A/N: This chapter is fairly heavy House /Chase. I started to write dialog between them and I just couldn't stop. Anyway, I hope it works.

Disclaimer: Don't own House or Chase, but the OCs are all mine!

Ann woke up that morning to an empty bed. She was surprised at first, until she smelled coffee.

She got up and went to the kitchen.

"Hey," House said softly. He was sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee and texting on his phone. "I'm sorry, but I have to go in to work today."

"I thought your case was over."

"When a patient dies, I usually do an autopsy to confirm the diagnosis if I can get consent. Foreman texted me yesterday afternoon that he had it. The morgue is pretty quiet on weekends unless there's a crime spree, so now is a good time to do it."

"So, you were texting Foreman to set it up?"

"Yeah, and letting Chase know he should come in."

"He's going to do the autopsy with you?"

"He said he wanted to."

"Really? Why?"

"I have no idea. It could be some seminary-Catholic-guilt-absolution thing. Or it could be that it's a kid. He always gets more attached to the patients when they're young."

"Wow. I didn't know it was a child. How old?"

"Seven. A boy. Interesting kid."

"I thought you usually didn't get to know your patients."

"I don't, but I kind of had no choice here."

"Why?"

"Well, if we can't save someone, I'm the one who usually tells them. And the kid asked me to stay with him until he died. Chase and me."

"Where were his parents?"

"No idea. He came from foster care and he was between families."

"Poor thing. How awful to die without any loved ones around."

"The world is full of throwaway kids."

"At least you were there with him."

"For whatever good that did."

"I'm sure it helped him. You said he was interesting. How?"

"He said he wanted to be a pilot. He talked like it was still going to happen. He said he was going to be soaring above the clouds."

"Oh, Greg."

"He got cold and started shivering. He asked us to hold him. We passed him back and forth."

"Who was holding him when he died?"

"Me."

Ann pulled her chair next to House's and put her arms around him. "No wonder your arms were shaking last night."

House put his head on Ann's shoulder. After a couple of minutes, he cleared his throat. "I have to go. Chase is meeting me at ten and I need to get in the shower."

"Okay. Do you mind if I invite them over for dinner tonight?"

"Whatever you want."

Ann called Danielle after House left for the hospital.

"So, how was Robert last night?" Ann asked Danielle.

"Distant, at first," Danielle replied. "After I fed him, and he had a couple of beers, he opened up a little. That poor child. Seven years old and all alone."

"Robert had a lonely childhood, didn't he?"

"His mother was an alcoholic who neglected him and his father was completely uninvolved. He didn't have any siblings. And he didn't have any friends because he was afraid to bring them home to see his mom."

"Greg had serious problems with his father and his mother never did anything about it. He didn't have any siblings, either. And he never made any friends because his dad was in the military and they moved so much."

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe they both identified with, or at least felt sympathetic towards this little boy."

"And it may be difficult for them to deal with it?"

"Probably. Listen, do you and Robert want to come over tonight?"

"Do you think that will help?"

"Yes. I think it might be good for the two of them to hang out with each other for a little while."

"How is that going to happen if we're there?"

"We could go to the mall or something."

"I spent too much on my dress for the Christmas party. Between that and the shoes, my credit card is still recovering."

"Well, I've got some chick flick DVDs around here somewhere that I know Greg won't want to see. We could watch in my bedroom and let them hang out in the living room watching sports or guy movies where they blow up things."

"Sounds like a late night."

"It might be. Bring a change of clothes for both of you. If you wind up staying, I'll even let you have a guest room with heat in it."

"You're too good to us."

"See you at six."

Ann ran out to the grocery store to get some things for dinner and for breakfast the next morning. By the time she returned, House was already back. She put away the groceries and got started on dinner.

House joined her in the kitchen and began chopping vegetables.

"You're sure you want to do that right now?" Ann asked.

"What?" House replied. "I washed my hands."

Ann rolled her eyes. "So, how did it go?"

"Okay. We confirmed our diagnosis."

"What was it?"

