HI EVERYONE!

SORRY I HAVEN'T POSTED FOR A FEW DAYS. RL HAS BEEN HECTIC.

BUT HERE'S A NEW CHAPTER!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND ENJOY!!
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CHAPTER 20: Please read and comment.

Cameron angrily hurried after House down the hallway after walking on him passionately kissing Cuddy in an exam room in the Clinic.

"We have a patient," Cameron stated to him, finally catching up with him.

"Yeah. Kinda knew that since I'm the one who gave you the file," House replied, not looking at her.

"We have a patient and you're making out with Cuddy in the Clinic!" Cameron declared incredulously.

House stopped in his tracks and spun around to face Cameron.

"You need me to hold your hand through the differential or you just interested in a threesome?" House asked her.

"You're ignoring the patient!" Cameron spat out.

"I always ignore the patient! That's why I have a team! So I CAN ignore the patient!" House yelled back in her face.

Cameron tsked in disgust, narrowing her eyes.

"You're such a jerk," she said.

"Then why did you come back to me?" House demanded, his cerulean eyes boring into her.

Cameron was caught off guard by his penetrating stare and his even more penetrating question.

"…Taub quit. You offered me a job," Cameron said in a meeker tone.

"You were a department head. You were basically my equal. Now you're my subordinate again. Are you that afraid to give the orders or you just like doing the grunt work?" House asked her.

"I missed the cases," Cameron stated.

"You missed ME," House countered.

Cameron inhaled sharply, refusing to show House any reaction to his accusation, no matter how close to home he had just struck.

"Which is why you were so horrified to see me kissing Cuddy in the Clinic," House added.

Cameron ignored her heart thumping loudly in her ears, knowing that if she admitted that he was right that she would lose any respect that House might have still had for her.

"If you thought it would have been a bad career choice for me to come back to you, then why did you offer me the position?" Cameron demanded.

"To see if you would take it," House replied simply.

A wave of nausea enveloped Cameron at House's words.

"…It was a TEST?" Cameron managed to say, her lower lip quivering slightly.

"And you FAILED," House told her.

Cameron swallowed, keeping her gaze on him, trying to maintain whatever dignity she had left inside her.

"I was actually PROUD of you when you quit two years ago. You showed me that you were grown up enough to move on," House said.

"But now, you've ruined your relationship with Chase and gave up a great job for an a$$ like me," House continued.

"Chase CHEATED on me with Cuddy," Cameron pointed out, her eyes becoming glassy.

"You've been cheating on him in your mind with me all along," House stated bluntly.

Cameron pursed her lips together, refusing to let the tears roll down her cheeks.

But House refused to soften at the sight of them.

"When you're done crying, go run a liver function test on our patient," House said gruffly before limping away from her towards his office.


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Towards the end of the day, House was erasing his white board when Cuddy walked into his office.

"How did your case turn out?" Cuddy asked him softly.

House turned around and smiled with closed lips upon seeing her.

She was wearing a form fitting knee length plum dress with capped sleeves, an attractive neckline and black stiletto heels. Her raven curls were tousled about her shoulders.

House could feel the blood rush to the bulge in his pants as he gazed at her.

"Liver function test confirmed Hemochromatosis," House replied, his eyes tracing over her figure.

"That's good…" Cuddy said, her eyes sparkling as she got closer to him.

House arched his eyebrow at her. Cuddy, realizing what she had just said, shook her head.

"I mean, not that the patient has hemochromatosis, but that you diagnosed it," Cuddy added quickly.

House smiled slightly, knowing that Cuddy was slightly flustered after what had happened between them in the Exam Room earlier that day.

"So what did Cameron say to you after I left the Clinic?" House asked her.

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "…She called me a whore," she muttered.

"Is it bad that that turns me on?" House asked her with a furrowed brow.

Cuddy sat down on one of the chairs at his conference table and exhaled deeply, resting her head in her hand.

"I deserved it," Cuddy mumbled.

"No you didn't," House said with a grimace. He pulled up a chair and sat down at the head of the table perpendicular to her.

"It couldn't have been easy for her to see me kissing you right after she found out that I slept with Chase," Cuddy told him.

"Yeah, you've had a busy week," House said.

A sound that was almost a laugh escaped her lips in response.

House kept his eyes on her while she stared absentmindedly at the glass table top.

"If it makes you feel any better, I made her cry," House offered.

Cuddy looked up at House and laughed slightly.

She felt her heart flutter in her chest at the soft, yet intense way he was gazing at her.

"… Did you… like it when we kissed?" Cuddy asked him.

"No. It was awful," House said in a sarcastic deadpanned tone.

Cuddy smirked at first, but then her face became serious.

"Maybe… we should keep this out of the hospital for a while," Cuddy suggested.

