Hi.

College started again this week and I've had more work to do than last week, so this chapter was slower at being posted than previous ones. I hope it was worth it and you all enjoy it. Thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter. I loved reading what you thought.

Have a fantastic day!

Excuses.

Chapter 9.

Chase sat, alone, in exam room four. A particularly quiet morning in the clinic had left him with plenty of time to catch up on his charting and he was finding the task very dull. Glancing up at the clock above the door, Chase scowled when he noticed it was only half past eleven. He felt as though he had been there for hours. He would normally welcome the calmness of an empty clinic, taking the time to do his work in the reception area, talking to other doctors and nurses, but House's new fellows were working in the clinic too, and Chase wanted to be as far away as possible from any reminders of him.

He picked up his pen and bent forward over the file on the table, wondering whether Cameron had said anything to House yet or taken any action towards persuading him to be with her.

'I guess not.' Chase thought as the door burst open and House entered. Briefly, Chase considered the possibility of ignoring him, maybe walking out of the open door behind House. This idea was quashed, however, when House pushed the door shut and leant on it, cutting off Chase's escape route.

Chase put his pen down and faced House with a bold stare. Cameron had chosen this man over him and right now he really didn't want to deal with him.

"Leave me alone, House." Chase said brusquely.

"That's not very nice, is it Chase? I'm hurt." House replied, looking anything but hurt.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Too bad. I want answers. What the hell have you done to her?"

"I've not done anything. If anything, she did it to me. It was her decision to make and she made it. Now I'll say it again: Leave me alone."

"If you've not done anything to upset her, why does it look like she didn't sleep at all last night? Why does she seem nervous whenever your name comes up?"

Chase gave a short, humourless laugh.

"Comes up? That's a funny way to put it. Are you sure you weren't harassing her about me? I find it difficult to believe my name would come up unless you deliberately brought it up."

"Something's wrong with her. I want you to tell me what."

"Go away, House."

"Not until you tell me what's going on."

"It isn't any of your business!"

"I think it is. Why are you fighting so hard to hide it from me?"

"House, just leave me alone OK?! She chose you!"

There was a short, stunned silence that seemed to swell, filling the room, and Chase felt it almost physically pushing against him.

"What did you say?" House said quietly.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter, House. Please leave me alone."

"No. What did you mean by that, Chase? Tell me."

"She chose you okay? I gave her a choice, and she made it. Congratulations. You win. Now leave me alone." Chase walked over to the clinic door and held it open for House, clearly signalling that he had had enough of this conversation and that House should leave. House stared at Chase for a moment, his mind quickly processing this new information. Slowly, House began to walk towards the open door and through it, not saying another word to Chase. After Chase closed the door behind him, House stood in the cool corridor, thinking over the conversation that had just taken place.

It was an hour later when Chase, still in a terrible mood, entered the cafeteria. He couldn't believe House's nerve! He and Cameron were over and still House felt the need to rub it in his face when all he wanted was to move on from all that? He wished House would just leave him alone. Cameron had chosen House, Chase didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

His blue eyes narrowed in irritation as he noticed that there were no empty tables. Ordinarily he wouldn't mind joining somebody else, but right now he really would prefer to be alone. Walking towards the food counter, he gritted his teeth as the echoes of House's voice rang in his ears.

"I want answers."

"Something's wrong with her."

"Why are you fighting so hard to hide it from me?"

Chase stopped short at the sight of a brown, wavy-haired woman standing at the counter choosing her lunch. It was the woman from the clinic. He had been intrigued by her words and demeanour and was eager to find out more about her. Figuring now was as good a time as any, he approached the counter and stood behind her. He tapped her on the shoulder and she started in surprise. Spinning on her heel, she surveyed him for a few seconds before 

turning her back to him with a roll of her eyes. Nonplussed by her reaction, Chase was silent for a moment while he gathered himself.

"It's... er... Victoria Tatum isn't it?" Chase asked, much less confident then he had been just a minute ago.

"Yes, it's Doctor Tatum." She faced him and pointedly looked down towards her name tag, obviously unimpressed at his having learnt her name. "And I'm really not in the mood to make idle conversation or to be hit on right now." Once again, she began to turn away from Chase when he put his hand on her shoulder, preventing her from doing so.

"Look, what is your problem? I apologised for running into you yesterday and you have absolutely no reason to be so rude. I've had a bad morning but I didn't come over here and jump at your throat. I tried to be nice; I know it's your first week and you're adjusting to the change, but you shouldn't isolate yourself from people who are just trying to introduce themselves and get to know you."

With that, Chase cast an angry look at her, snatched up a plastic container of pasta from the display case and marched to one of the cashiers, leaving her standing, mouth open, in front of the food counter. He paid for his pasta and sat down at a free table which had been rapidly vacated by two midwives, who had obviously been paged for assistance in a delivery. Sullenly, he pulled the lid off the container and removed the plastic fork from inside the lid. He furiously stabbed at a piece of pasta, but it did nothing to relieve his anger. A small cough alerted him to a woman standing beside him and he looked up into Victoria Tatum's tentatively smiling face.

"Er... is this seat taken?" she asked, pointing to the plastic chair opposite him. Chase shook his head and gestured for her to sit.

