Pieces.
Summary: An accident brings Chase and Cameron back together; can they ever mend what once was? Or is it really the end for them.
Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
So this is set after Cameron leaves in Teamwork (SO SAD) and as a firm Chameron fan I refuse to believe that was it for them so I have decided to carry on my own version....Enjoy... .. .
Chapter 1.
Sometimes words are not enough.
It can be impossible to find the right words or even say anything at all so instead we use different looks and expressions. Looks and expressions can say so much, they can give away when we're happy, angry, sad or disappointed. There's this one look. The look on someone's face when you know they're going to tell you bad news. A mix a pity, sadness and sympathy that is an attempt to get you ready for the actual news, a dead family member, an accident, a confession. Robert Chase had not only seen this look too many times, but he'd given it too many times to the families of the patients that would enter his operating room and not come out. Which is why he was relieved that when he left the OR with House's latest patient, they were breathing. A pulse, a breath, maybe not perfect but at least it was something. Recent events had just helped concrete the idea that there was no such thing as perfect; you did what you could, fought for what you believed in and tried to live your life with no regrets the best you could. Perfection was not something that was on the cards for most people and only happened in fleeting moments.
"How did it go?" The anxious mother of House's teenage patient asked, looking a Chase pleadingly.
"I managed to repair the damage to your daughter's lungs but unfortunately we still don't know what's causing the damage so there's still a chance of this happening again and if it does we don't know if the lungs will be able to hold out. However we're hopeful everything will be ok and she's breathing on her own again." Chase answered the parents, placing on the mask of the confident surgeon rather than the mess that Cameron had left behind.
"What happened?" The father asked the familiar desperation in the eyes of any patients' family.
"Your daughter's lungs filled with blood before collapsing, leaving her unable to breath. However she's breathing on her own now." Chase repeated the small piece of good information, knowing how it would fill their hearts with joy, even if it was only for a second.
There were tricks you learn as a surgeon; you learn them in many different ways from many different mentors. Some you learn from your mistakes, telling a family member too much and sending them into depression and shock even though there's still a chance. Some you observe as you watch other doctors talk and reassure people. It wasn't cruel; it was about giving people hope that had none, so if there was a 1 percent chance that the patient could survive, you tell them that there's a chance, a slim, miniscule chance, but still a chance and then you fight your hardest to make sure they're the 1 percent.
"What's going to happen now?" The mother asked, looking at him for guidance.
"We'll monitor your daughter for any changes and-" Chase was cut off by Foreman making his way quickly towards him, Thirteen hot on his heels, both wearing an expression that Chase kept hoping he'd never see again...
..... ..... .....
Eric Foreman had never known perfection.
Life at the moment was good. It wasn't great, one of the people he considered a close friend had moved across the country, leaving his closest male colleague heartbroken and depressed. But other than that it was good, he was working with the woman he loved, seeing her every day, talking and laughing to her, slowly but surely beginning to win her forgiveness and maybe, one day her heart. So life was good.
"Any luck?" Thirteen asked, sitting down in the chair opposite Foreman and pulling the past medical records towards her, searching for anything they may have missed.
"Chase is repairing her lungs but we've still no idea what caused them to collapse or fill with blood." Foreman massaged his temples, reading through old case notes with similar symptoms.
"She's only 16." Thirteen muttered, but the phone interrupted them, "Who rings at half two in the morning?"
"Diognostics, Foreman speaking" Foreman answered,
"Eric? It's Owen...Owen Cameron." The voice on the other end did not sound like the confident, easy-going older brother of Allison Cameron that he'd met at her wedding.
"Owen? What's going on?" Foreman asked, his voice going suddenly serious and slightly urgent, causing Thirteen to look up from the papers on the desk and over to Foreman, looking worried.
"Allie's got herself into a car wreck and it really doesn't look good. I tried Rob at the apartment and his mobile but he's not picking up...and...he should know. I mean they're still married, they haven't even really looked at divorce, they're married....he should know....right?" Owen asked, his voice shaking and the words stumbling over one and another, "I'm not a doctor, I haven't got a clue what's going on, they won't tell me anything except that I should prepare myself, what does that even mean?!"
