entering Moira’s room. There is a nurse standing by the bed]

Nurse: She can't feel her foot at all.

[Chase feels Moira’s foot]

Moira: What does this mean?

Chase: It means I've got to spend more time consulting with a colleague.

[Cut to Chase reluctantly approaching the diagnostics department. Adams and Park are sitting at the table. Taub is standing by the door to House’s office. The are discussing a patient]

Adams: Ketosteroid levels are low. How can he be hyper-sexual?

House: He tried to tongue-kiss Park when you were closer. You think his sexuality is normal?

[Chase struggles through the door]

Chase: I need more help. My patient has a new symptom. Ischemic foot. Get the lecture out of your system so we can talk about my case.

House: Let me start with an allegory.

[House hangs his cane on the whiteboard, then quickly plucks a paintball g*n from behind the whiteboard and sh**t at Taub, who deflects the bright pink paintball with a cafeteria tray]

Park: (jumping back in fright) Ah.

[House sh**t 3 more times, hitting the glass wall twice and the tray once more as Taub attempts to dodge the paintballs]

Chase: Okay, I'm curious.

House: Your overreaction to your stabbing is to blame me even as you are drawn to me. Taub's is to take moronic self-defense classes that won't defend him against anything.


Taub: Krav Maga. Which helped me block your sh*t and will continue to help me defend myself in a building full of drugged-up strangers.

House: Taub has to accept that by instinct and genetics he is a coward, who's better off running and hiding at the first sign of danger.

Taub: I've already fended off six of your blitzkriegs in a row.

House: And the seventh? And the eighth? And the Nth?

Chase: If you get him, what's that gonna prove?

House: That unexpected things happen. By definition, no class can teach you to expect them. Which is why Taub is idiotic to study them, and you're idiotic to attach any significance to them.

House: (putting the paint g*n down on the table) Blood clot.

[Taub lays the tray down on the table also]

Chase: Her D-dimer's normal.

House: On the other hand…

[House pulls a toy sword with a pink and green hilt out from under the conference table and att*cks Taub, who manages to wrestle it away from House]

Taub: Yah!

[House steps back from Taub, clutching his right thigh and a little unsteady on his feet]

Adams: What if he's right about the blockage but wrong about the cause? Vasospasm.

Chase: That explains everything but the lymph nodes. And any minor infection
could have caused those.

House: Calcium channel blocker to treat. (Chase takes up his crutches and leaves)

[Cut to Chase using a crutch tip to push the elevator button. Adams approaches as he waits for the elevator]

Adams: You okay?

Chase: I almost got you k*lled by bringing a scalpel into that room. I could feel better about that.

Adams: You saved my life too. I think the ledger's clear. But how can you not be traumatized?

[The elevator arrives and Chase enters]

Chase: Can't change what happened. Can only make better choices from here.

[Adams holds the elevator door open as she talks to Chase]

Adams: So you're Zen about it but won't let go of your anger toward House? I'm seeing a trauma counselor. I think you should too.

Chase: I'm okay. Just knowing you're there for me is enough. (He sighs as the elevator doors close)

[Cut to Chase at Moira’s bedside. He picks up an iPod which is lying on the bed]

Chase: Convent lets you have this?

Moira: I borrowed it from one of the nurses. I'm still on temporary vows. It may be the last time I hear Eminem for a while.

Chase: You're using an iPod. But I've never seen you use rosary beads.

[Chase limps over to the other side of the bed]

Chase: What day did Jesus die?

Moira: I know, one gospel says Passover; another says the day before.

[Chase puts his fingers on Moira’s neck to check her pulse, looks at the monitor screen, then taps it twice]

Chase: How many times did the cock crow before Peter's third denial? Once or twice?

Moira: You can't argue away my faith.

[Chase picks up Moira’s chart and sits down on a bedside stool]

Chase: Why? Because it's so strong even plain contradictions…

Moira: (interrupting) Because it's not that strong. I'm not saying I don't have faith. I just haven't felt the calling yet.

Chase: No one joins the clergy without having that epiphany. That God's love is speaking to you directly.

Moira: It's the silence, the contemplation, the order. I need them. Hoping everything else will come later.

Chase: That's not an answer. If you want silence, you can get ear plugs.

Moira: I tried the outside world. It wasn't enough.

Chase: Ever been married?

Moira: No.

Chase: No kids. You never found a career. Doesn't sound like the outside world got much of a try. What you're headed towards now, 14 hours a day in silent prayer, never having a family, never touching another human being.

