In this midst of another stream of endless clinic cases and medical mysteries House sat in his office with his feet propped up on the desk vigorously rubbing his leg.

The pain had magnified after the diagnostician had been sitting there for awhile which usually wouldn't have been a concern. Probably just a leg cramp or something of that sort but this sort of thing had been happening a lot recently.

If House didn't know better he would guessed that the increased pain meant that the already damaged thigh had started deteriorating which meant only one thing…..

In the midst of this conversation with his thoughts, House looked up to see Chase enter the room. The blonde Aussie had been down in the Clinic catching up on his hours and had come back to the department to grab his wallet before heading down to grab some lunch.

If it hadn't been for the look of pain plastered on his colleague's face at the very moment he walked by the office, Chase would have simply collected the item he had been looking for and continued on his way. However, Robert knew better then that.

He had known House long enough to know when something wasn't right. He also knew that the last thing he wanted to do was get involved but still something was telling the blonde surgeon to do just that.

"What do you want?"

The sheer lack of sarcasm alone indicated that Chase was right. However, not about to push it Robert simply had a seat in front of the desk and crossed his arms glaring at House with affirmation in his eyes.

This made House very uncomfortable.

"What do you want?."

He asked again this time with more conviction and annoyance in his voice to make the point clear.

"I need your help on a clinic case."

A lame excuse he knew but Chase knew House would easily see through it anyway. As if on cue, House shook his head and smirked at his former duckling turned friend and colleague.

"Nope."

"That's it nope? You don't even want to know the symptoms?."

"I've known you long enough to know that you're an excellent doctor fully capable of solving the simplest case. I've also known you long enough to know when your lying through your teeth. The light layer of sweat covering your brow is a dead give away."

Damn.

Chase knew he had been cornered which meant that there was only one thing to do. Come clean.

"Want to grab some lunch?."

House arched an eye brow at this comment but kept that steely gaze in his eyes while staring Chase down.

"Since when are we friends?."

"We hung out a couple of nights ago."

"By force. All Wilson's idea. If you want a drinking buddy talk to him. Although, maybe you shouldn't. Jimmy could never hold his liquor."

Chase could tell House was in no mood to talk. Which was not an unusual occurrence but this time Robert wouldn't tale no for an answer.

Unfortunately, before this conversation could continue, House's face began to turn white as he squeezed his thigh tighter from underneath the table causing both of his hands to turn white to match his ghostly complexion.

"You okay?."

The beads of sweat covering House's brow were a clear cut sign. The diagnostician breathed in a bout of air and released it very quickly while closing his eyes for a moment and then returning his haggard gaze to Chase.

"Muscle Spasm…."

Closing his eyes again, House breathed in and out trying to calm himself down while releasing the hold he had on the already damaged right thigh. Thankfully, it seemed to work within minutes but the diagnostician knew he wasn't out of the woods.

Thankfully Chase had enough sense to locate the heating blanket that had been conveniently tucked away underneath the desk. Handing it to his boss, the former junior diagnostician waited for the older man to respond with some sarcastic remark but it never came. Instead, House accepted it graciously and placed the heating pad over the injured area welcoming the warmth with open arms.

Chase was to say the least baffled by this scene before him. It was common knowledge to everyone in the hospital that House had been suffering with chronic pain for years. It was also common knowledge that he never accepted help from anyone.

"Thanks."

Chase nodded and got up from the chair. Sensing it was time for him to leave.

Heading to the door, Robert was about to leave when House called him back still with the heating pad over his leg but with the color now fully returned to his face.

"Doctor Chase…."

"Yeah?."

House paused and then smirked to himself with the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Do you play poker?."

(I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to keep going with this. It all depends on the response I get from you the reading public. Let me know what you think. Wicket forever.)