"The kid had a very rare, incurable genetic disease. Even if he had been diagnosed earlier, he would have died, anyway. Although he might have lasted longer and received more effective treatment for his symptoms."

"That sucks."

"Yeah."

"Danielle and Robert are coming over tonight. I thought that after dinner we could watch 'Sleepless in Seattle' and then 'When Harry Met Sally.' "

"Oh, God."

"What?"

"I hate romantic chick flicks."

"I just thought something light and funny would be good, given the week you and Robert have had."

"I guess I should be glad you don't think like a guy, even though it's annoying in this instance. What makes us happy isn't sappy romantic comedies, it's movies where there are lots of explosions."

"Is that why you own 'Diehard' and all seven sequels on DVD?"

"First of all, they didn't make eight "Diehard" films, unfortunately. Although if they did, they'd probably have had to replace Bruce Willis at some point, since he's acquired a little too much mileage. Anyway, there's actually some romance in those films."

"What? Because he's destroying all those buildings and killing all those people to save his ex-wife? Couldn't he just buy her some really expensive chocolate instead? "

"If you were kidnapped by international terrorists, would you want your man to take them out, or would you want him to buy you a box of Godiva?"

"Hmm, let me think . . . seeing as how my guy is a world-famous diagnostician, I'd prefer he let the police handle the terrorists and make sure that I have some really good chocolate waiting for me when I returned home."

"You wouldn't even want me to blow up a single building?"

"No."

"How about a truck?"

"Nope."

"Not even a Smart Car?"

"No, not even a tricycle."

"You're no fun!"

They finished all the prep they could do in advance and put things in the refrigerator. It was about three.

"When are they coming over?"

"Around six."

"That's three hours . . . "

House and Ann retreated to the bedroom to enjoy some intense yet comforting sex. There was a lot of touching before, during and after. They took a nap and woke up at about five-thirty.

Chase and Danielle arrived at six-fifteen. The weather conspired to help Ann and Danielle with their plan. It had begun to snow, and three to five inches was predicted for the evening and overnight, so Danielle had a good excuse to pack a bag. Chase brought it in.

"Oh, God," House groaned when he saw Chase with the suitcase, "He's moving in!"

"In case you haven't noticed, it's snowing out there," Chase responded. "We're just trying to avoid having to drive home in bad weather."

"Why not just stay home in the first place?" House questioned.

"Greg," Ann admonished. "We invited them, remember?"

"Ever heard of a rain- or in this case, snow-check?" House asked Chase.

Chase ignored House and turned to Ann. "Where do you want me to put this?"

"Pick whichever guest room you like," Ann said, indicating the two rooms that shared a bathroom.

Chase and Danielle settled in the back room while Ann and House finished preparing the food.

Dinner was delicious, even if the conversation was somewhat lacking. Ann and Danielle attempted to fill in the gaps, but it was difficult.

Neither House nor Chase had exactly been chatty with their respective significant others when they were alone with them, but with everyone together, they were practically silent, except for talking about the most insignificant things.

When dinner was finished, Ann and Danielle cleaned up. They lingered in the kitchen, hoping House and Chase would go into the living room and turn on the TV. Not only did they do that, but they apparently put on an action flick. It gave Ann and Danielle the excuse they needed to retreat to the master bedroom and watch their chick flicks.

The first hour of the movie, House didn't say much more than, "Get me another beer." And Chase didn't say much more than, "I thought it was the host's responsibility to get drinks for the guest." This was usually followed by a snarky comment from House, and then Chase getting the beverages.

In one of the less action-packed sequences, Chase tentatively opened the conversation. "Too bad about that kid . . . "

"Well, he would have died, anyway."

"If someone had figured out what he had sooner, he could have lived longer and been in less pain."

"The symptoms were consistently misdiagnosed. Foster care kids don't exactly get the highest quality medical care."

"Did anyone ever find out what happened to his parents?"

"Nope. Although I did wonder . . . "

"What?"

"Well, this disease is rare enough and severe enough that it would be difficult not to be aware of it in a family."