Moira: Just because that's what you'd miss the most. The nurses talk.

Chase: (shaking his head) Nothing's wrong with having fun.

Moira: They said you were almost k*lled three weeks ago. You go right back to fun?

Chase: Is that why you wanna be a nun? Someone broke your heart?

Moira: No. I'm just looking for something more.

Chase: So am I.

[Chase looks at his watch and signs Moira’s chart]

Chase: I'm late for work in the clinic.

[He puts the chart on the foot rail of the bed, grabs his crutches and leaves]

[Cut to Chase knocking on an exam room door in the clinic. He opens the door to find Taub sitting on the exam table. Chase opens the chart he is carrying and reads the patient name]

Chase: Really? George Washingbaum?

Taub: He was a character in the Flintsteins. Just hiding out till House leaves the cafeteria.

[Chase starts to leave the room, then turns back to Taub]

Chase: The self-defense classes, you think they're making any kind of difference?

Taub: Not as much as House's surprise att*cks. He thinks three steps ahead, so I do too. Which is why you should accept his apology and come back on the team. He's annoying, he's maddening, but he makes us all better.

Chase: (tossing down the chart) Note to self.

[Cut to Moira’s hospital room later that evening. She is dressed and sitting on the bed while Chase examines her foot. Sister Joan stands nearby]

Chase: Foot color's good. Arterial pulse is good. Capillary refill's good.

Sister Joan: And her shoulder pain’s all gone.

Chase: Looks like your ready to go…home.

Sister Joan: I’ll get the car and meet you out front. (She leaves)

[Moira finishes pulling up her sock, then stands, looking a bit wobbly]

Chase: I’d say I’m in the book but not the one you’ll be reading from now on.

[Moira gives Chase a wistful smile, then Chase turns to retrieve his crutches, which are leaning against the wall]

Moira: Six years ago I…was a nanny in Honolulu. (Chase turns to look at her) For this beautiful two-year old boy. I loved him, probably spent more time with him than his own parents. One day I was in the park talking with another nanny. He wandered out of the sandbox, into the street, into the path of a moving car.

Chase: That could have happened to anyone.

Moira: I don't think so. And even if it did, they'd blame themselves for the rest of their lives too.

Chase: You shouldn't. (Chase limps across the room to stand in front of Moira) You shouldn't run from what can still be a good life.

Moira: I'm running to God. After what happened to you, don't you wanna remake your life?

Chase: Not by hiding myself away. I hope it works out for you.

Moira: (she nods) It is gonna be hard. Not touching anyone.

[Chase takes her hand in his and strokes her fingers with his thumb. They look at each other for a moment, then Chase drops her hand. Moira picks up her bag from the bedside table and walks out of the room. Chase watches through the doorway as Moira sits down in a wheelchair, waiting for her just outside the door, and is pushed away by a nurse. The look on his face suggests he is regretting what could have been]

[Cut to Chase leaving Moira’s room, only to find House sitting on the nurse’s station counter as Chase approaches with Moira’s chart]

House: Who knew mother inferior was a smoking hottie. No wonder you're playing handsies with her.

Chase: (tossing the chart on the counter) You think I'm hitting on a nun? Angry at God or I just need a challenge?

House: Or you're terrified of intimacy, which is why you're a serial slut. But right now you're grasping at an emotional life raft. Ideally someone for whom intimacy's not an option. That actually makes sense, which I can't say about anything else you've been doing.

Chase: I'm not emotionally involved with her. And much as I'd love to hear you contradict me, I have a 7:30 appointment to explore my intimacy issues at La Scala. (House stops and Chase leaves him behind)

[Cut to La Scala, where Chase is having dinner with another pretty young woman]

Leisha: I'm talking to this agent. He's a bit of a sleaze. But he's really excited about representing me.

[Chase is resting his chin on his hand and is trying very hard to pay attention to his date, but his eyes keep wandering]

Leisha: Although he can't take on any new clients right now, he's trying to get me an audition for one of those online soaps. Have you ever watched one of those? (Chase is not listening) Am I boring you?

Chase: (pausing for a second) Unfortunately, yeah. Sorry. (he sits back in his chair, looking uncomfortable)

[Cut to Chase crutching down the hallway of his apartment building. He turns a corner to find Moira sitting on the floor beside his apartment door. Apartment #2]

Moira: Hi.

Chase: You're not supposed to be here. Or anywhere.

Moira: (she stands) You were right. I was running away.

