The Green Clover

by MicoMico

Rating: For now, T. Although it could be moved up to M, and all smut, if any, will be moved to my LJ. Don't worry, I'll be sure to notify people if this happens.

Summary: It's late when House finds Chase at the Green Clover, drinking whiskey without a care in the world. Being the curious man he is, House doesn't know how to leave anything alone. That night soon spirals into a relationship that neither House or Chase anticipate, and they find themselves entangled within each other, unwilling to move on.

Warnings: SLASH, mentions of former child abuse, alcoholism, prejudice against sexual orientation,possibility some smut (if I can muster up the nerve to write it.) If there are more, I will be quick to append them to this list.

Disclaimer: I do not own House M.D., nor am I currently making nor intend to make any money off of this story. So don't sue, it's not worth the legal fees.

A special thanks to my beta, Linker27 who gave up time on Christmas Day to beta this.

--

Chapter Three: An Unforgettable Presence

A few days had passed since Chase and Cameron had broken up for good, and everyone in the hospital knew about their break-up. According to recent gossip among the hospital staff, Chase had broken up with Cameron because he was too afraid of commitment. The rumors that were circulating were plentiful and varied. It was something that annoyed Chase greatly, and provided House with endless entertainment.

It was especially frustrating for Chase when he was faced with the fact that everyone he worked with was privy to a piece of personal information that he would have rather remained hidden. He sat down in one of the chairs outside of the operating rooms and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Doctor Chase?" The speaker was one of the newer nurses on staff, she was young and reasonably good looking. Her eyelashes fluttered up and down in a flirtatious manner and got slightly too close to Chase. Chase moved away from her subtly, hoping that she would refrain from further invading his personal space. He had no such luck, as she sat down in the chair right next to him.

"Yes Nurse...?" Chase reached for her name, while he was familiar with most of the nurses on staff he hadn't been able to get a chance to talk to any of them in the last few weeks. Cameron generally disapproved with his friendship with the young nurses thinking that the single nurses were waiting for a chance to steal him away from her.

"Johnson. But you can call me Cathy..." She trailed off suggestively, and shot him a coy look underneath her lowered eyelashes. With their increased proximity, Chase could smell the cloying scent of perfume.

"I would prefer Nurse Johnson. Now, is there a reason that you needed to see me?" Chase's voice was completely professional, and Chase could see that his tone of voice slightly discouraged the young nurse.

Unfortunately, it did not discourage her enough. "I heard about the break up between yourself and Doctor Cameron. It must be so hard for you right now, and I was wondering if there was anything that I could do to help you cope with your loss..."

A loud, slightly nasal voice, interrupted the refusal that Chase was about give her. "I don't know if you're the proper person to comfort him. After all the reason Doctor Cameron broke up with was because he's you know..." House then made a slight waving motion with a limp wrist.

The nurse's eyes widened and she quickly became embarrassed. "Oh I'm so sorry Doctor Chase! You must think me a terrible person, hitting on you that..."

Chase didn't say a thing, he was still watching House with his mouth open in shock. The nurse politely excused herself and found the nearest nurse she could find in order to spread the latest bit of gossip. Chase inwardly cringed in horror. Within hours the hospital would be talking about his 'coming out', and Chase would never have any peace from the rumors. Chase looked at House, humiliation in his eyes. Chase walked into the operating room without saying anything to House.

--

A couple of days passed since Chase had talked to Nurse Johnson and the entire hospital was now under the assumption that Chase was now gay, and it was the reason that he had broken things off with Cameron. Normally a nurse would ignore this information if it was coming out of House's mouth, but Nurse Johnson was new to the hospital, and had not had an encounter with House before the day that she attempted to flirt with Chase.

In the beginning Chase ignored the rumor. It was just gossip, and it usually blew over very quickly once it became boring. He could handle the whispers and the looks. However, soon he began to get offers from some of the male nurses and orderlies. While it was initially embarrassing, he politely refused their offers and denied that he was homosexual. Some of the other doctors had avoided Chase like he was carrying the plague. Chase ignored them, hoping that they would return to their normal attitudes once the rumor blew over.

It was when he was working with a patient in the clinic, and he refused to be treated by Chase once he had heard from someone that Chase was supposedly gay, that he began to get truly angry about the situation. Chase had explained that it was a silly rumor that was flying around the hospital and that he was indeed heterosexual, but the patient still refused to be treated by Chase. Cuddy had later heard about the incident, apologized for the ordeal that he was made to go through, and asked him if he had been experiencing any trouble in the hospital since his 'coming out'.

