Chase sighed, sitting at a counter with his sandwich, thinking back over the time he had worked for House.
Four years... had it really only been four years?
So much had happened...
He had lost his dad.
He had gained two friends—and one person he cared about but doubted he was ever going to get any reciprocation from.
He had lost faith in his religion.
He had learned that right and wrong weren't always as easy as they were supposed to be.
He had gone through a lot of crap from House.
He had gained a lot of knowledge by going through it.
On the whole... he had definitely grown as both a doctor and a person.
He thought back to that day, the first time he had ever met House.
He had sat down in the chair opposite House's, trying his very hardest to not look at the crutches propped up against the wall—House had still been recovering physically from the infarction, and though most of the time he had been able to use just the cane, there had still been times when he had been forced to use crutches.
House had snorted at his attempts, and told him his dad had called.
He had flushed, both embarrassed and angry. He didn't want help. He wanted to get a job for himself, not off his father's reputation.
"He told me not to hire you."
Chase blinked.
"What?"
"He said you only became a doctor because he made you, and that you weren't going to be motivated enough to stick around in diagnostics."
Chase knew his face was getting redder and redder.
"Oh."
House tilted his head.
"That's all you've got to say? Your dad thinks your a wimp and a quitter, calls the guy you've got an interview with, tries to keep him from hiring you, and all you've got to say is oh?"
Chase sighed.
"It's not like he hasn't expressed that opinion before."
House watched him for a while, making Chase feel extremely awkward.
"This is a kind weird job. There won't be anything to do for days on end, then nobody will be able to leave for forty hours straight when there's a patient. You sure that's what you want?"
Chase shrugged, "I like the nothing to do part. And my dad's right, I never wanted to be a general doctor. That's just boring. I'm digging myself into a hole, aren't I?"
House snorted, reaching into his desk.
"Here."
Chase blinked.
It was a pager.
"I filled out the paperwork as soon as your dad said he didn't want me to hire you."
Chase stared at him.
"You're hiring me because my dad doesn't want you to?"
"No, that's the reason I actually bothered to show up to interview you, but I'm not actually hiring you just because of that. You just wouldn't have a chance of me hiring you if he hadn't done that, cus I never would have met you. Here."
House handed him a bunch of forms.
"Go talk to Cuddy, the dean of medicine, her office is just to the left of the front entrance. Then go explore the hospital, find out where everything is—or just go home, I don't really care. Just make sure you're ready to answer a page."
Chase nodded, standing.
"Thank you."
House rolled his eyes, shooing him out the door.
Chase looked down as his pager went off in the middle of the hospital cafeteria.
Brittany Spears Oops I Did It Again was resounding from the small device clipped to his belt.
He ignored the stares and giggles, despite turning a deep, deep shade of pink, and checked the message.
'Patient. Take history. Room 124.'
He sighed, dumped the remainder of his lunch in the trash, and went to take the history.
Something told him this wasn't just a hazing period that would pass.
Two days and at least forty 'you idiot!'s later, he had helped solve his first ever diagnostics case, and had decided the thrill was well worth dealing with the acerbic head of the department.
Chase yawned, stretching out in the half of the room adjacent to House's office not full of House's unfiled paperwork from the last four years.
He looked up, however, as a beautiful woman came in, looking at him.
"Are you Dr. House?" she asked, looking nervous.
"Uh, no, Chas-Rob—Chase. Doctor. Dr. Robert Chase."
The woman smiled a little, obviously less uncomfortable with someone who was completely flustered and not in control of the situation.
"Do you know when Dr. House might be back?"
Chase shrugged, "Um... hasn't actually been in yet today.
The woman blinked at him.
"It's ten o-clock."
Chase shrugged again.
"Did Cuddy tell you to come in for an interview?"
The woman nodded.
"Ouch."
She blinked, "Why ouch?"
"Because she's had about twenty people come in for interviews, House hasn't met with any of them."
"Oh... umm... do you think he'll come in today at all?"
"Yeah, probably when he thinks you will have given up and left."
"Oh... well... I guess I'll have to wait longer than that, then."
Chase stared at her, as she sat down at the table.
She looked around the room.
"What are all those papers?"
Chase shrugged, "House isn't much of a one for paperwork."
She waited a while longer, both of them silent.
Then she looked at Chase.
"You think he'd mind if I cleaned up some of it?"
Chase snuck out the door, taking out his pager.
'Cuddy's interview person is hot lady. Hot. Did I mention hot? Don't care if interview, just get here, see her. Won't tell who are.'
Fifteen minutes later, House had arrived, and was standing outside the differential room, eyes narrowed as he watched the woman lean over a clinic chart.
He opened the door.
"You're Dr. Cameron?"
She looked up, smiling when she saw him.
"Yes. Dr. House?"
He nodded, jerking his thumb towards his office.
Chase blinked.
House was actually going to interview her?
Half an hour later, House announced that she was hired, shoved her at Chase, and left.
"You might want to check what your pager's set to."
She blinked at him.
Chase and Cameron sighed, bored, as Cameron filled out some form House had thrown away, and Chase filled out his crossword puzzle.
They both looked up as a knock sounded on the door to the differential room.
A short-ish black guy was standing there, holding a briefcase.
Cameron got up, opening the door.
"Hello?" she asked, politely.
"Hi. This the diagnostics department?"
She nodded.
"Dr. House said I was supposed to come in for an interview today, do you know when he'll be here?"
Cameron glanced at Chase, "He asked you to come in for an interview?"
The man nodded.
Cameron blinked for a moment, then stepped back to let the man in.
"I don't know when he'll get here. Probably by two."
The man blinked, but shrugged, and sat down to wait.
At 11:30 PM, House entered the differential room to find Chase and Cameron snoring in the chairs, and the guy he had called sitting stubbornly, a book from one of the bookcases in his hands.
House picked up two small juggling balls from a table, tossing them at Cameron and Chase's heads.
They jerked awake, looking around.
"One of you get Dr. foreman a pager."
House turned around and left.
All three of them stared after him in confusion.
Foreman looked at Chase.
"Isn't he going to interview me first?"
Chase shrugged, "that was an interview."
Cameron smiled, holding out her hand.
"Welcome to the team."
Chase sighed, turning back to his crossword.
Now he would have to share.
Chase jumped a little, as Cameron entered the restaurant.
Chase sighed, sitting down in front of the man interviewing him for a new job.
"So... you worked for Dr. House for the past four years, correct?"
He nodded.
"Can you tell me why he fired you?"
Chase looked at the man for a few moments.
"It was a fellowship. I learned a lot, House taught me a lot. I think... I think it was just time for me to go."
"Do you have any idea why he would have called to tell me not to hire you?"
Chase blinked.
Then he smiled a little.
"What was the reason he gave?"
The man shrugged.
"He said..."
Chase blinked.
"What?"
"He said you wouldn't have the patience to stick around... uh..."
"What?"
"Somewhere as boring as this."
Chase lowered his head, smiling to himself.
House might have fired him, and he might never admit that he hadn't thought he was an idiot, but he had bothered to acknowledge that Chase had grown. House hadn't said he couldn't handle the job, he had said that the job couldn't handle Chase. And that was something he had had no obligation to do.