[Moira takes Chase’s right hand in both of hers and they kiss. The kiss becomes more passionate. Chase manages to get his door unlocked and they stumble inside, still kissing. The door closes behind them]

[Cut to early the next morning. Moira is sitting on the side of the bed. She pulls a T-shirt over her head]

Chase: Oh, now you're shy.

[She turns, climbs back under the covers and snuggles up to Chase, who takes her in his arms]

Moira: It's brighter in the morning.

Chase: So, are we gonna spend the rest of eternity in a lake of fire while pointy-tailed demons poke at us with sticks?

Moira: This is a little scary for me. I had a whole life planned. Not that I wasn't struggling with it. And then I met you. Don't worry, I know you're not the relationship type.

Chase: I'm not, not the relationship type. I was married once.

Moira: (propping herself up on one elbow so that she can look at him) Relax. You're fine.

Chase: (he strokes her hair) So what's next for you?

Moira: I have to find a place to live. Get my old job back. Sure, I'll feel guilty, start doubting.

Chase: As long as you keep dealing with your doubts in the same way then… Moira?

Moira: sorry, did you say something?

[Chase pushes Moira’s hair aside so he can see her neck better]

Chase: (looking concerned and struggling into a more upright position) Your neck.

Moira: What?

Chase: Are your ears ringing?

Moira: Yeah. What does that mean?

[Moira suddenly coughs blood all over Chase’s bare chest and neck]

Chase: We've got to get you back to the hospital right away.

[Cut to Chase driving Moira to the hospital]

Chase: The artery that's bringing blood to your brain, it's coming apart. Means you could stroke. I've paged a team of our best doctors.

Moira: I don't have to cough as much.

Chase: It's clotted up.

Moira: Is that bad?

Chase: We're almost there.

[Cut to Chase rushing Moira into the ER. Park (dressed in street clothes) is there along with the ER staff. They get Moira onto a gurney]

Chase: (to Park) Get me her O-two level. What are you doing?

Park: I want to make sure I can position her wrist properly.

Chase: For what?

[Chase motions to the ER nurse who hands him her stethoscope]

Park: A.B.G.

Chase: I don't need an A.B.G., just get a pulse OX. (Park looks confused) I'll do it. Grab a consent form. (to Park) Go! (to Moira) We need to operate right now, okay?

[Park hurries away]

Moira: (sounding confused) Good to operate.

Chase: Repeat this: no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Moira: No about it and no ifs.

Chase: Get her into O.R. eleven.

[The nurses and orderlies put up the rails of the gurney and head to the O.R. Chase follows, putting his hand over the wound on his chest]

Chase: Carotid dissection, four-inch pulsatile mass in her neck, and some Broca's aphasia. It's got to be a clot keeping her from bleeding out.

[House comes into the room]

Taub: Pulse?

Chase: Bounding, four-plus. It was a three-plus 20 minutes ago.

House: Twenty? Thought she just got here. (pulling back Chase’s shirt to look at the blood on his neck) That blood looks pretty dry. Cut yourself shaving? You know, that can happen when the nun you woke up with coughs blood on you.

Taub: You slept with a nun?

Adams: Forget nun, you slept with a patient?

Chase: Former, to both.

House: Internal neck trauma, that's impressive. It's happened to me a few times. (raising his hand in the air) Up high.

Nurse: (opening the door to the scrub room) Dr. Chase.

[Moira is now bleeding heavily from her nose]

Chase: Clot’s broken. Bring her in and pack her nose. I'm gonna need number three Vicryls. (to Moira) I'm gonna fix this.

Adams: You're not gonna operate on her.

Chase: Kapur and Carlyle are unavailable. Reilly's done far fewer dissections than I have.

Taub: He's also slept with her far fewer times than you have.

Adams: Your judgment's compromised.

Chase: I spent the night with her. Doesn't change how I make an incision.

Adams: (to House) Tell him!

House: Do the surgery.

Adams: You're trying to score points with him at the risk of a patient's life.

House: He’s the better surgeon.

[Cut to the O.R. where Chase is operating, with Taub and Adams assisting]

Chase: Vascular clamp.

Taub: You're not gonna put her on bypass?

Chase: It'd take a half hour to set up.

Adams: You clamp now, she could stroke out.

Chase: She's already got neurological symptoms. We wait 30 minutes, she'll definitely have brain damage.

Adams: You're trying to make sure she's either perfect or dead.

