Through Sickness and In Health

Flying High

Chase had forgotten how much he hated flying. Wait, no. How much he despises flying. Everyone thought that he just couldn't afford to go back home - which was true - but it's also because he is terrified. Ever since he was a kid, the thought of sitting in a tin can thousands of miles high for hours terrified him. His first family holiday was flying to Melbourne from Sydney, and he had wet himself when the plane took off. He was 9. So now, he was sat with House waiting to board the 24 hour flight, scared out of his mind. His leg bounced up and down erratically, and was biting his nails. He looked up as he felt House place a hand on his knee.

"Robbie, you alright?" he asked.

"I uh, I don't like flying..." he mumbled into his hand, embarrassed. House rubbed a hand in circles on Chase's leg.

"A lot of people don't, it's alright." Chase shook his head.

"No, you, uh, you don't understand...my last flight was to the States to work for you, and I uh..." he paused, feeling a blush come to his cheeks. "Um, I kinda passed out and pissed myself while taking off." he whispered, waiting to hear House laugh at him. He was surprised when he felt himself being pulled into a side hug.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Everything will be fine." House soothed. "If you pass out, we can deal with that. If you pee, you can change clothes. Don't worry about it, baby." Chase lay his head on the other man's shoulder.

"I'm wearing a catheter just in case." he mumbled seriously. House looked at him.

"Really?" Chase grinned into House shoulder, reaching down and pulling his pant leg up, revealing an empty bag attached to his calve. House chuckled. "You never fail to surprise me."

"Flight 259, New Jersey, USA, to Sydney, Australia. Boarding rows A to C." Chase paled as they were called to board. House noticed how he was trembling as he stood up.

"Hey," he pressed his lips softly against Chase's, trying to calm his nerves. "Nothing to worry about." Chase nodded uncertainly, clutching House's hand as they made their way to the gate.

CHASEHOUSE

Chase was thankful that the plane was laid out in seats of two. He couldn't handle freaking out beside some stranger. He was sat at the window seat, shaking, waiting for the plane to take off. House was trying to calm his nerves but it wasn't helping. His breathing sped up as he heard the pilot speak over the intercom, announcing they would be taking off in a moment.

"Robbie? Hey, baby, look at me." House called gently from his seat beside the Aussie. Chase turned to him with wide, terror filled eyes. "It'll be alright, okay? Nothing's gonna happen." It broke House's heart to see his lover like this. House watched as Chase braced himself against his seat, closing his eyes and holding House's hand tighter as the pilot started moving down the runway. He starting swallowing convulsively as he felt the plane tilting.

'Not gonna throw up. Not gonna throw up.' Chase chanted in his head. He could hear House whispering in his ear, but all he heard was a low buzzing as the plane picked up speed. He felt tears squeeze through his tightly closed eyes as he felt his bladder loosen. Even though he was wearing a catheter, it was still fucking embarrassing.

"Robbie, baby, we aren't taking off anymore, we can even take our belts off now." House told him, wiping a thumb over his boyfriend's cheeks, catching the falling tears. Chase nodded, loosening his grip on his seat and House's hand. "How you doing, sweetheart?" House asked when he was looking into watery green eyes, Chase's breathing finally evening out.

"I'm okay." he whispered. "I think I peed." He honestly wasn't even sure anymore. House pressed a kiss to his temple.

"That's okay, no need to worry about it." House kissed him again. "Do you want to go empty it?" Chase shook his head, hair going wild.

"No, uh, I think I'm just gonna stay here for just now." House nodded, placing his arm around Chase's shoulders, hoping to provide some comfort for the younger doctor. Chase placed his head gently on House's shoulder, and stared at the seat in front of them blankly.

CHASEHOUSE

House managed to get some sleep on the 24 hour flight. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for Chase. He was too nervous to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he got images of the plane crash landing, or going up in flames. There was roughly 5 hours left, and the flight attendants were coming round with dinner. Chase nudged House awake with his shoulder. House snorted as he awoke.

