A/N: Just some randomness I thought up the other night. Here's to hoping it makes sense.
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House, who assumed the worst of everyone, decided that he must have been cut out of his father's will if he had to resort to "double-dipping." Chase didn't say anything, even though it was as far from the truth as possible.
He'd inherited it all—he just wasn't touching a cent of it.
Well, that wasn't completely true. He was doling it out in bits and pieces—a charity here, a foundation there. Patients at the hospital who couldn't afford lifesaving tests and procedures were finding them paid for by a mysterious benefactor. But he refused to spend any of it on himself.
It had always been like this. The first time he'd come home to find his mom passed out drunk there'd been a shiny new bicycle waiting for him in the garage, big red bow and all. The gifts had gotten steadily bigger as his mom got sicker. The day his dad left them, Chase found a brand new entertainment system installed in his room. And Rowan Chase never missed a birthday or holiday, even if he wasn't physically there. There'd been flashy electronic equipment, and designer clothes, and tickets to sporting events and rock concerts, and even a brand new convertible as soon as he got his license (which he promptly totaled, out of spite). But that was all he ever got—things instead of love. Money instead of a role model. Favors instead of a father. Anything to keep him from voicing the truth. That they were a mess of dysfunction covered up by a big shiny bow of perfection—just like the bike had been.
And now…now, just months after seeing his father for the first time in years and thinking maybe, just maybe, things had changed, Rowan was dead. Lung cancer. Months to live. He'd been able to tell House, of all people, and yet couldn't divulge the details to his son, even after looking him in the eye.
Instead, Chase got everything. The estate, the money, the stocks and bonds, the book royalties….everything except what he'd always wanted. Just like all the years before.
Hush money.
A kick back.
A buy off.
A bribe.
House thought he'd been cut off, and Chase didn't correct him.
Because maybe he wasn't really that far off at all.