Chase: She's not going to die. If I get this done in five minutes, she won't stroke out.

Adams: You don't know that you will. And you can't know because you can't think clearly about her.

Chase: (firmly) Vascular clamp.

[Chase puts the clamp in place, then looks up at the clock]

Chase: Occlusion time 9:46 and 24 seconds. Vascular scissors.

[Chase removes the clot and repairs the dissection]

Adams: (looking up at the clock) We're over five minutes.

Chase: Ultrasound.

[A nurse hands Chase the ultrasound wand which he places over the surgical site on Moira’s neck]

Chase: Good flow. Lighten the anesthesia.

Taub: You're not gonna close the wound first?

Chase: No.

[Moira coughs and begins to gain consciousness]

Chase: (to Moira) Can you hear me? (she nods) Repeat this: no ifs, ands, or buts.

Moira: No ifs, ands, or buts. (Chase sighs with relief)

[Cut to Chase crutching down a hospital hallway. Park runs to catch up with him]

Park: I'm sorry about before.

Chase: (stopping to face her) You're scared, aren't you? That's why you wanted companionship. That's why you cried out when House sh*t at Taub. What exactly are you scared of? A needle stick? Some other nut pulling a scalpel?

Park: I'm scared of everything.

Chase: It sucks that there was a stabbing. But you'll get over it.

Park: Like you have?

Chase: You weren't even there.

Park: I know, I… I left the room. It was pure luck.

Chase: I was in the room. That was pure luck too. I get that you're scared and guilty. You're still a doctor. I don't have time to teach you to act like one.

[Chase leaves her and approaches House, who is sitting in the main waiting area]

Chase: We removed the artery. I found nodules.

House: Could mean lupus.

Chase: Negative A.N.A. (House gets up) Where are you going?

House: Great thing about assigning Taub fraudulent lab work is you know exactly where he's gonna end up. Great thing about assigning Taub obviously fraudulent lab work is you get to watch his inner paranoiac at work.

[House has moved to stand behind a support post. He peeks around the post and sees Taub walking toward him]

House: And then…

[He takes a super soaker water g*n out of a nearby waste can and peeks around the post]

House: Two to the head.

Chase: Can we talk about my patient?

House: Quite a journey. Starts with a surgical tool in your heart and ends with a surgeon's tool in a nun. What's the plan?

Chase: Plan's to cure her.

[House continues to surreptitiously track Taub’s progress down the corridor.

House: Well, if it's not meaningless sex, kinda screams out for an end game. You're the dog that's chasing the popemobile. You sure you want…

[House peeks around the post and sees Taub talking to a janitor who is mopping the floor]

House: Oh, my God. Taub is interrogating the janitor. He must think that I hired him to att*ck… actually, why didn't I do that? Plaques could be confused for nodules. Which would mean…

Chase: Syphilis.

House: Explains the shoulder and foot involvement. Hope you practiced immaculate contraception.

[Taub has left the janitor and is getting closer to the post House and Chase are standing behind]

House: Lock and load.

[House jumps out if front of Taub and pulls the trigger on the water g*n]

House: (loudly) Boo-yah!

[The g*n, however, squirts House in the face, rather than Taub]

House: (sputtering as the water hits his face) Pfft!

Taub: (calmly) Boo-yah to you too.

[Cut to Chase talking to Moira in her hospital room]

Moira: But I hadn't had sex in years.

Chase: Tertiary syphilis means you've had the disease for at least that long.

Moira: Does that mean you also have it?

Chase: Probably not contagious at this point.

Moira: Can it cause hallucinations?

Chase: It's unlikely. Why?

Moira: While I was on the operating table, it didn't feel like a dream. I saw the boy who I was caring for. The one who d*ed. He walked right up to me.

Chase: What did he say?

Moira: He just held my hand. It was like he forgave me. Do you think that's crazy?

Chase: I think it should give you solace, help you to move on.

[Someone knocks on the room door. Chase turns to see Foreman and Adams in the doorway. He looks resigned to being reprimanded by Foreman]

[Cut to the surgical scrub room]

Foreman: You slept with your patient? You're off the case.

Chase: I saved her from brain damage. You think my judgment's the least bit compromised?

Foreman: She's still sick. If she dies, we'll be in the middle of a brand-new investigation.

Chase: This is about you covering your own ass.

Foreman: I gave you time, leeway, and you decided to do whatever the hell you wanted.

Chase: House can dance all over the rules, gets me knifed, and he gets a pass. I break a rule, no one gets hurt, but you kick me off my own case?

