"You did it, didn't you? You kissed her."

Teasing, always with the teasing, only this time House was right, he did kiss the nine year old girl. Chase looked away, feeling embarrassed beyond belief, especially since House was the one who was asking; he'd be giving him shit about this for months. "Yeah, so what? It was innocent," he assured defensively, "She's dying; I couldn't deny her a simple kiss." Now he was flustered, he didn't want everyone knowing this. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Too bad it wasn't Cameron she asked for a kiss," House mentioned, looking at the female doctor, "Now that would've been hot."

Chase gave House a disgusted look, "Now you're just being perverted."

"You know what? I don't think you should be hanging with the big kids," he retorted with a smirk, "Go run along and play on your own for a while."

The younger doctor scoffed, shaking his head, "Unbelievable." He then swiftly turned and walked from the room. He wouldn't have admitted it, but House sending him away really hurt, as if the situation weren't humiliating enough he had to go and exile him. And the fact that made it even worse was that he actually enjoyed being in the older man's presence, he loved House's thought process and liked watching him think, he felt like he was missing out.

He walked hurriedly through the halls until he got to the lab, not wanting anyone else to see him, even though no one else knew what he did, he still felt awkward. As soon as he entered the lab he let his body crash down into a chair and sighed, bringing a hand to his mouth and swiveling in the seat. He doubted he'd be able to do any work, he was too caught up in his thoughts about House. Did he like him or not? It was bugging the hell out of him. His uncertainty quickly turned into frustration the longer he thought about it, and he was becoming restless.

But not even five minutes passed before he heard someone walk through the door, causing him to jump and spin around in his seat. When he saw it was none other than House he huffed, hoping he seemed upset as opposed to hurt, and spun right back around, pretending that he had been working, his face instantly flushing from being caught doing nothing. He expected House to say something right off the bat but instead there was only a pause. A long, uncomfortable pause. Chase could feel the other man's eyes on him and he tried his best not to squirm uneasily.

House chewed on his lip nervously, glad Chase's back was to him as he attempted to come up with the right words to say, "I came here to apologize... For giving you a hard time."

Chase certainly wasn't expecting that, and his expression showed it, but he didn't want the man standing behind him to see his surprise. Quickly changing his expression to a sterner one he glanced over his shoulder, "I find that hard to believe. You want something, don't you? Just say it and spare me the false empathy."

There was another pause.

"I understand why you did it..." He could have said more, but then he would've been saying too much; there was only so much opening up he could do. After another short pause he turned and left, leaving the younger man to ponder.

Chase wanted to accept his apology, he wanted to believe it, but House never felt sorry for anything he did, at least he never expressed it if he did. It was all so confusing. Why was House suddenly becoming all soft with him? Could he somehow tell that he was infatuated with him? For all he knew House thought he was completely straight, there was no way he was that obvious with his feelings. And he was fairly certain House was completely straight himself. It didn't make sense.

...

"She stole a kiss from Chase, what have you done lately?"

That comment repeated itself within the diagnostician's head. He'd done nothing lately, and he certainly hadn't been brave enough to try and steal a kiss from his Australian colleague. He felt completely and utterly pathetic. He'd been pining over the younger man for a while now, trying to come up with subtle ways to come onto him, but he just couldn't come right out and say that he had feelings for him. That would be very unlike him.

He reclined in his chair, reaching for his bottle of Vicodin, and snatched it up. Usually he could open it with ease but for some reason he was having trouble with it. He tried to ignore it but he had been feeling a lot weaker lately, and this proved it wasn't in his head. It began to hurt his wrist, which really annoyed him because his leg was supposed to be the only thing in pain. His frustration was evident on his face as he struggled, and finally, after what felt like minutes, he got it open. He immediately took out a pill and tossed it into his mouth but, again, he couldn't do what he normally could, which was swallow it without water. He stood and, in his aggravated state, began to limp off toward the water cooler without his cane. He was half way there when he clutched at his leg and winced, it hurt like hell. He tried to push on but, after taking one more step, he collapsed.

As soon as he hit the floor he heard the door to his office being swung open and suddenly felt the person kneeling beside him and grabbing onto his arms to help him up. And then he heard the voice, "Whoa... You ok? Can you stand? Take it easy." He weakly helped the man help him up, his hands reaching for any part of the Australian that would help him keep his balance. He was humiliated, but at the same time he was glad he was there.

He looked up at Chase, speaking meekly, "The chair, please..."

Chase nodded and led him to the chair, setting him down gently before crouching in front of him. At first he looked the older man over, wanting to make sure he was alright, and then he looked him in the eye, concern on his features, "You wanted water, right?" Housed nodded. "Let me get it for you," he said quickly. Without a response he pushed himself up and walked briskly to the water cooler.

He had seen the whole thing. He'd been standing outside House's office, ready to go in and give him test results, when he noticed the older man was have some trouble. He knew better than to bother House when he was in a testy mood, so he waited outside. He watched the whole scenario, and when the older doctor fell he rushed in right away to help him. He was worried, he'd never seen House fall, or seen him so vulnerable, it reminded him that he really didn't know House, he didn't know the real him. And it made him want to even more, it even made him want to care for him.

Filling a paper cup of water for him Chase brought it back over to the diagnostician and handed it to him, "If you need to go home I'm sure everyone would understand..."

"I'm fine!" House snapped defensively as he took the cup, quickly drinking the pill down. He didn't want anyone seeing him like this, not even Chase, not even when he was being so understanding. He felt bad for snapping at him but it was what he did, and it was a hard thing to break.

Chase drew back from him, shocked slightly by the harsh tone, but he really shouldn't have been. He nodded solemnly, swallowing nervously, "Alright, just... don't be too hard on yourself."

House pursed his lips, "I assume you have test results."

The blond looked at him from under his lashes, putting his hands in his coat pockets, "Um, yeah, we found a tumor in her heart, but it's benign."

House nodded absently, staring out into the distance, "That can't be the only thing... There has to be more." Without saying another word he stood and pushed past the Australian, heading purposefully for the door. It honestly hurt Chase's feelings that he didn't even want to acknowledge him anymore. But just before House opened the door he turned to look over his shoulder with a smirk, "Coming or not? I may need you to catch me if I fall again. I suppose I'd have Foreman, but it just wouldn't be the same without those strong arms of yours."

Chase couldn't help the bright grin that appeared on his face, letting out a small puff of laughter before moving to the door, a slight blush on his cheeks. It never failed, House could always make him smile.