Chase calmly explained to Cuddy that he was not gay, that it was a silly rumor that was flying around the hospital, and that he was tired of everyone buying into the rumor. Cuddy sat behind the desk of her office, an expression of empathy on her face all though out Chase's tirade. Chase could tell that she didn't believe a word that he said and that she was starting to pity him. His suspicion were confirmed when she apologized for him feeling that he had to cover up his sexual orientation in order to live a more normal life. Chase nearly screamed in frustration when it was apparent that nothing he could say could convince her of his heterosexuality. Before he left, Cuddy asked him to report any problems he had with the staff before he took any legal action against the hospital.

When Chase had gotten out of Cuddy's office, he ran into House who was hoping to avoid clinic duty. Later Chase would have no idea what came over him, but when he saw House he said, "Thank you so much House, for ruining any pretense that any one in this hospital might have for treating me seriously."

House limped away to the old anatomy classroom, knowing that his teasing was taken too seriously by that nurse and now Chase was suffering for it. He felt sort of guilty for his actions because of the situation that he placed Chase into. Despite what everyone in the hospital might have thought about his supposed inability to feel remorse for his actions, it did happen from time to time. However, House never learned how to apologize, and every time he would attempt an apology to a person it would always come out insincere and somewhat condescending. If he apologized to Chase there was a very good chance that Chase would become even angrier at House. House cursed the nurse who spread the rumor. All the nurses should know not to take him seriously, especially when he was insulting someone.

House finally arrived at the anatomy classroom. There was nothing that House could do at the moment, and House knew that he would be talking to Wilson later about Chase, but in the meanwhile he would take out his frustrations on the numbers by making their lives even more miserable than when they had started to do his bidding.

--

House was sitting in Wilson's office eating a sandwich that Wilson had bought him to prevent the left of his own lunch. His gloomy disposition was permeating the air, making Wilson feel depressed and concerned for House. A couple of minutes passed without House saying anything and it wasn't long before Wilson said something.

"You've been sulking for the past ten minutes, what's wrong?"

"I don't sulk, I brood. It's something that better suits my manly, rugged appearance. Sulking is something that only whiny little kids do when they can't have something."

Wilson hid a smile while he reached for his bag of potato chips that House had neglected to steal during his sulking. "I'm sorry, what were you brooding about?"

"It's Chase."

"What about Chase?"

"I may have offended his delicate sensibilities."

"Like that's news. You somehow manage to piss everyone off. Chase has worked under you for years, he should be used to your particular brand of abuse."

House shifted nervously on Wilson's couch. "Well this time I feel..."

Wilson looked over at House, a look of shock on his face. An incredulous tone crept into his voice. "Don't tell me you feel... guilty?"

House avoided looking at Wilson's shocked expression. "It's not that I feel guilty, it's just that I need him to help rig the betting pools. He's the only one willing to split the profits fifty-fifty."

"What did you do? It must have been really bad, for you to feel guilty about it."

House avoided looking at Wilson. "Well you know that rumor that's going around the hospital about Chase?"

Wilson looked at House, knowing what his longtime friend would say next. "You started that rumor didn't you?"

"It wasn't intentional! I was joking, and this nurse who was around us, took me too seriously. The next day, all the gay men working in the hospital trip over themselves in order to get a piece of that ass."

Wilson looked at House, an exasperated expression on his face. "It's been very difficult for him, you know. I heard Cuddy called him into her office after a clinic patient protested against being treated by a 'gay' doctor."

Anger clouded House's face. "Bigot. It's not like he's going to catch the 'gay' virus." As an afterthought he added, "Besides, there's no way that Chase could be gay."

"Because he was engaged to Cameron?"

House looked at Wilson with a pointed expression. "Haven't you seen the way he dresses? No gay man worth his salt would be caught dead wearing the hideous shirts and ties that Chase comes into work wearing."

"Well if you really feel guilty, you could always swallow your pride and apologize."

House looked at Wilson, his face completely deadpan. "When have you ever known me capable of delivering a successful apology?"

Wilson winced as he recalled all the times when House attempted to apologize to a person. It never ended well. He always managed to word it in such a way that it further enraged the recipient of said apology, whether House intended it or not.

"Well, I could always apologize to him on your behalf." offered Wilson.

House thought about Wilson's offer, and then completely dismissed it. "He's known me for too long. He'll see it as you trying to calm him down enough to start talking to me."

"Then do something nice for him. A friendly gesture. Even you couldn't screw that up."

House stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know, if I put my mind to it, I'm sure that I probably could."

Wilson pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on. "Buy lunch for him, buy him a book that he'll like, just make a gesture House. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Just do it soon, because I'm not sure how long I can take you moaning about how Chase refuses to talk to you. You're worse than a teenage girl with her first crush."

