DISCLAIMER: House, M.D. and its characters are the property of David Shore, NBC, and Universal. No profit sought from this work.
"I'm scared," Chase said dryly, joining Cameron on the sofa. He set a glass full of soda on the coffee table in front of him.
"Why?" Cameron asked. She turned the volume down on the television and set the remote control between their drinks.
"House asked me on another date."
Cameron laughed at his both his words and the deadly serious way he said them. "Should I be jealous?" she purred, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.
"You should be worried," Chase told her as she settled back onto her side of the sofa.
"What is it this time?"
"Gun show," he answered, shuddering. He imagined following House through the Prudential Center as he admired various firearms that Chase himself had little interest in seeing.
"Lovely," Cameron cringed, a similar image forming in her own mind. She did not like the idea of Chase even being near so many weapons or people who were excited about them.
"It has to be better than the monster trucks though," Chase offered, trying to make himself feel better. Their last trip to Newark had been to see dozens of incredibly large, incredibly loud trucks pulling pointless stunts like crushing old cars. His ears had rung for a week afterwards.
"Oh, monster trucks aren't so bad," Cameron said, remembering the past fondly.
"It wasn't trucks so much as all the drunk rednecks," Chase explained. He thought of the obnoxious men behind him who had been hooting and hollering and jumping up and down spilling beer every time one of those trucks revved an engine. Unfortunately, there was a lot of engine revving at these events. Chase had seen a small child who was obviously terrified of the noise. His mother had tried to soothe him and eventually the father had given up and the family left about twenty minutes into the performance. Chase envied that child.
"I'm sure House fit right in."
"I didn't!" Chase laughed. "This is about me!"
"It's nice of you to be there for House since things are so strained with Wilson."
"I'll be glad when they make up. They will make up, won't they?" Chase certainly enjoyed some of the things House wanted to do with him--bowling, poker at his place, hitting a casino in Atlantic City--but he felt odd about standing in for Wilson these days. And, truth be told, he was hesitant to get too comfortable with his newfound friendship with House only to lose it when House worked things out with Old Reliable. He had been a substitute Wilson briefly before and he knew not to expect any permanence with this relationship.
"I don't know," Cameron replied. "Wilson blames House for destroying every relationship in his life. His marriages. Amber. Now he's even lost his chance to make things right with Danny."
"I can't believe Wilson is really blaming House for Danny," Chase shrugged, turning serious. "It's not like he missed the diagnosis on purpose."
"Right now you believe in House a lot more than Wilson does," Cameron said softly. It was sad to see how distant the two men had become.
"House isn't God. He can't save everyone." Chase was sympathetic about Wilson's loss, especially considering it had only been a year since he lost Amber, but he was also a little angry that Wilson was blaming House for not saving his brother. "Even God doesn't save everyone," he added, thinking of his mother. "Wilson should realize House did his best."
"For some reason, House's best is never enough when someone Wilson loves is in crisis."
Chase could not argue with that. "Wilson will come around eventually though. He always does."
"Until then, you're House's new best friend."