"Owen, take a deep breath." Foreman told him, "I'll find Chase and tell him, you just need to calm down, what happened?" Foreman asked, running a hand over his shaved head.
"She was on her way to pick up Lily when a lorry ran a red light. The lorry flipped the car a few times." Owen said his voice cracking as he said the last bit.
"Shit." Foreman mumbled, "Was Lily with her?" Foreman asked.
"No...Eric....I'm a teacher...I can't deal with this stuff, she's my little sister, nothings supposed to happen to her, I'm supposed to protect her from this."
Foreman finished up the conversation before turning to face Thirteen, "Cameron's been in an accident. It doesn't look good. We need to find Chase." Foreman's sentences were short and brief as he was still trying to grasp the information that he'd just received....
..... ..... .....
"Chase." Foreman reached the blonde Australian, unable to form the words to tell him what had happened.
"What's going on?" House, Taub, Cuddy and Wilson appeared next to them, looking as if they'd just finished arguing about something, nothing out the norm.
"It's Cameron." Foreman looked at Chase, "There was an accident and it doesn't look good."
"What do you mean an accident?!" Chase asked, his Australian accent becoming more pronounced as fear laced itself into his words.
"A lorry ran a red light, flipped her car. Owen rang and told me it didn't look good. He said they're telling them to prepare themselves." Foreman looked at Chase with sadness in his eyes.
"What...no..." Chase ran a hand through his recently cut hair, "I need to go." He told them before taking off down the corridor in a jog.
"She's at Chicago General." Foreman called after Chase as he broke into a sprint away from them, towards the exit. Foreman turned to the rest of the group, Cuddy had a hand over her slightly open mouth, Wilson was looking at House with concern on his face, House looked shocked, frozen in time, unable to move.
"Oh god." Cuddy mumbled, running a hand through her hair and pushing the strands she had loose off her face.
They stood in a group in the middle of a corridor, ignoring the parents, shock too dominant in their minds....
..... ..... .....
Robert Chase went straight to the airport, not stopping at his apartment for a set of clean clothes but breaking every speed limit to get there in what had to be a record time, skipping the queue to much disgruntle of the other passengers waiting to check in before he reached the front, ignoring the looks of confusion as the people took in what he was wearing, surgery scrubs with a suit jacket on top.
"I need the next flight to Chicago." He told the woman hurriedly, pulling out his wallet, passport and drivers licence the only things he had with him apart from his phone.
"The next flight leaves in forty-five minutes but it's full I'm afraid sir, the next isn't until tomorrow night." The lady in the polite voice they're trained to use.
"No, you don't understand, I need a flight, tonight, now!" Chase said, his voice rising in desperation.
"Sir, I can't get you on that plane." The woman continued a slight annoyance in her voice.
"You don't understand! Tomorrow could be too late! My wife was in a car accident and they said her chances are slim! I have to be there!" Chase cried desperately, "Please, I'm begging you, let me on this flight."
"Sir...I'm so sorry..." The lady was typing into the computer with speed, trying to help Chase.
"Please...I have to get there."
"A single business man's booked two seats..." She muttered to herself.
"Please." Chase begged, "I can't let her die without her knowing how I feel."
"It's first class." She told Chase, taking his credit card and swiping it through the machine, cancelling the business man's second seat and replacing it with Chase before handing him a ticket
"You could get fired." Chase muttered, looking at the lady with gratefulness in his eyes.
"Just go."
..... ..... .....
Lily Cameron had never been so terrified in her life. She was seventeen, she was supposed to be anywhere but here, in the waiting room of Chicago General's ER, in a dance that kept repeating, stand up, pace around, sit down, stand up, pace around, sit down. Something about the constant movement provided comfort, a rhythm, something she could control. No one could ever understand how terrifying it was to hear a paramedic answer her sister's phone and tell her that she was in critical condition as they transported her to Chicago General. The situation kept repeating itself over and over through her head, she was ringing because she's asked Allie to pick them up and it was taking her ages, she never expected this.
"Allie, pick up pick up pick up." Lily Cameron begged into the phone as she called her sisters mobile.
"Hello, Lil?" A voice answered, slightly raised so that she could be heard over the noise in the background.
"No it's some stranger with your sisters' phone." Lily joked sarcastically, "Course it's me. I need a favour."