House smirked. "Is that jealousy that I interpret in your voice? Don't worry, I can share my toys."

"House, you have never been capable of sharing your toys."

--

The day after House had talked to Wilson, the CIA had requested a diagnosis for an agent that was dying of unknown causes. There were a couple of bonuses to the trip, such as the interesting patient and the stunning beauty of Doctor Samira Terzi. On the other hand he had to deal with Doctor Curtis and the stiff CIA agent that brought him here. But all in all, it was rather boring in the CIA hospital. There was no one to torment, and all his toys were in his office.

Currently, House was sitting on the bed next to the one that 'John' was occupying, bored out of his mind.

"So what's wrong with me, Doc?"

House recited what he said to Doctor Terzi. "Selenium poisoning. In large does selenium causes fatigue, vomiting, skin irritation, discharge from the fingernail beds, and hair loss. You ate too many Brazil nuts. They call them "castanhas-do-ParĂ¡" down there. Sound familiar?"

John chuckled, his weak voice sounding stronger. "All this... and it turns out that I ate too many Brazil nuts. So, was it interesting treating me? I imagine that you don't get too many people with selenium poisoning in Princeton."

House yawned and put his hands behind his head, sinking into the hospital bed. "It was interesting, until you got better. Somehow I imagined working for the CIA to be more exciting. Although, that doctor was certainly worth the trip."

"I heard you hitting on her. Did you really think you would succeed?"

"You heard her, she was totally into me."

"Yeah, women are so turned on by 'I happen to have a position available on my penis'. She didn't take you seriously for a moment, and you knew she wouldn't. You think she's pretty, but you don't really want to have sex with her. If you did, then you would have made a real move on her a long time ago."

House opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by Agent Smith. "Get ready House, the plane is departing in twenty minutes."

House gathered his cane, and before he left the room he said, "I should have left you to die, then I wouldn't be sitting through your grade-school psychoanalysis. If I wanted insight into my actions, then I would have gone to a shrink way before my friend Jimmy suggested it."

--

It was already dark outside before Chase had found out where House was. He spotted him coming out of the hospital, after Cuddy had assigned him a very large amount of clinic hours. Chase wondered if Cuddy really thought that it would be House who would be completing all those hours. Chase knew that it would be the numbers who would be completing the hours in an attempt to get a position on House's team.

He stopped in his pursuit of House when he heard a female voice say, "I'm going to take you up on your offer."

Her voice was slightly deep, with a bit of a rasp. Curious, Chase glanced at the woman that House was talking to. She was rather striking, admitted Chase.

"Yeah?" House hesitated for a moment. "Well, I, uh, I live a couple of miles from here."

Chase smirked at the amount of hesitation and awkwardness that he could hear from House's voice.

The woman giggled, a sound that Chase disliked instantly. "That's not the offer I meant. I gave notice today."

"I thought you were happy," House hesitated once more, "at the company."

"I lied." Her voice took on a smug quality. "I doubt you'll hold it against me."

An awkward moment of silence passed between the two.

"I'll see you at 9 o'clock on Monday." said the woman before walking away.

It was then that Chase chose to talk to House, and try to return the clothing that he had borrowed from House that night that he had slept over.

"House?"

The awkwardness that House had felt when talking to the woman completely disappeared from House's voice when he first caught sight of Chase. "I thought you were still angry with me over the rumor that the nurse spread."

Chase rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry with you, but I was under a lot of stress over the last couple of days. I shouldn't have blamed you for causing the rumor, it was the nurse who was dim enough to believe you."

House avoided looking at Chase. "Yeah, well maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn't know that the rest of the hospital would believe that you were flaming, I mean with that wardrobe..."

"Well, it was nice talking to you House." Chase gave House the shopping bag where he had put House's clothing, and started to walk away, not willing to put up with House's abuse any longer.

Before Chase could walk away, House said, "I'm hungry."

Chase was surprised by House's completely random statement. "What?"

"I said I'm hungry. I'm sure you're hungry too. Let's go get something to eat, we'll split the check."

Chase laughed, House's behavior suddenly making sense to him. "You're really bad at apologizing."

"So I've heard."

--

The diner that House had brought Chase to was slightly run-down, and smelled of ammonia, but House insisted that it had good food. The waitress looked at House with a scowl when she took his order, but was rather pleasant to Chase.

"Whatta ya want, Hun?" said the waitress before popping her bright pink bubble gum.

"I'll have a hamburger."

"An how d'ya want that dear?"

"Medium-rare."

