A/N Okay, I did tons of research, honestly, but I still don't think that everything will be correct. Please forgive me for mistakes; I have pretty much no medical knowledge. I still hope that everyone likes this. Sorry if it's a bit awkward, but I did the best I could. Here's the next chapter.

Chapter 8: A new problem

Foreman groaned. "Great. Wonderful. What do we do now?"

"Well, if this damn elevator would go a bit faster, we can rush him into surgery right away," House said, banging the wall with frustration. Chase was curled up into a little ball, moaning in pain.

"There's a chance that he can get peritonitis," Cameron said worriedly.

"Well, we'll deal with that if it happens. Can you go a bit FASTER?" House roared, kicking the elevator door. It dinged, then opened. They rushed out. "We need to get him to an OR!" House yelled to the crowd in general. They pushed through everyone, and finally reached an operating room. There was already a surgeon preparing for the surgery. "Can you hurry up a bit?" House said, glancing at the surgeon. His nametag read Dr. Thomas Pearson.

"I'm hurrying, but you didn't exactly give me a warning," Pearson mumbled.

"Well, sorry if we were stuck in the world's most slowest goddamn elevator!" House said.

After a few minutes that seemed like forever, Chase was finally being prepped for surgery. He was given a sedative by injection, then an IV needle into his forearm, where he was receiving the anesthetic. The surgeon decided to perform an open appendectomy; it would most probably be the fastest. As he prepared to make the cut, Foreman and Cameron headed up into the observation room. House stayed in the operating room.

The surgeon made a careful incision through the skin and fat. He separated the muscles of the wall, revealing the peritoneum. He carefully cut the peritoneum, now revealing the cecum, or the section of the colon that the appendix is attached to. He cautiously moved the small intestine, then very slowly but surely removed the ruptured appendix. He put it in a steel bowl that would later be sent to the lab.

"So…do you think Chase will be okay?" Cameron asked Foreman nervously, trying to break the silence. Foreman shrugged.

"Probably, but he may get infected. I just hope that the surgery goes okay. Why are you so worried about him?"

Cameron looked at him. "He's my colleague, Foreman. And my friend. Why wouldn't I be worried? Aren't you worried?"

"Well, yeah. But…you seem…almost…I can't think of the right word. Is he…more than just a friend to you?" Cameron looked at him sharply.

"No! No, why would you think that?" Foreman gave her a sly glance.

"You blush when you're around him."

"Do not!" Cameron protested, though inside, she was wondering if she really was all that obvious.

"You do too. But don't be worried. He likes you, too."

"I never said that I liked him!" Cameron said indignantly.

"Shut up, Cameron. There's no use arguing. But I'm sure he likes you." Cameron finally gave up trying to convince Foreman that she wasn't into Chase.

"How do you know?"

Foreman grinned. "He goes out of his way to be with you. He blushes when you talk to him. And…he told me."

"What?" asked Cameron, shocked.

"Don't tell him I told you this, or he would kill me. But we went to get drinks once, and he told me. He also told me that you would never feel like that towards him. Maybe now I can tell him otherwise."

"Don't you dare," hissed Cameron. She turned back to the window. "Pearson's getting ready to close up." They watched Pearson start to finish the surgery.

He tied off the blood vessels, then closed up the peritoneum and the muscle wall. Finally, he sutured the skin shut. Cameron couldn't help but sigh in relief when she saw that he was done, though she knew that there was a good chance that since the appendix had already ruptured, Chase could get a serious infection.

The whole operation took a bit over an hour, though it felt like a day to Cameron. Chase was now moved into a recovery room, where House wanted him closely monitored to watch for signs of infection. Cameron volunteered to stay with him.

She nervously stayed by his bed, watching the clock, wondering when he was going to wake up. After about a half of an hour, she heard a small noise. She glanced at the bed, where she saw Chase's eyes open slowly.

"Hey, how do you feel?" she asked quietly.

"Like shit," he replied. She laughed, then scooted her chair closer to the bed.

"As far as we know, the surgery went well. You had a good surgeon. Dr. Pearson. He was very careful and thorough," she said. He nodded.

"But…my appendix ruptured."

"We know. I'm monitoring you for signs of infection." She sighed. "There's a pretty decent chance that you'll get sick, Chase. But for now, we're just watching you, just being careful."

He nodded, and his eyes started to slide out of focus. "I'm really tired…I think I'm going to go back to sleep for a while," he said. Cameron smiled; he did look pretty drowsy.

"Goodnight," she whispered as his eyes closed. She took a deep breath and hoped that he would be okay. She didn't even realize that her own eyes were slipping shut.

Cameron jerked awake. She didn't even know that she had fallen asleep. She glanced at her watch. She had been asleep for over two hours. She wondered if anyone else had come in to check on Chase. But they would've woken her up, wouldn't they?

She looked at Chase. "Oh, no," she murmured. He was curled up into a little ball, shaking. "Chase?" she said quickly. "Chase? Are you okay?"

"My stomach really hurts," he whispered. She grabbed a thermometer out of his drawer and took his temperature. "Oh, god," she said, reading it. His temperature was four degrees below normal. "Chase, I need to go get House," she said. She ran out of the room, down the hall, and into the Diagnostics lounge, where House and Foreman were working on a case. "House!" she said. "Chase has hypothermia. His temperature's four degrees below usual." House and Foreman stood up abruptly and headed to Chase's room.

"When did it start?" House asked. Cameron hung her head.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I—I fell asleep." House just shook his head and went faster. He reached the room.

"Chase. Can you hear me?"

"What?" Chase said. "My stomach kinda hurts…I'm cold, too," he said, his speech slurring.

"He's disoriented," Foreman said. He felt his pulse. "His pulse is way too fast," he said. "Chase. When did this start?"

"I…I don't know," he said, his breath getting faster and faster.

"He's hyperventilating," Cameron said. "I'm so stupid, how could I have fallen asleep?" She looked as if she was about to cry.

"He's in septic shock," House said. "He needs treatment. Now."

A/N I know I wrote this kind of quickly, but I will probably go back later and revise it, add more details and stuff like that. Tell me what you think of it, though. Please review!! And for the millionth time, please excuse my poor medical knowledge. I know this chapter sounded a bit awkward, but I will go back and fix it sometime. I just don't have time now, and I want to post it.