Author's Note: I'm trying a slightly unusual form with this story - it's almost entirely dialogue. Let me know what you think, by reviewing if you are so inclined. The original characters herein will also be seen in my other story "Growing Up Chase". SPOILER ALERT! I allude heavily to events foreshadowed in the most recent House episode, as well as referring directly to events of the episode Finding Judas. I also utilize some spoilers for Chase in the upcoming episodes -- so if you want to remain entirely unspoiled, don't continue (come back in a few weeks, if you like).
Warning: References to sex (not explicit in any way), and coarse language will be seen in this story.
Conversations
By Rebel Yell
"'lo."
" Robbie, wake up! I know it's not that early in New Jersey."
" It is when you go to bed at three in the morning."
" Bad night in the ICU?"
" Nasty car crash, six people injured and one killed. We got nailed, right as my shift was supposed to end at eleven. Was supposed to have the day off, but Dr. Stamato needs me back in at eleven to help midnights." Rob sounded like he was waking up, and she could just picture him sitting up in bed, running fingers through impossibly wild hair in a vain attempt to make it look less bedraggled. He was so cute in the mornings. The mental picture made her miss him even more. She shook off the image, when he started speaking again, "How's the latest film going?"
" I've only got a few days left of shooting. I'll be back in California by next week. God, I've missed this country. Do I have to go back to America?"
" No. You can always go back to Sydney and live in that big beautiful house on the beach."
" I hate that house when it's empty. It's so lonely without you in it -- you grew up there, I still think you should live in it. Besides, I said I missed this country. I love London."
" You love to shop."
" Yes, I do. And I've been busy this year, so I have plenty to spend. Are we still going to Milan and Paris next spring?"
" If I can get enough days off in a row. You may have to find someone else to carry your bags about."
" Absolutely not. Half the point of the trip is to make you try on all the things by the designers, and buy the best ones, so I can show off how pretty you are. You promised to come to my film's New York premiere and I am so picking your outfit for that. You are far too beautiful to be dressing yourself, Mr. Three-Different-Ugly-Patterns-At-Once."
" I like my clothes. They're…quirky."
" They're ugly, Robbie. You dress like you went shopping in the dark, then got dressed in the dark."
" Well, Miss Garnett, even though that's not your real name, not all of us are as naturally inclined to fashion as you."
" I got all the fashion sense, and you're the pretty one. What does that leave Danny being?"
" The one with the common sense."
" Ah, I knew he had something I was jealous of. He has sense, you have hair. And a skinny ass. I want the hair and the skinny ass."
" I'm not pretty and my ass is not skinny. I've been told I have a very nice ass. I don't have thousands of fans writing me letters about how hot I am, unlike some others in this conversation."
" You're gorgeous, love. And you would do, if you ever agreed to be in a photo shoot or a bit part in a film with me."
" I hate people staring at me. You know how I feel about my looks."
" You like it when girls don't care that your shark story is dumb because you're hot."
" That's individual. It's not hundreds of people staring at me for the sole purpose of watching my ass or something."
" You know, seriously, Michael is salivating at the thought of you."
" Michael is incredibly gay. Hearing that he's salivating over me is fairly disturbing."
" I think he's more interested in how much money he could make on percentages."
" He doesn't make enough off of you?"
" Agents never have enough. All he asks is that if you ever do think about it…"
" If I ever think about modeling, or acting, as a career, I'll call a psychiatric facility the very next day, I promise." He was laughing lightly, and she leaned back against the pillows with a broad smile on her face. He didn't laugh enough, she thought, and enjoyed hearing it.
" How's your work? How'd it go with the guy with…Wagner's?"
" Wegener's. And he's not our patient anymore. Once we figure out what he has, odd presentation though it may be, we lose track of him. Oh, Carol's son wants an autographed picture."
" Carol?" She wracked her brain, trying to remember a Carol. "Third floor ICU? Surgical? The one who brings you the good fudge-chunk brownies?"
" That's the one. Her son has a crush on you."
" Is he cute?"
" He's sixteen!" He was laughing at her, but they both knew she hadn't been serious in the first place. Besides, he'd been stupid enough to tell her about a certain nine year old girl, so he didn't have any room to tease much. He'd get it back in spades.
" Damn. I'll send one off later, you should get it in a couple days. Did you talk to Dr. Cuddy yet?"
" No. She's been…busy. And there's been a lot going on here."
" Like your boss punching you. Your co-workers treating you like a suspect. Or maybe a leper."
" They've gotten better. Foreman actually listens to me now - first time in three years."
" Cameron stopped talking about He Who I Do Not Name?"
" You know, calling my dad that doesn't really mean you don't speak of my dad. It just means you talk about him using a really weird nickname."
" Well you got offended when I called him your Sperm Donor."
" That makes me sound like a forty year old woman who wants kids but not a husband."
" You haven't answered the question."
" She's been…nice. To me. Weird. But nice."
" You've slept with her again!" She felt like reaching across the ocean to slap him. He was so stupid when it came to women. Cameron clearly didn't even like him, she must be really horny again. And to Lizzie's mind, her Robbie deserved a lot more than to be used as a booty-call. "If I weren't in England right now, I'd hit you so hard your brains came out your ear! She wasn't high again was she? Because if she needs to get high to fuck you, the girl has serious issues."
" No, she's not been high or drunk. And you won't fuck me, sober or stoned. Maybe she just likes me - ever consider that?"
" I won't fuck you because I love you. You get all dysfunctional when people you are fucking fall in love with you. Wait. Been? More than once? This is a thing now? Are you dating her?"