"Are you saying that you think his parents either found out or suspected that he had it, and abandoned him because of it?"

"It's possible. In fact, it's a strong possibility."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. I think if they came clean and admitted that they couldn't handle it and officially gave the kid up to someone who would take him, that would be one thing. But to just run away . . . "

"It takes balls to admit you aren't able to raise a kid. When a person decides that, it should be respected. Instead, people get dumped on, and it's easier to sneak away. Or, they pretend that they are willing to accept the responsibility, even when they are really absent."

"Or, they're around and they abuse the kid . . . "

Each man fell silent, thinking about this own less-than-happy childhood.

Things were being detonated left and right in the movie, but House and Chase were not even noticing the action.

"You wish your dad had manned up and admitted he wanted nothing to do with you?" House asked matter-of-factly. He'd decided while he was thinking about his own childhood that he really didn't want to talk about it with Chase, so he turned the focus to Chase's father.

"I wish he'd given a crap about me," Chase admitted. "But, for whatever reason, he didn't. And since he couldn't, it would have been easier if he'd abandoned me outright. Instead, I got to continue hoping he'd be a part of my life, only to be disappointed time after time. Hope can really suck sometimes."

"Tell me about it. Up until very recently, I thought hope was a totally wasted emotion."

"What changed?"

"There's this woman in the other room with horrible taste in movies . . . "

"And she has this friend . . . " Chase smiled slightly. "You said something before about a parent sticking around and abusing the kid. Your dad . . . he, um . . . "

"Abused me." House finished his sentence. He had wanted to deflect, but it was too late. He had already opened his mouth. Too many beers, probably.

"What did he do?"

"Ice baths. He'd make me sleep outside at night."

"Is that why you hate the cold so much?"

"I don't hate the cold."

"No, you just spend four months of the year being miserable to your staff because of it."

"First of all, I'm miserable to my employees all the time, regardless of the temperature outside. Second, the reason the winter is bad for me is because of my leg. The cold makes it hurt more and the snow and ice are difficult for me to walk on without falling on my ass."

"If you say so . . . "

"You sound like you don't believe me."

"This physician-philosopher once told me, 'Everybody lies.' "

"All the crap I tell you, and you have to remember that?"

"It seems appropriate here."

"I'm not lying. The cold sucks for my leg."

"I remember in seminary school they used to talk about lies of omission."

"Being a pretty guy there must have been tough. I bet you were molested more than you would have been if you'd been an inmate in a maximum security prison."

"Nice try at deflection. We were talking about you and how you hate the cold because it reminds you of how your father abused you."

"And why are we talking about me and my childhood misadventures? You just admitted you didn't exactly have Robert Young for a father, either."

"Who?"

"Never mind. Let's just say your childhood wasn't from a storybook."

"True, although my dad never physically abused me. That would have required he actually be in my presence once or twice, so it never happened."

"You sound disappointed. You can't actually be envious of me because my father was around to mistreat me."

"At least he was around. Wasn't it okay when he was there and wasn't abusing you?"

"It might have been. But my 'happy' memories are obscured by other memories like the way my body would sting when he pushed me down in the ice water or the terror I felt when I was seven and outside by myself freezing in the dark or the way whatever object he was using to hit me hurt my ass so much."

"Sorry."

"Doesn't bother me at this point."

"Oh, come on . . . "

"I didn't mean the abuse itself. That's the gift that keeps on giving. What doesn't bother me is the comparison."

"What? What comparison?"

"I don't compare myself to other people anymore. I no longer envy people who appeared to have happier childhoods than I did. As bad as it was, I had the only childhood I could have had. No point in wishing for something else."

"I guess I'm not there yet."

"I'm a lot older than you, and I've had a few more things happen to me."

"Are you saying I need to have an infarction in my leg to put this all in perspective?"

"No, but it helps."

They fell silent for a moment.

The credits for the movie were rolling across the screen.

"Wanna watch another movie?" House asked.

"Okay," Chase replied.

House sent Chase to get some more beer while he got up and changed the DVD.