Foreman: Unfortunately, yes. (he leaves)

Adams: I'm sorry.

Chase: (angrily) I took that scalpel for you.

Adams: That's why I did this. Three weeks ago, you never would have slept with a patient. And you never would have operated on her after. You need help.

Chase: I need to get away from House and everything that reminds me of him.

Adams: By breaking the rules, not caring what anyone else thinks. You're gonna get away from him by turning into him? (Adam’s pager beeps)

[Cut to Adams a and Chase rushing into Moira’s room. There is a nurse standing beside the bed holding the chart. Moira is clutching her abdomen]

Moira: It hurts.

[Adams pulls apart Moira’s gown and feels her stomach and abdomen]

Adams: Right upper quadrant, pain and distension.

Moira: What's wrong with my stomach?

Adams: (taking the chart from the nurse) Nothing. This is your liver.

[Cut to the entire team discussing the case in a hallway. Chase is no longer wearing his white medical coat since he is now, officially, off the case]

Park: The liver failure could be from intraoperative hypotension.

Chase: Checked the anesthesia sheet, pressure was fine throughout. Thrombus?

House: That voice in the hall that none of us have any reason to be listening to is, not surprisingly, wrong. Abdominal ultrasound was negative.

Adams: Then we have to assume liver failure is just another symptom of whatever she's got.

Taub: Trousseau's syndrome could send clots, cause the ischemic foot. Add the enlarged lymph node, macrocytosis.

Park: Disseminated T-cell lymphoma.

Chase: Wilson said it wasn't cancer.

House: Wilson says it's not breast cancer.

Chase: Sarcoidosis.

Adams: Normal ace level.

Chase: Highly insensitive for sarcoid.

Taub: Negative chest X-rays aren't.

Chase: Then we've got to biopsy.

House: Yeah, Foreman's clearly wrong. You're clearly not grasping at straws 'cause you're clearly not emotionally involved. I know you want to believe that this is something we can cure. It's not. I'm sorry. (the team disperses, leaving Chase standing alone in the hallway)

[Cut to Chase sitting at Moira’s bedside]

Moira: How soon will they know if it's cancer?

Chase: Within hours.

Moira: And if it is?

Chase: There's always chemo.

Moira: You say that like it's not gonna work.

Chase: Could extend your life.

Moira: Years?

[Chase shakes his head than rests his hand on top of hers]

Chase: I'll be here as much as you need.

Moira: You still never told me why you left the seminary.

Chase: Mary Knoller. Wife of the groundskeeper. He caught me with her, got me with a rake. Those scars on my ass you may have noticed.

Moira: (she laughs) Why didn't you tell me that before?

Chase: Because it was so shallow. I wasn't exactly wrestling with great theological questions.

Moira: I don't believe that. You don't sleep with the groundskeeper's wife, not unless you're struggling with whether you belong there.

Chase: I always wanted to believe. It would have made my life a lot easier. It never took.

Moira: (haltingly) Doesn't… mean… it's too late.

Chase: Are you having trouble talking, like before?

Moira: I can get the words out. Just feels heavy when I do.

Chase: Where?

Moira: (touching her jaw) Wherever my chewing muscles are.

Chase: I'll be right back.

[Cut to Chase crutching quickly down the hall toward House’s office. He passes the janitor who is mopping the floor, and Taub who looks slightly disheveled]

Chase: (to Taub as he turns the corner) House finally got you.

Taub: He tried but…

Chase: I gotta go.

Taub: You shoulda seen it. It was perfect.

[Out of the blue, the janitor att*cks Taub and takes him down as Chase continues on to House’s office. House is sitting at his desk when Chase rushes in]

Chase: She has jaw claudication. If you only heard claudication and carotid dissection…

House: I'd say giant cell arteritis. And I'd tell your former teammates to put her on steroids.

Chase: She's gonna live.

House: Yeah. And then what? (Chase hurries out)

[Cut to Moira’s room. Chase leans his crutches against a chair and takes off his sweater vest]

Moira: They say my liver function's better. That I can get out of here soon.

Chase: (limping over to the bed) And when you do, I'm gonna take you to Puerto Escondido.

Moira: Mexico?

Chase: The Mexican pipeline. Early May is when the surf really picks up but… what's wrong?

Moira: I spoke to the prioress.

Chase: You're going back?

Moira: I felt the calling.

Chase: When you saw the boy.

