---
Chase sat in House's office working on the Times' crossword puzzle. Slow didn't even begin to describe the current ambiance of the entire hospital, which was a rarity. House had no new cases and the clinic was practically empty. That left him and his colleagues with nothing to do but to sit on their hands until something came up.
Chase began to drum the end of his pen on the folded up newspaper, as his mind wandered. After a few moments of continuous tapping, Cameron glared at him over the rims of her glasses. She sighed dramatically before going back to answering House's emails without verbalizing her complaint.
Foreman, on the other hand, could not stand to let the ruckus go on and decided to put an end to it. Without looking up from the neurology journal that he was reading, Foreman snapped irritably at the other man, "Chase!"
Upon hearing his name, Chase looked up from his pen and realized that his impromptu drum performance was unwelcome. He muttered an apology before putting the end of the pen in his mouth and chewing on it instead.
A moment later the sound of rhythmic taping from the hallway made all three of them look up just in time to see Cuddy enter the Diagnostics office with a determined stride. Her eyes quickly scanned the room before settling on the young blonde.
"Dr. Chase, I see that you're terribly busy," Cuddy said, gesturing towards his crossword. "But could I borrow you for a moment?"
"Sure," he said, standing up and following her out of the office and into the hallway where a young woman stood, taking in the passing scenery of various orderlies, nurses, doctors, and patients walking to and fro. Cuddy briskly walked ahead of him towards the mystery woman. The clicking sound of her heels against the linoleum floor announced their approach and their intended goal turned her attention away from the hallway traffic and faced them.
"Dr. Chase, this is…" Cuddy began as she gestured to the young lady.
"Abbie?" Chase interrupted, looking in awe at the woman Cuddy was introducing him to.
"Hi, Robert," Abbie replied, looking up at him long enough to smile at him before looking down to study her shoes.
---
Chase and one of his classmates were aimlessly walking the halls of Sydney General Hospital. They were both hoping that if they wandered aimlessly enough they would miss rounds.
"I'm telling you, man. There wasn't anything this shiela wasn't into," Josh, Chase's friend, said as he regaled him with his account on his latest exploits in the bedroom.
"Oh yeah?" Chase asked, looking at his friend with interest.
"Oh yeah. There was this one thing that she did…"
A startled yelp interrupted Josh from explaining just exactly what his most recent conquest did. He turned to see what had caused the yelp and saw Chase picking up papers that were scattered about the hallway alongside a pretty, but flustered, brunette.
"I'm really sorry, miss," Chase told her as he handed her the papers that he had retrieved.
When she met his gaze, Chase resisted the urge to let his jaw drop. Whoever had said that the eyes were the windows to the soul had definitely looked into this girl's eyes. Her deep blue eyes spoke volumes without her ever making a sound.
"It's quite alright. Thank you," she told him, smiling shyly before turning on her heel and walking away.
Chase turned back to Josh and they continued walking. Chase took a quick glance over his shoulder, only to see that she was gone.
"Forget it, mate," Josh told him.
"Forget what?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"That bird you clobbered back there; she's a Yank, and she'll break that pathetic heart of yours."
---
"Did I miss something?" Cuddy asked as she watched the exchange between the two people in front of her.
"Abbie and I went to school together," he explained, his eyes never leaving the young woman whom he hadn't seen in almost six years.
"You're Australian?" Cuddy asked Abbie, while mentally going over her application and resume in her head; she didn't remember anything about Australia.
Abbie laughed. "No, I studied abroad for a year in Sydney. Dr. Chase was a med student at the hospital that I was interning at," she explained.
"I see," Cuddy replied, taking a mental note of the electricity that she noticed between the two; there was history here, and she knew she'd find out what it was sooner or later, especially with House as Chase's superior.
---
"What made you choose to come to Sydney?" Chase asked.
He had been relieved when Abbie accepted his dinner invitation. He had asked her out mostly to prove Josh wrong, but he was glad that he did. Abbie was smart, beautiful, and most importantly, not an overworked, overly stressed med student.
Abbie shrugged.
"I figured that it was the biggest culture shock I could get where I didn't have to learn a foreign language," she explained. "Nothing too complicated, and I've always loved the water. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a little girl."
"What happened with that?" he asked.
