As they reached their apartment building, House had only just pushed the button in the elevator before turning to kiss Chase once again. However, when he saw one of the downstairs neighbors walking past the slowly closing doors, he quickly jumped and turned away from his employee once again.

"Do you think she saw us?" House sounded deeply concerned all of a sudden.

Chase mainly shrugged. At first, he couldn't keep himself from laughing; he had never seen his boss do a jump like this one before. But when House kept checking to see if anyone had seen him approaching the younger man, it no longer seemed that funny. They were living together now and he was still worried whenever someone saw the two of them together.

Why was House always so afraid of getting caught? Was he ashamed or something?

A few hours later, though, the two men were lying in each other's arms in the bedroom and Chase was trying to forget about the incident in the elevator. House had been very playful and naturally, that was something which he enjoyed quite a lot.

"God, you're so edible." House grinned as he licked the younger man across his bare chest repeatedly. "I could do this all night long."

House could be such a passionate and eager lover when he wanted to; he would sometimes cover the kid with kisses and touch every inch of his body, caressingly. Sometimes he would be less thorough and more rough instead; not because he didn't care enough or just wanted to get it over with, but because he tended to lose control of himself around Chase. The young Australian knew that this eager approach, for sure, indicated both joy and pleasure on House's behalf and so he learned to love it. He always appreciated House's grand, romantic gestures.

He just wished that more people knew about the existence of these gestures.

So far, Chase had responded to every kiss and given House quite a few in return, but tonight he found himself feeling rather distracted. Something was on his mind and he was dying to talk to House about it, even if it made him feel nervous as hell.

"Is something wrong, kiddo?"

House noted the hesitance and held his lover's face in his hand so that the kid had no choice but to look at him. He could tell from the way that Chase was biting his lip that he was keeping something to himself.

"Well, now you mention it," the younger man smiled at him, but it was a particularly sad smile, "I suppose there is something I want to ask you."

"Go on then. What is it?"

House sincerely wanted to take an interest, but instead he let his mind and his hands wander until he was once again touching his Wombat all over. He couldn't help himself. It had been a long day at the hospital and this was what he had looked forward to doing the most. Chase had become his own personal treat in the end of the day. He was the sweetest thing ever...

"Greg," Chase tried to suppress a small gasp as he felt the other man pinching him and biting him playfully, "could you stop for a second? I really need you to listen."

However, House got even more excited and this time, he bit him hard enough to make him yelp loudly. Oh, he had almost forgotten how sensitive the Wombat could be.

"Sorry, babe, I didn't mean to hurt you there." House smirked as to state that he regretted nothing at all. He moved closer until he was lying on top of the blonde, covering his mouth with his own.

Chase wanted to tell him to stop so that he could ask the question that was on his mind, but he loved House's kisses too much. They were always so wild and desperate, but at the same time sweet and passionate. He felt himself wrapping his arm around hiss boss instead, begging him to continue. House snickered when he felt his lover surrender to the kiss and he went on to deepening it so that he could tease him with his tongue. This had Chase moaning loudly, now wrapping both arms around the other man as if to pull him even closer.

"Oh you were always so easy to please." House teased him when he momentarily broke the kiss. "You were never able to resist me, were you?"

Chase giggled, but he, too, knew the answer to that question. Of course he had never been able to resist a man like Gregory House; he had felt extremely drawn to him right from the beginning. And now he could feel himself beginning to lose control, all because of one kiss. He propped himself up on his elbows so that he could reach for the older man's lips again. Oh, he felt like such an addict sometimes. Naturally, House laughed at his attempt and pushed him down on his back again. This time, he made the younger man wheeze and squirm by rubbing his own naked body against his, repeatedly.

"Greg," Chase panted as he decided to make another try for it, "remember that… I still have to… ask you something. You're distracting me…"

House chuckled tauntingly and began to rub his pelvis against him even harder. "You can ask me anything, baby, you know that." And then he immediately initiated another kiss, knowing that this would distract the kid enough for him to forget his own name.

And how tempting it was to just surrender to his touch once more… Chase could feel the burning hot lips against his own, but he convinced himself that he needed to be more firm this time.

"No, don't," he moaned and pulled back as far as he could, "I need to talk to you first."

"Then talk." House teased him with a grin and leaned forward yet again to catch his employee's soft and slightly pink lips.

Chase could feel the kiss deepen even faster than usual and he knew that he needed to be strong now. House was deliberately making it difficult for him; he knew all his weaknesses.

"Greg, no! Not now." He cried out loud all of a sudden and before House knew what had happened, he had used all his strength to swap their positions so that House was lying down on his back and Chase himself was sitting on top of him (whilst being very careful not to put any pressure on his bad leg, of course).

"Wow, tonight you're even wilder than I thought."

House would never admit this to anyone, but he always enjoyed it whenever the kid showed determination and took him by surprise.

"Don't sound so impressed with me," Chase told him firmly, "nothing is going to happen before I get to ask my question."

Finally, House sighed. He was well aware of what needed to happen now. They would probably have a serious conversation, maybe so serious that the kid would no longer be in the mood for the rest of the evening.

"All right," he nodded compliantly, "so you're the quid pro quo kind of guy, huh? I get it. You need something from me before I can have anything from you. In that case, you have my full attention."

Chase hesitated for a moment as he tried to determine whether House was kidding him or not. But when he wasn't interrupted in any way, he decided to go on with his question.