"Wassa ma'er?" he mumbled, looking around wildly. Chase smirked.

"Grubs up, Greg." He said, handing him a tray that he had taken from the air hostess.

"Oohhh, yay!" House was quick to dig in. Chase just pushed his food around his plate. "Have you had any sleep yet?" House asked, yet to notice that Chase wasn't eating.

"No. I'll be fine though." Chase mumbled tiredly. "It'll be 10pm when we land, so by the time we get to the hotel it will be around 11.30, so I'll sleep when we land, get my sleeping pattern fixed early." He explained, giving up with even trying to eat, and put his fork down. House glanced at him, concerned.

"Why aren't you eating?"

"I feel kinda sick. And I have a headache." Chase took a deep breath as another wave of nausea came over him. "I'll be fine when we wake up tomorrow. It's just being in the air." House was constantly watching Chase's eating habits since he was told about the bulimia.

"I'll hold you to that." Chase grinned at him. "You emptied the catheter yet? It should be full by now."

"I, uh, I'm kinda too scared to get up…" Chase confessed quietly, avoiding looking looking at House. He felt a hand on his.

"I'll come with you? You don't have to things alone, Robbie." Chase flicked his eyes up, looking at House, feeling a blush rise up his neck.

"Okay." He whispered. With trembling hands, he unbuckled his seatbelt for the first time all flight. He slowly followed House down the aisle towards the small bathroom.

"I'll wait here for you, okay?" Chase nodded, trying not panic as he went into the small room. He quickly did what he needed to, before splashing his face with water and going back to House. "You all good?" House asked, leading the way back to their seats.

"Mm." Chase was too busy trying to focus on not passing out to string together a sentence. He wasted no time in retightening his seatbelt the moment he sat back down. "Why did I have to be born so stupidly far away?" he breathed, closing his eyes for a moment.

"So I could love your British ass?" House teased, trying to cheer Chase up.

"Britain's closer." Chase mumbled back. "We're walking back to Princeton." He groaned.

"You might have to carry me, the cane only helps so much." House smirked.

"How is your leg doing?" Chase asked, immediately feeling guilty about not having asked before. Sitting down in a tight space for so long must feel awful on House's injured thigh. House shrugged.

"It's feels like it normally does." He answered. "I've told you before, the pain got better when we got together." Chase blushed, opening his eyes, smiling softly as House leaned in to kiss him. "If you're not gonna sleep, why don't we watch a movie?" Chase nodded, leaning his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, telling him that he could pick.

CHASEHOUSE

"Oh thank God." Chase breathed as his feet landed on Australian land. He would have kissed the ground if he wasn't certain that he would fall on his face in exhaustion. He took in a deep breath, smelling the ocean faintly. "Home sweet home." He whispered to himself. How he missed this place. Part of him wanted to straight to the beach, despite the late time, but a bigger part of him wanted to collapse into bed with House. House was regretting his clothing choice – a long sleeved t-shirt with jeans. Despite it being 10pm, it was still hot for the American, and after only being off the plane for 10 minutes, he was sweating. No wonder the wombat was always freezing back in New Jersey if he grew up in this heat.

"You doing okay?" House asked as they stood by the luggage claim, hand in hand.

"Yeah." Chase nodded. "I can already feel my body returning back to normal." He yawned. "I just want to get to the hotel and sleep now. Look, that's our bags."

"There should be a cab waiting for us outside, so you can sleep soon." House promised, taking his suitcase off the conveyer belt and following Chase through the airport.

The cab ride was quicker than expected, and Chase collapsed onto the bed when they found their room, not bothering to strip any of his clothes off. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was gone. House had to untie the kid's shoes, and shuffle his jeans off, deciding to leave him in his t-shirt and boxer-briefs. Quickly stripping himself down to his boxers, House joined his boyfriend under the covers, pressing a light kiss to his cheeks before joining him in the land of sleep.