Chase has managed to block a lot of the shooting out of his memory. Every now and then he gets flashes of random images – his hands painted bright red by House's blood, his boss lying still in a hospital bed, or asking for Ketamine just before he passed out again. But now Cuddy's making him go to a therapist – telling him that he can't treat any patients until he's cleared to – who is trying to make him talk about it, and Chase isn't sure if he can. Talking about it will just bring all those memories back to the surface and that's not something he wants.

So instead he talks about how his father left him as a child and how House has become a kind of father figure, even though it's not true. He refuses to recount what happened on that day, refuses to talk about how Foreman and Cameron had had to hold him back when the gun man had shot House. He doesn't talk about how it felt when the gun was pointed at him then, or the threats that were made if he tried to take a single step. He won't talk about finally getting to House and pressing his hands desperately to the wound in his boss' neck or helplessly watching Cameron trying to slow the bleeding from House's stomach. He doesn't bring up the fact that he had to be dragged away from House's body by Foreman when other doctors turned up to help, or that he broke down in Wilson's arms ten minutes later.

Chase doesn't tell the therapist about having to be sedated when he couldn't calm down, or how he slept for thirty hours afterwards and woke up to find out that House was going to be fine. He doesn't explain the emotions that ran through him when Wilson told him the news or how he felt afterwards when everyone treated him like he would break at the slightest sound or movement. And he sure as hell doesn't tell him that he felt like he'd break at the slightest thing.

He doesn't talk about sitting beside House's bed for three days until he woke up, or the feeling of intense relief that he felt when House mocked him for staying there all that time. He won't tell the therapist how fucking glad he felt to not only see House alive and well, but able to walk – and run – without his cane for the first time since he'd known the man. Or the extreme disappointment when the Ketamine treatment began to wear off. He doesn't mention that he was the first of all the people close to House to notice that it wasn't working as well as it had been, or how crushed he'd felt for House.

Chase doesn't describe how he found House in his office, blinds drawn and music blaring, crying – fucking crying – because he'd felt what it was like to walk properly again only to have it taken away once more. He doesn't talk about the desperate kiss that somehow ended up happening between them, or taking House home and staying with him, in his apartment – in his bed. He doesn't tell the therapist about being woken up by House's nightmares – and then waking House up with his own.

Chase doesn't really tell the therapist anything that's true, but a week later the doctor tells Cuddy that there is no reason that Chase shouldn't be treating patients. The Dean of Medicine is forced to allow her employee to start participating in differentials again rather than constantly working in the clinic. Everything is back to normal again, except that Chase and House come into work together most mornings, and both of them look like they barely sleep.