"After that display of love, sure anything." Cameron teased back.
"Adam's cars' refusing to start and it's really late and a taxi home's going to cost a bomb. Mum and dad will already be asleep and Owen's probably turned in for the night too, could you please please please come and collect us?" Lily begged her older sister. "Where are you?" Cameron asked, rolling her eyes to herself.
"The new bar/club thing that just opened in town, Shot, Adam got a gig there so...Where are you?" Lily asked.
"I'm over at Jake and Eve's, it's Eve's birthday and Jake threw her a party." Cameron told her.
"No, it'll cost loads from there, I'll be thirty minutes." Cameron laughed slightly at her sisters attempt to backtrack.
"Crap, if you don't want to leave we can take a cab." Lily backtracked.
"Thank you thank you thank you, I love you, you're the best!" Lily exclaimed, hanging up the phone.
A hour later Lily and Adam were still stood outside Shot, leaning against Adams' old, beat up car that barely ran on a good day.
"Where the hell is she?" Lily muttered, hitting redial again.
"Relax, she was at a party, it takes at least half an hour to get away from those things." Adam reassured her, draping an arm around her shoulders.
"Hello, Allie! Finally, I've been calling for like, fifteen minutes!" Lily exclaimed.
"Hello? Who's this speaking?" An unrecognisable voice asked on the other end, causing Lily's heart to sink.
"Lily Cameron, Who are you and what are you doing with my sister's phone?" Lily asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"I'm a paramedic, your sister's Allison Cameron, correct?" The woman on the other end asked.
"Yes, why? Where is she? Is she ok?" Lily asked quickly, walking towards the road and attempting to flag down a taxi.
"I'm afraid not, your sister's in critical condition and we're transporting her to Chicago General"
Those words would never be erased from Lily's memory for as long as she lived.
"Lil, come on." Her boyfriend grabbed her hand softly and pulled her onto his lap, "Stop pacing."
Lily knew Adam Jones better than anyone else in the world, and right now he was feeling guilty. It was his car that broke down after their gig meaning that Allison had to come and get them, if he had a better car none of this would ever had happened, they'd be home, Allison would be asleep or working or doing anything but this.
"It's not your fault." Lily whispered, hugging him tight and kissing his forehead, "You didn't mean for your car to break, I called her, you wanted to take a taxi."
"It's not yours either." Adam whispered, stroking her hair gently, soothingly.
"I called her, I begged her to come and collect us." Lily felt the tears roll down her cheeks, along the tracks that were already there.
There was over a ten year age gap between the two sisters, Lily had been an accident, born almost exactly a month after Cameron's twelfth birthday. She looked a lot like her older sister, the same dark hair, and chocolate eyes however Lily was shorter and slightly skinnier. Despite their age and distance the sisters were close, talking at least once a week on the phone and over IM whenever they were both on. Lily was watching Owen, she'd never seen him so out of control, nervous, terrified. Her strong big brother was a wreck.
"It's not your fault." Adam repeated softly.
"What happened?" Two people in their late fifties were walking towards Owen, his wife Liz, Lily and Adam.
"Mum, Dad." Lily jumped up and hugged her parents.
"Lil, what happened?" Jennifer Cameron asked.
"Allie was coming to collect us, our car wouldn't start after the gig and a lorry skipped a red light." Lily cried in her father's arms.
"What did the doctors say?" Paul Cameron asked, looking at his son.
"To prepare ourselves." Owen chocked out, looking at his parents, lost and scared.
"We got through to Chase, he's on his way." Liz said softly, taking Owens's hand in his.
"Hasn't he done enough damage?" Paul growled, protective over his eldest daughter who'd only flown back into town two months ago to get away from him.
"Dad..." Owen whispered, "He deserves to say goodbye."
"He broke her heart, he deserves nothing." Paul muttered.
"We don't know what happened, she broke his heart to." Owen defended.
"This is not the time." Jennifer cut in, "Where's the doctor?"
"In surgery with her." Lily whispered, sitting back down next to Adam.
"So what can we do?" Paul asked, desperate for the littlest of things.
"Nothing, all we can do is wait." Lily whispered...
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So what do you guys think?
Should I continue?
Please review!
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