"I discovered that I was land locked and the left side of my brain stopped processing math and science at about age 12," she laughed.
He laughed with her and an idea popped into his head.
"Wait here," he told her, and he took off running down the nearby dock.
She watched as he handed a man some bills from his wallet, after which he waved her over. When she reached him he was standing on the deck of one of the speedboats tied up along the dock. She looked at the man to whom Chase had handed the money to, he simply smiled and tipped his hat at her. She looked back at Chase who was offering her his hand. She took it and stepped onto the boat with shaky legs.
"Thanks again, mate. We'll be back within the hour," he told the owner.
"No problem, son," he replied. "You two have a good time now."
Chase tossed the rope onto the deck and started the engine. Abbie looked back at the dock as they pulled away. She saw that the owner was still watching them, so she smiled and waved. She laughed when he lifted his hat and gave her a bow.
"Robert, where are we going?" she asked, slowly getting to her feet and walking over to stand next to him.
"I wanted to show you something," he replied vaguely, smiling, knowing that he had sparked her interest.
"And you needed a boat to do this?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep," he said, giving a terse nod of his head to affirm his point.
As they came around the bend of the bay, the Sydney Opera House came into view. Chase mentally gave himself a high five when he heard Abbie gasp.
The setting sun had dipped behind the opera house and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, illuminating both from behind.
"Oh Robert," she sighed, moving around to his other side to get a better view as he turned off the engine.
"Australia's own architectural marvel," he said, as his gaze focused on her rather than the building.
"It's beautiful," she declared.
"It is," he said softly, but he wasn't referring to the opera house.
Abbie turned around to smile at him, but her smile faded and she blushed when she saw how he was looking at her. He stepped closer to her and lifted her chin so that she would meet his eyes. She gave him a coy smile before averting her eyes again. Chase smiled in triumph when he realized that he had her wrapped around his finger.
That was his last coherent thought before he gently pressed his lips to hers.
---
"I brought Miss DiMaria on board as a music therapist and seeing as how I'm going to honor her request to work with the ICU patients, I thought that you could give her a tour," Cuddy explained.
"Of course," he agreed, finally looking back to Cuddy.
"Great, well, have at it then," Cuddy said as she gently patted his arm then paused as if she remembered something. "By the way, where's House?" she asked.
"No idea," he told her truthfully.
Cuddy sighed before turning her attention back to the new employee. "Welcome aboard Miss DiMaria," she said, giving Abbie's hand a final shake and heading back towards her office.
Without Cuddy as a buffer, things quickly turned awkward. Abbie had gone back to staring at the ground, and Chase had picked a spot on the wall just above her shoulder as he rocked back and forth on his heels.
---
Chase looked up from his pharmacology textbook with a start; wondering who on Earth would be knocking on his door at this time of night.
He swung his apartment door open to find Abbie wringing her hands and looking agitated.
"Abbie, what's wrong?" he asked, reaching out to her.
She ignored his gesture and pushed past him and into the apartment.
"Abbie? Seriously, what's wrong?" he asked again as she began to pace.
She stopped pacing, sighed, and looked him in the eye for the first time that night. Her eyes were sad and scared, but beyond that there was nothing. All the life that he had seen in her before was no where to be found.
"Robert, I—I haven't been completely honest with you," she began.
"About what?" he asked, his defenses building.
"There's someone else," she blurted out, and that was all it took to break the dam as her words started pouring from her lips. "There's always been someone else; back at home, in Pittsburgh. I was just so far from home; I was homesick and I missed him and here you were. You were this handsome, young med student with a foreign accent and great hair, you—you were available."
Her catharsis was met by a moment of silence.
"No," he growled suddenly as her words and their implications slowly sank into his brain.
She looked up at him, startled. His eyes had turned cold and menacing.
"No!" he shouted. "You know what, Abigail? I've had backs turned to me far too many times not to recognize the signs, so I'm going to do it first. We're through."
"Robert, please, there's more to it than that. Let me explain," she pleaded as he moved back to the door and opened it.
"Why? So you can lie to me some more? Get out," he told her.
"Robert, please, just listen for one moment," she continued, getting up and moving towards the door.
"I don't want to listen, just leave," he said, pointing through the doorway to make his point.