"Ok," House said. "As soon as you explain to me what 'THIS' is."

"You wanna DEFINE our relationship?" Cuddy asked with raised eyebrows.

"I wanna make sure I tell Wilson the right acronym when he starts annoying me. 'GF,' or 'FWB,' or whatever the kids are saying these days," House replied.

Cuddy smiled ever so slightly, pretending to think it over.

"'GF' doesn't sound right," Cuddy said coyly.

"And we're not friends, so forget 'FWB,'" House added jauntily.

"How about your 'Old Lady?'" Cuddy joked, inching her face closer to him.

"I'll only call you that if you get on the back of my bike," House replied, taking in the scent of her vanilla perfume, thoroughly enjoying their exchange, the bulge in his pants growing at the thought of the front her body pressed against his back on his bike .

"…Thanks for helping out at the Clinic today," Cuddy said to him.

"You're welcome," House replied.

They shared a comfortable silence, just tracing each other's faces with their eyes.

"So, you wanna go get a drink or you just wanna get right to the sex?" Cuddy asked sexily.

"Something tells me that you're better in the sack when you've had a few," House snarked.

"You can always ask Chase," Cuddy quipped, not missing a beat.

"Chase isn't here," House said.

He then cupped her face with his hand and inched his lips closer to hers.

"I like that Chase isn't here," House whispered before giving her a long, lingering kiss.


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By the end of the evening, Chase was back in his apartment, sitting on his living room couch in front of the TV, playing 'Tony Hawk's Proving Ground' on his Xbox.

His cell phone was resting on the coffee table in full view. He put the game console down and checked it for the fifth time that evening.

He still hadn't heard from Sophie.

And he was beginning to get worried.

"SCREW IT," Chase thought to himself. He picked up his cell phone and pressed the button for Sophie's cell number.

Just like every other time he had called her, her phone rang four times before going to voice mail. He felt his heartbeat increase as he waited for her outgoing voice message to finish.

"Sophie, it's Robert. I've been trying to call you. I don't know if you've gotten my messages… but I'm starting to get worried about you. Please let me know if you're ok," Chase said as calmly as he could.

He then closed his phone with a snap, placed it on the coffee table and picked up his game console again.

A few moments later, Chase's cell phone rang on the coffee table.

It startled him so much that he bobbled the game console in his hands, almost dropping it.

He clumsily put the game console on the floor next to him and grabbed his phone, reading "SOPHIE" on his Caller ID display.

He took a deep breath in an effort to collect himself. He then opened his phone.

"Hey!" Chase said, hoping he didn't sound too eager.

"Hi," Sophie replied sweetly, yet softly.

Chase couldn't get over how his heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice.

"Are you all right?" Chase asked her, trying to quell the the anxiety in his voice.

"I'm fine… I'm so sorry I made you worry about me…" Sophie replied, trailing off.

Chase paused, expecting her to follow up her apology with a reason why she hadn't returned any of his messages.

But she didn't give one.

"…That's ok... I was just a little concerned because I called you back on Friday night and didn't hear from you. Did you get my messages?" Chase asked her.

"...Mmm hmm..." Sophie replied.

Chase could tell by the tentative sound of her voice that she was holding something back.

"Are you sure everything's ok?" Chase asked her again.

"Yeah... everything's fine," Sophie replied.

Chase felt a painful sensation in his chest at her vague answers.

"…Do you have a few minutes to talk?" Chase asked her.

Sophie paused before answering. "I.. I have an exam tomorrow. I should really go study," she said.

"Ok… umm… can I call you tomorrow?" Chase offered.

"…I'll be busy tomorrow," Sophie said, her voice growing quieter.

Chase couldn't stand it anymore.

"Sophie, did I do something wrong?" Chase asked her.

"No, not at all," Sophie said sincerely.

"Then… why—" Chase began.

"I'm sorry. I'll try to call you soon," Sophie said sadly before hanging up.

Chase could have sworn that he heard Sophie on the verge of bursting into tears before she ended their conversation.

"Something's wrong," Chase said aloud.


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Chase paced around his apartment wondering what he should do.

For some reason, Sophie was very sad and she didn't want to talk to him.

And his heart felt as if it was breaking.

Over the course of only a few days, Chase had felt that he was alive for the first time in a long time.

Sophie made him feel like he could do anything. Like he could trust someone with his heart, like he could open up his soul to someone else.

And now for some reason, she was pushing him away.

Just as his father, House, Cuddy and Cameron had all done.

Chase stared at where he had tossed his leather jacket and his car keys on the other end of his couch.

"NOT THIS TIME," Chase thought to himself firmly.

He then grabbed his keys and jacket and left his apartment, wondering if he'd be able to find a safe place to leave his car at Newark Airport.

TBC…