On a grey Monday morning at five a.m., Robert Chase woke up to the sound of rain against the window panes. Not his own window panes, though – he was

lying in his employer's bed. Who groaned softly mumbling; "'S too early." Chase smiled.

"I know." he whispered, snuggling down again.

Two hours later, he was woken again. This time, a blaring alarm had interrupted his sleep. The intensivist rubbed his eyes tiredly. "House."

"Mm."

"We need to get up..."

"Sh..."

Shaking his head, Chase went to take a shower. He returned a little while later, wrapped in House's bathrobe. Getting dressed, he continued his attempts to

wake his boss.

"Come on...we'll be late." House scoffed. He wasn't half-asleep anymore, but far away from actually getting up.

"You'll be late. And since you're dating the boss, you're allowed to."

The younger man rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks." he said sarcastically, "But technically, your shift starts at eight as well."

"Shush now."

Slowly, Chase could feel himself getting annoyed. That in itself wasn't new, House made him furious about a dozen times in an ordinary day. What had changed

was how little effort he put into trying to hide his anger.

"House, get up. You promised you'd leave early. That's why I left the car at my place – remember?"

"Take the train."

"Are you serious?"

House sighed. "God, you're whiny." He sat up slowly, massaging his stiff leg. "Are you gonna at least make breakfast?"

"No way." But as House got dressed, he heard his duckling clattering around in the kitchen.

A quick meal later, both doctors were in the car.

"So you'll let me out at the back entrance? Then I'll pretend to arrive from the clinic."

"With your bag? And in your street-wear? Believable."

"I always take my bag downstairs with me when I arrive before everyone else. And I've got my lab coat with me...doofus." Chase had mumbled the last word,

still uncomfortable treating House as his equal.

"Don't think I owe you anything for that. Anyone can insult their boss under their breath."

In the conference room, Cameron and Foreman were sitting quietly, enjoying their usual morning routine. Before House arrived, the department was always

blessedly calm and the two doctors were savoring every moment. When their boss limped in suddenly, both his employees stared.

"What are you doing here this early?" Cameron enquired, checking her watch. It was just after eight.

"I was informed my shift starts at eight." the diagnostician replied. That had the added bonus of being true. "Where's Chase?"

"Uh...we haven't seen – " Foreman said, but Cameron interrupted, "He said he'd be a couple of minutes late, he's got...car trouble." House's lip curled in a grin.

"Right. Care to tell me the truth?"

At that moment, Chase walked in.

"What's going on?" he asked. Cameron glanced at him nervously, then back to House. The department head turned to his intensivist.

"Nothing. You're late."

"Um, yeah. Sorry. I wanted to get my clinic duty out of the way."

"Clinic, huh? No car trouble?"

Chase frowned, confused. Before he could respond, House turned to his female employee. He smiled sadistically.

"Cameron, clinic hours. Bye."

With a scowl, the immunologist got up. She grabbed her lab coat and House's name-tag, leaving the room in a huff. Chase stared after her.

"What was all that about?" he asked, but the department head had already vanished into his office. Foreman gave his colleague a long-suffering look.

"She tried to cover for you."

Chase grimaced. From the inner office, House called, "Foreman."

"Yeah?"

"How come my desk is covered in paper?"

"Oh, right...Cuddy. She says either you get it done by lunch, or – "

"Since when do I do paperwork?"

"She said if we did it for you, she'd dock our pay."

"Yeah...that's illegal."

Foreman rolled his eyes. "I know. Doesn't mean whatever she is gonna do will be pleasant."

"Oh shut up. Get in here and do your job."

"I'm not here to do your paper – "

"Yeah. On the other hand, you are here to make my job easier. Get to work."

Chase and Foreman shared a look before reluctantly making their way to the diagnostician's office.

As soon as they had entered, House grabbed his ball and vanished. Wilson's office seemed like a more peaceful place to be.

Several minutes passed before Chase set aside his pile of papers. "I'll be back in a minute." he said, rising. Foreman looked up. "What are you doing?"

"Bathroom."

"No way."

"What?"

"No way. You wouldn't risk House's wrath for a bathroom break."

Chase rolled his eyes. Colleagues that knew you too well definitely had their drawbacks. He thought fast. "Fine. I'm meeting Janie." It was a good thing

Foreman was about as perceptive as your average building brick, because anyone a little more skilled at reading people would have seen right through the

Australian's lie. The neurologist just raised his eyebrows. "Wow. You really have grown a spine."

Chase shrugged. "Thanks. If House comes back – "

"He won't. Just go." Chase nodded quickly, not wanting to give the neurologist any chance to reconsider. With a wave, he left the room.

In Wilson's office, House was lying on his best friend's couch, lazily tossing his ball up and catching it again. He stopped when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Wilson said, looking up from his paperwork expectantly. Both doctors raised their eyebrows when Chase slipped in.

"What are you doing here?" House asked, before Chase could say anything.

"Looking for you. I thought you might be here." the Australian nodded at Dr. Wilson, "Hi!"

"So, you've found me."

"Yeah. Listen – I realise you love pawning off your clinic duty, but could you leave me out of it?"

"Cameron lied to me. Come on, we can't have that. Imagine if we all just ignored our moral compass!"

Wilson smirked. "Wow, you finally got her to lie? Thought that would never happen. How'd you do it?"

"Well, I had to torture an innocent wombat for three weeks...but it was worth it. Sorry, Chase."

The intensivist was stunned. "What, that – you wanted her to lie? That was another one of your games?"

"You bet."

Wilson jumped in, sensing an argument. "He's been waiting for Cameron to lie ever since she started her fellowship. Your...conflict just presented too good an

opportunity to miss."

Chase shook his head, deciding it was futile to try and understand his boss. "O...kay. But if you wanted her to lie, why'd you make her do your clinic duty?"

House rolled his eyebrows impatiently. "I thought you were smart." His friend grinned and explained,

"He wants her to lie in general, but he won't tolerate her lying to him."

"Sounds complicated."

"If you wanted simple, you picked the wrong boss."

House glared. "Hey! I'm still in the room. Quit the trash talk. And Chase, go do your job."