Without another word, she crossed the threshold back into the hallway. She jumped as the door slammed behind her. Abbie turned and looked at the door when she heard a soft "thump" against it from the other side. She closed the distance between her and the door and leaned her forehead against it, placing her hand where she knew his head rested against the cool plywood.
"But it's you that I love," she whispered before pulling herself away from the door. She brushed away the few tears that had fallen, but it did nothing to strengthen her resolve. With a final nod of defeat, she turned away and headed towards the elevator.
---
"Abbie, I…" he began.
"Robert…" she started at the same time.
Both of them laughed nervously, making eye contact for the first time since Cuddy left.
"It's good to see you," he said, his eye contact with her never wavering.
"You too," she agreed.
---
"Josh, just please see that he gets this?" Abbie asked, taking Josh's hand and stuffing an envelope in it.
"I don't know, Abbie," he said, running his other hand through his hair and looking down at the envelope. "I was up half the night with him; I've known him my whole life and I've never seen him as upset as he was last night. Whether or not you know it, you did a number on him."
"Josh, please," she begged. "I really hope that this changes his mind."
Josh looked from the letter back to Abbie who was desperately trying to keep her tears at bay. He sighed and slowly nodded his head.
"I'll see that he gets it, but after this you guys are on your own to sort this out," he told her.
"Thank you," she said, wrapping her arms around him in a friendly hug.
"You have a safe flight now," he said softly into her ear before pressing a kiss on her forehead.
Abbie stepped back and nodded while wiping the tears from her eyes.
After he watched Abbie walk out of the hospital with a satchel over her shoulder and a purse clutched in her hand, he sighed dejectedly and headed towards the on call room where he knew Chase was catching up on his much needed sleep which he lost the night before. Josh lucked out when he discovered that Chase was the only occupant.
"Chase," he called out.
No answer.
"Robert," he tried a bit louder.
Still nothing.
"Robert," he tried again at a normal volume.
"Piss off," Chase muttered, rolling over so that his back faced the offending noisemaker.
"Is that any way to treat your best mate and the man who comes bearing a love letter from the love of your life?" he teased as he took a seat on the cot across from Chase's.
"I never said that she was the love of my life and you can throw the damned thing away for all I care," Chase grumbled, still feigning sleep even though he was wide awake at the mention of Abbie.
"I really think you should read this," Josh told him honestly.
"Why should I?" Chase argued. "She's done nothing but lie to me for the last ten months. What makes this letter any different?"
"Because she loves you, mate. That's why you should," Josh told him, setting the letter on the small nightstand that was between the cots, and standing up.
Chase remained still until he heard the door close behind Josh. He rolled back over and looked at the envelope that Josh had set there a moment before. He picked it up and tore it open. As he unfolded the lined notebook paper, he could just make out Abbie's script from the dim light that filtered through the window.
Robert,
If you're reading this (and I hope that you do read this), it means that I'm on my way to the airport to go back home. You never allowed me to finish last night, so I never got the chance to tell you that my internship concluded a week ago and I didn't want to face the fact that it meant that I was leaving. Not just Sydney, but you as well.
You also never allowed me to explain why I even bothered to tell you the truth. Admit it, you know that you never would have guessed it, and I could've just left and you never would have been the wiser. So why did I tell you?
I told you because Ryan proposed to me last night. He said he wanted to wait until I was back at home, but he just couldn't hold it in any longer. Come to think of it, he never really was any good at keeping secrets. Regardless, I told him no. I told him no because I'm not in love with him anymore. I love you, Robert. And the whole opposite sides of the world thing scares the shit out of me, but I was willing to try.
I'm so sorry that I hurt you. Please forgive me.
I love you,
Abigail
He re-read the letter one more time. He ran a hand over his face, trying to clear his thoughts, but all he could think of the direness in the situation. He was a fool.
---
"How about that tour?" Chase asked, gesturing towards the elevators.
Abbie smiled and nodded before falling into step with him as they moved towards the elevators.
"What was that all about?" Foreman asked as he and Cameron watched the pair walk away. The two of them had been covertly spying on their colleague with the yet unidentified newcomer since Cuddy left the office with him in tow.
"No idea," House said, suddenly appearing behind them. "But it's going to be so much fun tearing the mickey out of him until he tells us."