Moira: I felt God's love, his grace. I've been waiting my entire life for that.

Chase: It's not real.

Moira: I know you didn't feel anything when you almost d*ed. I did.

Chase: You felt oxygen depravation. You felt your brain releasing noradrenaline.

Moira: You didn't say that before.

Chase: I wanted you to move on with your life. I wanted to reassure you. I wanted you to feel better.

Moira: And now you don't?

Chase: Now… I think I love you.

[Cut to Chase sitting in front of a laptop in the diagnostics conference room. House appears and looks over his shoulder at the screen]

House: (reading from the computer monitor) "Noradrenaline and near-death experiences." Oh, dear. You saw God?

Chase: She did. She wants to go back to the monastery.

[Chase hits a key, then gets up and moves toward the printer]

House: So now you're preparing a Powerpoint presentation to keep her in your garden of earthly delights. You're an idiot.

Chase: Because I found someone I love?

House: Because you're an idiot. (House pops some Vicodin) At least you two have that in common.

Chase: Her feelings are based on a chemical process. They're gonna wear off.

House: You just slept with her. Your brain is exploding with oxytocin. You think that's gonna last through the ages?

Chase: (picking up his printout and moving toward the door) She's throwing away her life because of blind faith.

House: So are you! She's found something she wants to build her life around. It's a total illusion, but apparently she'll take a little ignorance with her bliss. And you want to take that away?

Chase: How many times have you thrown the truth in people's faces?

House: Because it's the truth, not because we're gonna live happily ever after.

[Chase limps around the table and picks up his crutches]

House: Either your relationship just blows up like every other non-magical romance, or she stays with you but blames you for stripping all the meaning out of her life.

Chase: (angrily) This has nothing to do with the truth. You don't like that I'm reassessing my life, that I want to change it, that I can.

House: Anyone can screw up a life. I never said that wasn't possible.

Chase: You're incapable of human connection, so you want everyone to be like you.

House: If I wanted you to be like me… I would be urging you to make a stupid, stubborn decision that blows up your life and leaves you lonely and miserable. You reassess your life when you've made mistakes. You didn't. You just got stabbed. (Chase leaves)

[The last scenes of the episode are accompanied by Ben Howard’s Promise, played on an acoustic guitar]

[Chase crutches to Moira’s room, where he stands in the hallway and watches her as she prays with her rosary beads. He drops the computer printout in a wastebasket, then enters her room and sits down on the bed. Moira reaches up and hugs him]


[Cut to Chase crutching down the hallway outside the surgical ward. He sees Park inside a patient’s room. She is reading a procedure manual. Chase enters the room]

Chase: Don't look at the book.

Park: I haven't done a jugular line since my residency. I don't want to needle the carotid.

Chase: What's the first step?

Park: Palpate the S.C.M.

Chase: Where?

Park: Middle third of the neck.

[Chase nods toward the patient, who appears to be unconscious. Park goes to the patient’s bed and places her fingers on his neck, looking up when she finds what she is looking for. Chase nods, looking proud]


[Cut to Moira’s room as she prepares to leave the hospital. She is dressed in her simple blouse and skirt and the blue veil. Sister Joan is there, along with Chase. Moira finishes packing and approaches Chase]

Chase: I'm happy I knew you.

Moira: So am I.

[Chase smiles at her and nods at Sister Joan, who nods back. Then Chase leaves the room. He stops and turns when Moira comes to the doorway and calls out to him]

Moira: Robert.

[Moira comes up to him and takes his hand in both of hers. She smiles up at him, looking like she might cry. He reluctantly lets go of her hand and turns away from her as she goes back into the room]

♪♫ And maybe, just maybe I’ll come home ♪♫

[Cut to another day. Chase approaches the diagnostics department, limping slightly, but without crutches. He is clean-shaven, wearing his white coat, and ready to get back to work. The rest of the team, and Foreman, are discussing their newest case as Chase walks in and sits down at the table. They all look at him. Foreman slides a copy of the file over to Chase as they continue with the differential]

Foreman: 40 year-old water treatment worker with pyrexia and double vision.


House: … You said he worked in a sewer…

Taub: Abscess?

Adams: Would have seen it on the MRI.

Chase: Diphtheria paralyzing the ocular muscles?

[House is watching Chase. He gives him a slight nod of approval, which Chase acknowledges with a return nod]

Park: No, paralysis was first. Aneurysm?

Taub: Not with this fever. Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way. Retro-ocular infection?

Park: With no local symptoms?