House was sitting on the couch when Chase returned. They settled back down and started drinking their beers.

After a few minutes, House spoke. "Was it really that bad not having a father around? Hell, I used to love it when mine was on assignment and I'd fantasize it was permanent."

"Yeah, it was that bad. And believing he might show up when I wanted him to was even worse."

"Well, you seemed to have survived it. I mean, you didn't turn out gay or a priest or anything."

"You know there are people, in opposite camps most likely, who would not view either of those things as a bad outcome."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with being gay. I'm just saying . . . "

"It wasn't completely terrible, I guess. You can survive it, if you find mentors. I joined the seminary at eighteen. There was this older priest there . . . "

"I'm not much for homoerotic stories, just to let you know, but if you feel compelled to share, try to keep it PG-rated, okay?"

"It wasn't that kind of relationship. He was a mentor. He was actually pretty tough on me, but he stuck with me. He showed me that not every male authority figure in my life would abandon me."

"Tough on you, eh? Kind of prepared you for working for me, huh?"

"Nothing prepared me for working for you."

"Why did you come back after I fired you, then?"

"Cuddy made me when the new team quit."

"But you stayed after they came back."

Well, over the years, you've actually been nice to me few times."

"I have? When?"

"When you asked me to go bowling with you."

"That was because Wilson was otherwise occupied."

"I know. But you picked me instead of someone else."

"It's not like I had a lot of people to choose from. There's no way Taub or Foreman would have even considered going with me."

"Yeah, but Kutner would have been so eager he would have made a hungry puppy look calm."

They both fell silent at the mention of Kutner's name.

"Um, sorry for bringing that up," Chase apologized.

"I've gotten better about it after a year and a half of therapy," House responded. "You said I was nice to you a couple of times."

"You threw my bachelor party."

"And almost killed you with anaphylaxis."

"You didn't mean to do that."

"I knew about the strawberries. I should have remembered."

"You had other things you were dealing with at the time."

"Yeah, slowly going crazy will mess up your memory, I guess."

There was a another pause.

"You let me punch you and not get into trouble."

"Oh. Well, that only seemed right after I punched you and you didn't report me."

"And the whole Diabilia thing . . . "

"That was self-preservation. If you had gone down, I most likely would have, too."

"I doubt it. First of all, you were just back from Mayfield. Second, Foreman was in charge. Third, Cuddy would have protected you."

"I thought I taught you better than that."

"Huh?"

"You're not very observant."

"About what?"

"Let's just say Cuddy hasn't exactly been in the mood to 'protect' me since I left for Mayfield."

"Now that you say that, I see what you mean. Why not?"

"Don't know."

"I'd say it might be because she's with someone, but it's inexplicable why she'd date that guy. He's such a loser. And she started dating him right after you left."

"How did you know that, and why didn't you tell me?"

"What do you think we talk about during lengthy surgeries? Hospital gossip, of course. And I didn't tell you because I didn't work for you and we didn't exactly speak to each other very often. I wasn't about to walk up to an already unpredictable person who had just been released from a mental institution in a public area of the hospital and say 'You know that woman everyone thought you had feelings for? Well, she's in a relationship with someone else. Oh, and it's someone you know and maybe once considered sort of a friend. Have a nice day.' "

"How did you know I once considered him sort of a . . . whatever?"

"Wilson told me when he came back from the job he took at the other hospital after his bereavement leave. I think he was a little jealous. In any case, can you see why I didn't tell you?"

"Yeah. Oh, and it's not inexplicable."

"Really? How do you explain Cuddy being with that guy?"

"Well, she said at one point that she had feelings for me. I would guess that my going crazy made her disappointed in me. So, she turned to someone else."

"Seriously? It's not like you chose to go crazy, so why would she be disappointed in you? I can't imagine Ann doing anything like that. She'd be driving to the hospital every day to bring you soup and demanding conjugal visits."

"She would, wouldn't she?"

