Author's notes:

This story was written for a challenge on Slavefic LJ Community. The challenge was to write about slavery in a fandom where it isn't fitted. So I started this story and it still gets bigger and bigger. I didn't want to publish it anywhere else than on livejournal because its very different from my other stories but than I got some comments that I should post it on here too and after some (much) hesitation I decided to start posting it.

This is extremely au as it takes place in a world where slavery is a normal part of society and economy. In other aspects though it's still House and tried to keep everyone in character as mush as I could under the circumstances.

I rated it M because of the topic but there's no sexual content in this (or at least there hasn't been until now) but there's some violence and of course the fact that people are treated as objects.

So if something like this is not your cup of cake then turn back now. If you are interested though then please read on and comment. There will be frequent updates for a while as about 35000 words are already written.

Thank you.

Chapter 1: The gift

Being Dean of Medicine at barely forty wasn't a small achievement, especially for a woman. But it was also a job that required absolute commitment. It was five p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon and Doctor Lisa Cuddy still had a high tower of files on her desk that she had to go through. She was lagging on her paperwork because in the last two days she was babysitting an Australian delegation and that meant that she would stay in the office well after dark. Again. So, when there was a knock on her door, she groaned.

"Come in!" she said.

Janey, her assistant tucked her head inside and smiled at her boss apologetically.

"There's the delivery from Doctor Rowan you had mentioned before" she reported.

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Let them in."

She really managed to forget her long discussion with the charismatic Australian rheumatologist. She was quite surprised when the famous doctor told her that he decided to give one of his slaves to PPTH as a gift. She was even more surprised when Doctor Rowan – or Robert, as he insisted on her to call him – explained this slave's special training.

As every big institution, the hospital had its fair share of slaves but they worked in maintenance mostly and the kitchen and some in administration, but none of them took part in patients' care. She knew of course that there were hospitals where most nurses – at least those who did lower jobs – were slaves, but this one's training was quite special if what Doctor Rowan said was correct. And why wouldn't it be?

By the time her assistant came back with two men in tow, Cuddy stood up, waiting for them. The first man was wearing the usual black uniform of the rented slave-handlers and had the end of a leash in one hand, some papers in the other. The other end of the leash was connected to the handcuffs that circled the second man's wrists, in the common way slaves were transported.

The handler pulled on the leash harshly, ordering the slave to kneel down, who did so obediently.

"I have a delivery from Doctor Robert Rowan" the handler said looking at his papers. "I have to give this one over to Doctor Lisa Cuddy at Princeton Plainsborough Teaching Hospital."

"That would be me" Cuddy said.

"Here are the ownership papers, Ma'am" the handler gave over the whole package. "Everything was signed in front of a lawyer and we also reported the change in ownership to the registry, so everything is official by now. You only have to sign the page on top that says that you take the delivery over."

Cuddy quickly signed the said paper and saw that the new owner was the hospital and not her. She explicitly asked for that because she didn't want any personal slaves right now and especially not one she didn't choose for herself.

"And here" the handler took a small box from his inner pocket, "is this. This one has a disciplinary implant, this box contains the control. Very useful device, if you ask me."

"Yes, I'm sure of that" Cuddy said dryly.

She herself wasn't a big fan of the implants. She came from a wealthy family and her parents had a bunch of slaves, but they were never handled cruelly. Brutal punishments were totally unnecessary, you could gain respect with other methods too, that was her father's opinion and Lisa held herself to that. She knew though that Australia was more traditional in its slave policy. For example, as far as she knew, since the implants were introduced every slave got one at birth or after conviction. These implants were connected into the central nervous system and couldn't be removed, which was also a sign that a slave's status could never be changed.

But she wasn't about to give out her opinion to a rental and in front of the hospital's new property. You had to be careful if you wanted to keep your authority intact.

"You want him left cuffed?" the handler asked then.

"No, thanks, that won't be necessary."

The man took off the cuffs and the leash quickly, pushed them inside a pocket and left and just after that did Cuddy turn to take a closer look at the slave who was still kneeling with his head lowered.

"You can stand up, now and it's not necessary to kneel as greeting in this hospital."

When the slave stood, he was a good head taller than her and had a lithe and well-built body. He had blond hair, blue eyes – those he had respectfully averted - and looked very young. He was wearing a white T-shirt, scrub-pants and trainees, and of course a collar around his neck that showed his status to everybody, a thin silver one. That of course had to be changed soon: the collars were uniquely made with an electronic chip inside, so they identified the owner and made possible to track any slave. The hospital's slaves had a white collar with the PPTH letters ingrained in them.

"What's your name?" she asked after her short examination.

"Chase, Mistress" the slave said in the same accent she had heard from Doctor Rowan.

"Doctor Cuddy will do" she said quickly. "Doctor Rowan gave you to the hospital and not me personally, so I'm definitely not your mistress. Doctor Rowan said that you were trained to be a doctor's assistant."

"Yes, Mis… Doctor Cuddy" he corrected himself mid-sentence.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four, Ma'am."

"And how long have you belonged to Doctor Rowan?"

"I've belonged to him as long as I can remember, Ma'am. I was told that I was two when Master bought me."

"What all did you do for him?"

"In the hospital I did tests, procedures, lab work my Master needed and I often assisted in his scientific studies. He also leant me out to different departments when he didn't need me."

"Which departments?"

"ICU, ER, pathology, sometimes the surgical team."

"I see."

It was the same, - if a shorter version - of what Doctor Rowan told her. The rheumatologist praised his slave's abilities. From what he told, Chase could perform practically everything an intern could and this started to give Lisa an idea.

"But you were Doctor Rowan's personal property, weren't you?" she asked to clarify.

"Yes, Doctor Cuddy."

"Did you live in his home or at the hospital?"

"In the last two years I lived in the hospital. Before that I had lived in Master's home."

"Why did it change?"

"Master remarried."

"And?"

"His second wife had many slaves of her own and she said she liked to train them herself. She told that I was too old to be retrained."

"This is why Doctor Rowan decided to give you away?"

Something flickered in the slave's eyes but only for a second, then he answered impassively.

"My former Master didn't tell me his reasons, Doctor Cuddy."

It was strange for somebody to just give away a slave after owning him for such a long time and apparently putting a lot of effort in his training and she had a suspicion that the boy knew more about his master's motives than he told.

"All right, I want you to know that we don't have any slaves with your training and never did. Tomorrow I want to test what you know so be here in front of my office at 7 a.m."

"Yes, Doctor Cuddy."

"You can leave now. Wait outside and I'll call somebody who will show you around and help you settle down."

The young man bowed and left while Cuddy went back to her desk. She first called somebody to take care of the new slave and then she went back to her files.