"Alright, sweetheart." The waitress finished writing down Chase's order before turning to House. "And you?"

Chase hid his smile behind the glass of soda he had ordered earlier, at the waitress's tone of voice. It seemed that she was very familiar with House's brand of verbal abuse.

"I'll have the steak, medium, with extra fries. By the way-" The waitress walked off before House could say another word, knowing that he was about to say something offensive.

Chase chuckled. "I guess you really do come here a lot."

House looked put out. "You're just ruining the atmosphere. Any other night and the last thing on her mind would have been what I wanted to order from the diner's menu."

"Of course. Because no woman can resist your charms."

"I'm glad you finally see it my way."

Soon enough, the waitress had brought them their food and true to his word, House paid half the check. House then ordered dessert, and Chase patiently waited for House to finish his large slice of pie while drinking a cup of coffee. However, House wasn't making Chase's wait any easier because of the obscene sound that House was making while eating his pie. By the time House had finished his pie, he was amused to note that Chase's face was the color of a ripe tomato.

Chase coughed, his red face slowly returning to its usual pallor. "I guess you really like the pie here."

House answered Chase's question with a smirk, causing Chase to flush once again when he realized that was just a ploy to embarrass him.

"See you later Chase."

"Goodbye House."

House limped to his car, with the shopping bag in hand. Once he arrived home, he rummaged through bag when it occurred to him that he had forgotten to ask Chase what was in the bag. When he looked through it he was very disappointed to find that it was the clothing that Chase had borrowed from him when he stayed over. At the bottom of shopping bag however, was a bottle of whiskey. House looked at the label and whistled. It was a sixty-year old Macallan bottle of whiskey. House had no idea how Chase had managed to get his hands on this bottle, or any idea how much of his soul he had to sell in order to obtain it. On the neck of the bottle was a note, tied with a green ribbon. It read:

House,

My father bought me this as a peace offering once I became of age

a couple of years ago. I've never intended on drinking it, so I thought

that you might appreciate it more than I ever could. Consider it an

early Christmas present.

Chase

House looked at the bottle balefully. There was no way that he could just drink this whiskey. A whiskey this rare needed to be saved for a special occasion. Grudgingly, House put the whiskey away where he usually kept his alcohol, and took out a bottle of Jack Daniels instead. After he had poured himself a glass, he sat down on his couch, where the clothing that Chase had returned was scattered. Curious on whether Chase had taken the time to wash his clothing, he picked up his tee-shirt and sniffed it. It smelt just like the detergent that Chase used. Tossing the shirt on the other end of the couch, House sipped at his whiskey, realizing, for the first time in a while, exactly how lonely he was.

--

For those that don't know:

1. When someone does a movement with a limp wrist, it's a signal for gay. I'm pretty sure it comes from the misconception that gay men have limp, girly wrists.

2. The bottle of whiskey that House gave Chase is a real whiskey that's actually very expensive and rare. The whiskey itself is from the Macallan Fine and Rare Collection, 1926, aged for sixty years. A bottle of this is worth $38,000, though it's probably worth more because the whiskey has sold out. (This information was taken from the Forbes website.)

Well, there's chapter three. I'm really grateful to all the readers, who have been so patient in waiting for this chapter. Updates are bound to be more regular from now on, because I have a bit of a break from school.

Oh and consider the following an extra of sorts. It didn't fit in the chapter, but I liked it and thought I would share it.

The numbers and their opinion on House's bad mood:

It was three days after the altercation that House had with Chase, and the numbers were getting a bit tired of House taking his annoyance out on them. The first day wasn't so bad, House was just a little more of the jerk that he usually was. However, as House was repeatedly ignored by Chase his mood worsened. When the man in the black suit took House away, they were all grateful for the reprieve. Currently the numbers, minus Brennen, were in the cafeteria in the middle of eating lunch.

It was Kutner who first brought it up. "So what do you think is bothering House? He seems..." He made a vague hand gesture trying to find the right words to describe House's latest behavior.

Thirteen cut in. "Like more of a jerk than usual?"

"Exactly. He wasn't the easiest person to work under before, but now he's become a downright monster."

"He's probably having trouble with his girlfriend or something, he'll calm down in a couple of days." Taub said before taking a sip of his coffee.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend." said Cole.

Amber cut in, her voice concerned. "I hope he gets over whatever is bothering him. The more agitated he is, the more likely that he'll start firing people."

Taub dismissed Amber's concerns. "He has to fire people regardless of whether he's in a bad mood or not. I'd rather he just do it quickly, that way things could go back to normal and I can find out whether or not to look for another job."

--

Merry Christmas everybody!