She set her tray down and slid into the seat. Chewing, Chase looked down at his pasta.

"I'm sorry." The abruptness of the statement pulled his head up and his eyes met hers. She swallowed and diverted her eyes from his for a moment before looking back at him and continuing. "Look, I've had a really tough morning on top of a terrible week and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It's not your fault."

Chase nodded, accepting her apology.

"And I'm sorry for knocking you over yesterday. I was in a rush to get to... get away from something." He said.

After a few more seconds of silence in which both doctors smiled timidly at each other, Chase cleared his throat.

"I'm Robert Chase, by the way. Usually, people here call me Chase." He extended his hand, which she took, shaking it and nodding.

"Vikki Tatum."

"So, you want to tell me why your week has been so bad?" Chase took another mouthful of pasta as he watched her carefully. Vikki bit her lip as she tried to think of how to explain.

"First few days in a new place are always a bit overwhelming. I always find it hard to get my bearings. Add that to the fact that I seem to be inexplicably disliked by a few doctors and it gets me quite stressed."

"Which doctors?"

"Just one, really. It was in the clinic yesterday."

Chase's eyes widened slightly, instantly knowing who she was referring to.

"I was standing at the pharmacy waiting for a prescription when he pushed me out of the way and demanded that the pharmacist get him Vicodin. When I told him the pharmacist was helping me he just ignored me like I wasn't even there. I don't know what I did to offend him." Vikki finished her story and started to pick at the sesame seeds on her burger bun. Chase breathed in deeply.

"Did he have a cane?" he asked, already knowing; after all how many other doctors in the hospital were so impolite and addicted to Vicodin?

"Yes! Do you know him?" Vikki asked, head snapping up to look at Chase.

"Everyone knows him. That's Doctor House. He's the Head of Diagnostics and used to be my boss before I joined the surgical team. He's a bitter, twisted misanthrope but, unfortunately, he's part of the furniture. He's got tenure so the best thing you can do is just ignore him. It won't shut him up but he might get bored faster."

Vikki laughed lightly and Chase was surprised to realise just how much he liked hearing her laugh. Her brown eyes looked into his, silently thanking him for his advice as she smiled.

The pair ate their lunch, talking comfortably with each other and by the time they had finished, Chase had made a new friend in Vikki Tatum.

House pushed open Wilson's door without knocking.

"You won't believe what Chase just told me." House said, without preamble. Wilson looked up, as did the little girl and her mother sat in front of his desk.

"House, I'm with a patient. Either wait outside or if you must stay in here sit down and be quiet for a few minutes." Wilson chided and then added under his breath, "As difficult as that is for you."

House threw himself on the couch and leant forwards, tapping his cane on the floor agitatedly. Wilson addressed the mother and daughter in front of him.

"I'm sorry. My friend has some boundary issues. So, Mrs Simon, it appears that Molly's treatment is... er... is..." Wilson was distracted by House staring at him from behind the woman. It was extremely disconcerting and Wilson fought to keep focussed on Molly Simon's case. "It's going great, and the scans show the tumours have shrunk."

Mrs Simon smiled in relief and Wilson smiled back.

"So, what I think we should do is just continue the way we are and we'll have another meeting in about a month or so. Okay there, Molly?" Wilson asked the little girl who nodded shyly in reply and moved closer to her mother. "Any questions you want to ask?" he spoke to her mother again.

Mrs Simon shook her head and opened her mouth, but before any words could emerge from it, House's voice came from the direction of the couch.

"Yes, Doctor Wilson, I have a question. What do you think Chase-?"

"House," Wilson cut across him, "I'm with a patient. Not now. Go ahead, Mrs Simon."

"No, I don't have any questions. It all sounds okay to me. Are you alright, Molly?" she asked her daughter. Molly nodded and smiled at Wilson.

"Good." Wilson handed Molly's mother an outpatient's card. "Take this down to reception and they'll make another appointment to see me in about a month."

"Thank you Doctor Wilson. Bye. Say thank you, Molly."

"Thank you Doctor Wilson." Molly said quietly.

"Bye Mrs Simon. See you soon, Molly." Wilson said. Molly waved as she and her mother left and Wilson waved until the door shut. Wilson closed the file on his desk, took it over to the filing cabinet and put it away before turning to House.

"Okay. What did you want?"

"Who was that?"

"Molly Simon. She's six and has stomach cancer. Hopefully, she should be fine. Now, what did you want?"

"Chase said something. He said Cameron chose me. So, I'm thinking that he asked her to choose between him and me and she chose me."

"Yes, I was thinking along those lines too." At House's questioning glance, he continued, "I spoke to Cameron this morning. She said a few things that made me think."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to encourage your obsession with this. Anyway, I figured it was only a matter of time before you found out on your own. So, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Are you going to tell Cameron what you know?"

House thought for a few moments.

"No. Not yet. I need to think about what I'm going to do first."

"What do you mean? Are you considering it? Do you want to be with her?"

"I don't know yet. I need to think."

House stood up suddenly and walked out of Wilson's office towards his own. Wilson allowed himself a small smile as he watched his friend leave. Although he didn't like seeing House this confused; it usually didn't bode well when it happened in cases, Wilson thought Cameron would be good for him and he was glad that the diagnostician was considering reopening that door of his heart that had been locked for so long.