"And the guy Cuddy picked. Even if she didn't know when she started dating him, she had to know pretty quickly that he was a quasi-friend of yours, so she also had to know that hooking up with him would cause maximum pain on your side, even before she knew he was a sociopath."

"I think she still doesn't know he's a sociopath."

"Well, just because she's in denial about that doesn't absolve her."

"And, as a former seminary student, you're all about the absolution. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah . . . "

"If I'm so nice to you, how come you let Wilson pay you to hang out with me?"

"Damn! I know Wilson is your BFF, but sometimes he can be such an idiot. He actually told you he paid us to hang out with you?"

"I figured it out and he admitted it."

"He's still an idiot. Listen, I didn't want to get paid. I mean, I would have gone to that bar with you anyway. I did before when we went bowling."

"Then why did you take the money?"

"Because, like the idiot he is, Wilson asked Thirteen and me when we were in the conference room together. You know the reputation I have as a suck-up . . . "

"And well-deserved it is . . . "

"Thanks. But I just didn't want to look that way in front of her by refusing the money she was taking."

"So, if Wilson had asked you separately, you would have said 'no'?"

"Probably not."

"Wait . . . Didn't you just say . . . ?"

"Even if it had been just me, I would have taken it. Wilson is so, so . . . hyper-analytically annoying, especially when it comes to people's emotions and motivations. I just didn't want a twenty-minute probing about why I wasn't taking the money. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't keep it."

"Donated it to Catholic Charities in my name, did you?"

"Funny. No, I gave it to a homeless guy who reminded me of you."

"I hope you don't expect me to be flattered by that comparison."

"Well, you do sort of dress like a homeless guy . . . "

"No, this is a grunge look. Big difference."

"If you say so."

"You probably weren't helping him. He probably spent it on booze or drugs."

"Another way he made me think of you."

"So, you'll hang out with me even if no one pays you?"

"I'm here now. It's not like Ann slipped me a fifty or anything."

"You're just here because your girlfriend wanted to spend an evening with my significant other and you wanted to be with her."

"Sounds logical. Except that she's in another room and I'm here in this room with you."

"So, why do you want to hang out with me?"

"Why wouldn't I? You're smart and funny and interesting and you have good taste in movies."

"Is this the sucking up part now?"

"Sure is. And the best part is that it's a very subtle form of brown-nosing because it has the benefit of being true."

"There's something more here . . . "

"Yeah . . . "

"What?"

"I suppose you're not going to let this go, so . . . you've been good to me. You forgave me when I betrayed you to Vogler. You saved my career during that lawsuit. Even though it hurt, you made me see that Cameron and I weren't right for each other. I'd be a second-rate doctor except for everything I learned from you."

"So, I'm like your mentor-priest?"

"No, you're more like my father. At least the one I would have wanted. Tough, but there for me. Not abandoning me because there's something wrong with me . . . not letting me die in the arms of strangers . . . "

"Okay. That's way more than enough beer for you."

"Yeah, I guess . . . "

"Good thing you and your girlfriend are staying here tonight and not attempting to drive home."

"Definitely. What movie are we watching, anyway?"

"Damned if I know. We talked through most of it. Want to call it a night?"

"Sure. We just have to get the ladies to agree."

At that moment, Ann and Danielle walked into the living room.

"We're done for tonight," Ann declared.

"You finished both your movies?" Chase asked.

"Not the second one," Danielle replied. "But, it's a romantic comedy, so it's not like we can't predict the ending. They'll go through some hurdles and get together and live happily ever after. Just like real life."

"When she's with you, her sarcasm muscle always gets worked into fine form," Chase said to Ann. "Good job."

"You're welcome," Ann responded as turned towards House. "C'mon, big guy."

"Honey," House stated in his most unctuous voice, "You really shouldn't be discussing the size of my manhood in front of the children."

"Didn't need to hear that," Chase shouted over his shoulder as he and Danielle walked toward the guest room.

"Let's go," Ann said as she put out a hand to help pull House off the couch.

They retreated to their respective bedrooms for some adult activities. And then each couple spent the night snuggling together while the snow fell silently outside.