"I wanted to ask you about what happened in the elevator earlier." House only glared at him confusedly, so he added: "You were about to freak out when you thought that the old woman from downstairs saw us kissing. Why was that?"

"Oh that!" House rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly feignedly. "Come on, you know what old women are like! If she had caught us in the middle of something, she would have used it against us for all eternity…"

"You know that's not what I'm talking about." Chase caught him off, looking rather dissatisfied. "Since when have you ever been scared of what old women might say to you? Normally, you couldn't care less about what other people think. In fact, you would only be pleased with yourself if you could offend someone in the process of doing something you enjoy. So why did you care this time? You're not ashamed of me, are you, Greg?"

"What?" House exclaimed, completely taken aback. "Robbie, you gotta be kidding me! Why on earth should I be ashamed of you? You don't actually believe that, do you?"

House realized that this wasn't funny anymore. Sure, he would sometimes find great pleasure in teasing and testing the kid in his own wicked ways, but he would like to think that he had never gone as far as to actually hurt him. That was something he would never do intentionally. However, this time, his beloved Wombat did appear hurt.

Chase shrugged and looked down to avoid his lover's eyes. "I don't know what to believe. I mean, there must be a reason why you don't want to make our relationship official. I figured you might be embarrassed to be seen with me."

House closed his eyes and just like that, he felt like a big jerk.

"No, Robbie, you got it all wrong," he sighed and made a gesture that he should allow him to change position on the bed, "can't you see how crazy I am about you? I mean, I've been drooling all day just thinking about the things you and I would do together tonight. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

Chase got off of the older man and allowed him to sit up in the bed. Now that they were sitting next to each other, House threw an arm around him and brought him closer.

"I'm sorry, I know you're right," Chase looked down at his own hands, "I guess I was just hoping that one day, we wouldn't have to keep this a secret anymore. It makes me feel like we're doing something… wrong."

"It's not wrong," House whispered soothingly, "you know it's not. But we both agreed on this from the start. This is very new to the both of us and I still think that we need more time alone with each other before we announce anything. No interruptions, right?"

"Right." Chase tried his best to smile, but it looked a little too forced.

House thought about what to say for a moment. "Look, baby, you can correct me if I'm wrong. But I think this sounds like your mood-swings are returning. Is it getting worse? You do remember to take your pills, don't you?"

Chase seemed to get even more tense, like he always did whenever he had to talk about this subject. "Of course I take them." He said without much conviction in his voice. "And it's not so bad anymore. I feel fine, I promise."

House just nodded. He decided that trust was more important than evidence this time.

"Fair enough," he answered him calmly, "I only care about what's best for you. I do want you to be happy, Robbie."

"But I am happy with you. I really am."

The couple looked at each other once again and even though Chase's eyes were slightly watery, he was smiling more widely now.

Ever since his father had died, he had been in a very dark place. He had basically lost his entire family and he felt very much alone in this world – until House came along, that was. However, the mood-swings would still come back every now and then and his former depression would still show whenever he was at his weakest. He was still on anti-depressants, just to be safe. He didn't want to take any chances now, because he knew that House would be the one to change his life forever. For the better. And he intended to be both happy and in love.

It had recently been the anniversary of his father's death, though, and it had brought back some nasty, painful memories. For weeks, Chase had felt the fear and anxiety return to him – even the fear of living without love. It had nearly turned him desperate; he used to cry in House's arms and ask him if he cared for him. And even though House's answer had always been yes, he was still terrified of the idea of being abandoned and forgotten about.

That was when House came up with the idea that the two of them should be living together. He never thought that he would hear himself suggest such thing, but it was better than having to worry about the kid whenever he couldn't be around. And to be honest, Chase did make his world a much nicer place to live in.

This one time, House didn't mind it if he was acting out of character. Chase moved into his apartment and neither one of them had regretted it so far. It was only wonderful to have something to share with each other.

And of course, it hadn't been bad for their sex life either…

"Are you feeling better now?" House asked the younger man impatiently. "In case you forgot, I just answered your question which means it's my turn to get what I want. Isn't that so?"

House threw him down on the mattress once again and Chase giggled and embraced him lovingly; grateful to be near the person he treasured the most. The couple began to kiss and cuddle and soon enough, House was doing things to Chase that forced him to bite his own lip bloody in order to keep himself from screaming.

"Oh, you like that, baby?" House was watching him shiver and he loved it. (He knew that the kid would be thanking him later).

"I do…" Chase whispered, still biting his lip hard. This was just one of his many ways of begging House not to stop.

And naturally, he never stopped. Not even when Wilson – who was standing right outside – rang the door bell for the fifth time and then decided to let himself in. He had seen that the lights in the windows were still on when he got out of his car and he knew where House used to keep his spare key. For a moment, he was almost worried that something had happened to his friend; no matter which mood he was in, he would usually answer the door sooner or later. This time he didn't.

Wilson found the spare key and got the door unlocked.

"House?" He closed the door behind him and walked into the living room. The lights and the TV were still on and that had him all confused. Surely this meant that House had to be here somewhere. What on earth was he doing?

"House!" Wilson called out his name again as he made his way towards the bedroom. He was certain that he had heard a noise from the other side of the door. A noise like a small cry or a gasp. Was he in trouble in there?

"House, it's me," Wilson called out one last time, deciding that he should make sure that everything was okay, "I'm coming in!"

And then he reached for the door handle, completely unprepared for what he was about to discover on the other side…