" It's not dating, per se. We get together some nights."
" She's fuckbuddying you."
" I don't think it's precisely something she's doing to me, Liz. It's rather mutual."
" Your idea or hers?"
" Hers."
" You pick the times or her?"
" Her."
" Your place or hers?"
" Uhm…mostly hers. You've seen my place, it's tiny. Don't think she likes it much."
" I don't like the sound of that 'uhm'. Oh god please tell me you haven't at work?"
" Only the once. Well, only the once really."
" ROBERT DAVID CHASE! What are you thinking? That's so stupid! You can't have sex at work - that's like the most unprofessional thing you can possibly do!"
" I told her we'd not again, it wasn't planned or anything."
" You remember that little two-letter word, it signifies refusal?"
" Yes."
" Wrong. Try again."
" I know what word you meant, Elizabeth." He was definitely getting snippy, he never called her Elizabeth unless he was being exceptionally serious or exceptionally snippy.
"Well use it sometimes. You still like her, don't you?"
" Lizzie. Please."
" You are so self-destructive. You're only going to end up hurt, Robbie."
" I know. I'm used to it. It's…kinda nice. I've been lonely lately." He sighed, and she desperately wished all those childhood dreams of spending their adult lives living next-door to one another had worked out. Danny at least was still at home in Sydney, but she and Robbie were so far from home -- and each other.
" I miss you too. I just wish you had healthier ways of dealing with it."
" Suggestions, Dear Lizzie?"
" Anything other than sleeping with the coworker you've had a crush on for three years. Who doesn't like you, or know you. She thought you ratted out your boss to that cop, didn't she? And she thinks your dad pulled strings for you. And she still thinks your lazy, doesn't she?"
" All those things."
" Does she even know your mom and him are dead? Does she even know that much about you, Robbie?"
" Everyone knows about Dad, because of Kayla. House knows about Mum, so Dr. Wilson does too. No one else."
" Isn't she the one who got all judgmental because you didn't go to his funeral? Despite the fact that your stepmother finally remembered to call you just the day before it was being held?"
" She means well, Liz."
" She doesn't know you at all. You need a girl who you can open up to."
" How about your love life, Lizzie? We know mine's DOA, no surprise. How's the new fella, Steve?"
" The ex-new fella."
" Ouch. That lasted all of two weeks."
" He's a cad." She bit out sharply, punching the pillow on the couch beside her in annoyance.
" He wanted sex."
" Not everything is about sex, Robert. At least, not for people who aren't you. You really are all about sex." She winced, hearing him sigh, and felt the guilt hit her immediately. "I'm sorry, Robbie. I didn't mean that."
" Yeah, you did."
" All right, I did, but I shouldn't have said it."
" I'm not…it's not all about sex. I just…it feels good. I don't know. It's impossible to explain."
" You are a manwhore. I love you anyway."
" Thanks. I'm right though, he wanted sex."
" Yes."
" And you, being you, gave him the policy speech."
" Yes."
" You know, that's going to scare off anyone."
" You and Danny are still about. Colin too."
" Danny's married, Colin's a priest, and I already know you won't fuck me."
" We'd only been going out about ten days. I'm not that easy."
" Lizzie, you aren't easy at all. You've had sex with one man, and you're a well-known actress who's been in the business for ten years. That's downright weird. I respect that about you, but it's still weird."
" Sometimes I wish…you remember my eleventh birthday?"
" Yeah, of course. It's the only time in my life I've proposed, after all."
" I still have that ring. You scared the life out of my mum."
" We were eleven. She couldn't think it would really happen."
" Well, you bought a real ring. It even has a diamond. Where on Earth did you get that sort of money at eleven?"
" I talked mum into letting me have half the money from a couple of my shoots -- the one's she kept making me do. And it has a very tiny diamond. I can't believe you still have it. It can't fit."
" I wear it on a necklace."
" Lizzie, I love you. You're one of my best friends -- you and Danny and Cols -- but we both know I'd never be good for you like that."
" I know. I just wish sometimes that all those silly dreams could have come true. I gave up on you actually marrying me when you lost your virginity to Jody McCormick."
" She was a nice girl."
" You were barely fourteen, and she was seventeen! And she was a slag, Robbie."
" She was nice to me."
" She was also the first in a long line of girls -- one still ongoing."
" How did this conversation end up being about my appallingly bad sexual habits?"
" You slept with your coworker, again."
" Right. How could I forget. Lizzie, you know how I feel and I know how you feel about this. Let's not argue."
" I just worry about you."
" I've been to Confession."
" Good, but I'm less worried about your soul and more about your heart. You've generally been pretty good about the first, and not so good about the other. Just be careful, okay? You deserve a good woman, Robbie. You're such a sweetie, even if you don't want to admit that."
" God, I miss you. How does having you call me just to shout at me about screwing something up make me feel better?"
" I love you, that's why. Unfortunately, I have to go, don't think you're so special being a doctor, I have to work Saturdays too. I'm on a break, but it looks like they're signaling for me. I'll call you back when I'm done for the day. Should be in a few hours."
" Right then, off you go. Back to work, Miss Movie Star."
" I love you, Robbie."
" Love you more. Bye."
" Bye, Robbie." Liz rung off, dropping her mobile back into her bag with a smile. Robbie could drive her to distraction, but he somehow made her feel better at the same time. She'd have to call Danny though, and see if he'd known about this mess with Cameron already. Because he was supposed to tell her when Robbie did things like this. How was she supposed to keep Robbie from doing something foolish if her co-conspirator failed to conspire with her?